espera..

“Kukuku… Very well, I think I shall ascend the throne of the dark princess.”

“Rika will be going monk. We didn’t have a healer last time and it caused us a lot of problems.” Yozora, Kobato, and Rika answered.
“I shall choose the dancer.” “Dancer?!”
At the unexpected answer all the other members and I let out a gasp of surprise. “You’re not going samurai?”
“That’s correct.”

”…Well, we already have two melee jobs, so a support class would be better perhaps.” Rika said.
And last of all, Maria raised her voice. “I’m goin’ wizard, ahahaha!”
“Eh…”

The last time we played, I had chosen the wizard myself, but it was a useless class that didn’t learn a single helpful skill.

Speaking of which, the last time Maria had fallen asleep right after she put on the virtual boy, so she basically hadn’t participated at all.

“Ahahaha! I’m a genius so I’ll be able to do some amazin’ wizardry!” “…Maria, you’ve already chosen then?”
“Yep! Let’s do our best together Onii-chan!”

Seeing Maria so innocently happy, I couldn’t help but feel warm myself. “Let’s see then… I think I’ll be choosing the sage class then.”
Thinking that it’d be better to choose a class capable of using magic, I decided to choose the sage.

After I finished choosing my class, the mirror in front of me spread out over the entire screen and transformed into a huge steppe.

And then I could see the figures of the other six.

Sena, the paladin, was wearing an armor that could only be described as fitting her image completely – painted in white. It was a great fit with her blond hair and blue eyes and looked really cool, but it had very little exposure and that was – at least for me – quite a shame.

Yozora was wearing a black armor befitting of her dark knight class as well. It exposed her thighs and arms a bit more than Sena’s.

“Uuuu~ An-chan…”

Seeing Kobato’s figure, I opened my eyes wide. Kobato’s class choice was… dark princess, I believe?
…However, what engulfed her body was this so-called dark pudding, something that looked like coffee jelly. Her face, arms, and legs could be seen creeping out of it.

“Where did the dark pud…… princess go…”

“It looks like you ended up choosing another class like the rose girl and wizard, that the developers put in there for teh lulz. Just like the rose girl, it’s a mid-ranged attacker and it’s defensive capabilities are the highest among the classes. It’s attack power is high as well, so I wouldn’t say it was a bad choice.”

“I-It’s alright, Kobato-chan! Even if you became coffee jelly, you’re still cute!” “…………”
Kobato was indifferent to Sena’s follow up, but…

“…I happen to like coffee jelly, you know?”

“……I-Indeed… Kukuku, if my knight says so, then I’ll become dark matter…” Hearing Yozora’s comment, Kobato’s mood clearly lifted.
Next, I turned my eyes to Rika.

Her class was monk… She had not only a monk’s robe but was also completely bald. It was basically a buddhist monk.
“…I know that that this is the closest thing to ‘monk’ in Japan, but still…”

“Yeah… It’s a support classes like the healer and the nun, but it was careless of Rika to choose it thinking that it’d be like a monk from DragonCrest… Rika has tried out quite the number of different hairstyles, but she would’ve never thought that she’d see the day where Rika became fully bald…”

She said with a depressed voice.

“B-But it’s still good! Even that hairstyle fits you… you know.” “…Thank you very much.”
It looked like she didn’t believe that at all, but I honestly thought that the shaved head looked good with Rika’s childish round face. She looked cute with any kind of hairstyle, didn’t she?

And the next one, Yukimura… “Eh…?!”
Looking at her figure, I was dumbfounded.

Dancer—— that was supposed to be Yukimura’s class. As I was contemplating what kind of costume it could be, while I knew what kind of dodge balls this game threw at one, I could only think that it’d be some kind of variety costume. But dancer ended up being the so-called sexy type… and it looked almost as if she was in her underwear. A very revealing costume indeed.



Adding to the the fact was that Yukimura now had cup size double D.



“Yukimura, you…”

“What is it?”

Yukimura tilted her head slightly.

It was Yukimura, but a Yukimura with two hills sprouting from her chest. It was Yukimura, but everytime she moved, they jiggled. It was so out of place.

“Yukimura-kun, you messed with the cup size, didn’t you?”

“Ohh, what a blunder~ I must have committed a mistake while putting in the measurements~” Yukimura played dumb while pretending to have noticed it just now.
“…You weren’t that bad with computers and games the last time I checked, Yukimura-kun.”

Rika was staring heavily at Yukimura’s chest (In reality her character was the one staring, the game art was quite something).

“So that was possible too…!” Yozora murmured in regret.

Having breasts that could compete with Sena’s real ones and seeing that Sena herself was wearing an armor right now, it came down to the irregular situation of Yukimura being the sexiest member of the Neighbors Club.

“Yukimura, why did you create such a sexy character? Lately, you even stopped wearing the butler uniform and started wearing a girl’s school uniform on top of that. I hear you talking to Aoi about ‘woman power’ too… What happened to becoming a true man?”

I used this chance to ask about something I’ve been interested about for quite some time. And the answer?



“I’ve had some kind of change of mind.”



Yukimura answered indifferently. “…………”
“…………” “Huh? That’s it?” “Yes.”

That indifferent reply was so like her and at the same time so straight to the point that it was manly.

“Ummm, I was hoping you would shed some light on your ‘change of mind’, some more specific details, you know…?”

“I see, so that’s how it is.”

It seemed like Yukimura really didn’t get it before, and so she said, somewhat timidly:



“If you allow me to speak truthfully, I became convinced that Yozora-anego isn’t worthy of trust.”



“Gifu!”

Yukimura said without a shred of hesitation.

Yozora choked upon hearing her saying something like that, something that’d normally be really hard to say in front of the person in question.

Yukimura turned and bowed deeply to Yozora (which was more like her).

“Yozora-anego, thank you for looking after me all this time. I believe it’s time for me to aim for my the heavens in my own way.”

“I see… You’ve grown, Yukimura…”

Yozora let out a lonely laugh and didn’t even try to come up with an excuse. “I shall return the butler clothes once they return from the washing salon.”
“Nah, don’t worry about it. I’m giving you the butler uniform as a farewell gift…” “I must refuse, since it would be a bother, if I were to keep it at home…”
“I-I see… U-Understood.”

Yozora drooped her shoulders in a disappointed manner in real life (or at least that’s the impression I got) upon hearing Yukimura, who didn’t mince matters at all while speaking in that calm tone of hers.

She said that she didn’t like the butler uniform to begin with, so now that she didn’t follow Yozora anymore, the order to wear that uniform had become meaningless…

Putting Yukimura and Yozora’s separation aside, I shifted my gaze to Maria.

She was wearing a black robe and pointy hat, in her hand she wielded a wand with a spear- headed gem—— A cute wizard indeed.

“…Huh…? It’s a wizard, right…?”

Maria nodded energetically with a “Yep!” in reply to my question.

“Ah, the wizard class is only broken when men choose it. If female players select it, it functions rather normally.”

Rika answered in understanding to my bewilderment. “What’s with that difference in treatment…”
It wasn’t much of a satisfying answer, but if Maria had something she was happy with, I guess it was all good.

At last, I opened the game’s menu to see how I looked myself.

On the upper half a wrinkled t-shirt, on the lower half trunks… Say what? “What the hell is this?!”
It was on a whole different level from the wizard (male version) which had looked like your ordinary otaku guy. This case was so hopeless that it couldn’t even go out anymore, and this hopeless guy was now me…

“I-I’ve chosen sage, so what the hell is this?!”

“Ah. Rika just noticed it now… To get a gag class twice in a row, that’s Kodaka for you… Interestingly, the state of mind that comes after the act of masturbation is referred to as ‘sage time’ on the net – that’s where the gag for this class comes from.”

“Where in this do you see a class?!”

When I opened the abillity list, the first abillity I learned was ‘Take off your pants’.

And description was: ‘Takes off your pants. Your private parts will be pixelized, there’s no reason to hold back (lol)’ …The (lol) took annoyance to a whole new level.

“There are too many worthless classes in this game…”

“It just goes to show you that the creators of this game see the users as disgusting people. I really can’t tell if this’ll actually get released or not.”

“It’ll definitely get bashed, so I think it’d be better if it was cancelled.” I said wearily. “Sigh… ‘Sage time’, eh… It would’ve been more fitting if I had chosen that class…” Yozora said self-deploringly.
Everybody went silent, as Yozora disclosed a few hours ago that had done that, and waited for the uncomfortable situation to dissolve.

“A-Anyway let’s get going on our adventure!” Rika said as if to try and shake off that atmosphere, “Just like in the beta, the tutorial lasts until we beat the demon king inside Valhalla Castle, so let’s settle with defeating the demon king today!”

“This will be revenge for back then. Yozora, don’t get in my way this time.” Sena said.

“…Okay. I understand. It’d be better for me to just sit in the corner and masturbate so that I don’t get in your way, I guess…”

“I told you to stop saying that! C’mon now, let’s go!”

Sena yelled at Yozora, who had totally entered self-torture mode, and started walking away. With Sena in the lead, everybody started moving forward, albeit slowly.
The Holy knight, the black knight, the black pudding, the wizard, the monk, the dancer, and the sage.

Our war prowess seemed unexpectedly well-balanced (apart from me, that is).

☺
A short while after we had advanced towards Valhalla Castle, the residence of the demon king…



GYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA——————!



…monsters came out of the ground with some creepy cries.

Three warasubo[1] soldiers manifested themselves in front of us. “HYOU—?!” “GYAA—?!”
Maria and Kobato both saw those creatures for the first time and screamed. “A-AN-CHAN, T-T-THOSE ARE WARASUBO!”
“Yeah, seems you remember them too.”

As we were living in Kyushu, Kobato once happened to witness how a warasubo was cooked. The scene had scared her so much that she started to cry on the spot.

“Kukuku… t-to think that out of all places I would meet the wicked dragon waraboros here… I shall return the favor from that time…!”

“Go for it, think we can try and eat them sometime again?” “AS IF I COULD EAT THAT!”
She refused with all her heart. Even though they were so tasty… warasubos… “So our enemies really haven’t changed after all…”
Having some sympathy for warasubos myself, I felt a little sad. “We’re giving those monsters a beating, Yozora!”
“Fu… I’ll make a hilt for my cursed sword out of you…” Yozora said, despite wielding the exact same sword as Sena. (We still held the beginner equipment, so this was your run-of-the-mill long sword.)

