Chapter 41

It was a sunny morning during a break in the rainy season, early in the day.

Yuki walked alone on the path leading to school, carefully avoiding puddles on the asphalt.

"Hey, isn't that Yuki-kun?"

As soon as the voice sounded, a shadow ran up from behind.

The shadow walked alongside him, and a familiar face smiled at him, looking energetic from the start.

"It's rare to see you in the morning, isn't it?"

"I was a bit late leaving home today."

Rena had said she would make fried eggs for breakfast, but they ended up as scrambled eggs. They had no flavor.

Yui seemed to be her usual self, but it was unusual to run into her on the way to school.

Until recently, they had been complete strangers, so maybe Yuki just hadn't noticed.

As they walked, Yui grinned at him.

"Actually, I was lying in wait for you... What would you do if I said that?"

"You've been caught, so it's a failure."

"I wasn't lying in wait to take your life or anything."

This strange teasing seemed to be part of that game.

Still, it was unusual for her to do this in the morning.

"You're free this early in the morning?"

"Well, it was actually a coincidence. I just happened to see your back."

"Is that so...?"

"Why are you bringing it up again?"

He tried to mimic her playful tone, but she gave him a puzzled look. It wasn't very amusing.

However, Yui quickly regained her composure and smiled.

"But, walking side by side like this might cause some misunderstandings, you know?"

"What kind of misunderstandings?"

"You know, like 'Those two look suspicious' or something."

"I haven't stolen anything. I haven't."

"Can you stop saying things that make you sound suspicious?"

As they talked, they approached a narrow sidewalk. The path was starting to get crowded with students heading to school.

Yuki, who experienced this every morning, knew that walking side by side would be a hindrance. However, Yui didn't seem to care at all.

"Walk behind me instead of beside me."

"Are we part of the Doraemon gang now?"

"Then Yui can walk in front."

"Don't make yourself an easy target for enemies."

He wasn't trying to be funny, but she kept making jokes.

She took a strange step sideways, looking pleased with herself.

Just then, a male student who was hurrying to overtake them appeared behind them.

"Hey, that's dangerous."

"What's dangerous? Who's dangerous, big guy?"

Yui was so focused on making jokes that she didn't notice.

To avoid bumping into the person behind her, Yuki grabbed her wrist and pulled her to the side.

"Huh, huh? W-what...?"

"That's why I said it was dangerous."

He made eye contact with the surprised Yui, and she finally realized they were in the way.

Yui quickly turned around and bowed.

"Ah, sorry!"

The male student, without a word, hurried past with his head down.

Yui, scratching her head, watched him go, then looked at Yuki awkwardly.

"Ah, thanks..."

"It's okay, my sister can be clumsy too."

"S-sister...?"

"It's good that you're a nice person. You might be secretly furious inside, though."

"Yes, that's... sorry."

"Well, I wouldn't worry about it. I've secretly mastered the skill of overtaking, so I can avoid weirdos easily."

"What are you showing off about? And who are the weirdos?"

They moved to the side of the sidewalk and started walking again.

After a while, Yui, as if remembering something, rubbed her upper arm.

"Wow, I got a little startled when you suddenly pulled my arm like that."

"Really? Did you fall in love with me just now?"

"Why are you teasing me?"

"Would it have been better to push you instead?"

"Are you trying to kill me?"

"No, I'm not trying to kill you."

"You didn't say that."

The conversation fell silent, and they walked in silence.

Without her teasing, they seemed to have nothing much to talk about.

At a traffic light, they stopped and glanced at each other. Yui blinked in surprise and said in a flustered tone,

"Ah, right, did you see the TV show about the skidding yesterday?"

"Yeah, the one from yesterday."

"Right, right, it was so funny!"

"Ha ha."

"Which part did you find funny, Yuki-kun?"

"I didn't watch it."

"Can you stop giving me a complicated reaction?"

She suddenly became serious.

But she thought it was bad to let the conversation flow on its own.

"Are you just nodding along?"

"Interesting."

