Chapter 9: Conflict Over the Topic of Friends
[You gained Shoko Nishimiya's gratitude.]
[In the days that followed, you sought out Yukino Yukinoshita. Under her icy gaze, you spoke with confidence and composure, successfully enrolling Shoko Nishimiya into the Service Club.]
[Although Yumiko Miura had different opinions, Shoko Nishimiya chose to listen to you in your presence.]
[To her, as her first and best friend, she would listen to whatever you said. She trusted you from the bottom of her heart, even though you had actually only known each other for three days.]
[Sent into the Service Club, Shoko Nishimiya received comprehensive assistance from Yukino Yukinoshita, ranging from academic tutoring to daily care.]
[Of course, your contribution was indispensable. You revealed your ability to use sign language to facilitate communication between the two. This made Yukino Yukinoshita look at you with a strange expression. You felt she might have misunderstood something, but you couldn't explain.]
[You did not notice the look of pleasant surprise on Shoko Nishimiya's face behind you when she saw you reveal your sign language skills.]
[Because Yukino Yukinoshita had never learned sign language, you had to temporarily act as a translator for a while to make their interaction more efficient.]
[But it must be said, Yukino Yukinoshita is undoubtedly a genius. In just about a month, she was already able to use sign language proficiently, freeing up your time.]
[You began preparing for what you would do during the Cultural Festival.]
[Facts proved that sending Shoko Nishimiya to the Service Club was the correct decision. Although Yukino Yukinoshita has personality flaws, she is undoubtedly capable. Under her planning, in just one month, Shoko Nishimiya's bottom-tier grades finally began to rise, and she became Shoko Nishimiya's third friend. However, Yukino Yukinoshita made zero progress in helping Shoko Nishimiya make other friends or changing her personality.]
[On the other hand, seeing Yukino Yukinoshita fail, Yumiko Miura used her own methods, attempting to help Shoko Nishimiya integrate into her small clique and become friends with others, but her means were slightly crude.]
[A conflict erupted between Yumiko Miura and Yukino Yukinoshita.]
"Yukinoshita! What the hell do you mean?! How is this not making friends?"
Inside the Service Club room, Yumiko Miura questioned Yukino Yukinoshita aggressively.
Yukino Yukinoshita, who was sitting on a stool quietly turning the pages of a book, replied with a calm gaze. "Friends? You mean your method? Instructing them behind the scenes to take care of her? Do you believe they only agreed to save face for you? Without you, would they become friends with her? Does that count as friends?"
In fact, Yukino Yukinoshita was being as tactful as possible, mainly for Shoko Nishimiya's sake.
Otherwise, she wouldn't have said so much, nor would she have been this "gentle."
But evidently, the strong-willed Yumiko Miura had her own ideas and didn't consider Yukino Yukinoshita's words to be tactful or gentle in the slightest.
"How does it not count? After enough time passes, she will naturally integrate. By then, they'll be real friends!"
Yukino Yukinoshita put down the book in her hand as if she had heard a laughable joke. "Real friends?"
A trace of icy mockery appeared on her calm face.
"If it is fake from the start, will it become real after being polished by the passage of time?"
"It will only bring greater hurt in the end! From the very beginning, you are harming people!"
"Maybe your method works for others because they only need to fit in. They don't want to be ostracized, so they cater to the atmosphere. For them, 'friends' is just an excuse; it's a secondary priority."
"But Nishimiya is different. Friends are her top priority; they hold a more significant meaning. Moreover, if you do this, what role does she play in your group? What is her positioning? Are you sure her inferiority complex will be resolved and not twisted further?"
"Are you sure you aren't harming her?"
A series of questions fired from Yukino Yukinoshita's mouth, like poisoned thorns, stabbing ruthlessly into the other girl's heart.
Precise and merciless!
Yumiko Miura took several steps back, the expression on her face becoming embarrassed.
"I... I..."
"What about you? Your method is reading those books? Analyzing who is worth being a friend, and who is suitable? Is this making friends or finding business partners? Will this kind of friend really be good for her? By your logic, isn't this also fake? What kind of friend is that?!" Yumiko Miura retorted, voicing her dissatisfaction with Yukino Yukinoshita's ineffective methods like a stress reaction.
"You... don't understand. At least this way, she won't get hurt too much. It has a margin for error. It is a relatively acceptable plan..." Yukino paused for a moment before speaking.
"Heh, isn't that essentially the same as my method? Genius Yukinoshita, you don't even have friends yourself, yet you're here lecturing others. You're actually the pitiful one. At least Nishimiya has me and Kasugano. And you? You have no one..." Yumiko Miura pointed at Yukino Yukinoshita's weakness and sprayed salt on the wound.
Yukino Yukinoshita's face turned cold. She was wrong, dead wrong. She thought she could endure it, but now she was angry!
Seeing that a war diverging from the main topic was about to begin.
"Enough!!"
Haruka's shout interrupted everything.
Both girls turned their heads to look at him.
"What is the use of arguing here? Will arguing solve the problem? You might as well go ask for her opinion."
Haruka said this while sitting on the other side of the room.
He didn't think there was any point to Yukino and Miura's current argument.
Yukino Yukinoshita glanced at Haruka. Her impression of Haruka Kasugano was actually quite decent—he was motivated in his studies, emotionally temperate, and treated Shoko Nishimiya well. The only problem was that he was a bit utilitarian.
But that didn't mean she would listen to him. She agreed with the sentiment that they should follow Shoko Nishimiya's own thoughts, but sometimes, handing the power of choice to someone who completely lacked autonomy in that area would not necessarily yield a good result.
That was more like pushing her existing problems back onto her. If she could solve these problems herself, why would she need them, her friends, to think of solutions? They wouldn't be gathered here, and she wouldn't have been sent to the Service Club.
Therefore.
She did not agree with Haruka's statement.
As for Yumiko Miura, it went without saying. Arranging things "for their own good" for friends who were weaker than herself was already her habit. Shoko was weak and needed protection. This was her responsibility as the "group leader." That was how she thought, and that was how she acted.
At this moment, Yumiko Miura and Yukino Yukinoshita's thoughts strangely reached a consensus.
Neither agreed with the other, and neither agreed with Haruka's idea.
In the end.
The three parted on bad terms.
[The argument was forcibly interrupted by you, and everyone parted on bad terms.]
[You are not discouraged, nor do you have any thought of currying favor with Yukino Yukinoshita or Yumiko Miura to salvage their impression of you.]
[Yukino and Miura are indeed beautiful, and they do give you the surprise of 2D characters coming to reality for you to interact with personally. But that is where it ends. You are still that utilitarian who walked out of a cold society. Only Shoko Nishimiya is slightly different.]
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