My Youth Romantic Comedy Is Wrong As Expected

Page 435

"...But I didn't cry, did I?"

Miura spoke, somewhat annoyed.

"You were crying, weren't you...?" Miura silently sent a protesting look, clicked his tongue softly, and then sighed deeply.

Pick up your schoolbag.

"gone back"

"Ah, Yumiko—"

Her voice was soft, but it carried a hint of dissatisfaction. Then, Yuihama spoke softly as she and Miura walked to the door.

Oh dear, I think I just upset someone... This is a bit unsettling.

Suddenly, Miura stopped and hesitated, feeling for the doorknob.

"……Hachiman, thank you."

Miura suddenly spoke softly without turning around, making my reaction a beat too late.

"oh oh……"

As soon as he finished speaking, the door closed, and for a fleeting moment, Miura could be seen with his head down and his face flushed.

"Eh, ah, eh-do—"

Yuihama hesitated for a moment, hovering between the door and the snow, before slowly sitting back down in her seat.

Yukinoshita chuckled softly and began tidying up the tea set:

Let's call it a day.

"Is that so? Then I'll head back now."

Yuihama pushed the chair back and stood up.

She's probably going to chase after Miura.

After all, she'd already said those things; she wouldn't just leave it at that. She'd probably go after him and continue the conversation.

Yukinoshita knew all this, so her expression was also very gentle:

"Okay, it's alright. See you tomorrow."

"Okay! See you tomorrow! See you tomorrow too, Xiaoqi!"

"Um"

After saying goodbye, Yui hurriedly stepped out of the clubroom.

The room was now empty and cold, with only two people left.

Yukinoshita began tidying up the teacups, glancing at the doorway every now and then, and said:

"I'm a little worried about Yuihama..."

"It's alright, right? Miura has said everything she needed to say. They're already pretty close, aren't they?"

Unlike her curly hair, Miura has a straightforward personality, but also an unexpectedly caring side.

Yui Hama was also gently comforting her; despite being a bit of a fool, she was surprisingly good at taking care of others.

Even if you call him an idiot, that's just how he is.

These two have always been like that; even when they argue, their friendship never suffers. Yukino's worries are probably unfounded.

However, Yukinoshita's expression still held a hint of melancholy. She shook her head, reciting the words slowly and deliberately:

"It's not about my relationship with Miura, it's something else..."

"Others?" I couldn't figure out what she meant, so I could only casually agree.

"Ok?"

"You seem to know a lot, but actually you don't..."

"So what exactly is it...?"

When asked this question, Yukinoshita closed her eyes and tilted her head slightly.

"These kinds of rumors often don't just end as gossip. They start spreading among those around you, and sometimes nosy people, jealous or smug individuals, start launching personal attacks. I don't have many people to begin with, so I haven't been hurt much, but..."

These words carry weight, and the way they were spoken is full of authenticity.

If that's the case, Yuihama, who has a lot of contact with people, might actually suffer harm.

Perhaps Yukinoshita had a similar experience. Or perhaps that's why, as a self-defense measure, she chose to minimize the number of people she came into contact with.

At first glance, it seems a bit negative.

but,

But I find this cleverness and composure to be elegantly beautiful.

Even after such an experience, Yukino Yukinoshita still cares about Yui Yuigahama.

"Okay, I'll remember..."

There may be other things I could say, but these are all I can say. Her invaluable words of advice, and her noble heart, must be remembered.

After I answered, Yukino finally smiled:

"Okay, that's good. I'll try my best to stick with Yui. If the people at the center of the conversation have a good relationship, things will be a little better... even if it's just a temporary fix."

Is this just treating the symptoms, not the root cause...? That kind of supplementary statement sounds a bit disappointing. Even if we do something, those people might not necessarily change their attitude.

Honestly, I'm a little angry.

"However, even so, since we're in different classes, we can't always be together, so I'm looking forward to your efforts."

"Don't have too high expectations of me... Well, I'll do my best."

Hearing this, Yukino smiled with relief. I told you not to have such high expectations of me… Even though I said I'd do my best, I don't even know what I'm capable of!

However, I still want to do everything I can.

Perhaps it's me who hopes this rumor will disappear.

Suddenly, Hubu Xiang brought up the old matter again.

The day after Miura's visit was a sunny winter day.

I was listlessly attending PE class. The bright sky was almost blinding. If this continued, the temperature would probably drop sharply at night due to radiation cooling from the earth's surface.

However, I'm going to train for a marathon soon, so I should actually be grateful for this weather. Anyway, I'll just be staying home tonight, so even if it gets cold, it won't bother me...

Students from three entire classes were gathered on the playground. Unlike other events in physical education class, long-distance running is not divided into boys and girls. Although the routes for boys and girls are different, it is still just running.

After lining up on the playground, I happened to see Miura among a group of girls.

