CH 33

She Smiled as She Declared Herself a Bad Girl

Translated by HamletJr

Edited by HamletJr

Whether the issue between Satsuki and her brother, Akira, had been resolved or not was…still up for debate, but that very same day, Satsuki told her parents that she wanted to live alone. She had been commuting from her parents’ house because of its proximity to her university, but she wanted to experience living on her own while she still could, which she conveyed to her parents.

As for her parents, they must have felt very sad to see her go. But her resolve was firm, and so, they apparently gave her permission to live alone, albeit reluctantly. She immediately communicated this to Ryuichi and also added that although there was a rift between her and Akira, she wanted to forget about him for now.

“Ryuichi-kun, you can come over to my new apartment anytime, okay?”

“Well, I’ll think about it.”

Ryuichi gave a wry smile as he responded to her words, which were filled with anticipation. She had rented an apartment nearby, and Ryuichi could visit anytime he wanted to. Chisa was going to come over to celebrate Satsuki’s first attempt at living on her own, giving her a lot of advice while she was at it.

“You better be there too, you hear me?”

Since Chisa had sternly warned him, well, Ryuichi had no choice but to go. He could have ignored her, but Chisa had a scary side to her whenever she got angry. They were in a sex friends-like relationship, but just as he’d said before, she was also like a nagging older sister to him.

That was why he didn’t want to do anything to anger her too much.

He was relieved to hear that they had decided to meet up at Satsuki’s place on the weekend, but now at school, Makoto gave him a nudge on his shoulder, truly amused at what he was seeing.

“Man, he’s totally glaring at you. His face is just screaming, ‘You fucking piece of shit, you ruined my relationship with my sister. Go to hell.’”

“Shut up.”

Just when he thought the problem with Satsuki had been taken care of, he was now up against an Akira who was ruefully glaring at him, which he had expected in a sense. His friends were puzzled as to what the hell was going on, but they backed away from him once they realized it was Ryuichi he was glaring at.

“Man, they seem hellbent on avoiding a confrontation with somebody as scary as you.”

“It’s pretty funny to watch. I guess they find it easier to just not get involved in the first place rather than wasting their time otherwise.”

“You said it. Well, I’m sure you won’t have anything to worry about, but if something does happen, lemme know.”

“…What’s up with you today?”

Normally Makoto would’ve left the conversation off with a jab at him, but today he was telling him to tell him if something happened; in other words, that he would help Ryuichi. Since Ryuichi was a friend of Makoto’s, there was nothing wrong with him helping out, but since he was a little different than usual, Ryuichi was curious.

“I had a chat with Chisa-san at the club yesterday. You see, we were talking about you.”

“Hmm?”

“Heh, y’know, there’s no end to the amount of topics we can talk about when it comes to you.”

“Hold up, what the hell did you two talk about?”

“I would like to know the answer to that as well.”

Ryuichi and Makoto reflexively jumped to their toes when they suddenly heard a voice. They had been sure that they were the only two people in the room, and yet when they turned to look at where the voice was coming from, they saw Shizuna standing there naturally as if it were a matter of course. The two were truly shocked to see her, who had given them no sign of her presence at all.

“What, I’ve been here the whole time, you know! You don’t have to look so shocked!”

“That makes you all the more terrifying!:

“…I have to say, you’ve changed a whole lot too, haven’t you, Rindo?”

Apparently Shizuna had been there the whole time, unable to join them in their lively conversation. She puffed up her cheeks, grabbed the hem of Ryuichi’s shirt and glared at Makoto. The glare was cute, and Makoto laughed.

“Looks like the princess is jealous of me. You sure are loved, Ryuichi.”

“Really, now?”

“…Yes. I want to talk to you all the time, too, Ryuichi-kun.”

“She says it so naturally…”

Seemingly embarrassed by her straightforward confession, Shizuna looked down at the ground. Seeing this, Ryuichi chuckled and placed his hand on her head. Even though Makoto’s body was shielding them from view, their classmates could still see them to a certain extent. However, Ryuichi had long passed the point of worrying about it.

“I…am such an easy woman, aren’t I? Just being patted by you on the head like this makes me so happy.”

“I think that’s a natural reaction to have if it’s the person you love, don’t you think? It doesn’t make you ‘easy’ or anything like that.”

“Well, maybe…”

“What if somebody other than Ryuichi patted your head?”

“I’d hate that.”

Her voice was stern and forceful. When Makoto reached his hand out for her head as a test, her gaze turned pointed and she glared at him.

“My, my, how scary.”

“…Sorry. I just can’t stand the thought of being touched by any other man than Ryuichi-kun.”

Ryuichi found Shizuna’s annoyed expression quite charming. There were times when she showed expressions like these that befitted her age, and there were other times when she showed an incredibly motherly expression like the one she’d had in his dream.

