When I Go Back in Time, My Ex-wife Is Making a Passionate Approach to Me, and I’m Having Trouble With It
We then went to a few cafes and Tachibana’s interview date was over.
The following Monday, when I went to school, Haruka stared at me.
“What is it?”
“Nothing. I just thought you were out somewhere on your day off.”
“How do you know?”
“I went to your house.”
I had no idea that Haruka had come to my house on her day off.
“What did you want?”
“I thought we could go to the movies together.”
It’s true that I haven’t gone to the movies with Haruka recently. In the past, we used to go to the movies together on a regular basis, so Haruka might have been in the mood.
“So, where have you been?”
“Anywhere is fine right.”
“Hmmm. I see. Women.”
Haruka said with a smug look on her face, and then she was right up in my face.
“Why do you say that?”
“You’re so obvious. When you had an affair before, it was immediately clear to me, wasn’t it?”
I had an affair once. I had once run away to another woman when I thought Haruka wasn’t interested in me. Sure enough, Haruka found out right away. I don’t know if it’s a woman’s intuition or what, but Haruka is very perceptive when it comes to women.
“I’m not dating anyone right now, so it doesn’t matter.”
“Yes, admittedly. I knew you were on a date with a girl.”
My words slipped out without me thinking. I sighed and scratched my head. I didn’t really care if people found out that I was meeting up with Tachibana. But I just couldn’t help but feel guilty about Haruka. It wasn’t like that with Tachibana or anything, but dating another girl while Haruka and Kyouka were both hitting on me made me a real bastard..
“I’m going to be honest with you. I was meeting Tachibana.”
“With Tachibana? That girl can be unpredictable sometimes.”
“It was just an interview. I was just going along with the interview.”
“Interview? What on earth were you interviewing her for?”
“Well, Tachibana wants to write a romance novel, and she’s never been in love, so we’re going on a date to test her out.”
“Yes, that’s the one that’s going to be real.”
Haruka sticks her index finger at me and lets out a sigh.
“No, but it didn’t feel like that.”
“You don’t get it, do you? What you don’t understand is that it’s the standard for manga and anime to develop into a real love story. You’ve seen it many times before.”
Haruka is right.
“If you don’t have that intention, then don’t play with her. It will only hurt Tachibana.”
“But I’m a big fan of Tachibana. I want to help her after all.”
I want to read Tachibana’s novels. I want to be overwhelmed by that writing that Tachibana writes. I would do anything to make that work.
“So she is my rival, too, Tachibana. Tachibana holds your heart and won’t let go. She can write a novel like that, can’t she? Unlike me.”
Haruka’s lips twitched as if she was sulking a little.
“I like your novels too. I’ve read them many times before.”
“But you’re not much of a fan.”
“That’s true.”
Haruka sighs and holds out a USB flash drive to me.
“Read this. It’s my new work. I’m really proud of it, and I want you to read it.”
“Okay, I’ll read it”
I took the USB flash drive and put it in my bag.
“Even so, Tachibana is so cute, isn’t she?”
“I admit she’s cute. I can’t imagine why she hasn’t been popular before.”
“That’s true. But she is a girl in the literature club, so maybe she didn’t stand out.”
Tachibana had said the same thing. She said that she didn’t stand out because she was in the literature club. But if they could have overlooked such a talented student, then the eyes of boys must be blind.
“I have no right to complain about you going out with Tachibana-san, but please go out with me sometimes.”
“Okay. When should we do it?”
“After school today.”
“That’s short notice.”
“I want to go out with you after school. No?”
It’s hard to say no. Besides, I don’t have any after-school plans.
“I never had an after-school date in high school.”
“That’s because Haruka didn’t give in to me.”
“I just thought you were a clingy guy. But now I’m the one being clingy. It’s strange.”
Haruka and I know each other’s weaknesses because we were married once. That’s why we can talk about our weaknesses so easily. If I were to start over with Haruka, it would be easier to have a casual relationship like this. I suddenly think about it. I feel like my current friendship with Haruka suits me. I think it’s better to keep our relationship as it is than to get married and have a falling out again.
But that is an escape. Now that I have decided to come to a conclusion, I have to face it. Just as Haruka faced me properly, I need to answer her sincerity head-on.
“Tell me what you think of my novel when you read it.”
“I’ll look forward to reading it.”
Haruka’s new novel. It must be her best work to date. Haruka seems to be very confident about it. I’m sure she was secretly writing it behind my back. As far as I could see in the clubroom, Haruka was proudly showing me her novel. In other words, this was not something she wrote in the clubroom. I’m looking forward to reading Haruka’s novel, which she wrote with such great care.
I’ll read it carefully at home. But I had a feeling that it wouldn’t surpass Tachibana’s novel. Even if Haruka had grown a little, she wouldn’t be able to match Tachibana’s writing. Or so I thought. It made me want to sigh and think how condescending I was. But even so, I didn’t have any expectations of Haruka.