It was like one kind of madness had been swallowed whole by a higher, nastier kind of madness. A predator had been eaten by a bigger predator, and for the moment, things finally looked like they were settling down.

After wiping up the urine Mizuno had leaked, we also thoroughly mopped the surrounding area because she wanted it done properly. Not that much time had passed since things started winding down, but it felt like we’d been at it forever, and I was getting mentally drained. Then again, compared to the exhaustion and psychological damage the girl who actually pissed herself must have been dealing with, mine probably didn’t even register.

Yuu kept negotiating with Mizuno, looking perfectly calm. At least, that was how it looked on the surface. As far as I could tell, she was actually fired all the way up.

She aimed a dead-serious gaze and voice at Mizuno, and while I had a pretty good idea what she was thinking and what she was doing, the way her fingers were moving under the desk on her phone was insane. They were flying. Just straight-up blur speed.

“Mizuno-chan, it looked like you were planning to edit that audio and use it as proof that Ren-chan threatened you, but... you get it now, right? Yeah. We can send that video to anyone, anytime, completely unedited. If you’d kept being stubborn back there, you would’ve been finished.”

“Honestly, I’m really relieved. Because the truth is, I don’t want to do something like that either.”

Yuu let out a relieved breath, putting on the face of someone happy that we’d all come to an understanding.

At first, Yuu had been ready to crush Mizuno without offering any compromise at all, but she had properly followed through on the “wait” I’d wanted to call.

“I’m not some heartless villain, you know. And I understand better than anyone how miserable it feels to be hopelessly in love with someone. So let me offer you a deal.”

“I’ll help you get together with Sorimachi-kun.”

Yuu spoke without the slightest hesitation. Then she glanced over at me.

This was what I wanted too, wasn’t it?

I gave her a quiet nod.

What started as an attempt to stop a stupid rumor from spreading had somehow turned into helping the girl responsible confess to the guy she liked.

No, “somehow” wasn’t the right word.

If I actually thought about the cleanest way to solve this mess, then this was obviously the best option. I’d expected at least some pushback over going this far, but both Yuu and Nijouin had accepted the idea much more easily than I thought they would. And honestly, the reason Yuu was even willing to spend her free time helping with this was probably because I’d asked her directly.

The three of us—Yuu, Nijouin, and me—had Mizuno explain everything from the beginning so we could figure out how to help her. Not just the way she’d spread the rumor or the things she’d done afterward, but also the reason all of this had started in the first place.

About a week earlier, Sorimachi, a first-year soccer player and the guy Mizuno liked, had confessed to Usotsuki-chan. Completely unaware that he’d already been rejected, Mizuno confessed to him the very next day.

Looking at the situation from the outside, targeting Usotsuki-chan over that made Mizuno seem irrational, like she’d let jealousy completely consume her. But after hearing the full story, it became obvious Sorimachi himself had complicated things too.

“Tsukimi turned me down, but I still can’t give up on her. As long as she doesn’t have a boyfriend, then I still have a chance.”

Hearing that, I couldn’t help wondering what had gone through Mizuno’s head when she was forced to listen to Sorimachi declare his intent to try again after being rejected. He’d confessed to Usotsuki-chan and gotten turned down, but he still hadn’t given up. That attitude of his had slashed right into Mizuno’s pride and left a wound in her heart.

“I really wanted to accept even that side of him, but...”

“I can’t... it hurts too much... Why...? Why am I not good enough...? Why her, when she barely even talks to him...?”

Mizuno suddenly burst into tears and collapsed onto the desk. None of us had any idea what to say.

To be honest, we didn’t know the full history between Mizuno and Sorimachi. They were in another class, and more importantly, we weren’t the ones involved.

Still, from what we’d heard, this wasn’t some impossible problem to solve, and while responsibility for what happened clearly rested with Mizuno, it was also obvious the cause of the problem wasn’t hers alone. The fact that she’d caused this whole thing on her own was, weirdly enough, working in her favor now. She’d used people, sure, but she hadn’t had accomplices.

Because she’d chosen a lonely little revenge plot she couldn’t tell anyone about, driven by jealousy she couldn’t share, the whole thing stayed simple. The relationship chart was small. The scope was limited.

“Let’s go to the field right now.”

“Wait, what...? You mean right now?”

“Hold on, that’s a bit too sudden, I don’t even get what—”

Both Mizuno and Nijouin jolted at Yuu’s sudden announcement. Yuu’s move definitely felt abrupt because she’d skipped all the setup and explanation.

“Yuu’s helping Mizuno set up another chance to confess.”

