Chapter 67: Attempted
"Now, now—this is just cruel. You didn’t even bother to contact me until this late?"
Nurikae-san spoke while naturally closing the distance between himself and Reicia-chan.
It was a subtle movement, but one that quietly limited her options for retreat. The way he positioned himself made it just a little harder for her to move away. There was… a faint sense of pressure.
"I was hoping to cheer you on and see your shining moment. Were you embarrassed? Reicia-chan is just as—"
"Nurikae-sama, did you not speak with my father?"
Cutting straight through Nurikae-san’s words, Reicia-chan launched into her own.
A-amazing… She just shut down that smooth, rapid-fire speech of his with a single blow.
"My father-in-law? No, I—"
"You did, didn’t you? I made sure to ask my father. Knowing him, I’m certain he would have contacted you—by phone or otherwise—without delay, to speak with you, Nurikae-sama."
"…………"
Nurikae-san said nothing.
Why? Because right now, Reicia-chan was scolding him.
If we go by the assumption that her father follows her wishes, then Nurikae-san has already been told—by her father himself—that the engagement is to be annulled.
And yet, here he is, still acting overly familiar—still putting on the air of a fiancé. That can only mean he has not accepted the decision.
Not accepting it, well… I can’t entirely blame him for that. It was sudden. One-sided.
But trying to talk things out by maneuvering so she can’t slip away—that’s not exactly what I’d call sincere, even if we were the ones who blindsided him.
"I believe my father has conveyed what I wished to say. Even so…"
Reicia-chan faltered just slightly, then corrected herself.
"…I apologize for making such a one-sided request, but… my mind will not change."
For Reicia-chan, that was a rather moderate choice of words.
Normally, she would have gone for something more biting—like “And do you still have something to say?”—but not this time. We’ve been trying to dissolve the engagement in as smooth and amicable a way as possible from the start.
《…Something you want to say?》
《No, I was just thinking this is going to end more peacefully than I expected.》
《It was meant to be a peaceful annulment from the beginning, remember? …Besides, Shiren’s been a little off-balance today as it is.》
《Ugh… that was… sorry…》
《I didn’t bring it up to make you apologize…》
Honestly, that earlier outburst was only because her father said something far too outrageous. She isn’t angry at Nurikae-san himself.
As for the circumstances behind the engagement, sure, there are things to be said… but at the end of the day, Nurikae-san is basically a victim of our situation.
If anything, I feel more apologetic toward him than anything else.
"I see…"
Yet even after hearing her words, Nurikae-san didn’t move.
With a thin smile, the black-haired, handsome young man spoke again.
"When my father-in-law told me, I wasn’t sure whether to believe him… but to think you really meant it."
"Yes. …That said, you have treated me well on a personal level, and I respect you as a person. Even without the engagement, I hope we can still maintain a bright and positive relationship as good partners."
"By the way… may I ask the reason?"
There was a slight weight in his voice.
Probably anger.
"After all, this engagement was never formal—it was something arranged between your father-in-law and me. I understand perfectly well that, in this day and age, such an arrangement has no binding power. Of course I do."
"…"
"When we spoke before, I got the impression you were at least somewhat on board. I considered it an advantageous match for you, and I think you did too. Even now, perhaps?"
Nurikae-san leaned in slightly as he said that. His tall frame cast a shadow, dimming the space around her just a little.
"Then why now? What made it have to be now?"
...Ah. He’s trying to talk his way around this.
If he were listening honestly, that’d be one thing—but bringing up the timing like that? Nine times out of ten, that’s the starting point for throwing a tantrum.
Ugh, things just got a lot messier… Well, according to Reicia-chan, he’s got a lot of pride, so the chances of this happening were always high...
What should I do? In times like this, what’s the “right” move, anyway? I’ve got no clue… Hmm… what could I say to get Nurikae-san to accept this?
"Um, it won’t be in the form of an engagement anymore, but our public ties—"
"...Haa. I really shouldn’t try my hand at things I’m not used to."
Just one sentence.
The moment Reicia-chan heard Nurikae-san say that, she murmured softly—
"Um!!"
