Chapter 443: Occasionally, Yukinoshita Throws a Small Tantrum
Chapter 443: Occasionally, Yukinoshita Throws a Small Tantrum
“Alright, Pervert-kun. Report your findings.”
Yukinoshita ignored the teacher-student pair. Her eyes slid sideways, resting on Himekoji.
“Mhm.”
Himekoji nodded and pulled a boxy object from his bag, sliding it onto the table.
“A calculator?”
Seeing this strange prop appear, the excitable Yuigahama was the first to voice her confusion.
“Akito? Why’d you take out a calculator?”
“It’s Rikka’s,” Himekoji explained.
“Rikka’s? Right! Yeah! I’ve seen it! The one stuck to her front door!”
Hanjo Ayame piped up instantly upon seeing the calculator. At the same time, she snatched it from the table and sniffed it seriously in front of her nose.
“It smells like Rikka! Definitely!”
Definitely delusional… Hanjo’s bizarre behavior only solidified Hikigaya in her diagnosis.
How could anyone just sniff randomly and recognize someone else’s scent?
What else could it be but delusional disorder…?
“Hold on… That Takanashi classmate you mentioned… why would she stick a calculator to her front door?”
The Female Teacher interjected now, her curiosity piqued.
“Because she’s a full-blown chuunibyou…”
Himekoji brought it up, his voice tinged with unavoidable resignation.
There was also a trace of longing; it had been a long time.
“Chuunibyou?”
She was from the older generation, so her unfamiliarity with that kind of trendy term was understandable.
“Anyway, Sensei, just take it to mean she was an idiot.”
Looking troubled, Yukinoshita rubbed her temples and sighed.
“N-no, she wasn’t exactly an idiot, right?”
Himekoji felt obliged to defend Rikka a little.
After all, who hadn’t been through a chuunibyou phase?
Alas, his gaze met Yukinoshita’s icy eyes. Immediately cowed, he wisely swallowed the rest of his sentence.
Yukinoshita didn’t seem to want to hear it.
Especially when he mentioned that Rikka lived above him, that he’d been to her place, she’d been to his, they’d made some sort of ‘contract’, and even exchanged email addresses…
Ever since that part, Yukinoshita’s brows had been tightly furrowed and never relaxed.
“But Akito, didn’t you say you asked your neighbors? They all told you the apartment above had been vacant for over half a year?”
“Right, that’s exactly why things don’t match up!”
Himekoji took the calculator back from Hanjo Ayame. He flipped it over and popped open the battery compartment cover.
“Look. The batteries are new.”
“Eh?!”
“Indeed…”
Yukinoshita rested her chin on her hand, sinking into thought.
“If no one had lived there for over half a year, logically, the batteries should have been dead or damaged by moisture. Who would bother replacing batteries for an unused, insignificant calculator?”
“Of course…”
If Hanjo Ayame had replaced the batteries, that would be an entirely different story.
With her delusional disorder, and to make her fantasy align with reality, she might have done something like this, deceiving even herself. It wasn’t impossible.
Yukinoshita shot a sidelong glance at Hanjo but deliberately didn’t voice that thought aloud.
“So… Rikka might actually exist?”
Unlike Yukinoshita, Yuigahama didn’t overthink things. She just clapped her hands happily in genuine delight for Hanjo Ayame.
“Not ‘might’! She definitely does exist!”
Rikka’s possible existence being acknowledged was naturally great news for Hanjo Ayame. She was one of the happiest about it, but she still didn’t forget to correct Yuigahama’s wording.
“Then, if that’s the case, where is Rikka?”
They couldn’t let themselves be swept up by false, fleeting happiness.
Hikigaya continued her role as the cold water pourer. Though she knew it was unwelcome, it was absolutely necessary.
“Yes.”
Yukinoshita nodded in agreement.
“We’ve only discussed proving the possibility of Rikka’s existence so far. But we still haven’t found a single clue about where she actually went.”
“Eh? That’s true…”
“Rikka… where did she go?”
Yuigahama and Hanjo’s expressions faltered as the words sank in. Their smiles vanished like melting snow, replaced once more by gloom.
“A clue? Well… I might… have one.”
In an effort to lift their spirits, Himekoji had to say this a little earlier than he planned.
“Really?! Really? Akito?”
“What clue?!”
Instantly, Yuigahama and Hanjo crowded close to him with intense excitement. Each grabbed one of his arms, pressing in as they blinked their eyes, brimming with anticipation.
“Wait… it’s not the right time yet.”
With the girls clinging so tightly, Himekoji instead looked troubled.
“Why? If not now, then when is the right time?”
Such an evasive answer naturally wouldn’t be enough to appease them.
“Himekoji, stop keeping us in suspense!”
Even the usually calmer Female Teacher, who had stayed quiet earlier, couldn’t help a small complaint.
“A clue ‘might’ exist… just might. A little more time, okay? I want to bring more reliable, concrete information. I don’t want to let everyone down, or even disappoint myself, with false hope.”
Wearing an unusually solemn expression, Himekoji spoke firmly and seriously.
“But even a possible clue is a clue!”
Hanjo Ayame here sounded especially impatient.
Which was completely understandable.
But Yukinoshita slightly lifted her hand to stop her.
