I see. Urano wasn’t mad. Well, he was probably mad too, but more than that, he was hurt. With my heartless and irresponsible words, I hurt him so deeply. The reason his voice shook the entire time wasn’t because of anger, but because of sadness and frustration.
Urano fell in love with me.
♡
“...I see.” After I finished listening to Ibusuki’s story, I let out a deep breath. It was looking like the situation was more complicated than I’d thought. It was so complicated I had no idea what to do.
“...It’s my fault,” Ibusuki said, in a voice that sounded like she was about to start crying. “It’s all because I said those horrible things to Urano.”
“...It’s not your fault, Ibusuki. You didn’t know Ura was listening.”
“But I...I didn’t realize how Urano felt. I totally had no idea that Urano l-loved me.” Ibusuki sounded truly sorry. “I didn’t know how Urano felt. I went too far when I said those terrible things... I’m horrible, right? Even though we argue all the time... I can’t believe that’s how I found out about his true feelings...”
“...”
Without a doubt, what Ibusuki said must have hurt Ura a lot. It doesn’t matter who you are; if you saw the person you were in love with saying that you’re not their type or that they’re not interested in you romantically, you’re bound to get hurt.
Of course, the worst thing about all this was how she found out about his love for her. “Do you love me or something?” was probably the last thing that Ura expected to hear, which was why he let it show how shocked, embarrassed, and shaken it made him. Because of his easy-to-read behavior, Ibusuki Saki was now completely aware he was in love with her, and that was what was most embarrassing for him above all else. For a guy like Ura, having your affection laid bare in such an unexpected way was so embarrassing it’d make you want to disappear. I could understand him wanting to skip school, to an almost painful degree. Make no mistake: Ura was hurting a lot. However...
“It’s not your fault, Ibusuki.” Ibusuki was in pain just like he was. “You said that you didn’t realize how Ura felt, but he was hiding his feelings, so it’s normal that you wouldn’t have. Ura might be sulking about it, but it’s not like he ever confessed to you in the first place.”
“...”
“Plus, neither of you are at fault. Neither of you had any ill will toward the other. You guys were just a little unlucky that you weren’t on the same page.”
“...Yeah.” Even though I was trying to cheer her up, Ibusuki still had a dark expression on her face. “I totally didn’t realize that Urano loved me...” Her words spilled from her lips as she hung her head. “I mean, he’s always so mean! He always picks fights with me, he has a foul mouth, and he calls me things like ‘stupid’ and ‘ugly.’”
“Well...he’s doing that thing. You know, that thing where the more you like a girl, the more you bully her. You don’t know how else to show your affection, so you tease her.”
“...Isn’t that something you’re supposed to grow out of in elementary school?”
“Well, he probably didn’t.” Hmmm. I’m worried about Ura, and I feel sorry for him...but it’s not like Ura isn’t to blame as well. I mean, most of this is his fault. I feel like this whole problem was caused by his own twisted humanity.
“...Did you know, Momota?”
“Huh?”
“Did you know...that Urano loved me?”
“...Well, kind of. I never heard it directly from Ura, but I thought it might be the case.”
“I see...”
To be more specific, the one who realized it first was Kana. Kana seemed pretty sure about it, but I was skeptical. However, after hearing her story, I was sure of it. Ura loved Ibusuki. He loved her, so that’s why her words hurt him more than they should have. It’s because he loved her that he got mad, became stubborn, and couldn’t stand the embarrassment of having had his love for her revealed.
“Maybe I’m just being full of myself, but...do you think the reason Urano worked so hard preparing for the school festival as the class rep was because of me?” Her voice was tinged with anguish.
“...”
“I wonder if Urano was doing his best because I invited him.”
“...I think that’s possible.” I couldn’t think of a single good excuse, so all I could do was answer truthfully. The expression on Ibusuki’s face was growing ever more pained.
“I...I totally thought that Urano was doing his best because he liked this kind of thing. He didn’t like it at first, but as our preparations kept moving along, he seemed to really be having fun... But all that was for my sake... All of it was my fault...”
“...”
I didn’t think she was wrong about him liking that type of thing. It was also probably true that he’d started to enjoy himself while he did it. He’d always been the kind of guy who didn’t mind these kinds of events, and he’d always get hooked on something once he started doing it.
However, I think that when he started, everything he was doing had been for Ibusuki. The reason a denizen of the darkness with a closed-off heart like him had thought to step foot into the light was probably that he had feelings for her. He wanted to show off to her; he wanted to show off his good side and his cool side to the girl he loved. Well, that’s what I’d like to say, anyway.
It’s a very common story. An introverted boy who separated himself from his class is talked to by an extroverted popular girl and now shows up on everyone’s radar. Then, just from being treated a little kindly and given a little attention, the introverted boy falls in love with the girl; the girl’s kindness feels special because the boy isn’t used to it. Since he thinks that kindness isn’t something you do for anyone other than a special person, he mistakenly thinks that he’s special to the other person as well. However, for the extroverted girl, everything she was doing was just something she does naturally. She can treat others kindly without any particular reason or ulterior motives for doing so. Such human virtue can sometimes be poisonous to a man who is self-absorbed and has little experience in love.
“When Urano was in middle school, he stopped going to school because of the love triangle between him, Kanao, and that other girl, right?”
Oh, I see. She already knew about that too.
“What should I do? If Urano stops coming to school again because of this, it’ll all be my fault...” Ibusuki whispered in a deeply regretful voice.
It was clear that she truly cared about Urano. Ibusuki Saki is strong willed, forceful, sometimes insensitive, and willing to say some pretty cringeworthy things like they’re normal. However, she truly is a very kind girl. I’m sure Ura knows that as well; her kindness is probably what drew him to her in the first place. And now, it’s because of that kindness he’s had his heart broken.
“What should I do...?” Ibusuki asked again.
“...I think you shouldn’t do anything.” Ibusuki seemed like she was going to be crushed by her own remorse. “There probably isn’t anything you can do, Ibusuki.”
“...”
“Oh, I’m sorry, that came out wrong. I wanted to say that you haven’t done anything wrong, so you should just carry on as normal with your head held high, Ibusuki.” Since Ibusuki suddenly looked like she was about to cry, I panicked and also said, “If you apologize any more, Ura will just get upset. Plus, it’s not really something to apologize for in the first place. So please, take care of the festival.”
“The festival...?”
“The class is in confusion because Ura is suddenly absent from school, right? Go take care of that. If you were to get depressed like Ura and the attraction ended in failure, Ura would probably just get even more hurt later.”
“...”
“I’ll take care of Ura,” I said.
“Momota...”
“We’ve known each other for a long time. I just can’t leave him like that.”
“...Thank you.” It was then that Ibusuki finally gave me a smile. Though it was a weak smile, it shined with a little bit of hope. “Please, take care of Ura.”
“Leave it to me. Ah... Ibusuki, can I just ask you to confirm something?”
“What is it?”
It might be against the rules for me to ask something like this. It also might be shameless to ask for the answer without solving the problem. However, in order to protect my two precious friends, Ura and Ibusuki, I have to ask her.
“You don’t have to answer if you don’t want to, but if you can, please tell me. How do you feel about Ura?”
“Huh...?”
“It looks like Ura’s been in love with you this whole time, but...what about you?”
“...” At first, Ibusuki looked confused. However, after a few moments of silence and shifting her gaze from side to side, she began to speak softly. “I-I...”