Chapter 240 - 240: Watch closely, Kenta, this is how you use Nina-chan!

By the time he came out of the Manga Research Club room, most of the light had drained from the sky.

February dusk arrived early. A little past five in the afternoon and the sun had already sunk behind the rooftops of the residential district.

Tsushima Kagami hitched his bag strap higher on his shoulder and set off toward the convenience store where Shizuku worked.

His head was still full of the scene from the clubroom - everyone drawing manga together again, for the first time in ages.

"Kagami-senpai!"

The call brought him up short.

He turned around, and only then saw that it was Hiroi Kikuri and PA-ko.

Seeing him stop, the two of them jogged happily up to him.

"Oh, Kikuri and PA-ko."

"This is for you, senpai!"

Tsushima Kagami watched the two of them thrust out beautifully wrapped boxes of chocolate in perfect unison.

"Thanks."

He took them, then smiled at the pair. "You waited here just for me?"

"Mm-hm!" Hiroi Kikuri and PA-ko both nodded.

"We were going to give them to you at noon."

"But then we ran into Seika and she dragged us straight off to the cafeteria."

"And when we came looking for you in the afternoon, you'd already gone to the Manga Research Club," PA-ko added with a laugh.

"You could have just come to the clubroom, you know."

"Um, we ran into Akane-senpai and Sonoko-senpai during the day."

"We figured it was rare for all of you to be together again, so we didn't want to interrupt," Hiroi Kikuri said quietly.

"Then I really did keep you waiting a long time."

"Oh, right - do you have a show tonight?"

"Ah!"

"No time to talk, we have to get to the Livehouse!"

"Seika and Shizuka-senpai are still waiting for us!"

Hiroi Kikuri grabbed PA-ko's hand and started hauling her toward the school gate in a panic.

"Bye, senpai!"

PA-ko gave a small bow, smiling, and hurried off after her.

"Be careful on the way," Tsushima Kagami called after them, grinning.

He watched until they were gone.

Then he wrestled the chocolate into his school bag.

Once it finally fit, he turned to continue on to the convenience store.

"Tsushima-kun."

A voice came from the roadside.

Tsushima Kagami stopped and turned his head.

Hazuki Hotaru was standing beside the vending machine at the school gate, a pale pink paper bag hanging from her hand.

"Hazuki-san?" Tsushima Kagami walked over.

"I was waiting for you." There was something dejected in Hazuki Hotaru's voice.

"Something wrong?"

"This is for you, Tsushima-kun." She produced another elegantly wrapped box of chocolate and held it out to him.

"Thank you for the signature last time."

Ever since his identity had come out, Hazuki Hotaru had understood that the signed group illustration from before had, in effect, been Tsushima Kagami's own.

"Thanks. I'll take it, then."

He accepted the box.

Hazuki Hotaru looked down at the paper bag in her hand and hesitated for a few seconds.

"This… could you pass it on to Yamada-kun for me?"

The chocolate in his hand was beautifully wrapped, but set against that paper bag it was obviously in a completely different class.

Tsushima Kagami glanced at the pale pink bag.

A red heart-shaped sticker sealed the top.

"Valentine's chocolate?"

Hazuki nodded, her eyes fixed on the ground, not daring to meet his.

"Wouldn't it be better to give it to him yourself?"

"I…"

"Yamada seems to have been avoiding me lately." Her voice grew smaller with every word.

Tsushima Kagami was silent for a moment.

He'd watched the thing between Hazuki Hotaru and Yamada Kenta develop from the start.

It had felt like something that would come together on its own.

Hazuki Hotaru certainly hadn't been subtle about it.

What girl invites you out day after day for no reason?

And on a day like today, of all days.

What was Kenta playing at?

"Are you sure you still want me to be the one to hand it over?" Tsushima Kagami asked, looking at her.

Hazuki Hotaru wavered, then shut her eyes and pushed the paper bag out toward him.

"Please, Tsushima-kun."

"No matter what happens, I want him to have it!"

Kagami let out a quiet sigh and took the bag.

"I'll make sure he gets it."

Hazuki lifted her head, gratitude flickering in her eyes.

"Thank you, Tsushima-kun."

She bowed slightly, then turned and walked quickly away.

Tsushima Kagami watched her back disappear around the corner, then looked down at the bag in his hand.

A faint sweet scent still clung to the paper.

After a moment's thought he pulled out his phone and texted Yukinoshita Shizuku that something had come up and he might not be able to pick her up tonight.

If he still hadn't shown by the end of her shift, she should head home on her own.

