Chapter 106: I Hate Nice Girls
The girl sat on the edge of the sidewalk, hugging her knees and tapping away at her phone alone. For a moment, Hachiman didn't know whether he should call out to her or not.
Just as Hachiman was hesitating, the girl was the one who noticed him first.
"Hikki, you're so slow! Everyone already left~"
"Is that so? Sorry, the robot spirit in my body got a bit too excited... By the way, where did they all go?"
"Saizeriya."
Saizeriya was a restaurant chain originating from Chiba. It was affordable and decent quality, making it a hit with everyone, especially students looking to hang out and eat.
After a moment of hesitation, Hachiman asked: "...You didn't go with them?"
Yui said somewhat bashfully, "Ah... well, how should I put it~ I guess you could say I was waiting for Hikki... If I left you here all by yourself, it felt kind of sad, I guess..."
She twiddled her fingers in front of her chest while stealing glances at him.
"..."
Hachiman went silent for a moment, then smiled. "You're a really good person."
"Ah, what? No... I-I'm not like that at all!" Yui waved her hands frantically, her cheeks flushing deep red under the glow of the sunset.
'You really are a good person. You're really so kind...'
Hachiman stared at Yui. There seemed to be a flicker of tears in his eyes. Perhaps it was true that the greater the expectation, the greater the disappointment. When the hidden truth is laid bare, one has to face the naked reality...
Hachiman's tone shifted, rising a pitch. His expression was an ambiguous blur between sadness and joy, yet he forced the corners of his mouth to stay up. He spoke: "Yuigahama, actually, well... how do I say this... ahem, honestly, you don't need to worry about me at all.
Saving your dog was just a coincidence. Besides... even if I hadn't been in that accident, I probably would have ended up a loner anyway after starting high school. So, you don't need to feel guilty at all. Um... it feels a bit weird for me to be the one saying this..."
Hachiman wanted to make his tone sound more cheerful, but the thoughts in his heart only grew more chaotic. Right now, the hand that usually held a sword was trembling inside his pocket; let alone a blade, he probably couldn't even hold a fork steady.
Hearing this, Yui's eyes widened. She looked confused and a bit frightened as she asked tentatively: "Hi... Hikki, do you still remember?"
"I... Komachi told me about it..."
Hachiman lowered his head, not daring to meet Yui's eyes.
"I see... haha, so it was Komachi... hahaha~"
Yui let out a polite, superficial laugh, the kind she used when talking to Miura and the others... No, this sounded even more fake than that.
The palm inside his pocket clenched tight, feeling a surge of resentment, a deep unwillingness. But then, he let it go. Whatever. You can't force what isn't yours... Was this following the "conscience" Sensei talked about? Probably not...
With a sigh, Hachiman spoke once more: "I'm sorry. I didn't think this would end up troubling you... But from now on, you don't have to bother anymore... The reason I'm a loner like this is because of who I am; it has nothing to do with that accident.
You don't need to pity me, and you don't need to feel indebted... If you're only being nice to me out of guilt, please stop."
"..."
A heavy silence fell between them—a silence that felt dead. The sunset on the horizon provided no warmth; instead, it seemed to sap away whatever body heat they had left...
The wind blew through the green grass in the roadside park without making a sound. Unlike trees, where many leaves are part of one great whole, each blade of grass stood alone.
"Hikki, that's not it~ how should I put it? It's not actually like what you think... it's really not like that..."
Yui laughed, but she kept her head down. Hachiman looked up, but he couldn't see her expression.
"It's not like that... not at all... not what you think... I didn't..."
A tiny murmur, accompanied by a sob, reached his ears. Hachiman didn't hear it clearly and was about to speak, but Yui had already snapped her head up. She stared straight at him, her eyes brimming with tears, and cursed in a low voice:
"...Idiot."
Then she turned and ran away. However, after a few meters, her steps grew heavy, and she slowed to a slumped walk.
