I Was Cheated on by My Girlfriend but My Devilish Junior Now Yearns for Me V1 Chapter 2
Chapter 2
The Christmas Group Date
It was Christmas Day.
I was sitting in a stylish restaurant that Mino Ayaka had booked in advance—a place that, despite the occasion, was almost completely devoid of couples.
“Still, it’s impressive you found a place like this,” I commented from my seat across the table. “I thought all the nice spots would be completely overrun with couples around this time of year.”
While it couldn’t quite match yesterday’s venue in terms of sheer luxury, the prices on the menu were far more reasonable, making this restaurant a much better fit for a guy like me. Whether she picked up on my thoughts or not, Ayaka simply gave me a thumbs-up smirked.“Scouting in person is always better than just surfing the net. When I’m the one organizing, you can bet I’ll do it right.”
“You really are on top of things when it comes to stuff like this.”
I gave her a sincere compliment, but it seemed my choice of words didn’t quite satisfy her.
“Saying ‘stuff like this’ makes it sound like I’m usually a slacker. I’m a very responsible person, you know.”
“Oh yeah? In that case, there’s something I want to ask you. Is that okay?”
“Wh-What is it?” she stammered, her composure faltering. “Why so serious all of a sudden?”
“Yeah. Why isn’t anyone else here?”
At my question, a startled look flashed across Ayaka’s face.
“Y-You’ve done it now,” she declared, her voice dropping to a conspiratorial whisper. “You’ve asked about the taboo of this gathering.”
With that melodramatic expression and theatrical tone, she looked just like an actress. It made sense, given that all my friends unanimously agreed she was beautiful. But I’d gotten over the phase of my heart pounding at a pretty face back in high school.
“Cut the crap,” I said flatly. “What’s the deal with it being just the two of us? No other guys, no other girls.”
She’d definitely said it was a group date when we talked on the phone.
“……I made a mistake.”
“Pardon?”
“I told you the wrong time! I told you to come an hour earlier than everyone else!” Ayaka confessed, instantly dropping her dramatic act and reverting to her usual sharp tone. “I admit it was my fault, but you should check your phone, you know. I sent you a bunch of messages, but you never even marked them as read.”
“Eh, seriously?”
I pulled out my phone and saw several LINE messages that had arrived around noon.
“Sorry, I told you the wrong time. We’re meeting at 8 PM, okay?”“We’re meeting at 8 PM!”“Hey, if you don’t reply, I’m going to have to show up at that time too, you know.”“At least mark it as read.”“Fine, I get it! I just have to go, right?!”“……You’re right.”
I usually just have videos playing in the background at home, so I guess I didn’t notice the notifications. Having my phone on silent mode also contributed to the disaster.
“I was wondering why you weren’t replying,” Ayaka said with an exasperated sigh. “I bet you were just blasting music because you were lonely living by yourself or something.” She shook her head. “I figured it’d be a pain to make you wait at the meeting spot, so I went out of my way to come early.”
“Huh.”
Well, Ayaka was the one who made the mistake. But the way she diligently followed up to fix it was, for better or for worse, so typically her. Maybe I should at least thank her later.“By the way, how’d we get in an hour before our reservation?”
“They said it was fine since it’s still pretty empty. I’ll have to thank them properly when we pay.”
For the next forty minutes or so, we killed time with idle chatter until the rest of the group arrived. It’s annoying to admit, but out of all my friends, Ayaka is the one I can be most myself around. I could never tell her that, since she’d just relentlessly tease me for it, but I found myself thinking that spending time together like this was more fun than any group date.
◇◆
“Yo!” “Sup!” “Hallo!”
The guys arrived with a trio of classic college-student greetings, and at last, all the members for our Christmas group date were here. As expected of Ayaka’s recruiting skills, the guys were all pretty good-looking. If they’d just used a normal greeting, they probably would’ve made a great first impression. I can kind of get “Yo” and “Sup,” but what’s with “Hallo”? If it’s short for “Hello,” you’re not saving that much time, and besides, it’s nighttime.“Good evening, everyone!” Ayaka greeted them with a cheerful smile.
