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(**Kirara’s POV**)
“A-Ahh… they’re so attached to one another…”
As I watched Kaito and Momoi hiding in the shadows of the building, I couldn’t help but feel my blood boil when I saw Momoi hugging Kaito’s arm.
The two of them have been like this all day.
When they rode their bicycles, Momoi hugged Kaito from behind, and when they took a detour to a lake in the forest, they seemed to be having a great time talking in their own private space.
More importantly―
“Who the hell is that girl!?”
I couldn’t help but exclaim as I watched the two of them.
Because Momoi, the girl Kaito is with now, doesn’t have the cold-hearted side she shows at school at all!
She has a very maidenly expression on her face, and she’s completely in love with Kaito!
If everyone at school saw Momoi like this, they’d all be surprised!
I mean, she’s a completely different person right now!
“Blonde gal… shut up…! Kai and the others will find out…!”
Alice couldn’t hold back and shouted, which was unusual of her.
This may be the first time in my life that I’ve ever seen this girl angered.
“But, if we don’t do something, Kaito will be taken! So why are you acting like you don’t care?”
I’m sure Alice also likes Kaito, but she was looking at Momoi, who was attached to Kaito, with a nonchalant look on her face.
I don’t understand that kind of feeling.
Because my mind is so bewildered right now.
But isn’t that normal?
Anyone would be bothered by the fact that the person they like is hugging another girl and looking so happy!
So why the hell does Alice look so nonchalant about it!?
“As long as… Kai is happy… that’s all that matters…”
In response to my question, Alice made a mature statement.
I thought that Alice was great.
Even if she said that Kaito was happy, it was still hard for me to accept this situation.
“But Onee-sama, you are in a very bad mood, aren’t you? You don’t really like it, do you?”
As I was admiring Alice, Camilla, who was holding hands with Shirousagi ordered by Alice, was looking up at Alice curiously.
The reason why she’s holding hands with Shirousagi is because she’s using him as a leash to prevent Camilla from doing something wrong.
Or rather, Alice doesn’t really want Kaito to be friends with Momoi!
I’ve lost my admiration for her!
I can only see the usual blank expression on Alice’s face, but Camilla, who’s always with Alice, can tell when she’s in a bad mood.
To prove it, she pointed out to me that she was pinching Camilla’s cheek.
“…Walking cat-eared bomb… you’ll get punished when we get home…!”
“Ouch, ouch, ouch, nyat hurts! Onyeenyamaa~! Nyou’re alreanyie nhurting nhe!” [TLN: You’re already hurting me.]
Camilla protested with tears in her eyes from the pain of having her cheeks pinched by Alice.
I felt that Alice was probably venting her frustration at Kaito and the others with Camilla.
“Calm down, Byodoin-san, Camilla-chan didn’t mean any harm, so just let her be.”
Camilla was being punished by Alice with tears in her eyes, and Shirousagi felt sorry for her and began to soothe her.
Then Alice reluctantly removed her hand from Camilla’s cheek, and Camilla, with tears in her eyes, began to get pampered by Shirousagi for saving her.
“There, there, it doesn’t hurt much now, does it?”
Shirousagi gently stroked Camilla’s pinched cheek as she cried out to him.
He’s totally treating her like a younger sister.
“Ugh… Thank you.”
And Camilla seems to be happy to have her cheek stroked, and she’s accepting it comfortably, squinting her eyes.
It’s a good thing that Shirousagi was able to tame Camilla in just two days.
…I wonder what will happen if Shirousagi reveals that he’s a man?
When I saw the two of them in a relaxed mood, I couldn’t help but think of the things that were bothering me in my heart because of Kaito and the others.
“It’ll turn into a big fuss… so don’t stop them… It’ll all be… for naught… when it’s going so well…”
I guess I was letting my thoughts show on my face, but I was warned by her who was looking at me.
Then Alice told Shirousagi to take Camilla and go for a short walk around the area.
“I know that… But what if Momoi steals Kaito…?”
Kaito and his friends had come out of the movie theater a while ago, and after looking at some clothes in the mall, they now went into a coffee shop, even though the sun was starting to set.
Unfortunately, I couldn’t hear what they were talking about when it happened like this, but since I could see Momoi’s expression even from outside, I’m pretty sure they’re still talking nicely.
If this continues, Momoi will really steal Kaito.
“But you’re not going to… get in the way, are you…?”
When I was fretting from anxiety, Alice asked me that.
“…There’s a reason why I can’t just interfere…”
I need to be her friend first to make up for what I did to Momoi before.
So if I were to interrupt such a good atmosphere now, I am certain that Momoi would resent me for it.
So there was no way I could just interfere right now.
I can’t just give up Kaito to Momoi, but that doesn’t mean I can’t put what I did to Momoi on the shelf.
So, until we get to the crucial point, I’ll just have to be patient.
