Chapter 188: Yukinoshita Yukino
"I apologize for almost hitting you both just now. If necessary, please allow me to take you to the hospital for a physical examination."
The cold, elegant girl spoke.
"Ah~ I'm fine, thanks to this guy's protection.
Oh, that's right! Hey, are you okay?" The pink-haired girl looked at Hikigaya with an expression full of anxiety.
"I'm fine as well.
Besides, in terms of responsibility, your car was driving normally, and you were just a passenger. It has nothing to do with you, so there's no need to apologize."
Hikigaya spoke the plain truth in a serious tone.
The cold girl's expression faltered; she seemingly hadn't expected him to say something so objectively correct.
"The dog owner is entirely at fault!
So the person who should be apologizing is you." Hikigaya turned his spearhead toward the pink-haired girl beside him.
"Ah~ Right, I'm sorry! It's all my fault for not holding the leash properly! I've caused you all trouble!!" The pink-haired girl bowed sincerely in apology: "I am truly very sorry!!!"
"..." Now it was Hikigaya's turn to be stunned. Recognizing one's mistake and admitting it should be a matter of course, but in reality, very few people can actually do it.
Especially in traffic accidents, pedestrians often use their status as the "vulnerable group" to excuse their own liability.
This pink-haired girl might look like she wasn't the brightest, but her moral compass was unexpectedly upright!
"My, my~ I didn't expect these two students to be so open-minded.
It seems I was measuring the heart of a gentleman with the mind of a scoundrel."
A woman a few years older, looking like a university student, stepped out of the Bentley. Her features bore some resemblance to the cold girl, but her figure was vastly different.
"....?" The pink-haired girl looked blank, clearly not understanding the idiom.
Hikigaya, however, understood perfectly. This woman was simply worried they would be unreasonable and harass them as the car owners.
That was why she had sent the driver down first to handle it, keeping the cold girl from making an appearance.
"I am Yukinoshita Yukino, a first-year in Class J at Sobu High." The cold girl, Yukinoshita Yukino, seemed to soften her gaze slightly as she looked at the two of them.
"I'm Yuigahama Yui from Class 1-F at Sobu High. Pleased to meet you!" Yuigahama Yui's eyes lit up; she seemed to hold a great deal of admiration for the Yukinoshita Yukino in front of her.
"Hikigaya Hachiman, Class 1-D, Advanced Nurturing High School." Seeing the situation, Hikigaya also offered his name. At the same time, he faintly remembered the name "Yukinoshita Yukino"—had he heard it somewhere before?
"Advanced Nurturing?" Yuigahama Yui blinked, looking thoughtful.
"Eh? Do we have a school like that in Chiba?"
"From Tokyo?
Are you the visiting student for today's club exchange?" Yukinoshita Yukino looked surprised.
"Wait..." The university-aged woman's expression changed slightly, and the way she looked at Hikigaya became different. From her reaction, she clearly knew some rumors regarding Advanced Nurturing.
Noticing this, Hikigaya couldn't help but size her up for a few moments.
Since Advanced Nurturing implemented a strictly closed-off policy, for her to know any information meant her family background was likely not simple.
"Oh my~ So you're a top student from Advanced Nurturing. No wonder you're so outstanding!" The woman familiarly draped an arm over Hikigaya's shoulder and said with a grin, "I almost forgot to introduce myself. My name is Yukinoshita Haruno, Yukino-chan's older sister~"
"Hikigaya-kun can call me 'Onee-san' too, you know~~"
'Hypocrisy. A mask.'
Hikigaya saw right through the woman named Yukinoshita Haruno; her inner self was definitely not as warm as her exterior suggested.
She was similar to Kushida Kikyo, but her level of disguise was significantly higher!
"Hello, Haruno-senpai," Hikigaya replied neutrally.
'As expected of a student from that school; his poise really is different!'
Yukinoshita Haruno narrowed her eyes, intending to probe further.
"Sister, please do not harass our guest from another school!" Yukinoshita Yukino frowned. "Don't you think it's very presumptuous to strike up a conversation like that?"
"How am I being presumptuous?
This is called a warm welcome~~"
Yukinoshita Haruno voiced her protest and turned back to him: "Right, Hikigaya-kun?"
"No, I'm sorry.
I'm a thin-skinned person; I'm not used to dealing with the passion of strangers."
Hikigaya didn't want to communicate any further with this woman who looked like a magnet for trouble.
"Wait...?" The smile on Yukinoshita Haruno's face froze. She couldn't help but curse inwardly: 'This brat, does he even know how to hold a conversation? Also, you publicly pointed out a girl's fault—you call that being 'thin-skinned'?'
Seeing this, Yukinoshita Yukino's lips curled up into a subtle, upward arc. She felt even more curious about Hikigaya.
After all, men who could make her sister suffer a setback were rare!
"If there's nothing else, I'll take my leave." Hikigaya decisively pulled away.
"Wait, Hikigaya-kun... I haven't thanked you properly yet."
Yuigahama Yui toyed with the ends of her hair, looking somewhat shy as she said, "My house is nearby. If you don't mind, would you like to come over for breakfast and then... go to school together?"
"Repaying a debt of gratitude is only logical," Yukinoshita Yukino nodded.
"Sigh~ Yukino-chan, it seems you really don't understand anything at all."
Yukinoshita Haruno sighed. In her view, this Yuigahama definitely had her own little motives; while it hadn't reached the level of being "calculating" yet, she was certainly not as ditzy as she appeared on the surface.
"No thanks. I still have to regroup with my team."
Hikigaya didn't overthink it at all, treating it as mere politeness from Yuigahama.
With that, they all went their separate ways.
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7:50 AM.
The Advanced Nurturing group gathered and headed toward the gates of Sobu High. A group of people was waiting for them at the entrance. The person in the lead was a familiar face—a sunny, handsome blonde boy.
"Welcome to Sobu High. I am Hayama Hayato, the one responsible for receiving you."
Captain Mutou was also a talkative person; he stepped forward to greet him, and the two had a very harmonious conversation. The members of the Martial Arts Club, under the warm hospitality of the Sobu High students, walked into the campus one by one.
Hikigaya followed at the very back of the group, trying his best to lower his presence. But he was still spotted.
"Hikigaya! It's really you?"
Hayama Hayato looked at him with an expression of pure shock.
In his memory, Hikigaya was an eccentric, gloomy boy who never interacted with anyone. He never imagined that the guy would actually participate in club activities!
"What? Hayama-kun knows Hikigaya?"
Captain Mutou looked surprised.
"Yes, we were in the same middle school."
A complex look flashed through Hayama Hayato's eyes.
As the "nice guy" of the class, he had tried many times to mediate the conflicts between Hikigaya and the other students, but without exception, they had all ended in failure.
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