18: I Got My Confession Rejected by Yukinoshita Right Out of the Gate!
[18] 18: I Got My Confession Rejected by Yukinoshita Right Out of the Gate!
[18] “Good morning.” It was another morning on the way to school.
Yawning and wiping the tears from the corners of her eyes, Tadayana was walking with Iroha Isshiki when they ran into Yui Yuigahama before they reached the school gates.
Then, on the road just before the entrance, they saw Yukino Yukinoshita stepping out of a sedan that practically screamed wealthy family.
“Wow.
As expected of a rich girl.
So this is how rich families drop their kids off?” Tadayana sighed in admiration, though only jokingly.
The gap was simply too big.
“Right?
Right?
Having money really is the best.
I’m gonna get super rich someday too~” Spinning in a circle as she spoke, Isshiki looked utterly full of hope and anticipation for the future.
“And what do you want all that money for?” Tadayana asked.
“No idea.
I just feel like being rich would make me feel safer, I guess.
And then I could keep you, Tadayana.
You wouldn’t have to work anymore.” A faint smile appeared on Tadayana’s face at that.
“Then you’ll have to work much harder.
With your grades, you’re still a long way from that level.
Your way of doing things still needs work too.
If future you doesn’t end up needing me to subsidize your living expenses, that’ll already be a success.” “Tch~ got it.
Then I’ll just prepare to live off you instead~” While the two of them were still whispering like that, Yuigahama had already gone off to greet Yukinoshita.
She seemed to know she had no real way of entering the atmosphere around those two, so she hurriedly found herself something to do as an excuse not to feel awkward.
“Whoa, it’s Yukinon.
Morning, Yukinon~” Judging by the way she moved, Yuigahama had rushed right up and greeted Yukinoshita the moment she got out of the car, before she had even properly found her footing.
The sudden greeting startled her badly.
“Looks like…
you scared her a bit.” No sooner had Tadayana said that than Yuigahama had already dragged Yukinoshita over.
Though Yukinoshita still clearly wasn’t used to walking with people she wasn’t close to.
“By the way, things are okay now, right?
Between you and Hikki, Tadayanan?” Yuigahama asked as soon as she came over.
“Mm, I’m fine on my end.
I just don’t know how the gloomy guy’s doing.” “Hikki looked about the same as usual yesterday, but maybe a little gloomier.” “Considering that even the way he sees the world got smashed to pieces, that’s only natural.” Yukinoshita added.
“‘Smashed to pieces’…?
Isn’t that wording a little too much?” Yuigahama broke out in a cold sweat.
Why did everything Yukinoshita said sound a little scary?
That girl was terrifyingly serious.
“It’s not too much.
That’s more or less what happened.
If the gloomy guy always handles things that way, then yes, I smashed it to pieces.
There’s nothing surprising about that.
His theory for dealing with people is only the experience he’s pieced together over the dozen-odd years he’s been alive.” “Mine, on the other hand, is a time-tested school of thought with about a century of history behind it.
When two ways of thinking collide, isn’t it perfectly normal for the weaker one to get smashed apart?” “W-Well…
you’re not wrong, I guess.
Poor Hikki.” Yuigahama said mournfully.
“It couldn’t be helped.
If he isn’t corrected now and made to realize the limits of his own thinking, he’ll suffer for it badly later.” Tadayana looked over the others and found that their attitudes were basically no different from before.
Aside from Yukinoshita, the other two girls had never cared that much about the Service Club’s activities in the first place, let alone anything as lofty as its guiding principles.
Those two were probably more interested in what they were eating tomorrow morning and what clothes and shoes to wear.
But that was fine too.
Tadayana didn’t dislike this feeling of being able to talk without any barriers between them.
If someone cared too much about ideology, then differences in outlook between friends could easily turn into conflict.
So when it came to that sort of thing, the easiest people to get along with were the ones who didn’t care about it at all.
“Tadayana-san.” As the four of them walked side by side, Yukinoshita and Tadayana’s looks were so striking that they had become one of the prettier sights on campus that morning.
“Hm?” “I’ve started studying that framework for understanding the world you recommended to me.
But as expected, it’s still faster to learn while using it.
And I just so happen to have an experienced practitioner right beside me.
So if another case comes up next time, I hope you’ll let me learn through practice.” “Can I take that as a request?” “You can.” Yukinoshita answered just as crisply.
Faced with a method that could help her reach her ideal, she lowered her proud head without hesitation.
“Alright.
Got it.
Leave it to me, my senior disciple.” “…Hm?
…Disciple?” “What, you don’t like it?” “No…
it’s just…
that’s a very unusual thing to be called.” Yukinoshita fell into thought again.
The term felt new and unfamiliar to her.
Then what was she supposed to call Tadayana?
Master?
“Ahhh?
What are Yukinon and Tadayanan whispering about again without me?
How come you two feel like you got closer faster than Yukinon and I ever did?” “Heh-heh, see?
That’s because our Tadayana is such a natural beauty that even the school’s beauty has to admit defeat.” Isshiki puffed out her chest proudly, as though she were the one being praised.
“Okay, okay, I get it.
But actually, now that you mention it, I do remember that when Yukinon and Tadayanan first met, they already seemed weirdly familiar with each other.
Could it be that you two had met before that, earlier than I knew?” Yuigahama had no intention of responding to Isshiki’s comment.
To her, Isshiki was just a noisy, attention-starved underclassman who always wanted people looking her way.
And if that was the case, then she could just treat her like a child.
Who would seriously pick a fight with a child?
More than that, what Yuigahama really cared about was where Tadayana and Yukino Yukinoshita had first met, and what had happened then.
Their relationship always felt oddly hot and cold to her.
“Oh, that?
Actually, I confessed my feelings to Yukino Yukinoshita once.” “Ohh~ so that’s what it was.” The two of them answered on reflex, without yet realizing the seriousness of what she had just said.
— T/N: isshiki bout to crash outtttttttt