“Good morning, Lily. You’re here earlier than the meeting time. What are you doing?”
“Just felt like it. I thought Saito might come early. I never actually thought you’d come, though.”
“Seriously? …By the way, did my mom contact you?”
“Oh, busted?”
With a mischievous face, Lily playfully stuck out her tongue.
Saito was exasperated at the predictable turn of events.
It’s a long-standing relationship. He know well that it’s difficult to rely on instincts with her.
There is usually some reason when she finds Saito.
“I got a message from Yabana-san that Saito was leaving, so I thought I’d surprise you.”
“It’s impossible to be stealthy in a place with so many people.”
“Haha, true.”
Both of us look around and share a wry smile.
///
scene transition
///
It’s quite impossible to surprise people when you’ve gathered so many.
“Should we move for now?”
“Yeah.”
It’s quite uncomfortable being stared at by the crowd.
Saito and Lily, as if avoiding the gazes, move away from the crowd, searching for an empty place.
“Feels weird, doesn’t it?”
“I know, I was thinking the same.”
During this time, when Lily muttered, Saito, who was thinking the same, nodded.
Lily and Saito have mostly spent time together either in the morning or in the evening.
They haven’t been together much after seven in the morning, and the discomfort of being next to each other is quite strong.
“Hehe, but it’s really surprising that we can go to the same high school. Honestly, with Saito’s academic abilities, I thought it was impossible.”
“Well, I studied like my life depended on it. It was really tough at that time.”
Saito and Lily’s academic abilities are quite different, and originally, they shouldn’t have been able to attend the same high school.
However, Saito remembers her saying she wanted to go to the same school with a lonely look on her face for a long time.
So, Saito decided to study hard to make that wish come true.
“When we met at the exam venue, it was fun to hear you muttering the textbook contents like a spell. I have a video of that, want to see?”
“Stop it, I don’t want to remember those times.”
Although he decided it for himself and has no regrets, studying like crazy for three years made his mind go crazy, and there are many embarrassing memories.
It was the only dark period Saito didn’t want to remember.
“Do you not have emotions at all?”
“Oda Nobunaga did Rakuichi Rakuza, and the value of pi is 3.14, and the point goes back one…!”
“Aaaah!”
“It’s because you said I don’t have emotions.”
The video plays, and Saito goes crazy.
Lily watches Saito and breathes out, thinking it’s his own fault.
Originally, Lily had no intention of streaming the video.
However, once she was told that she had no emotions, she had no choice. Her fingers pressed the play button on their own.
After that, the two of them got carried away with exposing each other’s dark history, and it ended in a draw.
The mental damage was significant, and they wanted a break, but as expected, the train was crowded, and there was no vacant space.
When Saito and Lily found a space just enough for the two of them, they slipped into it.
Holding onto the hanging strap, they gazed at the scenery passing by at an incredible speed.
(Hmm?)
When they were about to arrive at the station where their high school was, Saito unexpectedly caught sight of the suspicious movements of a salaryman with glasses nearby through the mirror.
Curious about what he was doing, Saito observed carefully. The man was slowly reaching out.
The destination was Lily’s skirt.
Most likely, this was a molester.
To stop the molester, Saito grabbed his arm, and simultaneously, someone else grabbed the man’s hand from a different direction.
“Molester!”
Immediately after, the voice of a boy echoed through the train.
Although his voice was the typical, unremarkable tone, it strangely permeated the heads of everyone around.
But, in this case, it worked in an unfavorable direction.
“Liar! Where?”
“Maybe, it’s you?”
“No, it’s not me.”
“No, it’s this person.”
Someone accused of being the molester.
Perhaps because at first, they didn’t specifically point out who this person was, everyone on the train began to doubt each other, and panic ensued.
Due to the unexpected event, Saito tried to calm the situation, but his voice was drowned out by the surrounding commotion.
“Ah!”
(Shit)
Taking advantage of everyone around them starting to move, both Saito and Lily had their arms released.
When they tried to catch him again, just at the right moment, the train door opened, and the man escaped.
“Darn, we missed him.”
“Saito, are you okay? Even if we catch him, without evidence, he’ll deny it, and it’ll be over. It’s pointless to chase him.”
“…Ugh! …Well, I guess it’s fine since I prevented it beforehand.”
As he was about to chase after him, Lily stopped him, indicating it was pointless.
Though he still wanted to pursue, she was right. Even if he caught the molester, since he hadn’t touched her, there wouldn’t be any fingerprints.
Saito scratched the back of his head vigorously and completely gave up the chase.
“Thanks for stopping it before he touched me.”
“It’s whatever. If you noticed, you could’ve handled it yourself.”
He had thought that only he noticed at that time, so he instinctively grabbed the arm to stop it. However, if the person about to be touched was aware, it was a different story.
Lily, being smarter than Saito, would have probably chosen a better approach.
Knowing that, Saito couldn’t accept Lily’s thanks wholeheartedly.
“But still, you know. You acted considerate towards me. It made me happy. Thank you, Saito.”
“…You’re welcome.”
However, from Lily, who has issues with men other than Saito, being touched by an unknown guy is far from ideal. Saito genuinely appreciates her.
Once again, conveying her gratitude while peering into his face, Saito finally understood that Lily doesn’t care about it.
With a slightly embarrassed expression, he turned to the side to receive her thanks.
Later, as they were about to leave the station, Saito noticed the boy who had stopped the groper earlier, just like he did.
The reason he was able to find him was that the bandage was in the same position as the hand that was holding the man’s arm.
