“Shu’s surrounded by problem students, isn’t he.”
Shiraishi Teacher was clearly talking about Aoba Tomoyo.
Aoba Tomoyo didn’t talk back, because what Shiraishi Teacher said couldn’t be called wrong.
She twirled her fingers through her hair. It was clearly a smile, yet her face was ashen.
Shiraishi Teacher held out the coffee can and asked if she wanted a sip.
Aoba Tomoyo glanced at the coffee can, and the spirit of her smile seemed to return a little.
“What’s this, does Jun want an indirect kiss with me?”
“Tch… a brat will always be a brat. No matter how much you pretend to be an adult, you’re still a brat, thinking about something like that. If you don’t want to drink, then forget it…”
Shiraishi Teacher took the coffee can back and downed the rest in one gulp.
“Jun, does this mean… there won’t be another chance?”
“Ever since you came to Metropolitan High School in your first year, I realized I could never teach a student like you. Always playing with your teachers, playing with other students, no amount of discipline worked… and yet you were the most outstanding one. Now even the reason to educate you has completely vanished.”
“Ara, is Jun praising me?”
Shiraishi Teacher glanced at Aoba Tomoyo’s smiling face and waved her hand, indicating that wasn’t the case.
“Enough, enough. Let me ask something else. Tomoyo, why do you think you like Shu?”
Aoba Tomoyo crossed her arms and leaned against the glass display window of Asahi Bakery.
“What’s with that? You complain you can’t teach me, yet you call me Tomoyo?”
“Answer the question.”
“Fine, fine, fine… Like him? Who knows. Maybe he has superpowers? But liking is liking, you know?”
“So the reason… I can’t be bothered to figure it out.”
“What’s this, what’s this? Is Jun trying to steal my love?! That won’t do, right?! Look, Jun is already 28 years old? And as a teacher, with a student…”
“That’s enough. If you don’t want to answer, just don’t speak…”
With that, Shiraishi Teacher scratched her hair in frustration.
“Tomoyo, at least listen to my last words…”
“If that Shu kid is going to change you, then please change him too.”
After Shiraishi Teacher finished speaking, she turned and went back into the store.
Second floor.
On the wooden floor of the bedroom, books were scattered everywhere. Komuro Ayumi hadn’t picked them up.
Komuro Ayumi was holding a stack of books, with on top.
She stood barefoot in front of the door, in front of Hiiragi Shuichi, wearing an expression like a little cat—somewhat cute, but also somewhat proud.
But Hiiragi Shuichi looked at her appearance—having been shut in at home for so long, unkempt—and her proud expression couldn’t hold at all.
Her cheeks flushed slightly, and she lowered her head in frustration.
“L-let me say this in advance… I’m not always like this! At school I keep myself very clean!”
There was a tremble in Komuro Ayumi’s voice, a feeling of extreme fear that the other person would be disappointed.
Hiiragi Shuichi understood her situation and wouldn’t look down on her because of it, nor would he speak unfairly to her.
“I-I usually… love taking baths! It’s just that recently…”
“Yeah, I believe you, Komuro.”
Hiiragi Shuichi said softly, taking the stack of books from Komuro Ayumi’s hands.
That soft affirmation from Hiiragi Shuichi gave Komuro Ayumi confidence.
But long-term feelings of loss and inferiority couldn’t be resolved overnight.
Komuro Ayumi said somewhat awkwardly.
“A-anyway, you just wanted to lure me out, right? I know it very well! You’ve been a big shot at school since first year, fundamentally different from a gloomy type like me…”
“So now that I’ve come out, what do you plan to do…”
Komuro Ayumi had indeed been influenced by the notebook. Just as written in the notebook, her main purpose in coming out was to confirm what kind of person Hiiragi Shuichi was.
Hiiragi Shuichi knew many times that his attitude toward others was arrogant. But conversely, nobody had ever wanted to understand Hiiragi Shuichi.
So those people who always clung to him, trying to make their presence known in front of him…
‘Weren’t they arrogant too?’
It was also because of this that Hiiragi Shuichi never felt there was anything wrong with him.
But the person in front of him was different.
Precisely because he understood how arrogance worked, understood his high social standing at school, and understood the feelings of an outsider, Hiiragi Shuichi believed that when facing Komuro Ayumi, equipping the perfect-boy model was actually meaningless.
Since he had already let her see his perfect side, if he wanted to successfully keep Komuro Ayumi and have her actually overcome her social withdrawal, Hiiragi Shuichi needed to get close to her heart.
And so, at the very moment Komuro Ayumi said those disheartening words, the corners of Hiiragi Shuichi’s mouth naturally fell.