Incidentally, the fighting system in this game wasn’t turn-based but real time, so you had to time your attacks and/or support skills well.

After one took an action, there was a certain cooldown during which one could only run around or defend.

“Take this…!” “Fu…”

The two knights were attacking warasubo soldier 1 consecutively. “GYAAAAAAAAA!”
However, it flung its spear horizontally and parried both attacks.

“Eh?!” “Wha—?!”

Both Sena and Yozora voiced their surprise.

Seeing the chance created by their failed attacks, warasubo soldiers 2 and 3 attacked as well. Sena and Yozora took 5 damage each from the warasubos that attacked them.
An additional attack from warasubo 1 on Sena caused her 6 damage. “Now you’ve done it, you disgusting alien!”
“Please be careful. Unlike the previous version, those strike back.” Rika said and casted some healing magic on Sena.
Now that I think about it, the previous time we had played this game, the enemies’ attack patterns had still been in development, so we ended up slaughtering them one-sidedly… I couldn’t help but be moved upon seeing the warasubo being able to attack properly.

Not to mention that it seemed like the AI was quite smart. The soldiers cooperated with each other. Sena and Yozora’s attacks were skillfully defended against with, while the damage was kept to a minimum. And the other soldiers counterattacked in the created opening.

It was only the first battle, but I could tell from how bad our teamplay was that it wouldn’t be easy.

“I’ll fight ‘em, too! What should I do?!”

Maria said as she saw Sena and Yozora’s fight, and Rika started giving instructions.

“Please use the fireball spell on soldier 1 then. Once the enemy falters from it, Yukimura-kun and Kobato-chan should charge!”

“Understood.” “Kukuku… Very well.”
Yukimura and Kobato gave their consent.

“Let’s seeeee, the fireball is this one, right? Burn to death, shitty alien!” Maria threw a fire ball at warasubo soldier 1.
As he couldn’t guard against magic, the warasubo soldier was burned by the fireball and faltered, seeing that, Kobato unleashed black tentacles from her body and attacked him.

Additionally, Yukimura slashed the soldier with the knife that she held in both hands, while her boobs jiggled left and right.

…’Yukimura with jiggling boobs’… The strange feeling that came with thinking that was no laughing matter, but leaving that aside…

“Gyaaaaaaaah!”

Warasubo soldier 1 let out a final cry, fell to the ground, and disappeared. “Good, let’s take down soldier 2 next.”
Yozora and Kobato moved closer to soldier 2.

Soldier 2 charged at Yozora with a spear, but Yozora shielded it off. Then Kobato used her black tentacles to attack the monster. “Ahahaha! I’m going too!”
Maria casted a fireball as she laughed.

It went straight past the soldier—— and hit Kobato, giving her damage in the process. “FUNGYA! WHAT ARE YOU DOING, IDIOT?!”
“I-It wasn’t on purpose! The one who’s dozing off is in the wrong!” Seeing Kobato getting angry, Maria got flustered.
“Hey! Why’s there friendly fire now?!”

“It seems like they changed that from beta to stress the importance of teamplay. Please be careful not to hit an ally while attacking.”




Rika warned everyone to be careful while she was healing Kobato, but…

“Heee, so attacks can also hit the ones with you. We should be extra careful then, shouldn’t we?”

I could tell without a doubt that a wicked smile had found its way to Sena’s face in real life, which fully contradicted her words.

Yozora, however, remained silent so I couldn’t tell. And thus, the two soldiers on the left attacked again. “Futile resistance.”
Soldier 2 was taken down by Yukimura’s magnificent combo attacks (with jiggling boobs), and thus the only one left now was soldier 3.

“GYAAAAAAAAAA!”

In the beta, warasubo soldiers spouted things about their families when they were in a pinch, it had left a very bad aftertaste to be honest, but it seemed it was taken out in this version and so soldier 3 simply kept attacking us as if nothing had happened.

“HAA!”

Yukimura light-footed evaded the attack of soldier 3 and created some distance between her and the enemy.

“Now, Yozora! Go!” “Yeah.”
Yozora charged at warasubo soldier 3 and Sena followed shortly after. “Let’s go! Cross Slash!”
Sena performed a big swing with the sword in her hand, executing her special move on—— Yozora.

Ah— I guess that was to be expected… I thought and sighed.

The high defensive power of the dark knight allowed Yozora to stay alive even after taking the cross slash directly, and it was her turn to take retribution on sena—— which she didn’t.

“Be more careful.”

Yozora said indifferently without even blaming her, seeing such a reaction, the bewildered Sena could only return a, ‘Ah, uh, yeah… Sorry.”, and apologized.

Soldier 3 prepared for the next attack during that and now charged at Yozora, an attack which she easily guarded.

“Sumeragi!” “Kukuku…”
Kobato used her tentacles to strike the enemy, on which followed an attack by Yozora, who dealt the final blow.

Thus all enemies were eliminated and the battle ended with our victory.

“Kukuku… I expected nothing less from my knight, that was a spectacular show of strength…”

Said the dark pud… princess to which the dark knight reacted by putting her hand in front of her chest in an elegant, butler-like manner: “Fu… I’m honored.”

“Muu…”

Sena kept standing there idly while looking at the two of them.

☺
After the first battle, our adventure continued smoothly.

Perhaps it was also due to our well-balanced party, but I’d say the main reason was the fact that no one was attacking each other on purpose (Which should be a given though, now that I think about it.)

First, there was Yukimura who cleverly performed attacks as our main DD despite her low defensive abilities, she healed allies with her dance while her boobs jiggled, and increased their stats – again with the jiggly dance.

Then there was Sena, who started going berserk on everything coming her way, as if she was trying to take out her frustration of being ignored by Kobato and Yozora, as the vanguard.

As there was no worry of monsters coming at us from the rear or center, from which Kobato and Maria were supporting the attacks of the front line, Rika was able to concentrate on healing the vanguard (mainly Sena), she put up barriers to nullify the opponents’ magic and buffed/supported the party.

Next was Yozora, who kept an open eye for any chances to attack the monsters, while she guarded Maria and Kobato.

And lastly, the guy who basically did nothing, me.

After defeating many warasubo monsters along the way, we finally arrived at Valhalla Castle, the home of the warasubo devil king.

He sure looked as strong as a boss, with his build being about ten times bigger than the normal warasubo soldier, and his ominous armor and giant axe.

“So you have finally arrived here, pesky humans.”

The last time this guy just came attacking without warning, but now he actually spoke.

“…But your luck ends here. I’ll bath in your blood today, and then we, the chosen people of Saga prefecture, shall conquer this world and rule it as the superior race!”

The king said with a needlessly passionate voice. So those had been the people of Saga prefecture…

“I’ll repay the debt from last time with interest!”

“Hmph… It’s your blood that will be spilled on the floor today.” “Kukuku… Thou shalt receive a taste of our true powers…”
“A devil king like you will only get his butt kicked!”

Sena, Yozora, Kobato, and Maria started preparing themselves for battle, Yukimura started dancing and buffed the party’s offensive powers, while Rika used her techniques to buff our defensive powers.

“GUOOOOOOO!”

The devil king charged at us while swinging his ax and the battle finally begun.

The devil king’s attacks were very powerful, but his attack patterns hadn’t changed much from when we played last, thus everyone, with the exception of Kobato and Maria who were seeing him for the first time, was able to perform well and the battle was proceeding in our favour.

Last time Yozora had abandoned Sena, and Sena had tickled Yozora in real life to hinder her playing – there was no such thing this time.

Every time I looked, the devil king’s large pool of hitpoints had been chipped down a bit more. I thought that victory was dead sure.

…Our victory? That was quite wrong…

I for one was taking refuge at the edge of the stage to not be a hindrance.

Though, I had learned new abilities as I leveled up, but they were things like, ‘Prepare to fap’, ‘Prepare tissues’, or ‘Lock the door’, which were only useful when you wanted to have fun alone, I wasn’t even able to get into said ‘sage time’.

Right now, I wasn’t even a sage… I was nothing but a NEET. “Haaa… Ah—”
*push*.

I sighed while I was checking out the list of worthless skills I had and accidently pushed the button for the ‘Take down your pants’.

And so I (or more like my character) started hastily taking down my pants. “Wha— UWAAA, WAIT, ME!”
I got flustered and tried to cancel it as fast as possible, but I didn’t know how. “Eh, wait, Kodaka? What the——?!”
The first to notice was Rika. “Aniki… So bold…”
Yukimura said as she was staring in my direction. “D-Don’t look!”
Even if it was blurred out, to have a character that looked exactly like me showing it’s lower half was so embarrassing that I could’ve died.

“H-How the hell do you put them back on?!”

“Umm, once you take your pants off, it’s impossible to put them back on until the battle is over.” “Hey, Rika! The defensive barrier is going off! What are you d——?”
Yozora was engaged in close combat with the devil king when she looked back and became speechless.

“K-Kodaka?! W-What are you doing?!”

Yozora’s movements stopped, and in that moment, a powerful slash came from devil king right at her back.

“Shi—”

A strike at her back, which was a critical strike to make matters worse, meant that Yozora was killed instantly.

Yozora’s body fell to the ground and spilled blood all over. “Onee— M-My knight!”
Kobato screamed in shock.

…Didn’t she try to say ‘Onee-chan’ just now? I didn’t know she was attached to Yozora that much…

Now that he killed Yozora, the devil king had his eyes on Kobato and was charging at her. “I’ll protect you, Kobato-chan! Hurry up and hide behind my back now!”
“NO!”

“(´・ω・`)“

Then, after she had refused Sena’s help, Kobato tried to run into a different direction, but was cornered in front of a wall soon after, and took a direct hit.

As the dark pudding had great defensive powers, even such a direct hit couldn’t take her down. But as she kept running away into another direction than the party was at and then got cornered, she simply kept taking hit after hit where even Rika’s healing magic couldn’t reach. And thus Kobato died without much resistance.

“You dare do that to Kobato-chan, you bastard!”

Sena went swinging her sword at the devil king throwing whatever abilities she had and dealt a big amount of damage in the process, but was also struck down by the devil king and died.

The party had their main fighters taken down and was now easy prey for the devil king. Consequently, Yukimura, Maria, and Rika fell by his hands in that order. The remaining guy with his manhood dangling out (me) was given a swift death soon after.



