/
C hapter 70 – Two People Under the Setting Sun
Yudai-senpai asked me whether there was a quiet and secluded place where we could talk, so I brought them to the old staff room, the Rose Garden. No one ever stopped by there, even the floor was deserted, so it fit his criteria. I repeat, I suggested it because it fit his criteria, not because I didn’t know a better place.
This made me think though, wasn’t he a third-year? Shouldn’t he know more about this school than me? Though, I didn’t say those questions out loud, I didn’t want to complicate things any more than this and just wanted to end this farce quickly.
“The door isn’t locked?”
“It’s probably broken.”
Akakusa-sensei just stopped caring about this place. I should probably threaten to break into her place so that she gained some awareness about how important it was to keep a door properly locked. I had to find her address first, though.
We entered the room and took our seats, Yudai-senpai sat on his own while I sat in front of him with Kazawaguchi-senpai by my side. Kazawaguchi-senpai stared at Yudai-senpai with her half-asleep look, making him look away shyly everytime their eyes met. In the end, he gave up trying to look at her and focused his gaze on me instead. End my suffering already

“Yudai, do you know why I decided to go out with Sui-kun?”
“
Because you like him?”
“Nope. To make you give up.”
“Then, there’s nothing going on between you two?!”
“Yeah, senpai, there’s nothing going on between us. I’m only helping her out and have zero interest in her whatsoever.”
“Sui-kun, that’s mean. Are you implying that I’m not attractive enough?”
“You are attractive, senpai. If you’re an art piece, you’re pretty enough to be put in the British Museum.”
“Thank you.”
Seeing our exchange, Yudai-senpai’s face soured. I guess my attempt to reassure him backfired, huh?
“I thought if I were to date someone else, you would give up on me, Yudai.”
“
Do you think that would be enough to make me give up on you?”
“No, but at least it will restrain you somewhat. After all, if rumors were to spread that you’re trying to take me away from my boyfriend, it will affect you in one way or another.”
“That won’t be enough to make me give up on you!”
I want to go home

Dear sister, I miss you
 I want to watch TV with you again

“Seriously, can’t you just give up? I even went this far to make you give up. It should be clear to you that I don’t want to go out with you. Ever.”
“Why do you keep rejecting me?
”
“Because you’re Yudai.”
“That’s not a real reason.”
“It is.”
“It’s not!”
I want to go home!!
The outside world was scary. No one told me that those random drama scenes that mom and Ugin loved so much were actually real. Being involved in this didn’t feel good at all, though Ugin might love it.
Seriously, I felt so uncomfortable. At a first glance, they might seem like they were on bad terms, but from the way they talked to each other, they sounded really close. I mean they were on a first name basis already, that meant they were close enough to do that and they seemed to know each other well to banter like this. At least, from my point of view, they seemed close. Anyway, I hope that this dumb shuraba will be over soon.
“Okay, fine. Then, can you at least stop confessing to me every month? It’s annoying.”
“That just shows how much I like you, Kozue.”
“I don’t care. We’re going to graduate soon, stop messing around like an idiot.”
“It’s because we’re going to graduate soon that I’m doing this!”
“Both of you should calm down a little
”
“It’ll be over soon Sui-kun, don’t mind us.”
“Don’t interrupt us.”
Yeah, I should just go home after all. What was the use of me being here anyway? As a humanoid mascot? CO2?
“I’m going to tell the teacher about this
 Also your parents too
”
“Do it then, I don’t care.”
“
You’re seriously pissing me off
”
“If you hate me so much then, why did you accept my feelings back then?!”
Huh? Accept whose feelings? When? Were those two dating before this? What?
“I was just following the mood at that time.”
“That’s a lie. You looked so happy back then.”
“It isn’t a lie, you just remembered it wrong.”
“It’s a lie.”
I didn’t understand what was going on. Seriously, what?
“
I liked you okay?! Back then, I liked you!! It was hard on me back then too! I had to hold my feelings back
 It was painful
”
Suddenly, Kazawaguchi-senpai started crying. Tears started dropping to her knees and her soft sobs echoed through the room. She was unable to continue the conversation. Meanwhile Yudai-senpai turned over while hiding his eyes, I could hear him swearing in a low voice.
Both of them looked really sad and there was me, staring at them with my mouth open.
What the hell was going on? This turned messy really quickly.
Am I the only normal human being left on this planet?
*   *   *
After they calmed down, I took Kazawaguchi-senpai outside with me. I needed an explanation after all, or else, I wouldn’t be able to help them.
“What happened with the two of you?’
“
Sniff
”
“Yes, yes, wipe your tears first.”
“Idiot
”
“Don’t take it out on me, explain to me properly. You two were dating?”
“
Mhm, back in middle school
”
“So you both came from the same middle school
 How long did it last?”
“For years
 I loved him so much back then
 I think
 Sniff
”
“‘I think’?”
“
Along the way, I found another person that I really loved
”
Ah
 That was rough, Yudai-senpai

