A Twisted Introvert loner Like Me, Mentally Wrecked One-Sidedly due to Love, Throws Away the Love Letter Sent by the foremost School's Beauty, Leading to an Unwanted Romantic Comedy - v2 Chapter 4: Problems unique to girls 1

Chapter 4: Problems unique to girls 1

The usual place mentioned by Hiiragi is, nine times out of ten, that empty classroom.

If possible, it would be nice if she could just tell me the place straightforwardly instead of being cryptic. This isn’t some familiar bar where you order a drink you know.

While sighing in exasperation, I arrived at the empty classroom.

…I was feeling a bit nervous. Probably because I hadn’t talked to Hiiragi in a while, I was worried on whether the ambience would get really awkward by any chance.

Still, standing around here and not going forward won’t solve anything at all.

I move my slightly sweaty hands and slid open the door.

“—-You’re late. You should come here sooner.”

“Sorry, sorry. I got lost because of your vague and mean ‘usual place’ instructions.”

In the middle of the bare classroom, there were chairs and a desk set up like for a two-person interview. With an addition of an annoyed looking Hiiragi, that was such a familiar sight that made me feel silly for worrying minutes ago. In other words, I felt more at ease.

“When it’s about you and me, there’s only one, ‘usual place,’ that can be. Are you stupid?”

“Well, can’t argue with that.”

I brushed that off lightly and sat down across from Hiiragi.

“So, what did you want to talk about?”

“……”

And soon enough I prompted her to get straight to the point, but instead, Hiiragi fell silent. She just stared at my face, like she had been doing already several times today.

Are we continuing the conversation from LINE here? I guessed that from the get go, but it seems like, that wasn’t it.

“…You know who Ryogoku-kun likes, don’t you?”

“Eh? …Ah, Katase, right?”

“…That, did you say that to anyone else? Or perhaps spread it on the social media?”

“Nope, I didn’t. Besides, in the first place—”

“Wait, you don’t need to say any more.”

As I was about to explain, Hiiragi stopped me with her hand.

“I know you don’t have any friends to tell to, and so you should have no use of that information at all. Also, given you got no friends to begin with, there’s no reason for you to use social media in the first place… that, I understand.”

She perfectly echoed what I was about to say.

Absolutely right. She knows me well enough. Which makes me wonder, “then why did you want to ask me in the first place”, with teary eyes,

I am not even allowed self-depreciation, If it’s not a calculated insult. How else can I describe it?

“Your face doesn’t look guilty for that matter. I was almost certain it wasn’t you, but still I had to check, for a chance just in case… Well, after that ‘no,’ my suspicions turned into confirmation though.”

“Oh, that so. Then, I can’t see the context of our talks at all though?”

“…The rumour is spreading, rapidly.”

“Rumour? That thing where Ryogoku likes Katase?”

“Yes.”

I didn’t understand why Hiiragi looked so serious about it at all.

They say that the rumours walk even faster than the health-conscious old folks who do and take their morning walks quite seriously. They say rumours walk alone and fast, especially more when it’s comes to romance.

Maybe Ryogoku told a friend in secret, and it spread, or someone picked up on his behaviour and went for it. Both are very common and are highly likely.

Maybe that is why, I couldn’t help but find it strange that Hiiragi took it so seriously.

“… What’s the big deal about it,”

Accurately reading my mind, Hiiragi sighed and said it out loud.

“Well, yeah, in short that is it. Keeping aside whether it’s true or not, rumours spreading is a rather common occurrence.”

“…But as far as I know, the only ones who knew about this were you and me.”

“As far as you know, right? Who knows the reality… Don’t tell me, you’re not going to ask help from me on tracking down the source now, are you?”

“I wouldn’t ask that! Or rather, I mean, I have the same opinion as you… I’m curious about the source, but it’s not realistic to pinpoint it. The problem at hand is not that —.”

There, she paused and looked me in the eye.

“The fact that Sumire found out about it.”

“…Haaah.”

And so, what about it?

That was still my internal reaction.

Given from Hiiragi demeanour, the fact that Tachibana knowing about it = the real issue; I understood that thing now.

But why is that a problem in the first place? I couldn’t help but not quite grasp the significance behind that at all.