Chapter 24: Wait—She Blushed!?"
Come on, Yukino Yukinoshita launch a counterattack with your cold, disgusted expression and your sharp, cutting remarks like you always do.
But, surprisingly, Yukino's expression didn't shift toward annoyance.
"…What nonsense are you talking about?"
Instead, she showed a rare hint of helplessness. She tried to maintain her composure, quickly turned her face away, and raised a hand to hide the faint blush rising on her cheeks.
Narumi, who had already braced himself to dodge Yukino's potential verbal attack, felt the corner of his mouth twitch.
Wait… Miss, your reaction is way too soft.
Narumi was the kind of person who wrapped his tragic past into jokes and tossed them into conversation like throwaway punchlines.
If the other party laughed, the mood would lighten and the goal was achieved.
But if the other party got serious and said something like, "How pitiful, let me hug you," he wouldn't know how to react.
The same logic applied to being a jerk.
When Narumi teasingly suggested that Yukino might like him, he expected her to deny it harshly—maybe even add a "You otaku are disgusting" for good measure.
But instead…
Yukino Yukinoshita blushed.
She. Blushed.
What's going on? Where's the aloof, untouchable Miss Yukino? Who is this flustered high school girl acting like her secret's been exposed?
Although assuming a girl likes him was one of the three great illusions of life, if she kept reacting like this…
He really would start believing it.
"Ahem… If only you could use your sweet-talking skills where they're actually needed, your achievements would be far better than they are now, Narumi-kun."
Yukino coughed stiffly. Her expression still carried traces of embarrassment, but she forcibly pulled herself together and shifted the topic with rationality.
"Don't make such jokes about me again."
Because she couldn't help taking them seriously.
"Oh, I'm sorry, I'm sorry."
Realizing Yukino had offered him a graceful exit, Narumi immediately backed off. The atmosphere had gone far beyond lighthearted banter this wasn't normal teasing between two acquaintances anymore.
"I need to reiterate that I only kept your personal belonging safe because, as club president, I couldn't simply ignore something left behind."
Sure, sure. Very official-sounding explanation.
"Besides, it's not appropriate for me to keep a boy's personal item without permission. Someone could easily misunderstand. And I only meant to hold onto it temporarily until the right moment to return it."
Alright, alright, we really don't need a whole essay about this. Sometimes explaining too much just makes things worse.
"Moreover… um."
Just as Yukino was about to continue, something seemed to make her pause. She shut her mouth and quickly regained her usual calm expression before looking back at Narumi.
"…We've already wasted enough time. Hayama-kun and Hikigaya-kun must have been waiting in the clubroom for quite a while now."
She turned and walked ahead. Narumi, completely stunned, followed after a moment.
That was so abrupt, Yukino-san! Your topic-changing skills are terrible please take lessons from your older sister Haruno, that sly fox!
Of course, Yukino Yukinoshita who was walking ahead alone precisely to hide the strange expression still on her face would never say what she had been about to say.
Besides, if you hadn't given it to me yourself before, I wouldn't have taken it.
If it weren't for that, even wearing the whistle all the time wouldn't matter. Without the added sentiment behind it, it wouldn't be a token that summons a hero; it would just be a cheap metal prop used to time a cooking contest.
What Yukino wanted was not temporary comfort or an excuse to cling to the past.
Her initial wish had simply been: "I want to see him again."
But it was slowly becoming
"I want to talk to him."
"I want him to look at me."
"I want to become someone special to him."
Because people were inherently greedy.
Not that Yukino Yukinoshita would ever admit any of this. Even if she were caught red-handed, she would raise her chin and deny it coldly and confidently.
In the simulation, he was the one who always moved effortlessly, who adapted to her, who matched her pace perfectly.
But now that they were reunited in the real world
She was determined to make him fall in love first.
At least, that's what Yukino Yukinoshita believed for now.
The two returned to the Service Club room one after the other. Hikigaya Hachiman, who had been forced to hold a conversation with Hayama the entire time, looked visibly relieved when he saw Yukino and Narumi walk in. For someone who avoided social interaction like a plague, entertaining the cheerful, popular Hayama Hayato was exhausting.