"That's not much better."

"Okay, okay, calm down."

He tried to soothe her.

The conversation fell silent again, and the light turned green, so they started walking.

Just then, Yui, as if remembering something, took out her phone from her bag.

"Hmm, no read receipt. I wonder why?"

She looked at her phone screen, tilting her head in confusion.

Noticing his gaze, she suddenly showed him the screen. It was a chat app with the message, "Good morning! Let's do our best today!"

Yuki frowned.

"Is this... a skid?"

"No, it's not a skid. Look closely. Really closely."

He squinted to look closely.

It was just a regular phone with a pink cover.

"Is it an old model?"

"That's not it."

"Did you find it?"

"It's dangerous to use it without permission."

Yui pointed to the screen and said, "Here!"

The name of the chat partner was Naru Yuki.

"When did you get my ID...?"

"We exchanged LINE, didn't we?"

He took out his own phone from his bag to check.

As soon as he turned on the screen, a notification appeared, saying he had an unread message.

"You got a message...?"

"You're overreacting."

"It's hard to believe."

"How much more overreacting can you get?"

He touched the screen to open the app, and the message "Good morning! Let's do our best today!" appeared.

He confirmed with Yui again.

"Are you sure? Did you send it to the right person?"

"Hmm? I sent it to the right person. Isn't it exciting to get a good morning message from a girl?"

"Let's do our best today...?"

"Yes, I'm sorry, it's a skid."

It seemed he had received a good morning message from a girl.

He rarely got messages in the morning, so he hadn't checked his phone.

"But, how should I reply to this...?"

"Hmm? Are you having trouble replying? Are you confused?"

"Any way I reply, it's going to be awkward."

"It's okay, you don't have to reply."

"But it would be mean to ignore it, so I'll reply just in case..."

"But I'm right here."

"Got it."

He typed "Understood" and sent it.

"What's 'Understood' supposed to mean?"

It seemed to be a word he had used before, as it appeared in the conversion options.

He typed and sent it.

"Did it go through?"

"Yeah, unless there's a major communication issue."

Yui said this without looking at her phone, seeming indifferent.

He pouted but quickly switched to a smile.

"But, is this going to be a daily good morning message?"

"Hmm, 'Let's do our best today' every morning might be a bit much."

"'Understood' is a bit much too. ...Hey, can you stop spamming 'Understood'?"

"I was just checking if it went through..."

"It went through perfectly. Even if it didn't, it's not a problem."

She rejected his reply. It seemed she didn't want a reply. The conversation fell silent again.

After walking quietly for a while, Yui said, "Hey," and he looked at her.

She had a surprisingly meek expression, unlike her usual self.

"Actually, I was really hesitant to do this because I thought you might find it annoying..."

"It's not annoying at all, just a bit surprising... Sorry I didn't notice the LINE message."

"Really? Ah, yeah..."

Yui's eyes widened, then she nodded.

She lowered her gaze... or so he thought, but suddenly she looked up and pointed at his face.

"Hey, you suddenly became nice! I always fall for that!"

"Huh?"

"You're so predictable every time! Is this the real One-Punch Man!?"

"Wait, One-Punch...?"

"No, who's the One-Punch Bitch!"

She turned red and started furiously operating her phone.

Immediately, Yuki's phone received a series of messages: "Let's go! Let's go!"

She seemed to have gone crazy. He decided to match her with a series of "Understood" messages.

"Go, go, go, let's go, let's go!"

More "Let's go" messages flooded in. It was noisy.

A couple of students walking ahead turned to look. Yuki took a step back from Yui and scolded her.

"Let's stop, it's a waste of data."

"Waste, waste, waste, waste!"

Seeing no point, Yuki stopped replying.

The "Let's go" messages stopped, and she sent "Complete Victory!" followed by a smug look.

"Smug."

"No, not smug."

"I won..."

"That's good."

Starting the day like this made him worry about the rest of the day.

Looking up at the approaching school building, Yuki sighed softly.

This was a dream he had.