CH 128

“… Hey, wait.”

As I was about to leave the classroom, Mary called out to me as if to say she wasn’t finished yet.

“… There’s nothing more to talk about, okay?”

I stop and turn around. I wonder if she has anything more to say … even though her scenario has already been ruined.

“Ah Kotaro and I have no role to play anymore. Because the story is over … with the unimaginable ‘bad’ ending.”

“I’m glad you’re aware of that…”

Then what?

I didn’t understand what Mary wanted to say to me.

I had never seen her like this before. Usually, she uses a roundabout way, but what she wanted to say was clear and easy to understand… Now I really don’t understand what she means.

“Don’t be so baffled, … I know what I’m talking about too, okay?　This is just a ‘meander’ that has nothing to do with the story. If I had to give it a title, I’d say, let’s see, … ‘The Reverse Resentment of a Subheroine Who Mistook Herself for a Creator’.”

Mary looks up.

Stuck on her face was a lurid cold smile.

It was not the usual smile, not a fearless smile, not a cunning fake smile.

It was the desperate smile of someone who has run out of options.

“My bad play ended with all the characters being unhappy, though, didn’t it? But there is one happy person.”

I was surprised to hear her say that…

I knew what she was going to do.

“Oh come on, you’ve got to be kidding me… Just leave the scene like a grown up. You’ve already done your part, so just go away and be an honest to yourself…”

“No, no. This is the last time I’m going to show you my work… I don’t think there’s any way I’m going to be more active than I am now in the story after this. Then let me leave my mark here.”

Saying this, Mary instantly pressed closer to me.

She came so close that our skin was almost touching, and I, of course, retreated to run away. But she didn’t stop. She was coming closer and closer to me and wouldn’t let me go.

“I’m not going to let you go, okay? Kotaro… can’t forgive you. I want Kotaro, who is the only happy person in my bad work, to be unhappy, too.”

My back was already attached to the wall.

Mary-san restrained me with her hands on the wall. It’s a so-called kabedon situation, but … I wanted her to stop because it was not at all thrilling.

It was bad … I might have overdone it.

I may have pushed Mary too hard because of my outburst of dark emotions.

She was getting desperate.

She probably didn’t care about herself anymore. Her pride is broken, her position is gone, and her future is bleak.

She is like an ‘invincible person’.

She has nothing to fear now. She can do whatever she wants.

“Kotaro, let’s be unhappy together, shall we? If everyone is unhappy, it will become normal. I, Ryoma, and Kirari are all equal, right? So, I’m going to make you unhappy … and I’m going to bring Kotaro down to earth!”

I break out in cold sweat.

The dusky black vindictiveness sent chills down my spine.

(Not good… Not good. Not good.)

I can’t stop. After all, I am only a mob character.

I’m a lesser person than the subheroine, so I can’t intervene in her will.

No matter what I said to Mary, she would not stop.

So there was nothing I could do.

“Kotaro…I told you, didn’t I? If you don’t do what I want, I’ll do what you don’t want most.”

“… Stop it. Please, stop it.”

“No, I won’t stop, okay? I want Kotaro to be unhappy with me, you know? I guess so… Yeah, I’ve decided. I’m going to interrupt Kotaro and Shiho’s romantic comedy. I’m going to leave my mark on your story!”

That was what I had feared the most.

That was the only thing I really wanted her to stop doing.

“Now, I’m going to give Kotaro a kiss … hihihi, aren’t you happy? You must be so happy, aren’t you? I bet it’ll be a memory that won’t fade away, huh?”

“It’s … your first time, too, you know?”

“So what? I don’t care anymore, as long as … I can hurt Kotaro, that’s all that matters.”

She takes another step forward.

Our noses were already touching each other. Every time she spoke, her breath hit my cheek and I felt sick.

But I couldn’t move. I was like a frog staring at a snake,… my legs cowering in fear.

I almost screamed out at the thought of what was to come.

After all, if Mary becomes my first partner here… I’m sure she won’t disappear from my mind in the future.

“Nihihihi. It’s nice… From now on, every time you kiss Shiho, every time you touch each other, Kotaro will remember me. You will suffer from the guilt of having betrayed Shiho. From the bottom of the heart, you won’t be able to love Shiho! Unable to forgive yourself for betraying her, you become a pathetic mob character who denies yourself again!”

That’s right. Even if I wasn’t responsible … no, even if Shiho forgave me for it, my heart would never forgive me.

I would be so overcome with regret that I would not be able to accept Shiho’s love.

I will be tormented by the scars left by the girl Mary Parker for a long time to come.

“…Suck it up.”

Mary smiles.

No, she laughs.

She was smiling with the same smile I was smiling a moment ago.

“Kotaro is just like me, isn’t he? Let’s live our lives as pathetic and miserable characters, filled with regret… If Shiho dumps you, come to me? It wouldn’t be bad for the two of us to lick each other’s wounds and live our lives together, would it? Let’s continue to seek unfulfilled love together, while we scratch our chests with unfulfilled thoughts and resent each other for the rest of our lives… That’s my revenge…”

Is … this a punishment?

Is it the cause and effect of my ridicule of others?

After all, I am a person who is useless without her.

(Is this as far as my romantic comedy goes…?)

After all, Mary-san played with me and that’s the end of it.

Shiho… I’m sorry.

I may not be able to make you happy anymore…

――Usually, this would have been the way it was supposed to be broken up.

But there was no way she … would have wanted that development.

“Ufufu … hey, what makes you think I’d allow that?”

The clear voice echoes.

The cold air is blown in by a warm breeze.

It is as if the world, which had been dyed in gray, suddenly turns colorful.

Her appearance was so dramatic that it created such an illusion.

“No, you can’t. Will you please not defile my lovely hero?”

I huffed and looked up.

I shifted my face to dodge Mary’s lips and looked at the entrance to the empty classroom.

There she was, after all.

“Kotaro-kun, you’re going to be okay. Let me help you, alright?”

Her gentle smile makes me almost cry.

That’s right… this girl is always like this.

She’s always there for me when I’m having a hard time, when I’m in pain, when I can’t help myself…

And she always helps me out…