Chapter 8: Lose and you’ll understand.

“So, I crushed the last practice game I played. It was amazing, and I did great!”

“Oh really…”

I’m eating lunch in the cafeteria today while I watch Hinata and Kuraki, who are sitting a little ways apart from me. Sitting across is my boyfriend, who’s feeling great and keeps bragging about how well he did on his club today.

—It’s annoying as hell.

This guy over here invited me to eat with him in the classroom, and even though I refused, he still followed me to the cafeteria without considering my circumstances. Doesn’t he have a single caring bone in him?

I had to keep an eye on Hinata just in case Kuraki did anything wrong, but this guy kept yapping and yapping without reading the room. To say the least, he’s a distraction.

“Listen, could you be quiet when you’re eating?”

“Eh, Ah… Gotcha.” Though he looked dissatisfied after I shot down his incessant bragging, he still shut up and started eating his food.

Look, if you aren’t happy, just go somewhere else and talk to anyone! Ugh, what a hassle! If you can’t adjust to me, you’re but a hindrance. If it were Hinata, he’d think about my feelings and act accordingly…

Come to think of it, this guy’s always been like that. He just wants me to listen to him yelp about his baseball games, and he’s always smug about it. Whenever I’d try and talk to him, he’d never show interest in anything other than his sports and did not try to expand the conversation much.

He’s a far cry from Hinata. He’d adapt to what I had to say, and he always listened to me, even if he didn’t know squat about what I was saying. Whenever I’d want to concentrate, he’d sense it and stay silent. Actually, he would even research topics that seemed interesting to me!

He was so very different from the man across who always, and only talks about things that interest him. As I thought that, I notice him eating lunch with a sullen look on his face as he shot occasional glances at me. It’s as if he wanted me to start a conversation.

In the end, I continued to watch Hinata and that girl without saying a word, then left the cafeteria at the same time those two did.

After school, my boyfriend came to my classroom just as the last chime rang. A group of excited classmates walked up to him and invited us to go out for some rare sweets somewhere. Meanwhile, Hinata left the classroom with Kuraki.

I was surrounded by people even though I tried to chase after the two, but I was unable to and ended up going to that café with my boyfriend and the others.

They’re eating my time, what a nuisance…

“Hey, y’know… Why don’t you come over to my place tomorrow, Saturday, on Christmas Eve? I know I’m late in asking you because we haven’t been talking properly lately…” And he started yapping again, interrupting my thoughts as I looked out the window wondering what Hinata was up to.

“Eh? Christmas Eve?”

“Yeah, it’s our first one together, so I wanna spend the whole day together.”

You’ve gotta be kidding me. I spend my Christmas with Hinata every year, so if I told him I was going to spend it in another guy’s house, he’d be too shy to come along.

“No, I can’t. Hinata wouldn’t be able to come along with me.”

“Hinata this, Hinata that. Your childhood friend has nothing to do with it.”

“Why? He absolutely does, though. I’m spending my Christmas with him.”

“What? What are you talking about? Actually, I’ve been meaning to say this for a while, but don’t you think it’s weird you keep talking about him when he’s just a friend and I’m your boyfriend?”

“…Don’t say he’s ‘just’ a friend. We’ve been glued at the hip since birth, so we’re not your usual childhood friends. We’re two in one, and we’re meant to be together. We always will.”

“I’m your boyfriend! And yet all you talk about is this friend! Who’s more important, me, or him?!”

Something clicked in me when he said that.

My one and only… That’s what Hinata is to me.

That’s right. He’s my childhood friend. We’ve been together from before we could even think, and we’ll always stay like that. I thought it was fine for us to remain as we were, just friends, but in order for us to stay together here on, we need to change our relationship. He needs to be my boyfriend, then my husband.

My previous attachment to the title of “childhood friend” was getting in the way between me and him. That’s what I finally managed to notice.

And for that sake… I’ll make him my boyfriend.

As I finally put my head in place and decided, the man right across me became a nuisance. He was in the way.

“Of course it’s Hinata, what sorta question is that?”

“… Eh? What?”

And he was puzzled as if my response was a sudden punch to the face. What is he so surprised about, though? Did he think for a second I’d say he’s more important to me than Hinata?

Ah, I see. It was a mistake to be dating this guy in the first place. I got carried away because I’m a bit popular and started dating him. Because of that, I had no time to spend with the one who mattered, and in my downtime, Kuraki started to butt her head where she doesn’t belong.

This isn’t good… I made Hinata feel lonely too.

“What are you talking about?! You’re dating me! Do you understand that?”

“So what? If you don’t like it, why don’t we just break up?”

“Huh?! A, are you sure? It’ll be too late if you regret it later!”

“I don’t mind. See ya.”

“Ah, wait!”

I left the café without my bewildered ex. I should have done this from the very beginning… I’d have removed the reason for Hinata’s hesitation.

Now he has no reason to hold himself back anymore. I’ll call him as soon as I get home, or I could just see him in person! Then we can make plans for our Christmas, together.

I had been feeling so frustrated for the past few days, but now my mind was clear as the bluest sky.

T/N: She’s crazy and delusional, wow. I feel bad for Taniguchi, the guy started dating only for her to, out of nowhere, start to ignore him for her “friend.”