Hasumi Kana’s Side (3) (3)
“He lied… There’s no way someone that young could be his parent… She looked like she was in her early twenties… and she’s a foreigner… And who goes into a love hotel with their parents anyway…?”
In other words, Shuhei-kun told a lie to hide the fact that he was with her.
That’s how important she is to him.
Important enough that someone like me—just a classmate—wasn’t even worth telling.
“Sure, I’m just a classmate. But lately… things had been kind of nice between us, right? The school festival practically felt like a date… So of course I got my hopes up a little…”
Yeah. I had hoped.
I let myself believe—just a little—that maybe he’d choose me. Let myself imagine something convenient, something selfish, something sweet.
“But if she’s just a friend, then just say so. If she’s your girlfriend, then just be honest. Why lie about it being your parents? Why… why lie at all…? When you lie and keep secrets like that, it just makes this fluttery, deluded version of me from the past few weeks look so pathetic…”
Plop—a droplet landed at my feet.
It wasn’t rain.
Today had been picture-perfect for a sports festival—nothing but clear blue skies since morning.
That droplet… was a tear.
As everything fell into place, the tears came.
Tears of heartbreak—marking the quiet, bitter end of my first love.
In that instant, my first love was over.
They say first loves never work out.
A dead-end road every girl walks at some point.
And now, as a high schooler, I’d finally reached mine.
But at the same time… something black and twisted began to stir inside me.
(Then just kill him.)
(If you can’t have him, just erase him—make him disappear.)
(That way, there’ll be no more pain. No more sadness.)
(It’s easy. Just kill him—kill the hero, Shuhei Oda.)
(It hurts, doesn’t it? You hate him, don’t you?)
(Then kill him. Kill the hateful hero, Shuhei Oda—!)
That voice—seductive, poisonous—rose up from somewhere deep inside, like a devil whispering in the dark.
(Yeah… if I can’t have him, I should just end it. That’s all it takes, right?)
“—Wait, what am I even thinking!? I could never kill Shuhei-kun! I mean—what the hell am I even saying!? And why did I call him a hero!? That makes zero sense!”
Murder is a crime.
Even elementary schoolers know you can’t just kill someone.
But I couldn’t deny it—something dark, something temptingly cruel, was growing inside me.
“What’s… happening to me…?”
Overwhelmed by fear of that “something” lurking within, I turned and fled from that place.