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Chapter 26: My Relationship with Gotoh Is Actually That of Close Friends
🕑 Added 2025-02-03 12:47:05 +0000 UTCNijika originally intended to show Minami her resolve to stop him from continuing to bully Gotoh Hitori.
However, before the serious matter was even discussed, she was caught off guard by his decisive "rejection of confession" combo.
And this wasn't the end of it.
Her bassist kept laughing quietly behind her.
This left Nijika somewhat unable to accept the situation.
She took a deep breath, as she had experience working in the service industry and was quite skilled at interacting with people.
She quickly adjusted her mood and spoke again: "Sorry, Minami-san, I didn't express myself clearly, but it's not what you think—I wasn't confessing—"
"I know, it was just a little joke, Ijichi-san."
"Uh—?!"
Once again, she was thrown off guard by an unexpected curveball. Just as Nijika had just managed to calm herself, her words were once again interrupted.
When talking with the young man in front of her, Nijika felt like the initiative was always in his hands.
But what surprised her even more was—
"You know my name?"
Nijika blinked her pretty big eyes in surprise.
Isn't that a given? They've been familiar with each other since the second round of the simulator.
Minami nodded and glanced at the red-haired girl and the short-haired girl with blue hair standing behind Nijika.
With just a slight thought, he deduced why these three girls were here.
So he stood up and spoke gently: "I not only know Ijichi-san, but also Yamada-san and Kita-san behind you."
"Uh... how do you know...?"
Nijika wanted to ask how he knew, but she felt that if she asked, the entire conversation would be dictated by him, so she stopped and thought about how to phrase it.
But to her surprise, Minami seemed to have read her mind.
"Ijichi-san is wondering how I know all of you, right?"
Putting down the novel in his hand, Minami couldn't help but laugh a little: "Actually, I've known Gotoh-san for a long time. We're good friends. She often talks about you, her bandmates."
"Good friends with Bocchi-chan?"
Nijika and Kita Ikuyo exchanged looks, both seeing disbelief in each other's eyes.
Minami didn't mind. The girls from the band were probably here to talk about what happened yesterday.
But explaining all that would be too tiring, so he decided to create an identity as Gotoh Hitori's close friend instead.
As for whether Gotoh Hitori would expose the lie later...?
Having done three simulations, Minami knew her well enough. He didn't expect Gotoh Hitori, who was extremely shy and had social anxiety, to clarify things properly.
So he continued: "I know you may not believe me, but it's true. After all, considering Gotoh-san's communication skills, she likely wouldn't have been able to explain our close relationship clearly."
This was indeed true.
Nijika remembered the details of her inquiry with Gotoh Hitori yesterday.
Gotoh had just huddled into a trash can and mumbled softly about how Minami had taken her guitar.
She hadn't explained things clearly, and there were many points of doubt.
For instance, why would Minami care about someone like Gotoh Hitori, who was on the fringe of campus life? If they were good friends, it could barely make sense.
But the key part was Minami's later words... 'Close relationship' with Gotoh Hitori? 'Not clearly explained'?
The weight of those words made Nijika start to imagine a lot of things.
But—
If it were just these words, it wouldn't be enough to convince them.
"If you're really good friends, why did you take the little loner's guitar? Doesn't Minami-san know that Gotoh Hitori is actually quite troubled by that?"
Nijika forced herself to act tough and furrowed her slender, pretty brows. Her expression didn't seem like she was pressuring him but more like she was being somewhat coquettish.
But she couldn't help it. Nijika had never been good at blaming others. Just putting on this act was already her best effort.
She widened her eyes, trying to observe Minami's reaction.
Would he continue explaining? Or try to dodge the question?
But what she never expected was that Minami simply nodded calmly and then spoke with an extremely apologetic expression:
"About this, I'm at fault. I didn't express myself clearly, which made Gotoh-san misunderstand. I'm truly sorry. If possible, please apologize to Gotoh-san for me."
There was no argument, no evasion. He simply admitted his mistake with great sincerity and even took the initiative to apologize.
Nijika was at a loss for words.
Minami's apology was so sincere that it made her feel guilty.
She had originally thought that Minami, who had gained such a reputation among Shuka High's students, would be hard to approach.
But what surprised Nijika was that the real him was so easy to talk to.
This made her start to doubt herself—
Could it be that Gotoh Hitori hadn't expressed herself clearly? Could Minami actually be a good person?
She exchanged a look with Kita Ikuyo.
Just as they both questioned themselves, Minami walked up to them and opened his phone's LINE account.
"I've already discussed returning the guitar with Gotoh-san on LINE, and this is her reply..."
He casually showed his LINE chat history with Gotoh Hitori to the three girls present.
They leaned in to take a look.
[Tokyo's Most Beautiful Boy (Minami)]: Don't worry, I'm just borrowing the guitar temporarily. I'll return it tomorrow. I didn't keep the black history video either; I've already deleted it.
[Probably Dead (Gotoh Hitori)]: Yes, yes, I'm really sorry! I'm deeply ashamed for making you feel uncomfortable. I'll bring the wedding expenses tomorrow, please accept them.
[Tokyo's Most Beautiful Boy]: That's not what I meant.
[Probably Dead]: Is... is my lifelong wedding expenses still not enough?
The chat ended there.
The three girls fell into a long silence.
After a while—
"I'm sorry! We didn't greet you properly and showed you attitude in front of Minami-san, we really apologize!"
Nijika bowed deeply in apology.
Looking at the chat, there was no way to view it from any angle other than Minami not bullying Gotoh Hitori.
As for the black history video?
Yamada Ryo's phone had a ton of embarrassing videos from the band's past, so it could only be considered a little joke between friends.
"We're really sorry! We've been so rude to Bocchi's friend."
Ignoring Yamada Ryo's "Hey? Why do I have to apologize too?" Nijika dragged her over to bow deeply to Minami.
"It's alright. I'm happy that Gotoh-san has such good friends," Minami said with a gentle smile, waving his hand.
His casual attitude made Nijika feel even more like he was a good person.
Feeling guilty, she couldn't help but murmur, "Really... if Minami-san is such a good friend to Gotoh Hitori, why didn't she say so sooner?"
Meanwhile, on the other side.
"Achoo!"
Curled up and hugging her knees, Gotoh Hitori sneezed forcefully. She couldn't help but shrink her head and looked around in fear.
Who... who's talking about me?