But there was no helping it. A client was a client.
Fortunately, with the newly-joined Yui Yuigahama acting as social lubricant, even Piggy wouldn't be so useless as to pretend to faint from exhaustion.
"Sending chain emails filled with classmates' negative rumors… Was this what you came to request help for, Hayato-kun?"
Yukino asked directly, and Hayama, sitting at the guest seat, nodded with a wry smile.
"Yes. The emails were full of slander toward classmates and friends. No one wants to be talked about like that by people they trust."
"Alright, alright, so what exactly do you want from us, Hayama-kun? Do you want us to find out who's behind it? Or do you want to retaliate?"
Narumi rested his chin on his hand, bored. He waved lazily, convinced that someone as perpetually nice as Hayama could only want some preachy, boring solution.
"No, no. Nothing extreme. I simply want the matter resolved properly."
As expected, Hayama rejected all of Narumi's suggestions almost immediately, his face showing obvious distress.
"Whether it's the victims or the sender, I don't want anyone to get hurt. If possible… I'd like everything to end smoothly."
"Useless gentleness is excessive and will only become a burden that drags others down."
Yukino pointed out bluntly. Narumi raised an eyebrow this Yukino really was the same as the one in his memory, though she was slightly gentler now than her simulated counterpart.
"A burden, huh… haha. But if no one gets hurt, then I don't mind being seen that way."
Even after being criticized, Hayama just laughed softly. Meanwhile, Hikigaya's brows twitched so hard they nearly tied themselves into a knot. He had no idea how to deal with this annoyingly radiant, saintlike guy.
Some clients just came with a full list of restrictions and moral guidelines. Honestly, it was torture.
"Don't want to be the bad guy? There's another way."
Narumi cracked his neck casually, already expecting Hayama's refusal to take responsibility.
"Then become a sinner."
Hayato Hayama was a smart guy; anyone capable of maintaining good relationships with all his classmates couldn't possibly be foolish.
However, he also had a less-than-smart side—whenever a situation required a firm stance, he would hesitate, worried about hurting someone, and ended up speaking ambiguously. Ironically, that hesitation often caused more harm than clarity ever would.
Kindness without sharpness is sometimes nothing more than weakness; only kindness that knows when to draw blood can truly protect others.
"If you don't want to be the villain who exposes the ugly truth, then be the sinner who makes everyone hate you! Take all the blame and painfully explain your good intentions! Transform yourself from the cheerful, kind-hearted guy admired by everyone into a dark, ruthless figure who endures humiliation for the greater good!"
"An interesting suggestion…but Narumi-kun, you completely ignored what would happen after Hayato-kun's persona collapses."
Unusually, Yukino Yukinoshita acknowledged the creativity of Narumi's idea, though she still couldn't help criticizing it.
"Besides, if he actually tried that, it'd practically be role-playing for Hayama-kun. He's the type who'll ignore his friend's suffering just to keep everyone satisfied."
"Oh, then this road won't work."
Narumi glanced at Hayama, whose smile was gradually becoming stiff. He honestly never expected Hayama to expose the truth himself much less pretend to be some tragic villain.
"Then let's try something else. Shoot the horse before the rider just find out who sent the email and shut them up."
"Agreed."
Hachiman Hikigaya, who had been quietly observing, spoke for once—just enough to express his support for Narumi.
"So… that wasn't my original intention in coming to you."
Hayama frowned slightly. His wish was simply to calm things down. But with the situation developing like this, a confrontation with the culprit seemed inevitable.
"Want a clean victory without hurting anyone? There's no such thing as a free lunch. You can't gain something without paying a price, Hayama-kun."
"Well… I understand Hayama-kun's feelings to some extent. We are all classmates after all. There's no need to blow things out of proportion."
Yui Yuigahama stepped forward at just the right time to smooth the atmosphere. With her around, the club felt significantly less tense when Yukino and Narumi gave their brutally realistic opinions.
"The one who sent the chain emails should have expected that one day they'd be caught and ashamed."
