When I Picked Up A Stunningly Gorgeous Downer-Type Beauty In Front Of The Entrance. - Chapter 60: After School, Alone With A Female Classmate In The Classroom, She Confesses Her Feelings To Me (lie).

After School, Alone With A Female Classmate In The Classroom, She Confesses Her Feelings To Me (lie).

Of course, it wasn’t just at home.

I realized only now that even at school, I mostly talked to Sajou-san.

We walked to school together.

Sat next to each other in class.

She shared her homemade lunch with me, and we ate side by side.

In both my private life and at school, I spent almost all my time with Sajou-san.

No wonder I felt so lonely when she wasn’t around. It seemed almost like an outsider’s perspective.

“Is this youth? Aoharu, maybe?”

[TL: “Aoharu” is a kun reading of the word “seishun” (youth).

Youth means “the younger generation full of dreams and hopes.”

Similarly, “Aoharu” is used to describe memories that can only be experienced during one’s teens and early twenties, such as romance between students, club activities, and studying.

It is fine to think of Aoharu and Seishun as basically having the same meaning, but Aoharu has a stronger connotation of “innocence, freshness, and adolescence.]

It seemed like she guessed I was thinking about Sajou-san, judging by the atmosphere.

She laughed, covering her mouth in an exaggerated, teasing manner.

My temple throbbed. I shot a glare at my classmate.

“Shut up. Didn’t you say you wouldn’t tease me anymore?”

The words that came out were sharper than I intended.

Hearing my own voice, I felt a bit guilty. With everything going on with Sajou-san, I realized I was more on edge than I thought.

Would she get mad? I wondered, but the girl in front of me just kept her cheerful smile, and I felt relieved.

“Well, you were here in the classroom looking all down and needy, right? So I thought I should say something.”

“Who are you calling needy?”

I paused and thought for a moment. “Was it that obvious?” I asked.

“You looked like you got dumped by your girlfriend,” she replied, and my face burned with embarrassment.

Was I really that visibly down? Realizing how others saw me made me want to cry. Not metaphorically—my face felt like it was on fire. I wanted to lock myself in my room and play retro games forever.

But, well.

Even so, she was the only one who noticed and approached me.

She might seem like she’s messing around, but maybe she’s more observant than I thought.

I felt a slight, very slight sense of admiration, only for her to nudge my shoulder with her elbow.

“What’s with that face? Tell me what you’re thinking. Come on, spit it out!”

“Annoying.”

Any admiration I felt vanished in less than ten seconds, replaced by irritation.

Does she need to joke around to survive, this girl?

She nudged me with her elbow, which I swatted away with a “Cut it out,” eliciting a strange sound from her. Was that a seal?

“Oh? Oh? Are you sure you want to do that? Seems like Hinata -kun doesn’t understand the situation here.”

“…I don’t get what you mean.”

Her teasing tone and grinning face were annoying.

Raising her index finger, she taunted me.

“Alone with a girl in the classroom after school. Something is bound to happen…”

“Nothing is going to happen.”

Before I knew it, we were the only two left in the classroom.

The sun was setting even further, about to disappear beyond the horizon.

The dusk setting lent a lonely yet magical atmosphere to the classroom.

A boy and a girl alone in a twilight classroom.

It’s a cliché scenario, but it would be perfect. If only it wasn’t me and her.

As I looked at her with skeptical eyes, she blushed slightly.

She clasped her hands behind her back, tapping the floor nervously with her toes.

She glanced at me with slightly moist eyes, opened her lips with a somewhat feverish expression, and said,

“Hinata-kun… no, Rihito-kun. Actually, I’ve always liked you—”

“Yeah, let’s not do this.”

I abruptly cut off the after-school confession scenario.

“Why not?” she whined, her sweetly embarrassing atmosphere dissipated, but I was the one confused here.

“It’s just gross.”

I rubbed my arm, feeling goosebumps.

“You’re so mean! What do you think a girl’s confession is?”

“It’s not like you mean it.”

“True.”

Her nonchalant response was irritating in its own way.

“Well, now you understand the situation, right, Hinata-kun?”

“…Ugh.”

I let out a disinterested sigh.

I had no idea what she was trying to say. When I asked, “So, what?” indifferently, she gave me a mischievous smile.

“I’m going to tell your fiancée that you were alone in the classroom after school and got a confession.”

“Please, stop that!”

I immediately surrendered to her merciless mental attack.

What kind of devil thinks like this?

Mixing just enough truth into her mischief made it all the more malicious.

Even if she tattled to Sajou-san, she would probably respond with a seemingly indifferent, “…I see,” and wouldn’t believe it.

But she might still feel bothered by it, and the thought of having an awkward, silent dinner was terrifying. We didn’t talk much usually, but I didn’t want to ruin the comfortable atmosphere.

“Consider this a lesson to never cross me again! Mwahaha!”

“Ugh…”

She was using her femininity as a weapon.

Unlike Sajou-san, she had a flat chest, so she really had no right to act all high and mighty.

Boys are truly weak against this kind of thing. Even if it was just a joke, it felt like it took years off my life.

I sighed and decided to correct her.

“By the way, she’s not my fiancée.”

“…What?”

She stopped dead in her tracks, her eyes going wide.

No, really, she isn’t.

“She’s not my fiancée.”

“…? Come on, don’t try to hide your embarrassment; it’s not a good look,” she teased, beckoning me with a wifely air.

The way she spoke made it clear she thought I was joking.

Honestly, I couldn’t tell if she was serious or not, but the last thing I needed was for rumors about having a fiancée spreading, so I needed to set the record straight.

“She’s not my fiancée.”

“But… wait, really?”

Her eyes darted around in confusion, clearly taken aback.

She looked around the classroom to make sure we were alone and then leaned in, whispering with a hand to her cheek.

“…But you’re living together, right?”

How does she know that?