“Wasn’t Ayanokōji-kun during swimming class insanely cool!?”

“And if you look closely, his face is actually handsome too! During swimming he was totally a ‘dripping-with-water’ kind of good-looking guy, right!?”

I, Karuizawa Kei, let the surrounding girls’ chatter pass with a wry smile, but inside my heart, a violent storm was raging.

'Weren’t you guys saying things like “Karuizawa-san has terrible taste” and “I bet his casual clothes are lame” just about two hours ago!?!? Well, his casual clothes actually were lame, but still!'

We’d gone on a casual clothes date once and they really were lame, so I picked out clothes for Kiyotaka myself and he just bought everything as-is.

Kiyotaka said, “There’s no way I have that kind of fashion sense, so if it’s something Kei recommends, there can’t be a mistake,” but isn’t that just dumping everything on me?

Well, those casual clothes really were lame though.

The way these girls completely flipped their opinions is honestly impressive in its own way.

'Sigh… all he did was stand out by getting first place in swimming. Well, it’s not bad that everyone knows I have an athletic boyfriend now… it’s not bad, but still!!!'

There are way too many girls with heart-shaped eyes now, even though they were trash-talking him this morning!!!!!

* * *

Even after I got home, my heart wouldn’t settle down.

'They do realize he’s my boyfriend, right? Well, fake boyfriend, but still… I’m already halfway fallen for him, so it’s basically like we’re really dating!!'

I know I’m forcing it by saying that myself.

Recovering Kiyotaka’s emotions—especially the parameter for affection—won’t be easy.

But making him recover them is my role.

It’s not part of the conditions, but I personally want to restore them.

'And if I do, I’ll be his girlfriend in both name and reality! I’m not handing Kiyotaka over to any other girl!'

Right now, the only real danger is Horikita-san.

The other girls shouldn’t even have any real contact with Kiyotaka.

'After seeing how things went in swimming today, Kushida-san might be suspicious too. Anyway, I need to be careful with Horikita-san. I haven’t even touched him yet and she went and touched his arms and back… that’s enviable—no, no! I’m not jealous at all!!'

For now, I’ll go see Kiyotaka.

Text: “I’m heading to your room now~.”

He’s probably just killing time anyway, so I don’t need to wait for a reply.

I didn’t know yet that not waiting for his reply at that moment would lead to a major tragedy.

* * *

'Security here is really sloppy, huh~. You can make a spare key this easily.'

I quickly unlocked Kiyotaka’s room and went inside.

Just like always, it’s an empty room with nothing in it.

“…You came. I sent you a message saying I wanted you to wait a bit.”

Kiyotaka said that with his usual blank expression.

No… he looks kind of flustered?

“Wanting me to wait is rare. Did you have something going on?”

“No, it’s not really that different from usual, but… I kind of wanted you to wait just a bit longer today.”

He’s being oddly hesitant.

He’s usually pretty blunt.

…When I listen closely, I can hear the sound of running water.

This is… someone is taking a shower in Kiyotaka’s room!?!?

If auras were visible, something like jet-black flames would be flickering around me right now.

“…Hey. Mind telling me who you brought into the room while leaving your girlfriend out of it?????”

“C-Calm down, Kei. I didn’t bring anyone in. This is a false accusation. I’m innocent.”

You’re getting awfully talkative, Kiyotaka.

“For now, show me your phone.”

I’m fully aware I’m acting like an annoying, possessive girlfriend, but I can’t stop myself.

I gave in to the temptation to check his contacts too and before I knew it, I’d snatched his phone away.

'No suspicious messages… but he could’ve deleted them, so I should check the contacts… Horikita-san isn’t here, but Kushida-san is… so does that mean—'

* * *

The door opened.

“Hey, Karuizawa? What’s gotten into you?”

Kei’s sensibilities are completely normal for a high school girl.

If Ken suddenly appears naked right in front of you, of course you’d faint.

“If a guy suddenly shows up completely naked in front of you, any normal girl would pass out… So put some clothes on before coming out. Kei has a spare key too, so she might show up suddenly like today.”

“Yeah, my bad. I’ll be more careful next time.”

Seriously, please do.

The reason Ken was at my place is, in a way, actually Kei’s fault.

Kei had seen me and Ken training together.

I don’t really want a lot of people seeing that, so we decided to train in my room instead.

That way, we can just say Ken comes over to hang out almost every day.

Ken and I are close anyway.

It’s just a room, so calling it training is basically just strength training.

That said, it’s my own custom-made training menu, so it’s pretty intense.

That’s why Ken ends up soaked in sweat every time.

Sending him home like that felt wrong, so I suggested he rinse off in the shower before leaving.

'Even so, the timing couldn’t have been worse. If it were even a little earlier or later, this tragedy wouldn’t have happened…'

Ken was sent back to his room before Kei woke up.

Kei didn’t remember anything and was holding her head in pain, so I told her to go home and rest and sent her back.