How Much Resolve Did You Have When You Said That?

Watching her two good friends leave without a hitch, Karuizawa Kei felt a little pleased.

She secretly marveled at how smoothly the plan was going.

But when she thought about what she had to do next, Karuizawa Kei couldn't help feeling a little nervous.

If she just told Chihaya Rei that she had something important she needed his help with, he might think she was being too obvious about her intentions.

So Karuizawa Kei decided they should sing a couple more songs to ease into it...

She tried to put on a cute smile. "Chihaya, shall we keep singing karaoke?"

"Wait a second."

Chihaya Rei suddenly raised a hand to stop her.

"What is it?"

Karuizawa Kei blinked in confusion.

"You have something you want to talk to me about, don't you? You can just say it."

The corner of Chihaya Rei's mouth lifted slightly as he pointed it out bluntly.

Now that the two uninvolved people had left,

and they'd sung to their hearts' content,

Chihaya Rei didn't think there was any need to let Karuizawa Kei stall any longer.

He wasn't the kind of person who valued efficiency above all else, but he had always preferred to get straight to the point.

It definitely wasn't because he couldn't wait to find an opportunity to interrogate Karuizawa Kei!

"Um... Chihaya, you noticed?"

At his words, Karuizawa Kei's hand stiffened slightly around the microphone. When she looked up at Chihaya Rei, her voice took on a hint of awkwardness.

But when she noticed that Chihaya Rei's expression was still calm and that he didn't seem angry,

Karuizawa Kei quietly breathed a sigh of relief.

"I noticed."

Chihaya Rei nodded slightly. Spinning the microphone in one hand, he spoke with a calm expression:

"Next time you try something like this, you should rehearse a few more times beforehand."

"When you actually put your plan into action, don't give each other more than one signal with your eyes or any other little gestures."

"Also, it would work better if you arranged for a phone call to come in as an excuse for someone to leave unexpectedly."

He gave a fair critique of the small slipups the three of them had made and offered some advice.

After all, in his eyes, their acting had been rather amateurish.

"..."

Karuizawa Kei blinked, a little dazed.

He sounded so professional. Had Chihaya been trained as some kind of secret agent?

"O-okay."

She nodded stiffly.

Perhaps because only she and Chihaya Rei were left in the dim private room,

Karuizawa Kei's usual bold, forceful demeanor from class seemed to fall away, and her voice weakened without her meaning to.

The air hung still for a few seconds.

Seeing this, Chihaya Rei continued in a calm voice, "Don't worry. You invited me to karaoke, and I had a pretty good time. I mean that."

"I'm also curious about what you want to talk about."

"I'll listen patiently."

Hearing that, Karuizawa Kei took a deep breath, as if she had finally made up her mind.

Chihaya really was a good person, and someone with plenty of patience and a strong sense of justice, wasn't he?

Karuizawa Kei had been paying attention to Chihaya Rei ever since their self-introductions on the first day of school, and she had been quietly keeping an eye on him all week.

Back then, when Sudo had suddenly started verbally attacking Hirata and the whole class had fallen silent,

Chihaya Rei had dared to stand up to Sudo, who looked like someone you wouldn't want to mess with.

That had left a deep impression on Karuizawa Kei.

Hirata and Kushida often struck up conversations with Chihaya Rei.

Even Horikita Suzune, who was always so cold, talked to him.

This showed that Chihaya Rei had a high standing in the class, and he seemed like a very approachable person.

He was handsome, too—exactly the sort of person she would want to date.

He'd played in a band and could play all kinds of instruments.

He was tall and well-built. When she'd leaned close to him while he was singing, she'd sensed the powerful muscles beneath his clothes. He had to be good at fighting.

If she became his girlfriend and got into trouble,

Karuizawa Kei was sure Chihaya Rei would be the kind of person who'd step in right away and help her without hesitation!

Not the sort of people-pleaser who tried to make both sides happy.

Karuizawa Kei had also read online that people in bands almost always had messy romantic lives—in other words, they were pretty free and easy.

So she figured Chihaya Rei must be interested in romance, too.

It might have been a little conceited of her to say so, but she had plenty going for her, too. She was pretty and cute, with a slim waist and a nice figure...

So she should be attractive to Chihaya Rei, right?

Karuizawa Kei clenched her fist on her thigh and bit her lip before finally speaking:

"Okay, I'll tell you."

"Mm."

Chihaya Rei gave a brief reply.

"When I started middle school, the others in my class picked on me because of my looks and grades..."

"I tried to fight back at first, but it didn't work at all..."

"They did a lot of awful things to me. I was badly injured, too, and ended up taking a long leave from school..."

Images of the bullying she'd suffered at the hands of her classmates involuntarily resurfaced in Karuizawa Kei's mind.

As she spoke about it, her voice trembled slightly.

Chihaya Rei listened intently.

Karuizawa Kei had chosen to tell him about her past.

He'd already guessed that she wanted to ask for his help—or, more accurately, for his protection.

But Chihaya Rei felt that telling someone aloud about being bullied still took courage.

He admired her for that.

After a while, Karuizawa Kei looked at Chihaya Rei with tears glimmering in her eyes, her voice full of pleading.

"So please, Chihaya, could you pretend to be my boyfriend and protect me?"

"I won't cause you any trouble. I'll listen to you, too."

Karuizawa Kei leaned toward Chihaya Rei and unconsciously gripped one of his wrists, the one resting on his knee.

"Without you, if I can't rely on someone else, I won't be able to survive at this school!"

"If you agree, I'll do anything..."

But before Karuizawa Kei could finish that last sentence, she felt Chihaya Rei's gaze change as their eyes met.

She paused slightly, and Chihaya Rei cut her off.

"If I agree, you'll do anything, is that it?"

"Mm..."

Karuizawa Kei nodded instinctively.

But in the next moment, Chihaya Rei's voice turned colder.

"How much resolve did you have when you said that?"

Chihaya Rei's eyes narrowed. The colored lights overhead swept across his face,

illuminating his somewhat icy gaze as he looked down at Karuizawa Kei with a scrutinizing stare.

"You want to survive by becoming my parasite?"

"Karuizawa Kei, seeing you demean yourself like this makes you seem so boring to me!"

Karuizawa Kei froze.

She could barely sense any sympathy for her in Chihaya Rei's words. Instead, she felt a deep reproach.

Those merciless words reached Karuizawa Kei's ears,

like a Sword of Damocles coming down hard to pass judgment on her.

Her expression crumpled, and the hopeful indigo eyes she'd had moments ago widened uncontrollably, filling with fear.

Her dry lips moved, but no sound came out.

It was over.

A terrible thought surfaced in Karuizawa Kei's mind.

Had she misjudged Chihaya Rei...?