My Youth Romantic Comedy Is Wrong As Expected

Page 182

After walking to the Togetsukyo Bridge area and seeing the Kyoto Arashiyama Music Box Museum, we turned towards Sagano.

Rickshaws bustled back and forth, connecting to the main road lined with shops.

The streets here are clean and unique, and there are many fast food shops. The aroma of food wafting from all directions quickly attracted Yuihama.

Along the way, she ate a croquette in one hand and a piece of fried chicken in the other, and now her mouth was stuffed full of ginger beef buns. Hmm... well, it makes sense, since we didn't have lunch, eating these snacks instead is understandable.

Seeing Yuihama eating like that, Yukinoshita shuddered, wondering if she should say something. Finally, she sighed softly and said:

"Be careful you don't not be able to eat dinner..."

Yuihama seemed to hear her mother's nagging and suddenly realized what was happening. Then, she hesitantly handed me the food.

"Oh... well, here, have some."

"don't want……"

Why do you like to take a few bites of every kind of food...? I'd still be willing to eat it even if only half of it was left.

She looked at her hands full of steamed buns and croquettes, then looked at Yukinoshita with pleading eyes.

"Eh... Yukino, what are we going to do with all this?"

"Sigh... let me eat some for you."

The sight of a squirrel with its mouth stuffed full was a rare treat, and I became so engrossed in watching it that I even felt a sense of accomplishment, like I had successfully tamed a fox-squirrel.

When I was halfway through reading, Yukinoshita suddenly glared at me.

"You can help eat too."

"Okay, I can definitely eat it."

"Ah, here you go."

Yuihama peeled half of the beef bun and gave it to me. Hmm, that solves the problem. I obediently took the bun, put it in my mouth and chewed. Yuihama saw this and chuckled.

She probably found it amusing, and shared half of the croquette with me. I always feel like an animal being domesticated by humans, but it's not so bad. Food that you don't work for tastes the best.

We ate as we walked along the road in Arashiyama.

When we encountered a bend in the road leading to Tenryu-ji Temple, we chose to continue on.

Not long after, a rustling sound came from the left.

I looked up and saw that it was the wind blowing through the lush, dense bamboo forest, making the leaves rustle.

There are countless bamboos here. They grow very tall and lean against each other to form a long tunnel.

The warm sunlight streamed through the gaps in the bamboo grove, and the pleasant sounds created a refreshing atmosphere along the entire path.

This is the bamboo forest path that was featured in the Arashiyama guidebook and on television programs.

The road itself is quite monotonous, but looking at the two rows of bamboo forests that stretch endlessly forward, it looks more and more like a maze, giving one the illusion of being sucked in.

"This place is so beautiful..."

Yui stopped, looked up to bask in the sunlight filtering through the trees, and gently closed her eyes.

"Yes, and look down there."

Snow walked to the fence and pointed to her feet. As soon as she entered the shade of the bamboo grove, the leaves rustled.

"lantern?"

"Yes. At night, lanterns will light up this bamboo grove."

The white-tinged green bamboo forest and the warm-colored lanterns complement each other, surely making Arashiyama even more dazzling at night. I recalled seeing such a view in a travel magazine.

Yuihama seemed to have thought of the same thing and excitedly circled around.

"Great! This is it! It should be fine!"

"what?"

This sentence is not only missing a subject, but it also ends with "should be fine," so I have absolutely no idea what she's talking about.

When I asked her that question, Yui suddenly froze and lowered her head in embarrassment.

"The place where one is confessed to."

Why use passive voice...?

Yukinoshita probably found her reaction amusing and smiled.

"This place has a great ambiance; it's definitely a suitable place for a confession."

"No, that's right!"

"So, you want the Ministry of Revenue to settle this here, is that it?"

The sun is about to set. Just as Xuezhi said, the lanterns will soon shine, illuminating the entire bamboo forest.

A chilly autumn wind swept by.

× × ×

After finishing my last dinner on my graduation trip, I returned to my room.

It's our class's turn to soak in the hot springs now, but the lanterns in the bamboo forest are only lit for a limited time. If we want to go out, we can only make the most of this time and save the soaking for later.

The Minister of Revenue was also in the room, looking extremely uneasy.

"Oh no, I'm starting to get nervous!"

Yamato gave Hobe a hard tap on the back, the force of the impact causing Hobe to cough repeatedly. Yamato said in a low voice:

"rest assured."

"You're getting a girlfriend too~ Won't you have time to hang out with me then~"

Ooka glanced at Hobe and said, to which Hobe reflexively replied:

"No way! Ah, no, no, this isn't the time to think about that. Oh no, oh no~~"

The next second, Hobe tensed up again, and Yamato punched him hard in the back once more.

