Chapter 130: How a Genius Loves (5)
From that day on, all Arimura Noa could do was watch.
Seeing Honda Daisuke look happier than he ever did when he was with her, she finally reflected on what kind of person she had been to him all this time—and all she could do was sigh.
“Mom…”
“What?”
“Am I a bad person?”
“Is this about Daisuke?”
“Yeah.”
Seeing her daughter’s gloomy expression, Arimura Noa’s mother felt her heart ache, but she knew she had to tell her the truth.
“To Daisuke, probably. You knew, didn’t you? How that boy felt about you.”
“Is that so? I just… always found it comfortable having Daisuke around… but now something here feels uncomfortable.”
Arimura Noa pointed to a spot on her chest.
“That’s jealousy.”
“Jealousy.”
Even her father had joined the conversation at some point.
“I thought Daisuke would become my son-in-law… What a shame.”
“Exactly. Where are you going to find a guy like that?”
“Enough! If you’re not going to take my side, then don’t talk to me!”
Bang!
Arimura Noa stormed into her room in anger, leaving her bewildered parents behind.
Knock knock.
—Noa. If you’re that worried, why don’t you try making an effort this time? The same way Daisuke always did for you.
A little while later, her mother left those words outside the door before walking away.
Lying in bed, Arimura Noa made a decision before falling asleep.
‘Fine. Screw it. Let’s give it a try.’
She figured anything was better than this constant tightness in her chest.
Starting the next day, Arimura Noa began stubbornly following Honda Daisuke around.
***
I couldn’t understand what was happening right now.
After the day I decided to distance myself from Arimura Noa, she suddenly started talking to me much more often.
And today.
For some inexplicable reason, Arimura Noa began being extremely nice to me.
She made lunch for me, carried my bag, and even cleaned up in my place.
Things that never would have happened in my previous life.
‘What is this? Some new kind of harassment?’
Except for the times I was alone with Kirishima Sumire, she was always smiling at me—like the calm before a storm.
Finally unable to stand it, I asked her the reason.
“Noa. Why are you suddenly acting like this?”
“What do you mean?”
“Why are you being so nice all of a sudden?”
“Why? Is it weird that I’m being nice?”
“Yeah.”
“Wow… so I really was trash, huh… Fine. I’ll be even nicer from now on.”
With those final words—“I’ll be even nicer”—she turned and went back to her seat.
“Huh…?”
In that moment of bewilderment, I became certain.
Love…
Romance…
It’s not something done with the heart.
It’s done with the head.
Her sudden change in behavior and atmosphere after I started treating her coldly told me everything.
Right now, she was jealous.
She didn’t want to lose me to another girl.
Having figured it all out, I fell into an even deeper dilemma.
One part of me thought this could be my chance to finally make her mine.
Another part wanted to keep pushing her away.
“Sigh… This is a headache in its own way.”
A vengeful part of me also wanted to give back all the pain and humiliation I had endured.
After several days of agonizing, I came to a conclusion.
I would give her exactly what she had given me.
Every emotion I had felt.
Using my head to the fullest.
After that, my meticulously planned push-and-pull game completely wrecked Arimura Noa.
I would be kind to her one moment, then cold and distant the next. Her emotional ups and downs grew more extreme.
But ironically, because of her growing obsession with me, she studied harder and managed to get into the same Tokyo University as me.
Kirishima Sumire, who had always been academically strong, also got accepted to the same university.
So once again, the three of us ended up at the same school.
On the day of high school graduation, Kirishima Sumire confessed to me.
I gave her a positive answer.
From that day on, Kirishima Sumire and I became lovers.
Just like I had once been, she consistently took care of me and loved me without wavering.
“Hey, I’m dating Sumire now.”
“What?”
On the day of graduation, by telling Arimura Noa that I was dating Sumire, I indirectly let her feel the sting of rejection she had once given me.
I knew she liked me now, so this was a method I could use.