And after this battle, no one was to ever see our heroes again.




And exactly like last time, a narration was heard in a grim voice and the screen blacked out. Only the phrase ‘GAME OVER’ appeared, covered in blood.

☺
The stupid thing I (once again my character) did, lowered the morale of the group. And as it was fairly late already, we swore to definitely beat the devil king next time and quit the game.

“Geez, it’s all because Kodaka started doing such a lewd thing…”

“Exactly. Why in the world would you start stripping right then and there, are you an idiot?” Yozora and Sena kept complaining to me while their faces reddened slightly.
“It’s a real shame that it was blurred.”

“You want to make this an 18+ game, Yukimura-kun…?”

Rika replied to Yukimura, who had said that with a face of true disappointment.

“Hey, hey. Why did the place around onii-chan’s dick look strange? Back then, Onii-chan’s peepee had that kind feeling to it and I wanted to see it again.”

“M-Maria please I’m begging you stop talking about my thing….” “…Hee… So Kodaka’s has a kind feeling to it…”
Rika said totally interested and my face grew even hotter.

“B-But honestly, it’s been a while since we did a Neighbors-Club-like activity like this.” “Whose fault do you think it is that we haven’t done any activities for so long, eh?”
I stiffened up after being scolded by Sena, but then Kobato said, “It’s your fault too…”, in a small voice, which caused Sena’s face to stiffen too.

“I-In any case to make up for the lost time we’ll be playing a lot, so keep that in mind!” “Ah, yeah! You’re right!”
Sena said in an attempt to hide her fluster and I followed up in a hurry.

“Then let’s do something next week as well!”

“No need to wait until next week, it could be tomorrow or the day after it. We’re all free during holidays after all… We should go karaoke again or something.”

“That’s quite the good idea for someone like Yozora! I’ll make you all shiver with my angel-like voice this time!”

“You go sing alone.”

“Kukuku, my knight… If this is your desire, then I shall lend you ‘KuroNecro”s character song CD… We’ll be singing the duet between Reisis and Shen-fa.”

“Hooo, so there was something like that? I’ll arrange for us to sing it.” “K-Kobato-chan, do a duet with me t-gyapo!”
Sena got once again struck down by the flyswatter when she tried to approach Kobato. “Then the day after tomorrow… On sunday we go karao—”


“Ah, sorry guys, tomorrow and the day after I’ve already got things to do.”



Once I interrupted Yozora, everybody looked my way at once.

“You have plans on the weekend, you say…? Did you become a normal…!” “It’s Kodaka, and yet for such an audacious thing to happen!”
“Kukuku… I bet it’s needed to make tonkotsu ramen, isn’t it?”

“That ain’t it! Even I have something planned for the weekend sometimes, idiots… It’s just extremely rare…”

After I finished saying that poutingly, Rika said: “I wonder what plans occupy you on both days?” “That’s, umm…”
There isn’t really a need to hide it, but I’ve got the feeling that if I blurt it right out, these guys are gonna get mad. But I guess deceiving them would be dishonest too, so I’ll just say the truth…

I had this kind of monologue running through my head.



“I have heard that it’s arranged for him to go with the people from the student council on a trip to the hot springs.”



The one who spilled the beans all of a suddenly was none other than Yukimura.

“”””””HOT SPRINGS?!””””””

Surprised voices of six people echoed.

Six people—— Why mine too, you ask? The answer’s simple. It was the first time that the word ‘hot springs’ had come to my ears in that regard.

“WHAT’S THIS ALL ABOUT?!” “WHAT IS THIS ALL ABOUT?!”

Sena and Yozora drew closer to me.

“What I was told is that I’m going with the student council to check out the hotel where the ski training course will be at.”

“Why Kodaka out of all people?!”

Sena and the others kept showering me with questions nonstop. Naturally, I had no choice but to explain.

“Well we’re just staying there for one night and go back right after. It ain’t that big of a deal, I’d say.”

And in reply to me, who was calmly looking at all the members’ sour faces, Rika said, “I wonder if there was a mass production for lucky lechers or something…”, in a groan, clearly annoyed.

“…I bet you’d ‘accidentally’ charge into the women’s bath or trip and pull the yukata of one of the girls and reveal the poor girl’s naked body in the process.”

The other members nodded deeply.

“That isn’t… I’ll make sure that that won’t happen!” I couldn’t say that it absolutely wouldn’t happen.
“Now that it’s come to this, we have no choice but to do that, do we…?” Sena said.

“That?”

“Yeah… You’re right…” Yozora nodded. “Indeed.” “Yes.”
It seemed like Yukimura and Rika also got it.

Yozora started to draw a deep breath and declared our next activity,



“We shall be going on that trip as well!”



…in a bombastic manner, as befitting of a club president.

Chapter 11: The First Wing: Redundant Volume ~ And the Story of the Lonely Man who was Once a Protagonist ~

The next day. Saturday morning, a little before eight.

We had all gathered in St. Chronica Academy’s parking lot.

All of us means the four student council members, as well as the Neighbors Club and me. Only Sena hadn’t arrived yet.

Yozora and the others, normally open hearted in the club room, were now nervously silent. Yozora herself had her hands folded and leaned on the wall. Kobato was for some reason striking a pose besides her. And Maria was bustling around them.

Somewhat apart from the rest, Rika had seated herself wearing a melancholic expression, and standing even a bit farther away was Yukimura, expressionless as usual.

All of the present people were wearing plain clothes, Yozora was wearing her infamous black jersey (I guess she looked a bit chubbier than usual because she wore some extra clothes underneath to shield off the cold), Kobato wore a dress with a cape, and Maria was wearing a white duffle coat.

Rika had some pants with fluffy boots on her, a down coat, a thick shale, and some ear muffs on top.

“I see you’re fully armored.” I voiced my thoughts, and Rika replied in an absolute serious manner, “We’re going to a snowy mountain, you know? This isn’t the time for girl power!” But I thought that she looked cute in her clothes nonetheless.

Yukimura wore a mini-skirt, long boots, and a cardigan, it looked cute on her too. On the other hand she seemed to be cold, which made it even cuter. When Rika had seen Yukimura’s clothes, she said baffled, “Yukimura-kun, do you want to die?!”

On this trip, the plan was to simply relax in the hotel for the most part, so there wouldn’t be a need to go out. There were, of course, no plans to go to the mountains either.

On the student council’s side, Aoi was looking around nervously while she stood at a spot somewhat far from the Neighbors Club. Karin was spacing out, looking sleepy. Last, Hinata-san and Akane-san were chatting with each other.

Aoi, like Yukimura, had a Mini-skirt on her – despite the weather. That was some fighting spirit she showed.

Karin was wearing a long coat and had crosses hanging all over her as usual.

Akane-san wore jeans with a blouson and stole. It was simple, but it could also be seen as stylish.

Hinata-san was wearing a plain school jersey…… Well, it was just a jersey. So she was a jersey- ist too, huh……

“I’m sorry it turned out like this, they all just insisted on coming along all of a sudden…” I approached them and apologised for now.
When Yozora had declared that they’d come along separately on the trip, there had only been one day left. I had wondered how the heck they’d pull that off, but Sena talked to Pegasus-san and he made it happen. Chairman power. Scary.

Not to mention that all members made it here… It was similar to what happened on the training camp and the amusement park, their agility was as tremendous as ever when it came to these spontaneous things. It wouldn’t be exaggerated to call it a gathering of people with too much time on their hands.

“It certainly did surprise me, I must say. But the more the merrier, so isn’t it fine?” Akane-san said and laughed in a refreshing fashion.
“Y-Yes, indeed. It’s as you said.”

Hinata-san on the other hand seemed quite bewildered.

As she usually was bold – the three others aside – I expected her to burst out in laughter upon seeing this kind of situation unfold. So this reaction surprised to me.

“Is there something wrong?”

“N-Not really, there’s nothing wrong! It’s just that…”

Hinata-san shifted the gaze to where Yozora, Kobato, and Maria were at.

A middle schooler and a 10-year-old. I guess being told that kids are coming along on a trip like this is enough to be taken aback.

“I’ll take care of the kids, so rest assured.” I said. “The kids? Ah, it’s not that.”
Hinata-san had made a puzzled face for a second.

“If it’s not them, then… is it Yozora? Ah, that all-black girl is our club leader, Mikadzuki Yozora.”

“Yeah, I know.”

Hinata-san took a quick glimpse of Yozora once again.

It also happened that Yozora was looking this way too, so their eyes met. In that instant, Yozora’s lips became crooked, revealing her teeth.

Yozora called Hinata-san a ‘normalfag’ (An existence that stands above all humans which are fulfilled with their real life) and seemed to hate her one-sidedly, but I found the fact that she hated someone of higher grade who she didn’t even know quite unlike her.

“Could it be that you’re acquainted with Yozora, Hinata-san?” “………Yeah.”
Hinata-san gave an unusually hesitant nod.

“Yozora said she didn’t talk with the president before, though.” “……So she even said that.”
Hinata-san’s expression darkened.

“But it’s actually true that I’ve never spoken with ‘Mikadzuki Yozora’ before.” “…? What do you mean?”
Not knowing what she was talking about, I tilted my neck. “……I’m saying that Yozora’s former name was ‘Hidaka’.” “Her former name…? ‘Hidaka’……?!”
Seeing my shock once I perceived her words, Hidaka Hinata-san smiled bitterly and said:



“Yozora’s my little sister.”



“Little sister——”

“I-It seems our ride has arrived.”

The moment I wanted to investigate the matter further, a mini bus had entered the parking lot. Sena was sitting next to the driver.

And the driver was… “Pegasus-san?!”
None other than the chairman of Saint Chronica Academy himself, Kashiwazaki Pegasus-san.

☺
“It’s been a while, hasn’t it, Kodaka-kun?” “I-It has…”
While I got, for some reason, the seat next to him instead of Sena, Pegasus-san kept talking cheerfully during the travel, and I could do nothing but reply with a stiff face.

The bus offered 14 seats including the driver’s. Four in the very back, with Yozora, Kobato, Maria, and Sena on them.

Two in the front of that row, the right side, with Yukimura and Aoi. One next to those on the left, with Rika.
Only Karin in the row in front of the aforementioned two-seat row. And last, the row right behind Pegasus-san and me, with Akane-san and Hinata-san.




