Ore wo Suki nano wa Omae dake ka yo - Chapter 1 Part 4

Chapter 1 Part 4

 

After we were done with our lunch, Pansy served all six of us a cup of tea, alongside some chocolate cookies that she pulled out from her drawstring pouch. Yes, you heard me correctly. All six of us were served a cup of tea. Even Tsubaki got a cup, even though she had just transferred in today.

 

How many cups did she even have? Where did she store them even…?

 

“Mm~! Pansy-chan’s cookies are as tasty as always, right, Sun-chan?”

“Yeah! I swear, her cookies are the tastiest cookies I’ve ever eaten in my life!”

 

Seeing Sun-chan eating Pansy’s cookies heartily like this made me feel relieved.

 

Prior to this, he had always been restraining himself from eating them, but I could tell that he really wanted to eat those cookies so badly.

 

“Hm? What’s up, Joro? You want some of these?”

“A-Ah, yeah sure, lemme eat some…”

I grabbed one of the cookies and put it inside my mouth. Yeah, these were annoyingly tasty, like usual…

 

“How was it, Joro-kun? Was it tasty?”

“…Yeah, it was.”

“Glad that you think so. That means all the efforts I put into making these cookies for you are worth it.”

“You don’t need to put in so much effort for me. Take care of yourself better.”

“Oh, I only did it after I took care of myself. Seriously, you don’t know me at all, hm, Joro-kun?”

 

This girl was actually a beauty. She really should just focus on herself instead of doing whatever she was doing for me…

 

Her problematic personality aside, unlike me, she was smart, her cookies were delicious, and like I said, she was pretty. Like, really, really pretty. She hit all the checkmarks to be popular.

 

Well, she probably had a reason for lying low like this, but still…it felt such a waste when I thought about it…

 

“…Hm?”

 

That was when I noticed that Tsubaki had been giving me quite the intense stare.

 

What was up with her? Hm…could it be that she couldn’t restrain the urge to ‘serve’ me again?

 

Well, it couldn’t be helped then~ If that was what she wanted, who was I to reject her~?

 

“What’s wrong, Tsubaki?”

“Mm, I’ve decided…I think.”

 

I see! So you’ve decided, huh? Good job, good job…okay, you decided on what, exactly?

 

“Pansy, Himawari, Cosmos-san.”

 

Suddenly, she stood up and addressed the three of them in a respectful manner.

 

“What is it?”

“Waddup~?”

“Is something the matter, Tsubaki-san?”

 

Not only those three, even Sun-chan and I were staring at her with a confused look.

 

But Tsubaki looked unfazed, as she took a deep breath.

 

“I challenge you three for a showdown. The prize will be Joro!”

 

Uh…what? What was she even on about, and why did she look so smug about it?

 

“You are…” “Challenging us…?” “The prize is Joro…?”

 

Good job, Pamamos! You connected each others’ words well! (T/N: PAnsy, HiMAwari, CosMOS.)

 

“Mhm! After spending the whole day with him, I realized that I’ll be enough to take care of him! He doesn’t need all of you to take care of his needs! That’s why so that it would be fair to everyone, I challenge you all to a showdown!”

 

Sorry! I didn’t get what the hell were you trying to say!

 

“Tsubaki, what did you—”

“Stop talking, Joro!”
“Y-Yes, Ma’am!”

 

 

Girls were so scary!

“Anyway! If I win, you three won’t be allowed to get near Joro again, and I’ll be the only one who takes care of him! I’d appreciate it if you just calmly back down, though!”

“Hehehe, now that’s an interesting one! I won’t give up my right to stand next to Joro that easily, though!”

 

Wait, Sun-chan, she didn’t challenge you! Why were you the one who got fired up?!

 

Right, come to think of it, this guy loved to compete for the most random things! He was this kind of a person!

 

“So, what will the showdown be about, Tsubaki? Cricket? Table ten—”

“You too, stop talking, Sun-chan!”

“Y-Yes, Ma’am…”

 

Girls were so scary, weren’t they, Sun-chan?

 

Hm? Tsubaki pulled out a skewer out of nowhere and pointed it at the three girls, as if it was a rapier or something. I knew this one! It was a British-ish style of challenging someone!