“Why? You had boyfriends too. Am I not allowed to date?”
“No, that’s not what I meant…”
“Then I’m hanging up. I have plans to eat with Sumire.”
The call ended, and after that day, Arimura Noa locked herself in her room and cried for a long time.
Resenting her past self, again and again.
Throughout university life, the three of us had many overlapping moments.
As time passed, Kirishima Sumire began to find Arimura Noa irritating, while Arimura Noa had disliked Kirishima Sumire from the very beginning.
But whenever a fight broke out, nine times out of ten, I took Kirishima Sumire’s side.
There was one time I sided with Arimura Noa instead—and her face lit up with pure happiness.
I, too, was walking a dangerous tightrope, slowly destroying myself in the process.
At some point, I even started treating Kirishima Sumire the same way—thinking with my head first, choosing the optimal action.
Even when I was with her, the overwhelming happiness I once felt was gone, but I didn’t break up with her.
Eventually, the gears that had been slowly grinding against each other completely shattered.
“Daisuke… Do you really like me?”
For the first time, Kirishima Sumire spoke with full suspicion in her voice.
“…”
“Say you like me!”
“…I’m sorry.”
“Please… just say you like me…”
For the first time, she shed tears of sadness.
Meanwhile, all I felt toward Kirishima Sumire was guilt.
No real sadness.
And so we broke up.
As a result, Arimura Noa’s expression brightened.
Just like I once had.
I did to her exactly what she had done to me—dated other women while refusing to meet her.
Even though I knew full well that she liked me.
Still, whenever I needed someone to talk to about my worries, I went to Arimura Noa.
Hiding behind the mask of “friend.”
But things didn’t go entirely according to plan.
I decided this would be the end—no more tormenting Arimura Noa.
The final blow would be marriage.
“I’m getting married. To this person. She makes me feel at ease. She gives me stability. She always takes care of me.”
Just as she had once done to me, I brought another woman with me and told Arimura Noa I was getting married.
Her face collapsed completely, and she left the room.
A few days later, a single message arrived from Arimura Noa along with a photo.
[I’m happy.]
The picture showed Arimura Noa standing on what looked like a rooftop somewhere.
“Crazy!”
The moment I saw the photo, I knew something was terribly wrong. I rushed outside.
“The photo!”
I had to figure out the location from the picture.
“Please… please…”
I scanned the surrounding buildings to pinpoint the place.
“I can do this. I’m a genius.”
I hurriedly called 119 and reported a suicide attempt, giving them the location from the photo.
“Found it.”
Crash!
Arimura Noa fell onto the roof of a car right in front of me.
The windshield shattered into pieces.
Arimura Noa had attempted suicide.
Right before my eyes.
***
Seeing Arimura Noa lying in a coma, I was overwhelmed with shock.
‘Where did it all go wrong?’
It was me who had driven Arimura Noa to such an extreme point.
‘No… I never meant for it to go this far…’
I finally understood.
Love isn’t something done with the head…
It’s done with the heart.
“I’m sorry… I was wrong.”
I sat in front of the operating room, crying endlessly as I waited.
***
In her coma, Arimura Noa dreamed a strange dream.
“What is this?”
She saw scenes from her and Honda Daisuke’s childhood.
Back then, they had laughed together, played pranks, and bickered playfully.
As they became elementary school students, she watched Honda Daisuke decide to become an idol because of her words—and she gave a bitter smile.
“Back then… it was because of me that he became an idol…”
Time passed quickly again, and when they became high school students, this time he was a baseball player.
During all those years, seeing Honda Daisuke quietly stay by her side brought a smile to her face involuntarily—but soon her expression hardened.
It had reached the point in third year of high school where he began to change.
But unlike her memories, Honda Daisuke remained warm.
He tutored her, helped her study.
In the end, they even got into the same university.
There was no entanglement with Kirishima Sumire—he only ever looked at her.
Seeing that, tears began to well up in Arimura Noa’s eyes.
