After My Girlfriend Dumped Me, I Got Reincarnated As A High School Student. That Part’s Fine—But Why Are All My Ex-Girlfriends Here Too? - Chapter 36 – I Said it Twice Because It’s Important

In the nurse’s office, later that day—

“Ow, that hurts!?”

“Please bear with it. If I don’t disinfect it properly, it’ll be bad, you know?”

When Chizuru disinfected my cheek—the one that got punched—it stung more than I expected.
Looks like it really had turned into a wound.

Even so, Chizuru didn’t ask any unnecessary questions. She just started treating me right away, calm and efficient as always.

“I’ll put a gauze patch on it just in case, okay?”

“Ah, yeah… thanks. But, Chizuru, you’re not going to ask what happened?”

“Do you want me to ask?”

“Ah—no, not really.”

“Forcing someone to talk about something they don’t want to—that’s not kindness. What matters is thinking about what the other person really needs, and being there for them.”

As she said that, Chizuru smiled softly.

Seriously… there’s no way I could ever beat her.

I know she’s right. But how many people in the world can actually live like that every day, even knowing it’s true?

If I could’ve done that myself, maybe I could’ve avoided so many breakups…

I never did anything for others, yet I expected them to understand me—then cried about being misunderstood.

No wonder people got tired of me.

I called Chizuru my “best girl” because she has that gentle warmth that comes naturally to her—
a kindness I could never imitate.

“But Yuto, will you promise me one thing?”

“Huh?”

“I won’t pry about what happened. But if you ever get hurt again because you’re pushing yourself too hard… I’ll worry. So, when that happens, please come to me. I’ll always be on your side.”

She said it with a tender smile.

Ah, seriously… I can’t win against her at all.

I thanked her and went back to class.

The gauze was pretty noticeable, so everyone kept sneaking glances at me, wide-eyed.

And then—

“Ugh…”

When I sat down, my seatmate Hiromi saw me—my face and my dramatic entrance (I just wanted to say that)—and frowned openly.

“Hey, what’s with that ‘ugh’? I was gonna say the gauze makes me look even more—”

“‘Huh?’”

“—Sorry! I was getting carried away! But still, saying ‘ugh’ right to an injured guy’s face? That’s kinda harsh.”

“Well, it’s right next to me. I can’t not see it. If you were going to get hurt, you should’ve done it on your right cheek instead.”

Guess that’s because she sits to my left, next to the window. Still, come on…

“That’s cold, man. What, you trying to make me cry? I could do it in two seconds, you know.”

“Even if I asked why you look like that, you wouldn’t tell me anyway, right?”

“I mean… yeah, probably.”

“See?
Having some weird patch of gauze constantly in the corner of my eye—of course I’d say ‘ugh.’”

Damn it… she’s not wrong, but still! And “weird patch of gauze”? That’s just rude.

“Well, I kinda know the reason anyway.”

“Huh?”

“Kawasaki, right?”

“What!?”

How the hell does she know that!?

“You’re wondering how I know? Well, I was someone’s girlfriend not too long ago, remember?”

“Ugh…”

So, she talked? To Hiromi? About that?

“That someone never told me anything, though.
I just followed him once ‘cause I was worried—and yep, that’s what I saw.”

“Ugh…”

“Men and their pride, huh? You won’t even show weakness to your girlfriends.”

“I-It’s not like that…”

“I get not wanting to make her worry. But when you say ‘don’t worry,’ it actually makes her worry more.
Makes her anxious. I was your girlfriend back then, you know?”

Her face was serious.

She was right, of course. I didn’t want to burden her, so I stayed quiet. But in the end, I just built a wall between us.

“…Sorry.”

“Well, saying sorry now doesn’t really help, does it?”

She sighed in exasperation.

“When you’re dating someone, just trying to protect them isn’t enough. You have to take care of yourself too—otherwise, you can’t really take care of anyone else.”

“Yeah, you were pretty selfish too, though.”

“Wha—! T-That’s… I mean, sure, I caused some trouble, but…! That’s not what I meant! I just wanted you to rely on me more!

I know there wasn’t much I could actually do— it’s not like I could fight off some guy for you or anything…”

“Well… yeah.”

“B-But still! If you don’t even try to lean on me, I can’t do anything! It sucks, you know? Feeling useless while being the only one asking for things… it hurts.”

Her expression turned genuinely pained.

“…Sorry.”

“I told you, it’s too late for that.”

“Kawasaki’s my childhood friend.”

“What?”

“I mean, we only played together back in kindergarten. When I met her again in middle school, she’d changed a lot—and, well, things went how they went.”

“W-Wait, hold on! That’s a lot to drop at once!”

“Hey, that’s all the info I had.”

“I don’t know how to say this, but… even though I dumped you,
you really do attract… uh… difficult people, huh?”

Don’t say that! I already know, okay!?

The pitying look in her eyes stung worse than the wound.

“…Anyway, I told her what I needed to today. Got my payback. She won’t bother me again.”

“Uh-huh…”

“What?”

“It’s just… if you could do that, you should’ve done it from the start.”

“Well, that’s… yeah. Can’t argue with that.”

I can’t exactly say “It’s because I got reincarnated,” can I?

“Let’s just say… change of heart?”

“That big of a change!?”

Yeah, even I don’t buy that one.

“And you said it like a question!”

Ah, this is bad—everything I say digs me deeper.

“…You won’t laugh?”

“Depends on what you say.”

“Fair enough.”

“So, uh… how do I put this? The current me is kinda like… a reincarnated version of the old me.
Similar, but not quite the same person.”

“Pfft! What, are you still in your chuunibyou phase?”

See!? That’s the normal reaction!

“You hear that, you little loli angel? This is how people normally react!”

“Who are you calling a loli angel?”

Chop!

“Ow! I didn’t even say anything!”

Even Hiromi looked confused.

“Your eyes said it!”

What does that even mean!? Creepy!

“Ahem! Anyway, Yuu-san isn’t wrong.”

“Huh?”

“It’s true—he’s been reincarnated. He’s not the same person as before. And I came from the depths of heaven to support him as the just and righteous—”

“Loli angel.”

“Do you want to get hit again!?”

Hey, that’s on her—she said the cliché line first!

“I know… I already knew that, actually.” (She mumbled that under her breath.)

“What was that?”

“Nothing!”

Jeez… she’s in a bad mood again.

“So? What now?”

“What do you mean? I’m done talking about it. And she probably is too.”

“…I hope so.”

She muttered that, then turned her face away. But somehow, her profile looked softer—almost happy.

Maybe… talking about it wasn’t such a bad idea after all.