My Teen Romantic Comedy SNAFU IF: Yukinoshita's Choice - Yukinoshita Haruno's smile

The afternoon light streaming through the classroom window fell across the edge of my desk. I, Hikigaya Hachiman, had slipped out of the noisy Class 2-F classroom during cultural festival preparations and was now trudging down the hallway. I was trying not to think about what had happened in the clubroom yesterday. But somewhere in my head, Yukino's voice kept spinning in circles. (*I'm quitting school. Transferring to Switzerland.*) That quiet voice. Yui's tears. And the cold words I'd spat out. "Do whatever you want." No matter how many times I remember it, I disgust myself. Is that really the only way I know how to say things? I changed my shoes at the shoe lockers and headed toward the school gate. A few students still lingered at the entrance. Some heading to club activities, others staying for cultural festival prep. Everyone looked busy, and no one was paying any attention to me. (*Not that I care.*) It doesn't matter. I was trying to convince myself of that when it happened. "You're Hikigaya-kun, right?" Someone called out to me. I turned around, and there stood a woman. Glossy black hair cut neatly at the shoulders. The same deep blue-green eyes as Yukino. Pale skin, a straight nose bridge. A woman around twenty years old with a model-perfect face. (*...Who is this?*) I didn't recognize her. Her face looked just like Yukino's, but her presence was completely different. If Yukino was quiet moonlight, this woman was bright like the afternoon sun—and she wore an oddly friendly smile. "Nice to meet you. I'm Yukinoshita Haruno. Yukino's older sister." Yukino's sister. Now that she mentioned it, the face made sense. But why would someone like that be talking to me? "...I've got no business with you." I answered instantly. I wanted nothing to do with anything troublesome. Especially not the day after yesterday—I wasn't in the mood to talk to anyone from the Yukinoshita family. But Haruno's smile didn't waver in the slightest. Actually, it went past cheerful and started turning into a smirk. "You're so cold. How do you manage to stay by that girl's side with an attitude like that?" "It's not like I want to be around her—" "Sure, sure, no need to be shy. You're Hikigaya-kun, right? I've heard the rumors. A twisted loner with eyes like a dead fish." (*Who the hell spread rumors like that? And the dead fish eyes part is completely unnecessary.*) "So? What do you want? If you've got business with Yukino, contact her yourself." The moment I said it, I remembered Yukino's face from yesterday. Yukino hadn't come to school today. No—I didn't even know if she'd come or not. I'd been holed up in my classroom since morning. Haruno stared at my face for a moment. Then she broke into a smile. "Hey, why don't you have some tea with your big sister here?" "No." "Now, now, don't say that. Come on, let's go?" She grabbed my arm with a grip that left no room for argument. (*Whoa, she's strong.*) Despite her slender arms, she latched on firmly. I could have shaken her off if I'd tried, but imagining the sight of a male high school student having his arm grabbed by a college girl in front of the school gate killed any will to resist. In the end, I let myself be dragged along. ◆◆◆ She brought me to the staff parking lot behind the school. At this after-school hour, only a few cars remained in the lot. There was almost no sign of people. It was that time of evening when the smell of dinner drifted faintly from the residential neighborhood beyond the fence. Haruno finally released my arm and stood in front of a car parked at the far end of the lot. Black. A glossy, expensive-looking domestic sedan. It gleamed as if it had just been washed. It was the kind of imposing black that my father would call "nouveau riche taste." "So, this is your big sister's car." "Like I care." "Don't be shy. Want a ride?" "I'm not getting in." I couldn't make sense of this. She'd called out to me at the gate, grabbed my arm, dragged me to the parking lot, and now she was trying to get me into a car. By any normal reasoning, this was kidnapping or something. Seeing my wariness, Haruno finally dropped the playful act. Well, she didn't drop the smile—but the quality of that smile felt just a little colder. "Hikigaya-kun. There's something I'd like to ask of you." An elegant fragrance. Up close, it was sweet, but there was something heavy that lingered at the back of the throat—a dense floral scent. Yukino had smelled like tea. This was the exact opposite: an artificial perfume. I took a step back. "I want you to help bring Yukino back to school." ◆◆◆ The wind swept across the white lines of the parking lot. A half-toppled traffic cone rattled dryly. "...Why are you asking me to do that?" My voice came out lower than I'd expected. Yukino had said she'd decided it herself. Dropping out, going to Switzerland. And yet her sister was asking me to "help bring her back to school"? It didn't make sense. The pieces didn't connect. "Yukino said she decided it herself, right? Then it's none of my business." I continued. My voice was too flat. But Haruno's smile still didn't waver. "What exactly did Yukino say?" "...That she decided it herself." "Hmm." Haruno lightly perched herself on the hood of the car. The movement was strangely graceful. Jeans, a white shirt, and delicate accessories. She looked less like a college student and more like some company president's daughter who'd wandered out on her day off. "But Hikigaya-kun. Do you really think that girl would say something like that of her own free will?" "...Huh?" "She's always been like that, ever since she was little. Even when someone else tells her to do something, she turns it all into 'I decided it myself.' I think she can't keep herself together otherwise." Haruno toyed with her hair with one hand as she spoke. "You've noticed, haven't you? You watch Yukino more than anyone." My breath stopped for a second. It felt like someone had poked a hard spot deep in my chest with their fingertip. "...What are you talking about?" "You're always in that clubroom, listening to Yukino talk, aren't you? You could see the way she brewed tea, the way her fingers turned pages—all of it, right? Then you understand. How unnatural it is for that girl to suddenly say she's 'quitting school' like that." Haruno's voice was as bright as ever. And yet, every word stabbed into my ears with unnatural sharpness. (*Actually, how the hell do you know so much about the clubroom?