“Since you’ve entrusted us with this request, please have a little more faith in us. So, here, please trust Pervert-kun okay? Give him a bit more time.”
“O…Okay…”
Though her face still showed mostly anxiety, Yukinoshita’s words clearly had an effect.
Himekoji managed to slip away, shooting Yukinoshita a grateful look.
“Then, if you have any news of Rikka, please tell me right away!”
Before leaving, Ayame Hanjo repeated those words countless times.
…
For the past several days, the Service Club had basically been in overtime mode.
When club activities ended today, it was already dark.
Just before leaving, Yukinoshita called out to Himekoji.
“Huh? Is there still something?”
Himekoji was surprised.
Being stopped by Yukinoshita was a rare event, even if it was probably about the request.
“Well…”
Facing Himekoji’s gaze, Yukinoshita seemed a bit hesitant, turning her face slightly away.
“Um, did you and Hanjo-san exchange email addresses?”
Still, she got out what she’d been holding in.
“Yeah, to make contact easier.”
Himekoji didn’t see anything strange about it and answered naturally.
“Ah, I see?”
The hand Yukinoshita had resting at her side tightened slightly, almost imperceptibly.
“Right, when you joined the club, you didn’t register your contact information, did you?”
“That’s right, but… you said back then that it wasn’t necessary, right… Said something like no one would want to contact a pervert anyway…”
Himekoji couldn’t help but recall.
“D-Did that happen?”
Yukinoshita instantly looked somewhat flustered, her face flushing as her eyes darted around. She gave two fake little coughs, trying to brush it off.
“Anyway, register it now. After all, for the sake of efficiency in handling requests, it’s essential to report our progress to each other promptly.”
She cleared her throat and regained her composed demeanor, speaking self-righteously.
Himekoji didn’t suspect anything at first, but after a short while, he couldn’t help but start to connect the dots. He linked Yukinoshita’s earlier frown and displeasure to this matter.
He remembered Yukinoshita’s unhappiness started when she heard he’d exchanged contact details with Hanjo, and when Hanjo mentioned sending him emails…
So wouldn’t that mean…
No, no, that was probably just him overthinking.
This was Yukinoshita after all.
Would she really fuss about silly things like this?
Thinking of Yukinoshita as a normal girl was the biggest taboo of all!
“Huh? Talking about contact details? I want them too!”
Suddenly, a third voice cut in.
Himekoji turned and saw Hiratsuka-sensei, who’d forgotten her bag in the Service Club.
Geez, this forgetful habit…
Hikigaya saying she was slovenly was absolutely right.
Poor guy got beat up for it twice! How unfair!
Himekoji felt a surge of sympathy flash through his thoughts for Hikigaya at that moment.
At the same time, he couldn’t help answering irritably—
“Sensei, don’t you already have my contact info?”
Hiratsuka-sensei had it too?
Hearing this, Yukinoshita’s expression didn’t change, but her eyebrow lifted just a fraction, unnoticeable unless you looked carefully.
“Who said anything about yours? I meant wanting little Yukino-chan’s!”
Hiratsuka-sensei shot Himekoji a look of utter disdain.
Then, when she turned to face Yukinoshita, her expression transformed instantly. The female teacher grinned, pulling out her phone, ready to cozy up to her brilliant, top-student club president.
But then—
“Apologies, Sensei. I need to catch the train, so I’m leaving now.”
Yukinoshita just gave her a sleek view of the back of her head as she coolly walked away.
“Eh?! Why?! I’m the club’s advisor teacher, and I still can’t even get the club president’s contact information…?”
Hiratsuka Shizuka immediately started whining pitifully.
But it didn’t move Yukinoshita, who kept walking coolly out of the classroom without a backward glance.
Yukinoshita’s beautiful, gallant figure disappeared neatly around the corner.
…
“That… that was cool…”
Himekoji watched the whole scene, dumbstruck.
That’s Yukinoshita for you…
He could only think with admiration.
It proved once more—
Thinking of Yukinoshita as an ordinary girl? Absolute taboo!
So, his thoughts from before… he really was overthinking it, right?
“Himekoji! Give me Yukinoshita’s contact information!”
“Ohhh…”
Himekoji was about to agree. But right at that moment, he received the very first email in his life… from Yukinoshita.
The content was:
[Do NOT give Hiratsuka-sensei my contact information. It would be troublesome.]
He could see that. Himekoji totally understood what Yukinoshita meant by “troublesome.”
Hiratsuka-sensei was the type who’d call you on your day off to come unclog her sink at home… Truly a unique character.
She’d bring nothing but hassles.
“Here, Sensei, take it!”
So, he was all the more giving it!
Hiratsuka-sensei, from now on, troublesome stuff like sink duty? That’s Yukinoshita’s job!
She’s great at that kind of thing! Yeah… probably…
Even if she wasn’t great at it right away, she’d learn soon enough. That was good enough.
Practice makes perfect. Doesn’t it always?
Wasn’t Himekoji a beginner once too?
Anyway, sticking to the principle of saving your own skin over your friend’s, Himekoji cheerfully handed over Yukinoshita’s freshly acquired contact details to the female teacher.
And snagged a promised treat of ramen in the bargain.
Zero downsides.
…
…