Ch. 37 - Meeting Between the Victor and the Defeated

Even if his prayer had been sent to the wrong god, Harutaki had to admit— even though the girl sitting here wasn’t Shirasaki-senpai but Nogami Izumi, he felt not a trace of disappointment.

Her long, sleek orange-red hair spilled over her shoulders; her reddened eyes framed by a veil of sorrow made those once-fierce, predatory pupils look impossibly soft—

Wasn’t she… far cuter than usual?

Compared to the proud, domineering aura Nogami always carried, this fragile girl sitting here now—her armor shattered, her mask gone— was the one who truly looked like a noble princess.

That staggering contrast, that vulnerable aura, for Harutaki, had a dangerous kind of pull.

“I didn’t expect to run into you here.”

Looking down from above at the dejected girl, Harutaki opened the conversation first.

Even if he knew this was a poisoned chalice, he would still raise it to his lips without hesitation.

Even if he knew this was a burning fire, he would still throw himself into it like a moth to a flame.

He’d lived through a second chance; he knew the weight of his choices.

But he still believed in this truth: Life only happens once. Youth only happens once. If you don’t reach for more, isn’t that the real waste?

When a treasure that rare sits right before you, even if the path is lined with thorns and traps, Harutaki would never turn away.

If he believed he had the ability, he’d go after it without hesitation and still save enough for the finish line, to snatch the crown cleanly and perfectly—

That was the aesthetic Harutaki lived by.

“Sorry to intrude. I’m going to sit here for a while too.”

He didn’t use the careful tone he’d taken with Shirasaki-senpai.

No question marks, no ‘may I?’—only a statement.

Because he knew if he asked “can I” or “is it okay,”

“Get... lost.”

Exactly.

But sometimes, a girl’s words have to be read backwards.

Even as he sat down right beside Nogami, she didn’t flinch, didn’t move away, as if those words hadn’t even come from her mouth.

“Must’ve been a lot of work, finding a place like this just to laugh at me.”

Her cold words spilled out as she stared at the rippling creek—

And yet, expecting the same answer she’d gotten at lunch, she instead heard a merciless confession:

“You’re right. I really did come here to laugh at you.”

There it was.

Of course this guy had been hiding his rotten nature all along.

Now he’d finally shown his true colors.

She waited, silent, for Harutaki to speak again— to deliver the kind of killing blow she herself had once given, to crush the loser before him.

“But instead of a joke, I seem to have found a very cute princess instead.”

Ugh…

Gross.

So disgusting!

How could he say something so corny, so hair-raising, with a straight face?!

And yet, just as she thought, even Harutaki himself cracked at his own line, snorting with laughter.

“Just kidding.”

“I did see the joke. I’m not blind. Those faint slap marks on your face are plain as day from this close.”

Instantly, Nogami clapped a hand over her cheek, and glared at him with what she thought was a deadly stare.

Right now, though, she looked like a kitten trying to threaten a human without claws— ferocious in a baby way.

Utterly, heartbreakingly cute.

“And, at the same time,” Harutaki added, “the current Nogami-san is honestly very cute.”

“Y-you… you’re spouting nonsense!”

Of course she knew she was cute.

But…

But after being mocked by him just a moment ago, this ordinary-sounding compliment landed with an almost painful sincerity in the contrast.

Maybe… maybe he wasn’t so bad after all—

And then, in an instant, Harutaki’s next words shattered that fragile hope, grinding it to dust.

“By the way, your guess was right. The ‘anonymous girl’ who posted that thread

No. Impossible.

“You’ve gotta be kidding me…”

“I’m not joking with you, Nogami-san.”

Ha. Right. Here it comes— ‘You’re beautiful,’ ‘I want to go out with you’—that sort of line.

“Everything was my invention, from renting the green screen, to Photoshopping the images, to playing both roles with two accounts, to steering public opinion with sockpuppets and anonymous replies—”

He crushed her last sliver of hope.

“—Every part of it was done by me, alone.”

“Liar…”

“I have no reason to lie to you.”

“Then how can you sit there so calm, telling me this?!”

Nogami whipped around, her hands fisting in his collar, her eyes blazing red as she shouted:

“Yeah! You won! You shattered Nogami Izumi’s pathetic pride! You ground her laughable dignity into the dirt! Are you happy now?!”

“This is what you used to love doing to others, isn’t it?”

Looking at that infuriatingly handsome, still-lake-calm face, hearing that first-snow-of-spring-cold voice, she let go, powerless, collapsing back where she’d been sitting—

There was no doubt.

This was exactly what she had once done to her own “toys.”

“Hah… so I lost. So what? What’s there to gloat about? You bastard—you’ll end up just like me someday…”

Nogami gritted her teeth, doing something she’d always despised—

Cursing him.

A weakling’s curse.

“No,I think you’re mistaken about one thing. You and I aren’t the same.”

His tone stayed level. If not for the faint creases on his collar, it would be as if nothing had happened at all.

“I’m fully aware I’m weak. I know I’m small.”

“But you— you don’t realize that your strength is fake. Drowning in that illusion, you’re even weaker than I am. More fragile than me.”

“You’re lecturing me now?! Don’t say such ridiculous crap! Who do you think you are?!”

Her numb emotions flared again, boiling over into a scream.

“If it weren’t for your lies, your rumors— if it weren’t for those brainless mutts who believed them

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