Volume 6 - CH 4

“ “ T-this is too silly…” “ 

Soichiro and Hijiri both made dumbfounded faces.

In response, Yuzuru hurriedly said as if to make up for it.

“N,no… I certainly think it’s silly too. So …don’t you think it’s strange for Arisa to be so stubborn about something as trivial as this?”

“I think you’re being stubborn enough too…”

“If she doesn’t want to take the shot, then she doesn’t have to, right? Even if she does take it, she still might get infected.”

At the words of Soichiro and Hijiri, Yuzuru’s expression twisted slightly.

Then he spun his words as if to make an excuse.

“It’s not like…  I’m forcing her to do it. I just recommended it. If Arisa doesn’t want to do it, she doesn’t have to do it… And I told her that. But when I said that, Arisa started to get angry again…”

What’s with that way of saying it!?

Yuzuru recalled the look on Arisa’s face as she sulked extraordinarily.

“Mhm… is that so?　If you didn’t force her, then you’re not at fault…”

Hijiri showed sympathy for Yuzuru’s assertion.

Soichiro, on the other hand, sighed loudly.

“Huh~… you guys don’t understand at all.”

“…understand what?”

“A woman’s heart.”

“…”

Well, we’re men, you know.

Yuzuru and Hijiri both had such expressions on their faces.

“Girls, you know, need empathy. In this case, Arisa-san wanted you to empathize with her feeling of being afraid of injections. If you agree with that, that would have been fine. If you say, ‘I don’t really care,’ she would have been offended. It would be better if you were still forcing her.”

He recommends that she get an injection.

This means that he was worried about her condition and health.

In contrast, saying, ‘If you don’t want to do it, don’t do it,’ was tantamount to saying,’I don’t care about you‘.

Soichiro explained.

“I,I see… that’s deep.”

Looking back, it may have sounded a bit dismissive.

Maybe he hurt Arisa’s feelings by doing so.

Yuzuru reflected.

“…So, um, what am I supposed to do?”

“First, apologize. Then excuse yourself that you were just concerned about Arisa-san, and then reiterate that you have no intention of forcing her to do anything.”

“No, that’s not what I meant…”

Soichiro frowned at Yuzuru’s words that implied, ‘That’s not what I want to ask‘.

“What do you want to ask?”

“…I was wondering how to initiate a talk with Arisa.”

Yuzuru said this while scratching his cheeks, a little embarrassed.

Even if he wanted to apologize, he couldn’t.

For Yuzuru, that was the most difficult part.

The content of the apology was secondary.

“…figure that much out for yourself.”

Soichiro, on the other hand, said so with a look of dismay at Yuzuru’s feeble statement.

There was no way to apologize, no way to tell someone you were sorry, no way to tell them you were sorry.

There was no way to give advice.

“Don’t say that… Hey, Hijiri, what do you think I should do?”

“Eh?　Oh, umm, let’s see…”

When Yuzuru asked him to talk about it, Hijiri put his hand on his chin and thought about it.

If anything, Hijiri was classified on the same side as Yuzuru… as someone who doesn’t understand the female heart.

And he also had little experience in love.

That is why he could sympathize with Yuzuru’s feeling that he could not apologize to the girl he loves even if he wanted to.

“If it’s too hard to say it in person, face to face, maybe text her…?”

“Text..?　But wouldn’t a text be considered insincere?”

“Hmm, how about sending me a text asking her to give you some time to talk?　…I mean, after sending it, you will have no choice but to apologize, won’t you?”

“That’s… true huh.”

In a sense, it was a last-ditch strategy…

It seemed like a good plan, considering that what Yuzuru lacked most at the moment was courage and determination.

“Then it’s settled. Send it.”

“Yeah, okay… what, now?”

“If you don’t do it now, you’ll never do it.”

“N,no, but I need to prepare myself…”

“Come on, hurry up.”

Yuzuru, rushed by Hijiri, looked at Soichiro as if to ask for help.

In response, Soichiro…

“If you don’t want to text her, why don’t you just apologize in person now?”

He silenced Yuzuru easily.

“…I understand”

Yuzuru, determined, took out his cell phone.

He typed in a text message to Arisa and repeatedly revised it…

Five minutes later, he showed the completed text to Soichiro and Hijiri.

“What do you think?”

[“–I have something I want to talk to you about after school today.–”]

The text was very concise and plain for the amount of thought that had gone into it.

Soichiro and Hijiri nodded together.

“That’s fine, isn’t it?”

“Send it quickly.”

“… yeah.”

Yuzuru sent the text.

As he kept staring at the screen…

“Aaah!”

“…what’s going on?”

“What happened!?”

“It’s already been read…”

Yuzuru gulped.

The fact that it was read means that Arisa had already seen the text that Yuzuru had sent.　

Now there was no way he could avoid apologizing.

“…”

But even though the message was read, no reply came.

Yuzuru’s back was covered with a cold sweat.

….Perhaps she may have lost her affection for him.

Such anxiety crept up in him.

“Hey, hey, …did I get dumped?”

“It’s been less than a minute.”

“I’m sure she’s also trying to figure out how to reply to you. Wait a little longer.”

Then, after about five minutes of Yuzuru fighting frustration and anxiety…

“Aaaaah!”

“…what’s wrong?”

“What happened!”

In response to Soichiro and Hijiri’s question, Yuzuru answered in a trembling voice.

“…I got a reply.”

[“–I understand–”]

Such a short text was on the screen.

TN: Author has picked up the pace of release… May be due to the new volume release…