The Salty Princess Told Me That I Was a ‘Convenient Keep’, so I Tested What Would Happen if I Introduced the Most Beautiful Girl at Another School as My Girlfriend
“Bad, I was asleep. ……”
The sound of a chime wakes me up. I open the curtains surrounding my bed and check the time; it’s already …… five o’clock. Classes ended a long time ago, and it was time to get out of school. Before I knew it, I must have fallen into a sound sleep.
“Someone …… could have come to wake me up.”
I stretched lightly, then got up and hurried to the classroom.
“I’m sure Sakaki-san hasn’t gone home today,…….”
If it’s the usual Sakaki-san, I wouldn’t be surprised if she ignored her promise to me and went home. …Or rather, in the first place, the “salty princess” never promised me a date.
“Well, I don’t really care anymore.”
I muttered quietly and opened the classroom door. But there is no one …… to be found there.
“…… really.”
The familiar classroom was dyed a madder red. The windows were closed, so there was an unnatural lack of noise.
“Don’t tell me, Sakaki san….., she ignored me and went home?”
In that situation, even though I said that much and even made an appointment, she still ignored me and went home. she went back… and gone.
Only Sakaki-san must have known that I had slept in the infirmary. I told her directly that I was sleeping in the infirmary. If I didn’t come back to the classroom, all she had to do was to come and wake me up.
Yet, she ignored me and left …….
“….. Screw you, that girl”
The blood that rose to my head froze in an instant. How much does that woman need to insult me? Or is this Sakaki-san’s best attempt at expressing her intentions as a girl who isn’t good at expressing her opinions?
A message from her that she has nothing to say
“…. Damn you fool.”
I try to check my phone just in case, but come to think of it, I don’t have one now. …… Well, even if I had received any messages, it’s all too late now.
That woman even trampled on my sincerity, which was to at least say it properly if we were going to break up. If that’s the case, I won’t have anything to talk about with that woman anymore.
“……… Damn it.”
A small murmur echoed hollowly in the empty classroom. …No one called out to me while I was sleeping.
I thought we were friends, but even at this hour, no one said anything to me. Sakaki-san didn’t even talk to me in the first place. …I’m sure no one is interested in me.
This silence is all that’s left for me now.
“……….”
This is the first time I’ve seen myself reflected in a window pane. I’m a pathetic man with a face like a child on the verge of tears.
“Blonde hair doesn’t suit you”
I laughed. I thought I was laughing, but the man behind the glass wasn’t laughing at all.
“Let’s go home,…….”
I Grab my bag and leave the classroom. I saw a familiar face among the guys at the end of club activities, but I didn’t say anything. …Of course, Sakaki-san wasn’t waiting for me in front of the school gate, so I headed home alone, chased by a long shadow.
“I don’t care anymore.”
It doesn’t matter what kind of relationship Sakaki-san and Miwa-kun have, or what she thinks of me. …My ties with that woman have been completely severed. Worrying about such a woman will only make me tired.
She should be flirting with some guy I don’t know, somewhere I don’t know, and laughing on her own. I don’t know that woman anymore. I have no obligation to keep …… my promise.
“But then,……, what am I going to do now?”
What should I do after breaking up with Sakaki-san? am I going to put on a bravado and go out of my way to date another girl? Or will I run away from everything and hide in my own shell like I did in middle school?
No matter how much I think about it, I can’t see a happy future.
─ ─ You’re…enough
That’s what my father said, and he abandoned me. Mom didn’t try to help me either. No one would …… look at me. They abandoned me …… because I had no talent.
So I had to prove my worth.
I had to prove my worth by becoming something, by any means necessary. Otherwise, no one would look at me.
“…. No”
I just wanted someone to admire me. I wanted to be needed. I wanted to be loved. So, I tried desperately to make it work.
“And this is the result.”
I was not lying when I said that I loved Sakaki-san. I wanted to see her smile, even if it was only once. I wanted to know her heart, which I did not know what she was thinking. I did everything I could to achieve that.
But just as my father and mother abandoned me, she abandoned me. She didn’t even look at me from the beginning.
“… Damn it.”
Before I knew it, I had come to that riverbed again. I was supposed to be on the way home, so why did I end up here again?
“Well, never mind.”
I picked up a stone I saw and threw it into the river. The stone bounces on the water three times and then sinks without a sound.
“….. ha, I don’t know what I’m doing.”
It was like looking at myself, and it was very painful. I was a stupid man who struggled desperately and still couldn’t become anything. After bouncing on the water for a bit, I might just sink down alone without a sound.
“Damn ……!”
I threw the stone again. I threw the stone again and again. But I still couldn’t reach the other shore. No matter how many times I threw the stone, …… it would never, ever reach the other side.
