My Youth Romantic Comedy Is Wrong As Expected

Page 672

A bite-sized hamburger patty is placed between burdock and vinegar miso dressing.

Hayato unceremoniously picked it up and put it in his mouth.

"Mmm, delicious! It's completely different from the impact of vinegar miso salad."

"Right? This is the taste of Mr. Stan's hometown."

To be precise, Mr. Stan is Austrian, so that's a bit off.

But that doesn't matter. Compared to burdock and deer tail vegetables, the bodies of male high school students definitely crave hamburger steaks more.

The meaty flavor of the hamburger steak permeated Hayato's entire being.

"Ah, it was just a temporary confusion after all."

The allure of hamburger steaks is quite astonishing for male high school students.

Its charm is enough to transcend any thought.

"Right!"

Without the Ministry of Revenue needing to say anything, Hayato retracted his idea from yesterday.

How to live, what to take refuge in for the soul... Hayato was troubled by these questions, and because he was so troubled, his thoughts jumped to his old age.

However, the deliciousness of the hamburger steak immediately dispelled his confusion.

"My body is completely obedient. My whole being is filled with joy for the hamburger steak."

Hayato trembled slightly.

At the same time, Ebina also started to tremble.

For a fujoshi (a female fan of male-male romance), she would never miss a moment of the two being affectionate.

"I say, Hayato, you really should eat more. Go to the school store and buy some bread to fill your stomach."

"yes."

"You don't seem very energetic right now, do you? I'll go buy it for you. Wait for me a moment."

"Sorry. Thanks."

"The price is to buy me a loaf of bread."

As the Minister of Revenue said this, he was already jogging towards the welfare center.

"Yes. Thank you, Tobe.‼」

"You need a receipt! Wow, Hayato's actually trying to claim it as company money!"

A week has passed since Hayato Hayama went astray on his life's journey.

Monday of every other week.

The classroom fifteen minutes before class.

Hayato Hayama was already sitting in his seat, idly staring out the window.

The autumn sky was cloudless.

"Hey—Hayato, you look pretty energetic!"

"Yeah, that goes without saying. If someone is listless first thing in the morning, the whole classroom atmosphere will be ruined."

"Uh, Hayato, you ruined the atmosphere just last week..."

The Ministry of Revenue lowered its voice slightly as it complained.

"I'm sorry. That was completely my lapse. I'm fine now."

"real?"

"Yeah. To be honest, I was acting really strange last week!"

Hayato gave a shy smile.

This appearance undoubtedly reflects the usual sunny and cheerful Hayama Hayato.

"It's the usual Hayato—that's great. I was really worried about what would happen if you stayed in that state. So? How did you manage to cheer up?"

"Oh, well... to put it bluntly, it's because we won."

—That's right. Hayato won.

They won their practice match against Minamigawa on Sunday with a score of 4-3.

Hayato scored one goal and assisted another, delivering a very impressive performance.

As a result, they staged a dramatic comeback victory against Ichinamawa, a team of similar or even stronger strength than Central Industrial, which they lost to last week.

"Your long-range shooting is really impressive."

"Yeah, to be honest, I think so too."

"Seeing that launch gate will increase your female fanbase even more."

"Yes, to be honest, it has increased."

As soon as I arrived at school today, a first-year girl was waiting for Hayato in front of the school gate and asked him for his LINE ID.

"As expected of Hayato. Someone's already trying to chat him up so quickly! Of course he'll be on his toes."

"That's not why I cheered myself up."

"What was that like? Was it really the taste of victory?"

"Besides winning the match, I've completed the challenge. That's what I'm satisfied with."

"Oh, I see. Is that so—"

Hobu nodded reflexively, but couldn't understand what Hayato was satisfied with.

However, Hayato is not currently seeking the understanding of the Ministry of Revenue.

I answered my own questions and convinced myself.

That's enough.

"The peak of life is not important at all. You can think about that when you're about to die. What's important is to become a better version of yourself than you are today, to tell yourself that this is not the peak yet, and to struggle to climb upwards. My peak is still a long way off. As long as I think like this, I won't be in the midst of my peak. Yesterday, my long-range shot did hit the target. But what's important is the feeling I had when I successfully scored."

Hayato seemed a bit excited and started talking non-stop.

The Ministry of Revenue, still not fully digesting the information, simply listened blankly.

"Uh—oh—I see."

"That's right. It's very simple. You can decide your own time to shine. There's no need to worry about it from the beginning."

"yes……"

"To be honest, I subconsciously felt we were going to lose yesterday's game. But I was fully focused on the match, and as the game progressed..."

"Wow—Hayato, why are you so excited first thing in the morning?"

The Ministry of Revenue was terrified.

He was so excited that other students kept peeking at him.

Hikigaya's gloomy and impatient gaze was also included.

Even so, Hayato was in a good mood.

There are countless reasons, but simply winning the game makes it much more satisfying.

