"Go-go-go-go-go-go...."
"Do-do-do-do-do-do...."
"Bi-bi-bi-bi-bi-bi...."
"...."
What the hell was this situation?
I had only dragged Tonomachi-kun into the classroom, and now I was being dragged out by Ai, Mai, and Mii while getting some truly intense stares.
Just from the way they were talking, it did remind me of some weird adventure manga, but I didn’t think I’d done anything bad enough to deserve this kind of treatment.
If there was a culprit, it was probably because of what Tonomachi-kun had said.
He had to phrase it like that, so now these three were misunderstanding everything.
"...What’s going on?"
While I was still flustered under the three of their stares, Itsuka-kun’s voice came from behind me.
"Ah, Itsuka-kun!"
"...I took a wrong turn."
He took one look at my situation, understood immediately, and tried to run.
I quickly grabbed him by the back of the neck and planted him beside me.
If I was going to suffer, I wasn’t going to suffer alone. Besides, isn’t pain supposed to be halved when shared?
"Let go! Why am I included too!?"
"Of course you’re included! Now, let’s hear your explanation!"
As soon as Itsuka-kun arrived, Ai immediately began interrogating him.
At her words, Itsuka-kun looked at me like he was asking what the hell this was about, but the pressure from the three of them only got worse.
"Where do you think you’re looking?"
"I said explain."
"Explain what!?"
For Itsuka-kun, it was like lightning out of a clear blue sky.
He had asked because he genuinely didn’t know what had happened, but that didn’t matter to them at all.
"Don’t bother denying it! We know everything!"
"The witness just testified!"
"Come on, Tonomachi-kun! Testify!"
As Mii spoke, the classroom door opened and Tonomachi-kun appeared.
He was crying bitterly as if he’d been wronged, and he began delivering the testimony that had made things awkward for me.
"B-b-b-b-b... Itsuka... Hieta... brought another girl... sob...!"
Yeah, that.
Ren was indeed a new girl, but the way he put it made it sound like Itsuka-kun and I were a pair of Casanovas.
And I hadn’t even brought her here. I’d just run into her in front of the school gate. Dragging me into that too was just unfair.
I was trying to explain that, but they wouldn’t even give me the chance and just kept pressing me, so I couldn’t get a word in.
"There, there. That must have been hard."
"Tonomachi-kun’s brave accusation won’t be in vain!"
"Here, a warm blanket and some soup."
"W-warm...."
Tonomachi-kun was trembling, and the three of them were comforting him while handing over a blanket and soup that I had no idea where they’d pulled from.
The four of them were putting on this ridiculous little play, and I was so dumbfounded I couldn’t even speak.
I had no idea what the point of acting like that was from a normal person’s perspective, so I looked at Itsuka-kun for help, and he seemed just as stunned, shaking his head with a helpless expression.
Actually, I didn’t know why they were putting on this farce, but I did have a rough idea why they were reacting like this to me and Itsuka-kun.
From what I always heard, they were always trying to pair Itsuka-kun with Tohka, and the Fire Keeper with me.
Then when they saw us being close with another girl, we probably looked like complete bastards to them.
But this was unfair to us too.
No, seriously, if they understand the situation enough to be jealous, why are they interfering in the first place?
Honestly, I wanted to say that the reason we kept meeting other girls was mostly because they were spirits, but the people in front of me were ordinary humans, after all.
The frustration of not being able to say it was something Itsuka-kun and I just had to bear.
'Now that I think about it like this, we sound like toxic shipping trash.'
That thought crossed my mind for a second, but I immediately shook it off and spoke to Ai.
"What kind of farce is this...?"
"A-anyway! You need to explain the situation!"
Whether she realized they’d been putting on a farce or not, Ai immediately went back on the offensive.
Joining in on her attack, the other two started pressing us too.
"Why is Ren-chan, who’s been absent from school all this time, suddenly coming to school with you guys like you’re all best friends!?"
"Don’t tell me her being absent has something to do with this!?"
"Hahaha...."
That ridiculous fantasy made me let out an involuntary laugh.
No, seriously, what kind of image did they have of us in their heads?
At least stop at suspicion. Wasn’t this a little too much?
Of course, the one who had created this situation was Tonomachi-kun’s mouth, so when I shot him an exasperated look, he tightened the blanket Mii had given him and averted his eyes.
'Someday, I’m definitely going to set aside a day and get my revenge on Tonomachi-kun.'
With that firm resolve, I began my explanation to clear up the misunderstanding.
"Phew. Everyone, first of all, I’m not involved in this at all. I only met Ren-chan at the front gate, and the one who was actually with her in the first place was Itsuka-kun."