Hachiman watched her until she vanished from sight. Something cold traced a path down his cheek without him realizing it.
Drip!
A single drop fell onto the stone pavement. Hachiman raised a hand to touch his cheek.
He was...
Crying!
...
'I hate nice girls.
They're like the moon in the night sky; no matter where you go, they follow, yet you can't touch them and you can't master the distance between you.
Just a single sentence, a simple greeting, is enough to get them on your mind. Exchanging a few texts makes your heart skip a beat. If you happen to get a call from them, you'll spend the whole day grinning like an idiot at your phone.
But I know the truth. It's just their kindness. Someone who is kind to me is kind to everyone else. I almost forgot that point...
I'm not slow. I'm actually quite sensitive—sensitive to the point of being allergic. And that's why the allergic reaction flared up.
Whether it's someone who lost a bet and has to confess to me as a punishment, or a fake love letter written by a girl and delivered through a boy... to me, it's all useless!
I'm a veteran fighter who's survived countless battles! When it comes to losing, I'm the greatest... Someone who is used to being alone and has been tested for so long won't make the same mistake twice.
Hoping again and again, being disappointed again and again... at some point, I stopped hoping altogether.
That's why, no matter how much time passes, I will always hate——nice girls!'
...
The next day, fourth period at noon, Physical Education.
Chishima Akishin raised his hand to parry the bamboo sword swinging toward him, lifted his leg, and kicked Hachiman, sending him sprawling to the ground.
"Hikigaya, what is wrong with you today? Your heart is in total disarray!"
Akishin pointed his sword at Hachiman, looking down at him with clear displeasure in his eyes.
"Forgive me, Sensei. I'll fix it..."
Hachiman crawled back up, gripped his shinai, and attacked Akishin again.
Akishin furrowed his brows. He reached out, caught the descending bamboo sword with his hand, and kicked Hachiman to the ground once more.
Mizukawa Masaru and the four others practicing nearby stopped their movements and looked over with concern—even they realized that Hachiman was not in his right mind today.
Akishin tossed his shinai to the ground, staring at Hachiman who was preparing to crawl up again. He asked in a cold voice: "I didn't see you yesterday. What happened during the Workplace Observation?"
"..."
Hachiman didn't answer. His crawling motion hitched for a second before he stood up, picked up his sword, gave a bowing salute to Akishin, and said in a slightly raspy voice: "Sensei, let's continue. I'm fine."
The frown on Akishin's forehead deepened.
"You're not going to tell me?"
"..."
"Take off your Kendo gear!"
After hesitating for two seconds, Hikigaya obeyed the command and stripped off his Kendo armor. Dressed in his regular clothes, he raised his bamboo sword against Akishin.
Mizukawa Masaru and the others watched with bated breath.
Mizukawa swallowed hard and was just about to speak when Akishin moved. A 'Thrust' appeared in front of Hachiman in an instant, and the bamboo sword swung upward!
Clack!
Hachiman's shinai was sent flying, hitting the ceiling above.
Akishin's eyes flickered with a sharp, murderous intent. The sword he had just swung upward was immediately rotated and brought down with immense force.
The violent wind generated by the sword blew back Hachiman's hair. A drop of sweat fell. His pupils constricted sharply and then dilated again. Akishin's bamboo sword stopped dead, perfectly stable, exactly one centimeter above Hachiman's forehead.
"I'm giving you three days. If you still can't stabilize the heart of your sword by then, then I... I'll settle it for you. But when that happens, I'm going to beat you until you end up in the infirmary."
Leaving him with that ultimatum, Akishin placed his shinai back into the cardboard box and left the Kendo club.
Thud!
Only then did Hachiman collapse onto his rear. Even though he had experienced it many times, that moment just now truly made him feel like he was going to die...
As his pupils regained focus, he looked over at the bamboo sword that had fallen several meters away—it had snapped clean in two. He murmured to himself: "Three days... huh?"
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