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Vol. 1 Chapter 5.3
Yuzuki Minato won’t turn back
Translated by 64990022
Chapter 5: Yuzuki Minato won’t turn back
Part 3
After school, the day after receiving Hiura’s supreme advice.
“So, that’s why… Uh–, in short.”
I called Minato to the school roof.
I hadn’t called her to the café solely because I hated the prospect of Yukito hearing this. Now that he knew the gravity of the situation, he probably won’t tease me, but still.
“The reason you haven’t liked me yet… Can I find out why?”
I had told her briefly about what Hiura suspected. The process was more embarrassing than I thought.
She crossed her arms. “Hmm”
The distant calls of the track and field club echoed from below. When mingled with the music club’s music, a lonely background music drifted through the rooftop.
“Hey! Don’t just leave off with ‘Hmm’!” I tried so hard to say that out loud, you know!
“I-I mean! I… It’s embarrassing…”
“Ah, well. Yeah… I kinda understand.”
Silence.
Her face was tinged red. A gust of wind swept by and carenessed her hair, sending black hair sifting from white skin.
White, black, red. At that moment, this combination seemed to be the most beautiful thing in the world. She was that beautiful.
“But… I myself don’t know either.”
“Hm…”
“Yeah… But you might have forgotten, I have told you before that… that I might have liked you.”
How could I forget? I will never forget that heart pounding event.
That was the first time we went to Yukito’s cafe.
“So… it would be strange if I haven’t yet.”
That’s a lot of damage!
“Ah! I mean, not like that! But that’s what I think.”
“I’m fine, I’m… fine…” Only me…? “Ahh, I feel like crying.”
“I said I’m sorry! Don’t overreact…”
“Like, ‘I’m terribly sorry, I don’t like you’, that’s too pitiful!”
“Io! Sorry! Yeah?”
“Ahh, I’m not manly enough…”
“That’s not it! … Maybe”
“But you still don’t like me…”
“Hey! That’s enough!”
“Nah, I’m joking. I don’t really care.”
I was starting to feel bad for her, so let’s leave jokes here. I’m not sulking, really, I’m not.
“It’s not like I want you to like me or the other way around. Actually, this helps a lot”
“But… we still don’t know the cause, even though we could have…”
“Well, indeed—”
That was— Hmm, I think this might be a breakthrough.
“Okay, one last time, you have absolutely no idea of why you started liking multiple people, yeah?”
There was a slight pause. “Yup”
That pause… It could be from her feeling of helplessness, but what was that wavering in her eyes?
“You really think so? No slightest idea?”
To recite Hiura, bitches are bitches, the reason was with themselves. What I should do now was not to compare samples and data, but to dig deeper into Minato herself.
She kept her gaze downward. Behind the curtains of her hair, her expression was… dark.
“No, I don’t. I told you, right? Can you please understand that?”
“…Yeah, sorry.”
“It’s fine.” she muttered and she shook her head weakly.
I wanted to push further, but seeing her like this…
Hmph, another deadend.
Nah, it’s not like everything would  align miraculously by just changing the perspective.
“Minato, can I have some time?”
“Eh?”
“I need time to think more about this. Maybe I could see some patterns after clearing my head. That’s the best I can do right now.”
“Yeah, go ahead. Should I do anything in the meantime? Like the operation?”
“No, thanks. Take a break. But notify me if anything changes.”
“Yeah, sure. Thanks.”
The conversation came to an end, I stretched my arms. Hearing a satisfying pop, my head became lighter.
“Io”
“Hm?”
“I’m sorry. And I want you to know that I appreciate what you did for me.”
“Hm? It’s nothing. Besides, thanks like this are saved for the end, no?”
“Well… Yeah, silly me.”
“Is there…” anything? I stopped myself before completing the sentence. Maybe this was not the time to ask, she must have felt conflicted. Especially after telling her that what we did was for naught.
–and,
“See you”
She turned her heels and walked off. After watching her disappear from the rooftop, I sat down on the spot.
Blew by the winds, the cloud moved and revealed the sun.
Ow! Too bright
A while passed, but I couldn’t bring myself up again.
That was— wasn’t. It wasn’t that she wanted to say something.
“She didn’t want to say something, huh…” Somehow, the sky above compelled me to say it out loud.
I never knew that things would get harder one sidedly like this.
◆　◆　◆
A week passed without meeting Minato.
During that time, I made some progress with my Angel work after a long absence. I steered Makino closer to confession and also reached out to another second-year girl.
Compared to Minato’s, what I needed to do for them was simple. Not that it was easy though, but I knew what I was doing.
But after meeting Minato, everyone seemed like slackers.
Well, if it was that simple then the Angel wouldn’t be needed in the first place.
“Yeahhh, spare!”
My head snapped up at the loud strike.
Reiji returned from his bowl with a smug look on his face. We high-fived as I switched in.
Reiji invited me out for bowling today. I had no plans and was in need of a change of pace.
The bowling alley was near Hamaotsu Station on the Keihan Ishiyama Sakamoto line. This was the only Round One in the prefecture.
As one would expect from Shiga prefecture, only one Round One, the ultimate indicator of rurality. There was a saying that Shiga has only Lake Biwa. Which was true, in fact, Lake Biwa accounted for around one-sixth of the total area. For some reason, Shiga residents were proud of this.
And since the establishment was far from Kuze High, most of the people here were from nearby schools. Furthermore, it was still time for club activities, so only people free at this time were the go-home club members.
“Wow, what a beautiful split. My victory’s sealed,” Reiji jeered.
“I’ll definitely take them down. And you will miss the next round.” No, this was a hollow bluff, I’ll lose for sure.
“Hoh–, I’ll make sure I get to record this beautiful throw.”
“Hey, trying a psychological attack? Not fair!”
I heard a mechanical sound from behind, probably Reiji recording.
I shook off all my thoughts, with a mind as clear as the water surface of a zen garden pond, I let go.
Hmph, I’ll show you, Reiji.
“Damn…”
The ball slipped past the pins without a hitch. With a buzz, the ceiling monitor reaffirmed my pathetic performance.
Ahh, I lost. Well, there was still some hope, but better give up now.
“I’ll send the video to Hiura.”
“Stop!”
“Well then, I’ll send it in class LINE”
[TN: Class LINE, a chat room for everyone in the class, a place where everyone reveals other’s humiliation. A place wilder than the Wild West.]
“That’s more of a reason to stop! And it would definitely become one of those ‘read, no reply messages’! And what’s the point since Hiura would see anyway!”
Defeated, I sat down with a thud. In response, Reiji stood and went to the lane.
The loser buys a juice, just the right amount of student-like wager. However, considering how good he was, this didn’t seem fair.
He’s milking me dry.
Unfortunately, there was no progress on Minato’s case. There was no contact from the other side too, so like ever, it was a complete standstill.
What if she was hiding something from me?
To be honest, that was the only thing I could think of. Even so, that was my speculation. From her expression and discomfort at times. So I would assume that it was true and dig for evidence.
But still—
“Yeasss, strike!”
“Hahh…”
Nothing has ever gone my way.