I just want a single ending

Listening to the music playing in the private room, Chihaya Aine finally woke up, and her trembling body calmed down.

She took a few deep breaths and walked over to Kamikawa Su who was still ordering songs with his head down.

"Thank you."

Sitting down on the sofa across from him, Chihaya Aine whispered a thank you.

If he hadn't brought her into the room, she would have been discovered by her former classmates.

That’s right, the girls who just came out from next door were her junior high school classmates.

"Thank you? Why are you suddenly saying this to me?" Kamikawa Suku chose to play dumb.

Chihaya Aine could easily see what he meant by pretending not to understand.

This was simply a way of saying that he hadn't noticed her unusual behavior at the door just now, and that bringing him into the room was unintentional, so he didn't need to take it too seriously.

In other words, as long as you don't want to talk about what happened just now, you can pretend that nothing happened.

If it were someone a little less observant, they might really think that he didn't notice.

Or if you want to deceive yourself, you can also think so.

"...Thank you for being at the door just now."

However, she is neither of those two types of people and must face this problem head on.

"You're welcome. But from the way you looked just now, do you know those girls who came out of the next room?"

Seeing that she had pointed out the matter directly, Shangchuan Su no longer chose to pretend to be confused.

Chihaya Aine pursed her lips and answered truthfully, "They are my junior high school classmates."

Kamikawa Suku then asked, "Although it may be a little offensive, I would like to confirm a question with you. Is that okay?"

"OK."

It was the first time that Chihaya Aine saw him look so serious, and she couldn't help but get nervous.

“Is it bullying?”

As he asked this question, Kamikawa Su's gaze began to wander over Chihaya Aine, carefully observing her every little movement and detail to determine whether she was lying.

"Eh? Bullying? Is that the kind of bullying I'm thinking of? The kind that bullies people..."

Chihaya Aine was stunned for a moment, and confirmed with some disbelief.

"Yes." Shangchuan Su nodded slightly.

"No, I was the student council president in junior high school. I was super popular. How could I possibly be bullied by others?"

Chihaya Aine realized that he seemed to have misunderstood something and hurried to explain.

"That's good."

Kamikawa Su breathed a sigh of relief.

Judging from her reaction to my questions, she probably didn't lie about this matter.

If someone was really being bullied and was asked this question, their expression would definitely not be like that.

Besides, Chihaya Aine doesn't seem like someone who would be bullied.

But the reason I asked that question was just in case.

The main reason was that the behavior of those girls she had just seen was too much like the reaction of a bullied person seeing his bully.

Fortunately, it’s not bullying.

At this time, Chihaya Aine also understood the intention of his question and asked with a smile: "Are you worried about me?"

【No】

【Yes】

'Is there any difference between these two options?'

Looking at the options that appeared in the system, Shangchuan Su couldn't help but complain in his heart.

Even if it seems that one agrees and the other refuses.

But don’t forget that there are still tsunderes in this world.

In this situation where two people know exactly what is going on, choosing to deny it will only be seen as tsundere and stubborn.

"Yes."

Kamikawa Su chose to admit it directly.

He is not a tsundere, nor does he want to be considered a tsundere.

It’s a different era now, being tsundere is no longer popular.

[Strength plus 20]

"Don't worry, I'm not the kind of person who will be bullied by others."

Seeing that he did not deny it, Chihaya Aine felt happy.

If he didn't care about me, he definitely wouldn't do that, let alone ask me that question so seriously.

"Okay, let's sing." Kamikawa handed her the tablet. "What are you going to sing?"

"Wait, wait a minute, aren't you going to ask me why I'm still scared when I see them even though they're not bullying?"

Chihaya Aine, who had originally prepared herself mentally and planned to tell him everything as soon as he asked, found that he did not play by the rules at all, which made her a little anxious.

"Didn't I tell you? I just want to confirm one thing." Kamikawa Su met her gaze and spoke word by word, "And as for why you're afraid of them, are you really willing to tell me?"

"If you want to speak out, I'd be happy to listen."

"But if you don't want to, I won't ask."

As long as it's not bullying, there's nothing to worry about with the remaining possibilities.

There is no need to ask about the other person's secrets, this is the other person's privacy.

"...I'd better tell you. I don't want you to worry about me."

Thinking about how seriously he looked, worried that she was being bullied, Chihaya Aine finally made up her mind and told him about her situation.

