Chapter 80: You Know, I Used to Like You?

You Know, I Used to Like You?

The girl—the one Nakano had an affair with—approaches me and Akari.

Her golden bob shimmers under the glow of the setting sun, vividly dragging up the memory of that night at the hotel.

“Wait, does this mean… you two were out on a date or something?”

“…!”

“Ahaha, you’re so flustered! How cute~ So fresh~ I love it!”

She giggles, amused.

How can she stand here, right in front of us, and laugh like that?

She’s the cheating woman.

To Akari, she’s the embodiment of a past she’d rather forget.

And yet… is she doing this on purpose? Does she know exactly what she’s doing?

“Hey, Kyogoku, you’re glaring at me way too hard. Did I do something to upset you?”

“Something to upset me? You cheated. That’s what you did.”

“Ohhh, that. So, what, you’re on Irara-san’s side now?”

“…! This has nothing to do with sides! I just… I just can’t forgive you. Not you, not Nakano.”

“Arata-kun…”

“Fufu, I see. You haven’t changed at all, Kyogoku-kun… Not one bit, just like back then.”

“…Huh?”

She laughs again, then shifts her gaze to Akari.

“Irara-san, I never did apologize, did I? I mean, considering I was dating Nakano-kun at the time, I guess I still owe you one. Fufu, funny, isn’t it?”

“…!!”

Akari’s face twists in pain.

The girl takes another step toward her.

Instinctively, I move in front of Akari.

“What do you want from us?”

“Wow, you’re really on guard around me, huh?”

“Like I have any reason not to be.”

“Ahaha, fair enough.”

“So? What the hell do you want?”

I glare at her.

She tilts her head, still wearing that infuriating smile.

“You seriously don’t remember me?”

“…Huh?”

What the hell is she talking about?

Not remember? What does she mean?

Just as confusion settles in, she suddenly bursts into laughter.

“Ahaha! You really have no clue, do you? Well, I guess that makes sense.”

After laughing her fill, she smirks and finally drops the bombshell.

“—If I say Aikawa Manami, does that ring a bell?”

She watches me, her expression full of self-assurance, like she’s just presented undeniable proof.

But my reaction is—

“…Huh? Who?”

“…Huh? You… You really don’t remember?”

“Not even a little.”

Her name doesn’t spark the faintest hint of recognition.

The way she said it with such certainty makes me start doubting myself. Am I the weird one here?

“W-Wow… That’s not how I imagined this would go.”

The girl—Aikawa, or whatever her name is—drops her gaze slightly, looking taken aback.

After a small sigh, she clears her throat and continues.

“Alright, I’ll just spell it out for you. We went to the same elementary school.”

“…Huh? The same elementary school?”

First Ishizaki, now her. Lately, I keep running into old classmates.

But no matter how hard I try, I can’t place her at all.

“Yeah. I transferred out in middle school, but back then… don’t you remember? I was chubby, had dark brown hair… and got bullied all the time.”

Her words pry open a long-forgotten door in my memory.

Chubby, dark brown hair… the girl who was always bullied…

“…Oh. Right. Yeah, I think I remember someone like that.”

“That’s all I am to you, huh? ‘Someone like that’… I was hoping for a little more, but oh well. I guess it really was just a one-sided crush.”

“…Huh?”

Akari lets out a small sound of surprise.

Aikawa smirks, shifting her gaze between the two of us before finally speaking.

“Kyogoku, you know… I’ve always been grateful to you. Back then, you were the only one who stood up for me when I was being bullied. To me, you were my one and only hero in elementary school.”

“…Hero…”

The moment she says it, the memories start flooding back.

Aikawa Manami—ostracized, bullied, always alone.

I was more avoided than outright bullied, but Aikawa… they treated her like a plaything, something to torment for their own amusement.

“They called me fat, ugly, just disappear already—over and over. They stole my shoes, filled my slippers with thumbtacks. No matter what they did, I couldn’t fight back. But then… you got angry for me. You stood in front of them and yelled, ‘You people call yourselves human?!’”

“That was…”

“Looking back, you had such a dramatic way of getting mad, didn’t you? Haha… But still, Kyogoku, you saved me that day.”

Aikawa takes a slow step toward me.

Then, in a voice barely above a whisper, she says—

“The truth is… I used to have a crush on you back then, Kyogoku. You were so kind to everyone, and I liked that about you.”

“…!!!”

A shock runs through me, jolting me to my core.

Seeing my reaction, Aikawa breaks into a radiant, almost mischievous smile.

“Ahaha! You really had no clue, huh?”

“W-Well, I mean…”

“Oh well. That was just the story of my first love.”

With a small clap of her hands, Aikawa turns to Akari.

“Sorry for getting in your way. I’ve said what I needed to say, so I’ll be off now.”

She flashes Akari a lighthearted smile before turning on her heel and walking away.

Then, as if parting with an old friend, she calls out—

“See you around, Kyogoku-kun.”

Aikawa’s figure grows smaller as she walks off into the distance.

And in her wake, all she leaves behind is a heavy, awkward silence between me and Akari.

…The girl Nakano had an affair with was actually my old classmate.

And on top of that… she used to have feelings for me?

“…What the hell is this?”

That smile she wore—the one that felt so crafted, so much like a mask—won’t leave my mind.

Even as the initial shock begins to settle, the unease lingers, refusing to fade.