He sent the message and pocketed the phone.

Then, paper bag in hand, he set off for Yamada Kenta's house.

He got there quickly and rang the bell.

It wasn't long before Yamada Kenta's mother opened the door.

"Oh, Kagami-kun!"

"Good evening, ma'am. Is Kenta home?"

These days Yamada Kenta's mother counted herself among Tsushima Kagami's mom-fans.

She hadn't expected him to turn up at her door on Valentine's Day of all days, so she greeted him with a delighted smile.

"You're here for Kenta?"

"He isn't back yet. Come in and wait in his room."

"I'll get you some snacks."

Hearing that Kenta wasn't home, Tsushima Kagami's brow furrowed.

Then he smiled at her. "That's all right. I just remembered - Kenta told me where to find him earlier."

"We might be back a bit late."

Just as Kenta's mother was watching him turn to leave with obvious disappointment on her face, something occurred to him.

He looked back at her. "Actually, ma'am, could I trouble you for one thing…"

When Tsushima Kagami left the Yamada house, there was a large bag in his hand that hadn't been there before, and he was headed somewhere else entirely.

He knew where Yamada Kenta was.

Kenta had told him himself, back when they first became friends - whenever his head was a mess, that was where he liked to go.

Later on, when Kagami came around to hang out and they couldn't think of anywhere to go, they'd sometimes just walk down there together.

Ten minutes east of the Yamada house there was a small river.

Cherry trees lined both banks.

It was February, and the ones that weren't early-blooming varieties were still nothing but bare branches.

Tsushima Kagami followed the embankment for about two hundred meters before he spotted Yamada Kenta on the slope below it.

Kenta was sitting on the grassy incline, arms wrapped around his knees, staring blankly at the water.

The river slid past slowly in the twilight.

He heard footsteps approaching, but he didn't turn around.

"Figured you'd be here." Tsushima Kagami walked over and sat down beside him.

Yamada Kenta said nothing.

Kagami set down his school bag and the two bags he'd been carrying.

Then he picked up the pink paper bag and placed it on the grass between them.

"Hazuki-san asked me to give this to you."

Yamada Kenta glanced down at it and was quiet for a few seconds.

"Where is she?"

"She handed it over and left."

Kenta made no move to pick it up.

"I'm pretty sure Hazuki-san likes you," Kagami said, lying back on the grass beside him, the way you'd mention the weather.

"I know," Kenta answered, flat and immediate.

"So why are you avoiding her?"

The corner of Kenta's mouth twitched into something like a self-mocking smile. "Someone like me doesn't deserve her."

"There's no deserving or not deserving with this stuff."

"Only whether you fit each other."

"And from where I'm sitting, the two of you fit fine."

"And if I said yes, then what?" Kenta finally turned to look at him.

"I'm scared…"

"I'm scared it'll go the same way it did before."

Kagami's brow creased.

"Hazuki-san isn't that kind of person."

"I know."

"Besides, aren't you supposed to be a die-hard member of the pure-love faction?" Kagami threw a punch at Kenta's arm.

"Show me that flashy blond normie you used to be!"

"That's exactly why I'm scared. Scared of her finding out what I'm really like."

"She'd be disappointed."

"And what if Hazuki-san doesn't care at all?"

"You're the guy who somehow only ever gets cheated on by slow-burn trash girls who can't cut ties with their exes."

"And who still hasn't even had his first kiss! You freak!"

"Can we not bring that up," Yamada Kenta muttered, his face going stiff with embarrassment.

"So you're just going to run, then?"

"I'll apologize to Hazuki-san tomorrow."

"And after that?"

"After that…"

"Don't tell me you'll go back to being ordinary friends."

"That's too cruel to Hazuki-san."

"Turn her down or accept her, either way."

"At least give her an answer."

Yamada Kenta didn't respond for a long time, and Kagami could see the struggle still plain in his eyes.

He stood up and brushed the grass off his clothes.

"Fine."

"Kenta, you've really let me down."

"You won't even accept a BO3!"

"You like a girl in real life,"

"and all you do is hem and haw. Half a year bottling it up and you still can't confess."

"All you can do is jerk off under the covers."

"You're a coward! A turtle! A battle-shy lizard! A spineless shrimp!"

"You just stand there and watch while someone else takes the girl you like!"

"You don't even have the guts to send me a BO3 request."

"You go dead silent the whole time."

"And then, 0.01 seconds before you quit the game, you finally work up the nerve to send a headpat emote, fishing for a little consolation."

"Ahh, I patted her head."

"Wow, I won, I won."

