デカセクト

Chapter 42

"All you have to do is hold her hand while you're both walking, act all sweet when you're in public, we snap photos of you two and then we're done."

Nijiro looked away but he didn't refuse to do it either. If he does as he was told, they wouldn't pressure him to break up with Shouko who had no idea about all of it. He didn't want to tell her, but later he would have to.

"Let's get this over with." He muttered, holding the girl's hand and getting out of the car as if they were going on a date.

"Isn't this exciting?" Suzu asked with a giggle.

"Shut up." Nijiro muttered, not at all happy with this.

"Now, that's not nice. I'm dedicated to play my part as your loving girlfriend, you should play your part as well." She whispered in his ear, receiving a glare from him.

"Don't piss me off, Suzu." He gritted his teeth together in annoyance, wanting to just go home.

Suzu let out a heavy sigh, pretending to be upset. "You were so nice to me before you fucked me. I guess you're really that type of guy, after all."

Nijiro felt a little bad until he remembered she was the one who kept insisting on it. He scoffed but didn't say anything and just pretended to be her boyfriend as his manager and the guy he assigned to take photos followed them.

Finally, they went inside the small café. They were supposed to have a 'date' there. Suzu kept smiling at him and it honestly just irritated the hell out of him.

Without a warning, she leaned in to kiss the tip of his nose. It made him close his eyes in annoyance. He didn't want anyone else doing that but Shouko.

"You got that, right? Let me see." Nijiro's manager whispered to the guy with the camera. "Oh, that's a nice shot right there."

Throughout their little date, Nijiro only thought of his girl back home. He wondered what she was up to and even thought about Little Niragi whom he had grown oddly attached to. The white ball of fur had grown bigger but to him he was still the same annoying little cat.

Nijiro didn't really talk to Suzu. Not that he needed to, his manager just wanted photos of them after all. And Suzu was such a chatterbox that he wouldn't even get a word in even if he had tried.

----

"I can't handle listening to my own voice." Shouko scrunched up her nose and turned off the music.

Dori chuckled and shook his head at her. Shouko had a soft, cool, and clear voice. She shouldn't be cringing at her own voice.

"Where's that fur-ball, by the way?" He asked, not seeing the cat anywhere.

"Oh, he's upstairs. I'll go get him!" Shouko happily said.

Little Niragi was just playing by himself with the toys Shouko bought for him. Once in a while, when he's in a playful mood, he would bite Shouko's toes lightly. The girl had learned her lesson and would usually wear socks when she was at home. But she wasn't wearing any socks that day.

"Hey, baby.." Shouko cooed, getting him down from his tower. She chuckled when he rubs his head against her before running out of the room.

Shouko felt the urge to open her phone and so she did. There were no texts and calls from Nijiro which was weird but she decided to ignore it as he was probably just too busy with work.

As she walked out of the room, she scrolled through her feed and a message popped up from Haru. It was a link and she thought it was just a bunch of memes so she clicked on it. And well, it was definitely not just a bunch of memes.

They were photos of Nijiro and the girl who claimed to be his girlfriend back when they weren't together yet. As she scrolled through the photos, the strange feeling in the pit of her stomach grew and she didn't notice that she was about to miss a step on the stairs.

Dori had Little Niragi on his lap and he was just petting him when they heard a loud thud. The cat was quick to run over to the stairs and Dori immediately followed him there.

Shouko groaned in pain as she was clutching her arm. Her body ached all over and her head felt like it was about to crack in two. "I think I broke it."

"We're going to the hospital." Dori declared, carrying her bridal style and walking out to his car. He didn't even bother to close the doors anymore and just drove off.

When Nijiro arrived a few minutes later, he noticed the doors were wide open and he instantly got worried because they would be usually closed. He got out of the car and rushed inside, calling out Shouko's name but there was no answer.

Nijiro got out his phone to call her and he furrowed his eyebrows when he heard the familiar ringtone nearby. He walked over to where he heard it and noticed it was near the stairs.

The anxiety he felt was doubled when he noticed the shattered screen but it was still on and he could make out what was on the screen. He felt like a bucket of ice was thrown over him and he stood completely still.

While he didn't know exactly what happened, he knew for a fact that her disappearance had something to do with him.

Nijiro planned to tell her that night, he wanted to tell her that he was only forced to play along and that if he had a choice he wouldn't have done all those things.

But that would be a bit difficult now that she has seen the photos before he could explain. He didn't even know they've already gotten out.

Nijiro snapped put of his thoughts and realized Shouko's cat was literally screaming at him. He picked him up and went to his bowls to see if they were empty but they weren't so he had no idea what the cat wanted.

"What's wrong, little guy?" He asked, not really expecting a cat to answer him.

After half an hour, he heard a car pull up and he walked over to the windows to see who it was. To his surprise, it was Sakurada's car. He thought he was there to see Shouko but the girl came out of the car not a minute later with an arm sling.

Nijiro felt his heart drop at the thought of her getting herself hurt because of what she saw. He found her phone near the stairs and now she comes home with a broken arm.

If his deductions were true, then it was his fault that she broke her arm. He felt even more guilty now.

Fortunately, Sakurada didn't come inside with Shouko. But that still didn't put his mind at ease. Below the guilt he felt was jealousy as he was never really comfortable with the two being alone together.

But tonight, it wasn't about him. Tonight, he was going to apologize; for not telling her the story about the photos and for not asking her if she would be alright with it.

"Shouko,.." He spoke, immediately going over to her.

Shouko looked down, avoiding his gaze. She didn't say anything but that didn't stop him. He wanted to make up for his mistakes no matter what.

"Shouko, those photos...they were staged, okay? They weren't real. I'm not cheating on you, if that's what you're thinking." He explained, not beating around the bush but he didn't even get a reaction out of her. It was like she had completely went numb and she couldn't even hear a word he was saying.

The tiny bit of hope in him died a little when she didn't say anything and he could feel that they were starting to crumble. He didn't want that to happen, never.

"Please look at me, say something..." Nijiro whispered, his voice cracking slightly.

When Shouko finally looked up at him and spoke, he wished she hadn't.

"I think...I need a break from this...relationship.."