Bonus Arc
Hot! Steamy! Kosaki-chan!
Part Two
Watching a porno. It was a crazy idea. It wasn't something that you'd normally do to solve your friend's romance problems.
But in Kosaki's case, it was necessary.
Miyamoto Ruri's best friend was Onodera Kosaki. For the longest time, she had been watching her friend clumsily try and convey her feelings to her love, Ichijou Raku. Most of the time, it was infuriating for her, watching them dance around the pole, almost exactly the same way each time. Stop chasing after your own tails, damn it! She wanted to take their heads and have them properly face each other for once!
But she couldn't do that. As an especially annoying glasses-wearing bastard had once told her, being able to attain your own happiness was something special. It was something that you couldn't do over and over again in life. Perhaps once or twice, maybe never. Being happy is a selfish thing at its core; no matter what people may think, your own pleasure will never be the same as someone else's. Your happiness can't come from someone else's.
To achieve happiness with the help of others is not real happiness. It is an illusion of happiness that gets created by accepting the false expectations of others.
You like _? Ah, you should confess! I'll help you! I know exactly what you should do.
In a way, this fake happiness is even worse than not achieving happiness; it is a compromise that's forced by having too many hands dip into the pot.
In the end, the most others can do is create the opportunities and give a little push forward. But happiness must be taken with your own hands. She knew that. But it still frustrated her to see that her friend still couldn't put a finger on her own happiness.
Perhaps it was something idealistic like being happy if her friend was happy. That sort of contradictory logic that didn't fit in this pretentious platitude. The truth was that Miyamoto Ruri wouldn't reach happiness just because her best friend was happy.
But it would be a good step forward for her.
And the first thing that needed to happen to do this was make Ichijou Raku aware of Kosaki's feelings. This had been accomplished at the end of the "Black Suit Invasion." However, she hadn't expected the other girls to also confess. Sure, she had been suspicious about Tsugumi and Chitoge's true feelings; meanwhile, Marika and Yui had already declared their love for Raku. But having all of those confessions at once-
It was certainly not on purpose. But those other confessions had made Kosaki's confession meaningless. There was no advantage gained from this. Everything was still on the same playing field.
Except for one fact.
And that was the all-but-confirmed suspicion that Ichijou Raku was in love with Kosaki.
Sure, Ruri had no direct evidence. But she was sure enough that she'd bet everything she had on it. If this was true, then Kosaki merely had to push the right buttons.
Being confessed to by the person you like would floor anyone. Being confessed to by five other people, that was just overkill. No doubt Raku was struggling. What Kosaki needed to do in order to bring that idiot back on track was remind him of his true feelings. The feelings that Ruri was sure he had been holding onto since middle school.
And that meant that Kosaki needed to be aggressive. Not "try" to be aggressive as she had been failing to do the past two years in high school. No, she needed to turn on the charm. She needed to get physical with Raku. Actively ask him on outings. Spend more time together.
But Kosaki was an innocent girl. She was a passive, meek, goodie-two-shoes. Compare her to the forceful, sometimes underhanded, Tachibana Marika. Compare her to the direct, so-pure-that-it-didn't-seem-real love of Kanakura Yui. Raku was in love with Kosaki. So Kosaki just needed to make him fall in love with her all over again.
Watching a porno. It was something that you couldn't see Onodera Kosaki doing. But that was exactly the point. The porno itself wasn't important; what was important was that Kosaki be able to push herself past her character type. Be able to do the things she wanted to, put her body to what her mind and heart wanted.
Yes. This was all for the sake of her best friend. Even if it meant tainting her innocence and dragging her up the stairway of adulthood. Yes, this had nothing to do with the fact that Miyamoto Ruri had been extremely proud and impressed with Kosaki when she had confessed, but then Kosaki had ruined all of that by deliberately nerfing herself with some sort of "peace treaty." Nope, it had nothing to do with how annoyed she was at how sheepy Kosaki acted after getting just one good punch out there in the open.
Nope, it wasn't like that at all.
She was just helping her best friend.
"Sorry, Ruri-chan! Did I make you wait long?"
Three years too many, you sheep!
Is what Ruri wanted to say sometimes.
"No. Let's go, Kosaki. We have to hurry before the store closes."
"The store?"
"Mitsuya," said Ruri.