"Hieta!?"
"So I’ll just stay quiet and listen here. If you have any questions, ask Itsuka-kun."
"Hey!?"
Itsuka-kun glared at me once he realized I’d dumped everything on him, but everything I said was true, so I just shrugged.
Since he knew that, he let out a long sigh and said to Ren-chan,
"...Ren, introduce yourself while saying hello too."
"I’m Ren. It’s been a while... I guess? Nice to meet you."
Ren introduced herself as calmly as ever.
"Ah, yeah, nice to meet you... Huh? What happened to that bandage?"
Ai, who had been responding to Ren-chan’s introduction, suddenly froze and pointed at the bandage on Ren-chan.
"Ah, that is..."
Just as I was about to step in and explain the easily misunderstood situation, Mai spoke even faster than I did.
"Wait, Itsuka-kun!? The kind boyfriend who suddenly gets gentle after hitting her!?"
"Don’t fall for it, Ren-chan! Nice guys don’t hit people in the first place!"
I started wondering what kind of image Itsuka-kun had in their heads, but what mattered more was clearing up this misunderstanding.
"Everyone, what kind of delusions are you even having...? Itsuka-kun gets hit, not the other way around."
"What!? Then does that mean his type is...!"
"H-hey, Hieta! You stay quiet!"
Ah, was that not something I should have said?
Still, I did think being the one getting hit was better for your reputation than being the one doing the hitting.
Whenever I thought about the back-and-forth with the commander, Itsuka-kun was always the one taking the hits, so I didn’t think I was completely wrong.
But if I said that out loud, I’d probably just earn his resentment, so I didn’t.
Though it already felt like I’d earned plenty of resentment anyway.
"This bandage isn’t because of an injury. I came to school with Shido because of Shido’s wish. There’s no need to worry."
"Oh, really?"
The good thing was that Ren-chan’s direct explanation cleared up the idea that Itsuka-kun was some kind of violent maniac.
Well, the misunderstanding that he liked getting hit still seemed to be hanging around, but that had nothing to do with me.
"But, huh...? With Itsuka-kun’s wish...? The mystery only gets deeper..."
"Uh...."
I’d just relaxed because Itsuka-kun’s misunderstanding had been cleared up, but now that I thought about it, Ren-chan might have said something she shouldn’t have.
These people were completely ordinary, so they probably didn’t even know spirits existed, let alone that Ren-chan was one.
And if she used the word wish in that situation, it was obvious what kind of conclusions these people, whose imagination was already overflowing into full-blown delusion, would come up with.
"...So you’re saying Itsuka-kun dragged Ren-chan, who was on leave, to school by forcing her into some chuunibyou fashion thing?"
"That’s so disappointing. ...Huh? Why does that sound weirdly familiar...? I feel like I’ve said this before..."
Mai made another bizarre guess, while Mii was thrown into confusion because she’d used her signature line for the first time in a while.
I marveled at Mai’s imagination, wondering how anyone could possibly interpret it that way, and watched Ren-chan’s reaction.
"Hmm. What a lively trio."
Whether she didn’t care much about the misunderstanding or not, Ren-chan spoke in a calm tone.
Since I couldn’t really deny that, Itsuka-kun nodded and introduced the three of them.
"Yeah... Classmates Yamabuki Ai, Hazakura Mai, and Fujibakama Mii."
As Itsuka-kun said their names, the three of them nodded.
"Well, they’re like this, but they’re not bad people. In fact, Tohka gets along with them too."
At Itsuka-kun’s assessment of them, Ren-chan gave a small smile and said,
"I see. I can believe that."
Looks like they’d earned themselves a decent impression.
They really were good people, aside from the fact that they kept making weird misunderstandings, so I was relieved—until I noticed the three of them giving Itsuka-kun suspicious looks.
I was wondering what was up when I realized that, come to think of it, what Itsuka-kun had said to Ren-chan wasn’t loud enough for the three of them to hear.
I was right next to him, so I could hear it, but from their perspective, he had suddenly introduced them and then whispered with her. That really was suspicious behavior.
"What are you whispering about?"
"Are you badmouthing us to Ren-chan?"
"Spilling things that never happened!?"
Since this was something Itsuka-kun or Ren-chan would have to explain directly, I stayed quiet, and Ren-chan shook her head.
"No, that’s not it. I was introduced as someone trustworthy enough to believe in."
"Eh? Really?"
"Yes."
If the conversation had ended there, that would have been nice, but judging from Ren-chan’s expression, she seemed to be in the mood to tease them.
"――And if you had been a little cuter, I might even have put you in my harem, too."
Today, too, Itsuka-kun’s image plunged straight into the abyss.
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