Chapter 42

Why are you crying?

Saori doesn't cry. Does crying mean you're normal?

............

In the morning, the clock in the classroom pointed to half past nine.

A sailor-uniformed girl with a red backpack stood at the door, raising her reddened hand to knock.

The teacher's lecture stopped abruptly. After a few seconds, the door in front of the girl suddenly swung open with a bang.

"Hasegawa Saori! What excuse do you have for being late again today?"

"Saori's..."

Her bike broke down...

Before she could finish, the teacher, annoyed by her indifferent expression, slapped the test paper onto her shoulder and scolded,

"Take your test paper and go write your reflection outside! Then come back!"

Bang!

The door slammed shut again, the gust stirring the girl's long hair by her ear...

Saori blinked her clear eyes, stood still for two seconds, then turned to the windowsill. Habitually, she took out paper and pen, placed the 13-point test paper at the bottom, and began writing her reflection.

What should she write about?

Should she describe how she carried her bike and ran here?

Hasegawa Saori didn't understand yet, but it seemed someone else knew better.

"Are you an idiot?"

In the bathroom, Saori looked at the group gathered around her, tilting her head in confusion, her clear eyes filled with doubt.

"Saori isn't an idiot."

"Are you? You only scored thirteen points. If that's not idiocy, what is?"

"You are the idiot."

The girl in the middle pulled out her phone to record and urged,

"Say you're an idiot."

"Saori isn't..."

"I told you to say it! Don't you understand human speech? Stupid pig!"

Impatient now, the girl glared fiercely at Saori and raised her hand to slap her face.

But just as her hand rose, a sharp pain shot through her back, and she uncontrollably crashed into the wall.

Holding her waist, she turned her head in pain, about to curse.

Smack!

An egg splattered across her face.

"Now you look even more like an idiot."

Before the stunned girls could react, Shiratori Kiyoya appeared, his face dark. He grabbed the hose, slung it over his waist, and twisted the tap.

"I'll wash some sense into you!"

Bang!

A fist-thick stream of water shot out, spraying the girls' faces.

The cold water hit their skin, instantly sobering them up. Like mother hens, they flapped and screamed, rushing out of the bathroom.

Creak.

Turning off the tap again, Kiyoya tossed the hose aside, stepped in front of Saori, and seeing her face also soaked, took out a tissue and handed it to her, saying,

"Wipe it off."

Saori looked up blankly, staring at him without much reaction.

Was she just scared?

Kiyoya frowned, wiped the water off her face, took off his jacket, and draped it over her shoulders. His voice softened as he comforted,

"If you're sad, it's better to cry it out."

Saori glanced at the jacket on her shoulders, tilted her head, and asked in confusion,

"Why... cry?"

Kiyoya was stunned, his gaze meeting her pure, clear eyes. He asked in puzzlement,

"Aren't you sad?"

"Sad? What's that?"

"Is Saori only normal if she cries?"

Hearing this, Kiyoya opened his mouth, studied her expression carefully.

Seeing she wasn't being sarcastic or pretending to be strong, he rubbed his brow and sighed with a complicated look,

"So, you're just a fool..."

"A fool? Saori isn't a fool either."

Saori didn't know what sadness was, but she was very sure of her three favorite things:

Eating, sleeping, and kendo.

If she could eat the meals Kiyoya made, practice kendo with him, and eventually marry him and be together forever, nothing else mattered.

So, she wouldn't care about anything else and definitely wouldn't cry over it.

But if it were Kiyoya, just meeting someone would make him so happy he'd cry...

"Saori's back."

Kiyoya was stunned seeing tears on Saori's face.

Why did every girl who met him end up crying?

He felt a headache coming on, but suddenly understood why Fujiyama Takao begged him to come.

No one knew better how strong Saori was in kendo. If she wanted, probably no one in the entire kendo club could stop her.

Doing all this just to meet him—typical of her reckless personality, acting without thinking of consequences...

But then, more questions flooded his mind.

Why was she here? How did she know he was at H University? What exactly did she want today?

Kiyoya frowned, looking at the girl before him with a complicated expression. He reached out to wipe away her tears and asked softly,

"Saori, why are you here?"

Seeing Kiyoya's hand on her face, Saori paused, then grabbed it tightly, blinking her clear eyes,

"Because I wanted to see Kiyoya, so I came."

"..."

Kiyoya opened his mouth, looked at the hand she held, and tried to pull it away.

But no matter how hard he tugged, it wouldn't budge, as if caught in a hydraulic press. His wrist even hurt a little. Helpless, he asked,

"I mean, why are you in Tokyo? Aren't you supposed to be studying in Kyoto?"

Saori's eyes darted as if thinking, then brightened,

"Because Kiyoya is in Tokyo, so I'm in Tokyo."

"..."

What a fool.

Kiyoya almost laughed at her, about to ask what she planned to do, when Fujiyama Takao came out from the changing room and nudged his shoulder,

"Kiyoya, what are you doing standing by the door..."

As soon as he said this, Fujiyama saw Saori holding Kiyoya's hand and was momentarily stunned.

Then realizing what was going on, he smirked knowingly and cleared his throat,

"Uh, maybe you two should finish up before...?"

"Everyone's waiting..."

"..."

Kiyoya glanced at him, tried again to pull his hand free from Saori's grip, but it was useless.

"Saori, let go."

"If I let go, won't you run away?"

"Where would I run to now?"

Saori said "Oh," but still didn't loosen her grip.

Kiyoya sighed deeply, looking at Fujiyama,

"I can't fight. I forfeit."

What a joke.

Fight Hasegawa Saori?

Never mind if he could win; even if he gave his all, he couldn't satisfy her.

Back in first year of high school, he couldn't last more than a few moves against her. Now that he was a freshman in university, who knew how much she'd grown?

Such a fight was destined for defeat and utterly meaningless.

When he heard that, Fujiyama Takao's face showed a look of surprise. He couldn't help blurting out,

"Huh? Forfeit? I thought this was just one of your little kinky games..."

What the hell kind of kinky game.

Shiratori Kiyoya was just about to explain that there was absolutely nothing going on between him and her, when he suddenly saw a girl jogging down the corridor toward them.

Yokoyama Miyu ran up to the three of them. She glanced at the girl in front of her and asked,

"Saori, what are you doing here?"

Then, noticing the hands the two of them were holding, she frowned in confusion.

"What's going on? Why aren't you guys on stage yet?"

Before Shiratori Kiyoya could say anything, Fujiyama Takao, standing off to the side, spoke up.

"Uh, Shiratori-kun's planning to forfeit."

"Huh? Forfeit? Why? Didn't you two agree on this already?"

Fujiyama gave Shiratori Kiyoya a helpless look and shrugged.

"I just said I'd go get Shiratori-kun. I never said he had to compete. I'm not in any position to make that decision for him. And even if he goes on stage, forfeiting still ends in the same result, right?"

"..."

Yokoyama Miyu opened her mouth but didn't know what to say. After a moment, she turned to the girl beside her.

"Saori, you..."

"Kiyoya, are you going to turn me down again?"

Hasegawa Saori suddenly let go of Shiratori Kiyoya's right hand and took a step forward. Her clear eyes locked onto his. In a soft voice, she said,

"I spent my birthday alone the year before last, and the year before that, and this year too..."

"The wishes I made never came true."

"Just think of this as the one request of a lifetime. Is that okay, Kiyoya?"

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