Chapter 19: Operation "Destroy All the Landmines"

Operation "Destroy All the Landmines"

At my high school, girls can choose between summer and winter uniforms starting in May.

So from today I'm wearing the summer kind of the sailor uniform.

The base color has changed from navy blue to white and the fabric is the same as the winter uniform, making it cooler.

When I was a boy, I preferred white-based sailor uniforms, as navy blue seemed a bit unfashionable.

In the end, I only wore my winter uniform for three days. If my size had changed by next winter, my dad would probably cry. My expenses would have already increased dramatically since I became a girl.

"White sailor uniforms are the best, after all. Rui looks especially good on them. Nae looks cute in them too."

"Well, thanks for the compliment."

"The white one looks cool, doesn't it? But Onii-chan, why are you still wearing your winter uniform?"

"It's fine isn't? I can just change it later."

I've been complimented so many times, but every time I feel my cheeks turn a little red. I can't help being happy.

•

•

•

It's been a while since the five of us had lunch together.

"It's been a while since we last ate together as a group of five."

"We did a lot of chatting on messaging apps though."

All three members of the Tosaka Trio are wearing summer uniform, as it's already hot in May.

Even though we eat together, Ryo basically doesn't talk to anyone other than me. They are not friends or anything so I guess it can't be helped, but I wish they could get along.

Ryo seems to be keeping an eye on the three of them to make sure they don't do anything to hurt me, so I guess he plans to stay close to them.

However, Ryo also responds kindly when spoken to.

"By the way, Ueno-kun, you went on a date with Rui-chan yesterday, right? How was it?"

"Uhuk!"

Sayaka-chan, it's fine if you ask me all sorts of questions, but why would you also ask Ryo about them. Are you trying to find out if I'm hiding something?

But I think it was a little loud so a fair percentage of the class could hear it!

"That's right, Rui-chan told us! She said you went on a date yesterday? I want to know where you went and what you did."

"Tomoko-chan!? Surely you don't need to ask Ryo about it!?"

Tomoko asks Ryo even louder. I'm sure the whole class heard this; all the girls and boys were staring at us!

Tomoko is making eye contact with Ryo for some reason, what's going on?

When Ryo saw this, he seemed to understand something and replied happily, again in a voice that could be heard throughout the class.

"Yeah, yesterday I went to the aquarium with Rui, ate her homemade lunch at the nature park, and then got soaked in a sudden rain so we spent the day alone at her house!!"

"Ohhhh!!!"

Without thinking, I also said in a loud voice, "Don't say that! It's so embarrassing!"

When Ryo said that, the Tosaka Trio looked at me with a look that said, "We've never heard of that one before," but then their eyes immediately lit up. This is no good.

Most of our classmates were looking at me and Ryo, no longer trying to hide that they were listening in.

No, people are definitely thinking that Ryo and I are dating!!

"...Let's ask him in order."

"Yeah, let's start with the aquarium. Ueno-kun, how was Rui-chan from your impression at that time?"

Wait, wait, why are you asking about me in the aquarium?!

"Huh? Why me?"

"Rui at the aquarium was like an angel in a fantasy world. Her smile lit up several times brighter than usual during the dolphin show afterwards. She was so beautiful!"

I couldn't say anything anymore, my face was bright red, I looked down, I was hiding my grin, I was so embarrassed, I instinctively covered my face with my hands.

However, the conversation between the Tosaka Trio and Ryo continues.

"So, how was Rui's homemade bento that you had at the nature park?"

"It didn't look like much, but everything was homemade, and the hamburger steak, omelet, and onigiri were the most delicious in the world. She said she made them because she wanted me to be happy, and I'm the happiest person in the world!"

Your voice is too loud!! You should be a little more embarrassed too! Why do you look so happy?! I did say that I made it because I wanted you to be happy! Is there any need to say that here?!

I'm so hot that I felt like steam was coming out of my head, my breathing was so irregular that I felt like I was going to hyperventilate, but my cheeks were always relaxed, and yet I was so embarrassed!

"What about Rui-chan's house date during the sudden rain? This is actually the first time I've heard about it."

The Tosaka Trio were looking at me with grins...or so I thought. No, they were definitely smirking!

"This is a secret!"

Hey! You're not planning on keeping it a secret at all! Try to lower your voice a bit!

I was just worried about how much he was going to say.

"The two of us spent over an hour in the same room, wearing only a T-shirt and underwear! And of course I saw Rui naked, and Rui saw my thing too! You know the rest, right?"

You deliberately not mentioning that we were just hugging, right? No, no! What you said is not a lie! Sure what you said is not a lie! But!!

The way you said it! You make everyone imagine something even more incredible!!

"Wow! It's progressed further than I imagined!"

"Oh, so you've been in that kind of relationship for a while now."

"...Good job."

We haven't done it! we haven't done it! In fact, We haven't gotten that far!

I could faintly hear my classmates mumbling, but I didn't care about that anymore.

I raised my head and glared at Ryo.

"Ryo! You!"

"What, I'm not lying."

"No, no! There's no need to say it out loud, and normally you wouldn't say something like that to someone else! I don't know what the rest of the class will think now!"

Ryo and the Tosaka Trio grinned at my words.

"No, that's fine."

"That's right, Rui-chan, this is fine."

I have no idea what they're talking about, and I don't understand why Tosaka Trio and Ryo seem to understand each other. No, this isn't jealousy.

Sayaka-chan, who was sitting next to me, spoke to me in a low voice, this time in a voice that only I could hear.

"We'll tell to you about it later, so don't worry ♡"

After lunch, my male friends were looking at me and Ryo with lukewarm eyes, like they were saying 'Nice!', Hey! Don't give us the thumbs up!