“Excuse me, but… why are you our driver, Chairman? I heard the one picking us up would be the student council’s supervisor…”

“When I heard that you kids were coming along on the trip, I had her switch with me. I have a licence, so don’t worry. Hahaha.”

“I-I see, haha…”

Seeing the chairman laughing, I decided to laugh along for now.

Our destination was the hotel near the skiing place, located in the prefecture next to ours. So it appeared that the time we’d need until we arrived there would be about four hours.

Four… long… hours…

And since I was seated next to Pegasus-san, talking with anyone else was hard.

And since I hadn’t talked to him since the month before— when I had lifted the misunderstanding about Sena and me— it was even more awkward.

If at least Rika had been in the seat behind me, it would’ve been fine. But it seemed like she wasn’t too fond of interacting with Pegasus-san either. When boarded the bus, he approached her cheerfully, ‘Shiguma-kun, I hope you’re doing well!’ to which Rika replied awkwardly, ‘Y-Yes, thank you.’, bowed slightly and went ahead to hide herself in the back of the bus.

The student council members were also present after all, so I had thought they might start some sort of entertainment during the trip. But the situation with six additional folks coming along – one of them being the academy chairman to top it off – was probably too out of the usual and sudden to expect them to have something prepared.

When I looked back through the mirror, I could see Akane-san and Hinata-san discussing a print. Most probably student council work, I’d say. Recalling the huge amount of work that had piled up after christmas two weeks ago, they probably didn’t really have the time to go on a trip like this. So to not waste time, they were pushing themselves to make the most of it now and to play around later… That was probably the way normal did things.

The two sitting by themselves, Karin and Rika, were both looking outside while listening to music, it had the same kind of feeling when people were by themselves on a school trip or outing. I, too, had made that kind of experiences, but it felt quite lonesome to look at nonetheless.

Karin was in her usual expressionless mode, so I couldn’t tell whether she was busy with herself or not, but I could see Rika taking a glimpse at Yozora’s group behind her now and then, and at Yukimura and Aoi across from her.

Yukimura and Aoi were happily chatting away about fashion. The girl talk of two bishoujos. You could say that those two were the only ones practicing ‘normalfaggotry’ here.

In the seats at the very back, Yozora and Kobato were talking cheerfully with each other, while Sena was trying to get into their conversation and was shot down in the process. Maria was trying to get some attention from Sena, in which consequence Sena took out some candy to bribe her into staying quiet.

I couldn’t help but getting a bit dizzy on seeing this scene that showed the manifestation of the difficulties of human relationships in their plain and natural form.

“Hahaha, being with ten school girls sure is noisy, isn’t it?” “I-Indeed.”
I just answered whatever crossed my mind.



“So, which one is your favorite?”



“F-Favorite? That kinda thing is… Hahaha…” “Hahaha, all of them are wonderful after all, hahaha.” Pegasus-san laughed mischievously for some reason. “T-That’s right… Hahaha…”
“With so many girls around you, any anxiety you might’ve had must’ve died, right?” “No, well, I guess… Hahaha.”
“Ahahaha…”

My stomach churned, and while remembering a somewhat painful sensation, I let out a dry laugh.

Pegasus-san’s eyes didn’t look humorous to me at all despite the fact that it looked like he was engaging in light gossip.

Seeing that I had broken my engagement with his daughter about a month ago (that’s what had been decided, at least for the time being…), my experience was extremely lacking and no help when it came to how to go around him.

“You’re sweating quite a lot, Kodaka-kun. Is the AC too good perhaps?” “T-That might just be the case, hahaha…”

“I see, but perhaps due to my age, I’m feeling quite cold. Please bear with it for a little while longer.”

“Y-Yes, please don’t worry about it…”

It’s not cold because of your age but because of your clothes, (he was wearing his usual wardrobe) is what I thought, but I gulped it down.

I wondered how much does this person did actually knew to begin with? How much did Sena tell him about her confessing and my reply?
From what I could tell, Sena and Pegasus-san didn’t talk that much at home, so it was probably safe to assume that she didn’t tell him about it…

“…You see, even though I don’t look like it now, but I was quite popular back in my school days.” Pegasus-san suddenly said.

To be honest, he still looked quite young and handsome to me, so I found it quite convincing that he had been popular during his younger days.

“Ahh, I-I see…”

“I was quite envied by those around, but at the time, all that buzz of women around me just felt like noise, really.”

Pegasus-san said with a tone that surely carried his true feelings.

“…There’s no one but me to decide what is happiness for me is. That’s why I had to think. So that I wouldn’t have regrets…”

Those words felt like advice for me and yet like something he was telling himself. “…To be honest, just the other day Stella told me that she had found a lover.” “Huh?!”
I raised my voice in surprise upon being told that with a totally serious tone.

Why the hell would this person tell me about the playboy who stole his servant’s heart? I really couldn’t get him…

“I-I see… Well, Stella-san is pretty after all.”

The fact that she didn’t have a lover until recently was more surprising, to be honest.

“Yeah… Her partner has guts too… I could approve of him with no regret.”

…Why does he need Pegasus-san’s approval to begin with?

Pegasus-san heaved a deep and lonely sigh.

“Perhaps thinking stuff like ‘I want to protect her, to save her, to make her happy…’ was foolish after all… Both she and him will without doubt become strong on their own. She has been saved in a place I didn’t know about, by a man who wasn’t me, and she has reached happiness somewhere my hands couldn’t reach——”

“…………”

His monologue was something I couldn’t completely understand.

To want to protect and save, thinking such a thing was foolish—— It felt like those words were stinging my chest.

Chapter 12: Both Student Council Members

After that, my conversation with Pegasus-san continued. However, it was mostly just the usual reminiscing about the good old times with my dad.

Not only did I have no personal interest in anything he was saying, but even with all the good intent in the world, it would still be difficult for anyone to flatter Pegasus-san’s conversational skills. He would suddenly change the scene of the story, or would go on a loop with the same tale over and over again. Thus, while still feeling bad about it, I gave up listening and pretended I was asleep in the middle of it all.

I spent about an hour in such a state before we arrived at a rest stop – a service station. We then proceeded to have lunch there before setting off once more. Again, I couldn’t wait more than one hour before pretending to be asleep, and ended up spending the trip in a sort of ascetic state.
After all that had ended, we finally arrived at our destination, the inn.

It was a building with an ancient air to it; apparently the inn had been in business for 50 years.

The old man who was the proprietor of the inn came out to meet us and greeted Pegasus-san heartily. Pegasus-san, however, seemed to be quite shy and as he was talking a wry smile found its way to his face.

It seemed that they had been using this inn even during the period when St. Chronica was an all girls’ school, and they had come here every year for the ski training.

They were applying artificial snow in various places in preparation for the open season so that people could use the slopes. However, the majority of skiers would not arrive for quite some time.

On this trip, the few groups of old people staying with us weren’t up for skiing as much as they were up for the hot springs.

“Now then…… seeing as we have the chance now, let’s do the self-introductions, shall we? Yes yes, I’m well aware it’s a bit late for that now, so you don’t need to say it again.”

Akane-san said that, addressing the group after we entered the lobby.

“I’m the student council Vice President, Ootomo Akane. I’m a third year, nice to meet you all.” “I’m the student council President, Hidaka Hinata. I hope we can all get along.”
“……Student council secretary, Jinguuji Karin. Class 2-4.” After she finished, Karin lowered her eyes, looking at Aoi.

“M-Me too? Umm…… I’m the student council treasurer Yusa Aoi…… I-I’m sorry for the trouble I caused you the other day…”

It seemed like the memory of being struck down by both Sena and Yozora after trying to shut down the Neighbors Club still weighed on Aoi’s mind, and she ended up introducing herself uncomfortably.

“T-Then it’s the Neighbors Club’s turn now!” I pressed.

“I am called Kusunouki Yukimura, I offer you my greetings once again.”

The first one to introduce herself politely was Yukimura, who was already acquainted with the student council. Nice one, Yukimura!

“I’m Takayama Maria, the club’s advisor and a real teacher, I’m also a teacher! Ahahaha!”

Maria continued thereafter and introduced herself. Now that I think about it, she became a real teacher the other day, didn’t she?

“T-Teacher?” All the members of the council, with the exception of Aoi, were confused. “……Ah, I’m from class 1-4, Shiguma Rika.”
Rika gave a simple introduction and lowered her gaze. “…………Hasegawa Kobato.”
Perhaps it’s because she uncharacteristically read the mood, but this time Kobato didn’t introduce herself as Reisis Vi Felicity Sumeragi, and used her real name.

“I’m Kashiwazaki Sena. A goddess as you can see.”

Sena introduced herself pompously as usual. This was the one person who never changed.

Seeing Sena’s attitude, Aoi stammered a “Fugugu……” Her enmity with Sena obviously hadn’t gone away yet.

And lastly: “……Mikadzuki Yozora.”
Without even looking at Hinata-san directly, Yozora said nothing but her name in a curt manner. Hinata-san let out a small sigh.

As if trying to move the conversation forward, Yozora turned her back on the student council and said:

“So, Meat, how are the rooms going to be split?”

“We already had two rooms for two people reserved, so we went ahead and reserved two more for four.”

“So it will be the four from the student council, Kodaka and the chairman…… who’s left is…”

So I really will be left with the chairman in one room after all…

“I’ll share a room with Kobato-chan, of course!” “No!”
After instantly denying Sena’s request, Kobato ran away from Sena’s side and hid herself behind Yozora’s back.

“What if we mix up the Neighbors Club and the student council? To deepen our friendship.” Akane-san suggested.
Yozora made a clearly annoyed face and whispered in a small voice:

……Why do we need to deepen our friendship…

“Eh? Did you say something?” “……Nothing at all.”
Yozora muttered.

Akane-san’s “Eh? Did you say something?” was like my old favorite question, which was to be asked whether you heard the person properly or not, and thus sort of ruining the moment for them, without it being clear if it was done intentionally or not. This, in turn, makes them hesitate to say it again and usually leads to them dropping the whole thing—— a question that denies the other.

“Are the others in on that as well?” “‘As well’, she says…”
Seeing how she was naturally manipulated into giving her approval, Yozora put on a dissatisfied expression.