The perfect mask came off at this moment.
He took a deep breath, tossed the stack of books in his hands beside the sofa, and then stretched.
“Gloomy type, outgoing type, again with that…”
Hiiragi Shuichi closed his eyes, pinched the bridge of his nose with two fingers, and lay down on the sofa impatiently.
With this closing of his eyes, this lying down, the fog in his brain surged up.
This was a reaction only someone constantly in a state of fatigue would have.
Hiiragi Shuichi shook his head slightly and opened his eyes.
In front of him, Komuro Ayumi looked somewhat frightened.
Hiiragi Shuichi responded with the ordinary gaze one gives to someone they consider unimportant.
Komuro Ayumi’s eyes widened, and irritation washed over her.
“You… why did you throw away my books?”
Hiiragi Shuichi glanced at the books carelessly thrown beside the sofa, then looked at the books scattered all over the room.
He pointed his finger into the room.
“You don’t seem to care much about these books either, do you?”
Komuro Ayumi glanced back at the books on the floor, her scalp tingling a little.
He was right. She really didn’t care about those books…
It was just that, alone by herself, all she could do was read.
Besides reading, she had nothing else to do at all.
If she had the chance to talk with someone, she could use these books to avoid many topics.
But…
Most people wouldn’t talk about books with her at all. At most they’d say a thing or two like “Ah, Ayumi is so smart” or “Huh? I don’t understand that kind of stuff.”
But the things they understood, Komuro Ayumi didn’t understand either.
‘Why could they use not understanding as an excuse to brush aside the topic of books?’
‘Why couldn’t she use not understanding gossip news as an excuse to brush aside gossip topics?’
She had originally thought she could talk about books with Hiiragi Shuichi.
‘Ah, no…’
‘Why did she have to talk about books with him?’
‘No, no, no… but he really is a handsome guy…’
‘But so what?!’
‘Looks don’t matter, they don’t matter!!’
‘How did she inexplicably get lured into opening the door…’
‘No, wait?’
‘What’s different about this Hiiragi Shuichi?’
‘But why did she feel he was different…’
Suddenly, Komuro Ayumi felt a pain in her head.
She held her head and couldn’t help but step back a few paces.
She lost her footing and fell.
Hiiragi Shuichi instinctively wanted to help her up and immediately stood.
But he stopped.
“Huh…”
Hiiragi Shuichi lowered his head and hesitantly looked at his own legs.
He originally actually…
‘Hadn’t intended to help.’
‘Had it already… become muscle memory?’
Hiiragi Shuichi grimaced helplessly, went forward, and helped Komuro Ayumi up.
“D-don’t touch me!”
But just as he was about to reach out, Komuro Ayumi flung Hiiragi Shuichi’s arm away.
She also froze in place, because she hadn’t expected herself to do that.
“You don’t need it?” Hiiragi Shuichi’s voice was somewhat cold.
“I…”
“Then forget it.”
Hiiragi Shuichi cut her off, straightened his bent waist, and left directly.
“N-no, don’t go!!”
Hiiragi Shuichi’s footsteps were halted.
From Komuro Ayumi’s back, this person was indeed different.
But only Hiiragi Shuichi himself knew his own feelings.
He seemed to have felt some compassion.
He secretly swallowed and glanced back.
Komuro Ayumi lay there on the ground, tears welling in her eyes, reaching out to him.
Hiiragi Shuichi sighed, turned and walked toward her, and pulled her up in one motion.
“Do you still plan to go back in there?” Hiiragi Shuichi asked casually.
Komuro Ayumi glanced back at the room.
“I…”
She bit her lip.
“Y-your task is already done, right? Does what comes next still have anything to do with you?”
“It has nothing to do with me.”
“Then…”
‘That kind of romantic thing couldn’t possibly happen.’
Hiiragi Shuichi was different. Although he also didn’t want a romance plot to happen, he needed to steady Komuro Ayumi’s heart.
So he needed to make an ambiguous answer produce a concrete effect.
Then the answer should be…
“But I want it to have something to do with me!”
Komuro Ayumi suddenly raised her head.
“Oh… huh?”
Hiiragi Shuichi’s deep eyes stared at her for a few seconds.
In that instant, Komuro Ayumi felt as if she were gazing into an abyss.
She suddenly felt her body grow hot, as if a teapot had come to a boil, with steam about to burst through the lid, a sharp whistle about to resound through the room…
“Ah!!!”
Komuro Ayumi screamed and ran back into the room, slamming the door shut with a bang.
Now it was Hiiragi Shuichi’s turn to lose his composure.
‘How did she close the door again?!?!??!’