Seeing that, I couldn’t help but smirk to myself. Ever since high school, Ayaka has had a ton of friends, and people of all genders seem to like her. The reason for that was her current attitude—her flawless “public face.” As you get to know her, her usual sharp-tongued demeanor starts to peek through, but for the guys she’d gathered here, she was playing the part of a cheerful, easygoing girl.
“Well, well, Ayaka-chan! Thanks for inviting us today.”
“No, no, thank you for coming on such short notice! I’m so glad you could make it, Motosaka-kun.”
“Nah, nah, I’d go anywhere if you’re the one inviting me, Ayaka-chan.”
“You won’t get anything for saying that, you know~?”
Ayaka giggled, and knowing the real her, I almost let out a chuckle myself.
Once the group date officially started, the conversation between the guys and girls really took off.
Ayaka had mentioned she had to gather everyone on short notice, but the guys were talkative, and all the girls were cute. There was no way the conversation wouldn’t be lively, even if it was just small talk. Even I, who had been reluctant at first, ended up having fun for about an hour. The seating was arranged with guys and girls facing each other, and the girl sitting across from me happened to share my taste in manga, so our conversation really blossomed.
But the guy named Motosaka, sitting across from Ayaka, seemed less interested in talking and more focused on hitting on her.
“Man, I seriously want a girlfriend like you, Ayaka-chan.”
“You’re a handsome guy, Motosaka-kun, I’m sure you’ll find someone in no time!”
“I wonder about that~ Well, maybe someone like you would be nice, Ayaka-chan, just sayin’.”
“Oh, stop it, you!”
“Ahaha!” Motosaka slapped his hand on the table with a loud laugh.
I could tell. This was a serious move disguised as a joke. I don’t have a ton of relationship experience, but I’ve seen the look on the faces of guys who flock to Ayaka more times than I can count. And Ayaka, despite saying she wants a boyfriend, rejects every advance from guys who seem frivolous. Sadly, most of the guys who are drawn to Ayaka’s looks are this type. It wasn’t as bad in high school, but it became much more noticeable once we started college.
I’d once asked her, “Why do you bother being friendly with everyone like that, even guys who aren’t your type?”
“Well, for starters, it doesn’t hurt,” was her simple answer.
From my perspective, it just seems like it would lead to more trouble, but maybe with Ayaka’s specs, she’s able to deal with any potential issues before they escalate. I’ve never asked her about it in detail, so I don’t know for sure.
……Still, this Motosaka guy.As soon as the group date started, he began chugging his drinks, and his voice had been getting progressively louder. This place wasn’t some cheap izakaya, so our group was starting to stand out. To top it all off, he started bringing up crude topics with the girls, and I could see even Ayaka’s temple start to twitch.
“Motosaka-kun, your voice is a little loud,” she interjected gently. “Also, maybe you shouldn’t bring up topics like that with girls you’ve just met……”
“Eh, why not?” he shot back, his voice still loud. “I’m just speaking on behalf of all the guys here! The things we all wanna ask the girls, y’know—”
By lumping all the guys together like that, he probably thought he was some kind of hero for being the first to bring up dirty jokes. The other two guys exchanged uneasy glances and forced a smile. Apparently, Motosaka’s crass behavior was his problem alone.
“Even if you say that, you’re making the girls uncomfortable,” I chimed in.
Motosaka’s face twisted into a scowl. “What’s with that? You guys are all such buzzkills.”
“It’s not about being a buzzkill. The mood in here is totally ruined now, isn’t it?”
“That’s because you stopped the conversation, dude.”
“There’s no way that’s true.”
“How can you be so sure?” Motosaka stared at me, not even trying to hide the displeasure in his voice. “Besides, the group dates I’ve been to were all like this. This is normal, right?”
