CH 56

“Is that something you should be worried about, Kirasaka-san?”

“Then, is it something that I can’t be worried about?”

If it was the usual Yuuto, he would be replying back with a bitter smile. However, today he was exhibiting a sharp glare towards Kirasaka.

It was as if he was saying that she shouldn’t be probing into this matter since it was none of her business.

In response to this, Kirasaka was also fixedly staring at Yuuto with a similar glare.

“Shouldn’t this be a conversation that has nothing to do with you?……besides, you aren’t even Kanzaki-san’s friend”

Kirasaka brushed off her short hair, folded her arms together and brazenly declared,

“That’s right, I am not her friend or anything. Rather, she is someone I hate”

Even if the person in question wasn’t present, being able to say such a thing out loud was no easy feat. She was able to state her own feelings to this extent and remain unfazed. It was definitely the Kirasaka that I knew.

“However, it’s exactly because she isn’t a friend and it’s because I hate her that I can see a few things that people can’t”

As she said these words, she glanced over at me. I wondered what she could’ve been thinking about.

However, she glanced only for a moment and immediately retracted her gaze.

Towards these words, Yuuto seemed to have a hard time changing his demeanour.

He might’ve been thinking, “What are you talking about?”

Though, there was a point in what she had said.

Regarding someone we hated, one might think that we wouldn’t know anything more than the face and the name of that person. However, in reality, it was different.

We wanted to know more about the people we liked. Similarly, we ended up gathering information on the people we hated too.

Human beings were just those kinds of creatures.

Hating somebody for no reason was simply being prejudiced.

If you truly hated someone, then you would contemplate why you hated them. It was exactly because you hated them, that your eyes would unconsciously end up trailing that person.

Your eyes would trail them because you didn’t want to be near that person, and you didn’t want to have anything to do with them.

It was the same when it came to Kirasaka. There was no doubt that she was able to gather a lot of information on Shizuku; information that others couldn’t even begin to fathom.

She wouldn’t be lacking the minor details either.

“I wonder if you could tell me what is it, that you had been able to see in a matter of just a few months?”

Yuuto issued these words, which could even be interpreted as a provocation.

However, Kirasaka didn’t seem to care.

“That’s easy……”, Kirasaka answered.

She didn’t seem troubled by Yuuto’s question

“In these few months, her heart had never turned to look at you even once”

“……”

Towards these words, Yuuto’s expression grew darker.

Then, to add injury to Insult, Kirasaka said this,

“Are you really going out with her?”

She had hurled the one question at Yuuto that I had been meaning to ask. She had just spoken on my behalf.

Would he answer with a “That’s right” like when I had asked him the same question yesterday, or would a new answer arise this time?

Amidst their terse exchanges, my presence had evaporated into thin air. However, I quietly concentrated my ears and waited for the answer.

However, Yuuto’s reply was far from being an answer to her question.

“Kirasaka-san……are you ok with things being like this?”

“……What do you mean?”

“Well, rather than worrying about me or Kanzaki-san, shouldn’t you be worrying about yourself?”

For some reason, their colliding glares had been directed at me.

However, I could perceive two different kinds of emotions from their eyes.

Kirasaka seemed to be worrying about something, while Yuuto was looking at me with a sorrowful gaze.

“Surely, if it continued like this, nothing will change. Whether it’s you, or Kazanki-san, or me……we won’t be able to take a step forward, or for that matter, a step back”

“That’s……”

“……in order to move forward, someone needs to take the initiative and break the status quo. That’s why I decided to have a talk with Minato today”

What are these two saying?

I had no idea what they were talking about. However, I could understand that whatever they were talking about was not only important to them, but it involved Shizuku as well.

“……Shouldn’t you answer Kirasaka’s question first?”

I spoke up to interrupt their conversation.

I was interested in what both of them had to say, but it was Kirasaka who had asked her question first. Therefore, Yuuto should have to answer her first.

Yuuto stood up silently.

“Yes, I will properly answer Kirasaka-san’s question……but, before that”

Yuuto then walked a bit away from me and Kirasaka. He then turned towards me who was still sitting on the bench and asked,

“Minato……what do you think of Kanzaki-san?”

That was the one question I wanted to hear the least.