Chapter 18

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Title: The Dense Sakuraba-kun

If I think about it, it’s obvious.

If Shirato’s name came up, then it wouldn’t be weird for Yuunagi’s name to come up as well.

Or rather, if I had to say, me becoming friends with Yuunagi probably appears more strange to the eyes of our surroundings.

But, on the outside, of course she and I behaved as normal friends.

I wasn’t expecting to be asked a direct question, but I think the appropriate response here is a calm and natural one.

That’s what I think.

“No, it’s because she’s good friends with Shirato-san, which causes her to frequently visit our class.”(Sakuraba)

“…..I see.”(Mikura)

Surprisingly, Mikura accepted that explanation quite readily.

Well, it’s not like she’s a spy or a detective.

Even considering the fact that I think it’s unnatural, there wouldn’t be such excessive amounts of investigation.

If anything, I think I’m the one that’s overreacting.

If I just behave confidently about it, nothing will happen.

“……Aoto-kun is….um, well….After all, do you……do you like girls like Yuunagi?”(Mikura)

“What….”(Sakuraba)

Once again, the conversation has turned in a weird direction.

Maybe, as I was thinking before, Mikura is now interested in love.

And I think she’s trying to find out from me, who she is close to to some extent, what kind of woman is attractive from a man’s point of view.

If that’s the case, I’m curious about the person that Mikura has feelings for。

However, that’s a delicate topic.

Knowing who that person is doesn’t necessarily do me any good.

Let’s not pursue it.

Well, I’m pretty curious, though.

“No, well, rather than love, it’s probably closer to attraction. I mean, she seems to be nearly flawless.”(Sakuraba)

I made a point of adding an extra bit of emphasis to the “nearly.”

Yuunagi certainly is a flawless beauty, but she also has this part of her that’s a bit overbearing and pushy. Well, the scary thing is that she somehow makes that also look like one of her good points as well.

“I, I see……”(Mikura)

“Yep. But I do think you’re quite similar to her, though.”(Sakuraba)

“Huh? Th- that……what do you mean by that?”(Mikura)

“The two of you are different types, but I can’t think of any faults that you have either. To me, you’re really attractive like her.”(Sakuraba)

“Oh!……Is that so! Ehehe……”(Mikura)

“Yeah. That’s why I think it’s good to be confident in yourself. Well, you might feel like I’m not a part of this and that I’m giving you unwanted advice.”(Sakuraba)

“N-, no! I don’t feel like that at all! I’m really happy……!”(Mikura)

“Is that so…Well that’s a bit of a relief.”(Sakuraba)

“Ye-, yeah…….Plus, I mean, Aoto-kun, um……I think you’re really amazing……!”(Mikura)

“Ahaha, thanks.”(Sakuraba)

While this was happening, I finished up my cafe au lait.

It seems like Mikura only has a bit of her coffee left as well.

I guess it’s pretty much time to part ways.

It’s almost past 8 too.

“Uh-, umm.”(Mikura)

“Hm? What’s wrong, Mikura-san.”(Sakuraba)

“A-, Aoto-kun……well, um, I was wondering what you think about relationships with the opposite sex!”(Mikura)

For some reason, Mikura asked me this with a ghastly expression.

I feel like she’s being a lot more emotional than usual today..

“What do you mean by ‘what do I think?’”(Sakuraba)

“We-, well, umm, I guess I was wondering if you were interested……Or I guess whether or not you approve of them.”(Mikura)

“Um, hmmm. That’s difficult to answer. Well, I guess I approve of them, but I’m also not really interested.”(Sakuraba)

I decided to answer honestly.

I’m of the opinion that you should be free to do whatever you want in regards to dating, but personally I’m not that interested.

“Oh……I see.”(Mikura)

“I’m probably not cut out for something like that, I think. Because I’m quite free-spirited.”(Sakuraba)

“Fr-, free spirited, huh……”(Mikura)

”Yeah. I read on my own, watch movies on my own, and more than anything I love getting absorbed in my own thoughts. If I start dating someone, my time for stuff like that will decrease, and I don’t really want that.”(Sakuraba)

“Hm, I see……”(Mikura)

“So, well, if someone were to go out with me, it’d probably be boring and there would be no supply and demand, so it’d probably be unenjoyable for the other person.”

