My Childhood Friend Who Was Doing Personal V-Tubing Got Ntr’d by a Singer (LOL), but I’ve Decided to Just Sit Back and Watch the Two of Them Roll Down the Hill of Life and Fall Into Ruin - Chapter 14: It Seems the Childhood Friend Is Still Going to Mess Up

Chapter 14: It Seems the Childhood Friend Is Still Going to Mess Up

After clearing up the lingerie shop lady’s misunderstanding, they headed to a cafe popular with outgoing types, each carrying a shopping bag. Once they finished ordering and sat down at a table, a wave of exhaustion hit him all at once.

“Hah… come on, stop treating me like Masao, Masao.”

It was a joke that made his heart skip a beat, so he gave a wry smile while sipping his latte.

“Ahaha. …Right now, Masao is like this internet meme where he’s everyone’s plaything, right? Just think of Masao as this totally lame guy and don’t worry about it. Laugh it off, that’s all you need to do. Turn it into a joke yourself, I think that’s just right~. So, laugh, Tak-kun.”

“So that thing earlier was to make me laugh off Masao… that’s what it was?”

“YES! YES! YES! YES! YES!”

Eh~?! Well, whatever. He didn’t care about the small details.

“Um, so should we head to the hotel? Is it okay if Asakura comes along too??”

Kusaka held her frappuccino cup with both hands and looked up at him with puppy-dog eyes; he thought the gesture was cute, but it felt a bit glitchy somehow. Like that old TV at grandma’s house back in the day—maybe giving it a chop would fix it?

“…Putting aside that Miyabi seems kind of glitchy, Tak-kun, can I talk to you for a bit?”

Miyabi? Oh, that’s Kusaka. Come to think of it, Kusaka’s first name was Miyabi, right? Miyabi… Mi… ya… hmm, something… it felt like he was overlooking something important… oh well, he’d remember it eventually. As he mulled that over, Asakura, who was usually so down and unmotivated, narrowed her eyes just a bit. By the way, she naturally placed her frappuccino cup right on top of her chest without missing a beat.

“—It’s about Urakiri. I think you should be a little careful.”

“About Himeko? No, but we’re estranged now, and her father got arrested, so she shouldn’t have any more reason to get involved, right?”

In response to his words, Asakura slowly shook her head.

“You’re too naive, too naive. You shouldn’t think she’s reflected on it at all~. I have this wild instinct thing, and it usually hits the mark.”

For some reason, when Asakura said it, it carried weight. Even if it turned into a battle royale where they had to kill each other until only one was left, she’d probably survive to the end just on her wild instincts and sense alone, that Asakura.

“Oh, I was thinking the same thing.”

Kusaka, back from her glitch, nodded in agreement.

“I think the current Urakiri—her true nature, which hadn’t surfaced before because she was unconsciously fulfilled, is coming out now. It’s like the essence deep in her heart that wouldn’t have shown itself if she hadn’t made the wrong choice.”

With that, Kusaka slurped her frappuccino with a little “chuu” sound. The talk was complicated. He pleaded with his eyes for a simpler explanation, please! and she nodded like she got it. Wasn’t Kusaka way too good at reading his mind?

“Maybe until now, she just didn’t realize she had what she really wanted? And now that she’s lost it, she’s not holding back anymore. She’s like an invincible person with her true nature fully exposed. So I don’t think she’ll just quietly back off like this… she’s probably going to mess something up still.”

Got it, invincible person. When she put it that way, it somehow felt dangerous.

“And she might try to stick her nose into school stuff too.”

Asakura’s merciless words about the school. This school had its student council president and a teacher arrested, after all; the media came, it made the news, and he thought this school was seriously messed up, so he figured enrollment would drop next year.

“If you think about the school’s position, they probably don’t want any more trouble going public, and Urakiri was top of her grade… or rather, she had top scores on the national unified tests too, so from the school’s perspective, she was like a ‘mercenary’ who’d go to a famous university and boost their reputation~. So that’s why I think she’ll try to intervene in stuff like that. Normally, even if expulsion isn’t on the table, they’d probably go for suspension or some guidance… but it’s our school, so who knows how it’ll play out.”

“…I see, so that’s a possibility too. For someone whose nutrition all goes to her b00bs, you’re pretty sharp, Asakura.”

“Praise won’t get you more than a b00b touch.”

“For real?!?!?! Ah, no, ahem.”

He couldn’t help reacting on impulse to Asakura as she puffed out her chest, but then he felt embarrassed and clammed up. When Asakura puffed out her chest like that, her b00bs strained so tight against her shirt that it was seriously dangerous… oh, right, Kusaka had gone quiet. …Ah.

“I’m done for… it’s over…”

Kusaka trembled like she had just laid eyes on the legendary super-b00b woman, her eyes tearing up from the terror and despair, and she already seemed to have lost the will to fight… hmm, was she channeling some vegetable prince or something??

“By the way, better late than never, but Tak-kun, what did you like about Urakiri?”

Asakura asked, so he reflected and said, “Well…”

“It’s partly because we spent so much time together, but she was the type who clearly stated what she wanted to do or her goals, like wanting to be number one! or wanting to be famous for being a V! or whatever, so maybe that’s it.”

“Hmm?”

Asakura said it with her usual downer expression, but she seemed interested.

“I think I told you about the accident I had as a kid, right? After that, I started thinking people can die so easily out of nowhere, and I couldn’t find any goals anymore. To someone like me, Himeko seemed so dazzling. So helping Himeko… I think that was fun for me.”

“Tak-kun… that’s sad.”

For some reason, Asakura looked heartbroken as she said it, like a female pilot who’d just massacred civilians from a giant crab-like mecha. No, she was probably just genuinely sad for him. Hmm, yeah, it might be sad, but maybe he should assert his own take on it.

“I don’t have dreams. But I can help with someone else’s dreams.”

“Hey Tak-kun, don’t tell me you can transform into a wolf monster or something??”

Asakura jumped on his words right away, but… who knows. He’d never tried, so he had no idea.

“…That side of you is what got used in a good way, huh, Tak-kun. Heart wounds are unavoidable, but maybe the person you tried to fill your emptiness with just wasn’t right. …Even putting aside the cheating and tolerating violence as separate issues.”

Kusaka, who had been listening, seemed revived—good.

“So that Tak-kun can smile, and so that Tak-kun can find his dreams… from now on, we’ll be together, okay?♡”

“Uh… thanks?”

Come to think of it, he still didn’t really get why Kusaka was paying attention to him like this. Things had just kind of snowballed into him hanging out with Kusaka… he wasn’t unhappy about it, and it distracted him, so he was grateful, but. Was it okay to ask for the reason?

“Oh, I still haven’t done the daily in that social game.”

Just as he was about to bring it up with Kusaka, Asakura said that while setting aside her empty plastic cup and laying her phone sideways on top of her chest. By the way, she was so tired that she had plopped that mountainous chest right onto the table in that position. It was way too stimulating a sight for a high school boy!!

“Ahaha! So big! Is it a comet? No, right~? Comets move whooosh~ way more.”

Oops, Kusaka, freshly revived, had spiraled into mental collapse again at the end of her sorrow. She was a beautiful woman, so he thought she didn’t need to worry about it.