She had taken his devoted care for granted, knowing full well how he felt, yet she had turned a blind eye.
“I’m sorry… I’m so sorry…”
Later in the dream, when she said she wanted to marry a professional man, Honda Daisuke prepared to become a lawyer, while she dated many other men in the meantime. Arimura Noa cursed at the dream version of herself.
“Fucking bitch… This is all my karma.”
Still, Arimura Noa thought that, no matter what, she would end up marrying Honda Daisuke.
No matter how much she thought about it, there was no better husband material than him.
But her expectations were completely wrong.
In the dream, she brought home some strange man and announced she was getting married.
She even asked Honda Daisuke to sing at the wedding.
Arimura Noa hurled curses at the dream version of herself, even though she couldn’t hear them.
“Hey, you crazy bitch!”
Despite her rage, in the dream, after hearing the wedding news, Honda Daisuke drowned himself in alcohol and lived like a wreck.
“No… Why are you like this? Just forget someone as awful as me and live happily…”
Watching him soaked in liquor was too painful.
She desperately wished he would forget a terrible person like her and find happiness.
She thought that, being Honda Daisuke, he would eventually get back on his feet.
At least until the moment before he died.
When she saw him miss a step, tumble down the stairs, and die, it felt like her heart was being torn to shreds.
It hurt even more than when she herself had fallen from the rooftop.
“Ugh… ugh…”
The sorrow was so overwhelming that even her sobs came out broken.
She could only make strange, choked sounds while tears streamed down.
After crying for a long time, her consciousness gradually faded.
“No… Daisuke…”
Even as she lost consciousness, she kept calling for Honda Daisuke.
A little later, the fading awareness slowly sharpened again, and a pure white ceiling came into view.
‘What was that dream just now…? Did Daisuke know that if he kept loving me, he would end up like that?’
Now, freshly awakened from her coma, Arimura Noa’s mind was filled entirely with thoughts of Honda Daisuke.
“She’s regained consciousness.”
“Call the doctor.”
As soon as Arimura Noa woke up, the people in the ICU hurriedly moved. Soon, several people in strange gowns rushed in.
Among them, one person stood out clearly.
It was Honda Daisuke.
His eyes had returned to the pure, innocent gaze of the little boy who used to follow her around.
Though his face was completely covered in tears.
Arimura Noa struggled to open her mouth to comfort the crying man.
“Hey… minion. We’re even now, right? So you’ll marry me now?”
At her single sentence, Honda Daisuke dropped to his knees in front of her and sobbed.
After that, Arimura Noa and Honda Daisuke confirmed each other’s feelings and began dating.
Eventually, they got married.
And so, their love story came to an end.
***
The movie concluded with Arimura Noa and Honda Daisuke finally coming together.
“Huuuuaaaang.”
Lee Hae-soo was busy wiping away tears and snot with Kim Si-woo’s handkerchief, while Arimura Noa, perhaps still immersed in her character, sat blankly for a long time.
“Still… if this goes wrong, the movie’s going to get slammed with bad reviews.”
Once they were outside, Kim Si-woo honestly voiced his concern.
Unlike in the past, people these days don’t like protagonists who are pushovers.
They prefer refreshing, empowering endings where the main character prioritizes their own happiness and doesn’t get taken advantage of.
Because of that trend, even though the movie turned out well, he couldn’t help but worry.
“Noa-ssi.”
“Yes?”
“Do you think we could call Daisuke and Sumire-ssi today?”
“Um… I’ll try contacting them.”
Kim Si-woo began laying out a new plan for the movie’s success.
**************
TL Note:
This novel is now translated and finished at Chapter 176
If you’d like to continue right away, the remaining chapters are available on My Patreon Premium tier and Plus Tier, but if you want to read my other 5 translated novels, join the Premium Tier
Link: https://www.patreon.com/cw/Vritratls
For this novel specifically, check the collection under “Genius Writer”
**************