Chapter 5 – Apparently, My "Girlfriend" Has a Fiancé

A second ago Yui and I were just standing there near the fountain, arguing about absolutely nothing important—something about whether wandering around a mall without a plan counted as a “date” or just two people being lost in a building with air-conditioning.

In other words, normal.

Then a hand landed on her shoulder.

“Found ya.”

It happened so casually that for a split second I didn’t even think anything of it. People tap each other on the shoulder all the time. Friends run into friends. Classmates recognize each other. Society continues functioning.

But, normally when someone taps another person’s shoulder in public, the expected reaction is something simple. You turn around, you say hello, maybe you complain about being startled.

Normal social behavior.

What Yui did was not that.

She froze.

Not the awkward “I dropped my pen in class” freeze either. I’m talking about the kind of pause where your brain clearly just received information it did not want. Her shoulders stiffened slightly, and for a moment she didn’t move at all.

Which was strange.

Because Akiyama Yui is not the type of person who gets surprised easily. This is the girl who can stand in front of a classroom full of people asking for help with homework and somehow answer everyone without losing her composure. If anything, she’s the one who usually makes other people freeze.

So seeing her stop like that felt… wrong.

Slowly, she turned around.

I couldn’t see the person behind her yet, but I could see her expression shift. The softness in her face disappeared, replaced by something more controlled.

Then she reached up and brushed the hand off her shoulder.

Not violently.

Just a short, deliberate motion, like she was removing something that didn’t belong there.

Then she stepped backward.

For a second I thought she had suddenly developed dance skills, because the movement looked suspiciously like a very calm version of a Michael Jackson moonwalk.

The problem was that there was someone standing directly behind her.

Me.

So after three steps she ended up exactly where she apparently wanted to be.

Behind my shoulder.

Her fingers grabbed the sleeve of my jacket.

Not gently either.

Firmly.

Like she had just decided I was now part of the plan.

“What do you want?” she said.

Her voice sounded calm.

Which might have fooled someone who didn’t know her.

But standing this close, I could feel the tension in the way her fingers were clutching my sleeve.

So naturally, I decided it was probably a good idea to see who she was talking to.

The guy standing in front of us looked like he had just stepped out of an expensive advertisement.

Tall. Neatly styled blonde hair. A coat that probably cost more than my monthly rent. Even the way he stood there was relaxed in the kind of way that suggested he’d never once had to worry about missing a train or checking his bank account before buying lunch.

Everything about him was tidy and composed.

Which somehow made the situation feel even more uncomfortable.

He didn’t look annoyed that Yui had brushed his hand away.

If anything, he looked amused.

His gaze lingered on her for a moment before shifting toward me, as if he had only just noticed I existed.

Then a small smile appeared on his face.

“Can’t I come visit my fiancée?” he said.

My brain took a second to process that sentence.

Mostly because of one specific word.

Fiancée.

Which is a very interesting word to hear when you are currently standing next to the girl in question while she is gripping your sleeve like you’re a structural support beam.

I slowly turned my head toward Yui.

She was still half-hidden behind me.

Still gripping my sleeve.

And very deliberately looking anywhere except at my face.

Which meant two things immediately became clear.

First: this was the guy.

Second: I had somehow become involved in this conversation.

Naturally, the most logical response to discovering you are standing between two people with an arranged marriage history is to politely exit the situation.

So that’s what I tried to do.

“Ah,” I said, nodding. “Right. Well. Good timing then.”

I stepped sideways.

Or at least I tried to.

Then she pulled it back like I had just tried to wander off without permission.

“…Stay,” she muttered quietly.

I looked down at our hands.

Then at her.

Then slowly back at the guy.

So leaving was apparently not an option anymore.

The guy noticed the interaction too.

His eyes dropped briefly to where Yui was holding my hand before returning to my face.

“I see,” he said slowly. “I heard a rumor that you had a boyfriend.

His eyes stayed on me now.

“And I suppose that rumor refers to you.”

Yui stepped slightly out from behind me.

“You’re standing right in front of him,” she said.

The guy blinked.

It was a small reaction, but noticeable enough.

For a brief moment his expression showed genuine surprise before settling back into calm composure.

“Are you serious?” he asked.

Now both of them were looking at me.

Which meant, I had to speak.

Unfortunately my brain had spent the last thirty seconds trying to process the word fiancée and hadn’t prepared anything useful.

“…Well,” I said slowly.

Yui’s grip tightened.

“…from a technical standpoint—”

She stepped on my foot.

I corrected myself.

“Yes.”

For a moment, nobody spoke.

The fountain behind us kept splashing like it had absolutely no interest in the sudden tension forming in front of it. People walked past with shopping bags, couples arguing over where to eat, kids running around with ice cream.

Meanwhile I was standing between a girl pretending I was her boyfriend and the guy who apparently used to be her fiancé.

Which, for the record, is not a situation they prepare you for in school.

Across from us, the guy was still looking at me.

Not glaring.

Not smiling either.

Just… observing.

It was the kind of look that made you feel like you were a math problem he hadn’t decided how to solve yet.

Honestly, I couldn’t tell what he was thinking.

Which was uncomfortable.

Yui’s hand was still holding mine, by the way. Tight enough that if this was part of her “convincing boyfriend act,” she deserved an award.

“…I see,” he finally said. His voice was calm, almost thoughtful.

He looked at Yui for a brief moment. Not long enough to start another argument, just long enough to acknowledge that she was still standing beside me without backing down.

Then his gaze returned to me.

Something shifted in his expression.

Not anger.

Not disbelief.

Just… something I couldn’t quite read.

He nodded once.

“Very well then.”

Now, when someone says very well then, there are usually only two possibilities.

Either the situation is resolved.

Or things are about to get worse.

He raised his hand.

And snapped his fingers.

Nothing happened.

Which made me wonder if that had been one of those dramatic gestures people do in movies that don’t actually work in real life.

Then something heavy dropped over my head.

“—Hey!”

Evrything vanished instantly. No fountain. No mall. Just darkness and fabric?

Beside me I heard Yui gasp.

Her hand tightened around mine.

“Haruto—”

“Yeah I noticed,” I said.

Someone grabbed my shoulders.

Another hand caught my arm.

“This feels extremely illegal!” I protested into whatever was on me.

No one answered.

When the fabric was finally lifted, the first thing I noticed was the smell.

Leather.

Expensive leather.

The second thing I noticed was that I was sitting down.

Which was strange, because I definitely did not remember sitting down.

I blinked a few times.

My eyes slowly adjusted to the dim lighting inside what was very clearly a luxury car.

Long seats.

Tinted windows.

Soft interior lights.

Across from me, someone was sitting calmly with one leg crossed over the other.

The same guy from the fountain.

Next to me.

Inside a limousine.

I stared at him.

He looked perfectly relaxed, like this was a completely normal way to continue a conversation.

In front of us, facing forward in the passenger seat, Yui turned around.

She looked annoyed.

Which was impressive considering we had apparently just been kidnapped with a blanket.

“Renji,” she said flatly.

Ah.

So that was his name.

Renji gave a small, polite smile.

“My apologies,” he said calmly.

“Public places make private conversations difficult.”

I stared at him for a moment.

Then leaned back against the seat.

“…You kidnapped us.”

“Relocated,” he corrected.

“That’s still kidnapping.”

Yui crossed her arms.

“What do you want, Renji?”

He glanced between the two of us.

His expression was calm again, but there was a faint curiosity in his eyes now.

“I simply wanted to speak somewhere quieter,” he said.

Then he looked directly at me.

“And to properly meet the boyfriend.”

I had a bad feeling about where this conversation was going.