"—!?"
—and suddenly raised her voice.
At that very moment—just as nearby passersby were startled and turned toward her—
"Nurikae-sama… even if you say that, I… I don’t know what to do…"
She lowered her gaze. Weak and hesitant, yet speaking loudly enough for everyone around to hear clearly, Reicia-chan said those words.
Nurikae-san, positioned as though cornering Reicia-chan, and Reicia-chan, frail and looking down—people in the crowd began to notice that tableau, and a murmur of unrest rippled through them.
...Sh-she did it…!
Reicia-chan just won the audience to her side! If Nurikae-san keeps pressing her here, some well-meaning bystander who doesn’t know the full story will probably step in, and the whole scene will get shut down.
Once that happens, there’s no way to talk things out anymore—and after that, all we’d have to do is have her father follow up, make a clean break with the engagement, and the other side would never be able to interfere again!
B-but still…
《R-Reicia-chan? Isn’t this going a bit too far? You don’t have to go about it this way…》
《Shiren, you’re wrong. Think carefully. The moment we decided to break off the engagement, there was never any chance of a peaceful resolution.》
Reicia-chan said that as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.
《This is a political marriage, you know? Pride is at stake. Of course, there were benefits tying us together as well—but Nurikae already has a naturally high pride. If the engagement is canceled at the other party’s convenience, no matter how much we try to guarantee things in compensation, there’s no way he could stay calm. Until now, I’ve gone along with your wishes and tried to take that route, but…》
《Eh…》
…Come to think of it, from the very beginning, Reicia-chan never seemed all that concerned about Nurikae-san’s feelings in this engagement breakup…
So—so what she’s saying is, she already knew it would come to a fight like this, but she still went out of her way to try for a peaceful breakup just because I wanted that, even though she knew it was pointless?
《…Well, there was a small chance we could have settled things before it got messy, but after the Remains Incident and the Shokuhou affair both got crushed, there’s just no helping it.》
Rather than looking grieved, Reicia-chan let out a sigh that sounded more like she was fed up.
《More than anything, this engagement is nothing but an obstacle to my future with you, Shiren.》
…That means—
If I’d just agreed to the engagement with Nurikae-san, she wouldn’t have needed to go so far as to make an enemy out of him.
Even though I still don’t know what my feelings for Kamijo-san really are… Reicia-chan is doing all this for my sake?
"W-wait, Reicia-chan. Having my help would be convenient for you too, right? Especially with the state you’re in right now—"
"Ah—heeeey! There you are! So this is where you’ve been hiding~!"
And then—
A familiar voice pushed its way closer through the crowd.
This voice… or rather, this whole situation—
"Sorry about this! She’s with me. Hey, I told you, it’s dangerous if you wander off!"
《It’s all right. I’ll shoulder the parts that weigh on your heart. I’m good at that sort of thing, you know.》
Those words from Reicia-chan, spoken some time ago, flash through my mind.
…Could it be—
After dumping this kind of trouble on Reicia-chan, I’m still sitting here hemming and hawing about how I’m “not ready to fight over another girl” or “not even sure if I like Kamijo-san in a romantic way”? Am I… actually the worst kind of jerk?
Chapter One – The Wind Never Blows for the Cooper Psicopics.
Episode 56: Attempted — Bastard"s".
…What should I do?
Forcing my looping thoughts into some semblance of order, I let that mutter echo in my head.
Having pushed through the crowd and reunited with Index, the four of us had, of course, stopped walking arm-in-arm and were now just walking side-by-side…
Well, if I’d kept clinging to her arm like that, Index would naturally be wondering what the hell was going on. She’s not as blatantly sulky as she was when Kamijo-san had that lucky-skimpy moment, and it’s not even showing on her face, but… there’s still this awkwardness.
The atmosphere among the four of us was downright awful.
"Shiren, Reicia, are you two all right?"
After we’d walked for a bit, Kamijo-san spoke up.
Well, of course he’d be curious. Especially since he probably already knows about the broken engagement.