Rika and Kobato seemed against it as well, but as they were both shy around strangers, and facing what seemed to be the aura of a ‘normal’ radiating from Akane-san, they kept silent and didn’t object.

I did think her way was a bit forceful, but I was all for deepening the friendship between the student council and the Neighbors Club, so I didn’t say anything…… I was going to stay with the old guy anyway, so the girls ended up using rock-paper-scissor to decide the room compositions.

With that said, the girls were deciding the room assignments by battling it out in Rock-paper- scissors.

“Let’s split the rooms up in 3-4-3 then after we’re done with the Rock-paper-scissors.” “It’d be great if we ended up together, Yukkii.”
“Indeed, it would.”

As Yukimura and Aoi had their own smiley interaction: “Rock-paper-scissors! Rock-paper-scissors!”
Upon Akane-san’s call, the battle for the room compositions began. The results:


1 — Kashiwazaki Sena, Kusunoki Yukimura, Takayama Maria, and Yusa Aoi. 2 — Hidaka Hinata, Ootomo Akane, and Shiguma Rika.
3 — Mikadzuki Yozora, Hasegawa Kobato, and Jinguuji Karin.



Yukimura and Aoi, Yozora and Kobato; in other words, those who got along well with each other were happy, while Akane-san and Hinata-san jested to each other like the best friends they were, “So it seems that our undesirable and inseparable relationship has been fated to continue even now.”

Sena on the other hand seemed displeased, but I hoped from the bottom of my heart that this would be a chance for her to deepen her relationship with Yukimura and Aoi.

Maria was also quite attached to Sena, so it was probably okay.

The real problem were the two who were out of their comfort zone; namely Rika and Karin.

“Excuse me, Jinguuji-senpai…… if you’re not against it, would you like to trade rooms?”

Perhaps because staying with two third-years in one room was too much for her, Rika offered a suggestion to Karin.

Karin would naturally accept this offer—— or so I thought: “Nein.”
After refusing her proposition without a moment of consideration, Karin gave Rika a sidelong glance and said:

“I’m Jinguuji Karin, I hope we can get along.”

After which she bowed to her roommates, Yozora and Kobato.

The two of them looked hesitant, but they replied regardless with: “Ah, yeah…”, “Kukuku…… Y-You have my regards…” Now that it’s come to this, changing rooms was no longer an option.

Akane-san noticed Rika standing there in anxiety, so she reassured her:

“Shiguma Rika-san, I believe? You really don’t have to be so nervous. Today, all that Senpai and Kouhai is of no importance. It’d make me very happy if you could relax a little.”

“Right…”

Rika gave only a vague reply.

She wasn’t the type who could just loosen up if she was told to so plain and simple, so I was a bit worried.


☺
Pegasus-san’s chat with the owner concluded and we all headed off to our rooms.

They were all located on the second floor. Pegasus-san and I were staying in room 203, Sena and her group in room 205, Hinata-san and her group in room 206, while Yozora and her group were in 207.

The room Pegasus and I were staying in was a Japanese style 10-tatami mat sized room, thus there were was no toilet or bath.

“Well then, it’s been a while since we got a chance to relax like this, so let’s make the best of it, shall we?”

Pegasus-san said with a pleased expression, as he opened the sliding door of the room.

On the other side was a balcony, and if you looked out from the window, a chain of white mountains lined up in the distance.

“The scenery is really beautiful, isn’t it?”

As I gave my honest impression, Pegasus-san responded with a satisfied ‘Hmm’ and nodded, then he took a seat on the tatami chair and started pouring some tea.

As he poured tea for me as well, I sat down and began drinking.

Tea while gazing at the snowy mountains. Ah~~ so relaxing.

“Fu…… now that I think about, I remember going with Hayato and the guys once to a hot-spring hotel just like this——”

I thought he had calmed down as well, but it seemed like that wasn’t the case.

Seeing that the whole ‘good times’ talk about my father was going to start up again, I hurriedly gulped down my tea. Wait a sec, hadn’t he already told me the exact same story on the bus?

“E-Excuse me, I need to go to the toilet for a bit.” “Eh? Ah, I see.”
Leaving the somewhat disappointed Pegasus-san alone, I left the room.

☺
After I was done in the bathroom, I decided to go to the shop on the first floor to kill some more time. When I arrived in front of the store, I bumped into Yozora, Kobato, and Karin.

The three of them were wearing yukatas and holding towels. “Kodaka.”
Yozora then noticed me and started up a conversation. “Hey…… are you guys heading to the bath already?”

“Yeah, there isn’t really much else to do, after all…”

The student council’s original plan for today had been to ‘Chillax’ anyway, and naturally the Neighbors Club had no plans themselves.

Seeing that we have the rare chance of being in a hot springs hotel, I guess the natural course of action would be to hit the bath then.

The hotel’s public bath seemed to be quite big, not to mention it had outdoor baths as well. “I see…… then maybe I should go to the bath as well.”
“Is that so…… t-then how about we go to the mixed bath together?” Yozora asked in a teasing tone.
That red face. If it was so embarrassing to say, then she should have kept it to herself…

Apparently, in this hotel, in addition to the normal male and female baths, there was also a mixed outdoor bath.

Naturally, it was closed for students during the actual ski trip, but that didn’t appear to be the case this time…

But to think that Yozora would say something like that… “I-It’s just a joke! Don’t think about it so seriously, idiot!” “I-I knew that!”
“Hmpf!”

Yozora turned on her heel and walked away. “Kukuku…… let us go conquer it together, my Knight…”
Added Kobato, who was following Yozora with hurried footsteps. However, Karin was the only one not to have started walking. “…………”
Wordlessly and expressionlessly, Karin gazed at the sight of the two walking away. “……Even her appearance from behind is lovely.”

Karin said suddenly.

“Eh?” As I asked in reply, Karin turned, and started staring at me intensely.

I started to get flustered from the expressionless eyes that were staring deep into mine.

Student council secretary, Jinguuji Karin—— among all the members of the student council, I found her personality the most difficult to assess.

She always did her work wordlessly and indifferently, and if you called out to her, the best you would get back was a half-assed response. It wasn’t just towards me, it seemed that she was like that with everyone.

I got the feeling she wasn’t all that compatible with Hinata-san or Aoi, who were more of the energetic type.

“……Umm, do you need something?”

I asked, as I felt the awkwardness level in the air reach nine thousand. Karin nodded slightly. “Hasegawa-kun, there is something I’d like to ask you.”
“Something you want to ask?”

“What type of person is Yozora-oneesama?” “……Huh?”
After hearing the question, which could have only been born out of a misunderstanding, Karin repeated.

“What type of person is Yozora-oneesama?”

After hearing the question twice, I still didn’t get it. “……What type of person, you ask…”
My impression of Yozora from ten years ago, and that from half a year ago, were constantly being shaken, and so I felt unable to explain things very well.

“Why do you want to know more about Yozora? To begin with, why call her ‘Onee-sama’?”



“I feel fate is involved.”




“……Excuse me?”

Seeing the dumbfounded look on my face, Karin’s cheeks got a little redder.

Karin then clasped the cross around her neck in both hands and started speaking with a drowsy face.

“When I saw Yozora-oneesama this morning, I understood. The moment I laid my eyes on her, I knew; this person was the other half of my soul torn away from me when I was born. Awe- inspiring beauty, a refreshing voice with that dismissive tone; she was even in clad black like the fallen angel Lucifer——”

“It’s only a jersey, you know?”

My tsukkomi act was ignored by the way.

“Just looking into Yozora-oneesama’s eyes makes me feel as if my soul is about to be swallowed up whole.”

“Isn’t that just your imagination?”

“I feel like I could get fertilized just by hearing Yozora-oneesama’s voice.” “As if!”
I threw a tsukkomi at Karin with all my power, who had begun saying some pretty outrageous things.

“I want to have Yozora-oneesama’s baby.” “You can’t.”
“I want to have sex with Yozora-oneesama.”

“Your words are becoming more and more direct, oi…” I could feel my face heating up.
“First, I’d have her step on my cheek with her foot.”

“So you already have specific kinds of roleplay in mind…” “And then——”

“You don’t have to explain any further! Ummm, so is it like that……? You like Yozora in a sexual manner?”

“I hope you can refrain from using such vulgar language. It is our souls that are in love with each other.”

Karin pouted a little as she said that.

……Now I’m sure of it. She’s a weirdo…!

This overflowing crazy aura…… to think she was hiding such an aura… So this was the reason she refused to exchange rooms with Rika.
“So, what’s it gonna be? Tell me more about Yozora-oneesama.”

“Even if you ask me that……” I thought a little and said, “I don’t really know that much about her.”

Now that I’ve actually put it into words, it feels a bit lonely.

I became aware of the fact that I truly know nothing about Yozora once again. “Anything’s fine, like things she likes or things she hates for example.”
“Things she likes…… ah…… she often brings Pocky and chocolate with her to eat, so I’d say she likes that kind of thing. She also drinks coffee pretty often, and she said she likes coffee jelly as well.”

Intending to confirm things to myself as well, I rummaged through my memory while answering.

“Chocolate…… that’s quite a good thing to know. I really want to feed Yozora-oneesama chocolate mouth-to-mouth.”

“Also…… it also seems she likes reading and going to the movies.”

“That’s Onee-sama for you, such intellectual hobbies. I like reading myself. What kind of books does Onee-sama like I wonder?”

“Who knows…? She always puts a cover on them, and even if you ask her she either gives a nonsensical answer or ignores you. But from the peeks I’ve been taking every now and then, the books she reads seem to be fairly difficult. Also, I think she reads manga despite not showing it.”

“I see…… incidentally, does she like Yuri novels?” Karin gave me a gaze brimming with expectation.

“Yuri eh…… I wonder what she thinks of it.”

She seemed to like the BL ‘Homoge Club’, but I’m not sure what her take on Yuri would be.

“As for the things she hates…”

The first thing that came to mind was Sena. And then Hinata-san. “Normalfags, I guess…… she’s always saying ‘Die, die!’ after all.” “What are these ‘normalfags’ you speak of…?”
“It’s a slang word describing those who are fulfilled in their real lives.”

“I think we could say then, that she hates this unfair world of ours to the point where its ruin would give her delight. Sowing the seeds to this world’s destruction like the great fallen angel—
— Ahh♥ you’re so cool, Onee-sama.”