Hearing that, Ayaka opened her mouth to argue back. “It’s true that some group dates might be like that, but……” At least try to read the room and see that this isn’t that kind of atmosphere, I could practically hear her thinking.
But the thought was completely lost on the hopelessly dense Motosaka, who tried to steer the conversation back, saying, “Well, whatever. Anyway, to continue where I left off—”
The girls sitting next to Ayaka had been laughing uncomfortably at his stories the whole time, but now their expressions had darkened. Judging from their reactions, it seemed Ayaka had invited friends she wasn’t particularly close with. But she was the one who had invited Motosaka. She seemed to realize that too, and she looked up, her expression hardening with resolve.
But just as Ayaka opened her mouth to speak, a voice far too cheerful for the current atmosphere cut in.
“Oh, hey, senpai!”
The one who energetically appeared was none other than the college girl who had recently retired from her Santa job, Shinohara.
“Good evening, Hasegawa-senpai!” she chirped, approaching with sparkling eyes.
With her stunning looks, Shinohara drew the attention of everyone around her. Even in this group of cute girls, she stood out. The only one who could possibly compete with her, Ayaka, was currently frozen, a stunned and unreadable expression on her face at the sudden arrival of this visitor.
Sitting at the end of the table on the aisle side, I stood up, wondering why on earth she had to show up at a time like this.
“Y-Yo, what a coincidence.”
“Senpai~, it’s been since yesterday!”
Shinohara’s cloyingly sweet voice was a little different from how she’d been yesterday. I didn’t recall doing anything to deserve such a sweet tone from her, and I was pretty sure she wasn’t the type to act all cutesy in front of people. Besides, I hadn’t even told her where I was. How on earth did she find me?
As I was pondering this, a surprising person spoke up.
“Hey, what do you think you’re doing, Mayu?”
It was Motosaka. The same Motosaka who hadn’t flinched when Ayaka and I called him out now went pale at the sight of Shinohara. The fact that he called her by her givenname, combined with his panicked state… I had a pretty good idea what their relationship was.
“Oh, so you were here,” Shinohara said, and as soon as she recognized him, her voice turned icy—a stark contrast to how she’d been speaking to me.
“Yeah, well. More importantly, Mayu, why are you here?”
“Does it matter why I’m here? It was just a coincidence, Yuudou-senpai.”
The sharp glare she sent him was all the more terrifying because of her usually cute face. She glanced over at the girls’ side of the table and let out a small sigh.
“You seem to be having a lot of fun.”
“Mayu, just so there are no misunderstandings, we were just having a Christmas party together.”
“Hah, a party, you say? It certainly doesn’t look that way to me.”
“No way, I learned my lesson after what happened last time.” Motosaka placed his palm on Shinohara’s head, but she quickly swatted his hand away.
“This is a group date, isn’t it?” I decided to speak up, having figured out their relationship. If Motosaka had been acting normally, I would have kept my mouth shut. But at this point, I felt like it was fine to say something. “You said it yourself, didn’t you? That this is just like all the other group dates where you hit on girls with dirty jokes. Why are you lying?”
“Y-You……” Motosaka glared at me, his expression furious.
I feigned ignorance and stared back with a blank face. Hearing my words, Shinohara shook her head with a look of utter exasperation.
“I knew it. I thought so. I’m your girlfriend, Yuudou-senpai, so please don’t embarrass me.”
“N-No, you’re wrong! She’s just telling a stupid joke!” Motosaka shot me a glare and then turned back to Shinohara. “Besides, what’s your relationship with this guy, Mayu? And here you were saying you didn’t have many guy friends!”
“You’ve got some nerve saying that…… and please, keep your voice down. You’re causing a scene.” Shinohara, mindful of the people around us, pressed a finger to her lips. Motosaka, who hadn’t listened to a word of our warnings, immediately fell silent. It seemed what she had said yesterday—“He’s crazy about me, so he’d forgive me even if I cheated”—was true.
