Chapter 16: Volume 1 - CH 2.4

T/N:

This part shifted POV to Yuzu, in third person’s voice. BTW, in case anyone forgets/confuses the name of the people in Yuzu’s clique (because Yamato-kun calls them by surname while Yuzu calls them by their own name) they are:

–Sakuraba Sota (popular boy, likes Yuzu)

–Kotani Aki (popular girl, likes Sota)

–Namase Keigo (the cheerful guy friend)

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When Yuzu entered the fast food restaurant where they were meeting, she immediately found Aki’s figure. She had slightly wavy beige hair and distinct, strong-willed eyes and nose. Her appearance stood out even from a distance.

“Sorry for waiting!” Yuzu called out to her while holding a tray with fries and a Coke in both hands; Aki, who had already started her homework, looked up.

“Hm, I’m sorry to call you on such short notice.”

“It’s all right. I wanna hang out with Aki too.”

Smiling, Yuzu sat down in front of her. As Yuzu took out her maths notebook and textbook from her bag and opened them, she noticed that Aki was somewhat fidgety.

“What’s the matter, Aki? Is there something you don’t understand?”

“Hmm… that’s not really it.” She was somewhat lispy.

She was the type to speak her mind. Nevertheless, the only time she would behave in this way was when a particular matter was involved.

“Did you ask Sota out too by any chance?”

When Yuzu suddenly got to the heart of the matter, Aki’s shoulders jumped, “Yeah… Sort of. He said he’s going to come over soon after club activities end.”

She affirmed this while restlessly playing with the tips of her hair. Although it was just a small step, she was trying to make progress in her own way.

“I see…” With a smile on her face, Yuzu realised why she had been called here.

In short, Aki was scared of meeting Sota one-on-one, so Yuzu was called in as a buffer.

…Well, the truth was, rather than a buffer, she was the bomb that threatened their relationship. However, Yuzu wouldn’t let that slip her mouth.

“Yo! Aki, Yuzu-cchi” Our names were called from behind right at this time.

When I turned around, I saw Keigo and Sota coming towards us together. Apparently, Sota had invited Keigo to join him. You could see that Aki let out a mixed sigh of relief or disappointment.

“Yoo-hoo, you two.”

“Sorry we’re late. Have you started yet?” Answering naturally, Sota took a seat next to Yuzu.

Immediately, there was a subtle… but really subtle tension in the air. He deliberately sat next to Yuzu, even though there were two empty seats next to Yuzu and Aki.

It was a trivial matter, but one that was no less amusing in Aki’s eyes. And it didn’t fare well with Yuzu, who knew Sota’s feelings towards her.

“But thanks for helping me today. I’ve been a bit behind in my maths lately. I was hoping someone would teach me.”

Yuzu hid her inner thoughts and broached the subject, to which Keigo, sitting next to Aki, raised his hand.

“Oh, then I’ll teach you. I’m still very good at math.”

Keigo gave a firm thumbs-up. Relieved that he had reacted as she had expected, Yuzu smiled and nodded.

“Yes, please. But it’s hard to see from this position because it’s at an angle… Hey Aki, can you swap seats with me for a minute?”

“Oh, yeah, that’s fine.”

We somehow manage to change seats in a natural way.

“Then, we’d better get started too.”

On the surface, Sota showed no reaction to the change of seats and spread out his maths notebook.

“So, Yuzu, can you tell me what you don’t understand?”

“Urmm, a bit of this part here.”

Yuzu complied with Keigo who tried to teach her properly. Although it was an excuse to change seats, Yuzu learned a lot more than expected from Keigo, who had good communication skills and his teaching style was generally good.

“You got it?”

“Yeah. It was really easy to understand. Thank you, Keigo.”

She smiled, and Keigo nodded without any sign of embarrassment.

“Ha-ha-ha. You’re welcome. How is it, Yuzu-cchi? Have you fallen in love with me? Do you want to switch from Izumi? I’m always up for a change.”

In a joking tone of voice, Keigo expressed his affection. To which Yuzu replied with a shrug of her shoulders.

“Unfortunately, Yamato-kun is my only love.”

When she flat-out refused, Keigo’s shoulders slumped.

“Ugh… What a shame. But if things go awry, you can always tell me. I’ll be right there.”

Yuzu laughed at Keigo’s feigned disappointed response.

“But after all this time, I didn’t expect Yuzu to go out with that guy, Izumi. So, Yuzu, that’s your type?”

Intrigued by their conversation, Aki looked up from her textbook and joined in the conversation.

“Ahaha… I was surprised too. I just happened to like him.”

The conversation went in the right direction, so Yuzu decided to brag a little about her relationship. It was important to show how close Yuzu and Yamato are for the sake of their goals.

“I was surprised that you went out with Izumi. You became friends in the library, didn’t you?”

Perhaps he thought it was unnatural to remain silent, but Sota also joined in the conversation, even though it was probably not his favorite topic. His face revealed nothing of his inner thoughts.

In the first place, even Yuzu—a person sensitive to others’ feelings—had not noticed Sota’s affection towards her all along until she happened to overhear a conversation. His poker face was simply flawless.

“Well, something like that. We were just talking and we kind of hit it off… and things developed from there.”

Yuzu thought she had given a safe answer, but then Keigo wrinkled his brow.

“Talk… What do you usually talk about together? Isn’t Izumi very taciturn? I tried to talk to him once, but the conversation didn’t continue at all.”

The image of Yamato rejecting Keigo while having their disjointed conversation came to Yuzu’s mind. She chuckled at that and answered the question.

“We chat about our hobbies and stuff. Yamato-kun is not a quiet person actually, he talks a lot when we two are together.”

Yes. Even though he called himself a gloomy person, Yamato wasn’t shy and could hold a normal conversation. He normally kept quiet in the classroom because he simply didn’t find pleasure in talking to people he didn’t like and he regarded it as a chore.

The reason why Yuzu never tried to pull Yamato in when she was together with her friends—like in the classroom and right now here—was because she understood that those situations distressed him. If she made that mistake, her strangely comfortable relationship with Yamato would be ruined.

“Oh, really? What, so he just doesn’t open his heart to me? It’s been six months and I’m slightly shocked.”

Keigo held his chest in a huge exaggeration. For someone as friendly as he was, it must be difficult to comprehend how to keep a proper distance.

“Haha, don’t worry about it. Yamato-kun is just like that with everyone. Although I think that’s quite a waste.”

the scene from this part (illustration taken from character introduction at the beginning of the LN

chocolala: Yuzu backing up Yamato-kun makes her a good girlfriend~