Chapter 51: Nightmare (4)

"Looks like you had everything planned..." I muttered. I never thought Ichinose would turn out to be a master strategist in cornering me. But, I still had some fight left in me. Sure, I bought condoms, but she had no way of knowing who I used them with. She was just making assumptions based on limited information. Plus, she didn't even know what we did with those condoms. If I played it cool, maybe I could still... "That's not enough for you to claim we're in some unique relationship."

"Fair point. But it's not like I don't have something up my sleeve in case you argue that buying condoms doesn't mean having sex, right?" She was swiping at her phone as she spoke. After a while, she showed me the screen, saying, "I didn't just get footage of you buying condoms; I also have footage of the three of you heading into a motel. That should be enough for people to put two and two together."

It was incredible how prepared Ichinose was, piecing together a unique relationship from those tiny bits of information she managed to gather. It was honestly commendable how she'd done this in such a short amount of time.

"Are you still going to resist?"

Could I even resist at this point? Well, I didn't really have much fight left. She had me cornered like a rat. For most guys, being confessed to by someone like Ichinose, even if it was just a fake confession for a fake relationship, would probably be a miracle. It's the kind of plot you find in fluffy romance-slice of life light novels, after all. I'd be overjoyed if I were one of those guys, but unfortunately, I'm not. Still, I didn't have much of a choice here. It was either be her fake boyfriend or risk being torn away from my girlfriends. The latter wasn't an option, so the only thing I could say was...

"Can I think it over? I promise I'll give you an answer after school."

Ichinose pondered for a moment. "Alright. But only until school's over."

"Alright," I agreed.

Ichinose walked down the staircase until she was by my side. She stopped and threw a comment my way without looking at me.

"But if you fail to give me an answer, or if you answer wrong, you know what will happen, right?"

She glanced at me from the corner of her eye and waved her phone. On it, the video of me buying condoms was still playing. I tried to grab it, but I never expected her to have such quick reflexes; she skillfully avoided my attempt to snatch the phone.

"Whoops. Too bad," she turned to look at me and stuck out her tongue while pulling down her eyelid. She sure knew how to mess with people.

After that little interlude, she continued down the stairs. I was left standing there. There were still 45 minutes before the next class. I needed to talk to both Natsumi and Chinatsu within that time. I didn't have the luxury to just stand here, so I went upstairs and opened the door to the rooftop.

"I guess I'll have to do a lot of begging today..." I mumbled to no one in particular.

There were three doors to the rooftop. The first one was close to the cafeteria, the second was where I entered, the same one where I found Ichinose and Hondou yesterday, and the third was near the teacher's office. The rooftop was open for students and teachers since it was secure, with fences around 5 meters tall—also designed to prevent suicides.

When I arrived, not many people were there, as usual. The only ones who usually came up here were couples. Singles who dared to eat here often left with tears in their eyes, regretting their solo status. There were a couple of people I knew too, well, two exactly—Natsumi and Chinatsu.

After explaining the situation to them, Chinatsu smiled at me and tilted her head, "Huh?" Her voice sounded cute, but I knew better. She was pissed.

"So, in other words, she's trying to use her knowledge of us having this kind of relationship as blackmail to make you do whatever she wants?" said Natsumi. Her voice was calm, but her eyes told a different story—they were dark and emotionless. Her smile didn't reach her eyes.

"I don't like this either, but it feels like Ichinose will go through with it if I don't agree with her."

Chinatsu looked at me with those dark eyes, "Are you saying you'll date her? Even though you already have us? Wow, Tsubasa, it seems you're much more of a scumbag than I gave you credit for." She smiled at me, but just like Natsumi's, it didn't reach her eyes.

"B-But this is just a deal. It's nothing too romantic. I'll only have to play as her boyfriend on the surface. It's nothing but a façade to make those who are courting her stop."

"If so, even if it's fake, she'll become your girlfriend, Tsubasa-kun. Even if it is only on the surface, it still counts. I'm sorry, but I have to disagree with you. Even if our relationship is at risk, I couldn't bear it if Ichinose-san and you are being lovey-dovey in class while I, your real girlfriend, have to watch you flirting with her," Natsumi said.

Well, she had a point. If we were going to do this, in order for our classmates to believe we were a real couple, we'd have to do some flirty things, like feeding each other or maybe her sitting on my lap during breaks. I hadn't done any of those things with either of my girlfriends, so I understood where Natsumi was coming from. Still, what choice did I have? I felt guilty about this, but I thought it was the only way. If I wanted to maintain my relationship with Chinatsu and Natsumi, I had to agree to be Ichinose's fake boyfriend. However, to do that, I needed to convince Chinatsu and Natsumi to agree to it too.

"Is there really no other way? Can't you just sign on as her bodyguard or something?"

"Do you really think I would be fit for something like that, Chinatsu?"

"Well, I guess not… Bodyguards need to be tall after all…"

I meant I wasn't fit because I wasn't capable enough, not because I was short.

"In any case, I don't think there's another option. Fake dating her was the only choice she gave me, after all."

At this point, the anger from both my girlfriends seemed to have lessened somewhat. Chinatsu sighed, "I'm actually fine with our relationship not being a secret, you know, Tsubasa… But I guess... not for Natsumi, huh?"

"Okaa-sama would surely be angered if she found out that I am dating Tsubasa-kun. And she would surely pull us apart."

"Honestly, Sumire-san is quite a spartan mother…" Chinatsu mumbled.

"If the school found out that the three of us are having some kind of unique relationship, the board of directors would surely contact my mother, and she would come to get me. Then, she will never allow me to see you both again."

"And I don't want that to happen," I said. Natsumi is my girlfriend, and I wouldn't let anyone take her away from me, not even her mother. "That's why I'm begging both of you, could you please help with this ordeal I'm facing?"

I bowed to them. What would the punishment for this be, I wondered? Would they smack the back of my head with their fists? Or would they slap me again on either side of my face? Hopefully, it was something bearably painful...

"Fufufu, what a weird choice of words, Tsubasa-kun," Natsumi chuckled. "No need to ask for help. I'll help you without you even asking. That's the reason I'm your girlfriend, right?"

"I'm your girlfriend too, Tsubasa, so of course, I'll help you."

"Girls..."

Thank goodness my girlfriends were such goddesses…