Hayato vaguely sensed that that was the truth.

But he couldn't resist adding decorations to simple humans.

Finish

Short Story Collection 4: Allstars - This is a wedding preparation that cannot be lost.

Author: Yoshitaka Kyoda / Illustration: U35

As the saying goes, marriage is the grave of life.

Marriage can bring a lot of trouble. A husband who doesn't help with housework or childcare will only get in the way. I want my own time.

Social media often reflects another side of people's inner world in modern society, and there is never a shortage of this type of topic on it.

Therefore, the saying "marriage is the tomb of life" is probably not wrong.

However, that's the argument of a married person. Could this claim only be the tip of the iceberg?

There is only one truth, but it also has many facets.

The world can appear in all sorts of colors and shapes in the eyes of an observer simply because of different perspectives and fixed ideas.

Marriage is a grave, but unmarried people—the unmarried—have a different perspective.

I want to get married in the future. Following the ancient wisdom that "you lose if you work," I'll marry a beautiful and excellent wife and become a stay-at-home husband. My proposal line to my future wife will be, "Let's drink my miso soup every morning..."

Close your eyes, and a happy marriage vividly appears in your mind.

"Hachiman, this miso soup is delicious. Thank you for cooking for me every day."

"Don't mention it, Caijia. I'm the one who should apologize to you for leaving you to work and support the family alone..."

Like this... wait? Why do I naturally imagine my marriage partner as Totsuka? Why do I so easily overcome the barriers called law and gender?

"Seriously—Hachiman, didn't we agree not to talk about this? Will I get angry? ...Ah, I should go to work now. I need to earn more money for this child."

"Okay, be careful on the road. Oh, by the way, sorry. A new game was released today, may I buy it?"

Huh? Why is Totsuka pregnant so naturally? And aren't Japanese companies being too harsh on working women by not granting Totsuka maternity leave? Seriously, why did I become this useless gigolo?

Getting back to the main point. In short, the saying "marriage is the grave of life" doesn't hold much credibility for those who are destined to never get married.

Especially those who are constantly looking forward to getting married. For example...

"Sigh... I really want to get married..."

In the faculty office where there were other people around, Ms. Hiratsuka uttered an inappropriate murmur; she probably couldn't resonate with those words.

Marriage is the grave of life.

After the class meeting, I was called over for a lecture and forced to do some simple chores. I reflexively looked at Ms. Hiratsuka, pricked up my ears, and accidentally overheard her sorrowful murmurs.

"Marriage. When I was younger, I thought that when the time was right, someone would naturally come along... Sigh, life is so hard..."

Someone come here! Please, someone come and take my teacher home! Otherwise, I might just marry her!

I desperately suppressed the scream that almost escaped my lips with a sob. To be honest, I was already thinking of going to the household registration office to get a marriage application and ask her to marry me. Not only that, I might even take a picture of the completed application, upload it to social media, and post a message telling everyone, "I married my girlfriend today ☆ We will definitely live a happy and joyful life ☆" and then get a bunch of people unfollowing me because of this meaningless display of affection.

"Um, teacher?"

I struck up a conversation with that dejected figure.

"Excuse me, are you alright? You don't look very well."

"Hmm? Oh..." Hiratsuka-sensei turned her head and looked over, her face appearing somewhat pale, a weak smile on her face. "No, I'm fine, Hachiman. I'm fine... Sigh..."

She said she was fine, but a deep sigh escaped her lips.

That tragic sight reminded me of a day a few weeks ago.

That's right, it happened on the way out of the karaoke bar after Yuihama's birthday party.

We saw it. We saw it by accident. It was probably Hiratsuka-sensei, who had come to sing karaoke alone after failing to find anyone at the wedding planning party. And...

Sigh... I really want to get married...

He left behind these overly sorrowful words, his desolate figure departing.

After that, Hiratsuka-sensei became somewhat listless.

He often sighs even during morning class meetings and regular classes; I don't know where his usual enthusiasm for shonen manga has gone.

"Eh, an autistic guy. I don't know if it's just my imagination, but Hiratsuka-sensei seems a bit listless lately?"

Yesterday after school, Yuihama said worriedly in the club office.

"Don't worry about her. The teacher must be troubled too. After all, she's of marriageable age."

Yukino, who was also present, remarked, "How terrifying. That woman speaks so directly, it's terrifying. Horrifying. She's probably already abandoned people's hearts. If I were a retainer, I might think, 'The king doesn't understand people's hearts... (Note 5)' and therefore betray her rank. Really? That girl is actually the King of Knights. She looks like she'd betray me immediately by saying, 'Hachiman, you're my Master? I'm very unhappy about that.'"

Let's not talk about that. Hiratsuka-sensei has been so down lately that it's a little worrying. The only way to comfort her would probably be for me to be prepared to marry into her family and give her the marriage application, but I really can't bring myself to do that. In the end, I'm not capable of helping her at all.