Not an Ally After All?!
Yeah. Maru would definitely understand if we explained our situation to him.
“We don’t have much of a lunch break, so I’ll keep it short.”
Finishing our lunchboxes would take time on its own, so we didn’t have much to spare.
Maru straightened in his seat with the air of someone determined not to miss a single word of what he was about to hear.
“…Alright. I’ll hear you out.”
“Oh, right… To explain this properly, I should start with my own situation first. You know my parents passed away, right?”
“Ah, yeah….”
“But, well, because of my parents, things somehow ended up with me inheriting debt. About a hundred and twenty million won.”
“Wh-what?! Debt?! A hundred and twenty million?! Why didn’t you tell me?!”
I never expected I’d end up talking about this under circumstances like these.
Why hadn’t I told even Maru—my closest friend, someone practically family—about any of this? Even I hadn’t fully understood the reason.
But saying it out loud now, I realized what it had been. I’d wanted the gap between Maru and me to stay as small as possible.
When we were little, I never paid much attention to that kind of thing. As we got older, though, it started to sink in.
Looks-wise, we could both hold our own, so that evened out. But when it came to money, Maru was in a completely different league. His family was warm and close-knit. His grades were outstanding.
Was I really his equal as a friend?
It wasn’t strong enough to call an inferiority complex. No—more than inferiority, it was that I felt shabby next to him. That was closer to the truth.
Whenever the thought crept in, I’d force myself to push it down. Friends don’t care about that kind of thing. Maru isn’t the type to pick or drop people over money. I’d comfort myself with that, but the feeling never went away.
And then, right in the middle of all that, my parents died. If Maru found out I was carrying debt on top of everything else….
It would never have actually happened that way, but the negative thoughts kept eating at me, and in the end I just… never managed to bring the debt up with him.
Strangely enough, saying it now, I barely felt anything at all. The only thing that rose up was a quiet question: Why did I stress myself out for so long just to keep quiet about this?
I didn’t know why it felt different now, but I had a pretty good guess. It was probably thanks to my teacher.
Sure, you’ve got a happy family and endless money and a brilliant brain—but I’ve got this incredible Master of my own!
That kind of mental victory had become possible for me. That was my best guess, anyway. Nothing else about me had changed, so it was probably right.
“Well… that part isn’t really the important thing right now. Yesterday I missed a payment, and loan sharks showed up at the house….”
“What?! Are you okay? No—if it was that serious, you should’ve told me…!”
“Ah, I’m fine. I threw the first punch and ran. Just a little blood from my head—”
“What?! Let me see! Seriously, what am I supposed to do with you—I can’t even—I swear….”
“…So I was running, and my teacher saved me. And when you’re in a situation like that, you get a certain kind of feeling, right? Like you just want to throw yourself into that person’s arms! Get your head patted!”
“You’re going to drive me insane…… huh…? Wh-what did you just say…?”
“I’m saying! You suddenly want to be loved by that person, raised by them! That kind of feeling just hits you, you know?”
“…I… don’t really… get it…?”
Maru didn’t seem to be following.
How could he not get this?
Someone who’d once comforted me as warmly as a mother, who’d then saved me and looked after me when I was truly in danger—of course I’d develop feelings for them.
Maru was clearly a little short on sensitivity.
“So what you’re saying is… your teacher is raising you right now? As a pet…?”
“Mm-hmm, exactly. Now you get it.”
“You’ve lost your mind?!”
“Mm-hmm, yeah, th— wait, huh?”
“Huh~? Huuuh~?! Have you actually gone crazy? What did you just say? A pet?! I’m going to lose it! Do you have any awareness that you’re a guy? And what was that earlier—throwing the first punch at thugs? Did you even think about what happens if you get hurt? You think those people are going to treat you all gentle and cooing just because you’re a boy? Or what, you think you can take four of them in a fight like some manga protagonist?”
“Th-they were badmouthing my parents, though….”
“Oh, really? So you couldn’t hold back? I get that you were angry, but you still should have held back. No matter what, in that situation you should have held back! You said you hit your head—if your luck had been even a little worse, that could’ve been it for you! You really….”
“Ah, okay. I was wrong….”
“You ‘okay’? No, I don’t think you get it yet.”
“No, listening to you, I think I really was wrong.”
“Yeah? Then how long are you planning to stay at your teacher’s place?”
What was Maru even talking about?
I was a pet, so of course….
