My stepmother's burden is my ex-girlfriend.

I won't say it out loud.

The lyrics, delivered with a scream, have absolutely nothing to do with my feelings.

Even so, even so... this song still reveals my heart.

"──...Haa...Haa...──!"

By the time I finished singing, I was completely out of breath.

My throat is a little sore too. I'm not used to shouting so loudly; I overdid it all at once.

However... it feels like my brain has been vacuumed clean, and I feel really refreshed...

"...Yume..."

Xiaoyue looked up at me as if speechless, and I gave her a faint smile.

"Xiaoyue Tong—cough, cough! Wait, wait for me a minute..."

"Are you... alright? Have some water!"

I took the boiled water from Xiaoyue and drank it all in one gulp.

After letting out a breath and sitting down next to Xiaoyue, feeling completely exhausted, I finally felt much better.

"Thanks……"

"Uh, um. It's nothing. But what's wrong with you? I feel like you're like this today..."

"I sang terribly, didn't I?"

"what?"

Seeing Xiaoyue freeze with her mouth agape, I chuckled softly.

"It's okay if you don't say nice things like you usually do."

"Uh... this..."

I first put Xiaoyue, whose expression had become confused and ambiguous, aside and looked down at the microphone in my hand.

Of course I sang badly. I've never sung a song properly.

As long as I don't speak, Xiaoyue will cleverly cover for me and say good things about me. Even if there are other people present, she will definitely be able to skillfully liven up the atmosphere.

but……

"As for me, Xiaoyue—I don't intend to say that there are no secrets between friends. Because no matter who it is or what kind of relationship it is, there will naturally be one or two things that are difficult to talk about... In fact, if friends talk about everything, it can also be a headache."

"...Yeah, that's right."

"But..."

I gazed at Xiaoyue's face.

"I've never seen Xiaoyue sing solo either."

Every time Xiaoyue comes to karaoke, she always sings with others.

She's a cheerful person and always the first to warm things up, so it's not easy to notice... but I'm doing the same thing as her, and she can't fool me.

Faced with Xiaoyue's frozen and speechless expression, I continued:

"I won't ask you why. I won't tell you my reasons. But—"

To clearly show what kind of existence Nan Xiaoyue is to me.

"At least now, I've let you hear my singing, something neither that guy nor Dongtou's classmate has ever heard before."

I handed the microphone to Xiaoyue.

Of course, the intention couldn't be clearer.

If you want others to be honest with you, you must first be honest with them yourself.

This is the biggest lesson I learned from both my greatest success and my worst failure in life.

Xiaoyue remained silent, looking down at the microphone I handed her for a few seconds.

But suddenly...

Her face showed a smile that was completely different from her usual one, one that looked like she was embarrassed and dumbfounded.

"...You're so cunning. That's practically a threat."

"sorry."

"It's alright, I accept what Yui says."

Without hesitation, Xiaoyue cheerfully grabbed the microphone.

She quickly stood up, pointed the microphone at her mouth, and turned to look at me.

"Although you kindly said you wouldn't ask, I'll still tell you why I don't sing in front of others."

After Xiaoyue finished speaking in an echoing voice, she laughed boldly.

"Because people will think I'm showing off—just for your reference, Yui?"

Then Xiaoyue's singing voice—like a clear and boundless sky—was so beautiful that it left everyone speechless.

◆

"Puhaha! Puhahahahaha! That's so bad—Yui! You even steal boys' underwear! You're such a pervert...! Ahahaha!"

"I...I didn't steal it! I found it! I...I've never seen a boy's underwear before...Xiaoyue probably hasn't either!"

"Huh? No, no, think about it. I used to have him around. I even knew when he started growing pubic hair. What's the big deal about a pair of underwear? We even did our laundry at each other's houses sometimes."

"Huh? You mean Kawanami-kun?...Huh, what kind of relationship do you two have?"

"No, no! We just used to shower together! But 'used to' only lasted until junior high."

