Yahari Ore no Seishun Rabu Kome wa Machigatteiru - Volume 01 Read online

  And so everyone in the classroom became enthralled at the sight of that girl. At some point, even the sound of Miura’s nails tapping on the desk disappeared, and the classroom fell into complete silence. But Yukinoshita’s voice soon shattered that silence.

  “Yuigahama-san… It really is quite something. You told me to wait for you somewhere, and yet you did not even show up at the appointed time. Wouldn’t it have been proper to at least text me that you would be late?”

  When Yuigahama heard that, she smiled, seeming relieved. She began to head towards Yukinoshita.

  “…S-sorry. But, umm, I don’t actually have Yukinon’s phone number…”

  “…Is that so? I suppose that's true… Well then, I won’t say you’re one hundred percent responsible. I’ll let this one slide.”

  Yukinoshita seemed to pay no heed to events around her, simply continuing to say whatever she wanted. It was almost refreshing to see her simply continue on at her own pace.

  “W-wait just a sec! We’re still talking here!”

  It seemed Miura was finally freed from her paralysis, and she flared up at Yukinoshita and Yuigahama.

  The Queen of Fire’s anger thundered, and her flames became hotter and hotter.

  “What is it? I don’t have much time to stay and talk with you--I still haven’t eaten my lunch.”

  “H-huh? You show up all of a sudden and then you say that? I’m talking with Yui here!”

  “Talking with her? Weren’t you just yelling? Was that supposed to be a conversation? To me, it just seemed that you were trying to get her off-balance and then unilaterally push your own opinion on her.”

  “Wha-?!?!”

  “I'm sorry I didn’t realize it sooner… I admit that I’m not too aware of your type’s way of life, so I couldn’t help but compare it to an ape's dominance games."

  Even the Queen of Fire was freezing over when faced with the Queen of Ice.

  “Oooo…”

  Miura glared at Yukinoshita, her anger completely obvious. However, Yukinoshita let her glare pass with indifference.

  “You can huff and puff all you like, and you can act like you’re the king of the castle, but please do that privately and on your own time. Otherwise, your little act will fall apart, just like your makeup is right now.”

  “…Huh, what are you saying? I don't get it.”

  Miura, sounding like a bit of a sore loser, finally seemed to collapse back down into her chair. Her curly locks of hair swayed from side to side as she began to furiously fiddle with her cell phone.

  After all that, not a single person tried to talk to that girl. Even Hayama, who was usually good at keeping up with situations like this, could only yawn to try and diffuse the awkwardness.

  And right next to all that was Yuigahama, still standing stock still. She was gripping her skirt hem tightly, as if she wanted to say something. Yukinoshita may have guessed what Yuigahama wanted to do, because she began to walk out of the room.

  “I’m going on ahead.”

  “I-I’m coming too…”

  “…Do as you please.”

  “Okay.”

  When Yuigahama heard that, she let out a smile, but… She was the only one smiling.

  Hey, hey, what the hell was up with this atmosphere… The situation was insanely uncomfortable, so it was really hard to stay in the classroom. Before I knew it, more than half my classmates had begun to leave the room, saying that they were thirsty or that they needed to use the restrooms. The only ones left there, other than Hayama and Miura’s group, were the more overly-curious members of the class.

  I supposed that I also had to take a chance and ride that big wave right out the door! But, seriously… If the atmosphere got any darker in there, then I would suffocate and die.

  I began to walk, as quietly as possible, toward the door, passing by Yuigahama on the way. And at that point, I heard a small whisper:

  “Thanks for standing up back there.”

  4-2

  When I left the classroom, I saw Yukinoshita there. She was leaning against the wall right next to the door with crossed arms and closed eyes. She was giving off an extremely cold aura, and that might be why no one else was around. It was very quiet.

  And that's why I could hear the conversation happening inside the classroom:

  “… Umm, I’m sorry. You know, I get a bit uneasy when I can’t get along with someone… Or you could say I just get really self-conscious all of a sudden… so maybe you're annoyed by that.”

  “………”

  “Uhhh, well, how should I put it? I’ve always been like that. Even when I played Ojamajo-pretend with my friends, I wanted to be Doremi or Onpu-chan, but another girl wanted to be those, so I ended up being Hazuki…[1] I grew up in a big apartment complex with other people around me all the time, so maybe that's why I thought that was the best way to act…”

  “I have no idea what you’re trying to say.”

  “Y-Yeah, I guess so, haha. Well, I don’t really know what I’m saying either… It’s just, umm, when I saw Hikki and Yukinon I realized something. Even when there's nobody around you, you still look like you’re having fun… You two say what you're thinking, and even though you don’t usually get along, you seem to mesh somehow…”

  Every once in a while, I could hear something like sobs from inside the classroom. Every time that happened, I could see Yukinoshita’s shoulders twitch. She widened her eyes just a little and tried to look inside the classroom without turning her head. You idiot, you won’t be able to see anything from there. If you’re that worried, then go in the damn room. That girl… She's really not honest with herself.

