Romantic Troubles of Duanmu-kun

Episode 32: A Stormy Entrance (Part 1)

Before he could finish his sentence, heated words cut through the air.

“—So it’s just as I thought, you’re only after Niwa-kun’s family background, aren’t you?”

One of the girls surrounding Ogiwara demanded, her voice sharp with accusation.

“Even if Takahito can’t inherit the Niwa family, he’ll still live a life of luxury. For a fallen ojou-sama like yourself, that would be quite the catch, wouldn’t it, Ogiwara-san?”

A bespectacled boy beside her sneered, echoing her words.

…This isn’t good at all.

The situation was rapidly deteriorating. Accusing someone of being a gold digger was essentially a declaration of war, and bringing up her family’s decline on top of that…

Was such harshness really necessary? Though perhaps this was built-up resentment finally finding its moment to explode—

“You misunderstand,” the black-haired girl, who had maintained her silence until now, spoke with ice in her voice.

“Are you saying you’re not after the money?”

“That’s not what I meant…” Ogiwara’s lips curved slightly upward, as if deliberately provoking them.

“Niwa-kun seems to be quite favored by his grandfather. It wouldn’t be strange if he became the official heir to the Niwa family in the future. I was merely pointing that out.”

“You… you’re really something else!” Not surprisingly, the accusatory girl grew even more furious.

“Also.” Ogiwara Yayoi’s expression turned glacial, her tone becoming exceptionally intimidating.

“The engagement was decided in the past, before I had even met Niwa-kun. Since then, I haven’t had any contact with him. You all know this.”

“And whether this relationship continues or the engagement is cancelled, it’s none of your business as outsiders. Isn’t that right?”

No one answered. The atmosphere had dropped below freezing.

The novelist, watching from the sidelines, knew the real key to this incident was that Niwa Takahito himself had chosen to announce the engagement at his own birthday party. As Ogiwara said, these people had no standing to criticize her.

Additionally, he noticed something odd about the Class Rep’s expression among the righteously indignant crowd. She appeared anxious while simultaneously holding something back, maintaining her silence.

…I see.

Most likely, the Class Rep had originally intended to speak with Ogiwara alone. But before she knew it, she’d been surrounded by people who either “wanted to help her” or “couldn’t stand Ogiwara,” and caught up in the atmosphere, things had escalated to this point.

“Um… why don’t we all calm down? Today is Niwa-kun’s birthday after all.”

Unlike the Class Rep, the novelist had fewer reservations and wasn’t directly involved, so he tried to ease the tension after squeezing into their circle.

…Though really, Niwa Takahito should be handling this himself. Where had he disappeared to? Could this have been intentional?

“But you know what? You’re the same, aren’t you? Liang-kun, you must be feeling pretty upset right now too, right?”

The bespectacled boy—Yoshino Takashi, if he remembered correctly, who like the Class Rep and Niwa Takahito was part of the popular crowd in Class 2-1—shamelessly dragged a certain shut-in from their class into the fray.

“…Huh?”

The novelist tilted his head in confusion.

What was that supposed to mean? Was he suggesting I’d be angry about the engagement?

…

Hey, come on! I’m not going to confess to Niwa-kun! Please don’t make me deny this in such an awkward situation multiple times! Won’t people think it’s strange?

…Just kidding (lol).

“What’s with that expression? You were definitely crushing on Ogiwara before… After all, right before the birthday party, you specifically asked Takahito, ‘If Ogiwara-san is going, then I’ll go too.’ How sickeningly sweet.”

While Yoshino didn’t say it outright, his expression carried the same contempt and schadenfreude as before. His implication was clear: “How about that? The girl you had a crush on turns out to be someone else’s fiancée! Pretty upset, aren’t you?”

…Ah, so it was from back then. At the time, he had no idea this would happen, so he had asked without caring if there was a misunderstanding.

His gaze accidentally met Ogiwara’s.

She immediately crossed her arms defensively, fixing him with a cold stare.

Her body language screamed messages like “Are you a stalker? Stay away from me! Don’t come near me! Goodbye! Stop looking at me or I’ll call the police! Did you hear me? So please just leave—”

Hey! That’s enough! I’m trying to help you out here!

…Haah.

He couldn’t help but sigh internally.

While he should probably deny it without hesitation, it probably wouldn’t do much good. If he lost his position here, there would be no reason for them to stop questioning Ogiwara. They would suspect he was simply trying to protect the girl he had a crush on.

Wouldn’t that be too miserable? Especially for something that didn’t even exist.

Suddenly, he noticed something—

While Yoshino was speaking, his gaze never left the Class Rep.

I see.

If his guess wasn’t wrong, this glasses boy probably… though that was just a novelist’s personal flash of insight.

These sweet and sour romance relationships between boys and girls sure are complicated! To be frank, they’re just annoying!

But if he backed down here…

“Actually, I have a girlfriend.”

He decided to tell a little lie.

…

“Eh—?”

Everyone showed expressions of shock.

“It’s true. Though she’s not from our school. So it’s impossible that I’m ‘crushing on Ogiwara-san.'”

He answered with a serious face.

“I-Is that so! Liang-kun’s girlfriend… I’d love to meet her, I wonder what kind of person she is?”

The Class Rep, sensing a chance to break the tension, immediately relaxed and redirected the conversation his way.

…At least for now, she and the novelist were allies.

What… what kind of person?

The novelist quickly sketched out an image of an “ideal girlfriend” in his mind and answered without thinking.

“She’s a beautiful university student. Has a great figure. Good at cooking, and very caring. She’s smart, and has an interesting way of speaking. Very knowledgeable about trendy things. Usually very polite to everyone, but sometimes shows her cute side only to me…”

Oh no. He had unconsciously ended up projecting a certain woman from reality.

Most importantly, it definitely sounded…

Like a shut-in’s delusions, didn’t it?

…

After a moment of silence.

“Class Rep, this guy is definitely lying!”

Someone burst out laughing rudely.

Though the Class Rep quietly rebuked them, she gave him a wry smile… Unfortunately, he hadn’t meant to do this. Perhaps it was because he hadn’t interacted with people for so long that he made such a mistake.

While the others didn’t say anything, they all broke into smiles. It wasn’t purely out of malice; they just found it funny and couldn’t help but laugh.

No one believed what he said was true; they just took it as a joke.

The novelist couldn’t help but click his tongue.

*

“Honey~ So this is where you were?”

Then, as if it were some kind of divine prophecy, a friendly female voice came from behind.

Walking unhurriedly with a wine glass in hand was that young woman—the queen of social gatherings who effortlessly captured everyone’s attention the moment she appeared.

No matter how heavy the atmosphere, she could cut through it unhindered, leaving people speechless—a woman who stood at the pinnacle of social life.

…

…

…Speaking of which, this timing is too perfect!

She couldn’t have been eavesdropping nearby this whole time, could she? No, no, no, before that—why is Miyagi-san even here?

Soon, he lost the ability to maintain normal thought processes.

Along with a familiar fragrance, the novelist felt a soft sensation against his back. Slightly curled long hair fell down, making his nose tickle with the urge to sneeze.

Miyagi Aki embraced the boy’s waist from behind, and in front of everyone’s rigid expressions, she naturally and intimately rested her chin on his shoulder.

“My, so these are Honey’s classmates? They all seem rather ordinary~”

The girl’s condescending gaze didn’t seem to be looking at them at all, as if she was speaking only to her boyfriend while completely ignoring their existence.