TL: Graze

As popular a location as ever, we arrived at the thriving cafe.

Even if I'm somewhat lacking common sense, as an ordinary high school student, I'm able to understand something like this now.

This cafe is a branch location for a super-major company outside of the school, particularly popular among girls in the social world. Outside of here, the price per cup is expensive for high school students, so it's not something they could afford to be drinking very often. For a high school student who isn't working at least part-time, they'd only be able to afford coming here a few times every month. However, because students at this school receive 'money' corresponding to how many cla.s.s points they have, many students can afford to come here as long as they aren't in a particularly dire financial situation.

Due to that, it's inevitable that the cafe would be thriving every day.

Though, it wasn't so full that we were unable to find a place to sit. We ended up taking a pair of seats facing one another. Mii-chan never tried to match my line of sight. Instead, she stared at the cup of coffee I had ordered that I was holding in my hands. I suppose she and Airi are similar girls. If I inadvertently pressure her too much, it might make it harder for her to say what's on her mind. I decided not to break the ice and waited for Mii-chan to initiate the conversation.

Meanwhile, I told her I was going to get up for a second and get some sugar from the counter.

There, I took a single pack of sugar.

Without letting my eyes wander, I confirmed that Has.h.i.+moto had also come to the cafe.

It's unlikely that he would have just so happened to suddenly want a cup of coffee.

Without a doubt, Has.h.i.+moto was following me.

Was he sent by Sakayanagi in order to monitor me? No, that doesn't seem very likely. Sakayanagi currently doesn't want to spread information around about my existence. Plus, even if she wanted to keep tabs on me, she would have forced Kamuro to do it. If Sakayanagi has a grasp on what type of person Has.h.i.+moto is, it's understandable why she wouldn't think he's the right choice for something like this.

She shouldn't be under any sort of rush to tell Has.h.i.+moto about me and risk having him then disclose it to a third party.

If that's the case, is he following me based off his own judgment?

Back during training camp, I don't remember doing anything that would necessarily attract any of his attention.

To him, I should have been just another member of the group. Ryuuen, Is.h.i.+zaki, Albert, and Ibuki. I considered the likelihood of any of them saying anything to him one by one, but none of them would have said anything.

Well… It's not like I'll be able to come to any conclusion by thinking about it now.

However, sooner or later it seems like it'll become an issue that I'll have to deal with, one way or another.

For now, I'll ignore Has.h.i.+moto and focus on my conversation with Mii-chan.

I returned to my seat after about a minute, and immediately as I did, Mii-chan broke the silence.

"Hey… Uh, it's about Hiratkun."

About Hirata, is it?

"I was hoping you'd tell me a few things about him…"

"You know, Hirata and I aren't particularly close to each other."

I responded to her immediately in order to draw the line, however, she responded by giving me a surprised look.

"But then, why did Hiratkun advise me that Ayanokouji-kun was the most reliable person in the cla.s.s?"

"…Oh really?"

"Yeah. He said that Ayanokouji-kun was the most reliable and level-headed person in the cla.s.s. He spoke really well of you."

While it makes me happy to be praised by Hirata like this, if things like this continue to spread around I feel like it'll develop into something troublesome. However, I understand why Hirata would give my name to Mii-chan.

There are plenty of reliable students, but in the particular case of Cla.s.s C, it gets somewhat complicated.

Considering the other boys, it's not surprising that Hirata would look me as the next most reliable student.

Still, it's about Hirata, huh?

From my earlier conversation with Haruka, I can more or less guess what it's about.

"Recently, Hiratkun and Karuizawsan, uh… broke up with each other. Have you heard about it already?"

"Naturally."

What about it? I pretended as though I didn't understand where she was going with this.

"T-That, well…"

After faltering with her words several times, she finally began to speak about the real issue at hand.

"…Do you know if there's anyone, H-Hiratkun likes right now?"

