Translator: Tsukii
Editor: Kiro
Read at Watashi wa Sugoi Desu!
Chapter 50
When we went outside and looked at the athletic field, it was just the time when the item-borrowing competition was taking place.
“That guy is Ayanokouji Kiyotaka.”
“Yes, I know. He’s a student from Class C, right?”
Three of us, including Hiyori, decided to sit in the shade and watch the competition.
“That man is also a book lover, so I think he can get along well with Hiyori.”
Kiyotaka was as knowledgeable as Arisu-chan. In addition, he had a hobby of reading.
I thought there was no way these two wouldn’t get along, but Hiyori’s reaction was surprising.
“…Err, excuse me. Do you mean that as a joke?”
I had no such intention at all so I was confused by her question.
Seeing my reaction, Hiyori turned to Arisu-chan. Hiyori seemed to want Arisu-chan to give an explanation.
“…Haruto-kun, if you did that, Kei-san would get jealous. Hiyori-san understands that much. The reason she allowed me to get close to Kiyotaka-kun is because I already have you as a lover.”
“Eh, Kei-chan still cares about that at this point?”
“Her desire to monopolize is tremendous. It’s highly unlikely she will allow her boyfriend to have a friendly conversation with a beautiful, single girl.”
Desire to monopolize. I was certainly aware that Kei-chan was deeply dependent on Kiyotaka and she didn’t want to leave his side. In fact, during the early period of dating, her thick and muddy affection for him was leaking.
That said, Kei-chan’s mentality seemed pretty stable lately. Because of that, I thought she would at least allow Kiyotaka to have a female friend.
But since Arisu-chan said so, that must be the case. Even to this day, Kei-chan still has that muddy affection. We just happened to be considered an exception by her… perhaps that was the truth.
“Haruto-kun is really kind. However, that kindness might turn into a poison without you knowing.”
Hiyori scolded me. As I thought, I wasn’t good at speaking without thinking carefully.
If I ended up stepping on Kei-chan’s landmine, it was no longer a matter of making friends. Not only that, there was even the danger of cracking the relationships that had been built up until now. I regretted my carelessness.
“Aah, both of you are right. I just thought it might be good, but I guess it was a thoughtless remark.”
“Ah… perhaps I put that in a bad way. I have no intention of blaming Haruto-kun at all. Rather, please let me apologize as well. Even though you are trying to introduce me to a new friend…”
“No no, there’s no need for Hiyori to apologize. Thank you for correcting my mistake.”
I never thought she would end up apologizing to me, so I hurriedly made a follow-up. She seemed to worry that her words would end up hurting me. Despite the fact that she said things clearly like that she was still kind in this regard…
Hiyori shouldn’t have been acquainted with Kiyotaka and Kei-chan. Perhaps Hiyori had seen them from a distance, but it was amazing she managed to understand their relationships with just that. On top of that, she warned me about my mistake out of concern for us. Because of that, I noticed the difference in perspective between Arisu-chan and me… in which I was underestimating Kei-chan’s feelings.
More than anything, I was really happy that she was thinking about us, despite just recently becoming friends.
After Kiyotaka picked up the piece of paper that showed what he had to borrow, he ran straight toward Kei-chan. Then he carried her in princess-carry style and reached the goal as it was. Of course, he finished first. I guess the thing he had to borrow was something along the lines of “the person you like.” Kei-chan, whose expression was flushed red, looked very happy.
“The relationship between those two seems strange to me.”
“Strange?”
“It looks like a one-sided love affair, but it also doesn’t seem like that… I find it difficult to express.”
Anyway, I understood how amazing Hiyori’s insight was.
I was really glad that we became friends. I really didn’t want to turn her into our enemy.
“…Hiyori-san is amazing. I can’t do that.”
It seemed Arisu-chan also had a thought about Hiyori as she stared at her.
However, I felt that the words “amazing” Arisu-chan said contained a different meaning than mine.
Ryuuen came toward us, perhaps thinking how unusual it was for the three of us to be together.
“Oh, Ryuuen, what’s wrong?”
“Why do you even need to ask? …Is Hiyori your next target?”
As he raised his sweaty head, Ryuuen glared at me.
Unfortunately, that wasn’t enough to scare me.
“Fufu, it’s okay. I understand Haruto-kun’s ‘characteristic.’ Despite understanding that, I wanted to be friends with him. The thing Ryuuen-kun is afraid of won’t happen.”
Hiyori approached Ryuuen and said that.
