ICFBW 08

Chapter 8

– Where Jealousy Leads

After we left the sweets shop and walked for a bit, I tried to shake his hand off, but—

“Hey, did you get jealous?”

He asked me in a completely different, spoiled voice compared to how he spoke with Yua.

And on top of that, he was holding my hand so tightly I couldn’t escape.

“…Huh?”
“I said, did you get jealous? Watching me chatting happily with Yua?”

Still gripping my hand, he leaned down to peer into my face from below.

“…Wait. Don’t tell me, Ruka, you did that just to make me jealous?”

When I asked, Ruka nodded with a big smug grin.

“…Are you, like, mentally still in elementary school when you’re off stage?”
“…What?”

“Look, I’ve told you so many times already—I don’t like you that way. You get it? You’re not my type, so I don’t get jealous.”

“…Are you saying that seriously…?”

For just an instant, the strength in his grip loosened.

“I am saying it seriously. It’s been, what, a month now? I’ve been telling you the same thing all along.”

When I said it sharply, Ruka went silent.

“Besides, that girl Yua… don’t you feel sorry for her? She probably worked up the courage to call out to you, right? And yet you just left her hanging like that. Honestly, I think that was the worst. Instead of being jealous, I think I might actually have started to dislike you a little.”

The moment I said it, I realized I’d gone too far.

But it was already too late.
And for some reason… I couldn’t stop myself.

“I mean, you’ve got such a great body, but you’re weak at arm wrestling, and when I hit you out of anger it actually lands…”
“That’s only because you’re a black belt in aikido and karate, Risa-chan…”

“I like guys who are handsome, perfect, and strong enough to protect me when it matters. Someone tough in a fight. That’s the type I’m into. Which is… completely different from you, Ruka.”

I didn’t know why such cruel words kept spilling from my mouth one after another.
But before I realized it, I’d said them all.