"You're always going on about Akimoto-kun this, Akimoto-kun that! It's so annoying! You're always lecturing me like this! Who do you think you are to me!? My mom?!"
"I've had enough! You're always comparing me to other people! Are you trying to make yourself feel superior?!"
"Can you shut up?! If you like Akimoto-kun so much, then why don't you two just get together! Don't come meddling in my business anymore! We're just neighbors who happen to live next door to each other! Don't act like I owe you something!"
One of the things men hated hearing most.
"Look at how much someone else's husband makes in a year. Look at how someone else's husband just bought a new car. Look at what kind of new bag someone else's husband bought his wife," and so on.
Fukayama Midori knew full well that he was nowhere near as tall or as considerate as Akimoto Yoichi.
It was all true.
But even so, he couldn't stand Suzuran Ayano comparing him to Akimoto Yoichi.
In the past, Fukayama Midori wouldn't have dared to speak like that.
But he had found courage through Nagase Kumari.
Looking at Suzuran Ayano, who stood before him with a shocked and hurt expression, Fukayama Midori felt flustered and regretful. But soon, an unprecedented sense of satisfaction swelled up inside him.
He had never asked Suzuran Ayano to protect him. In truth, Fukayama Midori didn't want Suzuran Ayano, who was in another class, to come to his classroom after every lesson and after school just to check on him, find things to talk about, or bring him lunch.
Children, especially when they were young and immature, hated being seen getting close to girls.
That always got him mocked as a coward who hid behind a woman.
Suzuran Ayano's behavior