“Guess I should feel honored, huh.”

Shizuna smiled brightly when she heard Ryuichi’s mutter. 

She was such a kind and caring girl through and through. She had a strong heart and never wavered. The only reason she spent time with Ryuichi and his friends was because she chose to. Regardless of what people spoke about her, she’d never left his side, ever.

She was such a young woman, but today would be his first time witnessing her talking back to an adult. On his way back from the restroom during lunch break, he found Shizuna talking to the school counselor on the staircase landing. She and the teacher, a young man with a buzz cut named Hamasaki who also happened to be the coach for the baseball team, were alone.

“Rindo, I’ve heard that recently, you’ve been hanging around delinquents like Shishido and Fushimi. The teachers are worried you might be being threatened in some way… Would you like to talk to me about it?”

Ryuichi let out a sigh seeing as how even the teachers were the same. He knew that although he was a changed man now, his attitude in class used to be bad and the teachers didn’t like him. Even so, his grades weren’t too bad, which was probably the reason why they thought he was so cocky.

“As teachers, we are here to protect the students. So Rindo, please tell me everything.”

Well, Hamasaki had a point. An honor student like Shizuna hanging out with Ryuichi and the other delinquents; it was natural to think that they might have done something to her. Shizuna’s friends weren’t worried, but it wasn’t strange for him to feel differently since students and teachers had a different, more distanced relationship with each other.

…Well, I guess I’ll come up to them when the timing’s right.

Of course, Shizuna wasn’t being threatened by Ryuichi in the first place; she was with him and his friends of her own volition. In other words, the concerns of Hamasaki and the teachers were completely unfounded, that was all there was to it… However, it seemed Shizuna had something else she wanted to say.

“I am not being threatened at all. I am with them…with Ryuichi-kun of my own volition. Oh, and don’t respond to my answer with misguided accusations like, ‘I knew it, you must be being threatened,’ or ‘They must be blackmailing you,’ or any other such responses.”

“Urk…Rindo, I…”

“Sensei—”

Shizuna cut him off. Ryuichi couldn’t see her expression, but whatever it was made Hamasaki take a step back from her.

“I know full well that Ryuichi, Fushimi, and some of the other people I am close with are considered delinquents. But there is no rule that says I can’t interact or associate with them based on that alone.”

“Rindo, I’m telling you—”

Thud. Shizuna stomped her foot on the floor. It was a light stomp, but it was enough to stop Hamasaki’s voice.

“Sensei, you said that the teachers are there to protect the students, right?”

“Y-Yes, I did…what about it?”

“Why do you speak that way about Ryuichi-kun and his friends when they are also students? Doesn’t that go against what you said?”

Those words must’ve come as harsh to Hamaski. Ryuichi understood from the get-go that teachers wanted to get rid of students who were inconvenient to them. Even if they weren’t directly affected, if there was even the slightest of ill-natured rumors, they would want to avoid getting involved with them and would even want them to disappear.

“…Although frustrating, I do understand where the teachers are coming from. But still, I choose to follow my feelings rather than my logic. Hey, Sensei, did you know Ryuichi-kun is a very kind man? He saved me when I was being harassed by a playboy and chased him away.”

“…Huh?”

“Honestly speaking, I too had only known about the bad parts of him up until that point. Yes, there are legitimate reasons he is called a delinquent by everybody else. But I don’t want to completely shut out the other person without hearing their side of the story first, especially if it’s someone I care deeply about.”

Ryuichi’s eyes widened at those words. He had received many words from her, but this was his first time hearing her say that she cared about him dearly in front of others.

“……”

He wasn’t used to being told that he was important, that he was cared for. Her words touched his heart because the person he wanted to hear those words from, the person he wanted to have tell him he was precious, even if it was a lie, had always told him that he was a nuisance, a mistake.

“Sensei, if you’re worried about me because I’m a good student, then thank you. You don’t have to worry about me anymore—I’m a bad girl now.”

This was something she’d said to him once before: that she was a bad girl. He didn’t expect to hear those words again in the form of a declaration to a teacher. He tilted his head in confusion at his strangely pounding heart as Shizuna walked down the stairs, only to come across Ryuichi waiting there.

“Ah, Ryuichi-kun.”

“Hey…you talked about some really embarrassing things back there, huh.”

“Fufu, so you were listening. But it’s okay; nothing I said was a lie. I just said what was on my mind.”

Then, Shizuna, who seemed to have thought of something, grinned and hugged him. She tiptoed as high as she could and kissed him on the cheek. Knowing that Hamasaki could clearly see them, she then said.

“I’m a bad girl; I’m more than willing to do even this at school. ♪”

Shizuna’s smile at that moment was truly beautiful, Ryuichi would later say.