“That’s no excuse. Stop trying to weasel your way out of this,” Kanae said, speaking frankly with him.

“I don’t like irritating women, anyway.”

“And what about the time you told a girl, in the middle of a date, that you were bored and you wanted to break up with her? And then you just started walking home! Then there was the time a girl threatened to kill herself—she was ready to jump out of the window, and you offered to push her! I’ve heard more things than I can even remember!”

There were a lot of nasty rumors flying around about Yuichi. In fact, they had become regular points of conversation at drinking parties.

“Oh, they’re still talking about that? I don’t even remember who that was.”

One might think that the word “asshole” had been created especially for this guy, but the fact of the matter was, the guy in question had no idea that he was doing anything wrong.

“If you keep doing things like that, then no one’s going to want to be around you anymore.”

“What? If it’s not fun anymore, then why should I keep them around?” Yuichi was being thickheaded as usual, and so Kanae had no choice but to give up now. “Anyway I don’t have time for girls that I’m not excited about. If I’m not into them, then that’s the end. Nothing wrong with that.”

And while there was a certain truth to his words, the way he went about things was totally, and disastrously, wrong.

“Well, how about you stop dating every single girl that shows an interest in you?”

Yuichi frowned at this idea too.

“If I don’t date them, how am I going to know what kind of girls they are? If I don't know what kind of girls they are, how do you expect me to find the one? If they say they like me, then I’ll date them. It’s perfectly normal, don’t you think?”

Kanae couldn’t argue with this logic, and Yuichi was obviously not going to be convinced otherwise.

“Then you should be nicer to the girls you date!”

“My dear Kanae, there is no need; I’m the one I love the most.”

On the average, Yuichi had one or two girlfriends at a time. He would meet them when he wanted to and avoided them when he didn’t want to see them. Experience taught him that girls were good for a roll in the hay two or three times before getting boring, so his relationships would usually end after those conditions were met. And while some of them would threaten to slit their wrists, none of them actually had, so Yuichi never took them seriously. He really was something else.

“Why do you get bored of them so quickly?”

It was genuine curiosity that made Kanae ask. If Yuichi was seriously looking for a partner, then couldn’t he be a little bit more patient?

“I don’t know. They just get annoying.” Yuichi shook his head. Kanae sighed.