Chapter 430: Bus Chikan
Chapter 430: Bus Chikan
The umbrella was a bit too small.
For one person, it was plenty. For two, it was a little tight.
So, Himekoji thought maybe walking a bit further, to the bus stop, and taking the bus home would be better.
Weighing the pros and cons, he quickly decided and immediately changed his walking route.
At the crossroads where he should have turned left, he kept going straight ahead.
The bus stop wasn’t far.
“Taking the bus?”
Yukinoshita turned her head to ask, as if instantly grasping Himekoji’s thought.
“Yeah. Rainy day and all.”
“I see…”
Her tone seemed to carry a faint hint of reluctance.
Himekoji was surprised.
“What’s wrong?” he asked.
“Well… I just heard there might be… a pervert on this particular bus route…”
“Huh?”
Himekoji didn’t understand right away.
He felt rather annoyed inside –
Wasn’t Yukinoshita stating the obvious?
Because if he ever took the bus to school, this was the route Himekoji always took.
So, it wasn’t might have a pervert.
It definitely had one!
But so what?
Perverts couldn’t ride the bus?
Who decided that?
Yukinoshita must be finding another way to mock him!
“I mean the… Chikan kind.”
Seeing that Himekoji had misunderstood, Yukinoshita sighed and explained more clearly.
“Chikan?”
Hearing that word, something seemed to suddenly click in Himekoji’s mind,
“W-wait a minute, heard? Who did you hear that from?”
“Yuigahama. She said her friend encountered it.”
There it was!
‘My friend,’ ‘my classmate,’ ‘my neighbor!’
Those three mysterious figures who only ever existed in urban legends!
Almost instantly, Himekoji guessed the true identity of “Yuigahama’s friend”.
No, perhaps it was more accurate to say he remembered.
Wasn’t that something from ages ago?
Himekoji remembered that at the time, he hadn’t even properly known Yuigahama.
Though strictly speaking, they were classmates sharing the same room every day…
But not knowing meant not knowing.
Talking as they walked, the two stepped side-by-side under the bus shelter. The transparent plexiglass roof blocked the pouring rain completely.
“Speaking of that… did Yuigahama say who the Chikan was?”
Himekoji closed his umbrella, stretching his arm while asking this seemingly casually and slyly.
“Why? Eager to meet a fellow enthusiast?”
Yukinoshita gave him a doubtful sideways glance.
“Ha, no way…”
Himekoji immediately looked away, feeling guilty.
He forced out a dry chuckle, but inside, he actually felt a wave of relief.
Judging by Yukinoshita’s reaction, Yuigahama probably hadn’t told her that the Chikan… was actually him…
No!
Another possibility suddenly struck Himekoji –
Could it be… Yuigahama herself didn’t know who the Chikan was?
The more he thought about it, the more likely it seemed!
Because, Yuigahama had never brought up this incident with him, had she?
If Yukinoshita hadn’t mentioned it just now, Himekoji might have forgotten it himself.
Besides, back then, though Himekoji was just newly forced onto the path of perversion by the System, his exceptional learning ability and rigorous summarization of experience meant he’d quickly left the beginner stage behind and become somewhat of an expert in his own way. He was quite adept at such things.
Maybe he couldn’t claim every “operation” was flawless, but at least he never left any traces behind.
Himekoji carefully recalled –
He should have been very cautious, using his raised collar to hide most of his face. And he struck decisively; the moment he heard the System’s task-completion notification, he immediately blended into the crowd and vanished.
There was no way Yuigahama could have recognized him under those circumstances, right?
While pondering all this, the bus they’d been waiting for arrived without Himekoji noticing.
Yukinoshita had to nudge him to bring him back to reality.
“Hey, are you getting on or not?”
“Huh? It’s here already?”
He hurriedly handed the umbrella back to Yukinoshita.
“Then I’ll be off now.”
At the same time, Himekoji reached out to take Hikari back from the other’s arms.
However, Yukinoshita sidestepped, refusing to give Hikari back.
Holding the cat, she pushed past him and boarded the bus first.
“Huh?”
Himekoji was startled,
“This isn’t your bus home though?”
Had her sense of direction deserted her again?
“I know,” Yukinoshita said. “But the stop is still quite a ways from your place, isn’t it? Were you planning to let Hikari get drenched on the way?”
Saying this in one breath, she suddenly seemed a bit flustered. She lowered her eyelids slightly, looking down at her feet. After a brief pause, she added, as if providing an afterthought,
“I’ll see Hikari home.”
“Oh, I see…”
Who would have thought little Hikari would get spoiled like this one day.
So unfair!
Himekoji shot an envious and jealous glare at the cat nestled in Yukinoshita’s arms. Anyone who said he wasn’t at least a little envious or jealous would be lying.
“Meow~”
Perhaps sensing Himekoji’s stare, Hikari, right in front of him, provocatively stretched out a paw and patted, with an air of brazen ownership, Yukinoshita’s one part that was just as pathetically underdeveloped as Himekoji’s own chest.
Not only that, after patting it, the cat then looked utterly bored, turning its head languidly away as if dismissing Himekoji entirely.
Himekoji couldn’t take it anymore!
Seriously! Having your cake and flaunting it too?
Damn it, he hadn’t even touched it!
“Don’t get cocky just because you have a species advantage! That’s all it is, and that’s all it’ll ever be!”
Himekoji couldn’t hold back and actually started arguing with the cat.
He regretted it immediately, realizing it was pointless.
After all, this creature could only pat clumsily for a bit of shallow gratification, while he, well… the possibilities open to him were vast and limitless!
As soon as this thought occurred to him, Himekoji immediately regained his psychological superiority, snorting proudly to himself.
He then caught Yukinoshita watching him with an expression that clearly said ‘What a weirdo…’
“Ahem.”
Fortunately, the bus chose that moment to start moving. Himekoji coughed lightly twice, using the excuse of grabbing a hanging strap to mask his embarrassment.
Because it was raining, the bus was quite crowded.
People squeezed against people, pushing each other. Not only were there no seats left; even the hanging straps were all taken if you were too slow.
This was the exact situation Yukinoshita found herself in. Her slight delay holding Hikari had cost her any handhold.
When the bus started, she lost her balance and immediately fell towards Himekoji.
“You okay?”
Quickly catching her, Himekoji steadied the girl.
“Mmm…”
Seemingly embarrassed, the red-faced Yukinoshita lifted her head.
However, she then frowned slightly and murmured softly.
“Wet.”
…
…