Chapter 31

It happened right after school.
Just as homeroom ended and Ryuichi attempted to leave the classroom alongside Shizuna, Akira, who had been shooting him persistent, hostile glares all day much like Souhei used to, intercepted them. Ryuichi had a hunch something like this was coming, so he felt no particular surprise.

“Shishido, I need to talk to you for a second.”
“…Well, I don’t mind.”

With that, he glanced down at Shizuna.
If the conversation was going to wrap up quickly, she could wait, but since it might take a while, he wanted to let her know she was free to head home first. Even without a word spoken between them, Shizuna seemed to understand and gave a sharp shake of her head.

“Go home? Not a chance. Of course I’m going to wait for you.”

She had no intention of leaving; come hell or high water, she was going home with Ryuichi. Letting out a wry, helpless sigh, Ryuichi looked at her, while Akira stared at the two of them with an expression that clearly said he couldn’t believe his eyes.

“…Seriously, Rindo, what the hell has gotten into you? I’ll be straight with you since we’re here. How can you act like nothing’s wrong when you look at Souhei?”
“Whether I feel anything or not, if it comes down to those two choices, of course I do. But even so, I don’t have anything I can offer him anymore. Shirasaki-kun, did you actually bother to ask what happened between me and Souhei-kun?”
“…No, I didn’t ask, but I can guess. You two are childhood friends, right? Why are you sticking close to a guy like him instead of Souhei?”

At those words, Shizuna’s eyes narrowed into sharp daggers.
Intimidated by the sheer intensity of her glare, Akira instinctively took a step back, but watching Shizuna flare up made Ryuichi let out a tired sigh of here we go again. While he didn’t snap the way Shizuna did, hearing the exact same recycled accusations over and over again was undeniably grating.

“Shizuna.”

Right there in the school hallway, just as Shizuna looked ready to raise her voice and chew Akira out, Ryuichi placed a hand gently on her shoulder. Whenever Shizuna grew angry or let a gloomy expression take hold, touching her body like this was always the most effective way to anchor her.

“…Ryuichi-kun.”
“Look, there’s no need to… well, I wouldn’t say this doesn’t matter, but you don’t need to fly off the handle over every little thing. The relationship between you and me isn’t anyone else’s business. All you need to do is stand by my side and smile.”

With just those words, Ryuichi started walking forward, keeping his hand resting firmly on Shizuna’s shoulder.

“Let’s get this over with, Shirasaki.”

Figuring Shizuna wouldn’t complain about tagging along this time, he decided to bring her with him. Just as he expected, Akira raised no objections even with Shizuna trailing right beside them. The destination they headed for was the secluded, deserted rooftop.

“Well? What do you want?”

Facing the combined gazes of Ryuichi and Shizuna, Akira finally spoke.

“I’ll ask you straight up… Shishido, do you know my older sister?”

He had figured the chances were low, but it turned out Akira wanted to talk about his older sister, Satsuki. He obviously couldn’t know that Ryuichi had crossed physical lines with Satsuki. Still, just to test the waters, Ryuichi dropped her name directly.

“Satsuki? Didn’t know she was your sister, but yeah, we’re acquainted.”
“Tch… Where did you meet her?”

Seeing the hostility spike in Akira’s voice, Ryuichi narrowed his eyes.
Stepping away from Akira’s immediate situation for a moment, Ryuichi had seen plenty of people in his life. People who harbored affection for him like Shizuna, Chisa, Sakie, and Satsuki; people like his mother and father… and people who tried to conceal the ugly desires festering deep inside them, failing to realize they were bleeding right through.

(Is this punk actually into Satsuki? They’re supposed to be blood-related family, but… Ha, what a deeply twisted world this really is.)

Without feeling any particular contempt, Ryuichi simply accepted it with a strange sense of clarity.
While people like Ryuichi existed, those who formed relationships with numerous women; there were women who found themselves drawn to that exact kind of man. And then there were people harboring thoughts like Akira’s. That was all there was to it.

“Where we met is none of your damn business.”
“Of course it’s my business!?”

Akira raised his voice a notch higher.
The fierce, glaring intensity in Akira’s expression made it painfully obvious how obsessive his feelings were. A quick glance to the side revealed Shizuna watching Akira with clinical, analytical curiosity. Figuring the chances were slim but preparing for the worst in case Akira flew off the handle, Ryuichi kept one hand resting protectively on Shizuna’s shoulder.

“You, could it be…”

Right as Ryuichi was about to spit out the words that would pierce straight to the core of the issue, a stark, monochrome image flashed across his mind. It plunged Ryuichi into a sensation that felt as though he were watching a black-and-white manga page unfold.

“Hey, Sis, why are you paying attention to Souhei when you’ve got me?!”
“Stop it, Akira… Please, we can still go back.”
“Go back to what?! Sis belongs to me… I’ll never hand her over to anyone!!”

The memory that had been lingering stubbornly on the tip of his tongue finally snapped back into place.
Akira was in love with his own flesh-and-blood sister, Satsuki. Seeing Satsuki pay attention to Souhei had caused his pent-up, festering desires to finally boil over, leading him to snap and attack her. Satsuki herself harbored zero romantic feelings for Souhei; she had simply been kind to him because he was her brother’s best friend—yet Akira’s runaway delusions had blown everything out of proportion.

“…Seriously, what a deeply twisted world.”

Whether it was a reflection of the original author’s peculiar tastes, some specific fetish, or simply the intended plot trajectory from the start, he couldn’t be sure; even so, Satsuki’s narrative purpose had originally been designed to provide a supportive shoulder to a despairing Souhei after losing Shizuna to a delinquent. And yet, because of the way things actually played out, protagonists in this kind of genre truly never caught a break.

