Weren’t You Only Using Me As A Stand-in? [108]

Kasumigaoka Utaha’s expression froze in shock.

What does this have to do with Aki?

“This wasn’t meant for Aki, I—”

“Senpai, are you trying to say this was meant for me instead?”

Kitahara Takeru didn’t wait for her to finish. He already knew what she was about to say, so he said it for her.

“Senpai, do you remember the first gift you gave me last winter?”

Last winter…?

Utaha furrowed her brows in thought.

It wasn’t all that long ago. The memory should’ve come easily.

But at the time, she’d been drowning in the pain of Aki Tomoya rejecting her confession. She hadn’t cared about Kitahara Takeru at all back then—so much so that now, she genuinely couldn’t recall what she’d given him.

Kitahara waited a while. Then the corners of his mouth curved downward.

“Of course you wouldn’t remember, senpai.”

“Because from the beginning, it wasn’t meant for me.”

His eyes were laced with sorrow, and his voice carried a deep, quiet ache.

Utaha felt her heart tighten, the guilt digging in like a clenched fist.

She sifted through memory after memory, searching desperately for what gift she’d given Kitahara.

“Senpai, I’ll tell you. It was a scarf. One you hand-knitted yourself.”

“You were planning to give it to Aki Tomoya, weren’t you.”

Kitahara smiled faintly, a bitter curve to his lips. His eyes looked like snapped harp strings—silent, but heavy with pain.

Does it hurt?

Heh… he’s faking it.

“That scarf—I did give it to you,” Utaha said quickly, panic rising as the memory surfaced.

She had intended to give that scarf to Aki Tomoya.
But after he rejected her confession, the gift had nowhere to go.

Then one day, during a date with Kitahara, she noticed him underdressed for the cold. Worried he’d freeze, she gave him the scarf.

“At first, I thought it really was for me. But after wearing it for a while, I noticed the name stitched into the hem: Aki.”

“Senpai, my last name is Kitahara. Not Aki.”

Truth was, he never wore that scarf once.

It was ugly.

If a girlfriend had made it, no matter how hideous, he’d wear it without hesitation.

But Kasumigaoka Utaha wasn’t his girlfriend.

And the very next day, his landlady had given him a much better scarf—softer, warmer, and way more stylish.

He didn’t even know what material it was, but it felt better than the one from Utaha.

As for her scarf? He had no idea where it ended up.

And how did he know it had Aki’s name on it?

That was thanks to Kamikawa Rie, who somehow broke into his place recently and dug it up.

She’d exploded the moment she saw it, convinced he was sneaking around with some girl named Aki. It took hours to explain.

“I…”

Utaha tried to explain, but the words wouldn’t come.

She regretted it bitterly. Why had she stitched a name at all?

Now, no matter what she said, there was no way to explain why the scarf she’d given Kitahara Takeru bore Aki Tomoya’s name.

“Senpai, do you remember the black-rimmed glasses you gave me on my birthday?”

Kitahara tapped the frame resting on his nose.

“Yeah.”

She remembered. A week before his birthday, she’d been browsing the mall, taking her time choosing a gift. After days of careful searching, she settled on those glasses.

“These glasses…”

He paused for effect. Then quietly finished:

“…were a gift you picked up while shopping for Aki Tomoya, weren’t they?”

Utaha’s eyes widened. “Kitahara, why would you think that?”

“Because Aki wears glasses just like these.”

His voice was flat, stripped of all emotion—as if all hope had long since burned to ash.

“Those were from Megumi. I didn’t buy those for him.”

There was a hint of urgency in her voice now, as she tried to clarify.

I know, Kitahara thought. Megumi told me herself. I just wanted to pin that on you.

But he said nothing. No change in expression. He simply pushed the phone across the table toward her, gaze calm and steady.

He didn’t need to speak. The message was clear.

He wasn’t going to accept the phone.

Utaha stared at him blankly. Then her lashes fluttered like moth wings, and a faint sadness surfaced in her eyes.

“Takeru… is it that no matter what I say now… you won’t believe me anymore?”

Kitahara didn’t look at her. His gaze shifted to the tree outside. His voice was empty—neither angry nor sad.

“Because you were the one who told me, senpai… I was just a stand-in.”

Utaha’s chest tightened.

You’re just a stand-in.

It was something she used to say often. A warning—don’t get attached, don’t get ideas. She would never fall for him.

Back then, it hadn’t seemed like much.

But hearing those same words echoed back to her from him, for the first time—it unsettled her.

It felt like something terrible was about to happen.

Something irreversible.

Because Kitahara Takeru… wasn’t acting like himself today.

He’d always been obedient, reserved. Even when she snapped at him, he’d just absorb it in silence.

Like the kind of man who never gets angry—but once he does, it’s terrifying.

“Takeru… what’s wrong with you today?”

Her voice trembled slightly.

That cool, composed persona she always wore around him was slipping.

Kitahara gazed at her quietly. “Senpai, don’t you have something you want to tell me today?”

“…Tell you what?”

He looked at her for a long moment, then said, “If you won’t say it, then I will.”

He drew in a deep breath, eyes shutting like he’d made peace with something.

“…Let’s end this.”

“What are you saying?”

Utaha’s heart lurched.

She wasn’t stupid.

She knew exactly what he meant by that.

But she didn’t want to believe it—that Kitahara Takeru would ever be the one to end things between them.

He saw her still playing dumb and cut straight to the point.

“Senpai, I’m tired of being someone’s replacement. Let’s end whatever this is.”

The suffocating sadness hit like a tidal wave, crashing down on her. Even her stomach twisted from the weight of it.

What just happened?

Why… is Takeru leaving me?

She couldn’t understand it. Why, all of a sudden, did he want to walk away?

Was it because she stood him up last time?

Or because she’d said something too cruel?

What was it?

Her voice was shaking now. “W–Why?”

All this time, it had never even occurred to her that Kitahara Takeru might leave her.

He liked her so much.

Even when Machida Sonoko warned her that today was going to be the end, she never really believed it.

She just treated today like any other date, thinking things would blow over.

“Can you tell me why?”

Her voice was still gentle, but the usual superiority was gone.

Kitahara was quiet for a moment. Then he spoke—soft, but sharp as thunder.

“Senpai, at the Tokyo Cat & Dog Expo… I was there.”

---

This is a fan translation of 不是说只拿我当替身的吗？by 雪碧加冰. All rights to the original work belong to the creator. Please support them by exploring their original work or sharing it with others if you can. Thank you for reading and supporting my efforts to bring this story to a wider audience!