Chapter 19: Childhood friends

Posted on May 6, 2021by Soafp

“I see, Yuri is a b***h!” (Yuki)

I had arrived at the answer to my question.
For the whole night, I kept wondering why my sister suddenly kissed me.
But since I couldn’t come up with an answer, I continued to ponder about it at school, and this is the solution I finally found.
I have finally found the answer.
The “Yuri Kokonoe is a b***h” theory.

I’ve never heard of her dating anyone before, but she is such a beautiful girl.
Of course she’s popular! It’s not surprising that she’s had one, two, ten or twenty boyfriends.
Maybe she’s a pure and innocent b***h.
Well, I’ve learned something about my sister’s background that I didn’t expect, but don’t worry, that won’t change my attitude!

“In case you were wondering, Kokonoe achieved third place overall.
Everyone should follow his example… Or maybe not, thinking about it.” (Fujishiro-sensei)

With Golden Week coming up, the tests were being returned.
And honestly, tests are child’s play to me.
I’m sorry, I’m just joking.
It’s cool, right? Anyways, I was ranked third-best in my grade.
I don’t know why Fujishiro-sensei was so quick to reveal it.
Well, it’s too late to do that now, since it will be posted publicly soon.
Let me tell you, I’m not a very smart person and I’m a miserable lonely-wolf type of student that doesn’t have any hobbies, so all I do is study at home.

“You can study?” (Miho)

“Don’t just talk to me like it’s normal, you fresh-looking dude.” (Yuki)

Why is he talking to me so casually? What was the point of that game then? It was a complete waste of time and energy, that’s what… I don’t have any problems studying, that’s all.

“Don’t be so hard on me! I only got 10th place.” (Miho)

“Oh, that’s veeeery cool.” (Yuki)

“That sounds like sarcasm to me.” (Miho)

“If you have time to spend with me, you should work on your relationship with Kamishiro.” (Yuki)

“… I’m getting annoyed.” (Miho)

“You’re not getting enough serotonin, are you? You need more soy and dairy products in your diet.” (Yuki)

“That’s how a lord talks, Miki-chan?” (Yuki)

“There’s definitely something wrong with you both! I almost got a failing grade…” (Miki)

“Forget about the test! Why don’t we all go have some fun during Golden week?” (Sakurai)

Elizabeth said so with a grin.
Golden Week? Yeah, the Golden Week.
There was no need to rephrase it.
Basically, it’s a period in which several holidays converge.
I usually get kidnapped to Sekka’s house every year during these holidays.
She actually cries if I don’t go, so I can’t help it.
And at her house, I was treated like Urashima Taro who was invited to the Dragon Palace0.

“See, Miho.
You’ve been invited.
This is why Riajuu1 are…” (Yuki)

“Actually, you’ve been invited too.” (Miho)

“What? I’m a nerd and a loner.
Why would my classmates invite me out? Don’t keep talking nonsense like that.” (Yuki)

“You’re invited too, Kokonoe!” (Sakurai)

“Really? You must be joking…” (Yuki)

“Why are you so surprised? And I’m not the kind of person who’d openly hate someone!” (Sakurai)

“Oh, I see! If you’re going to hate someone, you’re going to do it behind their backs! As expected of Sakurai-san.
Ahahahahah!” (Yuki)

“I wouldn’t do that!” (Sakurai)

“Don’t worry, I’m used to it! You can keep hating me!” (Yuki)

Elizabeth was shocked, and it’s funny, really.
I’m trying to be considerate of others, but did I do something wrong? A person like me would only make the atmosphere worse.
This situation proves it right now.
Whenever I talk about something, the atmosphere usually turns out like this.
That’s me, Yukito Kokonoe PM who can’t help to be 2.5 PM2.
It would not be an exaggeration to say that I am the  dust of this class.
I need an air purifier and a HEPA filter in front of me.

“Kokonoe-chan, don’t you want to go out to play with us?” (Mineta)

“Not really, but what do you mean by “playing”?” (Yuki)

“It’s fun just thinking about it!” (Mineta)

Miki Mineta is a gal.
She looks, talks and acts like a gal herself.
This means that she might be a b***h.
If that’s the case, does she have anything in common with my sister? Since I’m not a b***h, there is no way I can understand how a b***h behaves.
Mineta might know why Yuri acted the way she did.

