Chapter 51: Chapter 51 - The Three Girls Who Refuse to Lose

Kuro Kurogane could feel the presence of death around him.

It was not a figurative kind of death.

This was the real deal, and Kuro was feeling emotional death.

That was because currently Kuro was sitting on the school rooftop with three girls all staring at him with eerie calmness.

And worse, all three girls liked him.. a lot.

Slowly, Kuro backs away from the rooftop door.

This was the wrong decision.

Immediately, all three girls spoke at the same time.

"Sit down."

"...Stay."

"Don’t run away, Kuro-kun."

So, Kuro immediately sat down.

His survival instincts kicked in.

Lunch break sun shone on the rooftop and warm spring winds blew through the air.

Normally, this space represented peace for Kuro . But today it represented a battlefield.

Akari Tachibana had her arms crossed and glared angrily at Mina.

Mina Fujikawa was leaning coolly against the fence with a smug look on her face.

And beside Kuro , Aoi was sitting quietly and drinking tea like the beautiful assassin that she was.

Finally, it was Akari who broke the silence.

"...So."

Mina grinned widely.

"Oho? A family meeting?"

Akari did not acknowledge the joke.

"...How serious are you?"

She asked her question directly.

The atmosphere changed immediately.

Even Mina’s smile faded a little.

Everyone present now knew what was going on was not your usual teasing.

It was serious now.

Mina briefly looked at Kuro and then back at Akari.

"...Very."

Mina answered truthfully.

When Akari heard the answer, a heavy sensation restricted her chest, but she had already assumed what the answer was beforehand.

At the same time, Aoi was quietly watching both of them in silence.

After a beat, Aoi stated .

"Thought as much."

Slowly, Mina turned and looked over at Aoi. 𝕗𝚛𝚎𝚎𝐰𝗲𝗯𝗻𝚘𝚟𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝕞

After narrowing her eyes back at Aoi again, she said.

"You’re not kidding."

It wasn’t a question.

Aoi calmly nodded.

"I’ve never been kidding."

The rest of us went quiet after that.

It felt like the air on the rooftop had been sucked out, and now there was just a weight in the air.

Everyone had been able to hide behind their past friendship with Kuro before.

And joking with each other.

Or using other forms of rationalizations to not admit it before.

Well, not anymore.

Now all three of us are admitting that we all love the same person.

And at that moment Kuro is in the center of that spiritual collapse.

Kuro stared blankly off into space.

Now transferring to another school seems like a possibility.

Unfortunately, not possible.

Akari jumped and pointed in a dramatic gesture toward Mina.

"You had a hidden late-night emotional development arc."

"Correct."

"You can’t do that."

"Skill issue."

Akari gasped in betrayal.

Kuro was leaning forward with his hand over his face, tiredly shaking his head.

"Can you please stop talking about relationships like they are video games."

Now it was Mina’s turn to point her finger at Akari.

"You literally slept in bed with him when there were thunderstorms."

"That was emotional support."

"You crawled into his bed in your pajamas."

"Those are irrelevant details."

"Mmm."

Both girls slowly turned towards Aoi.

"Um... why am I the one being stared at?" Aoi took another sip of her two.

"I think you are the most dangerous of us three." Akari narrowed her eyes.

"Yes!" Mina nodded immediately.

Kuro could only agree with this statement internally.

While Akari was chaotic and created fun and laughter or Mina was teasing, Aoi was much more psychological in her attack on Kuro.

And she had an emotional impact on Kuro that was devastating.

Then Aoi suddenly placed her teacup down on the table softly.

Then she spoke very frankly.

"I’m not going to stop loving Kuro."

There was no big moment.

No loud, brash, boastful confidence.

Whatever it was, these calm little words held the most power because Aoi usually spoke without meaning what she said.

Mina’s smile faltered.

Akari smiled, but was no longer happy.

Because both girls understood that Aoi, even more than anyone else, loved Kuro.

Then Akari started to laugh weakly.

"Wow, that was a fun time."

"Yup," Mina said quietly.

Kuro took a deep breath and sighed outwardly.

"Thanks for having the honest discussion regarding my impending death, sitting here beside me."

Nobody said "I’m sorry."

There were some quiet moments before Mina spoke again to them again unexpectedly.

"I’ll never back down."

Akari looked to Mina.

There was a hint of playfulness in Mina’s smile, but it was now combined with simplicity and honesty.

"I have never wanted something this much."

Akari smiled slowly at Mina, they were both bright, competitive, and beautiful.

"Me too!" Aoi looked to Kuro lovingly and softly, "me too."

There was can’t be any denying that Kuro’s heart is beating rapidly and unevenly because to have those same feelings expressed so directly to him all at once, is now far beyond anything he would have ever imagined.

What he believed to be an actions involving love was truly love actually there and for him.

Akari clapped her hands together drawing every ones attention to her.

Akari had stood before everyone like a proud commanding officer of an army, ready to lead them through a difficult time.

"New rules," is what Akari said.

Kuro was mumbling "why do you need to make any rules", while Akari explained.

"Because when there is an emotional mess has been made, then there existed something that needed to be put in order."

Akari very dramatically pointed to herself, Aoi and Mina, "None of you have the right to sabotage the other."

Mina said immediately "What do you consider sabotage?" Aoi answered.

"Deleting telephone numbers." Mina looked away and said, "Ancient history,"

Kuro blinked while silently mumbling, "Did you delete my number too."

There were no responses, and thus very concerning.

Akari remained proud.

"We’re fair fighters."

Mina made a tiny, smug smile.

"What does that mean?"

Akari responded with an enormous grin.

"We fall in love with Kuro the right way."

For the first time, the three girls all looked at him at once.

He nearly had an out-of-body experience.

The romantic pressure combined had the potential to be deadly.

Akari smiled with self-assurance.

"I will make Kuro the happiest he can be."

Mina crossed her arms and smirked.

"We’ll see about that."

And then very quietly Aoi inched closer to Kuro.

So close that his heart almost missed a beat.

She then leaned in and whispered.

"I don’t plan on losing either."

Critical emotional trauma.

His mind stopped working.

At the same time near the roof’s top entrance with her back against the wall was Rika Saionji hiding with library books.

Sadly, she heard it all.

She lowered her head.

"I am so far behind in this war."

Yet, even after saying this she felt stab after stab as she watched Kuro smile with the other girls.

And for the first time she realized that she carries a very dangerous thought.

She wants to be with him as well.