It Turns Out That I Have a Fiancee, but She Is the Famous “Villainess” of the School. What Should I Do?

“Hey, Kiryu! Wait!”

“Don’t come here!”

Kiryu is an athletic person.
She ran past me at a speed that I didn’t think was possible for a girl… even so, I’m also a former member of an athletic club too. 

“Let go!”

“I won’t!”

“I will scream!”

“Please don’t do that.”

A dull boy clutching the hand of a girl with teary eyes behind the school.
I’m totally out, thank you very much.

“That’s right! If I scream here, you’ll likely be suspended from school! That is if I say one thing or another! If you don’t like it, let me go!”

“Of course I don’t like it! I don’t want to get suspended!”

“Then!”

“But I don’t want to let go of your hand either!”

“What’s wrong with you?! It’s none of your business! Leave me alone!”

“”It’s none of your business.”, hey you.
You and me, we’re fiancees.
How can it not be my business?”

“Well that’s true, but… it’s just a formality!”

“I see.”

Just a formality, was it? So that’s what you call it, huh, pal?

“Hey? You said you wanted to have ‘fun’ with me, right?”

“…”

“We went to the library, right? We went for a walk together, didn’t we? We even went to a festival.
Wasn’t that ‘fun’?”

“…”

“You know, I had a great time.
Well, to be honest, I had a little trouble with the festival, but even so, I had a great time.
I had so much fun that I even wanted to go back there with you again.
What do you think that means?”

“I don’t know.”

“I’m sure I ‘like’ you.
Well, I ‘like’ you without romantic feelings.
So? The girl I ‘like’ is crying.
I may be a little self-conscious about the way I say this but I think it’s unfair you know, but let me ask you this–”

A breath of fresh air and a pause for words.

“–Would you also leave me alone if I was the one crying?”

“…”

“…”

“Not fair, Higashi kujo-kun…That’s… not fair.”

“I see.
Is that unfair after all?”

“It’s not fair.
There’s no way I’d leave you alone if that happens.”

“Well, that’s why I’m holding your hand like this.
So I’d appreciate it if you wouldn’t yell or anything.”

Kiryu nodded in agreement to my words.
At the same time, the bell rang to signal the end of lunch break.

“… Lunch break is over.”

“I guess.
What are you gonna do? You can’t go back to class with those eyes, can you? That’s great.
Let’s skip the fifth period.”

“You can’t do that! You can’t just skip class… Besides, you’re fine unlike me.
I’ll be back after the swelling goes down.”

I grabbed her hand and dragged Kiryu to the back of the school building.
I ignore her protests and sit down against the wall, leaving her a bit perplexed. 

“You’re going to get dirty, okay?”

“It’s fine.”

“It’s not fine.
Who do you think does the cleaning?”

“We have a shift, right? Here, you sit down.
Come on, become an accomplice.”

After letting out a sigh of exasperation at my words, Kiryu sat down next to me.

“Pretty close, aren’t you?”

“You don’t like it?”

The distance is so close that our shoulders are touching each other. 

I’m a little nervous.

“…”

“…”

We were silent for a while.
I felt a little awkward so I opened my mouth to say something.

“You know what?”

 

“Huh?”

Kiryu opened her mouth.

“You were listening from the beginning… right?”

“I was.
Probably since the beginning.”

“Do you have a feeling of disdain?”

“Disdain?”

“Me saying stuff like that.
Perchance… Did you hate it? Hearing me say things that make them look like fools?”

“…”

Disdain, you say.

“Nope, I don’t have such a feeling.”

“Really?”

“Why would I lie?  Well, the way you said it, maybe you didn’t have to say it that rudely? Is what I think.
Nevertheless, I don’t despise you in the slightest even after that.”

To be honest… if Kiryu had a nickname like “The saint of the school” or something.
I would have been very surprised instead.

“Perfectly fitting to the “Villainess”, is what I thought.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

Kiryu smiles bitterly as she says so.
Then she spun her words a little awkwardly.

“I know it myself.
I think I’ve told you before, I have a pretty bad mouth.

“Why don’t you try to fix it? If you’re already of it.”

I mean, how do I say this?

“Are you as foul-mouthed as you say you are?”

I’ve never thought that, have I?

“You don’t think so? Well, we haven’t necessarily fought with each other, have we?”

“Because we are fiancees?”

“Do you hate me, Higashi kujo-kun?”

“Not at all.”