“I fell in love with that person when I was in the third grade, we were in the same class after all, there were a lot of chances for us to talk to each other. I kept telling myself that I had Yudai already, that having feelings for another person was wrong
 But I couldn’t help myself
 Bottling up those feelings felt bitter and nauseating
”
That didn’t count as cheating, right?

Well, since they were still in middle school, one could still see it as cute or even romantic somehow but if they were adults in the same situation, things would get messy really quickly. I could see at least one of them getting stabbed.
“I kept telling myself that I loved Yudai more than him but everytime I did that, I ended up hating myself more and more
 And since Yudai failed to realize how I felt back then
 I ended up hating him
”
“I see
”
This was too much of a mess for me to solve. Well, I’ll just act like a good listener for now.
“In the end, I hit my limit. I told Yudai that we should break up without giving him any reason whatsoever
 And since then, he kept asking me to get back together
”
“I see
 The person you fell in love with, what happened to him?”
“He went to a different school. I entered this school without much thought
 I didn’t know that I would find Yudai again here
 Anyway, in the end, I couldn’t bring myself to tell my feelings to that person, but I still love him so much
 I still dreamt of him occasionally
 Sometimes, I even went to the street randomly to look for him
”
A maiden-in-love, that was what people would call her, I guess. I didn’t know for sure though, since I couldn’t relate to her sentiment. Anyway, I felt sorry for Yudai-senpai, but at the same time, I couldn’t really blame Kazawaguchi-senpai.
It couldn’t be helped that she fell in love with someone, there was nothing she could do about it. To explain ‘love’ in a single word, it was ‘unreasonable’. Like Ugin said, ‘You couldn’t explain love theoretically, if you could, then it’s nothing but a conspiracy!’ or something along that line. She was probably quoting a random TV drama, but what she said was pretty much on point, so I agreed with her words.
When it came to love, it was pretty much impossible to answer simple and common questions like ‘Why do you like X?’ One could throw out words like ‘X is cute’ or ‘X is kind’ but those words couldn’t express their feelings properly. This wasn’t a bad thing or anything, it just showed that words weren’t versatile enough to explain about love.
Anyone could blame Kazawaguchi-senpai for her feelings, but I think they should try to put themselves in her shoes first. Were they sure that they wouldn’t fall into the same pit as her?
If I were in her shoes, I probably would.
“You have to tell Yudai-senpai everything. He deserves to know this
 Tell him everything that you’ve hid from him
 Put an end to this whole affair
”
And let’s go home afterwards, I’m thirsty.
“
Mm
 I’ll talk to him
”
She went back to the Rose Garden. I didn’t follow her as there was nothing I could do to help them out anyway. I should leave everything to them to solve their own problems, they should be able to do it as long as they put in the effort to understand each other’s feelings.
And so, my role had ended. Time to go back home.
*   *   *
“Welcome home.”
“I’m home, dear sister.”
My sister was greeting me while huddling herself in the kotatsu. I put down my bag and immediately let my body fall face first into the floor. I felt like dying.
“What’s wrong, Bro?”
“I’m sick of everything
”
“Don’t stay there, you’re blocking the way. Go to the sofa or come here. Mom is going to hit you if you stay there.”
“What about you? Will you hit me?”
“No, but I’ll step on you at least.”
“You’re terrible
”
I mustered all my strength to get up, walked to the sofa and let my body fall there.
“You know, Ugin
 Sometimes you say some wise words
”
“Huh? What are you on about?”
“I remembered something you told me a long time ago
 It was quite inspiring
”
“I don’t remember saying anything to you.”
“Some quotes about love.”
“Yep! I don’t remember anything~”
“I know you got some, tell me one or two, c’mon!”
“I don’t have any though?”
“C’mon, just say it.”
“Fine