 

“We’ll compete in ‘Who can please Joro the most’! The showdown will start tomorrow morning! I’ll show you three that I’m the most worthy person to serve Joro!”

 

What kind of showdown was that even?! Was that even worth fighting for?!

 

…Wait…judging by the theme of the showdown…wasn’t this like a reward event for me?

 

This was the kind of thing that would give me power-up if it was a harem game!

 

“Yoki-san, can I ask something? What will the winner get?”

“You can do whatever you want to Joro! Boil him or whatever, anything you want!’

 

Wait, wait! Didn’t you need my permission for something like that?!

 

“I can do…” “…Whatever I want…” “…To Joro-kun…?”

 

You three got along so well, didn’t you? Look at you, connecting each others’ words perfectly!

 

“I’ll do it.” “Count me in!” “M-Me too!”

 

Those three looked so spirited for some reason…and they said that they’d compete…what…?

 

Wait, did that mean…

 

Between those three…whoever won the showdown or whatever…I’d have to listen to all their words…?

 

What the hell?! I had a bad feeling about this! It wouldn’t be me who could get whatever I wanted, but them who could get whatever they wanted from me!

“Joro, if I win, I’ll tell them to not get close to you anymore.”

 

That meant I wouldn’t get to experience Himawari’s b*tch like behavior and Cosmos’ lunch ever again!

 

Were you telling me that I’d have to sacrifice my happiness for your shenanigans?!

 

No! I wouldn’t let Tsubaki win! That would spell the end of my harem!

 

“U-Um…s-sorry to ask you this, Tsubaki, b-but…do you, probably have some kind of romantic feelings towards me…?”

“No, of course not. Just like how there’s no way anyone would have that kind of feeling towards me, who doesn’t even look like a girl, or a boy, there’s no way anyone would have that kind of feeling towards you, a guy who has no hopes and dreams.”

 

So, you were saying that you wanted to please me with that kind of thing in your mind?!

 

Also, have some confidence in yourself, you were cute! And when you had enough, give me some!

 

“Joro, Joro! I can’t go to school with you in the morning, because I’ll have morning practice,  but if I win, I’ll make you get up early in the morning so you can go to morning practice with me!”

 

Early bird didn’t get the worm! This girl was planning to kill me!

 

There was no way I could keep up with you, you dingus! Our morning run had already cut my lifespan in half!

 

This Himawari route would just make me die of overworking!

 

“Um…also, we’ll run together! Picking up the balls together! Practice swings together and…ah, right! As an extra, what about we do 500 pushups?”

 

Why the hell did the extra involve much more work than the main course?! It was like those voting tickets that they slipped in inside idol CDs! Those were too expensive for a voting ticket!

 

“J-Joro-kun, f-for your future, I think it’ll be good for you if you were to continue your education at a good university! S-So, can I recommend you to go to the same university as mine…? D-Don’t worry! If I win, I’ll spare my time to study with you and teach you everything you need to know!”

 

She wanted me to study to my death! This girl was also planning to kill me!

 

And this whole study time thing would definitely continue until even after I got into that university! Scary! Too scary!

This Cosmos route would just kill me mentally!

 

“A-Anyway, I should think about what I’d need to teach you while we’re at it!”

 

Put away your Note! I could see you write ‘study for 23 hours a day’ on the first line!

 

“You don’t need to look so worried, Joro. These are the only things that I’ll ask of you if I win.”

As for Pansy, she took out a piece of paper out of nowhere and handed it over to me.

 

What was this…? ‘Things that I want Joro-kun to do’?

 

[1: Refer to Sanshokuin Sumireko as ‘Sumireko’.]

[2: Whenever he’s in the library with me, he has to hold my hand, and both of us have to say sweet words to each other at least once a day.]

[3: Must do a phone call between 9 to 10 pm (can be substituted by meeting directly at the listed time instead).]

[4: Go on dates at least eight times a week.]

 

Did she not know that there were only seven days in a week?! How the hell were we supposed to go on a date eight times?!

 

This Pansy route would just be a social restraint for me! Also, when the hell did she prepare this thing?!

 

“Suddenly, I feel motivated.”

 

Out of nowhere, she suddenly pulled out Dazai Osamu’s ‘Women’s Duel’. She looked more enthusiastic than usual too… 

 

Also, didn’t everyone die in that book…?

