CH 51

Hayato, who took the trouble to make a lunch box with an unfamiliar recipe, arrived at school later than usual.

The morning classrooms are as busy as usual.

A few of them are working on assignments that they inadvertently forgot or were allowed to copy, but the majority of them are occupied by friends chatting with each other.

“Hmm?” 

As I went to my seat, I got an incoming call on my phone.

I opened the screen to see who it was, and there was an eggplant with a nose like a tengu.

The sender is Minamo Mitake.

The accompanying text, “Did you do it right?” which was attached to the letter made me laugh a bit.

There were other images of sweet peppers growing in a limp or upside down toward the sky, saying “I’ve bent it to the center” or “I’m raising it upside down.”

All of them were badly shaped vegetables. They are not often seen in supermarkets, but when I was in Tsukinose, I often received them when they were not for sale, so I was very familiar with them.

Hayato felt a little nostalgic and shook his shoulders when he heard her unique sensibility.

“What are you grinning at, Kirishima? Is it your rumoured girlfriend?”

“No, it’s not, Mori. It’s a vegetable. Can’t you see it?”

“Hahahaha, what a weird shape!”

“Yes. It’s not in the market, but it comes in all shapes and sizes.”

“Hey, do you have any more images like this?”

“Hmm… Well, I guess… Ah!”

“Hoh?”

Suddenly, a non-vegetable image appeared.

Hayato’s surprise that he had done it, and Mori’s curiosity that he couldn’t miss it, leaked out from him.

“Ah… um. Yeah, I understand you, Kirishima. Every man loves a shrine maiden.”

“No, wait. Mori, it’s not my hobby or anything, it’s a festival.”

“Yeah, yeah, it’s a festival, I know. The fun of the festival is in the yukata the girls wear, as well as the shrine maidens.”

“I don’t deny that, but… Well, do people still wear their yukata at festivals and such here?”

“Oh, at a summer festival in your hometown or something. I mean, didn’t you wear it where you lived before?”

“There were no young guys who wore those…”

“I see.”

The image of the shrine maiden was Saki Murao. She sent it to me this morning along with the recipe.

However, explaining this was somewhat annoying.

Just as I was wondering how I was going to cover it up, the conversation veered away to the yukata. I was secretly relieved.

Perhaps it was the mention of the yukata that caught the interest of the other boys, who gathered there in an uproar.

“Yukatas are very special! Just the fact that a girl is wearing it makes her look 50% cuter!”

“I mean, the haircut matches it, or rather, the nape. It’s just great!”

(TL/Comment: No lies detected here, sir.)

“And it looks so erotic, even though it’s not very revealing!”

“No, it doesn’t.”

“No, no.”

“That’s not true. Right, Kirishima?”

“D-don’t ask me…”

For some reason, it turned into a yukata discussion among the boys.

Apparently, there is a summer festival sponsored by the local government at a nearby park, so some of the boys blatantly turned their gazes toward the girls.

Hayato also looks next to him and notices Haruki’s curious and somewhat mischievous eyes on him, which makes him cringe.

“Do men really like yukatas?”

“No, it’s…”

The way she puts her index finger on her chin, tilts her head cockily, and asks questions, even if he knows she’s making fun of him in a calculated way. Hayato can hear her hidden voice behind, saying, “Hmm… you’re a boy so you like that kind of thing, right?” Even so, it’s cute.

But that is only for Hayato.

“Oh, of course!”

“So, let’s see Nikaido-san in a yukata!”

“Come to the festival with us!”

“Or, be my girlfriend! Please go out with me!”

Haruki’s words, which could be taken as either provocation or ridicule, causes the boys around her to turn up the heat.

Haruki was surprised by this unexpected reaction.

“I’m sorry!”

“Hey, what are you guys talking about?”

“Stay away, you beasts!”

“Are you okay, Nikaido-san?”

The situation quickly evolves into a group of girls trying to protect Haruki from the boys who were making such a fuss.

Haruki was not expecting this either, saying “Wha- what?” as she turned her eyes around.

(Hah, sheesh…)

Apparently, Haruki has demonstrated a bit of crudeness lately.

Hayato let out a big sigh of “It can’t be helped” and admonished the boys along with the girls.

“Haha, I knew it. Nikaido has changed, right?”

“I don’t really understand.”

“She’s easier to talk to, or maybe she’s more relaxed than she used to be… Maybe the rumours among the girls are true after all.”

“Rumours?”

“Haruki Nikaido has a boyfriend.”

“Ha?”

I was aware that I let out a dumb voice.

Even now, I don’t understand half of what Mori said.

It would certainly be true to say that Haruki has changed recently.

Surely that must be a good change.

However, there is no connection in Hayato’s mind between that and the fact that she has a boyfriend.

While Hayato was confused, the area around the entrance of the classroom began to make a commotion.

“Uh, is Nikaido-san there?”

“Ah, yes. What is it?”

“Look. Speak of the devil.”

“That guy…”

It was Kaidou Ikki.

Apparently, he has something to do with Haruki and is calling her out.

I look at Haruki’s face as I pass by her unintentionally – it’s the usual expression of Haruki Nikaido, at least not the kind of expression you would expect to have when called by the person you have feelings for. In the first place, Hayato, who is always by her side, knows that Haruki doesn’t have a boyfriend.

Yet, for some reason, Hayato’s heart was filled with a swirl of bad feelings.

“Ah, there is a famous rumour among the girls…”

I remembered the words of Minamo Mitake from the other day.

Looking around, I saw a group of girls watching Haruki with grins on their faces and a group of boys with complicated expressions on their faces.

That somehow made me feel bad, as if the people around me are creating a pre-existing situation.

He looks at him to see what he thinks, but from Hayato’s position, he could not see the expression on Kaidou’s face.

However, his gestures are so large that it seemed as if it was due to nervousness, which made Minamo Mitake’s words credible.

“I was told to ask Nikaido-san, who is also a first-year student, about applying for club activities.”

“Yes, that would be the student council office. Shall I go with you?”

“Yeah, that’d be great.”

It appeared to be a club-related story.

I don’t know why he came to ask Haruki about that.

But when Haruki and Kaidou were leaving the classroom, shoulder to shoulder – and when he caught a glimpse of her relieved face, Hayato jumped out and chased after them before he could think.

“Please wait!”

“Uh, eh?!”

“You are… ?”

The surprise was not only from the two people in front of Hayato, but also everyone in the classroom.

—————-

TL here. I have a bit of changes from the name, from Kazuki Kaido to Ikki Kaidou (first name to last name as per international version). It was a mistranslation. Sorry for the inconvenience.

I also wasted a lot of time on irl stuff, like work immersion, school projects, romantic relationships, manga translations, as well as hobby addiction. Sorry for the very long delay.