Chapter 54: The Twenty-sixth Beautiful Girl Who Rejected Me
The Twenty-sixth Beautiful Girl Who Rejected Me
I’d confessed to thirty beautiful girls and been rejected by all of them, but the way they turned me down ranged from gentle to brutally harsh.
And the one who used the cruelest method of all was Uhyou Sakuya.
I’ll never forget it.
It was right after the second semester of my first year began.
I hadn’t achieved much over summer break, so I started focusing on third-year girls to find my next target.
Their chances of saying yes were slim due to exams, but if I didn’t act now, I might never see them again.
After some research, I set my sights on a particular girl.
Her name was Amano Nao, a beautiful girl with a gentle, natural aura.
Since I had no connection to Amano-senpai, I decided to join the cultural festival committee she was rumored to be joining.
But that decision marked the beginning of my downfall.
“Oh, if it isn’t Matake-kun, the legendary rejectee!”
It happened at the very first meeting of the cultural festival committee.
The moment I stepped into the room, a girl called out to me.
She had long, softly wavy black hair and a mature, alluring face with sharp features. Of course I knew who she was.
That was Uhyou Sakuya, a third-year at the time and the chair of the cultural festival committee.
“So, you joined this committee because you’re after Nao, huh~?”
With that one sentence, my plan to approach Amano-senpai crumbled instantly.
Everyone started watching me with suspicion, and I could no longer function properly on the committee.
But once I’d joined, quitting halfway wasn’t an option.
I braced myself for hell until the festival ended. However…
“Oh, Matake-kun. Has your class decided on its exhibit~?”
“Matake-kun. Can you help me with this, if you’re free~?”
For some reason, Uhyou-senpai kept talking to me whenever I was alone.
At first, I figured she felt guilty about isolating me with that careless remark.
But then, on the day of the cultural festival…
“All alone, Matake-kun? Want to go around together?”
Just as I was wandering the festival by myself, as expected, she approached me again. This time, she was alone too.
Just to be clear, Uhyou-senpai was extremely popular.
She wasn’t the kind of person who would normally associate with someone like me.
Would someone like that really go this far just out of guilt?
I started to feel a glimmer of hope.
After all, no beautiful girl had ever come this close to me before.
I accepted her invitation, and we went around the festival together.
Walking through the festival with a beautiful girl, just the two of us, was genuinely fun.
And that only made my feelings grow stronger.
“Matake-kun. What did you want to talk about?”
After the two-day festival ended and all the cleanup was done, I pulled Uhyou-senpai aside and confessed.
“Uhyou-senpai. I like you. Please go out with me.”
When I said it, she gave me a faint smile and replied.
“I figured you’d confess around now.”
That faint smile was one of mockery.
Trying to push away the awful thought rising in my mind, I asked her,
“What do you mean by that?”
“Huh? I meant exactly what I said.”
“I… I don’t quite understand.”
“Hmm.”
She looked me over as if she were evaluating something. Then she said,
“Hey, Matake-kun. Did you have fun?”
“Yes. A lot.”
“I see. I had a lot of fun too… watching you misunderstand everything.”
“…”
My worst fear came true.
Uhyou-senpai had just been playing with my feelings for her own amusement.
“Oh? You’re not that surprised?”
Letting out a light, disappointed laugh, she continued.
“Not that I really need to say it, but… sorry. I can’t date you, Matake-kun~.”
“…I understand.”
“Oh, now you’re making that face? Then I’ll tell you something nice as an apology.”
She leaned in close to my ear and whispered,
“Nao, the girl you were originally after? She already likes someone. And it’s mutual. You had no chance from the start. So wasn’t it nice that you got to have fun with me instead?”
“Bet it made for a good memory,” she said, and walked away.
That was the bitter memory of the beautiful girl who became the twenty-sixth to reject me.
As a side note, not long after that, I got rejected by my cousin Kae-san. Riding that momentum, I confessed to Amano-senpai on graduation day and was completely shut down.
Thanks to that, the guy who had been too afraid to confess to Amano-senpai finally did, and they ended up together.
“Hey, Matake-kun. Still confessing to cute girls~?”
Meeting her again for the first time in about a year, Uhyou-senpai looked my way with that same sultry, faint smile.
“No, I’ve stopped doing that.”
“Wait, so does that mean you got a girlfriend? Maybe one of the two beside you?”
I stepped forward protectively, shielding Koriyama-san and Urui-san.
“No. It’s not like that with either of them.”
“Really~?”
“…”
She smiled as if testing me.
I could barely keep myself from looking away.
“Um, Uhyou-senpai.”
“Oh? What is it, Fujikawa-chan?”
Perhaps sensing something, Fujikawa stepped in between us.
“It’s almost time for the meeting.”
“What~? Already~? But I just got to see Matake-kun again~…”
With an exaggerated pout, she looked at me one last time.
“Let’s talk more another time, okay, Matake-kun~?”
“No. That won’t be necessary.”
“Oh wow~, so cold.”
Despite her words, she walked away smiling, clearly entertained.
“Satoshi-san, are you all right?”
“Ah…”
“Satoshi-san…!?”
I guess the conversation with Uhyou-senpai hit me harder than I thought.
I dropped to my knees on the spot and couldn’t get back up until the open campus resumed.