CH 48

Lunch break. At their usual secret base.

There, Hayato and Haruki frowned at each other.

“Ugh~…”

“…”

Haruki’s resentful gaze is focused on Hayato’s lunch box.

The main dish was leftover grilled ginger pork from last night, seasoned thickly for the bento, komatsuna with sesame paste, cherry tomatoes and broccoli for color, and a fluffy dashimaki roll with chopped green onion.

[TL/N: Komatsuna (Brassica rapa variety perviridis or simply Japanese Mustard Spinach) is a Japanese vegetable plant that is mostly grown in Asian countries.

Dashimaki roll is literally rolled egg.]

Haruki’s lunch was a salad chicken bar with 68 kcal per bar with vegetable juice…

Hayato sighs loudly when he hears a cute and dejected sound from Haruki while eating a salad chicken bar with his eyes fixed on her lunch box.

“…Do you want to take a bite?”

“I-I don’t want it!”

“But Haruki-“

“I-I’ve already gained four kilos!”

“H-Haruki?”

This time, she suddenly turns her cheeks in embarrassment, turns over and looks away.

The 4kg figure feels like quite a large one, but again, at a quick glance, one cannot tell the difference.

“I don’t think you… changed that much.”

“So there’s no need to force yourself to lose weight” -remembering the friendly diet talk with the girls earlier, Hayato now turns away.

Haruki, however, raised her voice, as if to say that he did not understand the seriousness of the situation.

“Hayato, you have no idea how much 4 kilos is!”

“H-how much is it?”

“Listen. 4 milk cartons, 6-7 weekly comic magazines, it’s almost as much as a medium-sized watermelon or a small bag of rice! Those kinds of weights are inside of my body!”

“O-oh. That’s…”

When Hayato hears that Haruki only gained 4kg, it didn’t quite hit him, but when Haruki told exactly how much stuff it was, well, it was certainly serious. Without thinking, Hayato pictured Haruki holding eight PET bottles, several magazines, and a medium-sized watermelon, and imagined that she had gained that much.

Himeko would have screamed and said she would go on a diet. It is difficult to overlook that much flab. Hayato felt he understood a little bit about why the girls were so obsessed with dieting.

In fact, Haruki in front of him also gave off an intense air.

Her frown remains, yet sometimes her gaze is not busy going back and forth between the lunch box, Hayato’s face and somewhere else. When she glances at him like that, Hayato feels uncomfortable and his eyebrow wrinkles.

“Umm…”

“Hmm?”

“Are you mad?”

“Ha?”

It was an unexpected question.

Suddenly, Haruki said such a thing, and Hayato was taken aback.

She looks somewhat uneasy and looks up at him as if she is asking about his complexion.

“Because Hayato, you’ve been looking so grim since this morning.”

“No, this is…”

“I also thought I might have overdone it a little bit yesterday… I’m sorry…”

“What…”

Hayato thought she was a bit unusual today.

Haruki, as usual, must have dismissed such matters as trivial and paid no attention to them. And then she would swing Hayato around.

Yet, the Haruki in front of him right now has a weak and clinging look in her eyes.

(Emotionally unstable, or…)

Hayato reminds him of the words of Mori this morning. And what to do about it. But that can be a moderately hard thing to do.

“There is a famous rumor amongst girls that Kaido-san’s true love is Nikaido-san.”

And remembering Mitake’s words, Hayato’s head snapped up and he moved before he could think.

“Haruki!”

“Eh… what?!”

It was an action that Hayato thought was unusual for him.

He puts his right hand forcefully on Haruki’s startled head to stir it, then slowly strokes it around to scoop up her hair.

The hair is silky smooth and comfortable to the touch, and if you tickle it so that it spills between your fingertips, it feels even better than Hayato imagined, and he gets carried away and continues stroking it.

Haruki’s eyes, which had been gradually getting steeper and steeper, were now drooping more and more, as if it felt good to be stroked, and she was left in Hayato’s hands.

