Chapter 39: Compliant Ticket
It was the beginning of the week. An uneventful Monday.
Yuuki, who came to school alone, as usual, quietly passed through the bustle of the room without interacting with anyone and arrived at his seat.
I put my bag on the desk quietly and pulled out the chair, and perhaps in response to the sound, Yui, who was playing with her cell phone next to me, glanced at me and smiled faintly.
“Good morning.”
“…Good morning.”
When he returned the greeting, Yuuki sat down his seat in silence and took out a book from his bag.
Then, after a short pause, Yui’s voice came from his side.
“Hey, hey, what are you reading?”
“A book.”
Yuuki answered without looking at her.
After another short pause, when he was feeling a silent pressure from next to him, Yui suddenly leaned forward.
“Wait.”
“Yes?”
“Why are you resetting?”
“Reset?”
When I raised my face, I saw Yui looking at me with a sour face.
It seemed that she was blaming me or something, and when I tilted my head uncomprehendingly,
“Well, you know, a lot of things happened last week. I thought that the distance between us got shorter. How did that reset… or rather, get worse?”
“I see.”
“No, you don’t see.”
I understood about half the story because the other half went through one ear and passed through the other, so I said, “I see”.
I thought she would back off if I just agreed appropriately, but she was surprisingly persistent.
From my experience, it was exhausting to deal with Yui in the morning. If I dealt with her first thing in the morning at the start of the week, the rest of the week is tough.
So, I’m going to complain about my health condition.
“My body is getting tired… it feels like I’m running around looking for Mizuna right now.”
“You sound like a middle-aged man.”
“I also went to the park that day.”
“You were just sleeping.”
“My neck hurts.”
“Sorry for having a tough lap.”
“No, but Yui’s lap pillow…”
As I said that, Yui held up her index finger in front of her face with surprising vigor.
“You’re talking too loud!”
You’re voice is so much louder though.
In fact, some of the people around us were looking over because of her voice.
Yui, with a slight blush, cleared her throat and started messing with her cell phone with a casual voice.
But, as if to say that this was my fault, she sent glances at me.
(Can’t help it…)
The Seatmate Killer is having a rough day again.
You can’t help but to empathize with her.
Yuuki gave her a warm look.
“How are you? Are your shoulders or neck okay?”
“It’s not like this is a conversation between two men…”
Yui showed a puzzled expression, and perhaps she was happy he talked to her, but she quickly turned her body around again to look at Yuuki’s hand.
“What book are you reading today?”
“Dialogue with God.”
“You’re still as punchy as ever. Is it interesting?”
“It’s tough to read.”
This was recommended by my father, who came back from a long business trip yesterday to check on me.
By the way, my father is on a mandatory schedule to stay overnight and then take the bullet train back to the other side of the ocuntry.
When we parted, he blurted out that he wouldn’t be able to come back until the week after next week, but was a little depressed when Mizuna said, “If you’re having a tough time, you don’t have to bother.”
“I have a tests until next weekend, can I afford it?”
“Fu~”
“…What did you laugh at? Just now.”
“Smiling smile.”1
“You’re hard to understand.”
Smile, (even if your test scores are bad).
That was what I meant, but it could have been more confusing.
This final exam is so bad that I don’t want to look directly at it.
“How good is Yuuki-kun’s head, really? What was your total score for last midterm?”
“I forgot.”
“What was the best you got?”
“I forgot.”
“If you don’t want to talk to me, you can be honest.”
I just told you that I forgot twice.
“No, I mean, I really forgot.”
“So what’s your favorite subject then, Yuuki-kun?”
“Hmmm, math.”
“That’s strange. Mine is the literary arts class.”
“I’m good at math but I don’t like it that much, I prefer literary arts. I can see right through an author’s feelings.”
“I don’t think there’s really that many problems where you have to think about the author’s feelings. Did you pinpoint that and choose a literary arts course? I mean, how do you see through their feelings? To begin with, Yuuki-kun seems bad at that kind of thing.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means what it means.”
Yui pinched me with a straight face. Apparently, she wasn’t giving any more hints.
And now she suddenly grinned.
“Ah~, I get it. You don’t want to tell me because you scored too badly.”
“Not really. I got a 90 in math.”
“So you do remember.”
“I just remembered. What score did you get in math?”
“Yui-chan got 92 in English!”
“I’m talking about math.”
“Massimatics!”
She replied in English, but didn’t want to say her score. 2
And as this topic was already over, when I tried to look back at my book,
“All right, let’s see with the next test.”
I turned my head gingerly once again.
This game was played on top of the game to make me fall in love with her.
For a moment, it felt like that… but I decided to accept Yui”s words without any denial, and nodded lightly.
“Okay.”
“Didn’t you look really uncomfortable for a second?”
“No, I didn’t.”
Perseverance and persistence.
Whether or not she knew Yuuki’s thoughts, Yui smiled mischievously and tilted her head.
“So if you win, what do you want?”
“Why would you ask me that?”
“If I won, I wanted you to do something for me.”
“What? How about a shoulder massage?”
“Is it gentle?”
“Shoulder massage ticket?”
“No.”
“So what do you want?”
“Well~, that’s… for exmaple~…”
Yui looked up at the ceiling, crossed her arms, and narrowed her eyes.
I wondered what she was thinking, and before long, her cheeks loosened.
“Hmm~ well then… if it’s a ticket, then maybe a ticket for you to be compliant?”
“Meaning?”
“I’m gonna ask for anything.”
I wondered what she was going to say.
I don’t know if it’s fun to make people do your bidding, but she has a very warped mind.
“Then if I win… Yui will have a change of heart.”
“What do you mean?”
“Alright, that’s what I want.”
“That’s so irresponsible. Not the kind that comes with Inari Sushi, mind you.”
“Yes, yes, yes, I understand,” said Yuuki, and Yui persistently reminded him.
“Have you thought about it? You’re at my mercy, okay? You have to do whatever I want, okay? I’m not gonna lose!”
“It’s not legally binding in any way.”
“I don’t like the idea that you can just refuse me like that.”
Apparently, she’s seen through me.
It was going to get messy and loud, so I’ll talk about it for the time being.
“But in any case, I’m not as good as Yui. That’s a level I don’t want to touch on.”
“you said it. I have a secret weapon over here, you know.”
“Don’t cheat, okay?”
“No, I won’t.”
As soon as he said that, Yui eagerly started fiddling with her phone.
When it came to her secret weapon, it doesn’t seem that she has anything inside information… of course.
Eventually, Yui, who seemed to have finished whatever she was doing, looked up and smiled fearlessly.
“Kukuku, I’ve basically won… You’d better practice your one-liners while you’re at it.”
“Fu, Yui had better be careful…”
“What do you think I’m doing…?”
Thus began the quiet battle of checks and balances.