Chapter 52: Unconveyed Feelings
The dismissal bell rang, and the afternoon classes finally came to an end.
The atmosphere in the classroom immediately lightened. Students left the classroom one after another.
Learning from yesterday's lesson, Hikigaya stuffed his stationery into his school bag at top speed. While Sakayanagi and Yukinoshita were surrounded by other classmates discussing matters, he quietly slipped away from his seat.
Just as he was about to leave the classroom, he suddenly sensed a familiar gaze fixed on him. "..." Hikigaya turned his head stiffly, his neck seemingly making a "creaking" sound, his movements so unnatural they felt like they needed lubrication.
He looked back around the classroom and met the eyes of Sakayanagi, who was still sitting in her seat.
Her violet eyes gleamed with a cunning and lively light. Sakayanagi gave Hikigaya a cute smile, then raised her fair hand and gave a little wave.
Hikigaya hesitated for two seconds, waved his hand in acknowledgment of the moving hand, and then walked out of the classroom.
Since he had agreed with Ichinose to meet at the school gate in the morning, Hikigaya wasn't in a hurry to return to the dormitory. Instead, he slowly walked to the shade of a tree near the school entrance to wait for her arrival.
Before coming here, Hikigaya was a little troubled about how to meet up with Ichinose, but that worry was quickly resolved.
Even with many students at the school gate, she was incredibly conspicuous.
Her cuteness was perhaps one reason, but she simply possessed an aura that dominated the entire scene. She was highly popular among both boys and girls, so people kept greeting her.
As a result, Hikigaya watched from afar as Ichinose kept greeting passing classmates, standing foolishly at the school gate for about five minutes.
Hikigaya stood alone in the shade, watching Ichinose from a distance, quietly waiting, his thoughts drifting.
Honestly, Hikigaya didn't know why Ichinose always had a crowd of acquaintances around her wherever she went, nor did he know why she needed his help.
But Hikigaya is a simple man—while looking at curves, he waits.
"Ah! Hikigaya-kun, over here, over here." After a long wait, Ichinose, who was finally free, noticed Hikigaya and waved at him. Hikigaya slightly raised his hand in response, and met up with her, pretending he had just arrived.
"I'm so sorry, Hikigaya-kun, for making you wait. Thank you very much for being willing to come and help," Ichinose bowed slightly to Hikigaya. The full spheres on her chest bounced elastically twice, making Hikigaya feel a little dizzy.
"Well, it's fine. I'm always alone anyway, and I didn't have anything specific to do," Hikigaya turned his face away shyly, using a finger to scratch his cheek.
'Come to think of it, I really don't have much to do. It's just reading, reading manga, watching anime, playing games, and studying when I get tired of playing. The fact that I find these things fun is embarrassing to admit'.
"Is that so? I'm glad I didn't cause you any trouble..." Ichinose smiled faintly.
"...So what should I do next?" Hikigaya asked with some curiosity.
"I plan to settle this quickly. Hikigaya-kun, please follow me." Ichinose smiled at Hikigaya and led him to the empty space behind the gymnasium.
Hikigaya had once heard those boys in Class A mention while roughhousing with their friends that this place was widely recognized as the best spot for confessions.
"Well then..." After adjusting her breath, Ichinose quickly turned around and looked at Hikigaya with a serious gaze.
"The confession—" Ichinose said this, and as if gathering her courage, she took a letter out of her uniform pocket and handed it to Hikigaya.
What a terrifying "Finishing Move"—it was a pink love letter with a cute heart-shaped sticker.
Hikigaya's heart raced as he instinctively looked around to check for anyone lurking for a punishment game. After carefully confirming this was not a prank, Hikigaya looked down at the seemingly troubled archangel in front of him.
Long, wavy, strawberry-blonde hair, smooth, delicate skin, watery blue eyes, an incredibly seductive figure, and a beautiful, shy, and reserved face.
"...I'm about to be confessed to here," Ichinose lowered her head, completing her unfinished sentence.
Hikigaya blinked blankly, finally coming back to his senses.
'Um, Ichinose-san? Since someone else is confessing to you, could you please not make such a coy move that is so easy to misunderstand? Honestly, for a moment, I was so shaken that I even already planned the names of our two children...'
"...Shouldn't I not be here for something like this?"
'That's right, it would be weird to have an aloof, dead-fish-eyed guy at a confession scene.'
