Episode 11 – Fiancee’s Pride

Eh, who? I mean, why? This ……?

Suddenly I froze up.
However, the blonde girl comes tucked in and stares at my face at point-blank range.

She is as beautiful as Ichikawa san.
My heart screams at the distance that if I get a little closer, I can almost touch her.

But I’ve developed a bit of tolerance with Ichikawa san myself.
If it’s only a little….

“Hmm~?”
“T-To close…”

It’s a lie. I’m not tolerant.
Don’t stare at me so hard. It’s embarrassing!

“He seems ordinary. Plus you look boring.”
“Haa?”

What’s that out of the blue? Why should I be told such a thing if she has been staring at my face?

The blonde girl takes her face away from me and sits back down in front of me.
Then she began to drink tea and relax as if it were her own home.

W-What’s with the rudeness…..
Did you say fiancée?

“Dad, what is going on? Fiancee…wait, Fiance ?!”

I looked at my father, confused.
“……This is the granddaughter of Shinozuka san, a man I am indebted to. Your would-be fiancée.”
“Fiancee….?”
“Yes. If I hadn’t heard from you and you hadn’t made a girlfriend, I was going to have her engaged to you.”

So, I managed to fulfill my promise to my father, so that means the engagement never happened.
…..Well, Why is this person here?

“Hmph. I came over to see what he looked like since he is my fiancee….. And found out that he has a girlfriend. What a waste of time!”

She swears to answer my question.

“….That’s how it is. I’m glad you’re here. The engagement will be officially broken, but we can talk a little bit about it. I’m going to sit this one out.”

With that, my father got up and left the room.

…… What do you expect me to say when you leave us alone in this situation?
And with someone who just had a broken engagement. This is beyond awkward.

“…..”

She turns away grimly in front of me.
Do I have to follow up on this?

….Haa. I have no choice.

“Hey. I don’t want you to be engaged to me either.”
“Suzu”
“Eh?”
“It’s not [You]. My name is Shinozuka Suzu. Suzu is fine.”
“Ah, yes..”

W-What’s this ?

“Shinozuka san—”
“Suzu”

Apparently, she doesn’t like to be called by her last name.
It’s strangely nerve-wracking to call the opposite sex by their first names.

“S-Suzu…don’t you hate it? engaged to someone you don’t even know.”

My parents decide things on their own and I don’t like it.
So I’m relieved that this thing has broken, but I don’t know how she feels about it.

She said I looked boring, but when I saw her complaining about the engagement breaking up, maybe she thought I was a little…

“Of course I don’t like it. I have seen you in pictures, but when I met you, you still looked unreliable, a bit dumb, and not my type. It sucks.”

There is no way she thought it was a good idea.
…… I’m sorry for looking so dumb.
But you don’t have to say it’s the worst.
If you thought it was a good idea, you can have my apologies feeling back.

She is beautiful but has a harsh personality. She and I don’t seem to get along with each other at all.

“Well, We’re both happy with this. I’m glad I’m not engaged to someone like Suzu.”

I was so pissed off at being ragged on that I said something a little sarcastic.
Even if I had not been dating Ichikawa san, it would have been impossible for me to be in love with such an obviously quarrelsome person.

“Haa——?! What did you say?!”

But that wasn’t good. Suzu raises her voice, perhaps not liking the way I said it.

“You should be thankful that a boring guy like you, who never seems to be popular with anyone, is about to get engaged to me!!”

She is looking down on me.
I was annoyed at the way she said that.

“Who’s that ! I don’t need to get engaged to a girl like you, I have a girlfriend prettier than you!”
“Haah? Is she prettier than I am? Of course not.”

Suzu, who had raised her voice earlier, turned around and snickered away.
She seems to be very confident in herself.

“There is no one prettier and better than me!”

Where does that confidence come from, seriously?
I want to break her confidence.

“In what world is a girl with a personality like yours a good woman? It’s impossible. Get out of here!”

I feel sorry for this overbearing, prideful girl.

“Haa?! You’re not much of a man yourself! I’m sure the girlfriends of guys like you are similarly potato-smelling anyway. I have no choice but to pretend I didn’t hear what you just said, and I’ll ask you again who’s prettier, me or her. Well, Choose me!”
“If it were up to me, I wouldn’t choose a girl like you even if I died !!”

Besides, why are you going through the motions like you want me to choose you!?

Afterward, we argued about this and that.

“Haaaa…..”
“Haa….”

We complained to each other a lot and took a moment to catch our breath.

“Do you really have a girlfriend in the first place? You’re not lying to look good, are you?”

I see. This girl actually thinks I don’t have a girlfriend?
If I show my smartphone, it’s over.

“Of course I have. I’ve got proof right here—”
“I’ve never had a boyfriend, so there’s no way you could have one!!”

