A Supporting Character’s Love Story - Chapter 60

POV Makoto Shinji

“Why did you do that?” I asked as I took a sip of coffee.

“…”

“Your drink will go cold if you let it sit like that.”

“…”

I was sitting across Kaname Akatsuki with a cup of coffee in front of me. I had taken her here to remove some of her fear but it seems she still isn’t in the mood to talk.

“Fine. Since you don’t want to answer let’s change the question.”

“It seems you hate Kanade for some reason?”

“…” Again, no reply. But something else caught my eye.

Her eyes glowed with hatred for a moment before the dimness returned. If I didn’t have my trait I wouldn’t have been able to notice this minor detail.

It’s like this, huh?

A festering hatred is much more dangerous than an outward anger like Tanaka displayed, much more difficult to resolve as well. I need to step up my tactics then.

“Since you don’t seem to be inclined to talk to me maybe I should call somebody else here.”

At least she lifted her head when I said that unlike before.

I showed her the two contacts on my phone.

“You know what? I will let you choose. Pick whoever you want to call here.”

“Don’t-”

“If you don’t pick I don’t mind bringing both of them here.”

Her shoulders dropped further as she sank into silence, struggling between the choices I put in front of her.

I had showed her Seiji’s and Kanade’s numbers. To be honest she could walk away right now and I wouldn’t be able to do anything. But due to her already suffering from Kanade’s regular harassment her mental state was a little unstable.

“Kanade”

“Hmm?”

“Call Kanade san.”

Oh. It seems she made her choice. It’s good she chose Kanade. That means she already knows how Seiji feels towards her.

“Remember, it is you who made this choice. Okay?”

First putting her into the illusion of having limited choices, and now impressing on her that it was her who wanted to call Kanade here. Her mental state was being pushed- no, sinking lower and lower.

I acted as if I messaged Kanade, and showed her the memo note I had prepared while talking to her.

“Look she is coming here soon.” I said as I pointed the phone screen towards her while hiding the top part so that she didn’t notice it was fake.

Her cheeks paled when her eyes fell on the text.

“Please stop this.”

Finally. The resistance came. Although it was more like begging.

But doesn’t this look very bad? It’s almost as if I am blackmailing her. Well I am, but it is to help her in the end. I was glad we were sitting in a corner table. Because of that there was quite a bit of distance between us and the other customers. It was enough so that they weren’t able to hear us. Otherwise they would definitely call the police or something.

“But you were the one who chose to call her here, don’t you remember?” I said with a sneer on my face. “You could have chosen Seiji, but you didn’t.”

“I-…”

Before the tears came flowing out I implemented my next move.

“Why are you afraid of her? It’s not like you can avoid her all your life.”

“…” That seemed to have made her fall into thought.

“In fact, if you want I can even make things return to normal.” Unlike my emotionless voice before, right now I was speaking in a very kind tone to multiply the effect.

“You are lying.”

“If you don’t believe me then you can handle her all on your own. She is on her way already.”

Upon hearing Kanade’s name she shuddered for a few seconds before she returned to normal.

“Th-then. Pl-ease.”

“But first you have to answer a few questions.”

She could only nod helplessly.

Hook, line and sinker. The classic carrot and stick never fails. Now I can finally get the information I wanted.

“First. Why did you choose to call Kanade over Seiji? If I am right, you and him are childhood friends right?”

“…” She went silent again.

“Just to remind you, Kanade is approaching closer and closer as we speak.”

“-Because he hates me.”

What sort of misunderstanding happened between them now?

“Are you sure about that?”

“I-I tried to bully his girlfriend Kanade san. Isnt it obvious he would hate me now?”

No-no-no. There are too many things wrong her. Even if she somehow thinks Seiji’s girlfriend id Kanade that is not normal thought process. Although it was you who tried going after her it will barely make him hate you so much that he would refuse to help you if you asked. Unless…

“Who told you that Seiji hates you?”

She looked back down and replied in a small voice, “It w-was Kanade san.”

As I thought. She must have used her Absolute Agreement to instil this idea in her head. Her moves are more vicious than I thought. But aren’t you and Seiji childhood friends? At least have that much trust in him for god’s sake.

“My next question is, why did you try to go against Kanade?”

“I- I thought I could…” She left the sentence unfinished.

But although she didn’t say anything the meaning was conveyed. Well. I knew she wasn’t a pure soul either from the start. The important thing is that at least now she is self aware.

“Then, my last question. Do you still love Seiji.”

I gave her some time to think about it. Afterall, this was the thing that would decide how to resolve her issues.

After a full minute of thinking she finally responded.

“I don’t know.”

I almost flipped out on her when she said that. For some reason the answer really pissed me off. But I calmed myself down and broke down the situation further.

“What do you mean.”

“You already know that he rejected me once and he is even going out with Kanade san. So, I know I will never be something more than a childhood friend to him. But even though I know that, in my heart I still want to be with him.”

Her well thought out answer surprised me for a bit. So she is not one of those braindead heroines who can’t understand their own heart. That’s good.

“So in simple words you can’t get over him?”

“Th-that’s right.”

“Haah. I can’t do anything about that. It will be up to your luck if you can find somebody who can make you forget him.”

“I knew it would be like that.” She said as she got up. Her face looked as if it had lost all hope.

“Don’t be like that. I still haven’t finished. Let me tell you something first.”

She sat back down, but her face looked like she had given up.

“I was lying about calling Kanade. She is not coming here. So first relax.”

She didn’t seem to believe me at first and I had to show her the memo note to convince her. After knowing that her mood became much better than before and she didn’t even seem to care that I lied to her about it. Now would be the perfect time to tell her the truth.

“The thing is, you seem to be misunderstanding something.”

“Misunderstanding?”

“Yes. You said Seiji’s girlfriend was Kanade right? Who did you hear that from?”

“It was his mother.”

So that’s the main culprit. What an innocent mistake.

“Well. He does have a girlfriend, but it is not Kanade Akatsuki, but her sister.”

“Her… Sister.”

“That’s right. Sister. And now think of all the things you did to Kanade both this year and last year. Tell me, if you were in her place would you have done anything different?”

“I-”

She didn’t have an answer.

“Although I do think she went a little too far, I don’t think it is out of bounds for dealing with someone like you.”

“…”

“In fact if it was up to me I would have left you in her hands.”

“Then, why?”

“Why you ask? It was Seiji who requested me.”

A drop of tear slid down her cheek when she heard that.

“Now think about it. You tried to mess with his girlfriend’s sister for no particular reason which she retaliated for. But even after that he still cares for you and told me to help you out. And then you pretend like you are the victim in all this? Tell me who is in the wrong here? You, Kanade, or Seiji”

“Sorry.”

“Why are you apologizing to me?”

“I-”

“Isn’t there somebody else you need to apologize to?”

It seems she understood the meaning of my words as the second she got up and hurriedly gulped down all of her already cold coffee before dashing out of the café, leaving me all alone at the table. I only realized what happened when she left.

Wait. I have to pay now? Fuck. I should have made her pay before when her mental state was not right.

I was already running low on finances because of my frequent dates with Akari and now this.

Maybe Seiji will pay for the expenses. It was his request afterall.

I took out a few notes from my wallet to pay the bill when the door opened again making me turn around.

Why did she return? Did she really meet Kanade by any chance? Hundreds of possible scenarios started going through my head.

“Makoto kun. Thanks a lot.” She said with a smile and dashed out the same way again.

If you really feel that thankful pay the bill idiot.

But at least her smile is back again.

That is mission accomplished, right?

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