“Well, don’t worry, Kai won’t be going out with the Momoi girl.”
“Eh?”
I looked at Alice’s face as she suddenly muttered.
It was partly because her tone of voice had suddenly become fluent, but I was more surprised by the content and reacted.
“Why? Because Momoi is very popular at school, right? Besides, Momoi is so cute now that it’s frustrating for me as a girl to see her like this…”
“Can’t you see that? The more the Momoi girl likes him, the more Kai is in trouble.”
“Eh, how is that the case…?”
I can’t see the expression on Kaito’s face because he has his back to me right now, but I’ve been watching him all day and I don’t think I’ve seen anything like it.
“The Momoi girl is very fond of Kai. But the more she does, the more she’s pushing Kai away.”
“What do you mean…?”
“I was convinced today that Momoi is the type to turn away from things that are inconvenient for her. In other words, she’s the type that keeps running away.”
“Momoi is the type that keeps running away? She doesn’t look like that at all, though?”
Because Momoi is a perfect woman who can do anything.
That’s why she’s unbelievably popular in school.
“Do you know anything about her past?”
Alice peered into my face and asked me about Momoi’s past.
“No, I don’t know anything about it. I’ve never heard anything about Momoi’s middle school years at school.”
“Well, that’s good, then. Then you know about her grades and her athletic prowess, don’t you?”
“Ah, yeah, I know about that… On the other hand, why would you know about that?”
“If that’s the case, then why didn’t the Momoi girl go to one of the top schools in the prefecture, even though her grades were good enough to place her at the top of the national examinations? And why didn’t she join an athletic club when she can just exercise as well as the boys?”
Haa~, she’s ignoring my question…
But I was curious about that, too.
Momoi’s grades would easily get her into the best school in the prefecture, and she gets scouted by the athletic department every day.
And yet, Momoi is enrolled in the same school as us, where anyone can get in, and she doesn’t even want to join the athletic team.
Most of those people have some kind of complicated family situation, but Momoi’s family doesn’t have any such thing.
In the first place, she doesn’t mind coming home late when she belongs to the student council.
If that’s the case, why does she come to the same school as us?
I thought about it for a while, but I couldn’t come up with an answer, so I shook my head to Alice.
“It’s a simple reason. She’s afraid of failing. That’s why she entered a school that was several ranks lower than her own. That way, she could study at her own pace without worrying about her rank. In fact, it’s not uncommon for students who go to schools with high scores to lose their grades because they worry too much about their rankings and lose their pace of study. Perhaps that’s what the Momoi girl is afraid of. And she doesn’t belong to an athletic club because she’s afraid that someone else will be able to do better than her.”
Alice seemed to really believe that and said it out loud.
“Isn’t that a far-fetched idea?”
I denied her words, thinking that there’s no one who would care about such a thing.
But Alice shook her head.
“The Momoi girl is very talented. That’s why people inevitably have high expectations for her. But that expectation is nothing but pressure from the person who is receiving it. And the more results she achieves, the stronger that pressure becomes. It is often said that geniuses don’t understand the feelings of ordinary people, but the opposite is also true. Ordinary people don’t understand the weight and pain of the expectations that geniuses have from those around them. And the Momoi girl couldn’t bear the pressure and ran away.”
There was a strange weight to what Alice had just said, and it somehow made me think that she was right.
“Later, in high school, her personality was different from middle school. In middle school, she had a girly personality, just like today.”
“…How do you know all this?”
“But in high school, she became cold-hearted. But as you can see, she still has her girlish personality. You’re just like her, you know? Well, in your case, your personality itself has changed… Why do you think your personality has changed but hers has not?”
Again, Alice ignored my question.
It seems that she ignores all inconvenient questions for her.
“Well, for starters, I don’t understand what you’re saying.”
I didn’t know exactly what she wanted to say, so I replied.
“It’s not good to give up thinking that early. But this time, I’ll teach you. Your personality has changed because you didn’t run away. You vowed to face it, and that’s why you were able to change. But the Momoi girl, instead of facing her pain, turned away and ran away. As a result, she kept her original personality and wore a mask of cold-heartedness on her mind to survive.”
“Hmmm… I understand, but I don’t get it at the same time…?”
To be honest, I didn’t really understand what she just said.
What Alice said was too difficult for me to understand.
“The most important thing to remember is that even though you set her up, she went to school the next day with an unconcerned look on her face.”
“―Wha!? How do you know about that!?”
The topic that she had just brought up was the fact that I had done something unforgivable to Momoi.
There was no way Alice could have known this.
“I can’t tell you when I found out, but I know all about it. and I’m not going to ask you about it now. So, to continue with the story, why do you think she was able to come to school the next day after all that was done to her?”
“I don’t know…”
I don’t want her to talk about it too much, so I tried to cut her off on that topic.
However, Alice continued to talk about it.