It appears that this was what she had been wanting to ask about. In this case, which answer is the correct one to respond with?

Although I thought something like that for a moment, I immediately came to the conclusion that giving a genuine answer would be for the best.

"I don't think so."

"R-Really!?"

"Of course I can't say so with absolute certainty, but as far as I know, there's n.o.body. Besides, he's just been dumped by Karuizawa. It would be too early for him to like someone else already."

While I was speaking, Mii-chan gradually calmed down.

https://imgur.com/QrYZmh3

"Is it alright if I ask you just one thing out of mere curiosity?"

"Y-Yeah."

"When did you start liking Hirata?"

"Eeeeeh!?!?"

Did I ask her something strange? Mii-chan's face turned bright red as she went into a panic.

"W-W-W-Why would you ask such a thing?"

"Oh no, if you don't want to answer, you-"

"-Right after the entrance ceremony?"

-don't have to.

"I'm… a little clumsy…"

A single encounter with Hirata was the only trigger she needed to fall for him.

Mii-chan spoke openly.

"…Something like that… I guess."

"Is that so?"

Although there are various uncertainties, one thing's for certain. She was attracted to Hirata's gentleness.

"But-"

Mii-chan had been blus.h.i.+ng as she talked about meeting with Hirata, but her expression clouded over suddenly as she was brought back to reality.

"I… I don't think I'm good enough to become Hiratkun's girlfriend…"

"Why?"

How am I even able to ask that? I'm surprised that I'm even able to speak up.

"Because there are too many rivals… Besides, I've never been in love before or anything…"

Even though she's overflowing with feelings of love, it doesn't seem like she has the courage to take action.

And while I don't want to think that a lack of prior experience with love is a handicap, it definitely has some effect.

"Well, Mii-chan… Wait, is it alright for me to be calling you Mii-chan?"

"Oh no, you're totally fine. Everyone calls me that. Even though both my parents are Chinese, they both like my j.a.panese nickname, so even they call me Mii-chan."

That is to say, she isn't half-j.a.panese or anything like that?

"Are you studying abroad?"

"Yeah. When I was in my first year of middle school, my father came to j.a.pan on business."

So she moved to j.a.pan with the rest of her family?

"Have there been any difficulties with that? Like a language barrier or something like that?"

"It was pretty hard at first. I was more concerned about making friends than the difference in languages. However, there were a lot of people who were pretty good at English at the middle school I enrolled at, so I was able to make friends there."

Speaking of which, I seem to remember that Mii-chan was pretty good at English.

It seems that on top of communicating with others in English, she managed to master j.a.panese perfectly over her 3 years of middle school. I've heard that Chinese students have to endeavor through a school system much more rigorous than j.a.panese students do.

I wonder if Mii-chan has been able to smoothly integrate into j.a.panese society because she's received that a high level of education.

Beyond this, she just needs to work on her communication skills like Airi.

"I wonder if I have a chance…"

"Speaking realistically, shouldn't you have a pretty decent chance?"

"Really?"

"I didn't lie. However…"

"H-However!?"

While it will probably make her feel anxious, I still have to explain the difficult part of all of this.

"Hirata's a good guy, isn't he?"

"Of course."

"Because of that, don't you think he'll be more careful next time he's considering going out with someone? It is Hirata we're talking about. He may be feeling responsible for it, like he was unable to keep Karuizawa happy."

Mii-chan nodded as though a revelation had just fallen upon her.

"You're right. Along with that, confessing so soon… I don't think I'd be able to handle it."

"I know you're worried about what potential rivals might be doing, but you're probably going to be rejected if you get impatient and confess to him so soon."

I advised her to approach things slowly and steadily until she has a solid foundation to work with.

Of course, it's really the type of situation where you'll never know unless you ask.

However, I can't really see Hirata being in any sort of rush to a.s.sociate himself with another girl at the moment.

The odds are that he'll end up rejecting the majority of the girls who confess to him.

