My Youth Romantic Comedy Is Wrong As Expected

Page 521

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After the sun set, the sea breeze grew colder, and the smell of the sea became stronger. The calm waves lapped against the shore and receded, shimmering in the sunlight.

The fiery red sunset almost blinded me. I put the things I was carrying on the beach, then used the pavilion a little distance from the sea as a waiting area, and started preparing to take pictures.

I placed the basins I borrowed from the school, several thermos flasks, and a large number of hand warmers I bought from a 100-yen store in the gazebo. This area becomes a bathing beach in the summer, so there are showers, but they're unusable in this cold weather. Therefore, I brought basins and hot water so they could rinse off seawater and sand when they got wet or dirty. Hot water is also needed when providing hot drinks to the models, so I prepared plenty.

The timber worker who helped move things here gave me a fearful look.

"Your assistant's skills are really high..."

"No, that's not possible either. If you'd like, I'd also like a blanket or a long coat."

There are tents and a fire pit... I think I should probably start preparing for solo camping. No, just kidding, it's only natural to be well-prepared for a girl taking photos on a cold, windy day. I really want to have perfect warm-weather gear, but unfortunately, time and money are limited. Hearing this, Cai Muzuo immediately grabbed the collar of his long coat tightly.

"I...I won't lend it to you!"

"Who wants it...?"

Even I wouldn't want to wear your coat, let alone those girls. Okay, I wonder how the three models are doing. I looked towards the bench in the distance and saw Miura Yumiko, rubbing her arms together and shivering.

"It's so cold! Yui, hand warmers, hand warmers, hand warmers!"

"On your back? On your stomach?"

"I want them both!"

Miura lifted his suit jacket, revealing the back of his shirt, and had Yui apply a hand warmer to it. The scene had a strangely immoral feel to it, as if I were looking at something I shouldn't be seeing… but I couldn't look away.

It's a real shame, they seem to have been prepared for this too.

I asked the woodworker to look after my things, and then took my camera and headed towards Yui and the others.

Thank you for your help. Please guide me today.

"……what?"

I bowed slightly to thank him, and Miura looked utterly surprised. He stared at me with the same look he'd seen in a muntjac in the city. Uh, there's no need to be so surprised, there have been more muntjacs in Chiba lately. So many that people often call him Kyon [Note 41: the male protagonist of the light novel "The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya". "Kyon" and "Muntjac" are homophones in Japanese].

"Nice to meet you—"

Ebina, standing next to me, waved with a bright smile. Her voice brought Miura, who had been standing there in a daze, back to his senses.

"...Ah—yes. It's nothing, I just asked Yui to do it for me."

She turned her head away, glanced at Yuihama, and said coldly, pulling at her curly hair. Perhaps it was because of the setting sun, but her cheeks were slightly flushed. "Oh dear, you look shy, hehehe..."

Unfortunately, I didn't have time to appreciate such a heartwarming scene. The sunset only lasts a limited time in the sky.

"Can we begin?"

"Ah, um."

Yui nodded in response, then winked at Miura and Ebina to urge them on, and walked a few steps along the beach. I followed behind, taking the opportunity to feel the sand beneath my feet.

When we reached the shore, I asked them to stop for a moment, step back a few paces, and pick up my camera.

In short, first determine the shooting area and check the composition.

This camera has a wide-angle lens, capturing a vast expanse of sunset. The horizon where the sky meets the sea is shimmering, and I focused on a point slightly above sea level. In the foreground, the beach begins to darken, then the shoreline turns orange, and finally, the clouds merge into crimson, creating a gradient. The right side of the image is slightly blurry, reflecting the silhouettes of Miura and Yuihama.

Against the backdrop of the setting sun, two girls stand on the beach, each with a slightly different pose.

"Yo--"

Miura, with his hands in his coat pockets, gazed wistfully at the sea under the setting sun, while Yui kept turning back to look at me.

I snapped a few photos while gesturing for them to move or adjust their positions. Because of the cold weather, both of them were bundled up in their coats, with sweatpants underneath their skirts… which gave it a unique charm. It felt like I'd accidentally wandered into an all-girls school!

As I looked through the viewfinder, Miura deliberately let me hear her complain, "Ugh—it's so cold," and then turned around and glared at me.

"You autistic kid, hurry up!"

"Yes……"

I picked up the camera again.

As the sun gradually approaches, it seeps into the clouds.

I tried taking photos several times, but I couldn't get a satisfactory one.

I wanted to take a picture with the same composition as the reference photo, but I just couldn't get it right no matter what I did.

Girls in school uniforms stood side-by-side on the beach at dusk. It should have been an extremely simple scene, but it didn't turn out beautifully in the photos. Simply put, it wasn't photogenic. I wanted to capture the look of a travel agency's "Graduation Trip IN Hawaii" brochure, or the kind of image on the cover of "Our Existence" magazine…

Just as I was holding my camera, unsure of what to do, Ebina suddenly appeared from behind me.

"Can I borrow it?"

She took the camera from my hand.

"Like this, and then like this again."

She pressed the shutter button a few times and handed the camera back to me. I looked at the preview image, and it was indeed exactly the composition I had envisioned.

"Wow, so professional..."

"Right?"

I couldn't help but admire him, and Ebina proudly puffed out his chest.

"And then~"

Perhaps in a good mood, she hummed a song and jogged over to Yui and the others. Then, with a "Wow—", she pounced on them and ripped off their jackets and sweatpants.

"Hehehehe, what does it matter? What does it matter~"

"You idiot, you idiot, you really are, Ebina!"

Ebina approached Miura, who was trying to resist, and took off her shoes, intending to remove even her socks. Was she a "clothes-stealing old woman" [Note 42: In Japanese folklore, an old woman who guards the Sanzu River and removes the clothes of the deceased]? A scene reminiscent of Rashomon unfolded before me.