“By the way, Mineta, are you a b***h?” (Yuki)

“Wh-Huh? That’s terrible, Kokonoe.
I’m not that kind of girl!” (Mineta)

“What, you’re not? I’m sorry, I was rude.
I’m sorry.” (Yuki)

“Well, um, … I don’t want you to apologize for being so straightforward, but… w-what’s wrong? (Mineta)

“There’s something I wanted to ask you.” (Yuki)

“Could it that be that…” (Mineta)

In a small voice, I heard Mineta muttering with her cheeks dyed red, “That you wanted to ask me if I was a w***e, is that what you mean?” I could hear Mineta muttering in a small voice, steam coming off her face.
But what does that mean? I had no idea what she meant by that, so I couldn’t do anything about it even if I could hear her.

“Just the other day, Yuri, my sister, suddenly kissed me, and I wondered what this was all about.
I thought Mineta might be able to tell me something.” (Yuki)

After a moment of silence, the class erupted in an uproar.

What’s happening!? What’s going on!?

[Hinagi Suzurikawa POV]

“Sis, we have to hurry, we don’t have much time.
Do you understand? (???)

“Y, yes.” (Hinagi)

I don’t know how many times I’ve been pushed back by my sister, Hiori.
For a while, things had gotten really ugly.
It was because I had betrayed Yukito.
Not only my sister, but also my parents were furious with me.
Yukito was well acquainted with my parents, and they loved him very much.
I have a little sister called Hiori.
My dad really wanted to have a son too, and to him, Yukito was like a son.
That’s why my dad used to play catch with him.
Back then, they were like father and son, and they always played together.

The whole family knew that I liked Yukito.
I guess that’s why they couldn’t forgive my betrayal.
All of those things turned my life into a hellish torture.
It’s the first time my parents have been so angry with me, but even that was necessary for me.
I needed someone to be angry with me just to validate my feelings.

“Onii-chan has turned into a hot topic even among my classmates.
They said there’s an insane first year student.” (Hiori)

“It’s about Yukito, that’s for sure.” (Hinagi)

Hiori is two years younger than me and is in the eighth grade.
She’s planning to enter the same high school as me.
Yukito is probably the only first-year student who would be dangerous enough to be known by Hiori.
It’s only been about a month since we entered this high school, but his name, Yukito Kokonoe, is already well known.
There were even people who came all the way to our class to see him.

“Sis, you really didn’t do it with him, did you?” (Hiori)

“No I didn’t! There’s no way I would!” (Hinagi)

“If you’re lying, I’ll cut you off.
Your betrayal to Onii-chan is really disgusting, but that’s not all.
You betrayed yourself, and then offered your heart and body to such a filthy and incomprehensible person.” (Hiori)

“I know that better than anyone!” (Hinagi)

“Onii-chan was hurt because of you and, because of that, he doesn’t come to our house anymore.
I want him to teach me how to study and stuff, but he changed.
I feel like he’s further away from me than what he used to be.
If this continues, he’ll become just a stranger.” (Hiori)

“I wonder if we could be childhood friends again, Hiori….” (Hinagi)

But she couldn’t stand still any longer.
There was a lot of commotion around Yukito.
He said that Yuri kissed him.
Swallowing everything, Yuri-san started to move.
That day in the student council room, all I heard about Yukito’s past were things I didn’t know.
Back then, I was only thinking about myself.
I didn’t know what was going on with Yukito, and I didn’t even try to find out.

It wasn’t only my fault that Yukito turned out the way he did.
But that doesn’t excuse me.
It doesn’t make me feel any better.
If anything, it made me feel more guilty for hurting him.
I thought there would be no more regrets.
But now I’m suffering more than ever.
I am one of the people who were complicit.
I was one of the people who hurt him.

No matter how it turns out, if I don’t face him, I’ll never be able to move forward.
I want to tell him, even if he hates me or rejects me.
That I haven’t betrayed him.
I haven’t been forgiven by anyone in my heart or body.3

I whisper quietly.
I’ll stop running away now.
I’m afraid that he’ll hate me, so I’ll stop using that as an excuse to keep avoiding him.

“Be honest, Hinagi Suzurikawa.
There’s no need for an awful tease that’ll only harm people.
Childhood friends are fated to be the losing heroine.
Even so I–”  (Hinagi)

I love him so much.

And I can’t stop this feeling.

[Yukito POV]

“It’s been a long time since I’ve been here.” (Yuki)

I walked over to the house of Hinagi Suzurikawa.
She begged me at school to come to her house.
It was the first time I had seen her so desperate.
As a homecoming club member, my time after school is free.
It wasn’t like I had anything to do.
We used to play together a lot and often came to her house.
We used to live near here before we moved to our current apartment, so we had a close relationship with each other, we were like family.
It’s just a fond memory now.