It seemed like Miura had been deliberately avoiding my gaze since the morning. Whether in class or during breaks, she kept her face propped up with her hand, only showing me the back of her head. During breaks, however, Yui and Ebina frequently sat next to her and chatted.

This might make me sound a bit overly self-conscious—but Miura was calmer than yesterday. I'm not entirely sure why.

I never expected someone like that to cry... It surprised me quite a bit.

Ah, no—actually, she does show her vulnerable side when she's under a lot of pressure; I think she cried when she was completely refuted by Yukinoshita during summer vacation.

But despite this vulnerable side, she is actually a strong person.

Look, Junichiro Koizumi once said that tears are a girl's ultimate weapon, and so on.

Most girls would probably give up on this, right?

Lost in thought, I looked ahead—

Hayato Hayama.

He was chatting and laughing with the Ministry of Revenue officials and didn't notice my gaze.

or,

Did he realize I was watching him, but just pretended not to see it... just like he does with so many other things?

While I was standing there lost in thought, Atsugi, the PE teacher, had already finished taking attendance.

"Okay, I'll find someone I like to team up with. Time to warm up."

After Mr. Atsugi finished speaking somewhat sternly, everyone started to do warm-up exercises in pairs.

Preparing for exercise... Now would be a better time to go see him, right?

Hmm... if we talk to them now, we should be able to find a solution.

We need to hurry and find him to warm up.

wrong.

Kazuha-san-kun?

If Ebina were to witness this kind of "skin-to-skin" warm-up exercise, a new batch of strange rumors would replace the previous, more plausible one...

Huh? That sounds like a good thing... what a load of rubbish!

A samurai like me... cannot simply go out and endure such difficulties, Your Highness.

Actually, Ebina's BL comments are fine; basically, no one takes them seriously. But the fact that two grown men are actually together is a bit hard to explain.

What's worse is that this sudden invitation might make people think I'm a fence-sitter, something inexplicable and disgusting—

No no no.

Before I could make any useful decisions, Hayama and Hobu had already started bending over each other to warm up. Although I don't know Hobu very well, based on my current impression, he's a complete idiot.

Forget it, the Ministry of Revenue and such are not important. We can deal with Yeshan's matter another time.

Alright, let's go find Totsuka to do some warm-up exercises! Just as I was gleefully looking around, I heard someone calling my name:

"Hachiman——"

I instinctively turned around sharply and met his gaze.

The lumberjack approached slowly, his footsteps echoing across the ground, a broad smile on his face as he waved. Why does this guy look so happy...?

"Hachiman—Let's do some warm-up exercises together!"

"Oh...no, even if you invite me with a 'Let's play baseball!' tone...I'm looking for someone to team up with today..."

"Wait a minute. I said I was looking for someone I like to team up with, but that's not why I asked you to join me. Please don't misunderstand this, okay?"

"Don't look away! Why are you blushing? It's disgusting..."

Looking around after leaving the burial pedestal, I saw that Hayama, Tobe, and Ooka Yamato had each formed their own groups and started warming up. Ah! Totsuka has company now! I was planning to use warming up as an excuse to help Totsuka stretch his joints...

"There's really nothing I can do..."

I had to give up and started doing individual stretching and joint mobilization exercises with the woodworker. Then we did some partner stretching exercises.

I've been trying so hard to press down... but what's wrong with this belly? I can't bend over at all! We kept pushing, our faces were so close, and your heavy breathing felt like it was going to hit my face.

"Hmm, Hachiman, any anime recommendations for January?"

"What the hell? I haven't even finished watching all the anime from October yet!"

Well, I've been busy lately. Also, because of Komachi's exams, I haven't dared to watch anime in the living room, afraid of disturbing her studies—so the result is that the number of anime I haven't watched has been piling up, and now my VCR is almost full…

The timber stander looked smug and pointed at the world:

"Oh my god, you haven't even finished watching the October anime season yet? The Martian, Hachiman, that's so outdated."

Shut up, shut up, mind your own business—

"It hurts, it hurts, be gentle..."

The wood seat protested my retaliatory "massage," but I ignored it:

"What's there to whine about? Just enjoy yourself. I'm not going to listen to anyone else's opinions about watching anime and playing games now—by the way, weren't you shouting 'XX is my wife' during the October anime season? Now you think it's outdated? Tsk tsk, you heartless otaku..."

"Oh well, times change... things are different now than they were. People who are always stuck in the past will get lost..."

Regardless of what we're discussing, this statement makes a lot of sense. Always conforming to the mainstream or dwelling on the past isn't a good thing.

Is the quarterly character popularity ranking the same? There are no invincible generals; once someone becomes out of fashion, they are quickly forgotten.

"Hmm... well, that makes some sense..."

There are proverbs like "rumors only last 49 days, and once they're forgotten, they're completely dead."