125: Kitahara Takashi, What Kind of Man Are You?

'What's with this guy?'

Yukino noticed Takashi acting strangely. She shifted her gaze back to Hayato and Yumiko.

Then she noticed — the once cheerful Yumiko's expression immediately darkened after seeing her and Takashi, as if flames were burning in her eyes.

Yukino sensed something, glanced at Takashi, then at Yumiko again, a look of amusement appearing on her face.

"Takashi, it's been a while."

Hayato, upon seeing Takashi, immediately greeted him with a warm and natural smile.

"Yeah, it's been a while, Hayama."

Takashi also forced a smile, though it was more or less a little unnatural.

"We don't need to be so formal, do we? Also, didn't you promise me you'd come to Sobu High? How did you end up at Aoba?"

Hayato walked up to Takashi and lightly punched his chest.

"Aoba offered way too much. What could I do?"

Before Hayato could respond, Yumiko suddenly interjected coldly, "You'd betray your word for a little petty gain? Do you have no principles?"

The originally harmonious atmosphere instantly fell silent because of Yumiko's words.

Even Hayato awkwardly shifted his gaze to the floor.

Meanwhile, Yukino watched Takashi with interest, wondering what he would do.

Takashi acted as if he hadn't heard anything, smiling at Hayama and saying, "Hayama, aren't you going to introduce your girlfriend to me?"

"We're not dating," Hayama first clarified, then properly introduced, "This is Miura Yumiko, my classmate and a good friend."

"Yumiko, this is—"

"No need to introduce us. We know each other."

Before Hayama could introduce Takashi, Yumiko cut him off, crossing her arms and stepping up to Kitahara, glaring at him with snake-like eyes as she said icily, "What? Now you're pretending you don't know me?"

"You're bold enough for silent treatment but don't have the guts to admit it? Takashi, what kind of man are you?"

Everyone nearby instantly turned their attention to them.

Especially the women — their gaze toward Takashi changed, and an atmosphere of "as expected, trash" spread.

"Wait, isn't he the guy who sang 'Lemon' last time?"

"I remember he was a top student at Aoba, even got a perfect score in math."

"Never thought he'd be this kind of person. Disappointing."

"If he can get full marks in math, what can't he do?"

"People who use silent treatment on girls are the worst."

...

Seeing he was recognized, Takashi's eyelid twitched hard, and the fake smile on his face could no longer hold.

He really shouldn't have sung that song back then.

Hayato looked between Takashi and Yumiko, wanting to speak but holding back.

Yukino covered her cherry lips with her hand and said teasingly, "Silent treatment? Ara, Kitahara-kun, I underestimated you~"

Takashi had no time to deal with Yukino. He stared directly at Yumiko and asked, "How exactly did I give you silent treatment?"

If he didn't clear this up now, Takashi knew he would be treated like a scumbag.

Actually, his relationship with Yumiko wasn't that complicated — he simply met her before Utaha and Eriri.

Chronologically, Yumiko did come first.

But after he got to know the rich and beautiful Utaha and Eriri, his interactions with Yumiko naturally decreased.

"Before, when I messaged you, you'd reply instantly. Now, you take hours to respond every time."

"Before, we could talk forever. Now, I'm always the one initiating conversation. If I don't message you, you don't message me, right?"

"Whenever I ask you to hang out, you're either 'busy' or 'working.' Just last week I asked you out, and you said you were busy. But guess what!"

"I saw you on TV going on a date with another girl!"

"So that's what you meant by busy? Busy spending time with other girls?"

Yumiko, as if finally venting all the frustration and disappointment she had built up, rattled off without pause like a Peashooter.

At once, the surrounding onlookers, especially the women, looked at Takashi with even more contempt.

Takashi didn't care how others looked at him. His eyes remained as calm and still as a lake: "Were we ever lovers?"

Yumiko froze, then said, "No. You never confessed to me."

Takashi nodded, then asked again, "Did I ever say I liked you?"

"No."

"If we're not lovers, and I never confessed, never even said I liked you, that means we have no special relationship — just ordinary friends."

"Or-ordinary friends?"

Yumiko looked as if she had suffered a massive blow, staring at the man before her in disbelief, as if unable to comprehend how someone with a body temperature of 37°C could say something so cold.

"Unless you think there's something else between us?"

Takashi's gaze was as cold and distant as a frozen wasteland, making him feel almost unreachable.

"We..."

Yumiko desperately wanted to argue, but didn't know how.

"Since we're just ordinary friends, isn't it normal not to reply sometimes? 

Why should I be obligated to respond immediately? And who I go out with — what does that have to do with you?"

"Get it straight. We're just ordinary friends. You're the one who overstepped."

Yumiko's shoulders slowly sagged, and her head drooped along with them.

Her golden hair covered her face, making it impossible to see her expression.

But from her trembling shoulders, it was clear she was far from okay.

Many around them started feeling sympathy for the girl.

"Kitahara, that was too harsh," Hayato said, his brow furrowing tightly, barely concealing his dissatisfaction.

"I'll be leaving first."

Takashi gave a brief farewell to Hayato and left without a glance back to comfort Yumiko.

In the crowd, a mature woman with short hair and blue eyes, dressed in business attire, said to the black-haired, glamorous woman beside her, "This is what they call a cliff-drop romance."

"At first, there's excitement in the flirting phase, but after some time, it fades. He gets bored and suddenly cools off."

Utaha stared at Takashi's back and murmured softly to herself, "Got bored?"

She hadn't recognized Takashi, but Yumiko's situation felt oddly familiar.

Because she noticed that recently, Watanabe Takashi had been contacting her less and replying slower too.

Would she end up like Yumiko, being told by Watanabe Takashi one day: "We're just ordinary friends. You overstepped"?

"It's definitely boredom."

Machida Sonoko, speaking from experience, said, "Of course, there's another possibility — he might not have only one ambiguous target."

"After all, love doesn't disappear; it only shifts."

"When he starts neglecting you, it means he's warming up to someone else."

"People have a natural urge to share. If he's no longer sharing his daily life with you, he's sharing it with someone else."

"When you're in the shower and the water suddenly turns cold and hot, you should know — someone else is using the water too."

The more Utaha listened, the darker her expression became. She finally said coldly, "Enough!"

Machida Sonoko didn't know what she said to upset the young lady but immediately fell silent.

Utaha turned and left. "Let's go."

Watanabe Takashi would never treat her like that.

He liked her so much — so very much.

She would never repeat Yumiko's tragic path.

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