The View The Day After X-Day

Yu Isshiki, a freshman in the Department of Information and Computer Science at Joto University, had been cheated on by his girlfriend, Karen Mitsumoto. The man she was seeing was Tetsuya Kamokura—Yu’s senior from both high school and university and part of the same social circle. Kamokura, however, already had a beautiful girlfriend: Toko Sakurajima, known as the “Shadow Miss Joto University.” Toko was also the upperclassman Yu had admired since high school.

When Yu discovered the affair, he desperately demanded that Toko “cheat with him” in return. Toko offered a more effective form of retaliation: make them fall more in love than ever, then dump them and announce you’re spending the night with someone else.

Yu and Toko schemed, picked Christmas Eve as X-Day, and waited. When X-Day arrived, everything unfolded.

At the moment they were voted the “Best Couple,” Toko and Yu announced they were breaking up with their partners and exposed Kamokura and Karen’s affair. Enraged, Karen hurled insults and stormed out. Kamokura—confronted by Toko’s claim that she would be “spending the night with Yu Isshiki”—tried to resist desperately but couldn’t give a satisfactory answer to Toko’s final question.

Toko and I left for a bayside hotel together.

Inside the room, I officially asked Toko to go out with me. She said yes. The instant the date changed, though, she announced, “My father’s here to pick me up, so I’m going home.” Stunned, I watched her add, calmly:

“I have never had a physical relationship with anyone before.”

“I don’t plan on doing that until marriage.”

And with that, she left.

What, then, would be the fate of Yu Isshiki?

“…I told you to stop with the weird narration!” I snapped at Ishida, who had started humming the theme song to a famous banker drama.

“Hey, you can’t blame me this time, Yu. I mean, everything went exactly according to plan, didn’t it?” Ishida slurped his coffee loudly. We were at a family restaurant along Route 14, the place we frequented.

I’d checked out of the hotel well before the 10:00 AM deadline after spending the night alone following X-Day. Almost immediately, Ishida had messaged me, dripping with curiosity: How was last night? So here we were, having lunch.

“You finally got your wish and spent the night in a hotel with Toko-senpai. She even agreed to date you. And then she tells you ‘No sex until marriage’ and just goes home? Man, even a high school cherry boy would’ve been more aggressive than that.” Ishida peered over the rim of his cup with a judgmental squint.

“Don’t make it sound so easy. You can only say that because you weren’t there. If Toko-senpai had declared ‘No sex until marriage’ to your face, you wouldn’t have been able to do a damn thing either!”

He shrugged. “True. Even Kamokura-senpai couldn’t lay a finger on her. There’s no way a ‘freshman non-virgin’ like you stood a chance.”

I didn’t answer. He wasn’t wrong—Kamokura, the super-handsome alpha-male playboy, had been a toothless child against that iron-willed woman. There was no way someone like me could have changed that.

“Still,” Ishida went on, “Kamokura-senpai’s almost pitiful. He chased her since high school only to get dumped without ever getting any. And now he thinks he lost her to a junior…”

A small pang of sympathy tugged at me. If Kamokura hadn’t cheated with my girlfriend, I might have actually felt sorry for him. Ishida leaned back and looked at the ceiling.

“Well, if your girlfriend rejects you with ‘No sex until marriage,’ you’re bound to cheat the moment a cute girl makes a move on you.”

“What happened to Kamokura-senpai after that?” I asked. Toko and I had made our severance declaration and left the party immediately, so I hadn’t seen what came next. Ishida, however, was in the know.

“He was pretty devastated. Nakazaki-san took him outside to comfort him. Apparently he was half-crying. I’ve never seen Kamokura-senpai like that.”

Guilt pricked my chest. Then again, since I hadn’t actually done anything with Toko-senpai, I reminded myself I didn’t really need to feel guilty.

“So, Yu, are you going to be okay?” Ishida sat up and looked at me.

“About what?”

“I mean, you can’t do anything with Toko-senpai until marriage, right? Now you’re in Kamokura-senpai’s position. Can you keep your eyes from wandering?”

I glared. “What are you talking about? Of course I can. I’d never cheat!”

“Are you sure? How many years until you get married? Three and a half until graduation. Two more if you go to grad school. Even after getting a job, you can’t marry right away. Even if you stay together, it’ll probably take seven years to reach the altar. Do you really intend to keep a ‘pure relationship’ that long?”

Seven years. Hearing it put like that made my resolve falter for a moment. Ishida pressed on while I stayed silent.

“We’re only nineteen. Our early twenties are when our desires are strongest, right? You’ll have Toko-senpai’s premium body right next to you while you’re stuck on ‘wait’ mode for years. And even after all that waiting, you don’t even know if you’ll actually marry her.”

“I don’t have a choice. I can’t date her otherwise. And after everything Toko-senpai did to encourage me and get me this far, there’s no way I could betray her like Kamokura did.” My voice sounded weaker than I meant.

“I’d pass in a heartbeat,” Ishida said. “I’d rather have sex once a week with an ordinary girl than endure years as a ‘second-time virgin’ with no guarantee of a happy ending.”

I didn’t argue. I just took a quiet sip of coffee.

“By the way, how do you plan to ‘date’ Toko-senpai from now on? Letters? An exchange diary? Walking to school together?” Ishida mocked.

“I haven’t thought about it yet.”

“Aren’t you seeing her during winter break?” Today was the start of break, which lasted until January 7th.

“I actually messaged her earlier to ask about her plans,” I said weakly.

“And?”

“She says she can’t meet during the break. Apparently Toko-senpai’s family goes to Hawaii every year from the end of the year through New Year’s.”

…See you at the university, Yu-kun! Her voice from last night echoed in my head.

“Man… you just start dating and she’s already gone? Sounds like a rough road ahead.” Even Ishida sounded deflated.

“Toko-senpai’s family has a tradition of spending New Year’s in Hawaii every year.”

“They must be loaded.”

“Both her parents are doctors. Her house was pretty impressive too.”

Trying to shake the gloom, Ishida brightened. “Well, whatever. Let’s hang out this New Year’s too! We went to the first shrine visit together last year before the entrance exams. Let’s do it again!”

“Two years in a row, just us guys?” I managed a wry smile. I was grateful for Ishida’s concern. Maybe this sort of thing suited us better anyway.