Chapter 37: Transfer Student Matsuzaka Satou
It didn't take long for Hitori's situation with a romantic rival to remain hidden, though Ren personally felt Matsuzaka Satou couldn't really be considered Hitori's rival in love.
Upon learning about this, Anon also believed caution was necessary. To her, Hitori was the sly fox who had seduced her childhood friend and stolen him away.
Thus, in her eyes, Satou was now that very same sly fox to Hitori—someone who had to be guarded against.
So she joined the discussion and started offering Hitori advice.
However, none of them truly understood Satou. They only knew she seemed to have fallen in love with Ren at first sight, was a sweet and beautiful girl, had a better figure than Anon, and also had pink hair.
"Ren, so you really do like girls with pink hair? Is it because of my influence~?"
Anon had a slight tendency to get carried away. Upon discovering that Satou was also a pink-haired beauty, she teasingly glanced at Ren.
What was this if not the result of her long-term influence? Who was the pink-haired beauty always by Ren's side?
It was her, Anon! What else could this mean if not that he liked her?
"Maybe it's just that pink-haired beauties are easily drawn to me?"
Ren did indeed have a fondness for pink-haired beauties, and the number of pink-haired women around him was far from small—already six or seven by now.
"Nonsense."
After bantering with him for a while, Anon turned back to Hitori and the others to discuss how to guard against Satou. Later, they also talked about band matters.
When she learned that Kessoku Band lacked a lead vocalist and wanted to add another guitarist, Anon was filled with regret. She thought if only she had met them earlier, she could have been Kessoku Band's lead vocalist and guitarist!
Unfortunately, she had already committed to other band members, even if they were just reserves. Breaking promises was never good.
As for Ren, he was considering whether to block Satou. After adding her as a friend, she had been bombarding him with messages.
Although he had set his phone to silent, seeing those 99+ notifications made his scalp tingle. Was this what people called an obsessive admirer?
He had heard that only desperate admirers would tirelessly message their crush, only to receive replies like "Yeah," "Oh," or "I'm going to take a shower."
Ren never imagined he would one day become the crush being pursued so relentlessly. Satou's messages were a bit too frequent.
Most of them were either caring messages or updates about her daily life. It wasn't exactly harassment since he could mute notifications and ignore them. So, like an aloof crush, Ren would occasionally reply with a simple "Yeah" and eventually use the "I'm going to take a shower and sleep" excuse to end the conversation.
Even though he had made it clear he had a girlfriend and had rejected Satou, she remained persistent. What was she trying to do? Steal Hitori's partner?
He was like a titanium alloy wall—unyielding. While he might stubbornly visit risky websites, real-life relationships were different. Bocchi-chan was cute enough and had a great figure; he wouldn't abandon her for some fleeting sense of novelty.
In the end, Anon and the others couldn't come up with any solid strategies, so they decided to wait and see how things unfolded with Hitori.
The next day at school, Ren wasn't ambushed again by Satou. She merely sent him a "good morning" text without continuing her message bombardment.
He couldn't rule out the possibility that she was planning something bigger, so Ren remained cautious. Meanwhile, comforting Hitori couldn't be put on hold either.
Question: How do you reassure an anxious girlfriend?
Ren wasn't entirely sure. Constant assurances started sounding hollow, so he decided to take action.
"Bocchi-chan, are you still feeling uneasy about Matsuzaka-san's appearance?"
During lunch break, Ren and Hitori went to their secret hideout under the stairwell. Holding Hitori, who had instinctively taken off her tracksuit jacket, he asked with concern.
"Mhm..."
Hitori answered softly, nestled in Ren's embrace. They had returned to this small corner again, even though Ren had hoped to bring her out into the warm sunlight. The fact that she kept dragging him back to this dim corner made her feel even more uneasy—Ren shouldn't have to mold away in such places with her.
"And how about after this?"
Ren wasn't surprised by her response. He then lowered his head and kissed Hitori's forehead, noting how smooth even her forehead felt.
"Eh?"
Hitori blinked in slight surprise.
"I've told you before how beautiful and cute you are, right? Bocchi-chan, you need to be more confident. You're more beautiful and adorable than anyone else, and this cuteness is what firmly captures my heart."