“You already contacted Usotsuki-chan, right?”

“Of course I did.”

“Looks like she was already heading home, though. I told her to come back, so she should be here in around five minutes.”

“Seriously, Yuu? Nice.”

“Eheheh. ♡”

I stepped in while Mizuno still stood there looking completely overwhelmed. When I glanced over at Yuu, she proudly showed me the screen she’d been tapping away at earlier.

I hadn’t checked the exact message she used to call Usotsuki-chan back after she’d already started heading home, but it was probably something simple—telling her the situation had calmed down and trying to ease her mind a little.

“First, you need to give Usotsuki-chan a proper apology. For everything. No dodging any of it.”

“Y-Yeah...”

After I said that in a grave tone, Mizuno stiffened and nodded. She’d been threatened right back, had her peeing scene witnessed, and now had her weakness in our hands. Mentally, she was a wreck. Which meant Usotsuki-chan would probably forgive her.

From behind the club building, we watched the soccer team resting at the edge of the field. There were still leftover stumps from trees that had been cut down because they’d been in the way, and around that area I could see players stretching, while others squeezed their bottles hard enough to make it look like they were wringing them dry as they chugged water like maniacs.

I still couldn’t spot Sorimachi, but he was probably in the bathroom or back in the club room. If we asked one of his teammates or a senior, we’d find him fast enough. They seemed to be on a slightly longer break between practice matches, but we couldn’t afford to take it easy. If we were going to do this, it had to be now. If we missed this window, we’d be stuck waiting until club activities ended late.

“Come on. Go already.”

“B-But...!”

“You really have no guts, do you.”

“Getting weak over being rejected once is pathetic.”

Nijouin cut in. Yuu and Nijouin kept pressing her, and Mizuno stood there with a miserable look on her face, still unable to commit. Since she’d already been rejected once and we were now trying to make her take another shot, it was only natural that the trauma had come rushing back and her legs had frozen up.

But while that panic was there, I could also see something else slipping through her expression. She looked troubled, yeah, but somewhere in there was something almost happy too. I watched that carefully.

“—There you are.”

“What is this group?”

Then a voice cut in. Usotsuki-chan came running up to us, a light sheen of sweat on her forehead and her breath slightly unsteady. She stopped in front of us and caught her breath.

The moment her eyes moved over the people gathered there, they widened for a second, then narrowed in suspicion. She still hadn’t been told Mizuno was the one behind the whole mess, so all she could do was look around at us in confusion.

“Mizuno.”

“Y-Yes!”

“Huh? What?”

Called by me, Mizuno moved like the upper half of her body had frozen solid, only her feet shuffling stiffly as she stepped forward from a rigid, ramrod-straight stance. Seeing someone act that weird while coming closer made Usotsuki-chan tense up a little.

“I’m so sorry!!”

“Eh?”

Mizuno bent forward at a right angle in front of her. All we could see was the crown and back of her head, her short brown bob falling straight down and exposing the nape of her neck. Usotsuki-chan froze with a stunned look, clearly having no clue what the hell was going on.

Then Mizuno started explaining everything in her own words to the wide-eyed Usotsuki-chan, going through the whole chain of events and apologizing with complete sincerity.

When human beings get cornered, they sometimes do shit you’d never expect. And the less room they have to breathe, the more instinctive those actions get. When Mizuno was pushed to the edge, she had no one beside her. No friends. No one who understood her. No one to even stop her as she walked alone toward ruin.

The way she’d dragged other people in and tried to destroy everything around her might have been her own way of protecting herself as a creature called Mizuno—or maybe not protecting. Maybe trying to take it back.

“If you keep stalling, the break’s going to end.”

“Go on. We’ll be watching.”

“Do your best!”

Tears filled Mizuno’s eyes at our words, like she was overwhelmed. And then, right in front of us, something ruthless unfolded.

“—Tsukimi!”

“Sorimachi-kun...”

Sorimachi appeared out of nowhere and immediately spotted us the second he came out from behind cover. It was my first time matching his name to his face. If I had to describe him, he was a little taller than average, with short brown sports-cut hair and the kind of clean-cut good looks that made him come off as a refreshing, decent guy.

“Did you come to watch practice?”

“No, that’s not...”

“...Hm? Who are they?”

Now that I’d heard the rough details, I understood why Usotsuki-chan glanced back at Mizuno and started visibly panicking. Her usual fierce eyes drooped helplessly, and even her always-bouncy dyed blonde twin tails somehow looked droopy.

Only after noticing something was off about Usotsuki-chan did he finally pay attention to the rest of us.