Yukino stood firm, unwavering in her principles. Narumi nodded in agreement, leaving Yuigahama—who'd been desperately trying to mediate—feeling helpless. Those two worked together too smoothly… but who was going to rescue her from being stuck between the Service Club and the Popular Group?
"Then just warn the instigator in private so they don't lose face publicly. Wouldn't that be fine?"
After a moment's thought, Hachiman offered support to Yuigahama. Though she immediately shot him a grateful look, Hikigaya, ever the awkward one, pretended not to notice.
"If the investigation is done with the intention of not hurting anyone… I agree."
Hayama finally compromised a little.
In Narumi's imagined future, Hayama never made this request—in that timeline, Narumi had already left Sobu High, left the Kanto region, and run away with Yukino. So he couldn't rely on clairvoyance this time to figure out the culprit.
The same was true for Yukino. Neither could rely on their simulated knowledge. Their only shared goal now was simply to solve the problem before them.
So the Service Club worked with Hayama to reconstruct all events leading up to the chain email incident.
The chain messages seemed to start about a week ago, and even Yui Yuigahama who hated drama had received one.
The most important event that happened last week was the announcement of the workplace internship groups.
Internships were assigned in groups of three, but Hayama Hayato had three best friends. Someone was guaranteed to be left out. And one of them, afraid of being the "excluded one," preemptively struck first leaking alleged dirty secrets about the other two, whether true or fabricated.
Of course, to avoid suspicion, the culprit leaked damaging info about himself as well, hoping to camouflage the attack.
Even if Hayama refused to believe that one of his close friends would do such a thing, logic narrowed the suspects down to those same three.
It was like a cliché mystery in "Detective Minami"—the culprit often sits among the obvious three choices. A little more investigation into relationships and personalities would expose the truth soon enough.
After seeing off a visibly shaken Hayama and confirming their plan, the Service Club wrapped up the day's activities.
Narumi slung his schoolbag over his shoulder and left the school building. His body was exhausted after a full day of classes. He pushed himself through the crowd and squeezed onto a train during rush hour, managing to claim a small corner while clutching his bag and pulling out his phone to pass the time.
He opened the forum—and instantly froze.
The novel post that had around 40,000–50,000 views the day before had suddenly tripled or quadrupled. And the number was still climbing rapidly.
Stunned, Narumi scrolled through the comment section for answers.
"Did you guys come from YouTube? The fan-made comic was emotional enough, but the original novel hits even harder!"
"Following Eri Kashiwagi's fan manga, now there's a fan song too… This is definitely going to blow up!"
"This story's already getting popular—I saw it on the mod's recommended list."
"Would you consider publishing an English version? I can help find a translator." —Love Comes from Porcelain
"Everyone said it was touching, but after watching it I thought… that's it? Your tear thresholds are weak!"
"The fatherly aura from the guy above is overflowing. Did his dad die young?"
"I respect the sheer hostility of that comment."
…
After several minutes of scrolling, the same words kept appearing:
"Fan comic."
"YouTube."
"Fan song."
"Guitar Hero."
He immediately switched to YouTube and found the most trending video uploaded by someone named Guitar Hero.
"This song is an original fan-made track I composed for a comic… It's my first attempt at creating a song based on a story. I hope you enjoy it…!"
After nervously finishing her introduction, the creator who hid her identity placed her fingers on the guitar strings.
And that marked the beginning of her first video to hit 200,000 views.
It's normal for teenagers to care too much about how others see them.
But Narumi Toru had never cared much about people's opinions.
No one can be completely immune to public perception humans are social by nature. But compared to most teenagers, Narumi was indeed unusually open-minded.
Of course, his open-mindedness came from a completely different place.
Other people are cheerful because:
they have happy families,
they have financial stability,
they've never faced real misfortune,
they're attractive and never worried about rejection.
Narumi's reason was simpler:
He had already accepted the worst things about life.
Once you accept everything, the countless challenges and worries of the world start to feel… insignificant.
And once you let go, the countless difficulties and troubles in life gradually become less worthy of your attention.
End of the chapter.
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