[TLN: Yes I know the ‘supply and demand’ portion sounds weird but that’s literally the kanji that the author used. Based on what I heard from asking in neosekai server(thanks semp), it’s something close to the author just emphasizing that he’s constant and boring. Lmk if you have a better way to translate it]

“S-, Something like that is……”(Mikura)

After saying all that, I realized that I had said more than I had planned.

Maybe I’ve become more talkative about this because the amount of opportunities I’ve had to think about romance has increased recently.

But I meant what I said.

I won’t become proper lovers with Yuunagi, and I don’t intend to accept her feelings either

So, in reality, I probably should’ve rejected her more but……

……I couldn’t do it.

Well, let’s stop thinking about that for now.

It isn’t something that I can easily figure out while talking to someone, and I’m not that clever either.

“Mikura-san, what about you, what do you think?”(Sakuraba)

“What?! Think……Think about what?”(Mikura)

“That, you know, relationships between males and females. Mikura-san, is even someone like you interested in them?”(Sakuraba)

“Uh, um……That is, well…”(Mikura)

Mikura looked very restless and lost, and her eyes darted around, refusing to meet my gaze.

What is this feeling…did I ask something wrong….?

“I’m interested……but…”(Mikura)

“Ohh. That’s a little bit surprising.”(Sakuraba)

“But……it might not be possible.”(Mikura)

“Not possible? What do you mean by that?”(Sakuraba)

“……I might not be able to become their partner.”(Mikura)

She said this in a very serious voice, and then she completely cast her eyes to the floor and hung her head.

She’s normally so resolute, so I wonder if something’s wrong.

For even someone like Mikura to say that it’s not possible…The person she fell in love with must be someone that is truly unassailable.

Well, it is the guy that she likes。

Maybe it’s not so strange that he’s someone like that。

“It’ll be fine. If it’s Mikura-san, I’m sure that that person will definitely start paying attention to you.”(Sakuraba)

“……Oh, maybe.”(Mikura)

It seems like my ordinary words of comfort weren’t that effective.

While I worried about Mikura, who was becoming increasingly depressed, the two of us left the cafe.

“Then……thank you for today, Aoto-kun.”(Mikura)

“Sure, thanks for today too. It was fun. When you’re done reading, let’s chat again.”(Sakuraba)

“O-, oh, sure.”(Mikura)

The two of us walked together to the station.

Finally, after saying our goodbyes again, I began to head home.

“A-, Aoto-kun!”(Mikura)

Suddenly, I heard a voice coming from behind me.

When I turned around, I found Mikura looking straight at me with her hands clenched.

“What’s wrong?”(Sakuraba)

“……Se-, see you at school….”(Mikura)

“……Oh, yeah.”(Sakuraba)

Mikura smiled somewhat awkwardly and began walking towards the station.

I’m a bit worried.

However, when it comes to romance, I’m a complete amateur.

I really hope that her worries get resolved.

With that in mind, I took my smartphone out from my bag and began to head home.

Quite a few message notifications were displayed.

As usual, or maybe it’s closer to say as I expected, the ones that drew my gaze the most were the messages from Yuunagi.

Yuunagi-san: I want to call you.

Yuunagi-san: Hurry up and look at your messages.

Yuunagi-san: I love you.

She’s just the same as always, huh.

That is what I was thinking on the inside, but, even so, I felt a little bit happier.

When I come home. Just a little bit, okay.

That was all that I sent in response before I put my smartphone away

Maybe the reason I put my phone away so quickly was because I knew that I would be embarrassed by the replies that would soon come.

——————————————————————————————————————————-

TLN:

No, I’m not dead yet. We just did a little bit of burning out because my asian parents have asian standards that are too asian for poor weeb me+club shit+I have a yugioh addiction. This chapter should’ve been done ages ago but wtv man. I’ll try to keep updates consistent but I’ve procrastinated a shit ton of other stuff too so someone plz save me. Anyways, that’s about it.

Btw, If you want to check if I’m actually dead go to my NU profile and check my reading list. Chances are, if I’m not reading second cutest on an at least bi-daily basis I am fucking dead or something.

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