My Youth Romantic Comedy Is Wrong As Expected

Page 325

Hayama and Isshiki stayed away from us to watch the fireworks.

With each flash, they drew closer, like a shadow puppet show. By the time I realized it, my gaze was already captivated by them.

The fireworks display came to a grand finale, with a golden waterfall cascading down from the night sky.

In the brightly lit square, Isshiki lowered his head and slowly moved away from Hayama's side, while Hayama looked up at the sky and took a step in the opposite direction.

After the music ended, the streetlights and facility lighting, which had been turned on again, appeared even more dazzling.

The entire audience exclaimed with satisfaction, except for Yi Se, who covered her mouth as if enduring something, and quickly ran past us.

"Ah! Isshiki!"

The Minister of Revenue was the first to notice and called out to her retreating figure.

"Isshiki! Wait a minute—"

However, Isshiki disappeared into the crowd without looking back.

"I'm going to find her!"

The Ministry of Revenue rushed out in a hurry. When Miura saw this, he probably understood what was going on. He twirled his hair with his fingers and sighed deeply.

"Sigh... I'll go too."

"Then I'll help too."

"Ah, me too!"

Ebina also joined the search, and Yuihama also raised her hand, but was stopped by Miura.

"Yui and... Yukinoshita? Please stay here, she might come back. Then, I'll contact you as soon as I find her, and you can then inform Tobe and Ebina."

Miura impatiently tossed her hair, looking rather unmotivated, but she still gave clear instructions.

"Okay, sure."

After Yuihama responded, Miura nodded and quickly walked out.

Yukino watched her departing figure and asked in confusion:

"what happen?"

Okay, she was probably only focused on watching the fireworks...

If I'm not mistaken, there's only one possibility.

Christmas at Disneyland, the fireworks display after the parade, the white castle, time that seemed tailor-made for the two of them, and the Ministry of Revenue's attitude—

The clues are quite sufficient; apart from Isshiki confessing to Hayama, I can't think of any other explanation.

"...I'll be leaving for a bit too."

"Okay, got it."

Yuihama responded quickly, while Yukinoshita still looked puzzled.

However, I'm not going to go find Isshiki. If it comes to solving Isshiki's problem, Miura and the others have a better way of doing it than I do.

However, I'm afraid I'll have to find the other person myself.

After Isshiki left, Hayama didn't return. This means he was waiting.

Along the way, I recalled the scenes I had seen in the world of shadow puppetry.

In the shadows a little distance from the white castle, Hayama stood alone.

While everyone's attention was focused on Isshiki, he turned into a side path and came to this place.

When Hayama saw me appear, a sad smile appeared on his lips.

"……Hi."

"Um."

He sat on the railing in the square and sighed softly.

"...I broke Iroha's heart."

"You're so selfish. Instead of suffering from this guilt, why not accept her kindness and date her?"

He smiled helplessly.

"I can't do it. You're really going too far, knowing this perfectly well, yet you still say it on purpose."

"Thank you for the compliment."

I was quite confident in this, and the corners of my mouth unconsciously turned up into a malicious smile.

Ye Shan wasn't displeased by this; he just glanced at me with a sorrowful look.

"...Do you know why she confessed her feelings to me?"

"How could I possibly know?"

"yes……"

From this statement, it seems he is implying that all his past actions were to prevent Isshiki from confessing.

"Could it be that you know? They're all... uh... something like a token of affection."

"……Um."

His voice was somber, devoid of any pride or smugness; in fact, it conveyed regret. Now I finally understood…

If Hayama didn't become oblivious and avoid others' kindness, he wouldn't be able to maintain the relationship; when one's feelings cannot be conveyed, people will choose to leave. This situation cannot be blamed on Hayama; he also didn't want it to happen, which is why he has been constantly avoiding it.

The previous graduation trip clearly demonstrated this. That night, I agreed with his considerations and expressed my understanding of his thoughts. I can't say it was the wrong approach, however, "avoidance" can indeed very likely hurt the other person.

"So you already realized it, you just weren't ready to accept it, right?"

Ye Shan slowly shook his head.

"...No. Iroha's feelings truly make me happy, but no, that's probably not me..."

He spoke haltingly, making it difficult for me to grasp his main point. I continued to wait for him to clarify his thoughts, but he veered off to different topics.

"...You're amazing, you know how to change the people around you in that way...Iroha might be the same..."

"Huh? What are you talking about? Why are you suddenly praising me?"

He let out a dry laugh.