“Mizuno... and Onodera-san? And the others are...?”

“I’m Hoshimiya. Nice to meet you.”

“Ah, right. Nice to meet you too...”

He returned the greeting while still clearly confused.

“The thing is, Tsukimi-chan here seems like she has something she wants to tell you.”

Usotsuki-chan shot me a horrified look for throwing that at her so casually. But hey, this was cleanup for something you’d left hanging in a half-assed way too.

“D-Don’t tell me! Have you decided to accept my confession!?”

“No, that’s not it...”

“I came to tell you properly... that I can’t go out with you.”

Sorimachi tilted his head as Usotsuki-chan struggled to get the words out. Then she turned back toward us for a second, faced him again, and slowly continued.

Sorimachi’s whole body locked up, like he was forcing himself to endure a stab of pain, but his expression still stayed more or less composed.

“Could you... give up on me?”

“W-Why...?”

“Because, Tsukimi, you said the other day you weren’t seeing anyone...!”

This wasn’t the first time I’d seen Usotsuki-chan act unusually meek, but it was definitely rare. Sorimachi had already realized she wasn’t joking or lying, so much so that he’d stopped caring about the eyes on him from all of us standing around. His voice shook.

“Yeah... that part’s true. But listen.”

“...The truth is, there’s someone I like right now.”

“So right now, I can’t think about dating anyone else.”

“I... see...”

“I’m sorry.”

“N-No...”

Usotsuki-chan looked back at us, then returned her gaze to him and spoke carefully. Sorimachi’s face twisted before he could even try to hide it, his usual bright,爽やかな look breaking into pure shock.

He seemed to understand what she was really saying.

His gaze moved back and forth between us and Usotsuki-chan several times before he let out a small laugh and finally released the tension in his shoulders.

“...I just couldn’t give up.”

“Yeah...”

“Thank you... for rejecting me properly.”

“...Yeah.”

And then, after what looked like a serious effort, he said the words he needed to say. Faced with Sorimachi’s sincere eyes, Usotsuki-chan looked away, dropped her gaze, and gave him a small nod.

Yeah... he’s a good guy.

Usotsuki-chan had managed to reject him properly too. Good. That part was settled. Now all I had to worry about was Yuu, who looked kind of murderous for some reason, unlike Nijouin, who just seemed puzzled.

...Right. We still weren’t done.

“I-I...!”

“I’m not giving up!”

“Sorimachi-kun, I love you! I’ve loved you for so long, ever since middle school!”

“...I see...”

A girl jumped out from between us and threw herself forward. Mizuno called Sorimachi’s name while trying desperately to keep her voice under control.

Something clicked for Sorimachi. He looked startled, then scratched his head with a bitter little smile. So those two had gone to the same middle school, huh? Well, if the guy you’ve loved for years gets swept away in high school by some sudden newcomer like Usotsuki-chan, I guess it does screw with your head.

Then again... does it? Usotsuki-chan is a cute girl if you’re talking looks alone, but her personality is weird as hell.

“I’m sorry, but I can’t return your feelings right now.”

“...!”

“W-Why—”

“The me standing here right now can’t answer your feelings.”

“...!”

Sorimachi opened his eyes fully and looked straight at Mizuno. She flinched for a second under that gaze, but she clenched her lips and forced herself to meet his eyes.

Whatever it was she read in that response, whatever conclusion she reached, Mizuno answered in a shaking voice.

“Do you... still like Tsukimi-san? I don’t care if you do, I—”

“That’s not it.”

“Even if I’m only second—”

“—!?”

“That’s not it! So, um—”

“Can I still keep loving you from now on!?”

“...Huh?”

Tears spilled from both her eyes, one drop after another. She didn’t even wipe them away. She just stared at Sorimachi.

For a second, Sorimachi looked like he genuinely thought he’d misheard her.

“Do you hate me, Sorimachi-kun...!?”

“No! That’s not it!”

“Then—!”

Their feelings spilled out all at once, tangling together and flooding the air around us. Mizuno was saying something so convenient for Sorimachi it was almost absurd, even if it was coming from a pure and painfully desperate kind of love. Even with them locking eyes like that, even if their feelings had somehow reached each other, I could already tell Sorimachi wasn’t going to answer her feelings here and now. That much had become obvious.

“I... I’m going to do my best so you’ll turn around and look at me someday...!”

“Mizuno...”

“Nn... ngh... nnh...”

Her desperation must have hit him hard enough to hurt. Sorimachi hurriedly shut his mouth after realizing it had been hanging open like an idiot, and some weird sound came out of him that was somewhere between a groan and a grunt.

