Chapter 22: What If the Shitty Woman Played the Victim?

「K-Kou-kun...」

「Yeah, what is it? Go on, tell me, I'll solve everything for you.」

「A-Actually... Kou-kun, do you know Kiyama-kun?」

「Of course I do. I mean, he's the hope of us second-years. A talented guy who's even rumored to be the next student council president, right? I don't think there's anyone in our grade who doesn't know him. So, what about him?」

「U-Um... will you listen without getting angry? The truth is, that Kiyama-kun threatened me and kissed me. He forcibly touched my body, and there were times he tried to take pictures of me... But, I was too scared to say anything, and so.」

What a predictable reaction. For it to go this much according to my imagination!

...That's actually kind of boring.

I feel a bit let down, but I decided to hear her out for now.

「What'd you say? He was the kind of guy who'd do that!? I can't forgive that. So that's why you were crying so much.」

「Yeah. I was so scared I couldn't say anything for so long... but. But, I couldn't take it anymore! Please, hug me, or if you can, kiss me here and make me clean!!」

What a selfish woman. The moment she found out she was deceived by Kiyama, she switched gears. In terms of speed, she might even be faster than Yuu. He'd tell me not to lump them together, though.

「Oi, oi, this is a school, you know? There's no way I can do something that embarrassing. You should act with more moderation, like a student.」

「Hey, you! Meari is asking you like this. It's not about being embarrassed, how about you show some compassion for your girlfriend who went through something scary?!」

Oh, now her entourage has shown up. Saying such irresponsible things.

「I-It's fine. I'm sorry, that was so sudden, it was a bother, wasn't it? We've never even kissed before, and I suddenly ask you to kiss me.」

「You were confused too, right? Then it can't be helped. More importantly, I just want to confirm... you said it, didn't you? That you were being threatened. Does that mean you don't like him or anything?」

「......I don't like him! There's no way I could like a person who does such terrible things! I hate him! I really hate him!」

Meari hesitated for a moment, but then she immediately shouted in a loud voice.

「I see, got it. Then let me ask you one question──what do you think of this?」

I took my smartphone out of my pocket and played the conversation between Meari and Kiyama that I transferred from the voice recorder at full volume.

『But just one thing──you have your boyfriend Tonoshima-kun, and yet you still want to be with me?』

『Of course, I don't hate Kou-kun. But... but I still love Sou-kun the most! If you ask me to, I'll break up with Kou-kun! I'll go back to being just his childhood friend! It's okay, I'm sure Kou-kun will understand how I feel. Because──Kou-kun is always happy to do what I ask! I'm sure it'll be fine!』

「...What's, that?」

The sickeningly sweet conversation of a stupid couple flowed out at high volume. The owner of that voice, Meari, could only utter a question, as if she had no idea what was being done to her.

The audio I played at full blast was naturally audible to the people around us, and since the familiar voice belonged to the man at the center of the storm, people started to show their faces.

「This voice, it sounds like you and Kiyama.」

「Eh?... A-Ahh! N-No! Kou-kun, this is!」

「Am I imagining things? All I heard was you saying you loved Kiyama. And on top of that, that you'd break up with me.」

「U-Uhhhh...! It-It's just a coincidence!! Voice doppelgangers and stuff! It happens all the time!!!」

Meari desperately tried to smooth things over, but her face was pale white and her legs were trembling.

「Ahh, you might be right. My bad, my bad. It's ridiculous to judge based on voice alone, right? False accusations happen too.」

「T-That's right. Just like Kou-kun said...」

「Then say, for example, if you saw something like this──could you still say such things?」

My expression switched from that of a worried boyfriend to one of cold indifference as I showed her an image I extracted from Kiyama's data.

「Do you recognize the face of this woman kissing Kiyama with such an entranced look on her face? Well?」