Shimotsuki-san Likes the Mob

I am now in an empty classroom, alone with Kirari.

She picked up a makeup kit that I, as a guy, don’t really understand and started messing with my face and hair style in various ways.

“I’m sorry about before. I was acting a little weird, wasn’t I?”

She moved her mouth while moving her hands.

Kirari tried to make conversation with me, even though I didn’t want her to.

I was saddened by her attitude, as if she disliked silence.

In junior high school, on the contrary, she had such a solid view of the world of her own that she preferred to be silent…

Even after so much from me, she still tries to glamorize me.

If it had been her before, she would have stood up to me head-on. She would have confronted me with her thoughts and beliefs with all her might.

She was so cool like that.

But now, there was no trace of it.

“I didn’t mean to offend you, Ko-kun. I was just a little crazy at the time…, so I’m sorry. I just wanted to talk casually… like we did in junior high school.”

Is she also no good?

Is Kirari, for Ryuzaki, just another subheroine?

Like Azusa, there is no glimpse of her trying to take a bite out of the main heroine. No matter how far she goes, she is just a poor girl who is treated conveniently by the protagonist-sama.

If Ryuzaki’s story were a normal harem romantic comedy, Kirari might have been just a number-cruncher. That is how miserable a character she has become.

It would be pitiful to put such strong words on her now.

I’m sorry…, but I was feeling sorry for Kirari. I didn’t want her to be like this either. I was hoping that maybe she would get over it, and that’s why I gave her the harsh words I did.

But Kirari didn’t get over it.

So I felt sorry to blame her anymore… and all I could do was to keep my mouth shut.

“…Oh, you know…”

But Kirari still continued to speak.

She’s trying so hard to get my attention. She is a… pathetic heroine, flattering me, who used to be a mob character.

“That’s the way it is, but if Ko-kun doesn’t like it, he doesn’t have to do it, okay? I didn’t mean to make you feel uncomfortable, that’s all…”

I know.

I’m not trying to be mean either.

So I can’t say anything else.

I don’t want to hurt you.

So … please. Please shut up.

I’m going to cry if I have to see you in such a pitiful state any longer.

That’s how painful Kirari was right now.

“Well, … it’s done! Look, see? I’m pretty good at makeup, aren’t I? Ko-kun, you’ve become so handsome!”

Her mouth was moving, but her hands never stopped as well, so her makeup was properly done. She showed me a hand mirror and I couldn’t help but widen my eyes.

“You’re good at this …”

It’s as if it wasn’t me.

The mirror showed a man with a rather handsome face.

I’m not as good as Ryuzaki, but I look at least a step ahead.

At the very least, I’m a lot cooler than I usually am.

“Right? I’ve been working hard on my makeup since I became a high school student. I might be happy if Ko-kun praised me, right?”

Kirari looked so happy when I unintentionally said that.

That expression also caused my heart to ache.

It was as if she was a kitten abandoned on the side of the road once.

It was like a kitten calling out to me, like a kitten that has been put back in the box after thinking about many things and realizing that I can’t keep it… Such an image overlapped with the Kirari of today.

Stop it.

Don’t get so happy over a single comment of this magnitude.

You know, Kirari,… you weren’t that kind of person, were you?

Why did you become so weak…?