"I'll take it off myself! I'll take it off myself!"

Yuihama hurriedly moved away from her, quickly taking off her shoes and socks. Miura, unable to resist, was pushed down by Ebina and had her socks removed.

And so, I had the privilege of seeing Miura's beautiful legs. I think I even accidentally caught a glimpse under her skirt; I instantly turned my head away and immediately pressed the shutter. No, no, it was a misunderstanding! It was just a reflex, my finger accidentally snapping a few photos.

"It's so cold!"

"It's so cold, so cold! Ugh, the sand is so icy!"

Yuihama stomped around in place, while Miura shook uncontrollably, both caught up in the chaos of the new experience.

"Hehehe, wearing a uniform to the beach really means going barefoot."

Ebina smiled contentedly and ran back to me. I nodded to indicate "I understand..." She held out her hand to me, seemingly to help me take the picture. I was extremely grateful. This kind of thing is best left to people with good taste!

I obediently handed over the camera, and Ebina muttered about using a flash to add light and depth of field, babbling on and on before raising the camera.

"Okay—let's take the picture."

She gave a reminder, and the two of them set up their spots on the beach. Perhaps because it was too cold, they naturally leaned against each other. Yui suddenly grabbed Miura's hand, as if she was whispering something to her, but I couldn't hear her clearly because of the distance and the wind.

However, the way they smiled mysteriously at each other was so beautiful that it made my heart tighten.

The brief moment between the end of day and the arrival of night. Perhaps this is the kind of time we are in.

I was mesmerized as I watched, and Ebina sighed softly and put down his camera.

"Take as many photos as you like, you're free to do whatever you want—"

She loudly told the two of them to return the camera to me. It seemed I would be in charge of taking pictures from now on. Since they wanted me to continue taking pictures, I had no choice but to obey and snap away, capturing the two of them playing around.

"Yui, it'll get wet! It'll get wet! Oh no, oh no, oh no!"

"Wait for me! Wait for me!"

Miura and Yuihama ran to the shore, screaming as soon as the waves hit the beach.

"Hmm—good photo..."

Before I knew it, Ebina also took out his phone and started taking pictures next to me.

"You're here to be a model too."

Ebina's gaze remained fixed on her phone as she replied:

"Huh—those two beauties are enough to handle this, filming me will make me rotten."

"Oh, really..."

"I think it would be nice to use you and Hayato as models. Hehehe... and then with him..."

She looked at me with a rotting... no, ominous laugh, laughing so hard she was practically drooling.

"Isn't this sexual harassment?"

I took three full three steps away from her. Ebina puffed out her chest and said smugly:

"Don't worry, I'm not that sexy. What does it mean for someone who isn't sexually attractive to sexually harass others? I don't understand."

"Uh, this is a difficult question to answer... wouldn't it be considered sexual harassment?"

I've never considered Ebina as someone special, so I don't know how to answer. In fact, I'm starting to care about her now!

Let's put that aside for now. I still don't understand the correct way to respond to a girl's "Oh dear, I'm not cute~" statement. In most cases, you should shout "No way!" But with Hina Ebina, I don't think that's the right answer.

As I stood there bewildered, Ebina looked up at the horizon, carefully pressed down on her skirt, squatted down, rested her chin on her hands on her knees, and murmured:

"...That kind of thing is very troublesome."

"What kind of thing?"

"Like love, sex, and the like."

"Oh, um... I don't really want to talk about this. I'm so embarrassed."

I instinctively turned my head away. Her serious tone and directness made me both shy and embarrassed. Besides, this topic felt somewhat realistic to me; it wasn't just a simple matter of opinion, and not something I'd want to discuss.

However, upon hearing my response, Ebina shrugged and chuckled:

"We're completely uninterested in each other, but does that mean we can't talk?"

"...That's true."

Since that's what she said, I have no objection.

In a sense, I trust Ebina's way of maintaining distance from people. Not so distant as to be a stranger, nor so close as to be a friend. That attitude of upholding the boundaries of familiarity and neighborliness makes me feel very relaxed around her.

Ebina maintained an unyielding distance from me, continuing on her own:

"But there must be a way, right?"

"What?"

I felt bad ignoring this ambiguous and pointless response, so I asked briefly.

"Because in the end, you and I are not the same."

That cold voice... I think I've heard it before. She stared at Miura and the others. Although I couldn't see her, I was sure it was those deep-sea eyes behind her glasses.

"...Have you heard?"

Ebina finally turned to look at me.

"Who did you hear that from? What did you hear?"

Her eyes were cold, devoid of the sunset's glow, yet a mocking smile played on her lips, making me uneasy. I shrugged slightly, my gaze falling on the camera in my hand.

"No, it's nothing."

I dodged her question, and Ebina turned to face the shore, watching Yuihama and the others running around like little dogs.

"...You can tell just by looking. I'll assume I have some connection. The rest is just to subtly inquire with Yui."

I had indeed heard about it...

So that's why she came to talk to me? I don't know what she heard, and I don't want to find out.

However, I'm a little bothered by the phrase "you can tell just by looking." I don't think I'm that naive, and I'm not happy that my situation was so easily understood. I did this after much consideration, and it's natural that I'm not happy when others act like they know everything.

That being said, the onlooker sees most of the game. Surprisingly, there are times when outsiders see things more clearly. And if the other party is Hina Ebina, then it goes without saying that she sees things even more clearly.

But I couldn't very well ask her with great enthusiasm, so I put on a poker face, pretended to be playing with the camera, and calmly asked:

"...Can everyone really tell that?"

"Hayato-kun goes without saying, right? As for Tobe, you know what he's like. The others aren't interested at all. Yumiko... never mind."