My stepmother's burden is my ex-girlfriend.

Page 63

"I didn't cry...!"

"You really like him."

"I stopped liking him a long time ago...!"

I stopped liking it a long time ago.

Although I haven't liked it for a long time...

—But I still stayed by his side.

Oh no, what should I do?

I... I'm really, really happy.

"...You two are really weird."

Xiaoyue murmured to herself.

I don't know if I'm just imagining things, but I feel like his tone is a bit sullen.

"That's really strange."

◆

As a result, the situation that day later became completely inexplicable.

I didn't get to see how Dongtou reacted to Shuidou's answer, or how the matter ended.

Xiaoyue said she was busy comforting me when I started crying, and before she knew it, the two of them had disappeared.

...I can only say I'm really sorry to Dongtou.

Even though I was the one who encouraged her, at that moment, I was clearly happy that she was dumped—the guy used me as an excuse to dump her, and it made me so happy that I cried.

How bad is my personality? I wouldn't even complain if my classmate from the east slapped me.

I was too ashamed to see her, and even the next day I didn't dare contact her via LINE. I didn't receive any messages on LINE, so it seems Dongtou didn't contact me either.

I remember the night before that confession day, the moment when my heart felt empty.

...Is she feeling the same way right now? I really want to comfort her, but I'm not sure if I have the right to...

I finished class feeling sullen, and it was time to go home.

"Let's hold a comfort party."

As soon as Xiaoyue stepped out of the school building, she said this.

"After all, we bear some responsibility too. Besides... Higashi-san only has Irito-san as a friend, yet things turned out the way they did... don't you think so?"

Hearing her say that made me feel even more gloomy.

"...That's true... It's impossible for things to go back to the way they were before..."

If it weren't for our instigation, Dongtou wouldn't have lost Shuidou as a friend.

I'm afraid I can't keep pretending to be stupid any longer.

"Although we can't replace him, as the one who instigated it, don't you think it's our responsibility to comfort her afterwards? We can play with her, comfort her, help her heal... and then, we can be friends again."

"Hmm... but I don't know how to face her..."

I'm clearly the reason she got dumped, so how can I comfort her...?

Xiaoyue smiled sweetly.

"That's no problem! Just start yelling at Irito-san for her awful way of dumping people!"

"I see...! I completely agree with that!"

"Then we'll just get yelled at to death by the students from the east end!"

"...I fully agree with that point as well."

We had no choice but to accept it. Dongtou was completely a victim, hurt terribly by our irresponsible encouragement and that jerk who didn't know how to speak tactfully. Couldn't we have refused in a less hurtful way?

"I'm going to call her now. Are you mentally prepared?"

“…Yeah, I’m fine.”

Xiaoyue started scrolling through her phone.

I took several deep breaths and tried to straighten my posture as much as possible. Looking down only made me feel incredibly depressed. Even if I had to force myself, I had to lift my head at times like this—

Ok?

...What's going on? My eyes seem to be seeing something impossible.

It's on the very edge of the third floor of the school building.

The window of the library.

I pointed there, hoping I was seeing things.

"...Xiao, Xiaoyue... um..."

"Hmm?...Hmm?"

Upon seeing the location I pointed out, Xiaoyue's expression froze on the spot.

This kind of reaction is normal.

Because──

By the window in the library.

Two people were leaning against each other.

They were chatting and laughing happily.

—It was Irito Mizuto and Izana from the east.

"........."

Just as we fell silent, the student from the east end of the window took out his phone and held it to his right ear.

I heard the sound from Xiaoyue's phone.

Hello?

"Get out here right now."

"Eee ...

"What kind of move is that?"

The comforting gathering turned into an interrogation.

In the family-run restaurant where they usually meet, Dongtou tilted his head and sipped his drink through a straw.

"What move?"

"How come something like that happened just yesterday, and today they're chatting and laughing so naturally!"

"Didn't you get dumped yesterday? Didn't you suffer a pretty painful breakup? What happened? Did some dramatic turn of events occur that we didn't see?!"

"I don't know if it counts as heartbreaking, but I definitely lost my boyfriend, you know?"

"and you……!"

"Why!"

"Uh... I don't understand what you're angry about..."

Dongtou frowned in confusion.

What's going on?! Are we the ones who need to explain?! We're the ones who want you to explain clearly!

"We initially felt we were partly to blame! We thought it was all our fault for stirring things up, causing Dongtou and Yilihu to be unable to be friends anymore!"

"We can't be friends anymore? Why? Isn't it the other way around?"

"Huh?"

The busty girl, who had just experienced a breakup, spoke as if stating a matter of common sense.

"I was completely dumped and became utterly clueless, so I can openly and without reservation continue to be friends, right?"

We were all speechless.

Could it be... that... she never mentioned "it might ruin our current relationship," and yet unexpectedly became interested in pursuing Mizuto so quickly because...

An intense shiver ran through my entire body.

The girl standing there in a daze looked more and more like an alien from a distant, otherworldly place.

"...I...I don't understand...Yui, I don't understand what young people are thinking these days...!"

"Don't worry, calm down! I don't understand at all either!"

"I'm sorry I made you worry. My first heartbreak really hurt me, but as you can see, I'm fine now. Mizuto comforted me yesterday."

"What kind of trick is this now?!"

"He told me, 'Think about it calmly. Compared to relationships in high school, friendships formed in high school have a higher chance of lasting, right?' I immediately thought it made a lot of sense."

"My brain can't keep up!"

"Please stop distorting our common sense!"

Why would I worry about "not knowing if I have that right..."? This girl has already been comforted by the person with the least right!

I felt like I was talking to Martians; the gap in our value judgments was too deep. We decided to press the other party involved for answers.

"……Hello?"

"It's me. I have a question about the girl you dumped yesterday."

"...No, how did you know Dongtou confessed to me?"

"Don't worry about that now."

How can we ignore this?

"...I heard that you dumped Dongtou's classmate but then comforted her after she was heartbroken. Is that true?"

"...You asked that? I don't know where you heard that from, but don't worry."

"What are you worried about?"

"I have absolutely no idea how things turned out that way."

Hearing the confusion in his voice, Xiaoyue and I both turned to look at Dongtou. She looked like she was facing a problem, staring at the spot-the-mistake game for children next to the menu.

It seems the problem wasn't with us after all.

"...A person from another world."

"They really are from another world."

"Huh? Why was I suddenly reincarnated into another world?"

Some people in the world have values that are fundamentally different from those of ordinary people.

I learned this lesson firsthand.

—Just then…

The cell phone, still connected to the water tank, emitted a deep voice:

"...Irito...?"

“Ouch!”

Upon hearing this somewhat eerie and terrifying voice, Xiaoyue immediately put on a "this is terrible" expression.

Was that voice... Kawanami-kun? It wasn't Mizuto, so I can only guess it was him.