My Youth Romantic Comedy Is Wrong, As I Expected. IF ~Yukinoshita Asks One More Time~ - The scream beneath the smile

Two weeks had passed since that rainy day. It was the beginning of July. The rainy season hadn't fully ended yet, and thick clouds covered the sky again today. In the Service Club room on the fourth floor of Sobu High School's special building, the humid wind drifted in through the window, carrying the distant shouts of sports clubs running on the school grounds. Hikigaya Hachiman was wrestling with a stack of planning documents that had been shoved onto him by the Cultural Festival Executive Committee. The submission forms from each class lay piled carelessly on the long table. A4 sheets crammed full of text. Some plans were ridiculously overenthusiastic, others consisted of a single line with zero motivation. I continued the mindless task of picking up each sheet one by one and checking it against the checklist. (*Is this amount of work seriously going to end?*) I grumbled internally. The clubroom was muggy without air conditioning. The breeze coming through the open window was the only small relief. In her usual spot by the window sat Yukinoshita Yukino. Her long, glossy black hair was tied back into a single ponytail today. Her clear, deep blue eyes were fixed seriously on the documents in her hands. She had rolled up the sleeves of her uniform blouse, her slender white fingers moving a pen across the pages. Her posture was as perfectly straight as always, and the air around her alone seemed different from the rest of the room. "The planning form for Class 3-2 is missing the date and time fields. I'll count it as incomplete." Yukinoshita murmured in a cool voice and stuck a sticky note to the edge of the paper. The work continued methodically. "……Yeah." I gave a half-hearted reply and turned my eyes to the next document. This was our relationship these days. Two weeks ago, on that rainy day, Yukinoshita had asked me: "Is it alright if I stay by your side?" Since that night, we had been meeting in the clubroom every day. There wasn't much conversation. But just her presence being there gave warmth to this barren classroom. Today was the second phase of the request from the Cultural Festival Executive Committee—continuing the checking and sorting of each class's planning forms. Hiratsuka-sensei had brought additional materials that piled up like a mountain. Over twenty classes in total. Some classes had missed the submission deadline, and we'd ended up having to make reminder phone calls. "……Hikigaya-kun, you've bound that booklet backwards. Please reorder them by submission order." "Yeah, yeah." I rearranged the documents as instructed. There was something strangely calming about doing this kind of work. At the very least, it let me think about nothing. *Clack, clack.* Footsteps echoed down the hallway, drawing closer. Someone stopped in front of the clubroom door. (*A client? Or Hiratsuka-sensei?*) I was about to look up—and that was the moment. *Slammm.* The clubroom door flew open with force. "Hikki! Yukinon! Long time no see!" Bright brown semi-long hair with a small pink flower pin. Big, round, sparkling eyes. With her skirt hem fluttering softly, Yuigahama Yui burst into the clubroom. Yukinoshita's hand paused, just slightly. Her blue eyes flicked toward me for an instant. Then immediately returned to the documents. "……Yuigahama-san." Her voice was about twice as quiet as usual. "So, like, I've been doing Cultural Festival prep stuff too, y'know? I just happened to be passing by, but you two look super busy, right? So I thought I'd help out!" Yuigahama rattled off the words at high speed and pulled out an empty chair without asking. Then she sat down between me and Yukinoshita. The movement looked exactly like the scene I'd watched in this clubroom up until two months ago—unchanged in every way. Yuigahama Yui. To me, she was someone I'd been avoiding involvement with—just like Yukinoshita. No, in a different sense, even more so. Since that failed confession on the rooftop, she had been staying away from this clubroom. Even after Yukinoshita and I started coming here together, she hadn't shown her face once. And yet, today, she appeared as if nothing had ever happened. That sudden shift was far too unnatural. "Ahaha, I guess it's been so long I'm a little nervous! Oh, are these the planning forms? Is my class's in here too? Class 2-F!" Yuigahama set her shoulder bag on the desk and began rummaging through the stacked papers. She was as close as ever, physically. But. I noticed that her smile was different from her usual smile. She was smiling. Her mouth was smiling. And yet, her big eyes were opened just a little too wide. It was the kind of muscle usage you'd see from someone forcing the corners of her lips upward. (*……This girl.*) Something stirred uneasily deep in my chest. "Yuigahama-san, you don't need to trouble yourself. You have your own class preparations, don't you?" Yukinoshita said quietly, without looking up from the documents. It wasn't rejection. But it wasn't welcome either. Her words inevitably came out distant, like she was speaking to a stranger. "Ehh, but I'm totally not busy at all! And besides, let's all do it together! It's been forever since the Service Club did something as a trio!" Yui declared brightly. *Let's all do it together.