  “After I saw that, I started to think that maybe it was wrong for me to always desperately try to get along with everyone… I mean, to be honest, Hikki is seriously a Hikki. During breaks he’s just off by himself reading books and giggling… It’s gross, but he looks like he’s having fun.”

  Gross, she says… Once Yukinoshita heard that, she let out a chuckle.

  “I thought that you only had that weird habit in the clubroom, but it looks like you do that in the classroom too. That’s seriously a disgusting habit--you should just cut it out.”

  “If you knew about that already, then you should have told me…”

  “But it's only natural that I didn’t. Who would want to talk to you after you do something that disgusting?”

  I'll seriously attempt to be more careful from now on, then. I’m not going to read any more light novels about evil gods at school.[2]

  ”So I thought, maybe I shouldn’t try so hard, I'll just take it a bit more easy… Or something like that. But it’s not like I hate Yumiko or something. We can still get along… a lot… after this, right?”

  ”…Hmph. I see. Well then, whatever. That’s fine.”

  I heard the sound of Miura snapping her phone closed.

  ”…Sorry again. Thanks.”

  And with that, the conversation in the room stopped, and I heard the pitter patter of Yuigahama’s shoes walking towards us. Taking that sound as a signal, Yukinoshita also stopped leaning on the wall and stood up.

  “… Well, what do you know. She can stand up for herself.”

  For that brief moment, I was taken aback by the brief glimpse of a smile on Yukinoshita’s face.

  It was a smile, simple, pure, devoid of mockery or sarcasm or sorrow.

  However, that smile soon vanished, and Yukinoshita’s expression returned to its usual, icy state. While I was staring at Yukinoshita’s smile, she quickly walked off to the other end of the hallway and disappeared, paying me no attention whatsoever. She was probably heading towards the meeting place she and Yuigahama had agreed on.

  …Well then, what should I do next? I began to walk off, but at that moment, the classroom door opened.

  “Eh? W-why is Hikki standing right here?”

  I was frozen stiff, but I managed to lift up my right arm and greet her, hoping I could get out of this situation. As I
looked at Yuigahama’s face, I could see she was getting redder and redder.

  “Were you listening?”

  “W-whatever could you mean…?”

  “You were listening weren’t you? You were eavesdropping?! Gross! Stalker! Weirdo! Um umm… so gross! I can’t believe you! You’re seriously gross. You’re seriously, truly gross.”

  “Just hold on! Show some restraint!”

  I mean, even I'll get sad if you throw so much abuse right in my face. And don’t say that last part with a completely serious expression, dammit… I think I’m really wounded now.

  “Hmph, it’s a bit too late for me to show restraint. And whose fault do you think that is? Idiot.”

  Yuigahama stuck out her sakura-colored tongue out at me, and with that cute attempt to provoke me, she ran off. Was she an elementary schooler or something? Don’t run in the halls, dammit.

  “Whose fault… It was Yukinoshita’s fault, right?”

  I was talking to myself. I was alone, so that was only natural.

  When I looked at the clock, I saw that there was only a little time left in our break. That awfully thirst-inducing lunch break was also already over. Maybe I should go buy some Sportop to quench the thirst in my throat and in my heart.

  As I headed for the vending machine, I suddenly realized something:

  Otaku had otaku communities, so they weren’t alone.

  And becoming a riajuu meant that you had to pay a lot of attention to the pecking order and balance of power, so it was really tough.

  So in the end, I was the only person who was alone. I didn’t need Hiratsuka-sensei to isolate me, because I was already isolated in my class… So there really wasn’t a point in trying to isolate me further in the service club.

  …What a sad conclusion that was. Reality was way too cruel.

  The only sweet thing in my life was the taste of this Sportop.

  Chapter 5 - To sum up, Zaimokuza Yukisteru is a bit off

  It might be a little too late to describe how the service club worked, but we were supposed to listen to the problems of students and then try to help them out.

  If I didn’t remind myself every now and then, I really would forget what this club was for. Most of the time, Yukinoshita and I just sat and read books. And Yuigahama just played around with her phone.

  “Hm… Ah, why exactly are you here again?”

  She blended in so well that we never questioned her presence, but that didn’t mean Yuigahama was a member of the service club. Actually, I wasn’t even sure if I was a member of this club. Was I, really? Either way, I kinda wanted to quit…

  “Huh? Ah, I mean, I just had a lot of free time today, y'know?”

  “’Y'know’? Even if you say that, I still don't know. Also, what the hell--you from Hiroshima or something?”[1]

  “Huh? Hiroshima? I’m from Chiba.”