Hayato felt as if he was being pampered by a cat that was always being pushed around on a whim, and he felt an itch in his chest that came out in words.

“…Hair.”

“Uh-uhm…”

“When you go on an excessive diet, you don’t get enough nutrients and you become dry.”

“Th-that’s right, I’ll be careful.”

“I don’t want that.”

“Eh, uhm..”

“I’m helping you, so take it easy and don’t be in a hurry.”

“Um… I’ll do my best.”

“And, uh, there’s something habitually good about your hair.”

“O-oh? Hehe… then I’ll continue to take care of it.”

“Well, if I do too much, it’ll ruin your hair, so–“

“Ah…”

As he stroked her, Hayato gradually became calm and slightly more embarrassed and let go of her hand, though he regretted it.

Then Haruki sounded sad. She sounded as if she was sad because someone she had been crazy about had been taken away from her. She looked at him with pleading eyes, as if to say, “Why are you being so mean to me?”.

“Hayato…”

“Ha-Haruki?”

“…”

“…”

Then they look at each other.

Haruki’s moist eyes gradually regained their composure as she was freed from Hayato’s hands, and her entire face, not just her cheeks, became increasingly red with shame.

“K-“

“K?”

“Kyaaaaaaaaaaaa!”

“Haruki?!”

And then she squeals as if she can’t take it anymore.

“What’s this, Hayato?! When did you learn this kind of technique? How many girls have you poisoned in your life?!”

“Wait a second and calm down for a moment! Tsukinose doesn’t have that many girls around the same age as mine, or at best, other than Himeko, I only pet the sheep or cats!”

“Yo-You did it on Hime-chan right? You know, that thing? That kind of thing, right?!”

“Who the hell will do that to their own sister?! For heaven’s sake!”

Haruki wondered if Hayato was so embarrassed with himself earlier that he was trying to cover something up by calling out that thing as proof that he is full of it.

But that was just like Haruki in what she always does, and Hayato was kind of satisfied because of that. Haruki saw this and puffed out her cheeks, and squealed in protest.

The two of them were back in arguing, as usual.

“I’m not used to getting praised or being pampered like that! I was afraid of what was going to happen to me!”

“I’m surprised. I thought you’re popular, and you’re used to people confessing things to you and telling you things like that.”

Hayato’s chest creaks as he says it. It was something that had been bothering him. He asked here and there, but was immediately struck by a feeling of not wanting to know, and regret that he shouldn’t have asked.

“I don’t have any. I don’t have a direct confession or anything like that. I’ve been trying to avoid being confessed to in the first place. That’s why I don’t even tell them my phone ID.”

“Is that so…”

“Scandal”

“Hm?”

“I mean, the celebrities, you know, when they’re dating someone, or they’re working together, and all kinds of things, that will be a big deal.”

“That’s right…?”

“So I… A good girl… Haruki Nikaido… shouldn’t go out with anyone.”

“I see…”

Hayato is puzzled by Haruki’s sudden words.

He kind of understands what she’s trying to say, but he can’t read what is behind it because of the seven-year gap in between. That frustrated him.

Hayato’s face must have looked very grim.

Haruki notices this, she smiles to cover it up, and forcefully returns to the topic as if to say that this is the end of the story.

“Well, anyway, I have to stick to my diet for my health.”

“For your health, huh? Himeko is doing her best too.”

“Hm?”

Haruki emphasizes the importance of health.

There are a lot of things to be concerned about.

However, Haruki has never been in a relationship with anyone, let alone had a confession of love made to her. She felt a terrible relief.

******

Afterword

Translator: I love you Haruki.

*took schizophrenia pills*

Where is my Haruki?

Man, I want a gf like Haruki.

Editor: Well if you excuse me, I’m just gonna inhale some hopium while listening to Secondhand Serenade while editing this. God where’s my Haruki…

Proofreader: Uhh, where’s my Himeko x Hayato gang? xD