Chapter 12: Quarrel

I am not a fashionista.

　I have only bought a few clothes of my own volition in my life.

Most of the time I had my mother or sister pick out clothes for me, and when I was dating Asuka, I relied almost entirely on their sense of style.

　So, instead of joining my sister and my ex-girlfriend in the frenzy of choosing clothes, I was resting on a bench nearby.

　It was the proper way to be a baggage handler.

“—Brother, brother…”

As I stood there in a daze, Reina came hurrying over to me.

“Come here for a minute.”

“Are you done shopping?”

“Forget about me, in any case.”

“Y-yeah”

　I walked along with Reina pulling me along.

As a result, I was brought to the front of the fitting room.

“What do you think, Brother!”

　Asuka had changed into a very revealing outfit.

　The most important thing to keep in mind is that you should not be afraid to use the right tools.

　Damaged shorts and a short white top that peeked out at the belly button.

“W-W-W-Why are you bringing Hiroto⁉︎ Reina!”

“I wanted him to see the lovely Asuka!”

“I-I don’t need him to see me!　I mean, don’t you think Hiroto should be spending more time on someone else than me?

　Asuka leaks out from her head and glances at me.

As I thought, she misunderstood that I and Chinami had started dating.

I guess I’d better go ahead and clear up the misunderstanding here, right from my own mouth.

“There’s been a misunderstanding. Me and Chinami are not—-“

“Y-you don’t have to hide it!　I don’t care at all!　And I don’t have the right to tell you what to do!”

“No, hear me out. That thing yesterday was just a little bit of a joke from Chinami.”

“Joke……. Heh, Hiroto takes a joke and does …… that kind of thing …….”

　Asuka says in a mumble.

　─ ─ What the hell …… that way thinking.

　Indeed, it may have been a thoughtless move.

Even though I understood that Chinami was in a naughty mood, there was no need to get on there.

　But one thing I can say for sure is that I wasn’t doing anything wrong.

　Asuka and I have already broken up.

—-Yet

　I’m also in the habit of hoarding.

Let’s make it clear that my thoughts and feelings are clear to tell her how I feel now.

“It’s not like I was cheating on you, so why do you have to talk to me like that?”

“……You really weren’t cheating on me?　I mean, maybe you and my sister were having an affair behind my back, and I got in the way.”

“What are you talking about?　You’re paranoid. You don’t think I’m capable of that kind of dexterity in the first place.”

“I don’t think so, but… but …… I can only imagine the bad things I’d do if I saw something like that. It can’t be helped!”

“……. I’ve already broken up with you. Even if I had something to do with Chinami, you have no right to complain.”

“….I never complained about anything!　Hiroto is the one who’s paranoid⁉︎”

“Then would you please stop that strange attitude? Why don’t you just act as you normally do?”

“What do you mean by “normally”!? I don’t understand it anymore!　What kind of attitude should I have with Hiroto?!”

“If you are being so cautious, it’s hard for me to talk to you. Last time I told you I was just going back to the way things were before we started going out!”

“Ha?　Of course I’m being cautious!　I don’t want Hiroto to hate me any more!　I’m nervous that I’ll say something weird again and this time Hiroto will distance himself from me!”

“Ha?　If you get sensitive that easily, you should have cared a long time ago!”

“I don’t get it!　Then, Hiroto, you should have warned me earlier!　Don’t keep it all to yourself. If you suddenly break up with me, I won’t even have a chance to fix what’s wrong with me!”

“”……. If you love me in the first place, don’t say you’re going to break up with me so easily!　First of all, there’s something fundamentally wrong with it!”

“Then don’t befriend other girls on your own!　I’m worried that Hiroto will be taken away from me!　I wanted to be reassured that Hiroto likes me!”

“But that doesn’t mean you’re doing it right!”

“Then tell me it’s wrong!　You should have scolded me properly!　Like you’re doing now!”

“Then I’ll tell you what’s wrong with you. You’re always late for dates and canceling them!　I can’t believe someone who loves me would do that!”

“It doesn’t matter if you’re scolding me now!　We’ve already broken up!　It’s because Hiroto is so sweet to me, even when I’m late or have urgent plans, he doesn’t get mad at me even for a second and says it’s totally fine and forgives me!　That’s why my standards are getting out of control.”

“What is that, is that my fault?　Your basic premise is that spoiling that part is wrong!”

“Then why aren’t you angry with me!”

“I was afraid that if I got angry with you, it might affect our relationship!”

“Don’t make assumptions!　You don’t know that!”

　Asuka and I started to argue with each other, not caring where we were.

　Gradually, our vision narrowed and we could only see each other. Every time we exchanged words, things got hotter and hotter, and that’s when the blood started to rise to my head.

“Stop for a second!　Stop!　Brother and Asuka as well!”

　Reina intervened between us and started to intercede.

　When I came back to myself, I realized that I was attracting a lot of attention from people around me.

“U-uhm,…… uh, I-I just wanted brother and Asuka to get along,……uhm, I-I didn’t mean any harm. I’m …… sorry.”

Reina bows her head deeply with a battered expression on her face.

Reina is only in junior high school. She was in elementary school until a little while ago.

She must have been thinking in her own way about how to repair the relationship between Asuka and I. That’s why she brought us here today in secret.

That is why she brought us together here today without telling us.

“No, I’m sorry too. I’m not trying to be a jerk to Asuka.

“M-Me too …… I’m sorry, Reina.”

“….W-Why did you break up?”

Now on the verge of tears, Reina potters off.

“Asuka, you always seemed to enjoy talking about brother. Brother isn’t one to talk about himself much either, but he does talk about Asuka. I think …… you’re a great match, um, so I don’t expect …… to break up with you, I’m just happy that I have an older sister, and, um, I-I don’t know. ……, Anyway, that’s what I want to say!”

　Reina is a little confused, but she confides her feelings in a very frank manner.

　I didn’t think that breaking up with Asuka would put a burden on my sister. I had not thought that far ahead.

　A moment of silence passes.

　Asuka bends down a little and makes eye contact with Reina, as if talking to her.

“Y-you know, Reina. I was so selfish with Hiroto, and I was always doing things for my own convenience. I was a terrible girlfriend and a horrible person. I was so spoiled that Hiroto would forgive me anything. So it was only natural that Hiroto would be disgusted by me. …… The reason why we broke up was all my fault…”

“That’s not true. It’s not all Asuka’s fault.”

　I cut Asuka’s words off.

　Asuka and Reina’s gazes were drawn to me.

“–F-For now, can we change places?　I don’t think this is the place to talk about it.”

　I start off with a slightly brighter tone of voice to get rid of this heavy atmosphere. Starting with that, Asuka and Reina also reformed their consciousness.

“Right. …… Indeed.”

“Y-Yes.”

　Asuka hurriedly changed her clothes in the fitting room. She had purchased the clothes she was wearing in the fitting room, perhaps as a nuisance fee she had spent on the store.