"—Thank you for earlier. The man we ran into was the fiancé I mentioned before, but the conversation got a little… tangled."
"Fiancé?"
"Ah… I haven’t told Index yet, have I? I—or rather, Reicia-chan—actually had a fiancé. We arranged to break off the engagement through her father, but the other party refused to accept it, and that’s why he confronted us like that…"
"So it ended up that way after all, huh…"
"…"
I gave a quick explanation to avoid making things any messier… but, yeah, the mood’s still heavy. From Index’s point of view, this is probably a “Wait, what? Since when?” situation…
"S-so! As a… deterrent, you could say, I ended up clinging to Kamijo-san’s arm… but it wasn’t meant in any weird way."
"Ah, no, that’s fine. But what about the engagement? Is it really all right? If there’s anything I can do to help, just say the word."
"It was Reicia clinging to your arm, not you, Shiren, right?"
Slip—
With seamless timing, Index cut in, as if naturally inserting herself into the conversation.
"Eh? Ah… yes."
"Shiren. If that’s the case, you shouldn’t be making excuses on her behalf. If someone covers for something you did without your say-so, it might not feel so great, right, Reicia?"
"No, that’s not—! I didn’t mean it like that, I just…"
"Don’t worry about it, Shiren. You don’t have to hold back on my account—"
Eh… holding back…? No, that’s not the point right now! First I need to apologize to Reicia-chan! Even if I didn’t mean it, I still said something awful to her.
《Sorry, Reicia-chan. I…》
《It’s fine, it’s fine. Don’t worry, I’m not bothered by something this small. …Honestly, Shiren, you worry about too many things.》
Although Reicia-chan forgave me… still, stepping in to cover for something she did on her own—it’s like I’m declaring her actions to be “wrong” without her saying so herself. That’s something I seriously shouldn’t be doing.
Isn’t this basically the same thing as what her father does…?
《…Shiren? Are you all right? I understand, you know? You were only doing it because you were thinking of me, weren’t you?》
《…Yeah. Sorry, Reicia-chan.》
《………………》
All right! Time to snap out of it. I can’t undo what I already did, but moping about it will only make the atmosphere worse.
“Thank you, Index. You’re right.”
I put on a small smile and thanked Index.
There’s not much time before our next event. It’s the final event of the first day, so I’ve got to focus and give it my all. I’ll properly apologize for what happened earlier after everything is over—once I’ve had a chance to organize exactly what I want to say… yeah.
《…Shiren, the next event—》
Just then—right when Reicia-chan started to say something—my handheld terminal suddenly rang.
Instinctively, I checked the caller. It was Yumetsuki-san, so I picked up right away. I wonder what this is about? There’s still some time left before the event starts, but maybe she’s wandering around alone again and I’m about to get a lecture?
『Ah, thank goodness, Reicia-san!! Reicia-san, what—what should we do, what do I—?!』
…That easygoing mindset I’d been holding onto was blown away instantly by Yumetsuki-san’s panicked, desperate voice.
Before I could even recover from my moment of stunned silence, Reicia-chan stepped in to handle the call.
“What’s wrong? Can you calm down and explain it in order?”
『Ah… I’m sorry, I’m sorry… I…!!』
What the…!? This is clearly not normal. What happened to Yumetsuki-san…?
“…! Rinka! You’re nearby, aren’t you? Rinka! Get on the line—tell me what’s going on!”
Reicia-chan must have realized how serious this was, because her voice rose as she called out to Rinka-san, who should be close by, to explain the situation.
At the same time, a bad feeling crept over me. My eyes swept around us. It wasn’t directed at me or Reicia-chan for raising our voices into the phone. No… this unpleasant undercurrent was aimed somewhere else entirely.
“…Hey, Shiren, Reicia.”
From behind us, Kamijou-san’s voice called out.
“There. …What… is that supposed to mean?”
Following his words, I looked up.
Floating above Academy City as always, the blimp was broadcasting its news. Mixed in with the weather report was—
『Tokiwadai covering up scandal? Student’s suicide attempt this July』
—those stark, unfeeling words hanging in the sky.
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