 

“U-Um…y-you all don’t need to do something like this for me, you know…?”

 

I knew that even if I were to say that, they wouldn’t listen to me at all.

 

Just a while ago, I thought that I’d finally get to have a fun harem, but that felt like a fleeting dream now.

 

Before I knew it, my harem had collapsed, and the members of my hare (and one weirdo), were glaring at each other, sparks flying from their eyes. Seriously, were they trying to win the Akutagawa Prize or something? (T/N: Akutagawa Prize is a biannually award for aspiring new writers. Not LN writers, actual writers.)

 

“As for how we’ll decide the winner, I’ll say that Joro will decide that! Tomorrow, after our showdown is over, Joro will choose which among us that he wants to be with the most! Well, I already know that he’ll pick me.”

 

Wouldn’t it be better if I’d just decide that now? Like, you guys wouldn’t do this whole showdown thing that way, no? …Nah, I’d never get to them even if I said that out loud.

 

Just look at them, they were really hyped up for this…

 

““““It’s on, then! The prize of our showdown is Joro(-kun)!””””

 

Where did I screw up? This world was so f**ked up…

 

*   *   *

 

NOW, we go back to the prologue! 

 

It was after school, and we were in the library.

 

“Well, that was the gist of it— Wait, you were there with me! Why the hell did you make me explain all those sh*t again?!”

“I was with you, yes.”

 

Until now, I had been explaining everything that had happened today to Pansy.

 

By the way, we were the only people here at the moment.

 

Sun-chan and Himawari had club activities to attend, Cosmos was doing student council stuff, while Tsubaki had to help her parents to open up their shop. Everyone was busy with their things except for us.

 

“Ugh—! Tch!”

 

When I took a sip of my tea, a sharp pain struck my left cheek. D*mn you, Beeta-kun…

 

He was the quieter one of the two, but his punch still hurts…as expected of a member of the rugby club, I guess…

 

“To summarize, despite having confidence that was inversely proportional to your appearance, you thought that Yoki-san liked you romantically, blindly accepted her kind gesture, and stupidly dragged the rest of us into that farce.”

 

Since my self-confidence was lower than the earth’s core itself, I’d take it that she found me incredibly attractive.

 

And here I thought that venom was the only thing that could come out of her mouth.

 

“What do you mean farce?! This is a matter of life and death to me! Besides, you willingly joined the thing!”

“A matter of life and death? If you really think so, I’d advise you to take a step back and look at it from a different perspective.”

“What?”

“Think about it, in this scenario, four girls are trying their best to gain the attention of a single boy. If anything, this situation only benefits you. In normal circumstances, I would never even think of joining this farce.”

“Benefits me?? No! C’mon, anyone who wins will have complete control over me! It won’t benefit me in any way!”
“That’s correct, at a first glance, this whole thing doesn’t benefit you indeed. But Joro-kun, you already know that there is a way for you to benefit the most out of everyone, don’t you?”

“…What? What are you even—”

“A ‘draw’. As long as you make the outcome of the match ambiguous, you can do whatever you want.”

“Ugh—!”

 

Oh, whoops, I got caught I guess.

 

“I knew it.”

 

Still, I didn’t expect that she could figure out my end goal that easily…

 

“When you didn’t take a step forward to stop the thing even after hearing Yoki-san’s condition if she were to win, I figured that you already had something in your mind. After all, you’ve worked hard to gain this ‘precious bond with everyone’, there’s no way that you’d let her destroy such a bond easily.”

“T-That’s…”

“But, at the same time, you can’t just let Yoki-san lose just like that. Because you don’t need to give her a ‘clear answer’. And that’s why you didn’t stop her. Rather, you couldn’t stop her at that point.”

“…’Clear answer’, huh?”

 

I would say ‘oh whoops, I got caught’ again here, but nah, not now.

 

“Yes. Didn’t you get a nice ‘reward’ back at the Kabuten, Joro-kun?”

 

Oh whoops, I got caught. She knew everything, jeez.

 

“…How the hell did you know that?”

“The person themselves told me that during the lunch break. In fact, they even declared a war against me. ‘This time, I’ll do my best, with all my strength. I won’t lose!’ they said. By the way, they told me that it’s okay if I were to tell you this, so you don’t need to worry about that, at least.”

