I Went Out With a Losing Heroine, But Before I knew It, My Childhood Friend, Who's Supposed to

“Are you in a better mood now?”

“Ah…”

　Marin looked as if she was an abandoned puppy.

　Furthermore, her gaze was fixed on Yō’s right hand, so it was easy for Yō to see what she was thinking right now.

　When he put his hand on her head again, Marin’s cheeks relaxed again, as if she were happy.

(What am I doing again…?)

　By repeatedly stroking the head of a fellow female schoolmate, Yō can’t help but think about such things.

　Even though it was something he did to fix Marin’s mood, the conversation was not going to go anywhere at this point.

　He was still feeling the same chilly stares from behind him, and he didn’t feel like things were going in the right direction at all.

“For now, can we move on with the conversation?”

　Yō asked Marin, patting her on the head.

　Marin opened her eyes and glanced at Yō’s face, but soon closed her eyes and seemed to be concentrating on being stroked.

(What a surprise, she and Kasumi are similar in some ways…)

　With that thought in mind, Yō spoke up.

“What are you dissatisfied with, Akimi? I’m certainly not favoring Kasumi, okay?”

“…………”

　When Yō called out to her, Marin only silently stared at Yō’s face.

　They looked at each other for a few seconds, then she looked away disapprovingly and opened her mouth.

“That’s because… you call Nemoto-san as Kasumi but you still refer to me as Akimi…”

　Marin replied while pouting and pursed her lips.

　Apparently, she’s being treated unfairly because of the way she’s called.

“Besides, I can only call you Yō-kun when it’s just the two of us, but Nemoto-san calls you that normally…”

“In other words, you think Kasumi is being favored because of how we call each other?”

“And also… Yō-kun is lenient to Nemoto-san…”

“Really…?”

　When he was told that he’s lenient to Kasumi, Yō tilted his head.

　Then Marin looked at him disapprovingly with a jealous stare.

　So Yō opened his mouth as if he was troubled.

“As for me, I thought I was more gentle with Akimi though…?”

“Yes, you’re kind to me but… I feel like you’re closer to Nemoto-san than me…”

“…………”

　Marin, perhaps losing her composure from being patted on the head, is saying the most outrageous things.

　Naturally, as expected, Yō knew this and wondered whether he should respond to this or not.

　Then, pretending that he had not noticed it, he opened his mouth.

“So should I start referring to you as Marin?”

“―!?”

　Marin looked up at Yō in surprise when Yō showed a willingness to change the way he called her.

　Her face turned red and she looked away in embarrassment.

“T-That might be embarrassing actually…”

“Then, should I stop?”

“But… I’ll call you Yō-kun too, that’s fine, right…?”

　She’s not really being honest.

　Yō thought so, but Marin’s nod confirmed his decision.

“I’ll call you Marin now. Akimi can address me as Yō in front of them, too.” [TLN: Idk why he immediately went back to Akimi after that sentence, it’s just how it is in the raws.]

　He was sure that Kasumi would be in a bad mood if he changed the way he called her.

　But Yō, hoping that Kasumi and Marin would get along, did not want them to think that he was treating them differently.

　So, if Marin felt differentiated by the way she was called, he decided to leave that part out, and he would try to appease Kasumi somehow.

(I feel like I’m digging a deeper hole for myself here…)

　Yō thought so, but Marin looked happy while blushing, so he thought this might be a good thing anyway.