I didn’t know what she meant by my characteristic. Was she someone who could understand something that the person in question didn’t even realize?
“Just as I thought it was rare of you to take initiative, so that’s how it is. I thought you were tainted by them… their mentality that thinks victory is worth shit, that is.”
“Well, what do you think?”
She acted as she usually did. It seemed Hiyori didn’t change her behavior regardless of who she was talking to.
Perhaps that was why Ryuuen showed her some respect… or maybe he had no choice but to do so.
“By the way, Ryuuen. You seem to think it is okay to be defeated at the sports festival.”
“…And what of it?”
“No, I’m just curious about the reason. You could have won if you went all out after all.”
“Do you think I will bother to tell you, a person from another class?”
Ryuuen brought his face closer. His glare was sharp and gave off some pressure.
“Classes are just something that the school decided on their own. Whether it is class D or Class A… does that really matter?”
“Haah?”
“I would be fine as long as I have fun with the people I get along with. On the contrary, if I don’t give a damn about someone, I won’t think of them as a comrade even if they are from the same class.”
I had no attachment to this class. I do like Masumi-san, but that was more of a personal relationship. Even if the class continued to be defeated and the class points became 0, all I would think was I got a little troubled because I no longer got pocket money. Anyway, I didn’t give a damn.
For Ryuuen, who was obsessed with victory, someone like me might seem like a heretic to him.
“Tch… I’m trying to draw out all the key people in every class. That’s my only goal this time. Especially Karuizawa… I don’t think that idiot woman is capable of thinking of the idea of spreading fake participation lists.”
Despite his attitude, Ryuuen still told me about it. Was this what people call tsundere?
Apparently, Ryuuen got tricked by the fake participation list. It was most likely Kiyotaka’s handiwork, but I would keep silent about it. As I listened to how things occurred, Horikita seemed to be used as Kiyotaka intended. It was somehow sad.
“But you should already know, right? About who is the real ruler of that class, that is.”
“Of course, don’t underestimate me too much… but I still can’t see the extent of his true abilities. He moves disgustingly in a way that I keep missing his tail. It even made me think that his status as Karuizawa’s boyfriend was also a trap to confuse me. Now that I think about it, he seems to get along well with you, doesn’t he?”
As I thought, he already reached the answer. Well, I guess it was only natural considering Ryuuen’s observation ability.
In my opinion, recently Kiyotaka has been moving quite flashily. It seemed the priority of keeping his ability hidden had been lowered, and even in the matter of expelling Manabe’s group, he took the front stage and acted proudly. That one could be settled with just Kei-chan reporting on the surface… but everyone who participated in the deliberation knew who was the one who “punished” the perpetrator.
And there was no way Ryuuen didn’t know about that… so his conjecture was close to certainty by that point.
Even so, was that how it seemed from the third party’s perspective? It was a little unexpected.
I think Kiyotaka was just putting his all into cultivating Kei-chan. Even the reason he passed all the achievements to Kei-chan so far should be to grant her confidence and a sense of accomplishment.
However, those who didn’t know that wouldn’t see it that way. They would see that Kiyotaka was moving behind Kei-chan as her tactician. The person who moved behind the scene yet had no clear indicator of his ability certainly seemed creepy.
I understood the situation up to this point. Ryuuen chose to abandon this sports festival in order to observe the class, or rather, Kiyotaka’s movement. Ryuuen must have noticed Kiyotaka the moment he was trying to overthrow Class C. That was why Ryuuen could ignore his class getting messed up by Class B. They weren’t within his sight to begin with after all.
Perhaps he already expected to be deceived by a fake participation list. The moment Ryuuen got the information that his opponent was capable of something like that, his goal was already achieved.
“If you want to fight him, go ahead. I won’t stop you.”
“So you consider it someone else’s business to the end. What a rotten bastard.”
Ryuuen left with those words.
I forgot to mention one thing to him, but he was already gone before I said it.
It was about the possibility of aiming at Kei-chan in order to force Kiyotaka to take action.
I was thinking of warning Ryuuen about the danger of taking such an action. But even if I told him, it was unlikely he would listen to it.
But Ryuuen… you should know that would be an act of blocking Kiyotaka’s path.
Do you think Kiyotaka would show mercy toward someone who was trying to ruin his goal through violence?
…It seemed Arisu-chan, who was worrying all this time, also came to the same conclusion.
Worst case scenario, Ryuuen might be unable to recover.
As I imagined the event that was likely to occur sometime in the not-so-distant future, a chill ran down my spine.
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