“As for my relationship with Hasegawa-senpai, well… we just happened to spend Christmas Eve together.”
“Pfft—”
I couldn’t help but let out a snort. I opened my mouth to correct her misleading statement, but a sharp look from Shinohara stopped me. It was a look that screamed, “Please, just play along.”……I’ll make her treat me to something later.Hearing about Christmas Eve, the color drained even further from Motosaka’s already pale face.
“No, no…… that’s cheating…… You think it’s okay for a girl to cheat?”
“You think it’s okay for a guy to cheat?”
“But girls can’t,” Motosaka muttered defiantly in a low voice. It was clear to everyone there who had the upper hand.
Just then, Ayaka clapped her hands together. “Alright, let’s call it a night. We can get together again some other time.”
The girls sitting next to her looked visibly relieved. It seemed Ayaka had decided it was better to just disband the group rather than try to salvage the situation.
“Hmph…… I only came because you invited me, Ayaka-chan, but this group sucks. Invite me again some other time,” Motosaka said, loud enough for everyone to hear, then stormed over to the register to pay his share. I was surprised he still thought Ayaka would invite him again. “Let’s go, Mayu.”
Motosaka called out to Shinohara and left the restaurant, but surprisingly, Shinohara followed him without a second thought. Just as she was leaving, she waved at me and said, “Well then, senpai, see you later.”
Hesitantly, I gave a small wave back. The image of her brushing away Motosaka’s hand as he tried to touch her head was striking.
“I’m so sorry, everyone, especially on Christmas……” As she was paying, Ayaka looked unusually down. Both the guys and girls were trying to comfort her. Watching them out of the corner of my eye, I opened the door and stepped outside first.
A festive jingle from the bell, perfect for Christmas, sounded incredibly lonely.
◇◆
“Ugh, seriously! This is the worst!”
On the way home, Ayaka and I were walking together down a dark street, everyone from the group date having gone their separate ways at the station.
“Well, you learned something, didn’t you? That if you invite someone you’ve never had a drink with before, you’ll occasionally run into a guy like that.”
“But why did it have to be on Christmas…… What am I going to say to everyone?”
“Everyone was telling you it was fine, weren’t they? That they were having fun up until that point.” I had been having a pretty good time too, so it was a shame that Motosaka had to ruin it. The girl I’d been talking to was really easy to get along with, even though all we did was chat.
“If they were really having fun, there would’ve been talk of going for a round two after Motosaka-kun left. I really messed up this time.”
“Really? I’m pretty sure I heard them saying that.”
“I was so busy dealing with Motosaka-kun that I couldn’t really steer the conversation, so everyone naturally ended up in one-on-one talks. The two girls next to me were trying so hard to keep the conversation from dying…… Ugh, this is just another excuse, isn’t it?” Ayaka let out a huge sigh and ran a hand through her hair. “Well, it looked like you were having fun at least. She asked me to get your contact info for her.”
“Oh, seriously? I wonder if it’s because we have the same taste in manga.”
Ayaka gave a simple nod. “She’s asking you out knowing you’re the kind of guy who spends Christmas Eve with another girl, so she probably just wants to be friends. You should at least reply to her message.”
After saying that, she stopped in her tracks as if she’d just remembered something.
“Wait, you knew Shinohara-san? Was she the Santa you spent Christmas Eve with?”
“Ah, yeah, that’s right. Shinohara was the Santa.”
“Huh, what a crazy coincidence. She’s my junior, you know.”
And with that, the question that had been nagging at me was answered. “I see, so Shinohara came because you told her where the restaurant was.”
“Yeah, she asked me where the group date was…… But still, did I ever tell Shinohara-san that you and I were friends? She didn’t seem surprised at all.”
“Beats me. Maybe you just forgot?” It was common for people to know who I was one-sidedly because of Ayaka’s random introductions.
Ayaka nodded, seemingly satisfied with my answer. We reached the busy street where we always part ways, so there was no need for me to walk her home.
“I’m sorry about today. I’ll make it up to you.”
