That day, Riku Ōba learned that his childhood friend had already been NTR’d.
“No way I could actually like him.”
Hearing that, it felt like my heart was about to shatter.
It was lunchtime, and the classroom was bustling with noise from my classmates, but I heard it clearly amidst all the commotion.
My childhood friend, Saki Aigami, had been deceiving me.
We had known each other for over ten years, and back then, she had even told me she would marry me.
She also said I was the only one for her.
To fulfill that, I worked hard after starting high school, took part-time jobs, and saved up money. Whenever Saki asked for something, I handed over the money without hesitation.
“He’s just a wallet. Right, Yūji, don’t you think so?”
“He’s an idiot who got tricked and used for hotel money, without even knowing his ‘girlfriend’ was working herself to the bone during part-time jobs!”
“Oh, Yūji, stop talking so much about hotels!”
“What’s the harm? Shall we go again today?”
“Oh, come on.”
The despicable pair flirted openly in the classroom. Watching them from a distance, I bit my lower lip.
The fact that I had been betrayed by someone I’d been so close to for so many years was unbearable.
Don’t mess with me… Every time she said she loved me, every date we went on, it was all a lie.
I realized it only this morning. By chance, I saw a post under Saki’s name on the social media platform, Twit-cher, and the content clearly seemed to be about me.
To top it off, there was a photo from a hotel, showing Saki with another guy.
When I confronted her, she confessed without hesitation. Then, she spread it like a joke to our classmates, making me a laughingstock in no time.
“Huh? What’s your problem, glaring at us like that?”
“No, I… it’s not like that…”
“Then what is it? Are you mad that you went after a girl who’s already with another guy?”
“She confessed to me. She said she loved me…”
I hadn’t realized that she was planning to deceive me. I got carried away, became her boyfriend, and all she did was take my money and leave me behind.
The guy she was with was notorious at school as a delinquent. He was Yūji, the captain of the basketball team, even though he was just a first-year.
“There’s no way she likes someone like you. You’ve got nothing going for you.”
“…But I trusted her.”
“Huh? I’ve hated you this whole time! Did you seriously think you were some handsome guy or something? You’re plain! You have no talents at all! No one needs someone as hopeless as you! Oh, sorry, I guess that’s why you have no friends.”
Saki laughed hysterically, and instead of anger, I just felt completely numb.
The Saki who once told me she loved me was gone.
I wanted to disappear, so much that I ran.
I wanted to vanish completely.
I had trusted her.
Before I knew it, I had reached the rooftop. Relieved to find it empty, I slumped against the wall and sat down.
Curling up, I buried my face.
If I went back to the classroom now, I’d just be laughed at again.
At the same time, Saki’s words echoed in my head.
“You’ve got nothing going for you.”
It was true—I wasn’t good at sports, and my grades were just average.
Even my hobbies were nothing special, just gaming. Maybe Saki was right—I was useless, after all.
“What are you doing here?”
“Huh?”
I looked up toward the voice, and there, sitting on the water tank, was a beautiful girl.
She had long blonde hair tied in a half-up style.
Had a girl this beautiful ever been at our school before?
Was this reality… or a hallucination caused by my stress?
It didn’t matter. I was useless anyway. No one cared about me.
“…A hallucination, I guess.”
“There, there. You look like you’re about to cry. Did something bad happen?”
The beautiful girl stood in front of me, crouching down to peer at my face.
Her simple yet pure features gave off an innocent vibe, and as she moved, her hair swayed gracefully.
I couldn’t believe a girl like this would worry about someone like me. So, I figured it was fine to talk to myself a bit.
I told her everything—the fact that my childhood friend had actually been NTR’d, that I was tricked, had my money taken, and that it was used to pay for hotel bills.
It made me feel a little lighter.
The more I talked about it, the more painful it became, but the urge to scream had settled.
“How sad. You worked so hard.”
“…What?”
It was an unexpected comment.
After hearing everything, where did she find anything in my story that could be considered “hard work”?
“But, the money you gave her was from the part-time jobs you worked to save, right?”
“Well, yeah, I guess.”
“That’s amazing.”
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