“You okay, Ryuichi-kun?”
“Yeah, I’m fine.”

Even so, twisting the established flow and altering the intended tracks didn’t change the fact that Ryuichi had already snatched Shizuna away from Souhei. Regardless of whether it was the result of overlapping coincidences, or the fact that both Ryuichi and Shizuna’s mindsets differed entirely from the original work, none of that mattered anymore.

“……………”

And right now, whether indirectly or not, Akira was teetering on the verge of a total breakdown. The jealousy he should have naturally directed toward Souhei was being funneled entirely into Ryuichi. The fact that his jealousy burned so much hotter than anything in the original story was undoubtedly because Ryuichi was his target.

“Just tell me where you met my sister… where you met someone who belongs to me?!”

Losing whatever shred of patience he had left, Akira stepped forward aggressively.
His blood was clearly boiling to the point of clouding his vision, allowing the grotesque perception of Satsuki he had kept hidden deep down inside to spill out into the open. The obsession he mistook for genuine affection was, in truth, nothing more than a pathological desire to keep his own blood sister locked away solely for himself.

“…Belong to you, huh. I suppose the old me used to think the exact same way.”

Seeing that kind of possessiveness reflected in someone else instead of yourself made it horrifyingly easy to understand just how grotesque it looked. Ryuichi was certain he must have once been the exact same way. And if his memories hadn’t returned, he might have claimed Shizuna, standing right here holding his arm, in that exact same heavy-handed, tyrannical grip.

Since he already maintained relationships with numerous women, they might share some superficial similarities, but at the very least, the current Ryuichi didn’t view them as objects to be “possessed.” Whether anyone understood it or not, Ryuichi treated them as equals.

“Fufu, though honestly, being treated like an object by Ryuichi-kun has a certain thrill to it, you know.”
“Hey.”

Apparently overhearing Ryuichi’s low mutter, Shizuna dropped that little bombshell without missing a beat. Piercing straight through the suffocating tension hanging in the air, her shameless admission made Ryuichi let out an inward sigh of yep, you really are a hopeless masochist.

“Still, I prefer loving and being loved as equals. That’s why I fell in love with the current Ryuichi-kun, you know? He’s still as blunt as ever, but I can feel his kindness loud and clear. That’s why I love you.”

With a soft, radiant smile from Shizuna, Ryuichi offered a small, amused huff.
Akira had been completely and utterly left out of the conversation, but Ryuichi shifted his gaze back to him.

“Hey Shirasaki, Satsuki isn’t an object.”
“What did you say?!”

His objection was entirely focused on the wrong part.
At that moment, Akira should have been vigorously nodding or screaming a denial at the idea that Satsuki was not a possession. Akira’s immediate reaction was a tacit admission that Satsuki belonged to him. While some warped emotional trigger had likely set him off down this path, the fact remained that he had crossed physical lines with Satsuki, and more importantly, since the epicenter of Akira’s blind rage had circled back to involve Ryuichi, he had zero intention of pretending he didn’t notice.

“Why you’ve got such a twisted obsession with Satsuki is your own business, relationships come in all shapes and sizes, so I’m not here to lecture you on morality. But let me tell you this: the moment you start viewing her as property, things are never going to end well.”

Well, even if things went wrong, you could always just inject a hefty dose of twisted pleasure to brainwash someone into a warped sense of happiness, which made the manga logic awfully convenient. Akira’s eyes bulged with rage as he glared daggers at Ryuichi. He looked ready to throw a punch right then and there, but the sheer intimidation factor of facing Ryuichi kept him physically frozen in place.

“…Well, not like it matters what I say to you anyway. Saving Satsuki, and being with Satsuki… No, never mind.”
“That’s right, I’m nothing like you! I’m… I’m… Damn it!!”

With a furious sob, Akira turned on his heel and bolted off the rooftop.
Neither Ryuichi nor Shizuna made any move to stop him, but Ryuichi pulled out his smartphone and dialed Satsuki’s number. As it turned out, they had exchanged contact info back when she stayed over at his apartment.

“…Is she gonna pick—”
“Hello, is this Ryuichi-kun?”
“……………”

She picked up almost instantly.
Hearing her bright, cheerful voice bubble through the receiver instantly softened the edges of Ryuichi’s expression. Even so, there was a very real, pressing reason for him to make this call.

“Hey Satsuki, there’s something I need to apologize for.”

In a sense, today’s confrontation had acted as the final catalyst to push Akira over the edge. Even without this specific trigger, Ryuichi was confident Akira would have made his move sooner or later anyway.
Though it felt a bit shitty toward Akira, Ryuichi laid out the details of their rooftop confrontation directly to Satsuki.

…Is that so? Akira came after me…?“
“Sorry about that. Ended up lighting a fire under him. Are your parents usually home during the day?”
“Either Mom or Dad is always around, yes. Fufu, are you worrying about me?”
“Obviously.”

By the way, because the sound leaked faintly through the smartphone speaker, Shizuna had heard the entire conversation. Pressing a finger to her lips, Shizuna let out a quiet, amused giggle.

“The way you just casually say things like obviously is so wonderful… Though the fact that you have zero self-awareness about it is a real problem. You’re just like a dense shonen protagonist from one of my friend’s favorite manga.”

“Who’s dense?” Ryuichi flicked Shizuna lightly on the forehead in retaliation.

“Ow~♪”
At the sharp, crisp snap accompanied by Shizuna’s slightly lewd, breathy little whimper, Satsuki immediately piped up over the phone to ask what was going on, creating a naturally chaotic sequence of events.