Her face spellbound, Karin exclaimed in ecstasy.

“I really don’t think it’s something that spectacular though…” “Thank you. You were quite informative.”
She returned to her usual expressionlessness, thanked me with that indifferent tone of hers, and started to walk away.

……I wonder if it’s really okay to just let her go to the bath with Yozora, when she’s like this.

“Ahem, please take care not to do something that would be labeled as a crime.” “No need to worry. We’re both women after all.”
Without even turning, Karin answered indifferently.

“Even if you’re both women, what are you planning to do…?” “A truly holy exchange of souls, that’s what.”
“……I’ll say this just in case, but you do know that even if you’re both women, forcing…… it’s that simply doing that kind of thing is a crime, you know?”

“……Eh?”

For a fleeting moment, it seemed the thought had crossed her mind to do something sexual without any thought towards a proper relationship, but Karin kept walking away in silence without looking back.

Will it really be okay, I wonder…?

But well, I never realized that Karin was so passionate.

I thought she was a quiet person, but it seems she is considerably talkative. I think she had spoken more words just then than the sum of everything she had said during my week with the student council.

Everyone seems to have different sides to them.

I believe I’ve just become acquainted with Karin for the first time.

☺
I was in the middle of returning to my room after I separated from Karin, but this time it was Hinata-san and Akane-san who I met in the hallway.

They were also wearing yukatas and holding towels. “Are the two of you also heading to the bath?”
“Yup! When you’re staying at a hot springs inn you just gotta go in the hot springs, right?!” Hinata-san gave a hearty smile.
“Um, where’s Rika…?”

I asked them out of curiosity, and a troubled look popped up on both of their faces.

“We invited her to come into the hot springs with us, but it seems she wasn’t feeling well, so she’s resting up in the room for awhile. Certainly, her face did seem a bit off-color, so we decided to go with just the two of us.”

Akane-san answered, and then Hinata-san added:

“Well, you can enter the hot springs as many times as you want. When the time is right for Shiguma, I believe we’ll go in together. After all, the best way to open up your heart to others is to hang out in the nude you know! Like Akane-san and myself, every time we have a fight we go to the public bath and chat until we start to feel dizzy.”

“Hina. That topic is……” said Akane-san, while looking somewhat embarrassed. “Even you two fight with each other sometimes?”
“It happens all the time actually.” Akane-san let out a strained laugh.
“Although, it’s usually because this person is guilty of being an idiot.”

As Akane-san pointed her finger at her, Hinata-san started to sulk like a child:

“What are you saying? Even when I honestly apologize, Akane always frets over the minor details, so she’s the one in the wrong.”

“Though calling them ‘minor details’ makes it seem like you haven’t really reflected upon yourself. I mean, even when I contacted you about this trip——”

She suddenly stopped in the middle of her sentence. “……Well, we do fight every now and again, I guess.”
Akane-san’s face started to turn red in embarrassment as she smiled wryly.

For some reason, these two kind of remind me of Pegasus-san and my dad. Pegasus-san also seems to do a considerable amount of bad mouthing when he talks about my old man.

Hinata-san and Akane-san had known each other since elementary school if I recalled correctly.

In addition to knowing the parts of each other that they dislike, they also fought quite often, but when they’re together you could say that they were true friends…… that’s what I thought.

Now that I think of it, in the old TV dramas that I used to watch, there were dialogues like ‘even though I can name 10 flaws you have, I still love you!’

……If I had to name all of the flaws of the Neighbors Club members, I don’t think 10 would be enough.

“Oh yeah, so about Yozora?”

Suddenly remembering, I changed the topic.

“Ah,” Hinata-san said while putting on a bit of a troubled face:

“Well, there’s quite a bit to say. Our parents got a divorce when we were very young. I went with our father, and Yozora went with our mother.”

I didn’t have anything to say to Hinata-san, who started to explain without any hesitation.

“After the divorce we went to different elementary and middle schools. It wasn’t until high school that we were finally able to see each other again, but to be frank, we avoided each other…… however!”

After Hinata-san muttered that somewhat lonesomely, she suddenly smiled ambitiously.

“I don’t know what kind of mental state she’s in, but she’s finally somewhere I can reach her. I’m going to use this trip to see if Yozora and I can become friends!”

“G-Good luck! I’ll be cheering you on.”

I cheered on Hinata-san who had declared her determination. It’s good for sisters to be on good terms with each other.

“Ah, now that you mention it, Yozora was heading to the hot springs a while ago.” “What?! This is my chance! I have to hurry and go wash Yozora’s back!”
With eyes filled with joy, Hinata-san hurried off to the hot springs.

Akane-san said “Oh boy” and shrugged her shoulders before following after Hinata-san. “Um, Akane-san.”
I called out to stop Akane-san. “Hm?”
“Is it possible that when we were assigning rooms, you mixed up the student council and Neighbors Club all for Hinata-san’s sake?”

“……You’re pretty sharp, aren’t you.”

At my question, a wry smile appeared on Akane-san’s face.

Of all the people I know, Akane-san was the most normal, so I was concerned for her and tried to read into the situation.

Using something like “it’s our long awaited chance” as a pretext and despite the fact that it was obvious there were people she didn’t like, she forcibly mixed the Neighbors Club members in. I was worried because I was sure that it must be stressful for her.

“I had hoped that Hina would be in the the same room as her little sister. Although things didn’t turn out that way, it’s not bad for her to become friends with her kouhais.”

And then a lonesome smile suddenly appeared on Akane-san’s face as she said,

“……Because it’s not like there won’t be a day when I’m unable to be by Hina’s side you know…”

“Eh?”

I didn’t understand the meaning of what she had said, but Akane-san put on a gentle smile and said:

“I’ll be off then, Hasegawa-kun.”

Turning around, she quickly headed towards the bathhouse.

☺
Upon returning to my room, I came upon Pegasus-san, who was lying facedown on a pillow.

He’s probably worn out from all the driving.

While saying ‘Thanks for all the hard work’ in my mind, I decided that it would be best to enter the hot springs while Pegasus-san was sleeping, so I grabbed a yukata and towel from the closet.

“Un…?” “Geh…”
Although I had tried to make as little sound as possible, unfortunately for me, Pegasus-san had woken up.

Holding a yukata and a towel, our eyes met. “Hm? Kodaka-kun, you going to take a bath?” “Ah, well…… yeah.”
“I see, well then I’ll come as well. Could you wait a second for me please.” “……Y-Yeah…”
……In the end, it seems I’ll be going to the hot spring together with Pegasus-san.

Washing each other’s backs, hearing about his life when he was a student, and having to listen to him reminisce about my old man (I’ve heard this all before) once again…

Incidentally, the spacious public bath seemed to have been reserved for us, and the open air bath’s scenery was also wonderful. I would of course love to take it easy here by myself.

☺
Leaving Pegasus-san behind, I quickly got out of the bath, changed into my yukata and dryed my hair.

After finishing in the dressing room, I started heading back to my room, but on the way I came across a map of the building. As I was giving it a look over for whatever reason, my eyes stopped on the words ‘Ping-Pong Room’.

Hee…… so there’s a Ping-Pong Room, huh.

Having some interest in it, I decided to head over there.

In the Ping-Pong Room there were about 10 tables for Ping-Pong, as well as Sena, Yukimura, Maria, and Aoi.

Everyone was in a yukata, and they were all playing Ping-Pong, with Yukimura facing Aoi, and Sena against Maria.

“Ah, Onii-chan!”

The first one to notice me was Maria, who called out to me, and then the other three people stopped playing Ping-Pong and looked in my direction.

“Thank you for all your hard work, Aniki,” said Yukimura. “Kodaka, you already took a bath?”
I nodded in reply to Sena’s question. “Ah, haven’t you guys gone in yet?”
“Yeah. It’s something we don’t get to do everyday, so we decided to work up a sweat before taking a bath.”

So Sena said, but it seemed like she hadn’t broken into a sweat at all.

Aoi, Yukimura, and Maria all had sweat beading down their foreheads though, and their hair and yukatas were in disarray.

“You wanna play too Kodaka? If these girls face me they don’t stand a chance.”

At Sena’s remark, Aoi and Yukimura’s faces showed a hint of anger, and Maria retorted: “N-No way! This time I’ll beat Sena for sure!”
She flared up.

“I just got out of the bath so I think I’ll pass.” “I see…”
Disappointment spread across Sena’s face, and she returned to her match with Maria.

By the way, Sena was holding her racquet shakehand, while Maria was using hers in a pen- holder grip.

“Yukkii, let’s do some intensive training!” “Sounds good.”
Aoi and Yukimura started up their rally again. Both of them were using their racquets shakehand.
For whatever reason, I ended up watching their games.

I played Ping-Pong in gym a bit while in middle school. Although I wasn’t really good or bad at it, when compared to someone like myself, Maria was considerably skilled.

She was able to react to the fast moving ball, and constantly dart around the table to return the ball with her short reach. The ball was moving so quick that I was having trouble following it with my eyes.

Against those fierce attacks of Maria, Sena seemed bored as she moved as little as possible to return Maria’s volleys. Just what kind of reflexes does she have…

“Fungyaa!” “Tei!”
“Gyaa. You got me again.”

Easily returning the smash that Maria had sent with all her strength, Sena gained one point.

It seems that body type makes the biggest difference after all…… if Maria used drives as her main stroke it might be different, but it seemed she stood no chance by using straight shots.

And as for Aoi and Yukimura, it seemed both of them were amateurs at Ping-Pong.

Their match was vastly different from Sena and Maria’s. I had more than enough time to follow the ball with my eyes in their exchanges.

Their rallies didn’t last very long either, with one of them missing early on and ending it. “Teei!”
“Yaa”

Although both of them were complete beginners, watching them chase after the ball as if their life depended on it was quite pleasant…… however.

In the middle of their game, they hadn’t noticed that their yukata belts had loosened, causing a big area to be exposed at the front…!

As a result of all the pointless movements they were making, every time they swung their racquet, glimpses of their chest appeared and disappeared.

Aoi was wearing a sports bra so she was still okay, the problem was with Yukimura. Yukimura…… wasn’t wearing a bra.
“Haa, aha…… nhaa!”




Her cheeks were flushed, and while letting out some strangely alluring pants, Yukimura threw her arm out every once in a while as if her life depended on it.

