Chapter 157 Fujiharu's Secret - Part 2
"Ayato, I can't really tell, but do you like to solve puzzles?"
"It's not exactly a hobby of mine."
Suddenly, Fujiharu began to take off her shirt.
...
"What are you doing."
Her pale skin leaked through the bottom of her loose t-shirt as she flipped it over her head. Flashing before my eyes, she slipped the shirt off of her body and placed it beside her on the bed.
Underneath was a bright blue sports bra, fittingly suited to her hair colour. Regardless, it was something that wasn't exactly strongly erotic.
"Are you an exhibitionist."
Her face went a little red, but she retained her composure.
"You'll see why I wanted you to see this~."
It was quite awkward. I wasn't sure whether or not I was supposed to look away.
She turned around and showed me something that appeared to be tattooed to her side.
It was rather small, but the word was clear.
—Hime
It was a word that meant 'princess'.
"Do you recognise this name?"
I guess it wasn't just her branding herself as a princess. As for people named 'Hime', no one specifically came to mind.
"Not particularly."
She laughed a little and quickly put her shirt back on.
"Do you have any theories as to why I've got that tattooed on my body?"
I looked up at her.
"I don't have any idea."
She seemed down. Walking to her cupboard, she turned her back to me.
"Oh well, it was worth a try."
"What do you mean."
She did a little twirl before leaning against the wall.
"The truth is, I also don't know why this name is tattooed on me."
Thinking back, the ink did appear very-slightly distorted, it had the appearance that it may have existed there for quite a long time, maybe when she was very young. It would explain why she didn't know why it was there.
"How do you know that it's a name?"
She looked up at thought for a moment.
"I don't know. I guess that's just what I've always thought. I suppose it could also just be the word 'princess'."
Well, that indeed added to the confusion.
...
In truth, as I sat in her room, I did still wonder why she tried to make those boys fall in love with her. There was something distinctly unusual with her personality. She's clearly acknowledged that she does it on purpose.
It could all just be an attention-seeking problem. That was always my initial thought.
But seeing her, it didn't seem to add up.
"Ayato, are you hungry?"
I wasn't really.
"Not really."
She took out her phone and began typing something.
"Now that I've got you in my room, we should do something fun."
I stopped her.
!#$*&%^$&#*???
"Fujiharu."
The atmosphere went tense again.
"We've talked a lot about my thoughts. How about you? What's your honest opinion of me."
She looked down at me.
"What do you mean?"
"I don't suppose you actually like me romantically."
I seemed to have created a weird mood.
"Well... you can't just ask a girl to state her feelings like that~!"
Her fa?ade seemed to have popped up again. I didn't care about that side of her. I was much more interested in the side of her that she seemed to have been hiding all her life.
I got up and walked toward her.
"You don't like me, Fujiharu."
"W-why would you say that, Ayato?"
"Because, I'm a bad person, and you should be able to tell."
...
"More importantly, you should have no reason to like me."
She had a weird expression on her face.
"Ayato? What are you trying to say?"
"I'm just trying my best to find out who the real you really is—that's all."
She looked away.
"Don't tell me you've begun to develop a crush on me~. After all this time?"
Why was she hiding now of all times.
It didn't make sense.
"Do you like me, Fujiharu?"
She didn't look at me.
"Well... I do like you."
That's not what I wanted to know. That's not the person I wanted to hear it from.
I took a breath.
I guess there wasn't really a point in pressing it any further. It was starting to get a little stuffy in the room anyways. I began making my way to her door.
"Anyways, I don't want to overstay my welcome. I'll see you later."
She didn't reply.
? ───────────────── ?
As I was walking through the courtyard, back towards the boys' dormitories, I was suddenly approached by a first-year.
He was a short, frail-looking individual with long, curly brown hair. I had never seen him before, so I was surprised that he began talking to me out of the blue.
"You're Mizuhara, right?"
"Yeah, that's me."
"Thank goodness, someone was looking for you!"
Looking for me?
"Who's looking for me."
"My friend, he said that you were really good at chess."
Where was this coming from?
"What does he want me for."
"He's been challenged to chess on the Duel app, and he's only got one day to prepare! Please, there's a lot on the line."
I continued to walk away.
"I'm not interested."
"Please, please! You won the chess tournament, didn't you?"
"I'm busy."
I couldn't be bothered dealing with whatever this was. It sounded like a hassle with not much in return. I just wanted to go back to my room and read.
"Here! I'll give you 2000 points!"
I still didn't care.
All of a sudden, I heard another voice behind me. This time, it was a much calmer, softer and gentler voice.
"Mizuhara-senpai, don't you think you should help them out~?"
It was Matsuoka Rei's voice.
"As I said, I'm not interested."
"Haa, you're so cold~!"
It seemed that her accent was gone.
"You're a really good actor, Matsuoka."
"Aw, thank you~!"
I wonder why everyone around me was a liar. Although, that wasn't exactly right. Lying is something built into human nature. Some people are just able to get better results out of it than others. And it was true that Matsuoka-san was really good at acting.
"Did you want something from me?"
"Nope~ I was just walking by, that's all."
"I'll be on my way then."
"You might want to stay."
...
"Why's that."
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