"Eh...? Mitsuya? In the city?" said Kosaki. Hm? Weren't they going to watch a porno after school? Why were they going to a popular video rental chain in the shopping district-
Suddenly, Kosaki smiled brightly and walked briskly past Ruri.
"Aha, I forgot. I have to do some tastings for Haru today because of the new items we're adding to the menu," said Kosaki, laughing cheerfully. ULTIMATE MOVE! Make-a-convenient-excuse-while-running-away technique!
ULTIMATE MOVE!
Threaten-to-reveal-Kosaki's-feelings-for-Ichijou-
"Ah..."
Kosaki ran away.
Damn it! That stupid Ichijou! Even at a time like this, being useless!
In most cases, Ruri didn't like resorting to blackmail on Kosaki. After all, friends don't blackmail each other. However, for some inexplicable reason that had nothing to do with Kosaki, Ruri was feeling vindictive today. She took out her phone and searched for the image that she had bought from that glasses-wearing bastard a year ago after the school trip.
For a moment, Ruri hesitated. She had actually bought the picture because Kosaki looked so cute in it, but now she was going to stain those pure feelings with this act of betrayal. Perhaps there were better ways of doing these things. Maybe she could try talking to Kosaki again. Yeah, she'd try doing that. She'd just call her up and-
Click.
Kosaki hung up.
Rapidfire texting. Ruri's thumbs moved at the speed of light!
After a few moments passed, Ruri's ringtone started playing.
"Hello?"
"WHERE DID YOU GET THAAAT!?"
"Since you're already running, we'll meet outside Mitsuya. Or else."
"Ruri-chan, you're so mean today..."
"Kosaki." Her voice was black! Kosaki could see black waves spilling out of her phone's speakers!
"Y-Yes!"
"Hurry up." The line went dead with a sharp click.
Kosaki leaned against an electric pole, tears falling from her face. So scary. Why was Ruri so scary today?
Although Bonyari had its fair share of local businesses, it didn't change the fact that video rental stores were starting to lose their grip on the economy due to new mobile streaming options. Of course, there were still a good number of customers, but they were largely dominated by middle-aged and elderly demographics. However, Mitsuya was an exception. Being part of a nationwide chain, Mitsuya had the manpower and the distribution to compete with the capabilities of the net.
The two Bonyari students met at the Sterbucks next door to discuss their battle plan.
"Are we really going to do this...?" said Kosaki, sobbing with her head in her arms.
"W-We're already here. W-We can't back away now," said Ruri, shakily sipping a caramel macchiato.
"Ruri-chan..." started Kosaki, noticing her friend's pale complexion. "Why are you shaking?"
"It's because I'm nervous!"
"Nervous!? About what!? Wasn't this your idea!?"
"It's true that it was my idea. But it's all for your sake, Kosaki. So naturally, I have to go with you. It's not like I can trust you to buy one yourself. Besides, you'd just fall apart when you're walking inside. You'd probably do something stupid like ask the cash register where the adult video section is. So of course I have to go with you. It's not like I didn't want to go buy one myself because it'd be awkward and I've never done something like this before and I don't want to do it alone so I need my best friend to be here with me so I can force her to buy it instead of me-"
Kosaki felt her anxiety start to crumble away as Ruri said all of this with a monotone expression. So Ruri felt the same way as her. But she had still dragged her over here to do this. Kosaki wasn't exactly sure how this was supposed to be for her sake, but if her best friend was putting up this much of an effort, it must be for a good reason.
"Ok, Ruri-chan. I-I think I can do it!"
"Hm? Really?"
"Yeah!" said Kosaki, downing her doppio espresso.
"Kosaki...you were supposed to get that mixed into your-"
"I know..." said Kosaki, clenching her mouth and trembling violently. So bitter! How could something be so bitter!?
"Well then, here's the plan. We step into the store and go to the AV section. We have exactly ten minutes of browsing before a clerk comes over and asks us if we need any help."
"O-Ok...Ten minu-"
Kosaki began pounding the table as the aftertaste kicked in.
"Then when we get up to the register, act like you're not seventeen."
"Eh? Wait, what's that got do with anythin-"
"Ah? Is that Kosaki-chan and Ruri-chan?"
Ruri spat her drink into Kosaki's face. A blonde beauty was waving at them as she walked over with a boyish-looking girl in tow.
HUUUHH!? Chitoge and Tsugumi!? What were they doing here!?