"So adorable that I don't just want to hug you—I want to kiss you and do more intimate things with you. But with others? Never."
Ren spoke slowly. Yearning for a lover's body was also an expression of affection. Since Hitori lacked confidence, he would simply show more of his fondness for her.
Holding hands, embracing, and kissing—letting Hitori physically experience and recognize his affection.
"Really?"
This display of desire from Ren comforted Hitori. What she feared wasn't just being unworthy of Ren, but also that he might lose interest in her because of girls who were prettier and cuter than her.
After all, she always believed she wasn't pretty or cute, that she was rather plain-looking, and even a bit chubby.
But not only did Ren say he liked her as she was—he even kissed her. This series of actions filled Hitori with pleasant surprise.
"Really. If you don't believe me..."
Ren paused mid-sentence, his gaze falling on Hitori's glistening pink lips. He decided to go all in, wanting to continue proving his affection through actions. But then footsteps approached from outside, heading straight toward them.
"Oh? So Watanabe-kun and Gotou-san are resting here during lunch? My apologies for disturbing you, but the teacher asked me to fetch some supplies from here."
Yuno appeared under the stairwell, looking surprised upon seeing Ren holding Hitori, then expressed apologies before pointing to some labeled storage boxes nearby.
"It's fine."
With his "spellcasting" interrupted, Ren had to abandon his previous intention. Now that outsiders were present, Hitori—who had realized what he was about to do—had transformed into an octopus-shaped slime. Under these circumstances, he couldn't bring himself to kiss her anyway.
Still, the timing was just too coincidental. Why now of all times?
"My sincerest apologies. But perhaps it would be better to save such things for after school when you're back home~"
After gathering the miscellaneous items, Yuno smiled and reminded Ren.
Ren smiled in response. After Yuno left, he comforted Hitori, putting in considerable effort to calm her down after she realized he was about to kiss her. Though she eventually returned to normal, she was too embarrassed to lift her head again.
Seeing this, Ren had no choice but to abandon the idea of trying again. When lunch break ended, he and Hitori returned to the classroom.
"Huh? There's something a bit strange about you."
Gabriel glanced at them before fixing her gaze on Ren.
"What's strange?"
Thinking that something might have been left untidy or embarrassing after his intimate moments with Hitori during lunch break, Ren hurriedly adjusted his appearance.
"Never mind, it must be my imagination."
Gabriel scratched her head. She felt that Ren's future had been altered, but the change was extremely subtle—as if only a minor incident had gone off course. So, she didn't pay it much mind.
"Don't scare me like that."
Ren said with a hint of annoyance, thinking he was about to face social humiliation.
And so, this little episode passed. After school ended in the afternoon, Ren and Hitori didn't head straight to Kessoku Band. Instead, they went home first to pick up some things—the gifts Ren had ordered had arrived.
They first went to the Gotou household, where Ren gave a teddy bear plushie to Futari. Overjoyed, Futari planted a kiss on Ren's cheek, which immediately caused Hitori's expression to darken—after all, she had never mustered the courage to kiss Ren herself.
Next, they distributed small gifts to Nijika and Ryo—some stickers and keychains, nothing particularly expensive.
Finally, Ren presented the guitar to Anon. This was the most valuable gift. Upon receiving it, Anon couldn't wait to take photos and post them on social media, proudly asking everyone, "How did you know my childhood friend gave me a guitar?" She was absolutely thrilled.
All of this had been planned in advance. However, as humans are not saints and everyone makes mistakes, Ren had forgotten while distributing the gifts that Hitori had not yet fully shaken off the influence of Satou.
After he gave Anon the guitar, Hitori didn't know whether she was feeling jealous or hurt. She just felt that she wasn't the most special person to him anymore. But she kept it to herself, lowering her head and withdrawing into silence, making it difficult for others to notice.
It wasn't until the next day, right before the Golden Week holiday, when Hitori saw Satou being brought into the classroom by Mafuyu, that she realized the situation was more serious than she had thought.
Satou had even chased them all the way to Toyosaki Academy!!!
----------
For advance chapters join my Patreon.
[email protected]/Aarvan