I'm not saying you should tap Ryo on the shoulder and ask him what he thought! Ryo too! "It was great!" No! What kind of impression are you talking about?

A few of the girls looked really depressed or like they had lost their souls, and the rest of them refused to make eye contact with me.

I knew they hated me to some extent, but for it to got to that point.

•

•

•

The five of us left the classroom and sat down on a bench in the schoolyard.

"So you're going to tell me why you did that?"

I was a little angry, and rightly so, because it was so unthinkable that I had been exposed in front of my classmates.

"I'm sorry Rui-chan, I did that because I wanted the girls in our class to think you guys were dating."

"Huh? What do you mean?"

"Well, it turned out to be a deeper relationship than we'd imagined, so we were surprised too."

"...Operation 'Destroy All the Landmines' was a great success"

What does it really mean, why do we need to mislead people, what benefit is there in doing so? And what is that operation?

"...If it's half-hearted, it'll be difficult for Rui-chan later on."

"That's right. If things had stayed the way they were before, Rui-chan would have been seen as the girl who was stalking Ueno-kun even though she wasn't dating him, and since Ueno-kun is popular, a lot of girls didn't like it."

"Some girls said, 'That girl, isn't she annoying?' Those kinds of girls think that if one of their friends falls in love with someone, they shouldn't fall in love with the same person, so they start bullying them and doing mean things."

"That's why we must made it clear, before any trouble would come to Rui-chan."

"Well, if you both had someone else you liked, we wouldn't do that, but right now, Rui-chan, you don't have anyone else you like, right?"

"Well, yeah, other than Ryo, there's no one else."

The three of them reacted with a bit of "Oh?"

"I'm locked in on Rui, so it's no problem at all."

"That's how it is, so good things happen, but nothing bad happens. Ah, but I'm glad Ueno-kun noticed our plan. It was so sudden and I was a little worried. I was worried what I'd do if you got embarrassed and said there was nothing."

"I'm not that type of person, and in fact it was beneficial for me too. It was great to be able to show the guys around me that Rui is mine just like the girls!"

"No, no, I'm not yours yet!"

"This will immediately spread the word not only to the class but to their classmates as well."

Don't just ignore me!

It's good that I'm no longer getting involved in troublesome things though.

"Yeah, I'm glad Rui-chan didn't make a big fuss or deny it. It was so cute when she blushed and covered her face."

"I only told the truth so she couldn't deny it.

And do you understand, Nakayama-san? Everything about Rui was cute back then!"

"How could I don't understand?! I mean, the three of us are all just crazy about the beautiful Rui."

"Oh, that's right. This whole incident has shown me that I can trust you three, so that's a good thing."

"Ueno-kun's still on guard. You're pretty overprotective."

"...You seem possessive."

"I'm very possessive. I have no intention of letting anyone else have Rui!"

"Doesn't it seems like I don't have any thought of my own?"

"Seriously, I think this will reduce the number of boys messing around with Rui-chan."

"Huh? Boys?"

"She'll definitely be popular from now on, she's a beautiful girl after all."

"That's right, even if there's a letter in your shoe locker, never go there alone. Even if you think you've politely declined, someone might get angry and force their way on you."

"You should and must think that meeting a boy one-on-one is dangerous, especially for a beautiful girl like Rui-chan."

"…danger."

I wondered if it was really that dangerous, but then I remembered the pick up artist incident that day and my heart ached. It is definitely dangerous, I'll have to be careful.

"Well, it's not that common, but it's definitely something you should be careful of."

"Speaking of danger, I can't help with the separation between the boys and girls in things like physical education, so I'd like to ask Yamaguchi-san and the others for some support, if possible, okay?"

"Okay, leave it to us, Ueno-kun."

"But we'd like something in return someday."

"Great, is Rui's photo collection okay?"

"Oi! Don't do it as you please!"

"Deal!"

"Don't worry, I won't give away your secrets or shameful photo."

That's true but that's not what I means!

"Shall we exchange messages for now?"

"Yeah, that's good."

"Well, I sent you one."

"Oh, I love this one, thanks."

"...Huh?"

It was already at the point where I should just give up.

Well, I wanted the four of them to get along, but is this how it is will go?

While thinking this, I also feel relieved, knowing that I am the one who connected them.

What a sense of relief I felt!?

"By the way, what were you two doing at Rui-chan's house?"

"You've seen each other naked, just in your T-shirts and underwear, so there's no way you didn't do anything, right?"

Ah, I thought it would end peacefully, but there was still a big bombshell left.

I looked at Ryo and put my finger over my mouth as if to say, "Don't tell anyone!" This is one thing we absolutely must not tell anyone.

"Sorry, but I can't say that, but I know what you three are thinking."

The Tosaka Trio looked at me, but I made a zipper gesture over my mouth, firmly refusing.

The three of them looked around at us.

"But you're not dating yet?"

"Yeah."

"Hm."

"Really? Okay, I get it."

They reluctantly agreed.

"Yeah, but Rui-chan, you shouldn't tell people at school that you're not dating, because then all our success this time will be wasted."

Yes, it's true that we're not dating yet, but if we were to say that at school, all the effort the four of them put in today would be wasted, and it would just become troublesome again, so we decided there was no need to say that we weren't dating.

---Wait a minute, the four of them worked hard, but I feel like I'm the only one who felt really embarrassed. I don't know why, that's the only thing I can't accept. Why doesn't Ryo seem embarrassed? In fact, he seemed happy talking about it. This guy is no good.

When I returned to the classroom after the break, the atmosphere was something like that.

There was no tense feeling like in the morning, which was a relief.

It really works, I'd like to thank the four of them.

And so we became the official couple of the class.