  Well, in reality, people who spoke the Hiroshima dialect added “y'know” to the end of things, but a lot of people seemed surprised when I told them that. I had a pretty horrible image in my mind of how guys from Hiroshima sounded, but girls who spoke with an authentic Hiroshima accent were really cute. In fact, that accent would rank amongst my top ten for cutest accents.

  “Hmph. You were born in Chiba, but don't go thinking that makes it okay for you to say you’re ‘from Chiba.’”

  “Hey, Hikigaya-kun. I really have no idea what you’re trying to say right now…”

  Yukinoshita gave me an incredibly scornful look. I ignored her.

  “Let’s go then, Yuigahama. First question: what do you call it when you get hit so hard that you have internal bleeding?”

  “A black-and-blue!”[2]

  “Hm… That’s the correct answer. To think you also understand the Chiba dialect… All right then, on to question two. If you could pick a side dish to go with your lunch, what would it be?”

  “Miso peanuts!”

  “Hmmm… Maybe you really are from Chiba…”

  “That’s what I’ve been saying, y'know?”

  Yuigahama put her arms on her hips and tilted her head to the side, as if to say, “What in the world is this guy on about?” Yukinoshita was next to her with her elbow resting on the table and her hand on her forehead. She let out a sigh.

  “…Hey, what was that all of a sudden? Was there a point to that exchange?”

  Of course there was no point.

  “It was just the Trans-Chiba Prefecture Ultra Quiz.[3] To be more concrete, by ‘Trans’ I mean going from Matsudo to Choushi.”[4]

  “That doesn’t cover a lot at all!”

  “Fine, fine, then we can make it from Sawara to Tateyama.”

  “So you’re going from top to bottom…”

  …You two, how do you get all that from just the city names? Do you really like Chiba that much?

  “Well then, third question: if you ride on the Sotobou Line towards Toke, then what do you call the strange animal that (for whatever reason) suddenly appears?”

  “Ah, speaking of Matsudo, Yukinon, I hear that there are a lot of ramen shops over there. Let’s go sometime.”

  “Ramen… I haven’t had ramen too often, so I don’t really know--”

  “It’s fine, it’s fine! I haven’t had ramen much either!”

  “…Eh? How does that make it fine? Could you please explain that a bit more?”

  “Hmm, and also, what was it about Matsudo…? Right, there was this shop named Nantoka that they say is really good…”

  “Are you listening to what I’m saying?”

  “Hm? Yeah, I am. Ah, but there are good shops around here too… This is all near my house, so I’m super knowledgeable about this area. My house is like five minutes away from here, you see. And there’s this shop here that I pass by all the time when I’m walking my dog.”

  ……The correct answer was ‘ostrich.’ If you’re riding on a train and you suddenly see an ostrich outside your window, I guess that you wouldn't really be surprised, you’d just be pretty impressed.

  Sigh.

  I left the two girls to their (rather mismatched) conversation about ramen and went back to my book.

  There were three people here and I was still alone. What the hell was that about?

  But, well, I guess spending time like this did make me feel like a normal high school student. Compared to middle schoolers, high schoolers had more freedoms, so they tended to be interested in trends and food. So this ramen conversation did feel like a very high school conversation.

  …Though, granted, most high schoolers don't do things like the Trans-Chiba Prefecture Ultra Quiz.

  5-2

  It was the next day. When I headed for the club room, I was surprised to see Yukinoshita and Yuigahama both standing in front of the door. I wondered what in the world they were doing until I saw that, for some reason, the door was ajar and they were peeking inside.

  “What are you two doing?”

  “Hyahh!”

  I heard that cute scream, and at the same time the two girls jumped in shock.

  “Hikigaya-kun… You surprised me…”

  “I’m the one who’s surprised here…”

  What kind of reaction was that? It reminded me of what happens if I come across my family’s pet cat in the living room during the middle of the night.

  “Could you not suddenly call out to us like that?”

  Yukinoshita's irritated glare also perfectly resembled our cat. Now that I think about it, that cat is pretty friendly with everyone else in my family… That's one more way that Yukinoshita really reminded me of that animal.

  “Well, sorry. So, what are you doing?”

  Yuigahama had once again slightly opened the clubroom door and was quietly peeking in. When I spoke up, she was the one who answered me.

  “There’s a suspicious person in the clubroom.”

  “You two are the suspicious ones here…”

  “Quiet--that's enough. Would you be so kind as to go in and see who this person is?”
r />   Yukinoshita ordered me with a testy look on her face.

  I did as I was told, stepping in front of the two girls and carefully opening the door. I entered the room.

  Inside, waiting for us, was the wind.

  As soon as I opened the door, we were met by a breeze. It was a breeze typical of this near-the-sea school, and as it whirled around the clubroom, it sent papers flying.