I Thought She Was the One, but It Turned Out to Be a Fake Confession, so I Decided to Break Up With Her
I could feel the softness of Honjo’s skin through my arm.
Seeing how flustered I was, Honjo gave me a mischievous smile.
“I’m surprisingly big, aren’t I?”
“W-what?”
“You know it’s true.”
I tried my best not to think about it, but Honjo shifted her position as if to say she wouldn’t let me, pressing her body even closer against mine.
I’m a healthy high school boy, after all.
Naturally, this kind of physical contact with the opposite sex was more than enough to make my heart race.
“You know, I’ve fallen for someone.”
“Oh, really…? Is that so?”
If that’s the case, shouldn’t she be doing this with the person she likes?
I couldn’t wrap my head around why she was doing this to me.
“Yeah. I met that person last year, but to be honest, I didn’t have a very good impression of them at first. So I ended up saying some pretty harsh things… But it seems like that person has fallen for someone else. The person he like is also my best friend, but she was a tough rival, too.”
Honjo-san continued her story matter-of-factly.
“The person he liked was better than me at everything—studies, sports, looks, even video games… So, before I knew it, I’d given up. I thought there was no way I could ever beat that rival, no matter what I did. But you know, he was working really hard to get closer to the person he liked. So I asked: ‘Isn’t it hard to keep trying when you just keep losing?’”
The more I listened, the wider my mouth gaped.
Honjo-san hugged my arm even tighter.
“Then that person answered, ‘The reason I try so hard isn’t to win.’”
Hearing that, even I couldn’t help but realize.
The one who gave that answer was none other than me.
And Honjo-san—the person to whom she’d said those words—
“Fujimori-kun, I like you. I really like you.”
It was the first time in my life I’d heard a girl confess her feelings to me.
Honjo-san’s eyes, looking up at me, made it clear that those words were sincere.
“W-well… since when…?”
“I realized it last year when I was selected as a starter. When you helped me after I was being ostracized by the upperclassmen in the volleyball club. When I found out you’d been working so hard for my sake, my heart started racing.”
Thanks to the coach’s discretion, Honjo-san was selected as a starter on the volleyball team despite being a freshman.
However, the upperclassmen didn’t take it well, and to make matters worse, the bold proposal she made for the team’s sake only ended up adding fuel to the fire.
Misunderstandings piled up not only among the upperclassmen but also among the freshmen, leaving her isolated within the volleyball team.
“I didn’t really do anything that big back then, though…”
“That’s not true! You went to meet upperclassmen you’d never even met before, bowed your head, and pleaded with them—and you cleared up all the misunderstandings. Not just anyone could do something like that. And above all—”
Honjo-san blushed.
“I was happy that you went out of your way for me, not for Kotone.”
She says she’s not as good as Kotone, but in my eyes, Honjo-san is just as beautiful as Kotone.
In fact, Honjo-san is very popular at school.
In fact, I’ve even heard rumors that she gets confessed to more often than Kotone—who’s seen as an unattainable beauty—because she’s relatively more approachable with the guys.
(I’m really happy about this, but…)
I have a girlfriend.
I like Kotone.
Honjo-san’s confession—the kind that would make any other guy jump for joy—felt as heavy as lead to me right now.
“Honjo-san, um… I’m really sorry, but—”
Just as I was about to carefully turn down her feelings,
“Wait!”
Honjo-san gently covered my mouth with her palm.
“I know, too—that you like Kotone, Fujimori-kun. And I don’t mean to put you in a difficult position.”
She wasn’t expecting an answer—did that mean she was satisfied just by expressing her own feelings?
If that’s the case, then there’s no problem.
Starting tomorrow, we can just go back to being regular friends.
“You know, I actually intended to root for the two of you from the bottom of my heart. I was going to be satisfied as long as the person I like was happy.”
“Honjo-san…”
“But I can’t take it anymore. Far from making Fujimori-kun happy, he’s just getting hurt over and over! It was all wrong from the very beginning!!”
