Chapter 17: Suddenly, She Starts Talking About "Our Future."

"Well then, I'll be off to the convenience store to grab some booze for tonight. Get back safely, you two."

The moment we stepped out of the ramen shop, Hiratsuka-sensei declared exactly that.

...Where on earth did our cool teacher go? Just as I was wondering if that was really an acceptable way for an educator to act, she vanished into the darkness of the night in the blink of an eye.

"Well, should we head back?"

"Yes."

Exchanging those brief words, we started walking. I walked a few steps behind Hikigaya-kun, who was maintaining a slow pace.

A cold late-autumn wind brushed against my cheeks, so I pulled Hiratsuka-sensei's coat up to my neck. As I watched Hikigaya-kun and thought about how cold he must be in those thin clothes, I suddenly realized something.

I was walking down a quiet night street, completely alone with Hikigaya-kun.

Becoming aware of that fact made things somewhat awkward, so I quickened my pace a bit and spoke to him from his side.

"That ramen was delicious, wasn't it?"

"Yeah."

"But I'm (Boku) already stuffed."

"Kh...! Cough! Cough! Well, it was right after dinner, after all."

"Why are you so flustered?"

As I gave him a cold, judgmental stare (jito-me), Hikigaya-kun averted his eyes slightly.

"No, if you suddenly change the way you speak so much you sound like a completely different person, obviously it'd startle me."

"Hmm... Isn't your face red?"

"Not at all. Even if it is red, it's strictly the result of eating Tenkaippin's (天下一品. A famous, real-life ramen chain in Japan known for its incredibly thick, rich broth.) hot ramen, which consequently made my face hot too. There are absolutely no emotional factors involved here."

"Wow, you're talking so fast..."

Quickening his pace, Hikigaya-kun pulled ahead, hiding his face from my view.

Watching him, for some reason, I felt the urge to talk about what had been on my mind earlier.

"Hey, Hikigaya-kun. I've made up my mind."

"About what?"

He looked back, but his feet didn't stop.

"That no matter what decision you make, I'll accept it for what it is."

"...What are you talking about?"

"Hm? ...Well, talk about our future, I guess?"

"Talk about our future?!"

Whatever was going through his head, Hikigaya-kun stopped dead in his tracks and suddenly yelled.

"You're too loud, Hikigaya-kun. You're bothering the neighborhood."

"No, no, no, no. Phrasing it like that makes it sound like there's some happily-ever-after future between you and me..."

"Huh? Ah—"

At those unexpected words, my feet came to a halt. I felt the chilled core of my body slowly growing hot under the influence of an intense emotion.

Flustered, I rapidly explained what I actually meant.

"T-That's not it! There wasn't any deep meaning behind it at all! It's not a deep conversation, it's more about our relationship going forward!"

"O-Our relationship?!" (Note: The Japanese word 'tsukiai' can also mean dating)

"No! Completely wrong! I wasn't talking about anything romantically related at all, okay?!"

I waved my hands frantically to deny it, but Hikigaya-kun raised his voice in disbelief.

"You were the one who phrased it in such a misleading way!"

"H-Hmph! Jumping straight to romance no matter what I say... you're surprisingly childish, Hikigaya-kun!"

"No, there was definitely a problem with your phrasing just now! ...Wait, let's calm down for a second. Your face is bright red."

"Well, your face is bright red too, Hikigaya-kun."

That being said, it was true that I had lost my cool. I had ended up blurting out things I shouldn't have.

I took a deep breath. The cold air filled my lungs, and my mind regained its composure.

Seeing me take a deep breath, Hikigaya-kun spoke up, sounding exasperated.

"Hey, I've been thinking this for a while, but why are you so defenseless when you use that tone? Where did that usual stiff, 'young lady of a noble house' attitude go? Though, I feel like you let your guard slip quite a bit normally, too..."

"Well, usually I'm always on guard, or rather, I'm careful about my words and actions. But when I'm just my natural self, that sort of thing loosens up. How should I put it? It’s like I momentarily forget that I’m a beautiful girl."

