Chapter 48: A Gachizei[1] Person

Chapter 48: A Gachizei[1] Person

It was lunch break.

Since Yuuki thought it would have been a pain if he went to buy something from the school store and got caught up in some weird things again, he bought some onigiri and bread at the convenience store that morning.

When Yuuki went to take out the bag from the store, two girls gathered next to Yui and brought some chairs together.

Lunch had only just started, but the girls were already noisy.

It was hard on Yuuki to be seatmates with Yui go through this every lunch.

He let his gaze shift towards the window, trying to escape from the noise. From the second-floor window, he could see the sunshine pouring down through the clouds.

It was a nice day and the breeze was a bit cool today, so he was starting to feel like it was a waste to just sit in the classroom all day.

(Maybe I should eat outside.)

He had to go downstairs to buy a drink anyway.

Yuuki decided to do so and got up from his seat, taking the bag with his lunch with him.

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After he put the juice from the vending machine into his bag, Yuuki went out and wandered around the building.

Although the temperature wasn’t very hot, the sun made it feel hot.

He thought he would be able to find some shade, but all of the benches in the shade were already taken by other students.

(Were we all thinking the same thing?)

It was impossible to return to the classroom.

It was likely that Yuuki’s seat had already been taken over by Yui’s friends.

Yuuki walked into the courtyard of the school building and then into the backyard, searching for a spot.

He passed by a gravel road, an incinerator, and the staff parking lot.

He was thinking that no one would come this far during lunch, but he found a boy and a girl that looked like a couple sitting close together on the bricks of the flowerbed. It was awkward, so Yuuki went even further.

When he got to the back of the school, which was unfamiliar to him, he thought about turning back for good. But when he turned the corner, he suddenly felt someone’s presence.

When he turned his gaze towards their direction, he saw a female student sitting alone in a spot between the building and exterior wall.

“Ah.”

Yuuki couldn’t help but let out an ‘Ah’.

The other person looked up and froze with a surprised expression.

When their eyes met, Yuuki thought he recognized the person from somewhere. They looked a lot like the person who glared at him that morning.

However, there’s no way they would be in such a place… so Yuuki tried not to stare too much and walked past.

“Hey!”

However, he was immediately stopped.

When he turned around, a red-faced female student was glaring at him.

Their voices were similar, so there was no doubt that this was Hanashiro Rin herself.

“J-just now!”

“Just now?”

Rin gritted her teeth and seemed to be hesitating about something, but she still had her sharp glare.

“You were looking at me like, “Uwaa, she’s hiding and eating all alone” right? Don’t look at me like that!”

“But I didn’t?”

“Then what was with that reaction where you acted like you didn’t see anything?!”

“My reactions are thin.”

“It’s not about how much you react!”

In contrast to Yuuki, who was speaking in his normal tone, Rin was shaking her hair out.

He felt like she was distressed because he saw something bad.

“…What are you doing here?”

“T-that’s what I’m wondering about you.”

“I’m just looking for a spot to eat.”

“A-are…. y-you alone?”

“Does it look like someone’s with me?”

When he said that, Rin’s expression relaxed.

“W-what the heck, we aren’t the same! That’s right! Of course we aren’t! Aha! Ahahaha!”

She laughed like a creepy villain.

It was a bit scary.

“Haa…”

Her shoulders slumped and all of the tension disappeared.

Yuuki had his suspicions, but she seemed to have an unstable mentality after all.

Ignoring Rin, for the time being, Yuuki looked around.

This place was in the shade and at times an unexpectedly cool breeze blew through the passage. And most importantly, it was quiet.

The concrete part of the building protrudes where Rin was sitting, so he could sit down there.

There was a small handbag and a bento that seemed to be half-eaten. It felt pretty good when Yuuki sat down to test it out.

“Hey. What are you doing… whose permission do you have to do this?”

Rin, with her arms folded, looked down at him. It felt like a turf war.

However, he didn’t feel like arguing with a gachizei person, so he was about to walk away.

“W-wait! Fine, I’ll let you sit here.”

“Nah, it’s fine. I don’t want to get in your way, and you seem upset with me.”

“I-I’m not upset! It’s nothing… this is normal, normal!”

“You’re already angry.”

When he replied, Rin made a weird face as if she had failed at trying to laugh.

She’s scary.

“T-Tengu-sama?”

“Just do as I say. I’ll give you an octopus shaped weiner.”

“Yay.”

In the end, Yuuki sat down on the concrete as he was told to.

Notes:

1 ‘Gachizei’ is a slang used to describe people who are serious/hardcore fans of something.