After exchanging such words, when she came out of the dressing room again–
“…Hmm.”
Haruya instinctively swallowed his breath and averted his gaze.
She was wearing a loose white shirt with a logo on it and black shorts.
Perhaps because of the accessories she already wore, even though it was a simple outfit, Nayu’s mature woman charm was accentuated.
“Haru-san seems to prefer clothes that show off legs or accentuate body lines…”
Feeling as if his own preferences were being seen through, Haruya felt embarrassed.
That was true.
The clothes she was wearing now were more eye-catching than the ones she had tried on earlier and were Haruya’s favorite style.
“How does it look? Does it suit me?”
She deliberately asked, even though she should already know the answer.
“I-I think it suits you.”
As he answered while avoiding her gaze, Nayu murmured satisfactorily, “Cute. Let’s buy this too…”
(I’m glad it didn’t give off a boyish impression…)
Nayu breathed a sigh of relief inwardly.
While watching her, Haruya started to think about something completely unrelated in the back of his mind.
“Nayu-san. By the way, is it okay if we go where I want next?”
“Yeah, we talked about that.”
After browsing through clothes for a while… Haruya and Nayu ended up buying some clothes for each other.
****.
There is a relatively large park near the large shopping mall.
After buying clothes, Haruya and Nayu headed to that park.
They are now sitting on a wooden bench, feeling the peacefulness of nature.
(…I’m glad I succeeded in bringing her out. It wouldn’t be funny if we bumped into Himekawa here.)
If they did bump into her…
Just imagining it made his stomach tighten.
Since seeing Sara at the game center, Haruya had wanted to go outside for a while.
When he was looking around the store, to be honest, Haruya was always nervous inside, thinking, “Don’t bump into Himekawa… Please don’t bump into her.”
Even when he was having a meal with Nayu or looking around the store, he always had a part of him that wanted to leave the place as soon as possible.
However, he stayed in the shopping mall for a while because he had decided to accompany Nayu today to blow off steam.
(But now the opportunity has finally come. I can go out and relax without worrying about Himekawa… And I can talk about shoujo manga!)
Haruya had been looking forward to talking about shoujo manga more than usual.
And he thought it would also help Nayu blow off steam.
At the last offline meeting, they couldn’t spread the word about shoujo manga
and ended up with Nayu saying, “There’s still a long way to go.”
As a big fan of shoujo manga… Haruya was frustrated.
He wanted to show her, a fellow enthusiast.
So, Haruya had been exploring new shoujo manga… for the past few days.
(I’ll show her… Nayu-san. And let’s spread the word about shoujo manga to each other again.)
While burning with determination in his heart, Haruya looked at her sitting next to him.
“Nayu-san. About shoujo manga–“
But then, Haruya swallowed his words.
The reason was that Nayu seemed to be staring blankly somewhere far away.
Although her eyes were hidden behind sunglasses, it was clear that her attention was not on him.
“…Ah, sorry. Haru-san… Shoujo manga?”
Perhaps noticing Haruya’s gaze, she turned her face towards him.
“Yeah, yeah! I read this the other day–“
Even though her attention had turned to him, Haruya started talking about shoujo manga.
About what was interesting in what he had recently read and the developments.
(This shoujo manga… Nayu-san probably doesn’t know about it.)
While wearing a smug expression, Haruya started preaching about shoujo manga to her, but Nayu still seemed somehow uneasy.
Although it should have been a discussion about her beloved shoujo manga, she didn’t engage much, just occasionally nodding along.
It was clear that something was off with Nayu.
Then, Haruya occasionally noticed that her gaze was directed towards the basketball hoop.
Boom, boom, boom.
In the direction of Nayu’s gaze, children were playing basketball, bouncing the ball.
Several bicycles were parked around the basketball hoop.
“…Na, Nayu-san?”
Haruya cautiously called out to her.
And then, a basketball rolled to their feet.
“S-Sorry~”
A boy ran over to Haruya and Nayu to retrieve the ball.
“…Ah…”
Nayu picked up the ball and stared blankly at the net.
“U-Um…”
The boy scratched the back of his head in confusion.
“N-Nayu-san… A-Are you okay?”
Waving his hand between her eyes and the ball, Haru voiced his concern.
In response, Nayu seemed to snap out of it, uttering a brief apology before handing the ball to the boy.
“Thank you, miss.”
With an innocent smile, the boy returned to his friends.
She stared at him, bewildered.
“Nayu-san, about basketball… is something wrong?”
Unable to ignore her demeanor, Haru asked.
“…It’s nothing.”
After a brief pause, Nayu replied.
“Saying it’s nothing is clearly forcing it…”
There have already been two instances today where she reacted to mentions of basketball.
The first was at the game center.
The second is right now, at the park.
“……”
She seemed to realize she was straining herself.
After keeping her mouth shut for a while, she let out a deep breath.
“Did you hear something from Onoi or something?”
“I haven’t heard anything from her. That would be rude.”
“I see.”
So he wouldn’t inquire further.
She shot him a look that seemed to convey as much.
Nevertheless, Haru silently urged her on.
In response, Nayu let out an exaggerated sigh.
“Haru-san, did you forget the rules of our gatherings?”
“Unfortunately… Today isn’t a gathering, it’s about accompanying you.”
“…Fine.”
Feeling defeated, she bit her lower lip in frustration.
Then she stood up.
“…Don’t pry any further…”
With a clear rejection,
Nayu spat out the words with a level of coldness he had never seen before.
