My Best Friend is so Popular it's a Problem (BL) - Chapter 24
Since then, Haruto hadn’t given me even an inch of space—he wouldn’t let me talk to him, not a chance to start. The only relief I had was that he still hadn’t singled anyone out.
“Geez… what’s that guy even thinking?”
“…………”
Sora had been keeping an eye on us ever since things had gotten awkward.
Lately, Haruto wouldn’t even spend lunch with me. He’d started eating in the cafeteria, which he’d hated so much before. So now, I was sitting in the almost-empty classroom with Sora, eating my lunch.
“It’s been ten days since you stopped the fake thing with Yuto… and Haruto’s still sulking?”
“…I dunno… wait, sulking? You mean he’s not angry?”
I asked, genuinely surprised, and Sora’s eyes went wide.
“What, you haven’t noticed? Sometimes he sneaks glances at Yuto.”
“W-What!? Really?”
“…Seriously? How dense are you? Poor Haruto, if you can’t even notice that.”
“B-But…!”
I’d been paying attention to him too, but we never made eye contact. I’d assumed my presence didn’t matter to him at all. That’s why I hadn’t even noticed him glancing at me.
“Then… why? Why does he push me away like that…?”
I murmured with a sigh. Sora rested his elbow on the desk, thinking.
“Yuto… what did you say to him?”
“Huh?”
“Before he suddenly got cold… do you remember what you said?”
“…Ah, well…”
At that moment… when Haruto had kissed me…
Ugh. Thinking about it, my face got hot again. His sweet tongue, my… ugh, no, stop.
I waved my hands in front of my flushed face to cool it down. Looking at Sora, he just gave me a disbelieving look.
“Ah, whatever. I don’t know exactly what you said, but I get the gist. Look… you need to properly tell Haruto how you feel.”
“…Huh? W-What did you just say?”
M-My feelings… my feelings for him!?
No way! My face exploded like a bomb.
I’d worked so hard to hide them!
“Your feelings are totally obvious, Yuto.”
What!? No way――――!
…Oh.
So that’s why Haruto got cold. Even though it was supposed to be fake, he noticed my feelings…
“Ah, no way.”
“!?!”
“W-What the heck, Sora! I didn’t say anything! Can you even read minds!?”
“—Idiot. That’s not it. It’s just that you wear your feelings all over your face.”
All over my face… Ugh, seriously? That’s embarrassing…
“Anyway, Yuto, you like him, right? Then go ahead and tell him you like him.”
“…But… Haruto only wanted a friend to keep away the pests, right? If I tell him I like him, he’ll probably just say he doesn’t want it…”
“That won’t happen. From what I see, it seems like Haruto’s the one who wanted to be with you.”
“Eh!?”
I was shocked, and Sora continued with a wry smile:
“Otherwise, he wouldn’t get jealous, sulk, or kiss you like that, right? I think that was his way of saying you’re his.”
“…No way.”
“I’m not lying. I think he planned it all, just to date you. But then he got rejected by you in the middle, and that’s why he sulked so much, probably.”
Hearing Sora explain it like that, my heart went thump thump all over again.
“If you can save him, that’s fine. But when Haruto’s like that, he won’t listen to anyone… So! If you like him, Yuto, then go for it!”
“…B-But…”
Even with Sora’s encouragement, I had no confidence. I couldn’t fully believe his words. My heart was pounding, my mind spinning—and then Sora dropped another bomb:
“Before he gets fed up with his own feelings and gives up, thinking ‘whatever,’ you’ve gotta save him… I don’t wanna see middle school Haruto again.”
Middle school Haruto… the dark era he never wanted to go back to.
A cold sweat ran down my palms.
I bit my lip tightly, thinking of Haruto’s cold face in my mind.