Saying this, Hikigaya was about to turn and leave, but Ichinose grabbed the corner of his uniform jacket.
Ichinose looked up at Hikigaya with pitiful eyes: "I don't know much about romance... I don't know how to handle it so I don't hurt the other person, and I don't know if we can still be good friends... So, that's why I hoped you could help me, Hikigaya-kun."
Some things in this world cause deep regret, and some words, once spoken, cannot be taken back.
You're talking normally yesterday, but suddenly you create distance and never speak again.
If it were just that, it would be fine, but some people would still force a dry laugh, squeezing out a "Don't worry, we're still friends." Despite this, the worries lingering in a corner of the mind never truly dissipate, so the two gradually drift apart, become polite, until the relationship fizzles out.
Listening to Ichinose's gentle, almost naive thoughts, Hikigaya hesitated for two seconds, but ultimately did not speak the cruel truth.
He took a step back, letting Ichinose release the corner of his jacket, and then asked her with a confused expression: "Um, even if you say that, I don't think I can help much with this... If it was a Class B student, there should be plenty of people willing to offer you advice, right?"
"Because the person who is confessing... is someone from Class B. I want to keep today's matter as secret as possible. If I don't, it might get awkward later. And I feel like you wouldn't go around proclaiming it everywhere," Ichinose explained softly.
'I see, then it can't be helped. Because I'm a loner, no one would care even if I did proclaim it.'
"I appreciate your trust, but Ichinose, since you're so cute, you must be quite used to being confessed to, right?" Hikigaya looked earnestly at Ichinose and asked.
"Eh! No, not at all, truly not at all. I've never been confessed to," Ichinose's face flushed slightly, and she nervously waved her hands in denial.
'Seriously? If I hadn't heard it from Ichinose-san herself, I would have... absolutely not believed it.'
"Why are you asking that?" Ichinose widened her eyes and asked, somewhat surprised.
'It's only because you, Ichinose, are so cute, so it can't be helped. Besides, judging by the way other students have treated Ichinose from the morning until now, her personality seems very good too.'
"Well, just asking randomly..." Hikigaya casually brushed it off.
"Hikigaya-kun... could you please pretend to be my boyfriend? I actually did a bit of research, and I found that having a 'current partner' is the reason that hurts the other person the least..."
"I understand you don't want to hurt the other person, but if the lie is exposed later, it will hurt even more!"
'That's right. Being told you already have a partner during a confession, and then hearing just a few days later that they confessed to some handsome guy in another class... That would hurt more than a direct rejection.'
"We can just say we broke up right away, and it can be that you dumped me," Ichinose immediately offered a solution she must have found online, though it was completely unreliable.
"No, if that happens, I'll be stabbed six times by Class B students, right..." Hikigaya couldn't help but complain.
Ichinose took a deep breath, and then slowly said: "So, Hikigaya-kun, what would you do? If you were confessed to by someone you don't like, but you wanted to remain good friends with them, what would you do to avoid hurting them and to continue maintaining a friendship with them?"
"That's a foolish question. It's simply impossible for anyone to like me, let alone confess to me. So it's just a pointless worry." Hikigaya's answer was forceful and full of manly spirit.
Even Hikigaya was shocked by his immediate response, and Ichinose seemed to be too. She was dumbfounded, her mouth half-open in a silly way.
"Honestly, Hikigaya-kun, why do you always like to say self-deprecating things? For a moment, I actually mistook that for a cool line..." A wry smile appeared on Ichinose's face. "Let's just assume it happens, what would you do?"
"What I would do doesn't matter, right..." Thoughts like "If it was me, I would definitely—" are meaningless. Unlike Ichinose-san, I'm always alone. Being popular and getting confessed to isn't suitable for the lonely and cool Hikigaya Hachiman...
"So, Ichinose-san, you don't want your relationship with the other person to change, right?"
"Y-Yes, that's right." Ichinose lowered her head, looking a little troubled. Her worried and anxious appearance made it hard to associate her with the usual cheerful and lively Ichinose Honami.
However, Hikigaya could understand Ichinose's feelings. That desire not to change things was something he could understand.
Expressing your feelings and laying everything bare isn't necessarily the right approach.
A relationship that cannot take one step forward, a relationship that must not cross the line, a relationship that must not be trampled upon—
Dramas and comics always depict crossing that line and achieving a happy ending. But reality is not like that; it is much crueler and more indifferent. Important things are irreplaceable. Things that are gone forever will never come back.
