“I’m going home with Yoshiki today!”
“Hey, don’t decide that on your own!?”
“No good?”
“It’s fine, but…”
“Then it’s fine!”
Yuzuha poked my chest and started walking beside me as if nothing had happened.
This gyaru is too free-spirited.
Feeling the gazes of Yuzuha’s gyaru group, I kept quiet for a while, but as soon as we turned the corner, I blurted out:
“You know, it’s because you do things like this that people around us misunderstand!? It’s your fault everyone thinks we’re dating!?”
Yuzuha grinned at my complaint.
“Hehehe, you’re not entirely against it, are you?”
“I don’t know if I’m entirely against it, but I’m certainly not happy about it! Try to understand how it feels to be caught up with a sun like you, I’ll end up burning to death someday!”
“Now, now, calm down, Cherry-kun. Who do you think helped you back in middle school?”
“This gal…! Taking advantage of the fact that I can’t be too aggressive when she brings that up…!”
Yuzuha shook her shoulders, laughing cheerfully.
The reason she’s called the sun of the class is probably because of this carefree smile.
She shows genuine laughter, not just polite smiles, everywhere.
Even though I was feeling down just a moment ago, I realized my mouth corners were lifting, influenced by Yuzuha’s smile.
That made me feel a bit frustrated inside.
“Yoshiki—”
“What?”
“Were you worried about something earlier?”
I opened my eyes wide, surprised.
Yuzuha’s expression had changed from a playful smile to a thoughtful one.
Since middle school, Yuzuha has been sensitive to people’s emotions.
Being in the same high school class might have made my feelings even more apparent to her.
…Yuzuha isn’t the type to pry into others’ business for fun.
She helped me in middle school too, so I guess it wouldn’t hurt to tell her. Actually, I’m grateful that I can consult with Yuzuha.
“Well, yeah, I was worried.”
“I thought so. What’s wrong?”
“Um… it’s about what we talked about before. I feel like I was… rejected by a girl I thought I had a good thing going with.”
“Hmm? Yoshiki, I didn’t know you’ve ever had a good thing going with a girl in your life.”
“I have, don’t look down on me!”
“You’re so desperate!”
Faced with Yuzuha’s grinning face, I hesitated a bit but continued speaking.
“But even when things were good, it never progressed beyond that. …I guess that’s coming back to bite me now.”
“I see. So that’s why you were seriously talking about ‘having a good thing’ this morning.”
Yuzuha placed her fist on her palm as if she had figured it out.
…It’s too embarrassing to think I was perceived as ‘talking’ about it.
Well, might as well ask while I’m already embarrassed.
“Hey, tell me. If you were in a situation where things were good with someone but you couldn’t move forward, what would you do?”
Yuzuha blinked her eyes and then grinned.
“Easy. You’ve got to break through that wall, right? It’s exciting!”
“Ah… I guess so. You’re like the embodiment of positivity after all.”
“Who are you calling simple-minded!?”
“I didn’t say that!”
I knew Yuzuha would give a positive answer.
But I deliberately sought her response because—maybe I want to take a step forward myself.
It’s been a month since we started high school.
In this month, two major events happened: “Everyone misunderstood my relationship with Yuzuha and my reputation took a hit,” and “I was rejected by Hanazono, with whom I thought I had a good thing in the past.”
If I don’t take any action now, I probably won’t get a girlfriend even when I become a university student or start working. Worse, I might even become anti-romance.
I hate that. I hate it so much.
It takes courage for people to change.
But if I can convince myself that Yuzuha and I share the same opinion, that alone can give me some courage.
In that sense, I’m glad I asked Yuzuha for her answer.
—When it comes to breaking through the wall of a good thing, you just have to do it, right?
READ THE ORIGINAL TRANSLATION AT GADGETIZEDPANDA.COM
“Alright. I’ll use this as an opportunity to try my best to break through the ‘good thing going’ barrier.”
I spoke those words.
For anything, it’s okay if the trigger for change is artificial.
It would be best if feelings naturally welled up.
But when you want to change yourself, a timely opportunity doesn’t always present itself.
In that case, you have no choice but to create the opportunity yourself.
Even the statement I just made—if it ends up motivating me, that’s good enough.
Yuzuha responded with a puzzled expression.
“Hmm. I don’t really get what you’re saying, but…”
“It’s fine as long as I understand it myself!”
“Oh, is that so? Well, I don’t dislike that part of you, Yoshiki.”
Her light golden hair swayed.