Every time she moved, her meagre-yet-lovely breasts would jump out in front of my eyes, causing a certain feeling to start to well up inside me all of a sudden.

Forcibly repressing the urge to watch the entire spectacle, I turned around. “Kodaka-kun, you’re leaving already?”
“Y-Yeah. I’m feeling a bit chilly after taking a bath.” “Is that so. Then please face me next time, Aniki.” “Y-You got it! Whenever I’m up for it again!”
As if running away from Yukimura’s sweet voice, I left the Ping-Pong Room behind.

Chapter 13: Complete

I returned to my room, killing time for a couple of hours by playing my portable game and reading light novels, after which I went back to the hot springs for a second bath.

I was planning to take it easy in there, but Pegasus-san ended up coming along with me once more, and to top it off we ended up washing each others backs again for some reason.

I don’t know why, but it seemed he loved the act of washing backs. Thanks to that, my back was sparkling clean, probably.

Shortly after my second bath I returned to my room as it was time for dinner, and our hostess brought our meal to the room.

The meal was mountain vegetables and freshwater fish, followed by venison stew. It had been a while since I had last eaten venison, and it had a unique flavor.
“Yep, deer is pretty tasty after all huh. Once, I was in Hokkaidou with Hayato when…” Pegasus-san was in a good mood, and started up his reminiscing again.
By the way, he wasn’t drinking any alcohol.

If that Pegasus-san, who was incredibly poor with handling his liquor, had fallen asleep it would’ve given me peace of mind, as I would be able to take a bath by myself. But when I suggested he should have a drink, “Tomorrow I will have to drive us all back. On top of that, getting drunk and taking a bath is dangerous.” Those were the very respectable words he had said.

Although he was a ridiculous old man, it seemed that he could still restrain himself so that something truly fatal didn’t happen. I guess that should have been expected.

With that said, after dinner I took another two hour break, until Pegasus-san invited me for a third bath. Of course, we washed each other’s backs this time as well.

As usual I left Pegasus-san behind and quickly got out of the bath.

Even though it had been my third time getting in the bath, I felt like I hadn’t been able to relax at all.

It’s not as if I particularly liked hot springs or anything, but it’d gotten to the point where I wanted to relax in a hot spring by any means possible.

I would have prefered to go when Pegasus-san is sleeping……but wait, the bath will only be open until midnight. If that’s the case then it seems like I’ll never get to relax.

“Haa~…”

I heaved a heavy sigh as I walked out of the dressing room, and then my eyes came to a halt over the map of the building once again.

Entry hall, Lobby, Shop, Ping-Pong Room, Large Public Bath [Red Flower Area (Men’s Bath)], Large Public Bath [King Flower Area (Women’s Bath)], Outdoor Bath [Gold Ring Area (Mixed Bath)].

“…………”

Suddenly, an idea popped up in my head. Mixed Bathing.
It would be off-limits during the ski training course, but today there didn’t seem to be any restrictions.

Excluding us, the only other guests were a few old people.

And as for the girls, it seemed that the women’s bath had been reserved for them, so they probably wouldn’t go to the mixed bath.

Although the possibility that there will be some old ladies taking a bath wasn’t nonexistent……
Well, even if there are old ladies in the bath, I’ll figure something out.

……All right.

My mind made up, I started to move.

No longer heading to my room, I turned around, and with a quick pace I hurried to the outdoor mixed bath.


☺
The Gold Ring Area was a fair distance away from the other two large bath houses, and luckily I was able to make it to the dressing room without being seen by any of the girls.

It’s not like I planned on doing anything bad, so even if I had been seen there wouldn’t be a problem, but it would be really embarrassing if they found out that I was going to the mixed bath.

Letting out a sigh of relief, I took off my yukata and underwear, and headed towards the outdoor bath with a sense of liberation.

The moment I opened the door and stepped out of the dressing room, the December evening air from the snowy landscape bared its teeth and assaulted my entire body.

Ahhh, as expected, it’s cold…… way too cold…!

My body had been washed three times already, so I immediately headed for the center of the bath—— as I was doing so, I heard a voice coming from inside the hot spring.

“…Christ, each and every one of them over there has such a damn lovely face, fuck! I finally thought I’d have an advantage, and suddenly those two giant tit characters appeared out of nowhere! Why did I of all people have to get stuck between those two pieces of rotten meat that have only been living two years longer than me and be forced to have these miserable feelings! Shit, ShitShitShit, those snobs were looking at me with eyes of pity weren’t they! Trying to be considerate of me when they don’t even understand this miserable feeling, those damn natural normalfags! Shit, why do I of all people have to be in this place alone…! Alone, me of all people, alone?! That’s not right! I’m not that miserable of a being! It’s not isolation, but rather solitude!
Oh I missed you you son of a bitch! I’m a Khan! It’s been a while since I’ve gone into solitude after having my fill of things, fuck! …………But it really is lonely after all……I don’t like the cold or the loneliness Kodaka…… gusu…”

In the corner of the bath by herself, submerged up to her chin and looking up at the starry sky, while spewing out that abusive language incredibly fast, was:

“……Uu~~~~, I think I’ll return to normal now…” “……Rika?”
“KYA?!”

*SPLASH*

At my timid call to her, Rika let out a shriek and dove underwater. “Achoo!”
I sneezed. At any rate, it was way too cold, so I quickly got into the hot spring.

Feels good…

The heat from the hot spring spread throughout my body, it felt as if all the tiredness in my body just dissolved away in the water.

“Whew…… I’ve come back to life.” “Don’t come back to life, idiot!”

With a splash, Rika’s head vigorously shot out from under the water to yell at me, and then somewhat embarrassed, she hid her chest and turned her back to me.

Rika didn’t even have a towel around her, so she was completely in the nude.

My heart almost jumped out of my chest upon seeing Rika’s white back, so I also turned my back to her in a hurry.

I also thought that I should try and create some distance between us, but as the outdoor hot spring was smaller than the other two baths, it seemed like there really wasn’t any point.

“W-W-W-W-Why did Kodaka come here?!”

“The board chairman’s in the men’s bath so I can’t relax over there! W-What about you?! Why did you deliberately come to the mixed bath?! ”

Rika started to make a commotion, and I was a little shaken up myself, so I asked her a question in return.

“Uu…” moaned Rika, and then summed it up quickly: “……Because it’s embarrassing to get in a bath with other people.” She said something that I didn’t really understand.
“Why is it embarrassing to get in a bath with other girls?”

“B-Because! When you get in the bath you have to do it in the nude, don’t you?” “Well yeah, it’s a bath.”
“……There’s already the cheat level people from the Neighbors Club, and both Hinata-senpai and Ootomo-senpai from the student council are already beauties, but on top of that even their boobs are big. Jinguuji-senpai is pretty and has good style, and Yusa-senpai is also cute. It’s torture for a girl who’s not cute to get in the bath with people like that there…”

“Huh?”

Again not understanding what she meant, I raised my eyebrows.

“……Um, you know. Is it possible this ‘girl who’s not cute’ is…… yourself you’re talking about?”

“Well, who else would it be?”

I was amazed at Rika who had become sulky and muttered that.

Really, just what is she saying?

“……Well, I mean you…… you’re pretty c-cute you know?”

That seemed to have worsened her mood even more, as she retorted: “……You’re saying strange things again.”
“No you’re the one who’s saying the strange things…… I mean, how many times have I said it in front of you? That you’re…… cute, and various other things…”

“Did you say that? But you know, that was just frivolous talk to make fun of Rika wasn’t it?” “…………So that’s what you thought it was?”
Hearing what Rika really thought came as a shock.

A few days after summer vacation had ended, when Rika had removed her glasses and let down her hair, without thinking I had blurted out that she was cute and that she was right in my strike zone.

Without a doubt those had been my true feelings.

On the train when we were going to Nagaya, I had also said ‘Rika’s looks are usually cute’. I had deliberately said that then to make fun of Rika, but the ‘cute’ part was the truth. “……You should know that yourself. There’s no way Rika is something like cute.” Talking herself down, Rika muttered that somewhat lonesomely.
Those words lit a fire in my heart.

Just why in the world does this person rate her own appearance so low?

“……You need to stop kidding around.” Without thinking, I let a small voice slip out. “Eh?”
“……When I said that you’re cute, and that you’re right in my strike zone, those things were…… without a doubt, they were my true feelings.”

“Right, right…”

At Rika who seemed lamentable, I got irritated and said:

“Ah jeez, why are you so smart, yet at times a complete idiot?” “I-Idiot…?!”
Rika was at a loss for words, so I turned to face her and yelled out in desperation:



“YOU ARE CUTE!!”



My face started to feel incredibly hot thanks to the combined effect of the heat from the hot spring and my embarrassment, but nevertheless I continued:

“But I mean, if you’re not cute, then who in this world is?…You are cute. No matter how you look at it you are definitely cute……and until you believe it, I will keep saying it over and over. Rika is incredibly cute! Rika you’re cute, Rika-chan, you’re seriously an angel, like, you make me breathless, you know?! More than Sena, more than Yozora, more than Yukimura, more than Kate, more than Hinata-san, more than Akane-san, more than Karin-san, more than Aoi-san, you are the cutest out of them all!”

I declared loudly.

Rika had nothing to say.

In exchange, I heard a splash and the sounds of Rika standing up from the bath. As I felt the ripples on the water subside:
“……Really?”

Rika’s voice seemed to be entreating me. “Really.”


“——Then Kodaka, look over here.”



“Ha?! No, I mean you’re over there.”

“It’s fine.”

My thoughts were in disarray, but Rika was talking very calmly. There was no helping it, so I shut my eyes and turned towards Rika. “……Open your eyes.”
After several seconds of hesitation, I timidly opened my eyes.



And there was Rika, completely nude.



“……That’s a face that’s saying ‘and there was Rika completely nude,’ without any kind thoughts or feelings.”

Her face now bright red with embarrassment, she put on a wry smile and said something similar to what she had said when she’d worn the maid outfit.

“……Ahh. My minds gone pure white, I can’t think of anything at all.”

As I squeezed those words out of my befuddled mind, Rika said something else like she had before, “Ba-ka Ba-ka, Kodaka no Ba-ka,” but this time the smile she showed was completely different from the one back then.



“……Am I cute?”



Rika asked me with a fragile voice. “Y-You’re cute.”
I replied hoarsely.