“Hey, thanks for earlier.”
“Huh, um, what?”
Saito rushed over to the boy, expressing his gratitude for protecting his precious childhood friend.
Perplexed, the boy tilted his head in confusion.
Perhaps due to his youthful appearance, even though he’s a boy, the way he tilts his head looks girlish. For a moment, Saito doubted if he was truly a boy.
“Oh, sorry about that. I didn’t explain properly. This girl is my childhood friend who was almost molested earlier. Thank God you stopped it; it really helped.”
“…Childhood friend? I see! That makes sense. Well, I didn’t really do anything worth being thanked for. He managed to escape, though.”
“He was in such a panic; there was no helping it. Besides, it’s better for an incident not to happen than to happen. You stopped it beforehand, so don’t worry about it. Though, I was a bit concerned until my childhood friend told me.”
“I see. Well, that’s good then.”
Similar to Saito a while ago, the boy didn’t readily accept the gratitude, but with some encouragement mixed with self-deprecation, the boy’s face brightened slightly.
“Yeah, come over here. This guy also tried to stop the groper. Make sure to thank him too.”
Saying that, Saito conveyed to Lily to thank the boy as well, and reluctantly, Lily approached.
“…Thank you.”
When she bowed slightly to express her gratitude, she walked away, leaving Saito behind.
“Hey, where are you going? My bad, she’s not great with guys. But, she’s a good person deep down. Don’t mind her too much. Well then.”
“Oh, wait!”
If he lingered, he might really get left behind.
Feeling sorry for the boy, Saito provided a light follow-up and chased after Lily.
The two of them rushed away like a storm,
leaving the lonely voice of the boy echoing on the platform.
///
scene transition
///
“Your dislike for men is still the same. Even if you’re just saying thanks, be a bit more friendly.”
As they exited the ticket gate, Saito, catching up with Lily, expressed his dissatisfaction with their previous interaction.
No matter how much she dislikes men, that was too unfriendly. If she showed even a smile, the impression of the other person would have been better.
Though Saito’s words were meant for Lily’s sake, she sighed upon hearing them.
“But, if I act friendlier, won’t guys get the wrong idea?”
“Ah… yeah.”
A statement hitting the nail on the head.
It felt impactful, with a strong sense of reality. Being a beautiful girl like Lily, she probably had similar experiences many times during her elementary and middle school days.
Saito himself might not fully understand such feelings, but he has a foolish male friend who, just for getting his eraser picked up, mistakenly thought a girl had a crush on him and confessed, ending up rejected.
Certainly, having witnessed that up close, it was hard to deny.
“…Maybe it’s for the best.”
“I told you.”
If she doesn’t want any particular relationship, maybe it’s just right that way. It’s unsatisfactory, but Saito thought so.
Agreeing with Lily’s opinion, she nodded with satisfaction.
“By the way, if you didn’t deny it, does that mean you have experienced it too, Saito?”
They hadn’t had many conversations like this before, probably because of that.
Lily asked with great curiosity.
“Nah, never happened. Never liked someone just because they picked up my eraser.”
“It feels like your liking someone scenario is extremely limited. Anyway, at least I know there’s been nothing so far.”
Answering honestly, Saito, Lily said, “Well, it’s Saito,” and nodded to herself.
Games over fashion. Sports over shopping. Regular chain stores over stylish cafes.
Even as a high schooler, Saito’s sensibilities haven’t changed since childhood.
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Yes, you’re correct. Youre a piece of shit garbage of a translator. You’re just baiting people to join your membership without actually finishes releasing most of your series.
Are you fucking insane? Maybe its true a piece of garbage like you can speak jp, but your translation also reek chat gpt or similar ai shit like that.
I don’t get it, do you have no shame? like at all? youre not contributing anything to the novel community. Seriously, nothing.
youre not a fantranslator, youre just a shameless thief who trap people to join your membership.
Seriously, what’s wrong with Indonesian people? A lot of rude comments came from them.
If you’re so convinced that my translation is done using ChatGPT, why don’t you try doing a better translation yourself?
But hey, considering Indonesia has the highest schizophrenia rate globally, maybe you should go see a doctor to get diagnosed
First, no one is forced to join the membership.
Second, I’ve been only doing translation for six months and I already translated 14 volumes of light novel for public post. That’s more than 2 books in a month. And that’s not counting hundreds of web novel chapters.
Third, no shame? You are the one that have no shame. No one is forcing you to come here yet here you are throwing tantrum. You are a fucking pirate that never buy a Light Novel yourself yet have the gall to bad mouth me? Have some shame
Fourth, Novel community? Dude I’m not the only one that lock more chapters behind paywall. Yet I don’t see you got angry on other sites that do the same thing.
Fifth, thief? Can you name the thing I stole? At least I bought the Novel I read unlike you. You’re the thief
wow i actually have no clue and dont care about what that guy rambling about… but sounds very rude… i apologized as one of the sane indonesian people lmao, also sorry if my english not that good
It’s okay. I remember I was in a bad condition because some irl stuff that time, that’s why I got emotional and didn’t handle the comment properly.
Thank you for your comment
Man, indonesian ppl (the bad kind) should just be banned here. They also always cause trouble for other translators too. They should have a taste of their own karma after they continue to act like little brats. Plus who tf puts their username as Greedy? That’s literally what that user is.
But anyways, chase after her > should be chase after him
childhood friendho > friend who
fixed, thanks
thanks, fixed
The line about the band-aid hand is there twice just a bit reworded, you probably wanted to erase one of them.
fixed, thanks