“Yoshiki, you seem really twisted, but you’re actually pretty straightforward. Like, you seem like a wimp, but you’re a wimp with courage?”
“Are these supposed to be compliments!?”
Yuzuha grinned and gave a thumbs up, saying “Yep!”
…Well, if that’s the case, I appreciate it.
“Not everyone can naturally muster up courage like you, Yuzuha. Just think of it as a difference in the total amount of energy we’re born with.”
Yuzuha tilted her head slightly, muttering “Courage, huh…”
Well, I guess Yuzuha wouldn’t really get it.
It probably doesn’t suit her nature to overthink things like I do.
Yuzuha bought a coffee from the nearby vending machine and opened the can with a hiss.
“So, how exactly are you going to break through this ‘good thing’? Didn’t that girl already reject you?”
“Well… It’s not about going back to that person again, but rather preparing for the next romance. The previous one wasn’t really a case of ‘I clearly have romantic feelings right now!’ anyway.”
“Oh, sore loser!”
“Shut up! I’m just saying I didn’t suffer fatal damage to my mental state!”
If I had truly liked Hanazono deeply, I wouldn’t be able to keep up with Yuzuha’s current energy level.
Of course, I feel down, but it’s at a level where I’ll get over it by next week. Well, maybe the week after.
After laughing for a while, Yuzuha prompted me to continue, “So?”
“First, I want to understand what a ‘good thing going’ means on an intuitive level.”
“Ooh, I don’t get it!”
“Well, you see… the standard for what counts as a ‘good thing going’ is different for everyone, right? So for someone like me who’s started doubting their own perception, it becomes pretty difficult to take action.”
The higher the possibility of failure, the more likely you are to hesitate.
They say it’s hard to go back to the previous relationship if you fail at romance.
“A ‘good thing going’ isn’t necessarily the same as ‘liking’ someone, which is why I think we need to understand it. This is something we can’t rely on others’ evaluations for; we have to grasp the feeling ourselves. Even Takeru still seems to think you and I have a good thing going.”
“Heh, so you were actually after me, Yoshiki? No wonder you got rejected if you’re trying to hit on multiple girls at once, you cheater!”
“Are you even listening?”
“But Yoshiki, your story is so long, you’re really checking all the boxes for a virgin!”
“My virginity has nothing to do with this right now!”
Yuzuha laughed at my retort and then gulped down her coffee.
This girl is hopeless. Once she decides my worries aren’t a big deal, she completely switches off.
Well, maybe it’s unreasonable to expect understanding from a top-caste person like Yuzuha who probably has no troubles in romance.
No, I feel like this might be unique to Yuzuha.
“In short, I want to start by making sure my perception of a ‘good thing going’ isn’t off. Well, the problem is whether I have someone to confirm this with.”
As I mumbled, Yuzuha seemed to be thinking the same thing and spoke up.
“Ah, I can’t help you there. I’m the type to confess right away when I like someone, so I don’t really do that subtle stuff.”
“I figured. That’s why I couldn’t ask you about this in the first place.”
“Hey, that kind of pisses me off for some reason!?”
Yuzuha made an extremely displeased face.
I hurriedly shook my head.
“Sorry, I didn’t mean it like that. I need to confirm with someone I’ve had a ‘good thing going’ with in the past, right? I’ve never had anything like that with you, Yuzuha.”
“…Oh, that’s what you meant? Yeah, it would be quicker if you could ask directly. So I guess the real question is how many girls you’ve had a ‘good thing going’ with in the past.”
“…Probably three. But there’s only one I could actually ask about whether we had a ‘good thing going’ in the past.”
“Heh, but there is one, huh? Really?”
“Well, yeah. It’s completely subjective on my part, and to be honest, it would take a lot of courage to ask.”
Excluding the girl who utterly rejected me in middle school and Hanazono, there’s only one person I can think of who I had a ‘good thing going’ with.
“Ah, I get it. Is it that childhood friend you once talked about, the one who transferred schools?”
“…I guess I’ve talked about her to everyone quite a bit, huh.”
“Ahaha, you mentioned it before. But if it’s a childhood friend, aren’t you out of luck? That girl is far away now, right?”
“I’m not out of luck! I could at least ask over the phone!”
My self-centered childhood friend.
But she was kind to me.
“I’ll definitely come back.”
Her words flash through my mind.
But in the end, it’s just a child’s idle talk.
“…If she came back, it would certainly make things easier.”
Even though I know it’s unlikely for her to conveniently return just when I’m thinking about her,
I still mumbled those words.
Hoping that by speaking them aloud, they might become a reality.
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