After disgorging every thought in his mind without remainder, Yuuta felt a sensation of immense relief spreading throughout his entire body.
It felt exactly like the moment someone holds their urine for a very long time until their bladder aches, only to finally let it go upon reaching the toilet.
The metaphor might have sounded crude and far from elegant, but for Yuuta, it was the most accurate comparison to describe his current state.
He truly could not comprehend why, in his previous life, there were so many people who adored and liked a heroine with a personality as poor as Yukinoshita Yukino’s.
Yes, the great secret unknown to anyone in this world was that Yuuta was a Transmigrant!
There was no need to waste time discussing his past.
In short, he woke up in this world at the age of six and realized that he had moved into a slice-of-life crossover anime reality.
Unlike the typical transmigration clichés that usually place someone as a poor orphan burdened with debt or a sickly younger sister, luck was on Yuuta’s side.
He was born into the Yamabuki Family—a conglomerate dynasty whose mere name could shake the stock market.
He had an older sister, a younger sister, and a twin named Yamabuki Arisu, who was the protagonist of the romcom series Mayonaka Heart.
With such a powerful background, Yuuta had no reason to follow a plot or play the hero for anyone.
“So that’s how it is, Sensei.
No matter what you say, I am sticking to my guns.
I will never join the Service Club.” Yuuta cast a brief glance at Yukino, who looked incredibly fragile, as if the entire foundation of her life had just been detonated.
The girl actually had to be supported by Yui to keep from collapsing.
Without a shred of guilt, Yuuta turned and walked out, not wanting to waste another moment in that suffocating room.
(This is a total defeat for Yukinoshita.) From the beginning of the confrontation to the end, Hachiman had simply sat frozen in silence.
It wasn’t that he didn’t want to defend his club mate, but his tongue felt tied.
Everything Yuuta said, however bitter and harsh, was an objective truth that had also been circling in Hachiman’s head, yet he had never dared to voice it due to his own limitations.
“Haaah…
Just forget what I suggested earlier.
Yukinoshita, don’t take it too much to heart.
Just keep living according to your convictions.” Hiratsuka let out a heavy sigh, carrying the burden of guilt for the incident that had just occurred.
After giving Yukino a gaze full of apology, she quickly hurried out to catch up with Yuuta, whose footsteps were already fading down the hall.
“Yamabuki!
Wait a moment!” Hiratsuka managed to pull level with him.
She looked at her student with an expression of mixed emotions.
“You didn’t have to go that far, did you?
I know you refused, but there are plenty of subtler ways to say ‘no’ without having to demolish a girl’s self-esteem to its very core.
You were truly cruel back there.” Yuuta glanced at Hiratsuka from the corner of his eye, a cynical smile playing on his lips.
Instead of feeling guilty, he threw the responsibility right back in the teacher’s face.
“Don’t blame me, Sensei.
This whole mess would never have happened if you weren’t so stubborn and pushy.
I refused your offer twice quite firmly, but you chose to ignore my personal opinion as if my right to vote had no value in your eyes.
You imposed your will on me as you pleased just because you feel more mature.” “Unlike the philosophy of Perfection extolled by the Yamabuki Family, my personal philosophy is Freedom and Unrestraint.
Anyone who tries to cage me in a prison of their own making, I will destroy both the cage and the maker.” Hiratsuka opened her mouth, but the words at the tip of her tongue suddenly vanished.
She felt as if she were being lectured by someone far more experienced than herself.
Ignoring the shock of the teacher beside him, Yuuta continued in an even colder tone.
“And my main reason for refusing is that the Service Club is insane.
They all live in a fantasy woven by the educational curriculum, moving within a perfect framework built by textbook theories.
They are isolated from the real world, like flowers in a greenhouse that have never felt a strong wind or a real rainstorm.” Yuuta stopped walking and looked Hiratsuka straight in the eye.
“You want me to sit there, listen to you, and play a game of ‘house’ centered on abstract concepts like ‘helping others’ or ‘mutual understanding’?” “You yourself are a teacher who hasn’t changed jobs since graduating college.
Your life path is predictable just by looking at this school’s academic schedule.
How can someone whose world is no wider than a manicured bonsai behind school walls teach me about the real world?
To me, your guidance is nothing more than simplified theory.” Being criticized so thoroughly in both her professional and personal capacities, Hiratsuka’s expression looked extremely complicated.
Was she angry?
A little, certainly.
As a teacher, her dignity was stung when she was openly belittled by her own student to her face.
Yet, far beneath that irritation, there was a tremor of shock at the naked truth just revealed…
and a slight, helpless sense of agreement.
“Heh…
he he…
You really are a troublesome kid, Yamabuki.” Hiratsuka finally let out a hollow chuckle, though her eyes showed immense mental fatigue.
“Do whatever you want.
As long as you don’t break the law and don’t make me deal with the police, I give up.
I’m too lazy to care about you anymore.” Tired of constantly losing arguments, Hiratsuka truly threw up her hands in a sign of surrender regarding her interference in the young man’s life.
She patted Yuuta’s back with the last of her strength, then turned toward the roof stairs.
She needed to calm her shaken mind with a cigarette.
As she walked, Hiratsuka reflected.
Beneath her teacher’s uniform, she realized that her understanding of other sectors of society was indeed mostly derived from literature and hearsay.
She lacked practical experience on the actual social battlefield.
Yuuta’s blunt exposure of her cognitive limitations left a palpable sense of helplessness in her heart, making her realize that these school walls often served as a barrier to an honest view of the world.
◆━⊰✿✧✿⊱━◆ Yuuta immediately put the Service Club issue out of his mind, as if the intense interaction earlier was merely a speck of dust clinging to his uniform jacket.
He didn’t care in the slightest why characters from the anime Oregairu, who were supposed to be in Chiba City, now existed in Tokyo.
To him, the logic of this crossover world was not worth debating.
Clear proof of his indifference was that he hadn’t intended to win the hearts of Yukino, Hiratsuka, or Yui for even a second since learning of their existence.
With an established family background and the power he possessed from birth, why should he bother flattering women?
Even if they were main heroines, in Yuuta’s eyes, they were still just ordinary humans.
Utilizing the remainder of the break period, Yuuta made his way toward the cafeteria for lunch.
The Seirei Private Academy cafeteria was not just a school dining hall, but a luxurious culinary hall designed to satisfy the palates of the heirs of Japan’s important figures.
The room was spacious, featuring marble pillars and elegant crystal lighting.
The menu selection was extraordinary; it didn’t just serve authentic Japanese dishes, but also various high-end cuisines from Europe and Asia.
Behind all that luxury, the main kitchen was led by Kikuchi Sonoka, a legendary graduate of Totsuki Academy whose reputation in the culinary world was unquestionable.
However, instead of ordering a complex course meal, Yuuta simply bought a high-quality meat sandwich and immediately left the cafeteria bustle.
He stopped for a moment at a vending machine to buy a carton of strawberry-flavored yogurt, then searched for a quieter place.
He eventually chose to sit on a bench beneath a large, shady tree.
Opening his food packaging, Yuuta began to eat slowly while watching the sports club members practicing hard in the scorching heat of the field.
“Slurp…
How boring.” Sucking his strawberry yogurt until it made a small slurping sound, Yuuta murmured softly.
In his eyes, all the toil and sweat they poured out for a “fiery” youth seemed futile and exhausting.
To him, the tranquility beneath the shadow of this tree was far more precious than all the teenage drama the school had to offer.