“Eh? Could it be Ochiha-kun?”
Then again, a voice echoed.
“…Koga-san”
When I turned around, there was a girl I had just met again, my childhood friend, Koga Kotone. When she was on the top of the hill and noticed me, she immediately ran towards me.
“Is it not a strange …… coincidence that we meet here again? I pass by here every day.”
Koga-san laughs. So I give my usual fake smile.
“Haha, maybe. I was just taking a random walk.”
“Is that so? But, Ochiha, weren’t you just now throwing stone?”
“… Well, I was just trying to kill some time.”
Unable to look at Koga-san’s cheerful smile, I avert my gaze to the distant sky. Koga san didn’t seem to mind seeing me like that, and said in a cheerful voice.
“I’ve been practicing by myself for a while.”
“Practicing?”
“Well, well, well, just watch.”
Koga-san picked up a stone that had fallen on the ground, put down her bag, and threw the stone. The stone bounces on the water several times and then sinks just …… before reaching the other shore.
“Oh, it was so close. I was so close.”
Koga-san looks up to the sky in disappointment. …… awesome. The last time I saw her, she was sinking without a single bounce, but she’s grown up to look different.
“Koga-san is …… awesome.”
“Hehe, I worked so hard. I won’t screw up falling into the river anymore.”
“I’m the one who fell in the river, though.”
“It was because you saved me, wasn’t it? Ochiha-kun can do everything on his own. He wouldn’t have fallen into the river if he didn’t try to save me.”
“I’m not that …… big of a guy.
I was still…. me
No. I’m being naïve. I’ve said what I didn’t have to say. I can’t show my weakness at a place like this and take advantage of Koga-san.
I forced myself to put on my usual fake smile. Koga-san looked at me with straight eyes.
“Hey, Ochiha-kun. Shall we play?”
“Eh…? A game?”
“Yes. Like in the old days, we’ll see who can reach the other side of the river first. Whoever loses gets punished.”
“I thought you didn’t play the penalty game anymore.”
“But if we don’t make some bets, Ochiha-kun won’t be motivated, will he?”
“I don’t think that’s …… true.”
Well, but surely, no matter how much you say it’s a game, I don’t really want to try to it now. I don’t ……or rather, I can’t think.
Even more so now.
“Well, okay, I get it. But it’s late, so let’s just do it once, okay? I’ll throw once, and the one with the most bounces wins.”
“I understand. Okay, I’ll go first!”
Koga-san said and began to examine the stones that had fallen. This time, she seems to be really serious. Imitating Koga-san, I crouched down and looked for a stone that was as flat and easy to throw as possible.
“Okay, I’ve decided on this one!”
After a while, Koga-san stands up and takes a stance. I hold the stone I found in my hand and look at Koga-san.
“Eyyyy!”
Koga-san threw the stone. The stone bounces on the surface of the glowing water. One, two, three, four. ……
“…. Ah.”
There, the stone bounces up in an unnatural way and sinks into the river. Did it hit a …… fish? Unfortunately, this would have been much more frequent than earlier.
“N-now is not counted!”
Koga-san looks at me in disapproval. I shook my head.
“No. It’s my turn, and if I jump more than five times, I win.”
“Eeh You’re so stingy!”
Ignoring Koga-san’s stern look at me, I grabbed the stone.
“……….”
Besides, there’s no reason to get serious about a match like this. Even if I win, there’s no punishment game I want Koga-san to play. …But, if I were the old me, I wouldn’t cut corners in a game.
I stand ready and throw the stone. …But right before that, for some reason, Koga-san… lifted up her skirt.
“….Ah”
I got upset and lost my form. The stone I threw didn’t bounce at all and just sank into the river.
Koga’s pants were …… white.
“……, now that’s cheating! It was a foul by Koga-san for pitching interference.”
“No. I don’t have such a rule. It was Ochiha-kun’s fault for disrupting his concentration with something as trivial as a pair of underpants.”
“No, it’s as bad as a pair of underpants. …… Koga-san, weren’t you an honor student at a young lady’s high school?”
“I’m an honor student, so I wear white pants.”
“What’s that ……?”
Somehow, the weight is off my shoulders. …Certainly this is my loss. Because Koga-san is really enjoying herself and smiling. There’s no way I can win against a girl who can smile like this.
“I understand,……, it’s okay for me to lose now.”
I raise my hands as if to say I give up. Koga-san laughed again, looking really happy.
“I remember something about this. In the past, too,……, every time we had a dispute, Ochiha-kun was the first to break.”
“Koga-san, even if I told you, you wouldn’t listen.”
“That’s not true. I am and always have been an honest girl.”
“She’s honest and stubborn. Also, hate to lose.”
“That’s a terrible thing to say. …….fufu But I’m glad to see that Ochiha-kun hasn’t changed either,…….”