“……Want to touch my boobs?”

“I-I don’t particularly want to not touch them!”

Being asked such an outrageous thing, I instinctively tried to deny it, but ended up fumbling with my words.

As she wasn’t using her arms to cover those twin hills of hers, my eyes were drawn in. Rika shifted her gaze to my lower half, and her face turned scarlet.
“……Just like Maria-sensei said, it doesn’t really have a kind feeling to it.” “J-J-J-J-Just where do you think you’re looking?! Have some shame!” Panicking, I turned my back to Rika.
From behind me Rika let out a muffled giggle.

And then—— Rika came from behind and put her arms around my neck, embracing me. And on my back I could feel the sensation of two soft things.




“~~~~~~~~~! W-W-W-W-W-W-W-Wha, you, wha?”

I stammered, surprised and stunned to the point where I couldn’t form words. Rika whispered into my ear:



“……This is thanks for calling me cute.”



Even though I couldn’t see her face, I knew that it was just as bright red as mine. Just as you’d expect, my heart was beating violently like a drum.
“N-No more!”

She said after about five seconds, and she pulled her chest away from my back to separate from me.

……There’s no mistaking it, my heart’s never beaten faster in my entire life than during those five seconds.

Rika got out of the bath, and started walking towards the dressing room.

So that I wouldn’t look at that figure from behind, I shut my eyes tightly and thrust my head under the water.

I heard the dressing room door open, and then the sound of it being closed. She must have deliberately slammed it shut so that I’d be able to hear it underwater, I thought.

“Puhaaa”

Raising my head from the water, I stared up at the entire starry night sky and took a huge breath, then exhaled.

Over and over again I took a deep breath and exhaled.

It felt like my blood was boiling, and no matter how much of the cool winter air I seemed to breathe in, my body wouldn’t cool down at all.

Chapter 14: Mikadzuki Yozora’s Family Situation

As my body had finally begun to wrinkle, I hopped out of the outdoor bath and started bobbing down the corridor towards my room.

On my way I stumbled upon Yozora, glued to a sofa in the lobby. “……What’s the matter?”
As I approached her, I sensed that something was wrong. Yozora’s yukata was messed up and her eyes were cloudy. “Ahh, is that you, Kodaka…?”
Yozora smiled weakly.

“What’s with that Jinguuji woman…… she clings to my body carelessly, tries to rub my chest and even went as far as trying to strip me of my yukata as I rested near the end. Can you believe it…?”

“O-Oh…”

That Karin…… she went after Yozora more aggressively than I expected.

“……She said that it’s all just normal bonding between girls, so I put up with the shame, but I have a feeling that this goes way beyond that…”

“Ah, yeah, that was just Karin tricking you.” “What…?! S-So it really was like that after all…!”
After hearing about Karin’s deception, Yozora began to quiver in anger.

“That bitch…… I don’t have any friends so I didn’t know how far ‘normal’ goes…… shit, that pervert…… when I get back to my room, I’m going to tie her up and roll her all over the place…”

I didn’t protest, as I felt that such measures might be needed to ensure the safety of Yozora’s chastity.

It’s just that in that girl’s case, it may actually give her pleasure instead.

“……Ah, by the way, Yozora.” “Hmm?”

“I hear you’re Hinata-san’s little sister?”

A displeased expression found its way onto Yozora’s face. “……How much did you hear from that woman?”
“Only the fact that your parents got divorced while you were young, I guess.” “I see…”
“Hinata-san wants to get along with you, you know.”

“……I know. She keeps pestering me, saying ‘let’s get along’ all the time.” Yozora had a distant look in her eyes.
“Geez, why she has to say something like ‘let’s get along’ in such a straightforward manner…… it honestly makes me wonder if she even is my sister.”

There seemed to be a hint of jealousy in her words.

“When it comes to not being able to say things honestly, there isn’t anyone who can come close to you, after all.”

“Muu…”

Yozora puffed up her cheeks in dissatisfaction, unable to object. Instead she just stuttered a bit without actually saying anything.

Perhaps she isn’t honest with her words, but I find this attitude of hers to be very honest.

“……You could say I take after my mother.” Said Yozora suddenly.
“The reason my and that woman’s parents got a divorce was because my father cheated on my mother. My mother and I mainly live off the alimony he sends us.”

Now that I think about it, when Yozora and I went to the cinema that one time, she threw her hatred towards the content of the movie and the characters that appeared in it.

The story was about a man and a woman’s love affair, even though they both had their own families.

I wondered if Yozora felt the movie reflected the environment she was living in and was annoyed about being reminded about it.

“My mother is, how do I say this…… ‘one of those types’. A graduate from a first class university but totally useless when it comes to the matters of the house. She whines a lot and her jealousy runs deep…… Perhaps if I said that I would be like her if my personality continued like this into adulthood, you’d understand how bad her case is?”

As I watched Yozora laugh in self torture, I said nothing.

“……My father still tried to treasure her despite everything…… but it must have been too difficult for him in the end. His heart was taken by a woman who was cheerful, kind, perfect at housework and above all is a good cook. That woman is Hidaka Hinata’s current mother. I only met with her a few times but she was kind to me, too. If one was asked which of the two was more charming, I guess anyone would reply that she was more charming than my mother…”

“……”

“Incidentally, that woman was apparently my mother’s friend back in college…… having her daughter and husband taken away by her friend, she was…”

Yozora smirked cynically.

“After the divorce there was a time when I tried to lift up her spirits by cooking for her…… she rebuked my effort as being spiteful and stabbed me with the kitchen knife.”

“Wha…?!”

Despite my strong reaction to such a shocking event, Yozora continued indifferently.

“Ever since then, my hands would shake uncontrollably whenever I held a kitchen knife, so I can’t cook…… and there are of course other bad happenings between me and that woman.”

“Why didn’t you go to your father’s place like Hinata-san?”

I asked, even though I was unsure if I should pry into something so personal.

“Who knows? I don’t get it too well myself. Even though it was obvious to me at the time, which one of them would make me happy…”

Yozora let out a sigh.



“Kodaka. I hate women.”



Yozora confessed, as if vomiting the words.

“A person who is cheerful and kind, who is good and loved by everyone, stole her friend’s husband and daughter—— she stole my father and sister. My mother, who is normally quiet and beautiful, would throw all kinds of insults towards them with an almost demonic look on her face. The same mouth that taught me the wonder of friendship was now insulting her former friend with foul language. I became disgusted by the fact that I am a woman. That’s why…… I became Sora. Perhaps if I’d transformed into a man, I would’ve been able to live my life head on like the heroes on TV. But despite all that…



“——Why did things turn out like this?”



On the verge of tears, Yozora repeated what she had said two days ago, and stood up. I was left speechless as I watched her disappear down the hallway.
It’s been like this a lot these days.

And here I’m supposed to have stopped pretending I was oblivious or that I didn’t hear anything. But even though I’ve tried to face things head-on, reality carries on however it pleases.
Before long, Yozora’s figure could no longer be seen in the corridor.

At that moment, I noticed someone rising from the shadows of a different sofa than the one Yozora had been lying on.

The figure had impressive long black hair, and was none other than Hinata-san. “Were you eavesdropping?”
As I interrogated her, a somewhat embarrassed wry smile appeared on her face. “It seems Yozora noticed me though.”
“……I see.”

So, Yozora said all of that knowing full well that Hinata-san was listening in. This of course included Yozora’s intention to refuse her.



“So is it impossible to reconcile after all…?”




Hinata-san murmured, with a face that looked like it would be covered in tears any moment now. This was the first time I’d ever seen her so frail; I didn’t know what to say for some time.
Hinata-san then turned her back to me, and started to walk away feebly.

Whether I face her now or later, reality will keep flowing selfishly. And that’s precisely why…



——Facing her alone, won’t be enough……!



I gripped my resolve as tightly as I could: “Hinata-san!”
I realized that I had yelled out to Hinata-san. “Hmm?”
She turned to look at me. I quietly took a deep breath and let it out, and then said:



“Please give me the chance to save Yozora.” (To be continued.)

Translator notes and references

Chapter 1: The Time When I Held Your Hand

1. Kouhai: Japanese for “junior/underclassmen”.

Chapter 2: Hasegawa Kodaka’s Life Counseling

1. Referring to how Rika used a normal word (she’s not normal).
2. ‘Human Instrumentality Project‘: Neon Genesis Evangelion reference.
3. ‘Tsukkomi‘: Part of a japanese two people comedy-act. The word “tsukkomi” refers to the role which the second comedian plays by “butting in” and correcting the boke’s (other person) errors. Click here for more info.
4. ‘Eighth-Grade Syndrome‘: Kids being in a phase where they think to live in a dark world or similar delusions. Often happening around the 8th grade. Also main-subject of and perhaps reference to ‘Chuunibyou demo Koi ga Shitai!‘.

Chapter 3: The Neighbors Club’s Unfortunate ★★☆ Star System

1. ‘Pocky’: Japanese snack. See this picture.
2. ‘Dogeza’: Lit: “Sitting right on the ground”. Japanese way of showing deep apology or to request a favor from someone by kneeling down and bowing in a way that one’s forehead touches the floor.
3. ‘Three Star Satisfaction Rating’: Referring to Michelin Stars. A three star rating system for restaurants across the world. See here for more information.

Chapter 5: Bento

1. ‘LB’: Lunchbreak.
2. ‘Rikatory’: It says “Rika Shitsu”, which can mean either “Rika’s room” or “science room”. It’s a pun, so Rika + laboratory = rikatory. Deal with it.
3. ‘Calorie Friend’: Play on the Japanese nutrition supplements brand “Calorie Mate”. See here.
4. Cthulhu reference, even though the actual story references an ancient Semitic god. More information here.
5. Probably some kind of blushing. She’s really strange.
6. ‘Mentaiko’: Marinated roe of pollock. More information here.

Chapter 6: Perch

1. Classrooms in Japan are usually organized by “year – class”, so she is a second-year of class four.
2. Pouting.

Chapter 7: Nickname

1.   To be fair, he laughs “Byuhihi…”, but c’mon.

Chapter 9: The Honor of the Dejected Loser

1.   Those red sausages that are cut into octopus shapes.

Chapter 10: The Neighbors Club’s Saga

1.   ‘Warasubo‘: The stuff that nightmares are made of. See here.