Chapter 32: It is Precisely Because They Love One Another that They Hate and Kill Each Other
“So, now that we understand the reason behind your absurd relationship… what are you gonna do from here?”
While listening to Taketsuru’s absurd remark, I quietly considered the question.
“What now,” presumably, referred to the matter involving Inugashi Kaito from earlier.
As far as the Nekoyanagi family—including Meiko—was concerned, the matter had already been settled between myself—or rather, the Kirishiro family—and the head of the Inugashi household.
Well, admittedly, I had not anticipated that the entire Nekoyanagi clan I purchased for two billion yen would turn out to be descendants of ninja.
No wonder Mother had been in such an excellent mood.
There was no way she had expected that, in this day and age, an active ninja lineage could be acquired wholesale for a mere two billion yen.
Though why Father had also been so pleased remained a mystery.
In any case, the marriage between Inugashi Kaito and Meiko was already a settled matter from the past.
I had absolutely no intention of allowing it to be dragged back up again.
And regarding this issue, I would abandon my “perfectly ordinary” methods—
No.
Rather than acting as the current me, the university student striving to live an ordinary life, I would act as the version of myself from before I met Meiko.
And that meant using every resource available to me.
“As for that idiot’s reckless behavior earlier, it’s an issue outside university life. We’ll contact both our families and have the matter dealt with externally. That should be sufficient.”
“Uwaah… when you say things like that, you really do sound like a rich heir.”
“If not that, then what do I sound like?”
“Is there any answer besides ‘a lunatic possessed by the concept of normality’?”
Calling someone mad simply because they pursued normalcy.
What a truly insane world this was.
Which meant that if I appeared insane within it, then logically speaking, I must actually be the ordinary one.
As always, once the perspective shifted, normality inevitably stood on my side.
“Regardless, I don’t actually know much about that Inugashi Kaito. I still don’t fully understand why he acted the way he did. Meiko, are you alright to continue?”
“Yes, sir.”
Victorious from her battle with Kuwajima, Meiko turned toward us while casually abandoning the nearly-dead Kuwajima on the floor.
Well, Kuwajima was still alive, so she was probably fine.
And even if she hadn’t heard the conversation, that would simply be the consequence of foolishly provoking Meiko in the first place.
“Tell me what kind of person that self-proclaimed childhood friend is, if you know anything.”
“The only self-proclaimed childhood friend here is definitely you.”
Ignoring Taketsuru’s interruption, Meiko began speaking.
“You mean that guy I’ve never actually met before? Well, I’ll tell you what I know.”
“How do you know things about a guy you’ve never met?”
Ignoring Taketsuru again, Meiko continued smoothly.
“Well, y’know… he seems like the stereotypical prideful rich brat type. Never met him personally, though. But I get the feeling he probably got beaten to a pulp by me repeatedly since childhood, had his pride shattered into dust, and then developed some weird twisted obsession with me.”
“To inspire such thoughts in a man you’ve never met… your life sounds difficult, Meiko.”
“Ahaha~ the burdens of being a beautiful girl are truly harsh.”
“Kuwajima-san, could you wake up already? I really need another person handling the tsukkomi role here.”
Taketsuru shook Kuwajima by the shoulders, but Kuwajima merely gave a weak thumbs-up without actually rising.
Well, sleep wherever you want, but make sure you get home before dark, Kuwajima.
In any case, putting Kuwajima aside and organizing Meiko’s explanation mentally, certain conclusions became visible.
Inugashi Kaito had apparently been Meiko’s childhood acquaintance.
He had spent his younger years getting thoroughly beaten by her.
Despite that, he had still attempted to demand her hand in marriage as collateral for debt.
And most importantly, when it looked like Meiko was about to be “taken” by me, his reaction hadn’t appeared motivated by rational benefit at all.
It had seemed emotional.
Whenever humans stop behaving rationally, emotions are inevitably involved.
And based on Meiko’s explanation—
“As expected, the most likely explanation for Inugashi’s behavior toward Meiko is personal resentment.”
“Yep.”
“Are you two seriously saying that? No, wait—Kirishiro aside, Nekoyanagi-san, you definitely know that’s not true, don’t you?”
Taketsuru cut into the conversation.
Was there something strange about my conclusion?
Meiko deliberately turned away with an innocent expression, but Taketsuru pressed onward regardless.
“It’s obvious from the way he acted earlier. That Inugashi guy keeps bothering Nekoyanagi-san because he likes her.”
“?????”
“Why are you making a face like that’s the most incomprehensible thing in the world?”
Before rejecting Taketsuru’s argument outright, I decided to consider it seriously for a moment.
Assume Inugashi liked Meiko.
Well, admittedly, even the hallucination had implied something similar earlier…
Hmm.
Hmhm.
Yes.
No, I still completely fail to understand it.
“Taketsuru. I want you to calmly think this through for a moment.”
“What?”
“A man falls in love with a woman who has beaten him senseless every time they’ve met since childhood. Instead of trying to court her or make genuine advances, he attempts to force marriage onto her through debt. And after the engagement falls apart, he barges into her life without warning while disregarding her feelings entirely… If Inugashi truly likes Meiko, then what exactly is he trying to accomplish? From a common-sense perspective, not a single part of this makes sense. Not the reason he fell for her, not the actions he took to make her like him. None of it. Absolutely none of it.”