“───”
Koga-san’s casual words made my heart swell. There was no malice in those words. For some reason, those words, “I haven’t changed,” somehow… hurt me deeply.
I dyed my hair, tried my best to act bright, and did social media that I didn’t want to do to fit in with the people around me, and I told myself that that was how I had changed. But, just like my father and mother abandoned me when I was in middle school, the girl I thought was my girlfriend abandoned me.
–In the end, I haven’t changed at all.
“…..Yes, that’s right. Just because I’m taller and dye my hair and stuff, …… I haven’t changed at all. I haven’t changed.”
I was about to cry. But I can’t do such a pathetic thing as crying over something like this. I looked down and hid my face. Koga-san said in a serious voice.
“I haven’t really changed much either.”
“Koga-san has changed ……. She is different from me.”
“Is that so,……. I don’t think so.”
The sun sets and night falls over the area. Koga’s beautiful chestnut-colored hair reflected the moonlight and swayed in the wind. Koga san put her hand on her large chest with calm eyes.
“My breasts have grown on their own. Suddenly, everyone treats me like an adult… Some people look at me strangely, and some people spread strange rumors. I haven’t changed at all. Even though I wasn’t, everyone’s perspective on me changed, so I had no choice but to change too.”
These words remind me of what Mimiko said the other day. ……Koga had been dark lately, she said. I am sure that Koga-san has been through a lot, just as I have been through a lot.
“So, I was happy. You have become cooler, but Ochiha-kun is still Ochiha-kun. If Ochiha-kun had tried to seduce me with his familiar hands, I would have been so shocked that I would have fallen asleep.”
“……Well, I only got upset when you showed me your cleavage and I fell in the river.”
“Haha, that’s my fault though.”
Koga san laughs. I…I can’t laugh.
“But, that’s why. Ochiha-kun has changed, but… he hasn’t changed. There’s no one else who can do this with me right now.”
Koga-san looks at me. She was now beautiful, like a different person, but still said with the same smile as before.
“That’s why I’m so happy. Ochiha-kun hasn’t changed. I’m glad that Ochiha-kun is still the same, naughty but gentle Ochiha-kun that he used to be. I’m so happy to see him again, he hasn’t changed at all.”
“────”
The wind blows through. Spring breeze. A spring breeze with soft warmth in the cold. It felt like my old self was running through me, and my heart ached.
…… I see. I always thought I had to change, but some people are glad I didn’t?
──Does that alone make me feel so much saved?
“E-eeh!! O-Ochiha-kun,…… perhaps you are crying?”
When she said that, I realized for the first time that I was crying. I panicked and covered my face with my hands.
“….Sorry. I didn’t mean to do that. But …… sorry.”
“……You had a hard time?”
“It happened. There was nothing but hardship. There was nothing fun. It’s been… Really, why did this… happen?”
I don’t want to cry, I don’t want people to see me in such an uncool way, but I still can’t stop crying. My heart, which is a failure, never listens to what I say.
“…..It’s okay, it’s okay.”
I was sure I was in trouble because I was suddenly crying, but Koga-san gently shook my hand. We are really just like children, I thought.
And then some time passed, and when the wind began to feel chilly, Koga-san looked straight at me. Koga-san looked straight at me and said,
“So, about the punishment game, ……”
“You’re going to say that in this situation? I think there are more things we need to talk about. ……”
“No, no. I’m not going to be fooled by that. That is the most important thing.”
Koga-san laughs. She laughs with a very radiant face.
“As a punishment, Ochiha-kun will do something fun with me.”
“….. fun thing?”
“Yeah. Let’s play water together, play games, go shopping, and many other things.”
“Is that the punishment ……?”
“That’s right. Ochiha-kun, who says he never had any fun, will have you do lots of fun things with me as punishment. You must never run away until I get tired. Even if you don’t like it, I won’t let you go anymore. I’ll ask you to join me in things that I’ve seen in girls’ manga and wanted to try out.”
Koga-san looked at me. I looked at her too.
“How could Koga-san go that far ……?”
Even though we’re childhood friends, there’s no reason for Koga-san to be particular about me. …Because we haven’t even talked for years. But why is she holding out her hand to me now…
“I’m sorry, but this is a game of punishment. Ochiha-kun, you don’t have veto power, okay?”
“…… I understand.
I’ll go out with you, Koga-san, anything until you get bored.”
“Yay! You promised, right? I don’t want you to leave without my permission again, okay?”
“I know. I won’t do that. ……”
I laughed. Koga-san laughed too. And so began a fun and enjoyable romantic comedy.
“……, you idiot”
I still can’t think of it that way. But still… I thought it would be nice if I could find something fun to do with Koga-san.
-Maiban