“I want the boy I love more than anything to come to love me too.”

“—!”

“So let me keep loving you. I’m absolutely going to make you look at me.”

How did Sorimachi take those feelings of hers? What the hell was going through his head? Through tears, Mizuno smiled and confessed again.

Faced with that expression, Sorimachi didn’t have a damn thing he could do.

“...If that’s really what you want, then...”

All he could do was swallow hard and accept the feelings Mizuno offered him.

On the way home, while we were heading toward Usotsuki-chan’s house, I let out a satisfied breath.

“Honestly, that kind of after-school youth drama is kinda nice once in a while.”

“Yeah. But...”

“What?”

“Ren-chan, do you like confessions like that?”

“Like is a strong word... I was just a little moved, that’s all. Sorimachi looked shaken by it too.”

“Mmm... I guess it was romantic, but...”

“Did something bother you?”

“No. I just thought she didn’t push hard enough.”

“...I see.”

Walking close beside me, Yuu sighed.

Was that really weak pressure?

From where I stood, Mizuno had been coming at him with a crazy amount of force.

“If it’s a confession that might not work, then if you’re going to do it, you should go harder. Like, really—”

“Really what?”

“...Forget it.”

“What kind of answer is that?”

From Yuu’s point of view—the type of girl who’d use every advantage she had—Mizuno’s confession probably came off way too tame. She clearly had her own idea of how it should’ve been done, but she had no intention of explaining it. Part of me wanted to ask anyway. The other part seriously didn’t.

“Well, that does sound like something Yuu-chan would say.”

“Whatever she’s imagining is probably terrifying.”

“Hm?”

“Nothing. Just joking♪”

“Don’t start making strange comments in front of Ren-chan.”

Usotsuki-chan, who’d been quietly trailing behind us the whole time, suddenly cut into the conversation. She slipped forward to my side like always, putting herself on the opposite side of Yuu with me stuck in the middle again.

Yuu looked like she wanted to argue back immediately, but I honestly couldn’t tell if Usotsuki-chan had actually guessed right or not.

“So what’s this ‘terrifying confession style’ supposed to mean?”

“See? Now Ren-chan’s interested.”

“Ahaha~☆”

“Trust me, Ren-kun. That’s probably one of those things you’re happier not knowing.”

Another figure slipped up beside Usotsuki-chan as Nijouin joined in.

“Huh? Why are you shutting me out too, Nijouin?”

If everyone here had the same running speed, Nijouin Reiko definitely looked like the kind of girl who’d burst through the finish line first without even trying. Until recently, she’d only been Usotsuki-chan’s self-proclaimed best friend, but somewhere along the way she’d naturally become part of our group too. Honestly, she was dangerous in more ways than one.

“It’s not about excluding you, Hoshimiya-san. There are simply certain things men are better off not knowing.”

“Ren-kun’s weirdly oblivious sometimes, so that probably works out pretty well for him.”

“That honestly sounds accurate.”

Usotsuki-chan tossed that out casually, and Nijouin nodded in complete agreement.

“What’s with you two?”

The way those two bounced off each other with perfectly matched timing was honestly kind of impressive. Their personalities really did click together naturally. This was my first time actually seeing Nijouin walking side by side with Usotsuki-chan, and standing them together made their differences stand out even more.

Nijouin was taller. Usotsuki-chan’s dyed blonde hair and Nijouin’s natural blonde hair were completely different shades too. The more I compared them, the more interesting it got. They didn’t really look alike at all. The hair color was vaguely similar, sure, but everything else was different.

And more than anything else, the difference in the chest department was overwhelming.

The gap between them was honestly ridiculous.

“Ren-chan.”

“What?”

The moment I looked over at Yuu, I found her puffing her cheeks out in obvious annoyance. It wasn’t like I’d been staring directly. I’d only been glancing at Usotsuki-chan and Nijouin from the corner of my eye. I’d been careful about it too.

“How close are you with those two, exactly?”

“No clue. Sometimes they just start having conversations only they understand.”

“I see... Figures...”

“W-Well, I guess that just proves how close Ren-chan and I are?”

Nijouin blinked in genuine confusion while staring at us. Yuu sounded embarrassed when she said it, but from the side of the person whose thoughts kept getting exposed, it was honestly exhausting.

“Yuu-chan, you get all lovey-dovey way too easily.”

Usotsuki-chan sighed dramatically.

And just like that, the four of us kept walking together beneath the evening sky, as noisy as ever.

Chapter 8: While Trying to Stop a Bad Rumor, but Somehow Ended Up Helping the Culprit Confess