*) Where was she getting her information? Was she a stalker? "...Even if Yukino is dropping out because of someone else, the ones who can do something about it are you and your parents. Why come to an outsider like me?" I said it as coldly as I could. "The family can't do anything anymore. My mother—our mother, Yukinoshita Shiori—has already submitted the withdrawal notice. The paperwork is already in motion. Even if I say something now, it's too late." "Even so, what can I do? I'm just a high school student. No money, no connections, and my name and family background are below average." "Yeah. I know." "Then—" "But you were closer to Yukino than anyone else. I think that's something incredibly significant." Haruno slowly stood up. "Please. Don't leave Yukino alone." For a moment, her voice truly became an older sister's voice. Not calculated, not an act. A voice worried about Yukino, thinking of her little sister. "...Sorry, but—" I noticed my own voice was hoarser than it needed to be. "Ask someone else for favors. I'm not suited for that kind of thing." I said it and averted my eyes. I couldn't look directly at Yukino's sister's face. A woman who resembled Yukino but kept a completely different kind of distance. Haruno was silent for a while. Then she laughed. It was different from her bright smile from before, and different from the cold one too. It was a laugh that seemed somehow ticklish, and yet just a little lonely. "...Yeah. I thought you'd say that." ◆◆◆ Haruno took a single sheet of paper from her bag. A white copy sheet, folded in half. "Here. A parting gift from your big sister." "...Huh? Parting gift?" "Something you'll definitely need later. If you don't want to see it, you can tear it up and throw it away. But I'd like you to look at it." Haruno smoothly slipped the paper into the breast pocket of my uniform. "See you later, Hikigaya-kun. Let's meet again." She got into the driver's seat of the black sedan. "Take care of Yukino for me. ...Though, asking that might be presumptuous of me." The door closed. The engine started. The car quietly headed toward the parking lot exit and disappeared into the twilight road. I was left alone in the parking lot. ◆◆◆ "...What the hell was that all about?" A strange sensation in my breast pocket. The paper Haruno had slipped in rustled near my heart. (*Look at it, or tear it up?*) I already had a feeling I'd regret looking. I'd had that premonition from the start. But I couldn't tear it up. Head lowered, my fingertips touched the paper in my pocket. That's when it happened. "...Hikki?" A familiar voice came from the parking lot entrance. I looked up. Yuigahama Yui was watching me from the shadow of the school building. Her bright brown medium-length hair puffed softly in the evening breeze. Her large brown eyes gazed at me with worry. "...What are you doing here? There's no club today... I mean, Yukinon's absent, so the Service Club isn't meeting either." "Eh." Yukino was absent. Those words sank deep into my chest. "Yukinon didn't come to school today. I went to check her classroom this morning... but her seat stayed empty." Yui's voice overlapped with her crying voice from yesterday. (*Is she really... seriously planning to disappear from school?*) Yui approached me, anxiously twirling a strand of her hair around her index finger. "So, Hikki, what were you doing here? Were you talking to someone? I thought I saw a woman." "...Yukino's older sister." "Yukinon's sister...? Wait, why was she here?" "How should I know? Don't ask me. ...You want to see this too?" I pulled the paper Haruno had slipped into my pocket out. I unfolded it. Yui peered at it from beside me. The sunset cast shadows that made it hard to read. We moved together under the school's outdoor light. The paper said the following: —Regarding the withdrawal procedures for Yukinoshita Yukino. —The withdrawal notice has been accepted by her guardian, Yukinoshita Shiori. —Transfer destination: Institut Le Mania, Switzerland (a boarding school). —Seven days remaining until the scheduled completion of enrollment procedures. "...This is—" Yui's face went pale. "Y-Yukinon doesn't know about this... right? I mean, the withdrawal notice was submitted by her mother... to a boarding school in Switzerland..." "...Probably." My voice was dry too. "Yukino probably hasn't realized it either. No—she must have had a vague sense of it. That's why she had no choice but to say she'd decided it herself. No. That's not right. She was made to say it." My hand tightened around the paper. It crinkled. Shiori. Yukinoshita Shiori. Yukino's mother. *Live in a way that does not shame the Yukinoshita name.* A woman who would trample her daughter's dreams for the sake of that family creed. Yui let out a small breath. Then she pulled out her phone. The moment she opened the screen, Yui's fingers stopped. "...Ah." "What is it?" "H-Hachiman... Do you know about this?" With trembling hands, Yui turned her phone screen toward me. Messages from classmates lined the notification bar. One of them read: —Apparently Yukinoshita-san didn't come to school again today. I heard she hasn't left her house in three days. A classmate's older sister said so. "Three days... at home." Yui's voice was thin and hoarse. "...So she's been shut in, is what they're saying." "That's not normal. Yukinon do

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Episode 2

Name: My Teen Romantic Comedy SNAFU IF: Yukinoshita's Choice
Author: Novelia

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