"But I'm still not taking your BO3."

Kagami paused there.

"Is playing ostrich actually fun?"

By this point Yamada Kenta was staring at him, dumbstruck by a tirade he mostly didn't understand but could tell with absolute certainty was aimed at him.

In the end all he could do was blink and ask, "What's a BO3?"

Kagami froze.

Sorry. Got carried away with the cursing.

"Ahem. Anyway, as your friend, I think you need to settle this one way or the other."

"Instead of leaving Hazuki-san hanging like this."

"If you like her, go tell her."

"Stop looking over your shoulder."

Yamada Kenta sank into thought again.

It was a long while before he nodded.

"I get it. Tomorrow I'll tell Hazuki-san that we're just friends."

"If she's still willing to be friends, anyway."

Kagami had thought his goading was working.

That Kenta was about to go confess.

Instead it had backfired completely.

"You realize you might never meet another girl like Hazuki-san for the rest of your life."

Kenta answered like a man who'd made up his mind about something enormous.

"If I don't love anyone, I can't get hurt."

"And I can't hurt anyone either."

"Besides, I've got Nina. Being with her is enough."

"Nina will never betray me."

Tsushima Kagami shook his head helplessly.

He picked up the other bag from the grass on the slope and climbed back up onto the embankment.

"You're leaving?" Kenta looked over his shoulder at him.

Kagami had stopped, and was pulling something out of the bag.

"Kenta, I'm sorry."

"I really didn't want to resort to this."

"You'll forgive me, right? We're friends."

Kenta stared at him, baffled. "What are you talking about?"

A gust came off the river, carrying the smell of water and wet earth.

Maybe because of Valentine's Day, this stretch of path was unusually deserted.

And then Yamada Kenta watched Tsushima Kagami lift his beloved Nina out of the bag.

"Kagami, why do you have Nina?!" His eyes flew wide.

"Why I have Nina-chan isn't the important part."

"The important part is that even Nina-chan can betray you~"

And with that, Kagami leaned in and licked the figure's face.

"Nina?!"

"Kagami, let go of her!"

"Stop licking her!"

Kenta couldn't stay sitting any longer. He scrambled to his feet and started up the slope.

"You think playing house with a doll means you get to be together forever?"

"How naive!"

"Watch closely, Kenta. This is how Nina-chan is meant to be used!"

Kagami aimed the figure at his own waist and, with his free hand, slowly drew down his zipper.

"Wait wait wait wait wait!! What are you doing!!!"

The blood drained out of Yamada Kenta's face.

Tsushima Kagami regarded him without a scrap of mercy.

"Didn't you say Nina would never betray you?"

"Then let's have Nina betray you right now."

"You know it as well as I do - Nina's actually an onahole!"

That was right. Back when the sales department decided to release the figure, they'd worked in a little extra idea.

Namely, a limited edition that could keep its owner company - and also keep its owner company!

"You've taken great care of her. Well then, I'll be accepting Nina's first time!"

"Are you insane?!!"

"Yameroooo!"

Yamada Kenta lunged, snatched Nina away, and clutched her tight against his chest.

"You bastard!!!"

Then he slammed his fist into Tsushima Kagami's cheek.

Kagami didn't dodge, didn't flinch. He took the full weight of Kenta's fury.

"That hurt!"

Instead of getting angry, he laughed at Kenta.

Then he swung a punch of his own.

"Take the guts you just used to punch your best friend and go confess to Hazuki-san!"

"You piece of - "

Kenta didn't dodge either. He took it square.

He glared at Kagami, his eyes red and threaded with blood.

"I'm a coward! A turtle! A battle-shy lizard! A spineless shrimp!"

"I don't dare let anyone in, because I'm terrified of losing them."

"I admit it."

"But what about you?"

Kenta kept his eyes locked on him, breathing hard.

"All those girls around you like you. Don't tell me you haven't noticed."

Kagami's pupils contracted a fraction.

"Sawamura Sayuri. Kosaka Akane. Machida Sonoko. Shimizu Nayotake. Seika Ijichi. Hiratsuka Shizuka."

"I hear there are two underclassmen from the light music club who are pretty close to you too."

"Oh, and let's not forget that sister of yours you're not related to by blood - Yukinoshita Shizuku!"

"Don't stand there and tell me you can't feel how they feel about you."

Yamada Kenta bit off every word.

"So what are you going to do?"

"Just keep them dangling like this?"

"Soak up all that affection and never say a word about it?"

"Neither accepting them nor turning them down?"

"I haven't - "

"You haven't what?"

