After breaking up, my ex asked me to win her back

She liked Kagura Hikaru.

More than anyone else in this world, more than liking anyone else in this world.

If spending money could express love, she would clean out her entire family's wealth.

That was the extent of her feelings for her boyfriend.

Even if it meant marrying him right now, she could do it.

These thoughts had been running through Kiryu Hina's mind when she discovered the fallen couple's bracelet, tried to catch up with Kagura Hikaru to return it to him, and found she could not keep pace.

That guy, why on earth does he need such long legs, making him walk so fast—doesn't he know how hard it is for girls who are only five foot three to keep up!

She muttered to herself in dissatisfaction.

Maybe, she should just follow him all the way home.

And incidentally meet his family....and so on...

The above is the whole process she suddenly envisioned about getting married.

She didn't know what Kagura Hikaru thought since being middle school students, maybe he didn't care much about these things yet?

But waiting until it's necessary to think about these things would mean being slower than others, wouldn't it?

Fun fact, Kiryu Hina was the type who wanted to marry earlier than her peers, preferably getting married as soon as they both reached legal marrying age.

By that time, they should be in university.

She had heard that there are quite a few predatory women in university who specifically target men, get them drunk, and take them back to their dorm to play.

To prevent Kagura Hikaru from being targeted by those kind of bad women, marriage was necessary, or rather proclaiming sovereignty was necessary, with that diamond ring on the ring finger.

Yes, it definitely wasn't because she had any possessive or controlling desires, absolutely not.

After all, think about it, many people, when they are at a critical juncture, start to hate themselves for not being prepared earlier; it's a common tendency, right?

The students wailing over not reviewing before an exam, the boys realizing they didn't take precautions before getting to base, the girls discovering their boyfriend cheating with their best friend...and so on.

Isn't it just to warn future generations to take precautions that people say "prevent problems before they happen"?

Of course, in this aspect, Kiryu Hina was doing perfectly.

She was earnestly studying, attending cram school, and her grades stayed steadily at second place in her grade, with no need to worry about exams whatsoever.

She even prepared for the off-chance that Kagura Hikaru might suddenly unleash his wild side when they were together; she carried about ten sets of ultra-thin protections in her bag.

Cheating.

As for cheating, well, although she really didn't want to consider this possibility, Kiryu Hina had also rehearsed in advance. If Kagura Hikaru ever cheated on her with some strange woman, she had figured out from which angle and with what force she should plunge a switchblade into that woman's body to inflict the maximum degree of pain and the minimum degree of injury, so she wouldn't be heavily sentenced if she ended up in court.

Hmm? Why that expression, it's a joke, you know.

Really, really.

Moreover, the previous example was about when a boyfriend cheats with a 'best friend', right?

It's the same with this; there's no need to worry.

After all, among those who could be called Kiryu Hina's friends of the same age, there were only two girls, and the only one who could be called a best friend was Kohinata Suse from the same club.

Would she cheat with her boyfriend?

Even joking should have a limit.

She considered Kiryu Hina to the point where she even started worrying that the other might be asexual, completely disinterested in boys.

Of course, disinterested in girls as well, in the sense of love.

A high-level beauty, an unattainable flower, a perfect person, a saint... these words used to describe her would never be associated with cheating.

Let alone with Kagura Hikaru as the target.

If someone still aimed at a friend's lover, they must be either insane or utterly malicious.

Kohinata Suse was the kind of girl who would feel pity for a flower if plucked from the wild, too kind and gentle to the point that it was hard for others to watch.

If someone mentioned in front of Kiryu Hina that Suse was dating someone else's boyfriend, her first reaction wasn't to get angry or to seek confirmation, but to punch the rumor spreader in the face.

To insult Suse like that was unforgivable.

As for the other possibility, that of Kagura Hikaru actively seducing Kohinata Suse.

By the same logic, Suse wouldn't agree.

Even in the worst-case scenario, if someone had leverage against her, she only needed to make a phone call to inform her bodyguards, and the matter would be resolved within half a day.

As long as she was unwilling, there were very few external forces in the world that could compel Suse to do anything.

Was such a flawless woman likely to actively increase her own vulnerabilities?

Putting aside dating someone, if that someone was another person's lover, the nature of the matter changed.

It was betrayal, a sin, an abominable act that society wouldn't accept or condone.

Kiryu Hina had indeed heard that some well-behaved daughters of elite families would act out against their strict upbringing by deliberately doing bad things.

Like a broken spring, bouncing chaotically in every direction.

In the end, they might truly break.

But, she thought, Suse was not that kind of superficial girl.

Or rather, not just that kind of superficial girl.

Economic wealth was just a small part of what she possessed – Kohinata Suse also had a level of knowledge and cultivation that matched her wealth.

Honestly, even Kiryu Hina occasionally found her formidable.

She would sometimes wonder if she wasn't human.

Previously, I mentioned her grades were often stable at second in the class, right? That's because first place always belonged to Kohinata Suse.

Not just in studies – piano, dance, drama... Whatever she was interested in, she excelled at it, surpassing her peers.

Even so, she never became arrogant or bullied others; she was a modest girl worthy of admiration.

In any case, Kiryu Hina believed she wouldn't cheat.

Suse wouldn't do such a thing.

Even if she thought about it, reason would resist.

But, she really shouldn't have believed in this.

Reason is the most unreliable part of a human being because even an irrational rationale is part of human nature.

Back then, Kiryu Hina, just a middle school third grader who hadn't faced tragedy, didn't fully understand this.

The lesson she should have learned from this was that even if the truth was as you believed, sometimes that was meaningless.

Because thinking, no, presuming to think what someone else is thinking, is in itself meaningless.

Betrayal could come at any moment.

Whether it's the persona seen by others.

Or a boyfriend, or a best friend.

When she followed Kagura Hikaru to the front of a love hotel and saw Kohinata Suse waiting at the entrance, flying into her boyfriend's arms like a homing bird and kissing him on the neck.

Kiryu Hina finally grasped this truth.

This lesson was painfully profound.

"Mister Hikaru, Suse, what are you doing..."

She saw Kagura Hikaru turn around in shock, and the complex apology on Kohinata Suse's face.

The couple's bracelet in her hand gradually slipped off.

In that moment, her white Christmas came to an end.