After school, in my room, on my bed.

There was a girl seated next to me in her high school uniform bouncing up and down.

We were playing a classic racing game called Mario Kart on the Tv. I was about to use an item to launch a follow-up assault on her female character, who was now leading in the first place.

“Please forgive me. For this is what I mean when I say that the prosperous and the desperate have no reason to fade away.”

I proclaimed this while firing a blue and blue-coloured missile at her. The missile spun around in the skies above the manipulative princess-Hime-sama character she was controlling before exploding. Bursting through the cloud of blue smoke, the gorilla character I control leaps to the top of the scoreboard.

“Geez, Masaichi, you’re not fair! Extremist! Meanie! Deviant! Gloomy corner-dweller!”

“What does this have to do with gloomy!? Eh, is this some emotional attack? We’re fighting outside the ring!?”

Meanwhile, I utilized a barrier item to stop a red missile from closing in on me from behind, and then I hit another red missile closing in on me into the wall in quick succession. The red missile appeared to have homing capabilities.

There were two more curves left before the finish line. I swerved inside of the curve and hopped across a flower bed on the road’s curb to avoid going through the second curve.

And so, the gorilla piloted by me, Masaichi Mazono, finished the race in the first place.

I took a deep breath and brushed my hair to the left, which had grown long enough to cover my eyes.

“Gyyyyaaaaaaaa, no, noooooo!!! Ah!!! I can’t make it in time! Hey, stop!!!”

After being overtaken by the CPU, Toiro Kurumi and her colourful princess crossed the finish line, finishing fifth.

I mean, you were screaming way too much. Every time we went around a curve, you would lean back and slam your shoulders into mine. Well, that’s how it usually is…

“Uh, I lost. Your way too unfair, Masaichi! To think you would keep those blue missiles from the start of the match, isn’t that far too sly? And isn’t this course way too challenging? The moment I start to drift, you would launch your missiles at me.”

While dropping the controller on the bed to make it easier to get rid of, Toiro asked me about it. If I had to be honest, I used a technique where I would have to get to the bottom of the list and slowly work my way up to the top. It may sound impressive, but it’s not. The farther away you are from, the first place, the easier it is for you to get better items; this way, it would be relatively easy to turn the tables and secure your victory. However, I dared to keep the items I had acquired there and exploited my playing abilities to the utmost to reach the top. Thus, by utilizing my remaining items, I was able to take down Toiro, who was leading in the first place.

“That race felt far too extreme. I felt like I was driving through my hometown. I mean, Toiro, you were way too loud.”

“That flower bed method had to be some hidden skill! I can’t help it. My voice comes out naturally. It must be the rice cakes I ate, but I’m running low on calories due to all the yelling.”

“Your running low on calories? Anyway, time for the punishment game. Could you get me some juice from below, please? Why don’t you get some more sweets for yourself at the same time?”

“Yes, I’ll go. I don’t want to eat any more sweets because they make me fat.”

Toiro stood up and pressed her bare feet against the bedsheet. When she got off the bed, her chestnut brown hair, dyed red on the inside of the tips (called inner colour), swayed left and right.

“There’s soda in the fridge. Is that okay?”

“Yeah, thanks.”

She unlocked the door and proceeded downstairs to the living room as if she was familiar with the place.

Since childhood, Toiro and I have known each other for a pretty long time, so you could say that we are ‘childhood friends.’ However, She is also a childhood friend with whom I have a rotten relationship.

Whenever we are together, we feel at home. We’ve been playing together since we were kids, we play the same games, and our tastes in manga and anime are similar. That’s why we spend a lot of time playing together in our room after school.

As such, I’ve never made a mistake or even felt like I was in such an atmosphere. I’m sure that Toiro feels the same way as me.

That’s why I could never have predicted that our tenuous, inseparable relationship would take an unexpected turn.

Toiro came back to the room with a plastic bottle of soda in her hand.

“Hey, can I tell you something that might surprise you?”

“Hmm? What’s with the suddenness?”

I replied curiously to Toiro’s sudden and unexpected words.

“Did you know? It’s almost eight o’clock.”

“What’s that? … That’s true! Is it that late already?!”

Looking at the clock, I was certainly surprised.

I expected myself to go back home straight after school. But the moment I stopped by, I found myself gaming without pause. We didn’t realize it until it was too late. We could tell we were both engrossed in the game since time had moved so quickly.

“The curtains are closed in this room. Isn’t that a little unhealthy?”

“What if the evening sunlight interferes with our gaming? That one mistake could be fatal.”

“This isn’t a game, you know?!”

In the midst of this conversation, I looked at my clock again.

“So, are you heading home for the day?”

Toiro showed me a grin and shook her head.

“Why should I? I don’t need to go home.”

” ‘Why should I?’ That’s because it’s getting late, and the streets are pretty dangerous at night.”

“Nope. I live right next to you. So, how should I put it? Oh right, I think I’ll stay here today.”

Toiro and I lived next door to each other in a single house, and our parents were quite close. We frequently slept in one other’s rooms. This statement, however, now has a new significance for us.

I can tell by her ten-coloured grin that she’s joking. But the words that follow, which are somewhat predictable, almost made me sigh.

“――Because we’re dating.”

‘We’re dating’ As you all heard, Toiro and I were currently dating. But――

“No, we’re not. We’re pretending.”

I hurriedly added.

For some reason, Toiro and I have recently decided to pretend to be together.

Now that we’re a couple, we’re still playing around as much as before.

However, will this kind of relationship continue forever?

This is the story of my girlfriend and me, two people with a rotten relationship.