“The reason is the same as before, it’s very simple. She turned her attention away from what had been done to her. By focusing on something else, she was able to avoid thinking about what had been done to her. You can tell what she focused on by looking at the Momoi girl right now, can’t you?”
Alice then turned her gaze to Momoi.
I followed her gaze and looked at Momoi’s face too.
Momoi is still smiling and looking at Kaito with a maiden-like expression.
So, I knew what Alice was trying to say, even though I didn’t want to think about it.
Momoi was trying to forget what I had done to her by obsessing over Kaito.
It was the same as what I had done to Momoi, so I knew exactly what she meant.
“But it doesn’t change the fact that she’s amazing, that she can be put out of her mind after such a horrible experience. That’s why it’s such a shame.”
Shame…?
I questioned Alice’s words in my mind and looked at her face again.
“I don’t want that thing to be around Kai right now. I’m sure that one day she’ll betray Kai.”
Alice muttered, furrowing her eyebrows.
I had so many questions from earlier that I didn’t even know where to start and fell silent.
Then Alice went on talking by herself.
“So, back to the beginning, the Momoi girl is only trying to see the best in Kai. And yet, because she continues to favor Kai, Kai is afraid of being disliked and can’t talk to her about his guilt. And since Kai can’t accept her feelings as long as he has something to hide, he won’t go out with the Momoi girl. On the other hand, you know Kai’s guilty feelings, so your chances are much higher.”
“Does that mean you’re rooting for me?”
“I’m just telling you the truth.”
When I asked jokingly, Alice just replied with a blank expression.
But she doesn’t support me at all because I feel a tremendous amount of pressure.
“But Kaito doesn’t trust me. That’s why he won’t even tell me about it…”
I was concerned that Kaito wouldn’t tell me that he was KAI.
The last time he misled me, I thought it was a rejection from him.
“The reason why Kai doesn’t tell the blonde gal about it is to protect you. He already trusts you enough.”
“Eh…?”
“And Kai told you about what happened in middle school, right?”
“Did Kaito tell you?”
“No, I just guessed from the way Kai treated you. I also know that Kai left a classmate to die of his own volition in middle school. This was predicted based on the situation at the time, and Kai’s PE scores and such were enough for him to react.”
I felt a chill as Alice said such an impossible thing without hesitation.
It was as if I was looking at a terrifying monster.
“Who the hell are you…?
“Alice is Alice.”
“No, that’s not what I meant…”
“I know. But even I don’t know exactly who you are. That’s why it’s very important to have a name that can properly describe a person. It’s not something you can simply call someone if you don’t understand them.”
“So that’s why you don’t call them by my name?”
Alice nodded her head in response to my question.
To be honest, I thought she was a strange girl.
Her way of thinking was too different from mine.
There’s a fine line between an idiot and a genius, and that’s probably what this person is.
“I’ve already given you quite a few hints, but have you figured out the connection between Alice and Kai?”
As I was puzzled over this, Alice asked me about her connection with Kaito, which had always been something that’s been bothering me.
But I didn’t know anything about it except that they were very close, which I didn’t want to know.
So I shook my head.
“Blonde-gal is still far off… Well, there’s still plenty of time, so keep trying to find out.”
“Why do I have to do this?”
I’m not sure why I’ve been given this kind of assignment for a while now, so I asked Alice.
“You want to get closer to Kai, right?”
“―!?”
“This is the first step. The first step is to learn how to find the answers yourself.
“Are you my teacher!?”
“Who knows?”
I couldn’t take it any longer, so I shouted at her, but Alice just tilted her head and blurted it out.
I’m pissed off that I thought the gesture and expression was a little bit cute.
“Well, that being said, there is one thing I would like to say to the blonde gal.”
“What?”
I thought she was going to declare war on me for Kaito, so I braced myself.
But what Alice said was unexpected.
“Don’t take your eyes off Kai.”
“Eh? What do you mean?”
“When I beat him, I realized that… Kai’s heart is starting to break. If something happens to break it completely, Kai will do something irreversible. That’s how powerful it is.”
“So the reason why Alice has been so worried about Kaito is because of that…”
Alice nodded at my words.
“If something happens to Kai, I’ll be able to take immediate action. Also, I’ve managed to get Kai’s mind back to normal, which is strange…”
She looked at Kaito and the others once while she was talking to me, and muttered something like that with a frown on her face.
I wondered what was going on, and when I looked over at Kaito and the others, I saw Kaito coming out of the coffee shop, making a phone call with an impatient expression on his face.
Next to him, Momoi was looking at Kaito with a worried expression.
“…Rather than having a problem, they’re worried…? But I think they’re worrying too much…? I’m curious, so I’m going to go check it out.”
“Eh!? Hold it, wait a minute!?”
We’ve been hiding for a while now, but if we go out now, we’re screwed!
I’m not sure why, but I followed Alice to Kaito’s location―.