Kamikawa Su turned off the music that no one was singing and began to wait.

"The timing of my transfer here is strange, isn't it? Actually, I went abroad to study before," Chihaya Aine recounted slowly, "but I couldn't keep up at all, so I ran away and came back."

The story is very simple. She was very popular in junior high school. When her classmates and friends asked her where she was going to study, she said she was going to study in the UK.

Then, I received unanimous praise and envy from my friends.

It was only when I went to school in the UK that I realized my spoken English was not good enough for normal communication.

So, I had no choice but to transfer back to another school in shame.

"The reason why I'm so scared of seeing my junior high school classmates and friends is that I don't want them to know that I failed studying abroad." Chihaya Aine laughed at herself.

"Thank you for your hard work."

After listening to her recollections, Kamikawa Su said this.

"Hard?"

Chihaya Aine was a little surprised by his reaction.

Kamikawa Suzu comforted him, "It's hard to tell you this unremembered fact, isn't it?"

"It's true that it's a bit hard, but after talking about it, I feel a lot better." Chihaya Aine thanked him, "I'm really sorry for making you worry about me so much because of this."

"There's absolutely no need to apologize for this, and I'm glad you're willing to tell me this."

Kamikawa Suzu could feel that his relationship with Chihaya Aine had taken a big step forward.

For myself, this is a good thing.

Chapter 72: Getting Luckier

"Can Chihaya Aine and I be considered close friends now?"

Kamikawa Suku thought about this problem.

Chihaya Aine told herself about her past failures and the knots in her heart.

If you are not very good friends, generally speaking, you will definitely not tell others about this kind of thing, right?

Of course, it is not ruled out that Chihaya Aine simply wanted to talk, and since he was the only one present at the time, he became the one who listened.

But no matter what the situation is, it is a fact that my relationship with her has improved.

It's a profit anyway. This trip to the karaoke bar is really worth it.

Chihaya Aine sighed and continued, "Come to think of it, am I running away?"

"Do you mean coming back from studying in England, or just now..."

Kamikawa Suku, who had come to his senses, asked uncertainly.

"What happened just now." Chihaya Aine was still very concerned.

"I was the one who brought you into the private room just now. It wasn't you running away, it was me who acted on my own initiative."

Kamikawa Suku hesitated for a moment before giving his answer.

Chihaya Aine retorted, "The reason you did that was because you noticed my nervousness and anxiety, right?"

She knew what he meant by that. He wanted to take all the responsibility for what happened so that she wouldn't care so much.

But this matter has nothing to do with him, he is just scared.

"He's running away." Kamikawa Su finally told the truth.

"it is as expected……"

Chihaya Aine leaned back on the sofa, a self-deprecating smile still on her face.

Even though she already had the answer in her heart, she knew that her behavior was an escape.

The reason for asking that question was just to make the final confirmation.

But hearing this verdict-like answer from his mouth still made people feel a little sad.

Seeing her distraught look, Shangchuan Su asked with concern: "I want to ask, why do you care so much about this matter? They didn't notice you just now."

"If you hadn't been there just now, I would have been discovered by now."

This fact can be easily deduced.

"Don't make assumptions that haven't happened," Kamikawa denied. "You can say that, and I can say the same thing. If we hadn't come to this karaoke bar, we wouldn't have met them."

"Because I came back from the UK, I wanted to pick myself up and not worry about what was happening in the UK."

Chihaya Aine whispered her thoughts and confided in him once again.

“Since arriving at my current school, I’ve made friends, integrated into my classes, and even formed a band.”

"Especially since I met you."

"For a while now, I thought I had managed to not care about those things."

"But when I met my junior high school classmates just now, I still felt scared and subconsciously wanted to escape."

"Even if nothing happened and they didn't find out, I still realized my weakness."

"In fact, I haven't cheered up at all. I am still afraid of failure in studying in the UK."

Kamikawa Su suddenly said, "We can't deny our entire future just because of one failure."

"Eh?"

Chihaya Aine was stunned for a moment.

This sentence sounds familiar. I seem to have heard it somewhere.

"This is what you said when I was in the astronomy club and persuaded Deng to join our band." Kamikawa Su gave a detailed introduction.

Hearing this, Chihaya Aine recalled something.

Kamikawa repeated, "And what you said at that time was that you should work hard to avoid failure next time, and even if you fail, you should have the confidence to start over again."