15 — Booby Trap!

After returning from the meeting with Toko-senpai and the others, I immediately sent a message to Karen.

(Yu): Hey, about this Saturday—I decided to go to Ishida’s vacation house like they’ve been asking me to.

The reply came instantly.

(Karen): That sounds like fun~! Have a great time!!

Somehow, letting it end like that sat wrong with me. I decided to poke a little further.

(Yu): So, if you want, do you want to come along, Karen?

Inviting her like this would actually make me seem less suspicious.

(Karen): I’ll pass, but thanks! It’s with your hometown friends, right?

(Yu): Yeah, but still.

(Karen): Then you should just go have fun with your old friends! I already have plans to meet up with my friends that day anyway.

That was the response. Just as predicted.

(Yu): I see. That’s a shame, then.

(Karen): Let’s both have fun separately this weekend!

“Let’s both have fun separately” my foot! Those “friends” you’re talking about is just one person—my senior, that playboy Kamokura!

But I couldn’t push any further. I tossed my phone onto the bed. After a while, it vibrated. It was Karen.

(Karen): Yu-kun, what time are you leaving on Saturday?

…I believe Toko-senpai said she’d keep Kamokura busy until around noon…

(Yu): I plan to head out a bit after noon.

(Karen): Oh, really? And when are you coming back? What time on Sunday?

(Yu): I think it’ll be pretty late. The highways will probably be crowded. If we leave there in the evening, I probably won’t get home until late at night.

(Karen): I see! Have a safe trip!

Karen was clearly confirming the window of time I’d be gone. She’s probably thinking she can spend that entire time with Kamokura.

Dammit, that total bitch!

Just you wait. I’m going to show you exactly what’s coming!

Finally, the Saturday of the operation arrived. A little after noon, Ishida and I picked up the rental car, and I sent Karen a message: “Alright, I’m heading out now.”

A reply of “Have a safe trip!” arrived almost immediately.

As we neared Kamokura’s apartment in Kinshicho, I sent a “Arrived on site” message to Toko-senpai. She replied, “I’ll be leaving in about an hour.” In this context, “I’ll be leaving” meant that in an hour, she and Kamokura would part ways, and he would head back this way.

The van Ishida and I were in was parked in a spot where we could monitor the path from the station to Kamokura’s apartment. We chose this spot just in case Karen arrived before Kamokura did.

That said, at this point, we weren’t particularly tense. We figured it was still too early for either of them to show up. Ishida, in the driver’s seat, spoke up.

“Man, Toko-senpai really is something else, isn’t she?”

“Yeah.”

I gave a somewhat dismissive reply.

“Having someone like her as a girlfriend would be the dream.”

“Yeah.”

“I wonder why Kamokura-senpai would cheat when he has a girlfriend who’s that beautiful and well-endowed?”

“How the hell should I know?”

I was incredibly grateful to Ishida for taking time out of his day off to help me. Still, I couldn’t bring myself to give a pleasant response to this topic. It just made me irritable.

But… I was wondering the same thing as Ishida. In terms of looks, Toko-senpai was far superior to Karen, both in face and figure. Any ten out of ten men would say the same. I even felt that being with Toko-senpai once would be worth more than being with Karen ten times. Then again, men are creatures that constantly want to be with different women; having a beautiful girlfriend doesn’t necessarily mean they won’t stray.

“I mean, Karen-chan is cute too. She’s definitely ‘Top 3 Cutest’ in our circle.”
I remained sullenly silent.

“Honestly, when I heard before summer break that you’d started dating Karen-chan, I was pretty jealous.”

“Now that things have turned out like this, my feelings have flipped completely.”

“True. You’re in a rough spot, Yu. Have you started feeling any better yet?”

“Yeah. Thanks to Toko-senpai, I’ve moved past a lot of it. I feel like my eyes have finally opened.”

“I see. That’s good to hear.”

Ishida sounded relieved.

“To be honest, I was a little worried today that if you saw Kamokura and Karen-chan together, you might snap and jump out of the car.”

So that’s why he’d been with me since the morning.

“Thanks. But I’ll be fine. If I did that, Toko-senpai would only lose respect for me.”

“I’m glad to see you’re calmer than I imagined. We really owe it to Toko-senpai.”
Ishida looked over at me.

“I hope you’re the one standing by her side at that ‘final moment’ she talked about. I’m rooting for you. Give that piece of trash Kamokura exactly what he deserves.”