In that sense, those who slowly stay on the attack will have a greater chance at victory.

"…I guess I had you a bit misunderstood, Ayanokouji-kun."

"Misunderstood?"

"You know, you're usually really silent and you don't say much… Kinda giving people the impression that you're someone really scary. But after meeting with you face-to-face like this, I can tell that you're actually super approachable and that you're seriously listening to what I've had to say…"

It seems like she's complimenting me.

However, instead of seriously listening to what she's been talking about, it would be more accurate to say that I'm just doing an unconscious a.n.a.lysis of the contents of the conversation. I'm only examining each piece of information and deciding whether or not it will be useful to her later on. If she feels like I'm listening to her carefully, that's all the more convenient for me.

Does she want to go deeper? It feels like now I have the chance to ask all kinds of thing.

"Oh? Mii-chan and… Ayanokouji-kun?"

Just as I opened my mouth and began to a few other questions, first-year Hiyori s.h.i.+na from Cla.s.s D appeared. I shut my mouth without saying anything.

"Hiyori-chan. h.e.l.lo!"

Hiyori-chan. Mii-chan. From their close way of referring to one another, they seem to be rather close.

"Are the two of you, by any chance, on a date together?"

"N-N-No! Not at all Hiyori-chan!"

Mii-chan stood up in a panic and desperately waved her arms in front of her to deny the question.

Seeing her reject it to such an overwhelming extent hurt my heart a little bit.

"In that case, is it alright if I join in?"

"Of course! …Are you alright with it?"

"Yeah."

"Thank you very much."

Hiyori smiled happily and sat down in the chair next to Mii-chan.

"You two are quite the curious combination. What kind of things have you guys been talking about?"

"Oh… Uuuuh…"

It seemed like it was hard for Mii-chan to say that we had been talking about how to handle the person she likes.

"I'm interested in China, so I've been listening to her talk about it a little bit."

"About China… is it?"

"Yeah. It's one of the countries I'd like to visit someday, so I thought I'd hear about it from someone who's from there."

I sent a look over to Mii-chan as if asking for her confirmation. She hurriedly nodded two or three times in response.

"China's nice isn't it? I'm also pretty interested in it, with it having things like the Great Wall of China and all."

Hiyori put her hands together in front of her and smiled.

Hiyori's interest in the topic really went beyond my expectations.

"Speaking of China, the wall is definitely a spot that can't be forgotten. Though, personally, I'd like to go to Pingyao Ancient City."

"Pingyao Ancient City?"

It seems like Hiyori's first time hearing of the place.

Mii-chan, on the other hand, widened her eyes in surprise at the fact that I knew of the place.

"Even though it's a World Heritage Site, the fact that you know about it…"

"It's just a something I heard about."

"By the way, are the two of you… friends?"

Mii-chan asked the two of us after seeing Hiyori and I talk naturally with one another.

"Yep! We're reading buddies."

"Well, you're not wrong."

"Reading buddies…?"

Mii-chan had an expression on her face that was telling us she didn't understand.

However, she immediately turned that confusion into positivity with her next question.

"Isn't it great to be able to make friends across cla.s.ses?"

It's likely that she hadn't had any friends outside of her own cla.s.s until the training camp occurred.

"I think so too. School life can be more than just everyone being hostile towards each other."

Inter-student compet.i.tion is one of the foundational basics of Advanced Nurturing High School.

Here, most students have a strong tendency to see students outside of their own cla.s.s as rivals.

However, this time around, the number of students who have opened their hearts to those from other cla.s.ses has increased.

To some extent, the true aim of the school has become obscured and hidden.

Otherwise, there wouldn't be any rules like the ones we came across at the training camp. However, I can hardly say for certain that this won't be the cause of any negative impacts in the future. When you're forced into a confrontative relations.h.i.+p with others, creating these half-baked friends.h.i.+ps could possibly end up causing some adverse effects.

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