“……………………When you put it that way… yeah.”
“I’m glad you understand, Taketsuru.”
Exactly.
The idea that Inugashi behaved this way because he liked Meiko was irrational from beginning to end.
To begin with, nobody should fall in love with someone who beats them up constantly during childhood. Did his survival instincts simply fail to function?
And even if he somehow did fall in love, there was still no reason to repeatedly behave in ways guaranteed to lower her opinion of him instead of actually trying to win her affection.
At the very end, he even resurrected a resolved issue and dug himself even deeper into the pit of her hatred.
It wasn’t normal.
No matter how one looked at it, it was not the thought process of a sane human being.
It was bizarre.
Absurd.
Inexplicable.
The actions of a complete madman.
No matter what the hallucination claimed, I simply could not accept it.
Honestly, it made far more sense to assume that he had harbored resentment toward Meiko since childhood, attempted to force her into marriage as revenge, and then lashed out again today because that resentment still hadn’t faded.
That explanation, at least, followed understandable logic.
“You’re naive, Kirishiro-kun.”
However, there was one woman audacious enough to interrupt my flawless reasoning.
The same Kuwajima who had been collapsed moments earlier slowly pushed herself upright and began speaking.
“Listen carefully. Love isn’t rational. People can fall for someone for any reason whatsoever. And even actions that look hateful from the outside can sometimes be expressions of affection. That kind of absurdity is exactly what adolescent romance creates.”
“Is that really something a woman who spent her adolescence trapped in chuunibyou should be saying?”
“We agreed that topic was banned by the rules!”
I had no memory of agreeing to such rules.
Even the neighboring wall produced an accusing THUD! sound, causing Kuwajima to flinch slightly.
Still…
Love as irrationality, huh?
It was true that I did not understand romance logically.
“Even you have seen examples in your light novel studies, Kirishiro-kun, haven’t you?”
“Examples of what?”
“People loving each other so much that they hate each other! Fight each other! Kill each other! That kind of culture exists too!”
“…………Hm. I cannot deny that.”
Indeed, Kuwajima had a point.
For example, the personalities of the “perfectly ordinary protagonists” I had intensely studied were generally altruistic, but not entirely incomprehensible.
However, the enemies attacking those protagonists—and even the allies who opposed them—often operated according to logic completely outside my understanding.
They would fall in love with people whose personalities were objectively disastrous.
Then suddenly hate them.
Or blindly trust information fed to them by enemies and betray everyone around them.
Complete chaos.
And the explanations most commonly used for these incomprehensible actions were things like love, affection, or debts of gratitude from childhood.
I had always dismissed such behavior as the warped logic of abnormal individuals who were far from ordinary.
But perhaps Kuwajima was right.
Perhaps humans becoming irrational in the face of love and affection was itself perfectly normal.
“Well, whether I deny it or not doesn’t change reality—or the outcome. What exactly do you gain by bullying someone you supposedly love? All you’ll earn is their hatred.”
“That part’s definitely true.”
“Meiko. Is there even a single thing you want to say to that Inugashi Kaito?”
“Kill. Him.”
Apparently Meiko hated Inugashi-whatever-his-name-was enough to temporarily forget Japanese itself.
Entirely understandable.
Even if his actions truly originated from romantic feelings, if those feelings failed to reach the other person—
No, even if they did reach them, how they were received depended entirely on the recipient.
From an ordinary perspective, falling in love with someone trying to force you into unwanted marriage was absurd.
Even I understood that much.
“Then as planned, I’ll contact my family and have him dealt with.”
“Yeah, that’s probably the best option.”
“That really is the only conclusion here.”
Despite all the complaints Taketsuru and Kuwajima had directed at me earlier, neither objected to the decision itself.
If affection justified any behavior whatsoever, then stalking crimes would not exist in this world.
With unanimous approval from the council, I decided to contact Mother directly.
There was no guarantee she would answer at this hour, but if not, I would simply leave a message through her secretary, Tachibana-san.
After three rings, the call connected.
『Gouto, is it? If you’re contacting me directly, then this must be about the Inugashi boy.』
“That certainly saves time, Mother.”
Apparently, I hadn’t even needed to explain the situation.
The Inugashi family themselves had already contacted her regarding Kaito’s outburst.
As expected, the head of the Inugashi family was trustworthy.
Not someone I trusted, mind you—but trustworthy.
“To summarize briefly: Inugashi Kaito appeared at the university in an attempt to contact Meiko. His existence risks becoming noise that interferes with my university life, so I would like him dealt with as quickly as possible.”
『…………』
“Mother?”
『Regarding that matter… I have a few thoughts of my own.』
After hearing my request, Mother paused thoughtfully before continuing.
『I believe this is an excellent opportunity. A midterm examination, if you will, to measure how close you have come to becoming a “normal university student.”』
“What do you mean by that?”
『Gouto. You and your friends will handle the Inugashi Kaito problem yourselves. I intend to observe how “ordinary” you have become through this process. I am not demanding a perfect resolution. Simply do whatever you can.』
Mother’s voice sounded strangely amused as she said it.
It seemed her whim had drifted in an extremely troublesome direction yet again.