“Thanks.
My mouth gets bad when I’m confronted with someone who is coming at me in a bad way.
I also… agree, I’m aware that I’m aggravating them.
I know that, but…”

“Can’t you go easy on them then?”

Kiryu looked down as she was slightly troubled by my words.
After that, she shook her head from side to side.

“No, I don’t want to change that part of me right now anyway.
“

“You don’t want to?”

“Because… the ill will towards me was probably from my looks, grades, athletic ability… and then, well, the fact that I’m somewhat wealthy.”

“…”

“Aside from the fact that my family is somewhat wealthy… I think it’s better to be beautiful than not beautiful, so I make every effort to stay in shape and even my grades are a result of my hard work and study.
Even my athleticism… I’m honestly a bit of a lazy bum.
I never miss a practice session.”

“Is that so?”

“In kindergarten, I was last in the athletic meet.
After that I then started to wake up every morning at 6:00 a.m.
and went running with my father… The next year, I came in first in the run, you know?”

“Sounds like a Showa-era sports story..”

I mean, isn’t Gonosuke the most amazing person? He gets up at 6:00 a.m.
every morning to go running with his daughter.

“I’m not human enough to be kind to someone who doesn’t even look at my efforts like that and is only jealous of the results.
Why, why should I, who have made an effort, go down to the side of those who have not made an effort, pander, and bend myself… to accept their malice with a goofy smile?”

“Accepting ill will is…  I guess it’s the basis of socializing, not to mention goofing around.  Oh, and this isn’t meant to be a sermon or anything.”

“I understand.
It’s just that relationships run more smoothly when you wrap your words in a more indirect way, right?”

“Exactly.”

“But then, Higashi kujo-kun.”

She stares into my eyes.

“ There is a difference between ‘easy’ and ‘enjoy’.”

“…”

“Certainly, relationships will be “easier” if we treat each other as you suggest.
If you are humble enough to the jealousy you receive, it may be “easy” to avoid further attacks.
Perhaps, you may even make friends.
But you know what? To go on living like that, pretending to be something you’re not—

“–It’s not fun at all…”(E/N: I wholeheartedly agree with her, don’t live your life as how others would want you to, don’t throw away your identity for the sake of your image in the eyes of others.
It will always backfire on you in the long run, you will keep bottling up the things you shouldn’t.)

“That’s why I won’t be benevolent with my words.
It’s my shield that protects me from being what I don’t want to become.
If it weren’t for it, “I” would surely not be “me” anymore.”(E/N: Ok, I think most of you already know what she meant on the last line, but for those who didn’t, she meant that she wouldn’t be what she truly is and just a person living a fake persona named Ayane Kiryu.)

Kiryu looks into my face a little anxious saying so.
Such an expression on Kiryu’s face made me think.

“Fue? Eh?!  Higashi kujo-kun?! Wa-what?!”

I unconsciously stroked Kiryu’s head.
Kiryu’s eyes widened in surprise, and then she turned bright red up to her ears.

“Why are you patting me on the head?! Are you treating me like a child! Or is it like,”You did a great job, good work.” sorta thing?!”

“Well, no–oh, well, there’s that, too.
A young girl has lived her life with her shoulders up… so I guess that’s what is? I simply wanted to pat her on the head.”

“T-That’s simple..”

“Sexual harrassment?”

“If I sue you, I’ll win.”

“Sue?”

“I won’t sue you, so… Well, do you still want to stroke me?”

“I guess so.
Can I continue?”

“Yeah…That’s fine.”

Kiryu’s cheeks turn red and she turns away from me.
I could tell by the fact that her cheeks were puffed up and she didn’t move my hand away that she wasn’t angry with me.
I looked at her smiling.

“I see..”

Oh, and.

I see. 

“Higashi Kujo-kun?”

Kiryu gave me a quizzical look, and I finally said.”

“You are….
amazing.”

Villainess, they called her.

Cursed at the first meeting.

Now, I finally came to realize why I couldn’t dislike this girl that much.  It wasn’t because we became friends or she apologized to me or anything like that.

“… I don’t really think I’m amazing.”

“No, you really are.”

“What do you even mean by… amazing?”

Kiryu looks at me with a puzzled look on her face.
I sigh a little in my chest at that look.
I know it’s pathetic and uncool… but I have something I really want to tell Kiryu right now.

“Hey.
Do you mind if I tell you an old story about me?”

—-Let’s talk about them.
My grand and pathetic “memories”.