Chapter 38 - If He's Just the Kind of Guy Who'd Change His Attitude Only After My Looks Changed...
"Oh. But don't get me wrong, it's not like I had a bad impression of Sanada-kun before summer break, or anything."
Mogami-san quickly added that, as if to clarify. She seemed to really want to correct my misunderstanding. Even though I hadn't asked, she just kept on explaining what she was thinking.
"I was grateful that he picked up my notepad for me, and I thought, 'Oh, he's a nice person.' But that’s all it was... Back then, I wasn’t even sure if what I felt was romantic or not. But now, I know for sure.”
“…So, to you, what kind of person was Sanada?”
“Hmm… maybe just a nice guy who was kind to even me too? Yeah, I think that’s about it.”
…That sounded about right. Her understanding was accurate. Sanada was the kind of person who was kind to anyone he flagged as a heroine. And Mogami-san was simply one of them. In short, she was never anyone special to him. It seemed she understood that fact clearly.
“I guess I misunderstood just a little. I kind of thought that, because he was nice to me, maybe, just maybe he was a bit interested in me… So I convinced myself that I should at least thank him properly… that it would be rude not to. Something like that.”
For Mogami-san, having her notepad picked up had probably felt like a special event. It seemed she felt like she had to return the gesture, to show her gratitude in an appropriate way.
Think of it like this. A girl suddenly gets confessed to by a classmate. Even if she's not interested, she feels she owes him a certain amount of respect, because she appreciates the courage it took for him to say it. So, she makes sure to turn him down gently and respectfully. She's just ‘returning the gesture,’ in a sense.
Mogami-san was probably just trying to do the same thing.
“But really, I was just overthinking it, wasn’t I? Sanada-kun didn’t actually care about me at all. And I realized over summer break that I was the only one getting all worked up over nothing.”
"What made you realize that?"
“You see… I met someone who was genuinely interested in me.”
…Yep. Of course. I knew this would happen. I'd be lying if I said I didn't have a vague suspicion this was the case.
The reason she’d come to realize that Sanada was nothing more than a "superficial, nice-to-everyone" kind of guy was none other than―
“Sato-kun, you’re the one who made me realize that.”
―me, as I’d expected. I was the one who had been breaking the story.
“When I compared Sanada-kun to you, Sato-kun, it was obvious. You’re just that different. That’s all there is to it.”
The value of a material object is always relative, it changes based on what you compare it to. Maybe a person's worth works the same way.
“And also… I just can’t trust someone who changes their attitude so easily just because a person’s appearance changed.”
For the first time, emotion flickered in her voice as she said that. Up until now, she had spoken about Sanada with almost no interest at all, but her tone finally wavered, just a little.
“I still remember when he ignored me, you know?”
…That wasn’t something she could just pretend hadn’t happened. She hadn’t forgotten how he’d treated her back then. She’d accepted it at the time because she thought, ‘It can’t be helped, I’m just a mob heroine, after all.’ But in an actual human relationship, anyone would find that kind of attitude questionable.
Before summer break, Sanada said he was in a hurry, but he'd been casually chatting with the other heroines just moments before. If he had time for that, you couldn't help but feel he could have at least spared a single word for Mogami-san.
“Earlier too, he was asking us about our relationship. Honestly, it felt kind of unpleasant… Even in class, he kept glancing over at me. During break time, he looked like he wanted to come talk to me. It was strange. Especially since, before summer break, he acted like I didn’t even exist.”
“S-So… you’re saying you don’t feel happy about that or anything?”
“Obviously. It would be annoying if someone suddenly became interested in me just because my appearance changed. If it were someone who had been unrelated to me before, I could understand it, you know? They’d be like, 'Oh, so this girl existed too,' and I could just treat it as a new encounter. But Sanada-kun already knew who I was. And the moment my appearance changed, his attitude changed completely. How could that possibly make me happy?”
…Precisely because he did know who she was. That’s exactly why Sanada’s situation right now is… yeah, no denying it.
(He’s totally hated now, isn’t he…?)
What a pathetic state for a protagonist to be in. But I couldn’t bring myself to blame him.
(Sanada, man... sorry. I think I probably overdid it.)
It was my fault. I was the one who had broken the flow of this cliché rom-com manga.
No, wait... if the cliché parts of this manga are broken, maybe that's a good thing.
...Ah, whatever. It's Sanada's fault, too, so it's fine. It's just karma.
A guy who changed his attitude just because someone's looks changed... there's no way anyone would genuinely fall for him, is there—.