Suzu interrupts my statement and makes a statement in high spirits.

…… This girl never had a boyfriend? I see.
She’s certainly beautiful, but she has a …… personality.
I guess boys see through that too.

Or maybe he’ll confess, but I think she’ll cut her off, saying he’s not worthy of her. She seems to have high ideals. Ah, that’s more likely.

I couldn’t say much about others because I never could either until Ichikawa san confessed to me….

“Fuu”

Regardless, I was convinced I was going to win this game.
That’s why—

“Don’t tell me …… you’re jealous because you’ve never had a boyfriend yourself? Are you so frustrated that you are single and a boy like me has a girlfriend? If you’re so frustrated, go find yourself a boyfriend or something.”

I was agitated. With all my might.

“…………..”
“Suzu……….?”

I wondered if my words had had any effect, but I was worried about Suzu who turned her head and shook her body, so I called out to her. I may have said too much…

“You pissed me off !! If you’re going to go that far, let’s do it. Engagement!
“……HA?”

Suzu turns red in the face and declares to me.

What is she talking about? I don’t understand what she means by doing the engagement.
Just a few minutes ago, our engagement was on the verge of breaking up!

“You don’t think I can do it, do you? If I asked my grandfather, he’d have us engaged in no time.”
“…… grandfather?”
“Yes, he is. My grandfather was amazing. If I say a cute, ‘Please?’ and he’ll do anything I say. The other day I said I wanted a cake from that pastry store that was on TV the other day, and he bought the whole store for me!”

….Hee?. I didn’t know that cakes were something you bought by the whole store.
No, who is this girl’s grandfather? He’s crazy!

My dad said he was also indebted to him…..
I mean, how am I going to get engaged to someone like that!

But if that’s the case, I think it’s kind of a bad idea.

“That’s why me and you are engaged!!”
“You’re out of your mind! I told you I have a girlfriend!”
“It’s not my fault that you stir things up.”
“How can you even think of getting engaged to someone you don’t like for the sake of such trivial pride!”

Suzu sees me getting impatient and continues to smile high in front of me.

“Yes, my pride!　I will never forgive you for making fun of me! That’s why I’m going to take you away from her. And I’m going to make you fall in love with me so much that you won’t be able to live without me with crying and begging!”

“Ugh !!!!?”

I’ve heard that line somewhere.
Oddly enough, it was the same words that Ichikawa san said to me one day.

…… This girl is crazy.
Seriously, what am I going to do?

“Shiver and wait.”

It was annoying to see Suzu smiling at me with a victorious look on her face.

“Well, I’ll give up on you gracefully if you don’t fall in love with me. Until then, my fiancée?”

…… Are you seriously going to get engaged?
I don’t know how much of a man his grandfather is…

How do I explain this to Ichikawa san?
I went home and found my fiancée?
…… I feel like that’s a bad idea.

No, no, no, it’s not a done deal to begin with, and I’ll be fine. If by some chance she does become my fiancée, I still have a fighting chance. There’s no way I’d fall in love with her.
I believe what she said, but
We won’t see each other while school is in session anyway. It’s almost like something is not going to happen. …… It’s okay, right?

“Oh, and just so you know, I’m going to be going to the same school next week.”
“…You’re lying”
“Well, I’ll keep quiet about it to her.”

This girl gloating in front of me looked like the devil.

……That’s definitely not true either.
Oh, God. What did I do?

◆

I, Shinozuka Suzu, spoke for the first time today with the man I was going to be engaged to.

When I first saw the picture, I thought he looked ordinary and boring.
However, even if it is the person with whom I am going to get engaged. I went all the way to see him because I thought I should meet him once.
And when I actually met him, none of my impressions were wrong.

And when he went there, he got a girlfriend.
In other words, the engagement was broken. It was a terrible waste of time.

I was angry at the wasted effort and the fact that even though I had never had a boyfriend before, and yet this ordinary guy had a girlfriend.

And as we talked we got into a fight. I thought we were not good friends.
I was truly glad I didn’t become engaged to this guy.

I thought, and yet somehow I had declared that I would get engaged again.
…… I can’t help it!

I can’t stay like this.
I had never lost to anyone before, and my pride would not allow it.

I don’t have any cheap ideas that having a girlfriend is a win, but it was kind of aggravating to fall behind that guy.

I could make a boyfriend in a heartbeat if I wanted to, but I decided to annoy that guy who made fun of me anyway.

And as I suspected, that man was in a hurry.
However, we have only just begun.

This is where it starts for him and me.
I will definitely make that guy fall in love with me and treat him like a slave!

“I thought it would be boring, but it turns out to be a lot more fun than I thought.”
I muttered quietly and decided to make a plan for the next week.