There's no way that he's Rina's boyfriend. I'm pretty sure he's just messing around.

"You're joking, right?"

"Why would I?"

I looked at Rina, but she didn't seem to deny it in the slightest. So, they're really dating?!

"We've been dating for at least two years now," Hayashi claimed.

"Oーoh... I see..."

What should I do in this kind of situation? I didn't expect things to turn out like this. Suddenly, from nowhere, Chiba-san came towards me.

"Onii-chan! There you are."

"Eh?!"

What's happening?!

"Onii-chan, I've been looking for you!"

"Oh, and who might this young lady be?" Hayashi asked.

"I'm Kota-niisan's little sister."

Seriously, what is going on? But somehow, I'm also grateful that she got me out of that situation. I was almost close to breaking down.

"Come on, Onii-chan, there's something I want to show you."

"Uh... okay. I'm sorry, I got to go, Hayashi-san and Rina."

"See you around, Kota-san," Rina said with a smile.

"Let's talk sometime, Inoue-san."

Then Chiba-san dragged me out of the lounge area into the dining.

"Thanks for saving my skin out there, Chiba-san. But now, they think you're my little sister."

"It's fine. But what happened back there?"

"You were watching, weren't you? You should exactly know what happened."

"It's still different if you explain it from your perspective. That blonde girl back there, you like her, don't you?"

"Look, I still haven't sorted my thoughts. I'll explain to you some other time. But for now, I want to go somewhere quiet."

"Oh, follow me. I found a place a while ago when I was looking for you."

Chiba-san pulled me by the hand. We walked through several corridors. Then we finally arrived at the room. It was a theater room. There was no one else around us.

"Are we even allowed to go in?"

"Don't worry about it too much."

Chiba-san proceeded to drag me into the room. And when we entered the theater, everything was silent. The noise of people chattering was gone. I felt a little bit calmer. And without another thought, I took a seat at the closest chair.

I didn't know what emotion I felt at that moment. Was it rage? Anxiety? Envy? I couldn't tell, but the only thing I could tell was that I was confused. Did I really waste all those years going after someone who already has someone? To make it worse, they've been dating for two years now. There's no way I could go off and confess to Rina in this situation.

At that moment, I felt like I lost all my purpose. And before I realized it, tears began to roll down my face. My body was shaking, almost like I was freezing. I didn't know what to do from that point on. But suddenly, I felt someone's arms wrap around me. It was warm and comfortable.

"Inoue-san, I don't know the details about what happened back there, but if you want someone to talk to about it, I'm here."

I couldn't say anything. It was almost as if I lost my ability to speak at that moment. My chest felt heavy. I wanted to cry my heart out, but I couldn't.

We continued on like that for several minutes. Until all of a sudden, my phone vibrated in my pocket. I got a text from Chiaki.

"Where are you? We've been looking for you. Are you still with Rina?"

It's time to go back to them.

"Chiba-san, thank you for today."

"Mmm... you can call me Ayano."

"Then thanks for staying with me, Ayano-san. I need to go back to my friends. How about you?"

"Don't worry about me. Just go on ahead."

I wiped my face clean with the sleeves of my shirt.

"See you at work."

"Nhn..."

I left Ayano-san by the entrance of the theater room, and I proceeded to go to Chiaki and Daichi.

"There you are. Where have you been?" Chiaki said.

"Ah, I just got a little lost."

"Well, whatever, but we've got a problem on our hands."

"Ah?"

"It's Daichi, he got drunk, and now he's running amok. I'm glad you didn't drink. Otherwise, it would've been more difficult for me to drag you two back to the apartment. Now more than that, let's go get Daichi before he causes any more trouble for us."

The emotional pain from a while ago was still resonating within me, but I couldn't mope around much longer. I needed to accept it at one point or another. For now, I need to focus on the current problem.

"Speaking of Daichi, where is he?"

Chiaki pointed towards the lounge. And when I took a peek around the corner, I saw a half-naked man standing on top of a table. To be honest, I wanted to pretend that I didn't know him. But I still went up to him and got him off the table.

"What the hell are you doing?!"

"Oh~ Kota... Come~ and join... me for a bottle of sake."

"How much did you drink?!"

"I think... 3 or 4~..."

Everyone around us was laughing. Ah, this is embarrassing. I placed Daichi's arms around my shoulders and then carried him off somewhere else. When I got Daichi out of the lounge, Suzuki Haruto was signaling us to go in a specific direction. I didn't know where to put Daichi, so I just followed Suzuki-san. He led us to a room with Chiaki following us.

"Lay him down here."

It looks like Daichi is already fast asleep.

"Thanks, Suzuki-san. And sorry for the ruckus my friend caused."

"It's okay. It's quite a common occurrence at a party, so there's nothing to worry about."

"This place... it looks like it's a hotel."

"You could also call it that."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, this building isn't really for commercial purposes. It's basically our house. The rooms are just there for guests."

"This is your house? It's huge."

"Yeah, well, I do get that a lot. Some even despise me for it... Well, anyway, I need to get back outside. I still have some work to tend to. You can use this room however you wish. I'll be leaving then."

So, this Suzuki-san person is a kind person, huh...

"Kota, you're hiding something, aren't you?" Chiaki suddenly asked.

"What?"

"We've been together for years. I could tell if there's something bothering you by your actions alone. Now, tell me. Is it something about Rina?"

[AT: I'll also be posting the 12th chapter later.]