"So your overconfidence remains the same. What an annoying common trait..."

Overconfident, or rather, it's just a fact. I pride myself on viewing my own appearance far more objectively than other women. After all, I have the consciousness of a man.

"Wait, what was I trying to talk about again?"

"How should I know? Thanks to your bombshell statement, I forgot whatever you were saying."

Ah, right. It was about whether I was going to stop the fake confession or not.

"Well, I suppose it wasn't something I needed to tell you anyway. Forget it."

"I see."

And so, silence fell between us once more. We walked through the quiet Kyoto night. As I looked at his back, walking slowly ahead, my resolve solidified once again.

There was no need to stop the fake confession. Agonizing over it was completely foolish.

The real issue was what happened after. The relationship dynamics within the Service Club.

No matter how this current incident gets resolved, all I have to do is mediate the relationship between the three of us afterward. Put simply, that was my conclusion.

Just as Hiratsuka-sensei said, I had convinced myself that the binary choice of whether or not to stop the fake confession was the core problem, and that was all I thought about.

But I was wrong. That wasn't what was important to me. What truly matters is the relationship between the three precious members of the Service Club.

That time spent in that warm room, sparkling brilliantly like glasswork—that is what I should be protecting.

If that's the case, regardless of the confession's outcome, I should be focusing on preserving our trio's dynamic.

Why was I even thinking about interfering with someone else's actions? I should have just focused on how to interact with the people who matter to me, regardless of canon. That's all I needed to think about.

"...kinoshita, Yukinoshita! We're here."

"...Yeah."

I raised my head at Hikigaya-kun's voice to find that the darkness of the night had receded, and we were standing under the artificial lights of the hotel lobby.

It seems I had been so deep in thought that I completely lost sight of my surroundings.

I'll be heading back to my own room from here, so I suppose this is where we part ways.

"Sorry about that. Having you match my pace, I mean."

On the way back, Hikigaya-kun had been walking slowly the entire time. I'm sure it was out of consideration for me walking behind him.

When I gave a small smile and thanked him, he averted his eyes slightly and replied.

"...It's nothing. I go out with my little sister a lot, so I just made a habit of walking at that pace. It's no big deal."

"I see."

That attitude was just so like him, and it made me smile a little again.

"Thanks for walking me back. Well then, see you—"

"Yukinoshita-san...?"

Suddenly, a third party's voice echoed in the hotel lobby.

With a sinking feeling that we had been caught in a highly compromising situation, I slowly turned around.

"Tsunashima-san..."

Standing there was one of my classmates.

Cheerful and completely obsessed with romance gossip, she looked back and forth between the two of us slowly as if to confirm something, before eventually heading toward her room with her eyes sparkling.

"Wait, Tsunashima-san! I think you've got the wrong idea!"

In a panic, I chased after her.

Throwing open the door to her room, Tsunashima-san announced right off the bat:

"E-everyone! Listen, listen! Yukinoshita-san was having a midnight tryst!"

The gossip-loving girls started poking their heads out, wondering what all the commotion was about.

"N-No, Tsunashima-san! We just happened to run into each other!"

"And she was wearing her boyfriend's coat!"

"It's really not what you think! This coat is... it's completely a misunderstanding!"

"And she was smiling with a look I've never seen before!"

"...I said you're wrong!"

Seeing my reaction, the girls' eyes only grew brighter and brighter.

And so began my long, long night of making excuses.

Q. Who is Tsunashima-san?

A. She's an OC (Original Character) / mob character planned to appear only for this chapter.

Q. Isn't Yukinoshita a bit too close with her classmates? Are they friends?

A. Even in the original canon, their relationship seemed to be at a level where they could press her about romance gossip, which led to a scenario like this. Beyond that, I suppose the special atmosphere of a school trip night just made them cast aside their usual reservations. There isn't much depiction of the exact distance between Yukinoshita and her classmates in the original work, so whether this is the "correct" interpretation remains a mystery.

(Author's Note: Ratings, bookmarks, and comments are a great encouragement for my writing!)