Chapter 4: What exactly do these guys want?

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Translator: Soafp

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I've been getting an awful lot of looks today.

During the short breaks after second and third period, classmates kept watching me from a distance. Some whispered and laughed among themselves; others wore hostile expressions.

Well, I had practically made a public confession first thing in the morning, so it was only natural.

Originally, if someone from that girls' group came after me, I had only planned to sarcastically needle them with the copy of No Longer Human I borrowed from the clubroom.

But Shinonome and Hiiragi attacked from such an absurdly unexpected angle that things escalated into something much bigger.

Honestly, I didn't care how much they tried to provoke me.

The reason was simple: I had no interest in them.

Still, if they came after me, I'd hit back. That was my strong style as a lone introvert.

If you made it clear that biting you came with poison, even stupid beasts would think twice before attacking.

That said, the fake confession had genuinely pissed me off. That was a different matter. I had my reasons.

(I should apologize to Amanatsu later.)

I had no choice if I wanted to throw her a lifeline, but I had pretended in front of everyone that I liked her. She understood I had no actual feelings for her, so it probably hadn't hurt her at all.

The lunch bell rang.

I pulled some bread from my school bag and prepared to leave the classroom.

Today's egg sandwich was a supreme masterpiece I'd bought at my favorite bakery after getting up early. I wanted to enjoy it fully, without anyone getting in the way.

Just as I thought that, Shinonome called out to me, her brow furrowed and irritation written all over her face.

“Hey, who do you think you are?”

“Subaru Hatsukade, fifteen years old.”

“That's not what I mean! Your personality is seriously awful!”

That was my line.

Even after all that, she still hadn't given up? What a stubborn idiot.

“Then what do you want to know?”

“You compared Nakina and me again!”

“Oh, that.” I nodded.

“Because it's true, isn't it? I bet everyone else thinks so too.”

“Gah… Nakina and I are friends! If you say stuff like that, it makes things awkward between us. You're disrupting the harmony of the group!”

You're the ones who started it by picking a fight.

You were the ones who set up the fake confession that started this whole mess. Once I retaliated, it should have ended there—both sides even.

But because they had no awareness that they were at fault, they built up their victim complex and kept whining about it.

“No, Shinonome. You're not worried about the group. You only care about yourself.”

“Huh!?”

“You got mad because everyone heard that Amanatsu was cuter than you. But if you openly admitted that, people would see how petty you are. So you're trying to force some plausible excuse onto me and make me apologize. All to protect your cheap little pride.”

“T-That's… not true.”

Pathetic.

After seeing the indecisive expression on her face, I stood up.

Rather than deal with someone like her, I wanted to sincerely devote myself to my egg sandwich.

But girls who moved in packs were troublesome.

The moment she realized she was losing ground, Shinonome turned pleading eyes toward her boss.

“Sakura, say something too!”

The blonde gyaru smiled as if she had been waiting for her moment to enter and happily walked over.

Hiiragi patted Shinonome's head, then glanced sideways at me.

“Calm down, Shi-chan. You don't need to let Hatsukade's words get to you. You know what they say—love is blind.”

“…What do you mean?”

“Come on, Hatsukade likes Nakina so much he can barely stand it. From his perspective, nobody else even matters. Not just you—no matter who you compared her with, he'd say Nakina was better.”

“T-That's true!”

“Shi-chan, you're cute too. You should have more confidence.”

What was this little farce…?

Hiiragi snorted at me.

“Hatsukade, you need to understand your situation better. Nakina is completely out of your league.”

“I know that perfectly well.”

“You could even call her your ideal—the girl you could never reach for your entire life!”

“Yep.”

“…Then Nakina might get a boyfriend in a few months, you know.”

“Sure.”

“W-Why are you acting so calm!? If you like her, shouldn't you look more upset!?”

What was I supposed to say to that?

It wasn't as though I was actually in love with her.

“If Amanatsu gets a boyfriend, I'll support her with everything I've got. My wish is for the person I like to be happy. Anyway, I'm leaving. I don't want to waste any more time.”

“W-Wait!”

Ignoring Hiiragi's call, I left the classroom.

---

The stairwell landing in front of the rooftop door, with nobody around, was quiet and calming.

There was little sunlight, and the place was pleasantly cool. It was starting to become my refuge.

At last, I took a bite of my egg sandwich. Its sweet-and-salty flavor delighted my tongue.

As my shoulders naturally relaxed, I heard a voice I'd been hearing a lot lately.

“…Hatsukade-kun.”

Amanatsu poked her head out from behind the wall by the stair rail, once again looking like a ghost.

Since it was the second time, I wasn't startled—but couldn't she approach like a normal person? Her extrovert act had completely fallen apart.

“Can I sit next to you?”

“Sure. Did you sneak out of the classroom?”

“Yeah. It was too awkward.”

Holding down her skirt, Amanatsu sat down with a person's worth of space between us.

“…It's wonderfully damp here.”

With her back pressed against the wall, Amanatsu gave an impression like a slug reviewing its habitat.

“About this morning… you saved me again. Thank you.”

“I just brushed them off. Don't worry about it.”

“…O-Okay.”

Sitting with her legs outstretched, she fidgeted with her fingers in her lap.

Her short skirt exposed smooth, unmarked knees.

“…You said you liked me, but that was a joke, right?”

“Oh, right. I meant to apologize. Sorry for saying something like that when I didn't mean it.”

“I-It's okay. I knew it… I understand you only said it to help me.”

“Good. It would've been a real problem if even you had believed it. If someone like me liked you, even Amanatsu would be totally put off.”