* The moment I heard those words, I didn't miss the slight tremor in Yukinoshita's fingertips. She started to say something, then closed her mouth. Then, just barely, she tilted her head. "It's not as if I have any right to refuse, if that's what you want to do." That phrasing was oddly roundabout for Yukinoshita. It wasn't like her. It was the clumsy word choice of someone hiding her true feelings. "Yay! Then I'll help out starting today!" Yui broke into a smile. Was it just my imagination that it looked more natural than before? And so, the three of us began working together. For the first time since that day on the rooftop. But the conversation didn't continue. I sorted documents in silence. Yukinoshita stuck on sticky notes and marked checkboxes. Yui, too, said she'd help with her own class's planning form and picked up a pen. Occasionally, she'd throw out a topic in a bright voice. "Oh yeah, I wonder what's gonna happen with the post-festival fireworks this year? I heard they're fighting about it in the budget meeting." "Huh." "……Everything depends on the Executive Committee's decision." Silence again. The sound of cicadas drifted in from outside. The humid air flowed into the classroom. Summer was near. The atmosphere between the three of us was uncomfortable. Awkward. Each of us unable to gauge the distance we once had. Something was different from back then. I couldn't explain exactly what it was. But it had definitely changed. Yui occasionally glanced out the window. Her profile in those moments was quiet, like a completely different person from when she was smiling. "Oh—Yuigahama-san, this document shows you're not just handling your class's project, but also taking on backstage requests?" It must have been about an hour later. Yukinoshita suddenly spoke up. In her hand was a single printout. Her blue eyes narrowed at the contents written on it. "Umm…… ah, yeah. I kinda got asked by some kids in my class. Like helping with after-school decorations, and buying supplies." Yui stuck out her tongue with a sheepish laugh. "Wouldn't it be more accurate to say they were forced on you, rather than that you were asked?" Yukinoshita's words rang out sharply in the clubroom. Yui's smile twitched for an instant. "Eh? N-no, that's not it! I said I'd do it myself. Everyone's got their hands full with their own class stuff, y'know? My class finished prep early, so I figured I'd help out…… I guess?" Her voice rose in brightness as she spoke. But to my eyes, that brightness just seemed to be spinning its wheels. "I have no intention of meddling in your school life, Yuigahama-san, but you seem to be pushing yourself too hard." Yukinoshita stared steadily at Yui. It was a valid point. Yukinoshita was right. But that valid point was surely as painful as a blade to Yui right now. "I'm not pushing myself at all! Yukinon, you worry too much! See, I'm at least confident in my stamina! Right? Hikki, you think so too, don't you?" The conversation was turned to me. Caught off guard, I tilted my head vaguely. "……Well, if you say so, then that's how it is." My words came out colder than I'd expected. There was something else behind Yui's smile. I was nearly certain of it. But putting it into words felt wrong. Even if I pointed it out now, Yui would just smile more. She'd just try to protect herself with an empty smile. "Yuigahama-san, shall I help you?" Yukinoshita said quietly. "Eh? But……" "The Cultural Festival preparations are a request to the Service Club. Helping with part of it is also my role." Yukinoshita spoke as if confirming her own justification. She was truly terrible at being kind to people. But in her own clumsy way, she was trying to help Yuigahama. "I'm fine, really! This much is totally nothing for me! Yukinon, you have your own class stuff, right? Don't worry about me—just focus on your work with Hikki!" Yui shook her head. Watching their exchange, I became certain. This girl would absolutely never ask for help. She was trying not to burden me and Yukinoshita. Trying not to be a bother. Wearing herself down in the name of kindness. (*That again, huh.*) I sighed deeply in my heart. Ever since that incident on the rooftop, I'd been haunted by the fact that I "couldn't say anything" to her. And yet, even now, I was noticing her pain and still couldn't say anything. The work was wrapped in silence once again. Before I knew it, the sky outside had begun to turn crimson. The documents on the long table had been mostly cleared away. We were just about finished with today's portion. Yui suddenly lifted her head. "Ah, sorry, I gotta go soon. I totally forgot, but I need to show up for my class's supply run." With that, she began quickly gathering the papers she'd spread across the desk. She put her pen in its case. Slinging her shoulder bag over her shoulder. The whole sequence of movements was unnervingly quick. As if she wanted to get away from this place as fast as possible. "Good work today. Will you be coming again tomorrow?" "Eh? Ah, yeah…… if I have time. But I can't really promise anything. Sorry, okay?" Yui waved one hand lightly and headed for the door. "Take care." "Yeah! See ya, Hikki, Yukinon!" *Slamm.* The door closed. *Patter patter patter……* The sound of her sneakers running down the hallway echoed, then faded into the distance. Left behind in the clubroom were just the two of us—me and Yukinoshita. "……Hah." I exhaled deeply. A wave of exhaustion crashed over my entire body. Not from the work. Something heavier. Something mental. Yukinoshita also resumed her work. She said nothing. She just moved her pen in silence. "Yuigahama-san was pushing herself quite hard, wasn't she." Yukinoshita spoke quietly, without warning. "……Yeah, probably." "I offered to help her, and yet she stubbornly refused. It's as if she believes that shouldering everything alone is the right thing to do." "Her way of being kind has always been like that." The conversation cut off there. After that, we finished the remaining thirty minutes of work and disbanded. Yukinoshita said she'd head home first and left the clubroom. She takes the bus from the west exit back to her high-rise apartment in Kemigawahama—a room in Mihama Ward where she lives alone. It's a thirty-minute trip by train and on foot. I also got ready to leave and put my hand on the clubroom door. That was when I noticed it. A small cloth object had fallen under the desk. A pink, small pouch. A receipt-like piece of paper was sticking out of the zipper. (*This…… is Yuigahama's.*) She must have dropped it when she came here earlier. Maybe it fel

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Episode 4

Name: My Youth Romantic Comedy Is Wrong, As I Expected. IF ~Yukinoshita Asks One More Time~
Author: Novelia

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