I rang the doorbell.
It was not her mother, or Hiori, who answered the door, but Hinagi.
Her expression was somehow gloomy.
She had a somber look on her face.
She didn’t seem to be in good shape.

“If you’re not feeling well, can’t we do this at another time? (Yuki)

“I’m sorry, but I’m fine.
Don’t worry about it.” (Hinagi)

I was led by Suzurikawa to her room.
How long has it been since I’ve been in this room? I sit down on the cushion she has prepared for me.

“How long has it been since I’ve been in this room?” (Yuki)

“It’s been about three years.” (Hinagi)

“Not that long huh.
Are your parents around?” (Yuki)

“They’re around.
But just for today, they’re letting me handle everything.” (Hinagi)

“?” (Yuki)

”What?” Is what I’d like to ask, but I’m sure there is a reason why Suzurikawa called me here.
I just waited for her to tell me.
It was rare for my thoughts to be so cohesive.
For me, this was an extremely rare occurrence.
I was filled with nostalgia, and maybe that was why I was feeling a bit more honest.
Such feelings still lingered.

“Thank you for coming today.” (Hinagi)

“You asked me to come.
So, what do you want?” (Yuki)

“There’s something I want you to hear while looking at me” (Hinagi)

As if she had made up her mind, Suzurikawa started to take off her clothes, piece by piece.
Before I could stop her, she reached down to her underwear and stripped down to nothing.
There was no time to stop her.
All I could do was stare in shock.
But I could tell that Suzurikawa’s body was trembling.

“Have you lost your mind?” (Yuki)

Absolutely ridiculous words fly out of my mouth.
I’m the one who’s crazy.
I’m the one who’s broken.
Perhaps what I just said was wrong.
I don’t know what’s wrong, but something in my mind tells me it is.
There was a girl naked in front of me, and the words she wanted to say weren’t brash nor rude.
But what am i supposed to say?!

“No, I was insane back then, but I’m normal now.” (Hinagi)

“What are you talking about?” (Yuki)

“I’ve always regretted it… Since that day, I’ve cried every night and slept exhausted with sullen eyes.
My sister was disgusted with me, my family was angry at me, and I hurt you.
It was all my fault.” (Hinagi)

“I don’t understand, did you do something wrong? But that’s none of my business.
I don’t think I’ve had much contact with you since that day.” (Yuki)

“No, it’s all my fault! It’s all my fault! I couldn’t be honest about my feelings, so I tried to find out how you felt, and I tried to seek you out one-sidedly without telling you anything.
It was a stupid mistake on my part.” (Hinagi)

What is she saying? It was incoherent.
I knew what the words were, but I couldn’t understand a single bit of what they meant.
I had no idea what she was talking about.
In spite of my appearance, I am a skilled bilingual English speaker.
My test scores in both English and Japanese were over 95.
The fact that I couldn’t understand what she was saying was beyond the scope of a student’s ability to solve.

However, Suzurikawa’s eyes were not crazy.
That was the decisive difference between me and her.
Her deep obsidian eyes were looking straight at me.

“Yukito, I didn’t love nor have sexual interactions with senpai.” (Hinagi)

0.
Urashima Tarō (浦島 太郎) is the protagonist of a Japanese fairy tale (otogi banashi), who in a typical modern version is a fisherman rewarded for rescuing a turtle, and carried on its back to the Dragon Palace beneath the sea.

1.
Riajuu is a combination of the English word “Real” (Japanese: Riaru – リアル) and the Japanese word Juujitsu “充実” which translate to something along the lines of satisfied and plentiful.
The English equivalent would be normies

2.
PM = particulate matter, unit for size of air pollutant.
anything’s bigger than 2.5 PM or mikron is quite harmful for humans, and worsen the atmosphere/air of a room.[8:43 PM]in fact, you can replace Riajuu with normies for better localization

3.
I genuinely am confused on this one I think she meant that “anyone” (being yuki) forgiving her

Ed- Hello editor here, so first thing I would like to clarify if there has been any mistypes or mistakes or lack of quality I would like to apologize I have been busy moving and helping with stuff so please bare with me for now, now moving on to the real topic this chapter was something I mean just the girls are getting much more confident and idk if that’s a good or bad thing for yukito but as usual if there are any mistakes or errors please comment them and I will try to change as soon as possible and I hope you enjoyed chapter 19 of the series

Yan – Hey there! I’m a new Editor, and this is the first chapter I’ve worked in.
Please treat me kindly, and I hope you’ve had a great reading experience! Also, I’m still shocked by the sister’s kiss… Like wtf.

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