"A-Ah...Chitoge-chan! What a coincidence!" said Kosaki, wiping her face with a napkin.
"Yeah, I didn't expect to see you guys here!"
"Hello, Onodera-sama and Miyamoto-sama."
"What are you guys up to?" asked Chitoge, pulling up a seat at their table.
"J-Just drinking coffee," said Kosaki, laughing shrilly. Ah...I'm such an idiot. "What about you and Tsugumi-chan?"
"Us? We're going over to Mitsuya to get a video for Tsugumi."
"E...Eh...? Really? What video?"
"Well, she's been really into cat videos lately, so-"
"O-Ojou, I don't think Onodera-sama and Miyamoto-sama would care about hearing such mundane-"
"Ehh? Cat videos, huh?" said Kosaki, her eyes glimmering. "You're into that kind of stuff, Tsugumi-chan?"
"I-I wouldn't say into it...but I have developed an interest..." said Tsugumi, blushing furiously.
"We were talking to Marika about it and she suggested a video for us," said Chitoge.
"Marika-chan?" Kosaki and Ruri looked at each other. That was unusual. In general, Marika and Chitoge weren't on good terms. Could it be that after the confession, they had started getting along?
"Yeah, I know right? But she was pretty helpful this time. She even told us which store the video was available at."
"What video was it?"
"Something neko...? What was it again, Tsugumi?"
"I believe it was 'Netorare Neko-chan!', Ojou."
Kosaki's face was blasted with coffee again.
"Netorare? What does that mean?"
"Hmm...perhaps something like 'to take by sleeping with?'"
"Take by sleeping with...? Oh, I get it! It's about an adopted cat!"
Ruri's mouth had turned into a subway tunnel. She exchanged glances with Kosaki, who also had her mouth gaping open. Ah, so she knew too. Wait a second. Kosaki!? Where did you learn that from!? When!?
"Uh...Kirisaki-san. I don't think that video is available anymore," said Ruri, thinking fast. "We just came from Mitsuya actually and that was one of the videos my...friend wanted to watch."
"No way...they're out?"
"It must be a popular item," said Tsugumi.
""Khhh...I really want to see it now," said Chitoge, completely forgetting her original purpose. "Maybe someone returned it just now."
"Yes, we've already made our way here. It wouldn't hurt to check."
NO!
Ruri and Kosaki exchanged panicked looks. This wasn't good. How evil! Marika wasn't getting along with her at all! At this rate, Chitoge and Tsugumi's innocence were at risk!
"Chitoge-chan!"
"Kirisaki-san!"
Ruri and Kosaki looked at each other again. There was no helping it.
"We'll help you look," said Kosaki with a forced smile.
"Yeah, my friend would be grateful too," said Ruri, feeling like her teeth were going to crack.
"You guys don't have to do tha-"
"WE INSIST!" said the two of them. Chitoge blinked at their enthusiasm.
"Ok...ah! We can all watch it together if we find it. It'll be a girl's night!"
"O-Ojou, I'm sure that Onodera-sama and Miyamoto-sama both have things that they have to do toda-"
"NOPE, WE'RE FREE!"
"...Well, if that's the case...we'll be in your care," said Tsugumi, bowing her head. Ruri and Kosaki panted after their outburst. As the four of them left the Sterbucks and headed to Mitsuya, Ruri and Kosaki frantically whispered to each other-
"What do we do, Ruri-chan!?"
"I-It's ok. There's no guarantee that they'll have that video in stock-"
"But Marika-chan said-"
"Damn that Tachibana! If it's like that...then there's no other way. We'll have to do that."
"Huh? Do what?"
"This is actually a chance for us, Kosaki. Mitsuya recently executed some new policies. For porno rentals, they put the discs in coverless boxes now with just the title. This was partially done to address customer concerns but it also means that more sales will go to their online store and video purchases, where the cover is left intact."
"...Huh? What does that mean?"
"It means that if we're lucky, we can leave this store without them knowing about the video's contents."
"We're going to let them rent that video!?"
"Yes, Kosaki. They're going to rent that video. And then..."
Ruri's glasses glinted as they reached Mitsuya's front entrance.
"We're going to steal it from them."
A/N: Just to clarify for some that might not know about the subject; a common equivalent given to netorare (NTR) is cuckold. There are long debates about its exact definition on the Internet, but NTR is usually used to refer to the act of the protagonist's loved one being stolen from him/her.