"rest assured."

I had a feeling that the cycle would never end... but they seemed to be having a lot of fun.

"Even I'm starting to get nervous."

Totsuka is such a good boy.

I'm also caught up in the tension. So tense, so tense, so tense! So exciting, so exciting! Will the Ministry of Revenue's confession actually reach the other person? Let's wait and see.

Ye Shan, who had remained silent until now, slowly stood up.

"...I said, the Ministry of Revenue..."

"Huh? What? I feel super nervous right now~"

"Never mind, it's nothing..."

Their conversation, which had no connection, was like a gear spinning in vain.

"What the heck~"

I was going to tell you to keep going, but when I saw your face, I couldn't say it.

"That's so mean! But I don't think I'm that nervous anymore."

To avoid letting Kebu see his gloomy expression, Hayama left the room.

Given how things have developed, will Hayama's attitude remain unchanged?

During the graduation trip—no, actually even earlier—Hayama's behavior had been quite unusual. He was always meticulous with everyone and never caused any trouble, making his abnormality difficult to detect. However, it was precisely because he was so unlikely to cause trouble that someone like me noticed it.

After Hayama, I also left the noisy room.

I went to the riverbank and struck up a conversation with Hayama. This was a rare instance of me being so generous, taking the initiative to talk to someone!

"You're really not cooperating this time."

"Yeah?"

Hayama had anticipated that I would follow, so he didn't turn around. His composed attitude only made me more and more annoyed.

"Yes. And you keep dragging us down."

As far as I know, Hayama always manages to find the closest answer to the truth. In my understanding, while he champions grand principles, he is also bound by them.

So, the fact that he didn't choose the obvious and correct answer of "supporting his friend" this time made me feel something was off.

I didn't mean that.

Ye Shan turned to look at me with a wry smile. "Stop lying."

"Otherwise, what do you mean?"

"...I really like the time we spend together now, with Tobe, Hina, and everyone else."

He looked straight at me, without a trace of shyness on his face.

"so--"

Even if he doesn't say anything, I know what I'm going to hear next and what I should say in response.

"...If your relationship is ruined because of this, it means it was never really that great to begin with."

"Perhaps. But... what's lost can never be regained."

His tone suggested he had personally experienced something similar. However, I had no interest in Hayama's past and did not intend to inquire about the meaning of that statement.

He himself had no intention of mentioning it further, simply glossing over it with laughter.

"Pretending nothing happened and maintaining a normal relationship might be one approach. We're quite good at that."

Even so, it doesn't mean the event never happened.

I responded instinctively with certainty.

In this world, there are always some things that make people regretful.

There are also some things that make you wish you had never said them.

For example, they could talk normally until yesterday, but after one night, they suddenly became distant and never spoke to each other again; or, letters that used to be exchanged frequently suddenly stopped one day.

In a better scenario, at least they can force a smile and tell each other, "I don't care, we can still pretend to be good friends."

However, a certain awareness has already been imprinted in a corner of the mind, and it can never be erased. Subconsciously, they will become wary of each other, gradually drifting apart at some point, until finally, it all comes to an end.

Hayama closed his eyes and spoke:

"You're right. Hina probably thinks the same way."

"That goes without saying, it would be strange if you wanted to maintain a relationship that was only superficial."

I kicked away a stone at my feet to vent my emotions. The stone rolled to Ye Shan's feet, where he picked it up. He stared at the stone for a while, seemingly deliberately avoiding looking at my face.

"Is that so... I don't think our relationship is just superficial. The current situation is everything to me."

"No, of course only on the surface. Otherwise, what would the Ministry of Revenue do? He's very serious, you know. Don't you want to think about his interests?"

Faced with my questioning, Hayama gripped the stone tightly.

"I've advised him several times to give up the idea. It's impossible for Hina to be interested in the current Minister of Revenue... However, I don't know what the future holds. So I don't want him to rush to conclusions."

Whoosh—the stone was thrown into the river, bounced a few times on the surface, and finally sank to the bottom.

"After all, some things are more important to cherish than to lose."

He stared at the water's surface, as if searching for a vanished stone. But no matter how long he looked, the stone would not appear.

In the end, both Hayama and I assumed that "the damage had already been done" before he said that.

He knew all too well that the relationship would one day disappear; no matter how good the friendship, it would eventually come to an end. Therefore, if you truly cherish it, you should work hard to prevent it from vanishing.

However, those are all sophistry.

"What a selfish excuse, it's just him thinking of himself."

"otherwise--"

Ye Shan's tone became impatient, and he glared at me with intense anger. I glared back, not avoiding his gaze.

He felt ashamed of his sudden outburst of anger, took a deep breath to calm himself down, and then slowly began to speak: