The Losing Heroine Dumped by Her Shady Childhood Friend Will Definitely Win as Long as I’m Around! - Chapter 30

“…. eh?”

Osako sounded dumbfounded.

He probably didn’t think there was such a thing as evidence.

While holding Osako down, I operated my phone with one hand.

“The people who were bullying Osako were the three boys in class 2A, right?

“E…”

“Look, these guys.”

I showed Osako the screen of my phone.

On the screen were three serious-looking boys.

“Ah!”

Osako’s eyes widened

This was a video. The boy on the screen opened his mouth.

[We were bullying Kentaro Osako, a member of Class D of the second year. … The reason was to relieve stress. …We really feel sorry for what we did. ….]

The bullies all bowed their heads and apologized.

There were a few tears in their eyes, that’s how sorry they were for what they had done. It’s important to have a remorseful mind, yes.

[And there is no truth in the fact that Chinatsu Sugito-san wanted to bully you. She stopped me, so I took it out on her, …. and Osako, and lied to you to make you feel bad about Sugito-san. I’m really …… sorry.]

Then he spoke about the bullying and apologized for the third time, and the video ended.

“How’s that? Will you admit that this is evidence? If not, I’ll call him and he’ll say the same thing right in front of you.”

“T-that’s….”

He must have believed the video. Osako was completely deflated.

I couldn’t hold Osako in front of her house forever. I let go of Osako and rushed to Chinatsu-chan’s side.

“W-why do you have that video?”

“I asked them to testify that Chinatsu-chan was not involved in the bullying. Since it was the truth, they were willing to do so.”

“….. Really?”

“I told you, Chinatsu-chan, that I would never lie to you.”

I turned to Chinatsu-chan with a smile. For some reason, she sighed.

“It was enough that you listened to me, …, but I’m a little scared of you, Masa-kun.”

“Huh!? You don’t like me now?”

“…, how can I dislike you?”

Chinatsu-chan, her cheeks flushed red, turned her head away. I was relieved to see her reaction.

“Why is something like this… now…”

Osako looked at me helplessly.

“I took this one recently. Frankly, I wasn’t going to show it to you unless something happened.”

If I had shown this video earlier, I doubt he would have believed it.

–He didn’t want to admit that he was wrong once he believed it. Even now, it was a 50-50 chance as to whether he will believe it or not, but judging from his reaction, he seems to have believed in Chinatsu-chan’s innocence.

“I asked them to do three things. To testify to Chinatsu-chan’s innocence to Osako. To take an apology video. And to never get involved with Chinatsu-chan and Osako again.”

The video was only an insurance. I had promised to delete it once Osako’s misunderstanding was cleared up.

But I never thought this would happen before they told Osako that Chinatsu-chan had nothing to do with the bullying. It was too late to schedule it for later in the week because it would take time to set up a place for an apology.

“I was worried that they might have spread the word about the bullying, but rest assured, there were no rumors. They don’t want to ruin their reputation as honor students either.”

They’ve been talking about “exam stress” since their sophomore year. They didn’t want any of this to affect their exam scores.

I even checked with the rumor-mongers in all the classes, each of them, so there was no mistake. At least, there were no rumors that Chinatsu-chan was the main bullying culprit.

They wanted to relieve stress by bullying someone without lowering their reputation as an honor student. Osako was humiliated that he was bullied and did not want anyone to know about it.

They were in agreement with each other in that they did not want anyone to know about it. Thanks to that, though, Chinatsu-chan did not have a bad reputation from the beginning.

.”………..”

When Osako finally admitted that it was a mistake, he seemed to be at a loss for words.

But now that it had become such a big deal, there was something I had to tell him.

“Hey, Osako, I’ll tell you the truth.”

There was no response, but I continued without caring.

“You may think that you endured the bullying heroically. In the meantime, Chinatsu-chan was working on your behalf to stop the bullying, instead of you not saying anything. She gathered information on her own, and even though she was in danger against three boys, she stood up to them alone. …And yet, the childhood friend she was supposed to have helped abused her, and still, she was trying not to make the bullying a big deal.”

“Why …… why did Chinatsu go to such lengths for me?….If Chinatsu told the truth, there would be many people who would believe her. … It’s not right that she just leaves it up to me. …”

“Urghh, Of course it was to protect your dickish pride!”

Why can’t you understand?

She protected even that petty pride that others would be appalled to hear about. She was a girl who would protect you with everything she had.

Osako, you were unaware of the existence of the kindest childhood friend. It was so obvious that he did not even try to know.

Because I envied him more than anyone else, I couldn’t forgive Osako for being so incomprehensive.

Still, even though she herself was hurt, he was a childhood friend whom Chinatsu-chan had protected.

“You should reflect on your actions, Osako. Reflect properly and apologize to Chinatsu-chan. Whether she forgives you or not, that’s on her.”

Once again, silence fell between us.

I guess that’s the end of the story. In order to calm Chinatsu-chan down, I should send her home as soon as possible.

“??I”

I was thinking that, when Osako started to say something.

“I don’t deserve to be told such a thing by Sano-kun.”

Osako said, more sulky than angry.

……Well, you’re right. I had no business telling him that.

But I didn’t know what Osako, who misunderstood Chinatsu-chan as she was, would do. I believe it was something I had to say in order to protect Chinatsu-chan.

However, I promised to keep my relationship with Chinatsu-chan a secret. There was no way I was going to reveal our relationship to him.

So it would be that, right? A mystery boy who gets involved in the problems of his childhood friend?

“Relationship… there is.”

Chinatsu-chan hugged my arm. Her face turned bright red, but she declared.

“Because …… me and Masa-kun are in a relationship!”

… I almost ascended.

The fact that she declared me her lover, the soft feeling of her arms against me, the shy but proud expression on her face that was too cute. ….Many factors nearly took my soul away.

“…… eh?”

In contrast, Osako had a face that could only be described as despair.

“Y-you’re lying, aren’t you Chinatsu ……. If you were helping me, you wouldn’t have abandoned me, would you ….?”

“I’m not talking about abandoning Kentaro. I love Masa-kun and he protected me. What Masa-kun said just now was just a way of expressing what I wanted to say to you, Kentaro.”

Even without looking, I could see my face turning bright red. In contrast, Osako’s face was so pale that I could see it even in the dim light.

Finally, I learned of Chinatsu-chan’s concern for me.

Maybe this was an opportunity for him to change the way he looked at her, and he was going to treat her as the opposite s*x.

But, however, even though he realized she was a kind and beautiful childhood friend, it’s too late now!

–I had no intention of letting go of Chinatsu-chan