CH 78

Chapter 10 – A piece of memory (3)

Translator – Vodka

Sorry guys, I messed up a bit. I forgot to say that we entered a new chapter with #76. Chapter 9 came to an end with #75. Chapter 10 is titled “A piece of memory”. Well, better be late than never, I guess.

Ok, now something I want to say, so please read my drunken thoughts. I don’t want to flood this chapter with a huge beginning note.

What had made her this displeased?

Although her hand was merely being pointed at my neck, the cold air around her gave off an impression so powerful, that it made me feel that I could actually be put to the sword.

[TN – So yes, her hands were not touching the MC’s neck, it was merely aimed at his neck. My bad]

Taken aback by the intensity of her aura, I had unintentionally bent a little backwards, when my back touched her hand. A little bit of warmth was conveyed through my uniform, but beyond that, my body temperature was on the decline.

[TN – can someone who had maybe read the raw make any sense of this line, cuz I cannot figure out the context. For now, I will just try to make some sense by filling in the blanks –

その迫力に思わず体を仰け反らすと、制服越しに僅かに温もりが伝わってくる。だが、それ以上に体の温度は低下していく]

My brain had already registered her as a strange person, but the allocation of the title “Ice Queen” was particularly going strong now.

Her voice, the air around her, and her eyes that looked like it could freeze hell over, seemed to tell the same tale.

“You were having quite the fun, weren’t you?”

“……does this look like fun?”

If it did, there was a gross misunderstanding somewhere.

My childhood friend standing next to me was being talked to by students one after another, while I was here, standing alone, with no one to spare me so much as even a look.

I could clearly feel the difference between our popularity levels and communicative faculties.

Amidst what I was feeling right now, there wasn’t a speck of a feeling which could be considered fun.

Kirasaka looked up and put emphasis on her next words.

“Ara, is that so? Did you think that I would overlook how you have changed your hairstyle?”

“……”

……I did.

Neither Kaede nor Shizuku had changed my hairstyle in such a blatantly prominent way.

While still keeping it plain, they had simply tidied it up a bit more.

Hence, even if somebody looked at it, it wasn’t at a level where the change would be particularly noticeable.

Rather, I was surprised by the fact that she could notice the change, the moment she looked at me.

She had noticed this trivial change and didn’t intend on letting it go.

There were good points about Kirasaka Ren, but there were also others which were bad.

She was very sensitive to changes in people. So, when someone tried to strike up a conversation with her, she could instantly realize the intention of the other party.

Ulterior motives and curiosity, factional strife among young people.

She had a good appearance, and her family was rich. Everyone wanted to keep someone like that at arm’s length.

Didn’t she build a wall around her because she wanted to escape from such troublesome human relationships?

I had completely derailed from the topic, but well, for now, that Kirasaka was standing behind me.

Be that as it may, wasn’t she observing me a bit too much?

It was as if she was able to understand even the things that I had not done.

Rather, now, I couldn’t help but be worried. Where was she was observing me from?

“Since when have you been behind me?”

“Since you had left your house, of course”

“Don’t make it sound so natural……”

I couldn’t catch sight of her silhouette anywhere.

Unlike before, she didn’t park her car in front of my house. Shizuku and Kaede didn’t notice her presence either.

As I was taking a short trip down the memory lane, Kirasaka had retracted her arm and came forward to stand next to me.

“At any rate, this time, you got done in by her, huh”

“By her?……Are you talking about Shizuku?”

Kirasaka was directing a rare expression of regret at Shizuku. The resentment was apparent on the face of it.

Looking at her like this, she felt like a child of the same age. However, the fact that it felt out of place that she felt like a child, even though we were the same age, was probably because she usually wouldn’t behave in a way befitting her age.

“——”

Shizuku, surrounded by students, while deftly handling her responses to everybody, directed a triumphant face at our direction.

Truly a triumphant look.

I couldn’t comprehend what they were fighting over, but from the course of events, it was clear that I was also involved.

However, if I rushed into the conversation, I could get caught up in something troublesome.

I put away the urge to ask what she was talking about in the depths of my heart and continued forward.

A crowd of students. Following them from a little behind, were a boy and a girl.

It was a strange spectacle to look at, so early in the morning, but no one paid it any heed.

It could even be said that for a while now, this had become a tradition of our school.

Perhaps elsewhere, Yuuto, surrounded by schoolgirls, was walking alone on his road to school.

There was no doubt that the non-riajuus must be looking at that spectacle and clenching their teeth, trying to hold back their tears.

If I were to spectate that kind of spectacle, I too should want to unleash a dropkick onto him.

[TN – non-riajuus are non-normies, who do not have a satisfying real life. lol, this is the “die normies” part]

Unlike Shizuku, Kirasaka, who had a similar position in the school, didn’t have an enclosure around her.

The proof of that was that I was able to walk next to her.

There were students here and there, looking at Kirasaka, but nobody approached her.

As I was looking back and forth between the two girls, trying to figure out the reason for this difference between their situations, Kirasaka seemed to have noticed what I was doing.

“Aa, that? That’s because, unlike her, I don’t do anything that stands out”

“……Your existence itself stands out though “

She didn’t have an appearance that could be ignored.

No, well, it certainly had a lot to do with her appearance. However, it wasn’t only that. The air around her, the aura she exuded, and then……well, just the air around her.

I became fully aware of my limited stockpile of vocabulary. Anyways, it was because of that air around her, that nobody could approach her, right?

She would direct a gaze so cold, that it seemed to create a wall around her, as if telling anybody who tried to approach her, to keep away. People were bound to lose to that.

“I would be troubled if, deceived by appearances, people were to approach me with the feelings of wanting to merely talk to me, without even knowing anything about the real me”

“Ah……there is a certain persuasiveness when you say it”

What she said, applied to most people out there.

Fortunately, it would seem that she didn’t think that I was one of them.

For the most part, I must be a target of her observation.

A source of amusement, a fun toy.

“Be that as it may, you have a photography session today, don’t you? Stand a little more firmly”

“Yes”

As she hit my back, my spine stretched.

Today, since morning, people kept telling me to get my act together.

If this went on, I felt like I was going to start hating this photography session.

I wished for today to be a holiday. Although I could do nothing about it now, all I could do was think about how nice it would be if the school remained closed today.

Kirasaka walked next to me with firm steps, while I could feel my legs becoming heavier.

Neither moving past the crowd in front of me nor falling behind, I followed along.

It was like the olden days. I was like one of those many court ladies, who had to follow the consort from behind.

Taking uniform steps to follow the crowd from behind.

It wasn’t bad or anything, but I would prefer it if you guys gave me a leeway so that I could go on ahead.

Whether it was walking or just leading my life in general, I couldn’t match my rhythm with the others’.

I didn’t need anybody to tell me, that with my abilities, I didn’t deserve to stand next to the two girls, because, somewhere in my head, I would end up having such thoughts, regardless of any such reminders.

It was an inevitable fact. Whether I liked or not, was irrelevant.

It was that moment when you got a reality check because there was a huge disparity in the basic specs.