“Don’t worry about it. It’s not a big deal.”
“I can’t just let it go after dragging you out only for this to happen. How about I take you out on a date?” Ayaka suggested, twirling a strand of her black hair around her finger. Under the white glow of the streetlight, her hair looked especially beautiful.
I swallowed that thought and let out a breath. “Making that the way you ‘make it up’ to me? How full of yourself can you be?”
“What? I thought any normal guy would be happy about that,” she replied, putting on a forced smile.
……But for some reason, it felt like she was pushing herself. Because she’s always teasing me, it’s easy for me to spot the subtle differences in her expressions.
“……Well, you know,” I said, “if I were the kind of guy who’d fall for something like that, we wouldn’t have stayed friends for this long. Just talking like this is fun enough.”
Hearing that, Ayaka’s large eyes blinked in surprise.
“……You’re right.”
Under the streetlight, she looked up at the night sky. The expression on her face wasn’t her usual plastered-on smile, but the gentle one she only ever showed when it was just the two of us.
“Thanks,” she whispered, looking more beautiful than ever.
◇◆
After parting ways with Ayaka, I returned home to my usual messy one-room apartment. It was only ten o’clock.I guess this is about the time all the couples out there start getting energetic.I opened up social media for the first time in a while, and my timeline was filled with posts from my high school and college friends. A lot of them were the kind of thing that just made me want to leave a sarcastic comment.
To the post that read, “Date with a Christmas-themed outfit today! But I have zero confidence in it~”, I wanted to say, “Then don’t post a picture in the first place.”
And for the one that said, “The Christmas tree is so huge!”, but only showed a two-shot of a couple, I wanted to say, “Then take a picture of the tree.”
I don’t usually think anything of it, but maybe I was feeling this way because it was Christmas. I hate to admit it, but a part of me was definitely jealous of all the couples. If I kept scrolling, my mood was just going to get worse. Just before closing the app, I scrolled one more time out of habit.
And then, a certain post caught my eye.
“Today feels like it’s going to be a wonderful day♪”The content itself was generic and harmless, but I recognized the user icon all too well. The person with light brown hair was my ex-girlfriend, Aisaka Reina. She had cheated on me a month ago, and we’d just broken up. I was mostly over it, but seeing her face still made my chest tighten.
“……Tch.”
Even though no one was in the room, I clicked my tongue as if to hide my heartache. Just the phrase “wonderful day” was enough to make my imagination run wild.
There had been signs that her feelings were drifting away as our one-year anniversary approached. First, the frequency of her LINE replies gradually decreased. About half the time I asked her on a date, she’d turn me down, and eventually, she started canceling on me at the last minute. Still, the dates we did go on were fun, and she would post about them on social media every time, so I thought I could still win her back.
And right when I thought that, she cheated on me.
“……Ugh, stop thinking about it!”It’s no use dwelling on it now. When we broke up, I was a wreck, but I decided that once I got over it, I wouldn’t look back. If I keep moping like this forever, I won’t be able to face Ayaka, who kept encouraging me in her own uncharacteristically clumsy way.
To help clear my head, I stretched my body out with all my might, a satisfying crack echoing from my back. When I’m feeling down, moving my body like this is the best remedy.
……Come to think of it.
I wonder if Shinohara got home safely.
Yesterday, she had said something about wanting to get revenge by cheating on him before dumping him. So that day was today, Christmas. Knowing that prideful Motosaka, getting into a fight in front of everyone and then getting dumped on Christmas had to be pretty rough. On top of that, breakups are when couples are most likely to have messy fights. The proverb “a bird doesn’t foul its own nest when it leaves” definitely doesn’t apply here. Watching them, it seemed impossible for them to have a peaceful breakup where they mutually agree to part ways and become friends.