“I see.”

 

So that was what they were talking about, in the reception desk, huh?

 

Still, as expected of ‘her’, I guess. She even went out of her way to tell Pansy about this.

 

And considering that the rest of the group either came with me or after me, that meant she hadn’t told anyone else yet…

 

“Still, how thoughtful of you, getting Yoki-san to clearly express her feelings like that. Even though you didn’t need to. Anyone with functioning eyes could see that her feelings toward you were only ‘gratitude’ and nothing more.”

“Shut it.”

 

I was actually hoping that she might see me that way, you know?! Just a little, though!

 

Despite being like this, I was still a guy, okay?! Let me dream once in a while!

 

“I know that Yoki-san and Himawari’s existence are convenient for you right now. After all, you can justify all their goodwills toward you as their ways of showing their ‘gratitude’ and ‘friendship’ respectively.”

 

So that was why she was so quiet during the lunch break! She had been figuring out this thing!

 

Seriously, I didn’t expect that she was able to read me to that extent…! This girl really was the most troublesome of all of them!

“That’s how you’ve been avoiding everything so far. Justifying their actions under the guise of something else, not refusing their goodwills because you don’t want to hurt anyone. But, I’ll tell you straight, that isn’t kindness, you’re just running away from your responsibilities.”

“…If you knew that much, then why did you even try to participate in that showdown or whatever at all?”

“Because, essentially, Yoki-san’s goal and mine are the same. Well, she’s doing it for you, while I’m doing it for myself, but what we’re trying to accomplish is pretty much the same thing.”

“What? What are you even on about?”

“I won’t tell you. You can try to ask her though. Who knows, if you touch that nonexistent chest of hers, she’d probably tell you everything.”

“Okay, that’s just too far…”

“If you don’t want to do that, then figure it out yourself. Look, this is the consequences of your own actions. If you didn’t decide to cowardly maintain the status quo, none of this would happen.”

 

T-This sh*tty girl—! Always dissing me while purposely being vague like that—!

F**k, I was so mad! But, I couldn’t say anything back because her words were true!

 

Just as she said, I didn’t stop them from doing the showdown or whatever because I thought I could use it to maintain the status quo!

 

But, c’mon, I wasn’t in the wrong for wishing something like this, right?

 

I tried to be the main character and failed, so I settled to be a mob. And now I had the chance to get a harem. If anything, I would be a fool to not take it!

 

Sure, it was cowardly and all, but I was a coward to begin with!

 

“The showdown will start tomorrow. Don’t end it in a draw. Give them a proper conclusion, decide who’s the best among them.”

“…I know—!”

 

But, now that things had come to this, there was no way I could proceed with my original plan…

 

Haah…I knew things would turn troublesome if she were to find out…now, what should I do…?

 

“Now that matter is done with, I have something for you, Joro-kun.”

“Hah?”

 

What was she up to? She suddenly pulled out a very old looking book from her bag.

 

“Here.”

“O-Oi, don’t shove it to me out of nowhere like that! What is this book anyway?”

“This is my precious treasure. I love this book so much, so I want you to read it too.”

“Yeah, but why?”

“Because why not? Can’t I have something in common with you?”

“…I’m not a fast reader, but I’ll tell you when I finish reading it.”

“That’s fine. Just tell me what do you think of it when you’re done.”

 

I thought she gave this to me so that she could one-up everyone else that participated in the showdown, but I was wrong.

 

If she really wanted to do that, she’d just tell me to read everything and be done with it by tomorrow while shoving Stinger-kun into my face.

 

That meant, she genuinely wanted to share her hobbies with me.

 

…Since that was the case…fine, I’ll read it for her…

 

“Don’t get your hopes up, though.”

“Of course. I’ll keep my expectation level around the level of ‘wanting to see Natsume Soseki’s unpublished works that are recently being published’, so you don’t need to worry.”

“Okay, that’s just too much! Spare me! You’re expecting too much of me!”

 

If anything, she just increased the pressure on me significantly! It was like, if I were going to do  pole vault, instead of lowering the bar, she heightened it instead!

 

And not only that, she also expected me to make the jump without the pole!

 

“Anyway, it’s almost closing time, so, let’s go home.”

