A few days after helping Kawasaki find a new job, Tadayana was, as usual, on the train home at night.
Yuigahama had been saying for the past few days that their workplace visit program was about to begin, so Tadayana had deliberately avoided messaging her and bothering her lately. Unless Yuigahama sent her something first, and she happened to be able to reply right away.
As for whether Yukinoshita had ever messaged her in private, the answer was no.
It seemed Yukinoshita was the kind of person who preferred to say everything face-to-face. Though every now and then, she would send over a message or two about ways of thinking and methods.
At that moment, Tadayana was on the train. Her phone gave a little chime, and when she lit up the screen, she saw a message from Yuigahama:
[Yuigahama]: Tadayanan, Hikki… Hikki doesn’t want to be friends with me anymore… what do I do…
What did that mean? Not friends anymore?
Tadayana, who already knew Yuigahama probably liked Hikigaya, naturally understood what kind of state she was in right now.
So this was what they called heartbreak?
No, no, no. It didn’t even count as heartbreak.
At most, it was a falling-out between friends.
That sounded a little more proper, at least.
[Tadayana]: That does sound pretty rough. But don’t be too upset. Tell me what happened and let’s see if there’s still any way to patch things up.
…
By the time Tadayana checked her phone again after sending that message, it was already nearly bedtime.
And Yuigahama had sent a wall of text.
From top to bottom, she had written out what she believed was the full sequence of events.
The gist of it was that after the workplace visit program ended today, she had gone to find Hikigaya in private because she wanted to talk to him. But Hikigaya had laid everything out, saying he knew who Yuigahama was and why she had approached him in the first place.
That, in turn, led back to something that had happened a long time ago.
She and Hikigaya had actually met on the very first day of school. That day, she had been walking her dog on the way to school when it slipped its leash and ran off. Hikigaya just happened to be passing by on his bike and saved the dog from getting hit by a car. The price of that was that he got struck instead, suffered a fracture on the spot, and spent a month in the hospital.
One detail in all of this was particularly thought-provoking.
Yuigahama had mentioned that the car which hit Hikigaya had belonged to Yukinoshita’s family.
And at the time, Yukinoshita herself had been sitting in the back seat.
“…Uh.”
Tadayana truly had nothing to say to that.
It was too much of a coincidence.
It was practically as if fate had played some kind of joke on those three.
Given Hikigaya’s twisted personality and way of doing things, Tadayana replied:
[Tadayana]: So… the gloomy guy thinks you only became friends with him and treated him kindly out of guilt?
[Yuigahama]: Yeah. Hikki seems way too hung up on that… seriously… I don’t get it… I have no idea how to talk to him anymore.
[Tadayana]: I see. Then this really isn’t something you can solve through effort alone. This involves the way he understands things. Considering all his past behavior, I think he’ll probably make up with you on his own later. Right now he’s just being awkward because of his personality.
[Yuigahama]: Really?
[Tadayana]: Of course. Have I ever lied to you?
[Yuigahama]: True… Tadayanan, you’re always right. You’ve never been wrong. Mm, I believe you. Thank you. I feel a lot better now.
After closing the chat, Tadayana’s somewhat helpless expression reflected back at her from the darkened phone screen.
She wasn’t always right.
Everyone made mistakes sometimes, let alone someone like her, who was always fumbling her way forward by trial and error.
And besides, why had she just said all that to comfort Yuigahama against her own better judgment?
She didn’t know.
Maybe it was simply because she wanted her friend to feel better.
Or maybe she just wanted to wait for time to smooth over that somewhat childish sorrow people called high school heartbreak.
She didn’t know.
As for stepping in on her own to interfere in someone else’s friendship, that was something she definitely couldn’t do.
So Tadayana’s choice was simple: unless the person in question went to the Service Club and asked Yukinoshita to intervene, she had no intention of offering advice or trying to reconcile them herself.
…
A new morning arrived.
On the way to school, Tadayana and Isshiki ran into Yuigahama.
“Oh… morning, Tadayanan. And Isshiki-chan too.”
Yuigahama sounded completely drained.
“Morning.”
The moment she greeted her, Isshiki immediately noticed it. She tugged Tadayana aside and started whispering in the private two-person channel.
“How weird. Why does this woman look like she’s completely lost the will to live? Did something huge happen?”
“Mm. But don’t bring anything up.”
After Tadayana gave those crisp, quiet instructions, Isshiki ended the internal voice chat.
“Wanna head to school together?”
“Mm.”
“Oh, right. I heard the shopping district is running a promotion lately. Everything in the designated area is half off. Are you planning to go, senpai?”
“No, not at all. Thanks.”
Isshiki started signing to Tadayana.
[Looks like that didn’t work.]
Tadayana responded one-handed in sign language.
[Watch me.]
“Yui.”
“?? Huh?? What is it, Tadayanan? Why’d you suddenly call me by my name? Do you need something?”
“Yes. There’s something very important I want to tell you, Yui.”
“W-What is it??”
“The truth is… I’ve already fallen for you.”
Tadayana, who had originally meant to say I know your mother, and I’m on pretty good terms with her, hurriedly changed course.
At a moment like this, bringing up the other girl’s mother really would have been kind of weird.
“Wha— You can’t just do that!”
Isshiki suddenly blurted out.
“Don’t tell me your grand plan is just saying you like every girl you have a favorable impression of? Tadayana, you idiot! At this rate, you’re going to end up liking every pretty girl in all of Japan. The fact that I actually expected some grand theory from you just now makes me the real idiot.”
With that, Isshiki ran off before Tadayana could say anything.
“Huh?”
Why had something suddenly gone wrong on this side instead?
Weren’t they supposed to be united just now?
That girl…
Tadayana could feel things starting to slip outside her control.
But she could still keep hold of the general direction.
Anyway, Isshiki would probably calm down on her own later.
Probably.
T/N: so sad, is isshiki forever doomed to the cuck chair
This is a fan translation of 拒绝我啊，可恶的女人 by 帝国の咕咕鸽. All rights to the original work belong to the creator. Please support them by exploring their original work or sharing it with others if you can. Thank you for reading and supporting my efforts to bring this story to a wider audience!
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