"To junior high! Aren't those usually only up to elementary school? You...you guys didn't do anything...?"

"Ah—yes—it's not a big deal, but it's also...you know what I mean?"

"It...it has a hidden meaning...!"

Xiaoyue grinned mischievously. So, so this is what childhood sweethearts are like... Oh... Oh~

After we got tired of singing, we extended our time in the private room, chatting about everything under the sun. At first, we complained about the guys next to us, but then, perhaps because the girl was in a confined space, the conversation unknowingly became increasingly lewd… I got so carried away that I even brought up the incident involving my underwear that I planned to take to my grave. Well, I have to ask her to keep it a secret…

"Your room is right next to Irito's, right? Won't you hear any unpleasant noises?"

"...What awful sound?"

"That goes without saying, to put it mildly... it's like the moaning in porn."

"It wasn't exactly tactful!"

"Haha! No, that's not it—when I was in junior high, I once sneaked into that guy's house—"

My heart was pounding as I listened to Xiaoyue's candid confession, and time flew by.

By the time we left the karaoke room, the sun, which usually has long summer days, had already set.

"Oh dear, it's completely dark. Yui, aren't your family worried?"

"It should be alright... I contacted my mom first. But I still need to have dinner, so I have to go home."

"I see... "

Xiaoyue murmured in a sighing tone, gazing at the street scene that illuminated the night.

What is reflected in her eyes? Memories of today? Or perhaps—

My train of thought was interrupted by the ringing of my phone.

You can tell it's a water bucket without even looking at the screen.

Normally I could ignore it, but it's so late tonight and I haven't gone home yet, so I can't ignore the phone—I put the phone, which was still on, to my ear.

"Hello?"

"……Where are you now?"

The familiar voice sounded slightly stiff.

"I just finished singing karaoke with Xiaoyue, and now I have to go back."

"Right……"

Why are you replying so indifferently when you're the one asking me?

However, perhaps because I had just finished saying all the bad things about him, I wasn't very angry, so I smiled and responded like this:

"You're not worried about me, are you?"

"……No."

"Or... do you think I'm on a date with someone else?"

『……………………』

Oh, it seems to be working.

Just when I thought that...

"Then I should be worried."

"what?"

"I'm afraid you'll cause trouble for the other party."

...He still loves to talk a big game.

Normally, this situation would have ended with me getting angry, but—I looked at Xiaoyue next to me.

"...You don't need to worry about that."

"Um? 』

"My date won't hold a grudge against me over the smallest things."

Upon hearing this, Xiaoyue blinked a few times and then grinned, revealing a bright and happy smile.

Then she jumped up, hugged my neck, and shouted into the phone:

"That's it! I'm sorry, Irito-san!"

Just at the perfect moment, as if I had planned it with her, I hung up the phone.

Let me look at Xiaoyue's face.

Xiaoyue, take a look at my face too.

We stared at each other for a few seconds—then burst out laughing.

"Aha!"

"Hahaha!"

"Hahahahahahahahaha!"

"Haha ...

We found it so funny that we couldn't stop laughing as we started our journey home.

In the bright night, among the crowd, it was just the two of us.

We were both in uniform, so we might get advised by the police.

That would be no laughing matter—but Xiaoyue will definitely have a way to handle this kind of problem.

Summer vacation is almost here, what are you going to do then?

"Well, let's skip all the places where Yui might get hit on!"

Volume 3: Childhood Sweethearts? Forget it! The former childhood sweetheart wants to be an observer. "Ah ...

This is a truly chilling fact: during my third year of junior high school, I had a so-called girlfriend.

She's family-oriented and devoted; although petite, she's undeniably beautiful—if I bragged about her to a hundred people, probably seventy would be envious. I've had girlfriends like that in the past.

Are you thinking, "Why did this guy suddenly pull out a flashy move?"

Don't get excited, calm down. After I finish telling you the story I'm about to tell, you probably won't have the same thoughts anymore.