“…That's not true.”

She stopped fidgeting and looked up at me with downcast eyes.

“But I want you to stop doing things like that. I'm happy that you help me, but I don't like you sacrificing yourself for me…”

“I haven't suffered any damage. Getting involved with Shinonome and the others is partly my own fault anyway.”

“…That's not what I mean. Because of that public confession, everyone will think you're in love with me from now on. They'll definitely laugh about you behind your back, and it'll make it harder for you to be in the classroom.”

“Don't worry. Whether they laugh at me or make fun of me behind my back, I don't care.”

I wasn't trying to sound cool.

I genuinely meant it.

But Amanatsu still seemed unconvinced, staring at me with her large dark eyes.

“How can you be so strong, Hatsukade-kun? If it were me, I couldn't handle being treated like that.”

“It's not about being strong. I just don't expect anything from my classmates in the first place.”

Maybe someone like Amanatsu—who had desperately clawed her way into the upper ranks of the school social hierarchy—couldn't understand the idea of feeling nothing about people pointing fingers at you or excluding you.

I knew how immature teenagers could be.

I knew that peer pressure and the mood of the moment could make them cross the line without hesitation.

No matter how grown-up they tried to act, they were still childish inside.

What was I supposed to expect from people like that?

Amanatsu called my mentality strong, but I simply wasn't standing in the same arena.

No matter how much malice they had, it wouldn't reach someone like me—someone sitting in the audience, hurling objects and heckling from the sidelines.

That's who I am.

There was no downside to classmates I had no intention of befriending mistakenly believing I liked Amanatsu.

“So I don't care what people think of me… Besides, isn't supporting Amanatsu, who's working so hard, way more meaningful?”

“Ugh, that's so unfair. If this were a card game, you'd be an overpowered character with total immunity.”

“Why not come over to my side, Amanatsu? The view is nice.”

“No way, no way. Do you know how much I suffered to climb this far? It was like traveling all the way around the Earth.”

After letting out a breath, she murmured:

“I wish I'd met Hatsukade-kun sooner. Then I wouldn't have needed to have the kind of youth I do now.”

“…What do you mean by that?”

When I tilted my head and asked, she gave her usual dry little laugh.

“Actually, never mind.”

Her face red, she fanned herself as she said it.

I felt like we had had a similar exchange just the other day, when she admitted that she hadn't had friends.

Then Amanatsu hunched over, holding her stomach as it growled loudly.

“S-So embarrassing…”

“What about lunch?”

“I couldn't eat in that hellish atmosphere. I said I had something to do and escaped, so I couldn't bring my lunchbox with me.”

I took out the rest of my egg sandwich from the bag.

“Here. If you don't eat anything, your stomach will growl during class.”

“…Are you sure?”

“I've already eaten.”

“But you keep helping me with everything…”

“Don't feel that indebted over an ordinary egg sandwich.”

“O-Okay, then… I'll take it… It's delicious!?”

Apparently, Amanatsu could tell the difference in taste.

When I gave her a thumbs-up, her eyes lit up and she nodded again and again.

---

After school, I walked along the path through the courtyard.

Before stopping by the clubroom, I planned to buy coffee from the vending machine. I had discovered that a new coffee had been stocked yesterday. I was really looking forward to trying it.

Shinonome and Hiiragi were hanging around in front of the vending machine.

(They're in the way…)

Running into them would only drag me into another pointless fight, so I hid behind a tree.

“Hey, Sakura, are we really just going to leave Hatsukade alone like this!?”

“Hmm…”

“Sakura, he's definitely making fun of you too! We should get back at him!”

“I don't really care anymore, but… hmm, what should I do?”

“Why are you being so timid around some introvert!?”

“I've got more important things to worry about right now.”

Then Sakura snapped her fingers and said, “That's it!” A suspicious smile spread across her face.

“I just came up with a great idea! Hehe. I remembered I have something to do, so I'm heading home.”

“Huh!?”

As Hiiragi walked away humming cheerfully, Shinonome watched her back, clutching her head and muttering to herself.

“What the hell is with Nakina, Sakura, and Hatsukade!? They all seriously piss me off.”

How vindictive could she get?

Could she just move already?

“Hey, Shi-chan!”

“?”

A boy came jogging up to Shinonome.

The thorns in Shinonome's nasty expression vanished as if by magic, replaced by an adorable smile. Girls were terrifying.

“Oh, Katsurama-kun. What's up?”

“I saw Shi-chan by herself and couldn't help coming over to talk to you.”

Katsurama was a classmate of mine.

He sat in the very front seat by the hallway.

I hadn't known he was close with Shinonome.

“Want to talk for a bit?”

“Yeah, sure.”

“Hehe. Oh, right—Hatsukade's public confession today was incredible! I've never seen such a pathetic confession. Seriously, it was so funny I thought I might die laughing.”

That wasn't even a possible cause of death, so you had the wrong idea.

Also, just to be clear, I hadn't been rejected. I simply hadn't received an answer. That distinction mattered.

“Right? Hatsukade was acting all tough, like he didn't care about being rejected.”

“Oh, and Masaki was happy too.”

Katsurama lowered his voice slightly.

“I told you before, but he likes Nakina. He was probably relieved it didn't work out. Of course, this is a secret. You're the only one I've told, Shi-chan.”

“…Huh.”

Masaki liked Amanatsu?

I checked Katsurama's expression as he looked at Shinonome.

His eyes sparkled.

Meanwhile, Shinonome pouted sulkily.

—Hooh?