 

As soon as we wrapped up our conversation, Pansy stood up, walked over to me and grabbed my hand. What was this girl up to this time?!

 

“Oi, why are you holding my hand?”

“So that you won’t fall down. Also, it’s fun~”

“Oh, f**k off! Get away from me al—”

“You’re also having fun, aren’t you?”

“What?”

 

Having fun? Me? What the hell was she even on about?

 

“Earlier, during lunch break, when you were asked whether you were having fun or not when the two girls held your hands…you said that it wasn’t boring at least, no? That means, it would be fine if I do this much, no?”

 

Was she talking about when I came into the library with Himawari and Tsubaki clinging to my hand?

 

So that was why she was so quiet back then! She had been planning to do this all along!

 

“Stop messing around…let me go already…”

“If I do this, will you stop complaining?”

Put your glasses back on! At this rate, I’d end up staring at your face—!

 

F**k! Why were you so pretty— No, perish that thought!

 

“You idiot, we’re still at school! Put your glasses back on! If someone were to see you, it’d be a disaster!”

 

Things had been considerably calmed down ever since the Kabuten thanks to Tsubaki transferring in, but if someone were to see her walking around without her glasses, they’d definitely make a fuss again! And since I was directly involved, things would definitely turn out for the worst for me!

 

“Oh my…well, you do have a point.”

 

Seeing me panicking, Pansy let out a giggle before putting her glasses back on.

 

The moment she did that, she became considerably less pretty, but the image of her bare face had been completely burned into my mind, so I didn’t feel any better than before.

 

“You won’t get embarrassed quickly normally, why do you look so flustered, hm~?”

“Shut it! I’m the one who should ask the question here! Why the hell did you take off your glasses?”

I didn’t know what I did, but she seemed to be in a really good mood.

 

“Because I’m in the mood~”

 

Still, I couldn’t bring myself to ask her why she felt that way.

 

*   *   *

 

We left the school after that and walked home together. Pansy looked at me with an indescribable look.

 

What? Was she throwing tantrums because I didn’t let her hold my hand?

 

“Joro-kun, about Yoki-san, there’s something I’m curious about.”

 

Okay, I didn’t expect she’d say something like this. But, since her tone was different than usual, I had to be careful.

 

“What is it?”

“Before she transferred in, which school did she attend?”
“I don’t know, she never told me anything.:

“…Is that so?”

 

When I took a glance at her face, I found out that she was wearing a really heavy look. The atmosphere around her was also extremely heavy. It was rare for her to act like this.

 

“Are you really that curious about her previous school?”

“Well, if I am not, I wouldn’t even bring up the topic, no?”

“Why though? Does it matter which school she used to go to?”

“There’s a certain person that I hate. I would hate it if she went to the same school as them and is still keeping contact with that person even after transferring.”

 

Wow, another rare occurrence. The word ‘hate’ just came out of her mouth.

 

Since she uttered the word so openly, that meant she really, really hated that person.

 

Someone actually tried to become her enemy? Were they sane?

 

In any case, I didn’t know who you were, but I’d pray for your soul to rest in peace.

 

“I’ll ask her tomorrow. Which school are you looking out for again?”

“Toshobu High.”

“…Toshobu…High…?”

“What’s wrong?”

 

I never thought I’d hear that name out of her mouth.

 

Was it a coincidence? Or a play of fate? Regardless, it left me bewildered.

 

“…Nothing. It’s just, a certain person that I hate is also attending that high school.”

 

In my case, it was just a one-sided grudge, though. Pathetic, I know.

 

“I see.”

 

As expected of a mind reader, she could tell who I was talking about.

 

“By the way, are we talking about the same person?”

“Unfortunately, no. I won’t tell you who it is, though.”

 

Since she said that, she meant it, she really didn’t want to talk about it.

 

I’ve come to be able to read her emotions nowadays, which made me feel a little sad.

 

If it was two months ago, I wouldn’t be able to do this.

 

Then again, this was a necessity. It wasn’t like I wanted this, it was just, if I couldn’t do this, I would just end up suffering even more.

 

This was exactly what being surrounded by a hellfire felt like. Going forward or retreating backward, I’d get burned all the same.

 

TL: Iyo

ED: Iyo

 

 

Support me on Ko-fi!