 Only those who fell in love without expectation know the meaning of true love, Friedrich von Schiller.”
“As expected, Ugin-sensei is so cool!”
She suddenly made a serious face as she said that quote out loud.
She looked cool, but at the same time, I was worried that she would turn like me.
*   *   *
Next day. I met Kazawaguchi-senpai near the shoe lockers.
“Good morning.”
“Morning, Sui-kun.”
She looked as sleepy as usual. After greeting me, she let out a yawn, followed by a groan as she stretched her back.
“Thanks for yesterday, I talked it out with Yudai.”
“I’m glad to hear that.”
“You can explain to other people that there’s nothing going on between us. Just tell them everything, it’s fine. Good luck.”
“I’m used to doing this
 Anyway, senpai, about Arina
 How did you find out?
”
“Her double personality?”
“Yes.”
“By eavesdropping, of course~”
“
Are you for real?”
“Woah, calm down~ You don’t need to glare at me
 But, yeah, I happened to hear it. I was running away from Yudai and overheard you guys talking inside the old staff room.”
“You haven’t told anyone, right?”
“Of course I haven’t, why would I do that? Anyway, about the cure
”
Here it comes. The reason why I cooperated with her was for this moment.
“Such things don’t exist.”
“
What?”
So she lied to me?
“Stop glaring at me, I’m not done yet. This is mental illness we’re talking about, there’s no such cure to mental illnesses to begin with, even more so in the case of double personality disorder. Let me ask you a question first, you’re looking for a cure to her illness, but what do you think is a ‘healthy’ state for her?”
“
When her other personality disappear?”
“Are you sure that’s the right answer? Let me tell you this, the other personality born from this disorder is by no means a fake one. They have emotions and thought processes too, if you try to erase them thoughtlessly like that, they might rebel against you and make everything worse. Besides, you won’t even know if the personality is completely gone or not.”
I understood where she came from.
“Trying to cure her is the wrong way of dealing with this, what you should do is to make her adapt. The cause of dual personality disorder is always similar, unable to fit in with society, identity crisis, messy relationships and unstable psyches. What she needs is someone to lean on to ease her anxiety, someone who’s able to understand her, someone who’s able to treat her normally. Trying to make her overcome her trauma won’t help her, that method is too risky and there’s a huge chance that you’ll just make her even more mentally unstable than she already is.”
This was the first time that I’ve seen Kazawaguchi-senpai look this serious.
“Do you understand what I am trying to say?”
“
I need to support her?”
“Naturally. Not only do you need to support her, you also need to make her open up to you, make her able to discuss her anxieties and worries with you. You don’t need to do anything else, talking sincerely with her will do it. Things like trying to erase her other personality will just make it worse, so don’t even try to do it.”
In other words, I almost made a terrible mistake.
I always tried to make her other personality disappear, that was what Arina and the others wanted, but it turned out to be a terrible option. We were lucky that we hadn’t made a proper plan to do it, we almost did something irreversible.
I really should make her go to the hospital, doing this on our own was too risky.
“Thank you very much, senpai. But, how do you know about all this?”
“One of my relatives is a psychologist, so I asked them about this. See, I wasn’t lying to you. You just need to listen to me properly.”
“
Sorry
”
“It’s fine. Well, I hope that this could help her. Arina-san is a good girl, so, make sure to help her out properly, okay?”
“Of course. I abandoned my going-home club for her. I won’t do a half-assed job to help her. Anyway, senpai, if you need me again, just ask me, I’ll try my best to help you out.”
“Okay, thanks in advance~”
She poked my chest with her finger as she said that and walked away. I wish that she would be reunited with the person she loves someday. Also, I wish that Yudai-senpai would finally drop his unhealthy obsession toward her.