Chapter 38: Volume 2 - CH 2.2

“…Yamato, care to explain to me why you’re making that face?” Yuzu looked at me with a frown.

“No… It’s just, it feels refreshing to see Hina giving orders and following up with other students.”

When I spilt my honest thoughts, Hina turned a little red.

“When was that? The only time I was ever shy was at the beginning of middle school.”

“Well, yes. The worst it’s ever been was in the first grade, right?”

Hina paused a bit before honestly answering quite awkwardly, “…I guess up to halfway into the second grade?”

She was very honest in strange aspects. However, this triggered a flood of memories in me.

“Oh, I remember now. It was a long time before you could make friends with the girls. You had club mates, but you couldn’t make friends that you could hang out with personally.”

When I spoke of the past with distant eyes, Hina turned bright red at once.

“Wait a minute? You seem to be remembering a lot of unnecessary things, can we leave it at that?”

Despite Hina’s face twitching, the memories continued to surface in my mind.

“The first time you made that plan to go out with your first female friend, you were so nervous thinking what to wear or what to chat about; it was as if you were preparing to go on a date.”

Her extreme nervousness back then made me doubt for a while whether Hina was a lesbian.

“Ya-Yamato-kun, you’re not much better. You even asked her whether she wants to go out with you after she hangs out with me! I really thought you were a jerk for using me as a stepping stone to hit on girls!”

“Hey, stop! Don’t mention that…!!”

Perhaps I cornered her too much, Hina counterattacked me with an explosive statement. Fearfully, I looked at Yuzu next to me.

“Oooh… Hmmm… Yamato-kun, you also had a period when you’re such a chad, I see…”

Sure enough, she had a subzero kind of smile on her face.

“N-no, it’s not what you think, okay? I didn’t seriously ask her out. I only suggested that so even in the worst scenario, I could still offer assistance to Hina, so I thought about getting closer to that girl as well.”

I really didn’t have any ulterior motives. I explained with that meaning, yet Hina shot me a cold look.

“You could have gone out with us if you wanted. The fact that you went to the trouble of asking to go only with her is enough proof that you were holding on to the hope that you’d get a chance with her, isn’t it?”

“I didn’t! Just a bit!”

“Ohh… So you had a bit.”

I was so shaken that I even said something unnecessary, and as a result, Yuzu’s smile became colder to absolute zero degrees.

“I mean, I’d ask her out, so it wasn’t like I didn’t hold such thoughts at all! Anyway, she said no, okay! To me!”

Why should I be put in such a corner even after being refused?

“Oh, so she rejected you. Hm, then that’s good.”

Yuzu was so pleased to hear about my unfortunate past that she stopped her intimidating fake smile and nodded deeply.

For the time being, I was relieved… However, that really was a close call.

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“Hina, you’ve become so frightening.  I didn’t know you could pull such a triggering topic without hesitation.”

I shuddered while thinking just where had that timid Hina of the past gone…

She then glared at me with a pout and argued back, “It was you who did that first.”

“Well, that’s true… Let’s stop here? This convo is going nowhere.”

“I agree.”

A non-aggression pact was reached between us two.

Hina knew of my embarrassing past and to top it off, she also had acquired the skill of disclosing them at the perfect time to her advantage; she might’ve grown to be quite a formidable enemy to have. But well, it was the same vice versa.

At that moment, a ringtone from Hina’s smartphone sounded from inside her pocket.

“Ah, gimme a moment… Hello?” Hina excused herself and answered the phone.

“Yes, alright. Um, I got it. I’ll go take it.”

The content was brief, the call ended in just a few moments.

“What is it?”

“We asked the drama club for help with the play script, and they contacted me saying that they already got them done. I’ll be taking the script copies for everyone.”

“For everyone… Isn’t that a lot?”

I swept my gaze around me; combining all the boys and girls in the basketball club, there were around fifty people. Copies for all of them surely would be heavy to carry.

“But well, it’s my job.”

Hina acted like it was nothing, she intended to do it by herself.

…Geez, she hadn’t changed in this aspect from long ago.

“No, I’ll do it. If I’m not mistaken, the drama club uses the audiovisual room as their clubroom, right? I’ll go for a bit and receive the copies from them,” I said and stood up, but Hina’s eyes contained a bit of a reserved look.

“…Is that okay with you?”

“Yep.”

I felt a bit distant when she asked for my confirmation like that. If we were what we used to be, we’d have no reservations between us.

…The one who led us to be like the present was me though.

“Alright, then I’ll count on you.”

Hina seemed to assume I was reliable and finally was convinced as she saw me off.

“Um, leave it to me. Yuzu, I’ll be back in a while.”

I also called out to Yuzu who had been quiet for some time.

She jolted into her senses and nodded at me as she replied, “Eh, ah, um, see you.”

Yuzu’s smile appeared to be quite off.

“Okay…”

I knew in my gut that if I pressed her on it, she wouldn’t give me a straight answer, so I swallowed my doubts for the moment and headed for the audiovisual room.

chocolala: Wow Yamato, is that wise leaving the two girls alone??