If it was Hikigaya Hachiman, there was only one method he could offer.
"I have a way to save the situation," Hikigaya suddenly said.
"Eh? What is it... Ah!" Just as Ichinose was about to ask for details, she seemed to discover something. Her expression froze, and she raised her hand.
'It seems the confessor arrived earlier than expected. They're a classmate of Ichinose-san and her good friend, but what kind of guy are they?'
Hikigaya turned his head and saw a boyish-looking cross-dresser with short brown hair. And he had even thoughtfully worn a skirt.
'No, no, she's definitely a girl no matter how you look at her.'
Although Hikigaya had suspected this after seeing the letter, he hadn't expected the person to actually be a girl. This situation is different from a boy confessing to a boy, and getting into a relationship might actually be nice... Just kidding.
"Um, Ichinose-san... who is this person?" The girl who appeared at the confession spot looked at Hikigaya, a stranger, with wariness.
"He's Hikigaya-kun from first-year Class A. I'm sorry, Chihiro. I brought someone you don't know."
'Chihiro? Chi... Chihiro? No, it should be Shiro... Shiranami Chihiro? Hikigaya thought hard, finally recalling that he had seen her during the school opening ceremony. She seemed to be the girl who helped Ichinose buy things and get the dormitory key card.
"...Could he be Ichinose-san's boyfriend... or something?" Shiranami Chihiro looked at Hikigaya with a watchful eye.
'No, no one would want to date a gloomy, dead-fish-eyed boy, right?'
"Ah... Ah..." Ichinose likely intended to answer "Yes," but the guilt and sense of wrongdoing from her own lie pulled the words back into the depths of her throat.
"Why... is that person called Hikigaya... here?" Shiranami Chihiro's eyes welled up with tears as she asked Ichinose, apparently confused by the unexpected situation.
Ichinose looked flustered at the sight, appearing even more at a loss and unsure what to do.
"Um, could you please go somewhere else? I have something important to say to Ichinose-san next," Shiranami turned to Hikigaya.
At Shiranami's words, Ichinose's shoulder twitched. Shiranami Chihiro mustered her courage and looked directly at Ichinose, who was anxiously trying to say something.
Now is the only time to speak—
"I've liked you for a long time. Please go out with me."
Ichinose's eyes widened, looking somewhat confused. The words that should have been spoken by her were stolen by Hikigaya, and Shiranami Chihiro also stared at him in surprise.
However, Ichinose quickly reacted, instantly understanding everything that was happening.
She looked at Hikigaya with a slightly sad expression and spoke in a low voice: "I'm sorry, I only want to focus on my studies right now, and I don't want to date anyone. No matter who confesses, I won't accept. I'm very sorry."
After saying this, Ichinose slightly bent down and bowed to Hikigaya, making it look like a "grand finale."
"I see..." Hikigaya exhaled and turned to look at Shiranami Chihiro: "Well, my turn is over. Do you have anything you wanted to say to Ichinose-san?"
"No, um... nothing at all."
Saying this, Shiranami Chihiro quickly ran away.
Watching Shiranami Chihiro's retreating figure, Hikigaya and Ichinose simultaneously let out a sigh of relief.
Ichinose looked at Hikigaya, speaking with a feigned cheerful tone: "Thank you so much for your help today, Hikigaya-kun. I didn't expect you to... use this method. But this must be bad for you, right?"
She paused, and then continued: "Hikigaya-kun, are you alright?"
Hikigaya gently shook his head, then couldn't help but add: "...Although Shiranami-san is a girl, she seemed serious."
"Chihiro will definitely find someone she likes during her three years of high school. I'm not that great of a person, and I'm not worth her liking."
For some reason, Ichinose wore a calm yet somewhat lonely smile.
Bathed in the evening sun, Hikigaya couldn't tell what was reflected in those narrowed eyes. Despite the distance between them being only a few meters, it felt impossible to cross.
"Anyway, thank you for your help today, Hikigaya-kun. I owe you one," Ichinose regained her usual cheerfulness, giving Hikigaya a lively and gentle smile: "I want to stay here for a bit longer to process what happened today. Hikigaya-kun, you can leave first. I'll treat you to lunch tomorrow."
"No, you don't have to buy me lunch..."
'If someone saw me eating with the archangel, I'd be riddled with "daggers" by Ichinose's fans, right?'
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