My Youth Romantic Comedy Is Wrong As Expected

Page 277

"It is indeed a bit inferior..."

Nakamachi, who was standing nearby, chuckled along.

Oh...excuse me. May I ask what your name is again?

Because of what happened in junior high, Zheben always treated me like a joke. I can understand that, and I find it acceptable. But now even her classmates have joined in the mockery. What's going on?

Once you've looked down on someone, you can speak without restraint from then on. Unbeknownst to her, she has gained a get-out-of-jail-free card, allowing her to say whatever she wants and mock others without ever feeling guilty.

The loss—or more accurately, the opportunity I created in the past, leaving myself vulnerable, so now I have nothing to say.

I had no choice but to accept it willingly. Ah, coffee is bitter, and so is life.

With the lingering bitterness of the coffee, I forced a stiff smile. Just then, Hayama, who was sitting next to me, slammed his lap down.

"I really don't like this kind of thing..."

"That's right!"

Hayama nodded and said, and Nakamachi, unaware of what was going on, also nodded.

"Oh, no."

At this moment, Ye Shan smiled.

With a voice sweeter than chocolate, he patiently explained to the two girls what they had misunderstood.

I'm talking about you guys.

At that moment, the smile on his face was as bright as the sun.

"Um, may I ask...?"

Orimoto and Nakamachi felt a little awkward and asked, puzzled. I myself couldn't quite grasp the meaning of that sentence, and a question mark appeared above my head.

Everyone suddenly fell silent, making the music playing in the store much louder.

Click, click—just then, I heard someone walk up the stairs and slowly approach this place.

"...Are they here?"

Hayama whispered and stood up from his seat.

He raised a hand. I followed his gaze and saw Yukinoshita and Yui. They were both wearing uniforms and carrying school bags, seemingly having just come from school.

Faced with an unexpected visitor, I found myself standing up without even realizing it.

"you……"

"An autistic man..."

Yuihama wore a slightly sad smile, gripped the strap of her backpack tightly, and stood there at a loss.

She stood beside us, staring coldly at us from beneath the snow. When our eyes met, her gaze remained unchanged, devoid of any emotion.

Their attitude was as if they were blaming me, and I couldn't help but turn my face away.

"Why did you come here...?"

The person who answered this question was Hayama.

"I'm the one who found them."

I, Orimoto, and Nakamachi all stared wide-eyed. Orimoto and the others had absolutely no idea what was going on. Hayama first spoke harshly to them, and then people they didn't recognize arrived at the scene. Not only that, but those people were people Hayama had brought.

I was momentarily confused and stood frozen in place. At the same time, Hayama turned his head towards Orimoto and the others.

"Hachiman's level is not as low as you think."

His smile vanished, and his tone became laced with obvious hostility. Orimoto and Nakamachi, witnessing his intense, piercing gaze, found themselves breathless for a moment.

"The girls who are close to him are far better than you. Please stop judging by appearances and making those self-righteous remarks."

Hayama pointed to Yukinoshita and Yuihama. Orimoto and Nakamachi followed his hand and looked over, secretly gasping for breath, unable to utter a sound.

Their image of Hayato Hayama had been shattered. They were even filled with fear, not knowing what had happened.

The two people remained silent, their lips tightly pressed together.

Only one person made a sound at the scene.

A soft laugh came from the bar area behind the glass wall of the smoking area.

After a long while, Zheben let out a deep sigh.

"Sorry, I have to go."

She said that and grabbed her schoolbag. Nakamachi hurriedly followed.

"Ah, um. Sorry, me too..."

The two stood up and headed down the stairs. As they passed Yukinoshita and Yuihama, Orimoto suddenly stopped and glanced at them.

Yukinoshita completely ignored her, continuing to stare intently at me and Hayama. Yuihama, unable to bear Zheben's gaze, shyly turned her body and face away.

"Is that so..."

Orimoto seemed to understand something, murmured to himself, and continued walking. Nakamachi also looked back at Hayama one last time, but she quickly turned her head back and quietly walked down the stairs.

After the two left, Yukinoshita let out a soft breath and slowly spoke:

"I heard you called us here to discuss the election."

She questioned Ye Shan with a sharp gaze, her eyes conveying a stronger force than her words. Ye Shan didn't respond, but simply looked away.

"Election? Student council election?"

Yukinoshita ignored my question, and Hayama nodded weakly. Seeing this, Yuihama hurriedly tried to smooth things over.

"Well, actually, Yukino and I were discussing whether we could ask Hayato to run for the election, and we just happened to have the opportunity to discuss it today, so, so..."

She rattled off a long string of words, but in the end, she became increasingly weak.

They were indeed considering asking Hayama to run for office. This was a perfectly reasonable choice, and I wasn't surprised at all. However, I didn't expect Hayama to agree. Although he's the type who finds it hard to refuse after being asked a few times, he's already the president of the soccer club. If he tries to juggle both club duties and the student council, he'll likely end up with nothing to do. Hayama couldn't possibly be unaware of this, so he probably won't agree.

I looked at Hayama, wanting to understand his true intentions. Hayama noticed my gaze and whispered weakly:

"I just want to do what I can do."