Unable to say anything in response to her sharpness, Haru watched as she turned on her heel.
“Sorry. I’m heading home today.”
With those words alone, Nayu walked away.
Watching her lonely figure, Haru offered only one word of consolation.
“Nayu-san, Don’t you really love basketball?”
” …………… “
She didn’t stop to respond.
Watching Nayu’s retreating figure, Haruya continues,
“If you ever want to talk to someone, I’ll listen anytime.”
“…………”
Without saying anything in particular, she simply walks away.
As she walked away, Haru felt as if the distance between them had widened and instinctively bit his lower lip.
**
The Monday following Haru’s day with Nayu.
In Haruya’s class, there was more commotion than usual as the class’s high-class beauties engaged in gossip.
The cause was the romantic gossip surrounding the S-class beauties, the unreachable flowers of the class.
While the classmates seemed accustomed to Sara’s romantic interests, rumors about the other S-class beauties appeared to be unexpected.
Regardless of gender, the classmates were frozen in stunned disbelief.
Amidst it all, Haruya as usual had his face buried in his desk, feigning sleep.
Although not intentionally eavesdropping, the S-class beauties’ conversation reached his ears nonetheless.
The reason the students were casting more glances than usual towards the S-class beauties was because…
“Come to think of it, I hung out with a boy for the first time yesterday.”
It all started when Yuna murmured those words during a casual conversation.
“Eh, Yuna, did you have a crush on a boy?”
Rin asked with excitement in her eyes.
“I never said I liked anyone. I don’t have romantic feelings now.”
“Then why did you go on a date?”
“It wasn’t a date… Well, yeah, maybe it was.”
Finding the explanation tiresome, Yuna nodded slightly.
“So you couldn’t hang out with us yesterday, I see. It’s different when there’s a boy involved!”
Rin exclaimed eagerly.
“H-How was the ‘date’? Did you enjoy it?”
For once, Sara, who had remained silent until then, peered at Yuna with keen interest.
Yuna smiled wryly but replied coolly.
“─Yeah, Sara. I had fun. Thanks. It was a nice change of pace.”
“That’s great!”
Relieved, Sara placed a hand on her chest, and Rin pressed Yuna for more details.
“As always, Rin becomes so pushy when it comes to love talk… Well, I wanted to talk about it, so I’ll tell you.”
After a small sigh, Yuna’s confession began quietly.
──It happened just yesterday.
She went to the game center with the boy she had promised to meet, playing various games centered around the game center.
They played medal games, drumming games, and just about every other game available…
She didn’t put on airs; she behaved naturally.
She believes she genuinely had fun from the bottom of her heart.
But perhaps because of that, she seemed a bit childish.
And that bothered her a little. Just a little.
Afterward, they went to eat ramen.
The boy… He seemed to struggle with spicy food and made a pained expression.
Thinking he was acting like a child… it was fun.
She was a little happy to get back at him, but she didn’t want to be seen as a child forever, so she decided to go shopping for clothes. She wanted to show a bit of her femininity.
And then… At first, he seemed calm as he watched her try on clothes, but halfway through, he started reacting like a boy his age, which made Yuna feel victorious, and then she felt cute and happy.
After that… No, it’s nothing. We just disbanded like that.
Volume 2 English translations is completed. Join the Ko-fi membership to read them all right now
Also check out my friend Localizermeerkat for more LN translations!
BUY THE SOURCE MATERIAL TO SUPPORT THE AUTHOR !!!
Kindly click on the green button above and contribute to filling the green bar if you’re interested in having another LN from the request page translated. Also, every donation is being used to purchase the source material and to fund more English translations.
Please consider joining my Ko-Fi membership. By becoming a member, you’ll also gain access to 2-10 additional chapters of all of the novels from this site translated into English. Last but not least your support will also assist me in upholding the translation quality and speed. For more information, please follow the link.
Donation for faster release is always welcome
Additionally, I am now accepting translation requests.
Satisfied with their time at the game center, Haruya and Nayu left and came to a ramen restaurant on the seventh floor of the shopping mall for lunch.
Haruya ordered the restaurant’s recommended extra-large Ajitama Miso Ramen, while Nayu ordered the spicy miso ramen in a regular portion.
Bitter things were his forte, but spicy things were not Haruya’s cup of tea, so Nayu’s choice looked like it would hurt his mouth just by looking at it.
After exchanging greetings before the meal, Haruya and Nayu started slurping their noodles.
Just as they were about to get excited about their usual topic of discussion, Nayu interrupted.
“Haru-san, this ramen is just the right amount of spicy and delicious, so if you’d like, have a bite.”
Suddenly, Nayu pushed her bowl towards him.
(Oh… There goes our usual talk about shoujo manga…)
Although interrupted, Haruya stared at the bowl Nayu had offered.
“No, it looks completely red… And, I’m not good with spicy food.”
“Just one bite, it’s not that spicy.”
It’s a product that claims to be super spicy, so how can it not be spicy? …….
But seeing Nayu’s challenging expression, I had to take at least one bite
He tried his best to take a bite, and a tingling pain attacked his mouth.
Instinctively, he grimaced and gulped down some cold water.
“It’s… s-so spicy… Nayu-san, this is way too spicy.”
Complaining, he looked at Nayu, who smiled satisfied.
In my usual black coffee, as I was savoring it… Do you get it now?
Surprisingly, she seemed to be holding a grudge.
Apologizing briefly, I handed her back the bowl of spicy ramen.