Kai laid his cards on the table with a scream from the soul. Royalteach was taken aback, but Kai continued to drive it home.
“Jun is cute. She’s ridiculously cute. Probably the cutest girl in the world. But I’ve never once thought of her as my girlfriend. That’s because Jun is my friend! Because being her friend is way better than being her lover!”
Kai was heaving, his body almost taking the metaphor of “spilling your guts” too literally. Looking back, a lot had happened that April. Reina told Kai that he “didn’t deserve Jun.” And Kotobuki gave him the advice that Reina “must be mistaking him and that girl friend of his for lovers.” Thanks to them, Kai understood.
Boyfriends and girlfriends are a pain in the aaaaaaaaaaass. Being friends is like a million times better!
It was thanks to this realization that Kai could stand here and defend himself so concisely. That he could defy Royalteach’s assumptions.
We’re just friends! But being friends is the reason we get along better than lovers!
Yes, this was something he could shout with his head held high. He said everything that needed to be said. You could shake him down, but not another word would come out. Meaning that, uh, he didn’t quite know what to do if he had to argue any further. He wouldn’t know what to do, but he at least knew he wouldn’t lose for lack of trying.
He glared at Royalteach with his chest puffed out, waiting for the man acting as Jun’s guardian to reply. Before he realized it, Jun had come to his side. The two exchanged glances, their eye contact serving as a nod to each other.
As for Royalteach, his answer would be...
✦ ✦ ✦
Mr. Prince, also known as Prince Miyakawa, married at the age of 26. He passed the Teacher Employment Examination, graduated college, scrambled between posts at public high schools as a temp teacher, got stuck on standby, and amidst all this hustle and bustle, woke up one day to find himself at that age. Fortunately, it was then that he was hired as a full-time teacher, so his lifestyle finally settled down. That was reason enough for him to propose to his longtime girlfriend.
He met her through a college club when they were both first-years. They began as just friends, but their hearts warmed up to the idea of romance as time went on. Finally, in the summer of their second year, Prince asked her out. They’d been together ever since.
Although... that’s not to say they didn’t have their differences. They only continued living together after graduation out of convenience. As for the proposal, Prince only did it out of his obligation as a man. The flame of romance had gone out long ago.
As the years went on, the woman who became his wife began to let more of her complaints slip out. Being a full-time public school teacher meant her husband was always busy; coming home late was the norm, which cut heavily into the time they could spend together as a couple. She made sure to let him know how displeased she was about it.
“What do you love more, your job or me?” went one of her typical gripes. “You know I’m a woman, right? Not your personal maid, right?” went another, more sarcastic one.
“I’m fully aware,” Prince would badly want to shout back, “but teaching is a higher calling!”
However, he always held his tongue. He knew that raising his voice would mean the end of their marriage.
Prince first took an interest in Asagi High when Jun said she was taking entrance exams for a private school. When he looked into it, he found that they had plenty of teachers on staff, ensuring a lighter workload for each one. Its employment exam was difficult, but after studying like mad all over again, he officially became one of Asagi’s new hires. His job now demanded less of his time than his public school work did, leaving him with more of it to spend with his wife. Finally, he had the happy family he needed to breathe a sigh of relief... or so he thought.
Caring for Kai after he was attacked by his classmates counted as working overtime, causing Prince to abandon his dinner plans with his wife and put him right back on her bad side. Prince didn’t think he did anything wrong, and of course he had no regrets about helping Kai, so this was the one time he talked back to his furious wife. A fight ensued, resulting in him getting put in the proverbial doghouse.
And now this had to happen. Kai Nakamura, the boy who stole the heart of Prince’s little sister right from under his nose, had the nerve to act like he was turning the tables as he shouted at the top of his lungs:
“Being her friend is way better than being her lover!”
To be honest, it struck a nerve. It forced him to think about those days just after he’d first met his wife. The days when they were just friends. Every moment they spent together back then was truly filled with bliss. Even after they officially became an item a year and a half later, he was still happy and fulfilled.
But soon after, the spark was gone. And without that, it was all over. Now that he thought about it, the majority of the 11 years he spent with her had been rather dull. The vast majority.
Would it have ended differently had they neither married nor dated and simply stayed friends? Could they have continued having fun all this time? Prince didn’t keep up with many of his old college buddies, but he still had a few. Even fewer of them were women, but that was better than none.
“...”
Maybe he’d just been trying not to think about it.
“... ...”
But Kai forced him to do so.
“... ... ...”
That’s why he had to...