Ch. 0 - Prologue p4 - The Love Over 10,000 Confessions Comes to an End
“Dang…”
“…”
When Karen entered the classroom, she made eye contact with me.
I had an awkward look in my eyes and Karen had a slightly angry look in hers. To put it bluntly, she’s glaring at me.
I wonder if she is disgusted to see his childhood friend, who has confessed to her ten thousand times, in the morning.
“Oh, Karen finally came to school.”
“The princess is late to make an appearance…”
“That’s not true.”
Although I was casually making comments like this, I was still nervous inside.
At any rate, Karen’s seat is at the very front of my row. In other words, there’s a good chance that she’s going to pass by me when she walks toward her seat.
As usual, Karen smiles at the classmates who greet her and returns the greeting. But then, she approaches me.
Please take another route to your seat! Are you trying to give me cancer? [TL: kekw] Keru! Please protect me with your strong body…!
“Good morning, Karen! You’re here at the same time as usual. It’s really time for you to start arriving at school with more time to spare.”
“I can’t get up in the morning, I swear.”
“It sure feels that way.”
Just like any other day, Otoha has an amiable conversation with Karen.
It was business as usual. The two of them have been close friends since the first year of high school, along with Keru and me. When these two are together, I think there are imaginative flowers appearing around them.
However, right now, it seems to me that there is an ominous aura around Karen, wrapping her back in darkness.
She hasn’t finally started to use magic, right? What a silly thing to think.
“Good morning, Keru-kun.”
“Mornin’.”
Keru acted pretty much the same as usual.
Finally, Karen turned her gaze toward me.
“…”
But she didn’t say a word, only sending a sharp glance in my direction.
If there was any physical mass in this gaze, I’d probably be stabbed by it.
I couldn’t take the silence any longer, so I greeted her.
“G-Good morning… Karen.”
“…”
“…”
“…What’s going on… with you, staring at me like that…?”
“No, it’s nothing.”
That called for an instant reply.
I wonder if I’m the only one that didn’t have a good enough face to be greeted by her.
“Well… when you stare at me so intently…”
“What? Didn’t you like me?”
“No, it’s not… that…”
Now. Now is the time for me to declare my surrender to my childhood friend.
That’s what the “Little Ritsu ~ Powerful Version ~” in me says.
Surely, now is the time to say it casually. The permanent members of the Ritsu brain are in unanimous agreement.
Also, since I had confessed my feelings to her ten thousand times, I felt that I had to express my gratitude to her for allowing me to. And in order to start over and find a new love, I had to put an end to this.
“I’ve decided to give up on Karen. Thank you for allowing me to… confess 10,000 times. I really appreciate it!”
When I said that in all sincerity, Karen said in surprise, “Wh…” and puckered up her mouth like a goldfish.
Then, words start spilling out of my mouth as if they were leaking out.
“Why are you acting like I was rejected? I’m the one who rejected you, aren’t I?”
“Y-Yes, of course…”
“So, that’s why you weren’t at my house this morning.”
“I told your parents in advance…”
“You didn’t tell me.”
“I-I’m sorry…”
I thought she would be rather relieved that I was gone in the morning… The way she just talked sounded like she was sad that I had gone off on my own… No, this is just a deception shown by the unrequited love inside me.
Shake your head and let that deception fly away into the atmosphere.
Karen continued to talk with an angry expression on her face.
“So, you’re really giving up, huh?”
“Y-Yes…”
“Is that so…w-well, I’m glad Ritsu won’t be confessing to me every day now!”
“I’m very sorry about that!”
I prostrate myself as best I can on my chair.
Now that I’ve given up, I looked upon the past and realized that I was a pretty bad guy for confessing everyday.
I can’t get my head around it anymore…
“Hmph!”
Karen went to her seat in a huff.
W-Why is she so angry when she said she thought it was better this way…?
Could she have been unknowingly making a sandbag out of me or something… no, she’s probably not that kind of childhood friend that was a boxer in a past life.
And yet, this is how my love for Karen, which has lasted through 10,000 confessions, came to an end.
Thinking of this, I wiped away my tears as I moved forward. Though, I still felt a lingering sense of regret.
Keru and Otoha, who had been watching the whole conversation between me and Karen, looked at me with a “Uh-oh” expression.