I can see Misaki’s seat from where I am. She’s by the window diagonally from me.
It’s such a blessed position, if I say so myself. Even during class, I can keep her within my vision without looking weird. Unless Misaki turns around, she’ll never know I’m watching her.

Misaki generally doesn’t listen properly during class, especially when it’s Classics period.
Even at this very moment, she has her textbook standing for cover while reading manga.

She absolutely loves manga.
The ones with fighting, duels, death battles, and the like.
She prefers the violent ones. And the sports stuff.

Also, she apparently finds shoujo manga boring.
It’s all about the same stuff, she says. Trendy girls read shounen manga, apparently. Who reads shoujo manga these days? She’d scoff.

I occasionally read those, though? Excuse me?

「*Nfufu*」

A muffled laugh echoed through the room.
We’re currently in the middle of class, all silent as the teacher is writing on the blackboard.

「Who laughed just now?」

The teacher turned to the class.
By the window, Misaki frantically hid behind her textbook. But her manga is still visible.
The teacher immediately went to Misaki’s seat.

「Oi, stop with the old classic hiding style.」
「It’s Classics period, though?」
「Is the manga that interesting?」
「It really is. Wanna borrow it after class?」
「Stand up.」
「Got it～」
「Leave the manga. Don’t read while you’re standing.」

The class burst into laughter.
*Jeez*, what is she even doing? It’s giving me second-hand embarrassment.

But everyone else finds it endearing. The teacher reprimands her, but he’s not angry at all. Rather, he actually likes Misaki’s attitude.

Doing that is impossible for me.
Well, she probably wasn’t acting that way deliberately; that’s just how she is.

For better or for worse, she attracts attention.
Whenever something like this happens, I’d feel anxious and restless.

I can’t help but think, *what if I’m not the only one who sees Misaki this way?*
Well, that isn’t really anything new, but still…

I don’t want anyone to take her from me.
But there isn’t anything firmly keeping us together.

We’ve settled into our current relationship, and I don’t see it progressing anytime soon. Waiting won’t change anything.

So, well, I decided to say something I normally wouldn’t.
She got me all flustered this morning, so I wanted to do a little payback, you see.

Still, suddenly telling her I got a boyfriend—that might have been too much. I was too desperate. It was just 50% for the funny, 30% to mess with her, and 20% to test her response.

In truth, I actually planned on saying, 「Just kidding, lol,」 right after.
Misaki frequently tells me that I’m not funny, that I don’t have a sense of humor, so I answered with a joke.

I expected Misaki to calmly quip, 「No, no, no, there’s no way you’d have a boyfriend all of a sudden,」 before that, but her reaction was different.

She didn’t even ask me who it was, when it happened, how it happened, or who confessed; she just f̲u̲c̲k̲i̲n̲g congratulated me.
This pissed me off, so I ignored her until we reached the classroom. Honestly, I feel bad about it.

I always eat lunch together with Misaki. Whenever it’s lunchtime, she’ll quickly be at my seat. But today, she didn’t approach me.

「Oh, eating alone today, Miyu? Let’s eat together over there～」

In exchange, Rion came by.
Man, she’s strong. Maybe I should learn from her mental resilience.

Invited by Rion, I moved to a different seat.
A very mild-mannered girl was there with a confused expression. Might be a fellow victim like me.

「For real, I still can’t believe it. That guy sent me a reply!」

Ignoring Rion’s one-man dialogue, I open my lunch box.
I steal a glance at Misaki.
Misaki is at her seat eating alone.

We haven’t spoken since the exchange this morning. Normally, she’d come and start a conversation during break time.

If she doesn’t initiate the conversation, I can’t talk to her. That’s why no conversation has happened.

Why? Is it because I said I got a boyfriend?
Even if I actually had a boyfriend, things shouldn’t be this awkward all of the sudden, right?

Some former boy you are.
Where is that now, huh? For an ex-boy, aren’t you sulking like a girl? Getting bent out of shape like a child.

… I really do have an awful personality. I’m the one bent out of shape over this like a child…
But who could’ve known that a little prank like that would result in this mess?

I’m conflicted on whether I should go to Misaki or not.
I’m the one at fault, after all. I should be the first to apologize, right?

「No, no, not at all!」　

I hear Misaki’s voice by the window.
I thought she was eating in silence, but suddenly there was some girl sitting right next to her seat.

Wait, who is she again? I can’t put my finger on her name, but she’s a classmate. Stands out a lot. Her eye and hair colors are conspicuous.

「In a Ptoe vs. Prez fight, Prez will absolutely stomp! No question!」

Misaki passionately espouses. Are they discussing manga?
I don’t think high school girls power-scale, but the other girl is following her with ease. *They seem to be having fun.*

「So cool! Misaki, you really know your thing!」

She’s calling Misaki by her given name.
And with no honorifics, too.

They’re so loud, but then they showed each other their smartphones for some reason.
Are they talking about games now? Or maybe they’re exchanging contact details?

My cheeks naturally start twitching.
*Hmmph.* So you’ll just switch to someone else that easily, huh?
*Nice being so popular, isn’t it?*

Despite how I am, I’ve been diligently taking care of Misaki, helping out and watching over her, you know…

I guess I’m not needed anymore? Exhausted of all my usefulness?
Right, I’m a bothersome woman, after all. Look at what happened today, at what’s happening right now.

I don’t know how exactly she thinks of me, but regardless, I’d never be a good fit for Misaki.
Without me, she’ll surely become far more popular.

Ha～a…
Either way, if she’ll inevitably leave me someday, then maybe while she’s asleep, I should just tie her hands to her bed.

Straddle on her stomach, thoroughly lick her ears, cheeks, neck, collarbone, armpits, breast, and navel, and once she wakes up, suck on her lips to shut her up and touch her all over except for her most sensitive spot, teasing her until she begs for it with her own two lips…

「… *Uhhh*, Miyu? Something wrong? Your face is scary.」

Without me realizing it, Rion was looking at me with a somewhat terrified expression.

Finally, I came back to my senses.
… Eh? What was that just now? Scary. I’m scary.
Old man Miyu’s successor, Psycho Miyu, has manifested.

「What, really?」

I raise the corners of my mouth, turning my lips to a smile. She’s scared of me, but I think I was smiling before this.

「Oh, not really, just… forget it.」

Rion cast her eyes down, avoiding my gaze. The mild-mannered girl beside her is about to burst into tears.
Oh, did I end up doing the dark smile thing again?