Before I knew it, I had opened up Shinohara’s contact on LINE and pressed the call button. The familiar ringing tone now sounded sterile. And then, without her picking up, the screen went dark. It’s been almost an hour since we all left, so she should be home by now. I had a bad feeling about this, but there was nothing I could do if I couldn’t get in touch with her. I didn’t even know where she lived, and besides, these feelings usually end up being nothing more than my imagination. By morning, I’d have completely forgotten about this little bit of anxiety.
I let out a big yawn and pressed the switch to run a bath. Just then, my phone rang. I answered the call and heard Shinohara’s voice.
“Hello, senpai?”“Oh, Shinohara. Thank goodness.” I let out a sigh of relief.
Then, I heard a chuckle from the other side of the phone. “Don’t tell me you were worried and called me, senpai?”“Hmm, well, yeah…… I mean, he seemed like a handful. And you two left first, so I was a little worried.”
“Ahaha, nothing happened, I promise,” she denied with a cheerful voice. “Actually, I was just about to call you too. When I saw you were calling, I had to do a double-take.”“Huh, what a coincidence. What were you going to say?”
When I asked, Shinohara answered, sounding a bit awkward. “……I wanted to apologize. For dragging you into it.”“Eh?”
“You know, about what happened today. I feel bad for ruining the mood. It had nothing to do with you guys, but I just……”“Ah, don’t worry about that. The mood was already terrible before you even got there.” In fact, you could even say her arrival saved us. I would have hated it if he had kept rambling on forever.
“Still, I was his girlfriend, technically.”“Did you end up breaking up?”
“Well, yeah.”Her vague reply piqued my curiosity, but I decided not to press the issue. She could talk about it when she was ready.
“Maybe it’s not a good idea to agree to date someone just because you want to do couple-like things,” she mused. “When you think about it, this whole mess started because I went out with him for that reason.”Sensing that she was a bit down, I decided to tell her something I’d been thinking for a while.
“That’s just how it is. There aren’t many couples that start out with both people having mutual feelings from the very beginning.”
That might have been more common in middle or high school. But if couples could only form from mutual feelings, then probably more than half the couples in college wouldn’t even exist. I’m confident that many people get into relationships simply because they admire the idea of being in a relationship. However, while many may think that, not many say it out loud. So, the fact that Shinohara was opening up to me like this made me genuinely happy.
“Senpai, you really are a senpai.”“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Well, you’re good at comforting people. In this situation, I thought you’d say something like, ‘Yeah, you were at fault too, Shinohara.’” She sounded as if she’d seen something unexpected.
“You’re already well aware that you’re not blameless, but you’re talking to me because you still can’t sort out your feelings, right? What good would it do for me to rub salt in the wound?”
“……Whoa.” Shinohara let out a dumbfounded voice. “Senpai…… is this what they call the composure of an adult? I’m impressed.”“What’s with that? It’s kind of creepy to hear you say that all of a sudden.”
“Hey, that’s mean. For your information, I don’t just go around respecting people, you know.”“The fact that someone who doesn’t respect people easily respects me just proves that something’s off with you, doesn’t it? You should respect someone like Ayaka instead of me. You know her, right?”
There was a brief pause before Shinohara replied. “Ayaka-senpai, huh. Well, you have a point. I’ll think about it.”After that, we chatted about nothing in particular for about thirty minutes. Besides Ayaka, there aren’t many people I’d stay on the phone with after the main topic is done. We really got a kick out of talking about relatable social media moments, and it turned out Shinohara had a similar sense of humor to mine, so we had a good laugh.
“Phew, I should probably get in the bath soon.”“Yeah, me too. I’m gonna head to bed soon.”
“Okay. Well, goodnight, senpai. I’ll make this up to you another time.”“Yeah.”
“……Thank you for today.”With those words of thanks, the call ended. At some point, our roles had reversed. I found that incredibly funny and let out a chuckle.
And even though things with her boyfriend had come to a temporary close…
“Another time, huh?”
I stuck my head out the window, taking in the dry winter air. A new encounter brings the start of a new life.That premonition seemed to make the familiar scenery look more vivid.
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