I wasn't the first to react upon hearing that.

"Oh, I see—"

At that moment, the woman who had been sitting in a corner of the smoking area stood up, took off her hat, and walked up to us.

"elder sister……"

Upon seeing Haruno, Yukinoshita couldn't hide her inner turmoil. She certainly hadn't expected Haruno to be there. Haruno was quite pleased with Yukinoshita's reaction, a sly smile spreading across her face.

"You're not the one who's going to be the student council president~ I thought you were definitely going to run for it."

Hinata gradually approached Yukinoshita and stopped in front of her. Yukinoshita bit her lip and lowered her gaze slightly.

However, even if you don't look at the other person, you still can't cover your ears and pretend you didn't hear anything.

"You push everything onto others; you're just like your mother in that respect."

Yukinoshita had no way to refute, and could only clench her fists tightly. Haruno leaned close to her and gently stroked her neck.

"It's okay, you can continue like this. Anyway, you never have to lift a finger; someone else does it for you. Right?"

Yang Nai's long, slender fingers slowly traced her delicate, white neck beneath the snow, as if trying to sever her arteries and grip her neck.

As her fingers slid down her throat, they were swatted away by Yukinoshita.

They remained in that position, facing each other for several seconds. No one could break the tension or intervene between them.

"That's right, exactly..."

Yukino glared at Hino, then gave Hayama the same look. Hayama sighed deeply, closed his eyes, while Hino wore a smug smile.

Yukino slung her backpack over her shoulder and turned around.

"If there's nothing else, I'm leaving..."

She turned back and said this before leaving the scene.

Time, which had been frozen in time, began to flow slowly, and we finally breathed a sigh of relief. Yui Hama then came to her senses and turned to chase after the snow.

"X-Xiao Yukino, wait a minute!"

She hurried downstairs, and finally, her footsteps disappeared without a trace. Only the three of us—Hayama, Yuuno, and I—were left.

"Why would you deliberately say something like that to Yukinoshita?"

When Yang Nai heard my question, he put away his cold smile and sighed softly.

"Do I need to say more? I don't always do this~"

"If you just want to cause trouble, isn't that going to be too much trouble?"

Before this, Haruno would often cause trouble for Yukinoshita. However, Haruno was clearly different today.

Every move she made was aggressive, exceeding the level of provocation. Despite knowing the reason why Yang Nai did that, she deliberately acted cute, tilting her head to the side and pretending to be stupid.

"Yeah?"

Even siblings—no, precisely because they are siblings, there are bound to be things they can't get along with. The Yukinoshita sisters are excellent in every way, and have been constantly compared to each other since childhood. Therefore, it's natural that Yukinoshita would harbor certain feelings towards Haruno. However, as the older sister, Haruno is also being compared to others, so I wouldn't be too surprised if her words concealed some hidden meaning.

"Of course. I also have a younger sister, so I understand the complexities between siblings."

Therefore, I can be 100% certain.

Yang Nai listened to my words and simply smiled. That smile was completely different from the one she gave me at the donut shop; it lacked any of the peace she had shown then.

"Hachiman, you know a lot of things."

This statement was full of sarcasm, as if mocking my shallowness, while clearly refusing to let me, an outsider, continue to delve deeper.

The pressure lurking beneath the smile sent chills down my spine.

"..."

Seeing that I adopted a defensive posture, Yang narrowed his eyes, softened his gaze, and his tone became much more cheerful.

"Don't make such a scary face. I really admire you."

"Thank you for your compliment..."

I rubbed my still-scratching goosebumps through my coat.

At that moment, Yang Nai's gaze towards me was unexpectedly gentle.

"You're a really interesting person. You always try to decipher the deeper meaning behind other people's words. I really like people like that."

She suddenly added something out of nowhere, leaving me completely speechless. Then, with a smile, she added:

"It's so cute that she seems afraid of others having any ill intentions."

What appeared before me was a bloodthirsty expression, one that simply regarded me as a pet. I felt no "liking" what she spoke of. After saying this, Yang Nai shifted her gaze to the side.

"Someone who can't handle everything perfectly is boring."

Hayama, who had been listening quietly, let out a sigh that sounded like a soft cough. I didn't need Yang to name names; I already knew who she was talking about.

Seeing that neither I nor Yeshan spoke, Yang Nai shrugged helplessly.

Then, pick up the things that are on the seat.

"Anyway, I've already answered the questions I was curious about, so I'll head back. Besides, it'll get boring if the atmosphere gets awkward."

After she finished speaking, she walked down the stairs without looking back. That carefree attitude was indeed Yang Nai's style, and no one could stop her.

The faint scent of her perfume lingered in the air.

I was left standing there with Ye Shan.

I didn't want to waste any more time here, so I picked up my backpack.

Actually, I've been holding back for a long time.

No matter how much I tried to hold back, there was one sentence I couldn't help but blurt out.

"...Stop making decisions on your own."

I wasn't angry at Hayama's behavior itself, but rather I didn't want Yukinoshita and Yui to see me with other girls.

Knowing this makes me even more annoyed.