"Haha, you're wrong... Didn't I say before—'I'm not as good as you think'?"

These were the words Hayama had said to me on campus before. After he finished speaking, he lowered his head and sighed heavily.

"I'm praising you... for my own sake."

"Why do you do this...?"

I looked at Ye Shan in confusion, and he squinted and glared back at me.

"Perhaps it's for the same reason you think I'm a good person."

"...I don't have any reason; I'm just stating what I've seen."

"Yeah?"

The tone of that sentence was quite cold.

Ah—no, that's not right. Actually, I've already realized that Hayama is definitely not a purely good person. That faint smile is the best evidence.

He wiped the smile from his lips and moved away from the railing where he was sitting.

"I'm going back now. Please tell the others for me."

"Go and send the text message notification yourself."

"...That's true. Goodbye."

Hayato Hayama gave a wry smile, gently raised his hand in farewell, and disappeared into the darkness without looking back.

× × ×

On the tram back, a group of people were silent. Besides the accumulated fatigue of the day, the biggest reason was the absence of the Minister of Revenue, who had always taken good care of Isshiki and always took the initiative to talk to him.

Not only the Ministry of Revenue, but also Miura and Ebina were not on this train.

They were taking the Musashino Line to Nishi-Funabashi Station to transfer, which was a different route than the Keiyo Line for Yukinoshita, Yuigahama, and Isshiki. It didn't matter which line I took; I was just too lazy to transfer at Nishi-Funabashi Station, so I chose the Keiyo Line.

Although the carriage was somewhat cramped, with all seats occupied, it wasn't as crowded as a sardine-packed train during peak hours. Yuihama and Yukinoshita exchanged brief words occasionally, but spent the rest of the time silently gazing out the window.

After about twenty minutes, the train was about to arrive at Haimen-Makuhari Station, where Yukino and I were to get off.

"Then, I'll get off the bus."

Yukinoshita stood at the car door, and Yuihama followed.

"Ah, me too."

"You haven't arrived home yet, have you?"

Yuihama, holding Yukinoshita's hand, answered:

"Anyway, it's a holiday tomorrow, so I'm going to stay at Yukino's house tonight."

"oh."

Well, Yuihama often stays overnight at Yukinoshita's house, so she can't possibly let this opportunity pass her by. In order to restore our old relationship, she should definitely be encouraged to do so.

I myself am getting off at Haikan-Makuhari Station, so only Isshiki will remain on the train.

"Isshiki, where are you going?"

She didn't answer, but just tugged at the hem of my jacket.

Then she handed over a shopping bag that was full.

"Senior, these things are too heavy."

"You bought too much..."

I said that, but I still took the bag. Yuihama saw this and smiled.

"...Yes, that's better too."

"Isshiki-kun, please be careful on the road."

Yukinoshita-kun, do you have some other meaning behind your name?

They got off at this station, while I and Isshiki continued on the train, our destination being Chiba Port Station, three stops away.

After arriving at Chiba Port Station, we transferred to the monorail. There were no other passengers at this time, and it was just the two of us in the car.

The monorail weaves through the streetlights in the city. I'm not used to this height, which feels like walking in the air. The floating sensation from the suspended carriages makes me feel like I'm riding an amusement park ride.

Isshiki gazed at the scenery outside the window, muttering a sigh.

"Sigh... I failed..."

"...Actually, you know that it's impossible to succeed if you confess to him now, right?"

I haven't known Isshiki for very long, and I'm not exactly close to Hayama, but I still didn't expect them to go to such lengths to get closer to each other.

She remained facing the window, looking down at the receding streetlights.

"...What could we do? They were just too excited at the time."

"That's a bit surprising. I didn't think you were the type of person who would be affected by the atmosphere."

A slight smile appeared on the face reflected in the car window.

"I was also surprised; I never thought I'd lose my composure."

"...I get it. You always act like a girl in love, but you're actually very smart—"

Before I could finish speaking, she hurriedly turned around and interrupted me.

"I'm not talking about myself... but my senior."

"what?"

How did the conversation veer off to something else so quickly? We were just talking about Isshiki a second ago, where did we go off on a tangent? Or is the "senior" she's referring to not me, but someone else? Speaking of which, why does this person keep calling me "senior"... could it be that she can't remember my name?

While a little drama was playing out in my head, Isshiki stared intently at my face, confirming that the "senior" she was referring to was indeed me. Then, she gave me a gentle smile.

"Of course my heart would waver after hearing what my senior said."