Chapter 16 - Castigating Kouki (1/2)

”Be silent, Kouki. I am doing this for Kaori's sake, not for malicious intent.”

At Rio's blunt and cold words, Kouki was taken aback. It was normal for Kouki to react like that. Because of his charisma, he never got any retort from someone at his age. And though Rio was only his senior by a year and a half, Kouki still treated him like how he treated someone at his age. It was fair, but Kouki was sorely mistaken when he did that.

Kouki wasn't the only one. Shizuku and Ryutarou who were ready to back up Kouki were rendered speechless. Meanwhile, Kaori recovered a bit from her shock and looked at Rio with a confused yet still distraught look. She didn't understand in which part Rio was helping her. However, Kouki questioned Rio after quickly recovering.

”What did you mean by that? I didn't see you are helping Kaori! What I saw is you were upsetting Kaori with your harsh words!”

When Rio heard that, he heaved a sigh full of suffering and annoyance. He then looked at Kouki as if he was dealing with a very troublesome child, which he was!

And when Kouki saw Rio's condescending look, he became angry. He was affronted by Rio's holier than thou attitude. However, because Kouki could open his mouth, Rio had opened his mouth first.

”Well, you stopped me before I continue on. Anyway, did you never hear about how rude it is to cut off someone's else speech? Besides, this discussion is between me and Kaori. You, who butted in, are at fault, here.” Rio retorted in a tone that conveyed his mental exhaustion in dealing with Kouki.

Kouki was once again struck dumb after hearing that. It was when Rio dropped his interest in dressing down Kouki. Just from their small exchange, Rio had realized that it is nigh impossible to fix Kouki's personality.

Kouki would disregard all advice from others if it goes against his belief. It is another troublesome flaws of Kouki Amanogawa besides his bad habits of interpreting adverse situations to his own convenience and his righteous personality that's overflowing with a flawed sense of justice.

The only way for him to get his warped belief fixed is by undergoing the same event that the canon Kouki Amanogawa had undergone in the other fantasy world, into which he got summoned by a real goddess to save that world's humanity from extinction. That story happened in After Story, which was still far away in the future. And it is a big 'IF' the events in this timeline is not off the rail too much because of Rio's meddling.

Rio looked straight into Kaori's distraught eyes and said, ”I never told you to stop your feeling for Hajime. But, I want you to be more mindful with your surroundings when you're trying to drop hint about your feeling to him. After all, the status between you two is like heaven and earth. You're someone who is idolized by everyone else while Hajime is looked down upon due to his honesty with his hobby. Maybe, you do not care about that, but others will have different opinions and it will affect Hajime who is an easy picking due to his low status, socially. Besides, due to the difference in your social status, Hajime does not know, no, it is not like that, he does not dare to believe that you have a romantic interest in him. He is self-conscious with his image in everyone's eyes, after all.”

After listening to Rio's long speech, Kaori's dim eyes regained their light. The next moment, she sunk deep in thought.

Looking at that, Rio knew that his words had stuck inside her mind. It had affected her. Rio didn't think that it is hard to make Kaori realize her mistake. He only needs to point out her mistake and how she ought to fix it.

”Wait, Rio!”

Kouki called out once again. His voice grabbed everyone's attention and they turned at him. When he saw their attention was focused on him, he continued on.

”I don't allow this! I won't allow Kaori becoming a girlfriend of someone like Nagumo!” Kouki declared 'righteously'. His words rendered his friends speechless. Kaori who had regained the light in her eyes reacted badly at that and her eyes darkened.

”Kouki! Who I want to be with is not your business, you know! Besides, what do you mean by 'someone like Nagumo'? Nagumo is an amazing guy!” Kaori tried to defend her crush, but Kouki who was being his usual stubborn self ignored her.

”Be silent Kaori! I am doing this for your own good!” Kouki raised his voice at Kaori, making the girl flinch and step back.

”Kouki!” Shizuku immediately raised her voice when she saw that. Her expression spoke out her disbelief at Kouki's unreasonable action.