"Haven't enjoyed it? Haven't strung them along?"

Kenta's voice climbed higher.

"You're going to claim you don't know what's in their heads?"

"Even I can see it."

"You're that clever, you write the human heart that well - and you can't see it?"

"Dassai-ya-sensei?"

"Or should I say, Xuanyaye-sensei?"

"Stop treating everyone else like an idiot!"

Tsushima Kagami said nothing.

How could he not know.

He knew all of it.

He'd just been playing dumb.

Because there was a barrier inside him, harder to get over than Yamada Kenta's fear of being betrayed.

Mentally, he was well past thirty.

The way he saw it, these girls were no different from the students he'd once taught.

And they were all underage schoolgirls.

Never mind that in his previous life he'd been a high school teacher, bound by a professional code of ethics that forbade any romantic involvement with a student.

The values he'd spent thirty-odd years building had been telling him the same thing all along: this is wrong.

So he'd always dealt with them as an adult, as an elder, as a teacher - in both role and attitude.

But maybe it was the hormones of a body made young again, running riot through adolescence. Sometimes he simply couldn't hold that line where it belonged.

Especially living under the same roof as Yukinoshita Shizuku. That line slipped constantly.

Rationally, he should have kept his distance from her.

But his feelings, and that same teacher's duty to help a student, made it impossible to leave a kid like that to fend for herself.

When he realized that something about Shizuku had shifted, he'd thought moving out of the apartment might cool things down.

Instead she'd moved in with him of her own accord.

And he hadn't turned her away a second time.

Maybe some part of him had thought: it's a parallel world, a new life.

So why carry all that moral baggage?

What was wrong with doing the things a boy his age should be doing?

But the values rooted deep in him always surfaced at the critical moment and dropped him straight back into the same dilemma.

And with several of those girls, he'd stumbled into helping them at the lowest, most helpless points of their lives.

So what did that make him? Someone who took advantage of a person when they were down?

That was exactly the kind of man he'd despised most. Was he going to become one now?

Tsushima Kagami found himself circling back into that dilemma again and again.

In his previous life, from his student years through his working years, he'd turned down a lot of girls.

Because he genuinely thought love was more trouble than it was worth, and no one had ever moved him.

Now, with these girls, the two halves of his brain were locked in permanent combat.

Which made it obvious. He'd been moved.

He was no different from Yamada Kenta.

Kenta watched him stay silent, dragged in a few breaths.

Then his voice dropped.

"Or is it… that you actually like all of them?"

The river wind blew through, tugging strands of both their hair loose.

Kenta held Nina against his chest and looked at him without speaking.

"I…"

"Kenta, hit me twice more."

Kagami's head was a tangle of knots.

"Like hell I will!" Kenta suddenly laughed.

"Go find those girls circling around you."

"Tell them you like every single one of them."

"Then grit your teeth and take every last slap they give you!"

"If you've got the nerve to face them squarely,"

"then I'll face Hazuki-san squarely and confess!"

Kagami didn't answer.

"You're pathetic, Kagami." Kenta shook his head.

"I don't dare accept anyone because I'm afraid of being betrayed."

"But at least I know what I want. I want to not get hurt."

"You?"

"You don't even know what you want."

"I'm afraid of hurting them," Kagami said abruptly.

"And this isn't hurting them?"

"You're not afraid of hurting them. You're afraid that if you really opened your heart,"

"you'd stop being that calm, rational Tsushima Kagami who stands above it all and studies people's hearts."

"What you're afraid of is turning into an ordinary human being - one who gets jealous, who gets anxious, who's terrified of losing what he has!"

"You really do look down on the rest of us from up there, Kagami-kun."

After that, Yamada Kenta said nothing more.

The two of them stood in silence on the embankment, listening to the slow movement of the water.

How long passed, neither could say. Then Tsushima Kagami walked back down the slope, picked the pink paper bag up off the grass, came back, and shoved it into Kenta's arms.

"Take it."

He turned and started back the way he'd come.

A few steps on, he stopped, but didn't look back.

"You're right, Kenta. I don't know what I want."

"But I can't keep playing dumb either."

"One more thing."

"Just now, all that was in your eyes was rage at Nina being taken. Not the faintest flicker of pleasure."

"Congratulations. Your NTR victim syndrome is cured."

"You're qualified to love Hazuki-san now."

His voice scattered into the wind off the river.

Yamada Kenta stood at the edge of the embankment, Nina in one arm, the pink paper bag in the other hand.

He looked down at it.

For a long time.

Then, slowly, he peeled off the heart-shaped sticker.

____

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