Honjo-san shouted, gritting her teeth.
She seemed even more furious than I was.
“So, I’ll make him happy.”
“…Huh?”
“Give me a chance. I’ll do my best to make Fujimori-kun fall for me. For now, it’s okay if you just think of me as a substitute for Kotone. I’ll do anything for Fujimori-kun. So—”
Honjo-san clasped my hands together as if we were a couple.
Then she moved in so close I could feel her breath on my face.
“Please, make me… your second girlfriend.”
I couldn’t believe my ears.
I never would have imagined such words coming from Honjo-san, who was usually so serious.
“Second girlfriend…?”
“Yeah. You still like Kotone, right, Fujimori-kun? So it’s okay if you keep dating her. Just date me too.”
“No, that’s a bit much…”
I couldn’t find the words.
I’d never even considered an idea like this before.
I had absolutely no idea how to react.
She says “second girlfriend,” but isn’t that basically cheating?
“So, in the end, that means I’d be cheating on Kotone while still dating her…?”
If there’s one thing I hate, it’s the words “adultery,” “cheating,” and “mistress.”
The reason my parents divorced was my mother’s affair.
It’s true that my father was always focused on work and never paid attention to my mother, and that it was a marriage of convenience with no love from the start.
Even so, I can’t accept the act of betraying a spouse.
“I can’t betray Kotone.”
“You really are sincere, Fujimori-kun. That’s the kind of thing I like about you.”
Honjo-san chuckled, “Heh heh,” and wrapped her arm around me from the front.
“But do you really think Kotone loves you? She doesn’t, does she? Come on, Fujimori-kun. Think about it for a second. Do you think Kotone would get jealous if she caught a glimpse of another woman in your life?”
“……”
I couldn’t answer right away.
It was hard for me to even imagine Kotone showing any possessiveness toward me.
“It’s okay, trust me. You can blame it all on me. Just say I forced myself on you.”
Her sweet words echoed in my ear.
Soon, Honjo-san’s beautiful face slowly, yet surely, drew closer into my field of vision.
I didn’t resist her lips pressing against mine.
“This is my first kiss.”
Honjo-san pulled away and gently touched her index finger to her own lips.
It was my first kiss, too.
The first kiss that was supposed to be with Kotone—I’d given it to Honjo instead.
“It’s all my fault, you know? Got it?”
Honjo pressed her lips against mine once more.
She wrapped both arms tightly around my neck, pulling me close.
This time, she slipped her tongue through the gap between our lips and into my mouth.
A deep kiss, shared in a house where it was just Honjo and me.
Even the sense of transgression turned into pleasure, and my body began to heat up.
“Ah, you’re really getting turned on by me. I’m glad.”
Noticing the change in my lower body, Honjo-san didn’t seem bothered at all—in fact, she looked delighted.
Then, she tried to take off the cropped, short-sleeved knit top she was wearing.
(No, no matter what, I can’t let it go any further than this…!)
Seeing that gesture, my rationality returned just a little.
We’d already crossed one line.
Still, there was one final line we absolutely couldn’t cross.
It would lead to something truly irreversible.
Thinking that, I gripped Honjo’s wrists tightly.
“I just don’t want to cheat. Really… It’s not that you’re not attractive or anything like that. I just wouldn’t be able to forgive myself.”
“What about this?”
Honjo-san’s gaze drifted down to my lower body.
“W-well… As a guy, I can handle that on my own.”
“Hmm… I really didn’t want to show you this, but since you just wouldn’t make up your mind, Fujimori-kun…”
Honjo-san took her smartphone out of the handbag she’d brought with her.
Then she showed me a video.
“Actually, I kept quiet all this time because I thought it would hurt you, Fujimori-kun…”
The video was filmed behind the school building.
It showed me and Kotone.
That’s right.
The moment Kotone confessed her feelings to me had been recorded.
“Kotone confessed to you as part of a dare.”
Maigetesu