“Until Master throws me out? Not that she ever would.”
“…You’re just casually calling her Master, huh…?”
“Hm? Of course. I’m a pet.”
“And you’re saying your teacher won’t throw you out?”
“Obviously.”
Of course she wouldn’t. I’d been working so hard on my affection campaign—cute, great at cooking, full of charm, the works. Who would throw out a perfect pet like that?
“Look, I figured it’d be something like this. But you did say you’d leave eventually, so I’ll let that go for now. Then…….”
What was he talking about? I’d just gently made it clear I wasn’t leaving.
Was he seriously thinking my teacher would throw me out? That couldn’t be….
“Teacher?”
“Ah—y-yes?! What is it?”
“What do you mean, ‘what is it’? Didn’t you just hear him? What are you going to do about Chan? You’re not seriously planning to keep raising—I mean, living with him, are you? I can still believe you’re a normal person, right?”
“W-well… what should I do…?”
“…Are you serious?”
“No… how do I put this. Once you’ve made a promise, as an adult, you should take responsibility… that kind of thought crossed my mind, too….”
“Insane… are you serious?”
Maru’s face looked like a hero who’d just been betrayed by a trusted companion.
But as Master’s pet, I’d already seen this outcome coming. From the start, my teacher had said she wanted a pet because she was lonely—and if that was the case, I was the perfect pet for the job.
“Alright, alright! This topic ends here! Let’s just eat our lunchboxes already!”
“No, but seriously…?”
“Maru, don’t worry. I might be a little weird, but I’m not the kind of kid who can’t take care of himself.”
“…Fine. Alright. I’m heading out first.”
He had the look of someone who’d just made some kind of resolution, so I almost asked what it was—but he left with such grim determination that I couldn’t quite bring myself to. I’d have to ask him later.
This wasn’t right.
No matter how I turned it over, this wasn’t right.
Hiding from me that he’d inherited his parents’ debt?
That, I could accept. I didn’t know the exact reason, but I didn’t think Chan had betrayed me over it.
Throwing punches at thugs and running for his life?
Sure, I thought it was insane—but if they’d insulted his parents, I could understand.
Meeting his teacher when he was depressed, getting comforted, and sprouting some weird feelings for her?
I knew society wouldn’t approve, but people’s hearts don’t just do what you tell them. Feeling that way in the first place—I could allow for that.
But this.
This was a little much, wasn’t it?
He’s living with his teacher? In a master-and-servant relationship?
That Chan thought this made any sense was shocking enough. That his teacher was using “responsibility” as an excuse to declare they’d keep living together was just as bizarre.
Even dating would get them pointed at and whispered about. Living together? Master and pet?! This was something I couldn’t understand no matter how hard I tried.
Chan was never that kind of person before. What kind of change of heart is this, seriously….
Honestly, part of me wanted to report the whole thing to the police or anyone who’d listen and blow the relationship apart—but if I did that, Chan would get hurt for real.
Really, truly! He was never the type to give his heart away this easily, this fast!
Had something happened? Something I didn’t know about?
Anyway, what was done was done. What I needed to think about now was what came next.
How long were they planning to live together?
Were they seriously thinking about a future like this?
And if so—was I supposed to pure-heartedly congratulate that relationship?
…….
No. No matter how I looked at it, that wasn’t it.
What if someone other than me found out about a relationship like that?
I didn’t even want to imagine it.
His teacher would take a social beating, and so would Chan.
And another thing—
Chan had lived eighteen years without ever having a girlfriend. Not once.
So here’s the thing.
This was a delusion.
The classic kind—projecting yourself as the prince in distress from a fairy tale and getting it all twisted. Seeing his teacher as the princess on a white horse who saves the hero in crisis.
Right now, Chan was “mistaking” this for destiny the world had written for him, like something out of a storybook.
So rather than forcibly, directly cutting the relationship off, I was going to focus on breaking Chan’s delusion.
You could call it meddling. But what else was I supposed to do?
To me, Chan was family—one of the few people in my life more important than myself.
I couldn’t just stand by and watch someone like that go down the wrong path.
Anyway, back to the point. If I thought about the most effective way to shatter the delusion of a guy who’d spent his entire life so far as a solo act, it was probably this: Chan needed a girlfriend.
And luckily, I knew plenty of decent girls around me who already liked him.
“Yeah. No matter how I look at it, this is the best option for everyone….”