I didn’t want to go on a blind date, so I threw out some impossible demands I knew she’d never meet—and then this stunning classmate showed up.
Could there possibly be a more ridiculous story?
Yuzuru let out a sigh.
(I never thought… Yukishiro Arisa would actually exist within Grandpa’s network. …I underestimated him a little. Grandpa’s connections, that is.)
Maybe that old man was practically invincible within Japan.
Thinking that, Yuzuru once again found himself impressed by the old man’s influence and stubborn determination, as he stared dead straight at Arisa.
No matter how many times he saw her, her beauty was perfectly sculpted, like a work of art.
“Likewise. My name is Takasegawa Yuzuru. …It’s been a while.”
Yuzuru sat in seiza-style A formal Japanese sitting posture involving kneeling with the tops of the feet flat on the floor, sitting on the heels, and resting hands on thighs, usually with a straight back as well, placing his hands on the floor and returning the greeting.
Now that things had come to this, the only thing he could do was decline the match as politely as possible.
Meanwhile, the matchmaking meeting had already left Yuzuru and Arisa behind.
Their guardians — Yuzuru’s grandfather and father, and Arisa’s adoptive father and mother had begun getting excited among themselves.
“Who would have thought they were classmates!? What a surprise!”
“This might be be fate, you know!”
They continued getting carried away like that.
Yuzuru and Arisa simply plastered polite smiles on their faces and responded with vague comments like:
“Yeah, that was surprising.”
“I was quite shocked too.”
After some time passed…
Both of their guardians suggested, “Why don’t you two young people go admire the garden and get to know each other better?”
There was no way Yuzuru could refuse, so he stepped outside into the garden together with Arisa.
Escorting her as he went, they walked out into the courtyard.
It was a truly beautiful garden, befitting its use as a matchmaking venue.
(Now then… how should I go about turning her down?)
He could simply say, “I don’t think we’re a good match.”
But that would basically be a roundabout way of saying, “You’re not attractive.”
After all, since she had come to the meeting, she must have at least some interest in him.
If he rejected her clumsily, he might hurt her feelings.
Besides, even if they weren’t close, they were still classmates.
Considering the future, he didn’t want things to become awkward.
“Um, Takasegawa-san…”
“Yukishiro?”
Just as Yuzuru was struggling to decide what to say, Arisa—who had been silent until now—finally spoke.
She clenched the fabric of her kimono tightly, then bowed her head.
“I’m sorry. About this matchmaking meeting… my adoptive father forced me into it. I… never intended to get engaged in the first place.”
Hearing those words, Yuzuru felt as if a weight had been lifted from his chest.
A sigh of relief slipped out of him before he could stop it.
“…Oh. You too, huh?”
“…Wait, you too?”
“I was dragged here against my will as well… I thought if I gave them impossible conditions, they’d give up. Like, bring me a blonde, blue-eyed girl if you want me to do matchmaking! …I never imagined they’d actually bring someone.”
Yuzuru said this with another sigh.
Arisa clapped her hands lightly in understanding.
“So that’s how it is.”
“That’s how it is?”
“I heard that you specifically requested me, Takasegawa-san. …Now it makes sense.”
“…Sorry for causing you trouble.”
“No, it’s mutual. To be precise… my adoptive father caused you trouble. When he heard you were interested, he got properly carried away.”
Once it became clear that neither of them wanted the engagement…
The distance between them seemed to shrink a little.
It was a strange feeling — finding a sense of familiarity through the shared fact that neither of them liked the idea.
Yuzuru inwardly smiled wryly at the strange notion that finding common ground in mutual dislike could foster a sense of familiarity.
“Takasegawa-san… I have a proposal.”
“A proposal you say?”
“How about we make a false, fake, pretend engagement?”
“…Hmmm.”
In other words, she was proposing they pretend to be engaged and deceive both sides of their families.
As long as Yuzuru and Arisa were “engaged”, neither family would push any more matchmaking meetings on them.
They would use the engagement as a shield to avoid arrangements, while secretly pursuing their own love lives freely.
Then, once they became adults and could oppose their guardians, they would break off the engagement.
That must be it.
“Hmm… I can’t say yes to that right away. Sounds like a lot of trouble.”
Maintaining a fake engagement for a long period would require a lot of effort.
Whether that effort would be easier than continuously rejecting matchmaking proposals was questionable.
Keeping up an act all the time would be quite mentally exhausting.
It’s not something one can readily agree to.
“I see… Well then, I’ll hope for a favourable answer.”
Arisa looked slightly disappointed for a moment, but quickly replaced it with a gentle smile.
The same soft expression that quietly captivated the boys at school and often led them to misunderstand her.
To Yuzuru… it looked like nothing more than a meticulously practised smile.
Just then—
“Meow.”
A cat’s cry echoed through the garden.
“Takasegawa-san, Takasegawa-san! Over there!”
“Hm? That’s… a cat.”
Yuzuru couldn’t tell the cat’s age, but couldn’t have been more than a year old.
A small cat was perched in a tree, meowing desperately.
“What a silly little . Climbed up on its own and now it can’t get down.”
“I wonder why they climb if they can’t come down… But what should we do? It might fall at this rate.”
Arisa spoke with obvious worry in her voice.
Apparently, she was a cat person.
Every time the cat shuffled nervously on the branch, Arisa became visibly anxious.
“Should we call the inn staff?”
“B-but… what if it falls before then?”
“…Yeah, good point.”
The cat’s movements were quite unstable for quite some time.
Even Yuzuru, who didn’t particularly like cats, found himself a little tense watching it.
“What should we do… I’ve never climbed a tree before… Um, Takasegawa-san?”
The implication was clear:
Could you climb up and save it?
There was no particular reason for Yuzuru to help the cat, nor any obligation to grant Arisa’s request.
But still…
having a cat fall from a tree and die would leave a bad taste in his mouth.
“I’m more of a dog person, but I guess… what else am I supposed to do.”
Muttering that, Yuzuru untied his sash and started taking off his kimono.
Arisa immediately flushed pink and hurriedly turned away.
“H-hold on! P-please don’t suddenly start taking your clothes off!”
“Oh, sorry. I’ve got a T-shirt and trousers underneath, so it’s fine.”
“T-then you should’ve said that ahead of time…”
It seemed true that she had never dated anyone. She clearly wasn’t used to men.
Blushing bright red just because he took off a layer of clothing — her resistance seemed practically nonexistent.
Yuzuru roughly folded the kimono he removed and handed it to Arisa.
“Yukishiro. You’re good at sports, right?”
“Huh? Ah, yes.”
“If the cat falls before I get there, catch it with that as a cushion.”
With that, he began scaling the sturdy tree.
It had been a while since he’d climbed one, but luckily the tree looked easy enough to scale — maybe that was why the cat had climbed it in the first place.
Yuzuru quickly made his way upward.
Fortunately, the cat showed no sign of trying to escape.
“Right… got ya.”
He managed to capture the cat without much trouble.
For just a moment, he relaxed.
…That was a grave mistake.
“Meow!!”
“Ow! H-hey! I just saved your life, you little — stop thrashing—ah—”
His balance suddenly collapsed.
The ground rushed closer.
Because he was holding the cat, he couldn’t land properly with his hands.
Yuzuru tried to regain his posture in midair—
“OUCH!!”
“Ah—Takasegawa-san!?”
His right ankle twisted violently upon impact.
