My Youth Romantic Comedy Is Wrong, As I Expected / My Youth Romantic Comedy Is Wrong, As I Expected

But Yuihama ignored Yukino's distress and continued hugging her tightly.

Hey, wait! I want in too! I don't have much to do besides study either! Why won't you hug me that tightly? Hmm... though if she really did hug me, that would be troubling too.

Come to think of it, those normie guys and girls really liked getting close at the drop of a hat. Should I call it natural physical contact, or ask, "Are you American?" Whether it was smacking someone on the head while making a retort or tightly hugging someone when something happened, it all counted as clever behavior. The walls around their hearts had long since vanished; even if they boarded an EVA, they probably wouldn't be able to deploy an AT Field.

Yuihama continued hugging Yukino and stroking her hair as she casually said:

"Still, it's surprising that a shut-in actually studies hard."

"Not really. The others who want to go on to higher education have already started preparing. There'll probably be people taking summer intensive courses at cram schools soon, too."

Chiba Municipal Sobu High School was a college-prep school with a fairly high advancement rate. More serious students probably began preparing for university entrance exams in the summer of their second year, so around now, they would be considering whether to go to Sasaki Rise University in Tsudanuma, Kawaii Juku Geneki Kan in West Chiba, or Toshin Cram School at Inage Coast.

"Besides, I'm planning to score some scholarship money from a cram school."

"...Scrap?"

"If you want scrap, you don't need to work that hard. There's already some right here. Aren't you a living piece of industrial waste?"

"My, Yukino, you're so kind today. I thought you'd deny my very right to live."

"Putting yourself down to this extent does make things easier, I suppose..."

Yukino held her head, looking pained.

"Wait, what's scrap?"

Yuihama actually couldn't keep up with our conversation. Had she never heard of it? Hey, seriously, Miss Yuihama?

"It's called a scholarship. It's money awarded to outstanding students."

"Some cram schools these days waive tuition entirely for students with good grades. So if I get a scholarship and then ask my family for cram school tuition, all that money becomes mine!"

The thought made me jump up in excitement. The expressions on the two girls' faces probably resembled my younger sister's look of contempt if she caught me breakdancing in my room.

That gave me a clear goal to study hard for; my family would be reassured that their investment was paying off; and I'd get money for myself. Truly, one stone, three birds!

However, the two girls wore extremely complicated expressions.

"That's outright fraud..."

"Looking at the outcome, he completes the course, his parents can't exactly claim any losses, and the cram school gets an excellent student. So there isn't really a problem. The fact that there's no way to pin fraud on him shows just how cunning he is."

I got lectured again. B-but wasn't this fine? It was only a harmless little lie. No one was getting hurt.

"The future..."

Yuihama suddenly murmured. She glanced at me, then clutched Yukino's sleeve even tighter. Startled by the gesture, Yukino looked at her with slight concern.

"What is it?"

"Ah, it's nothing... no, I guess it isn't nothing either... It's just that you two are so smart, so after we graduate, we might never see each other again... That's all, haha~"

Having said that much, she tried to laugh it off again.

"Hmm... If it's Hikigaya-kun, I definitely won't go looking for him."

Yukino said with a faint smile, but I only shrugged and said nothing. Surprised that I hadn't retorted this time, she looked at me questioningly. But it was really nothing, Yukino. The truth was probably just as you said.

Still, there were people in this world who chose to enter a new environment where none of their old schoolmates would be. They studied desperately to get into a fairly prestigious college-prep high school in the prefecture. They intended to abandon everything from their past and resolved never to see those old classmates again. As long as people like that existed, Yuihama's worries were perfectly justified.

People maintained closeness through belonging to the same organizations, sharing social circles, and communicating constantly. Interpersonal relationships gradually took shape through such means.

So if that connection was severed, everyone could become alone at any time.

That was why they could only stay in touch through phone calls and text messages—or rather, there was no other way to stay connected. Was that what people called friendship? It surely was. That was why they entrusted their hearts to their phones, believing that the number of entries in their contact list equaled the number of friends they had.

Yuihama held her phone tightly and smiled at Yukino.

"Anyway, we both have phones, so we can stay in touch anytime! That won't happen!"

"But please don't send me messages every single day because of that..."

"Huh? D-don't you like it?"

"...I often find it troublesome."

"That was way too blunt!"

...Those two really got along well. But when had they started messaging each other?

Come to think of it, it was hard to imagine Yukino sending messages on her phone.

"Messages every day... What could you possibly have so much to talk about?"

"Hmm... Like, 'Today I ate a cream puff☆.'"

"'Oh.'"

"'Can little Yukino make cream puffs? Next time, I want to try some of the other sweets you make!'"

"'All right.'"

"Your replies are so halfhearted, Yukino..."

"Everything else is equally unimportant."

Yukino said dissatisfiedly, glancing off to the side. Sadly, I could understand how she felt.

But seriously, what were you even supposed to talk about when making small talk? Sure, the simplest way was to discuss the weather, but wouldn't something like "The weather's nice today, isn't it?" "Yeah," end after two lines? When a phone conversation ran out of topics halfway through, you couldn't just say, "Ah, an angel just flew by, hehehe," and muddle through. (Note 11: A French expression used to describe when everyone in a conversation suddenly falls silent.)

"Phones... aren't actually as useful as you think. They're a very incomplete form of communication."

In some ways, I felt phones made people fall into loneliness even faster. When someone called, you could choose not to answer or simply ignore it; if you left a message unreplied, it would just keep sitting in your inbox. Once relationships began to involve choices of keeping or discarding people, communication would come and go depending on each person's mood.

"True. Whether to answer a call or reply to a message is entirely up to the person receiving it."

Yukino nodded, agreeing with my offhand remark. Regardless of what she was like inside, she was so strikingly pretty that she had probably had plenty of people ask for her number and email address.

Even I, back when I was still an innocent middle schooler, had worked up the courage to ask cute girls for their email addresses. Yet every time, they politely turned me down with, "Sorry, my phone just ran out of battery. I'll send it to you later." I hadn't even told them my own address, so how were they supposed to send it? Even now, I was still foolishly waiting...

"And if it's a message I really hate, I'll just ignore it. Let me think about it for a moment."

"So... the messages I send aren't hateful, then?"

"...I didn't say I hated them. They're just a hassle."

Under Yuihama's eager gaze, Yukino couldn't help furtively looking away, her cheeks faintly reddening. That reaction was rather cute, but it had nothing to do with me, so whatever.

Yuihama also breathed a sigh of relief and threw herself onto Yukino. Yukino turned her face away in displeasure and let the other girl cling to her. But this had nothing to do with me either, so whatever.

"I see. Still, phones really aren't that all-powerful."

Yuihama held tightly onto Yukino, as though she had deeply realized just how fragile that bond was.

"I-I should study properly too... It'd be nice if we could get into the same university."

She spoke softly, her gaze dropping to the floor.

"Have you already decided which university you want to apply to, Yukino?"

"Not yet, but it'll probably be a science department at a national or public university."

"That sounds super impressive! Th-then... sh-shut-in? I-I'm only asking in passing, okay?"

"I'm applying to a humanities department at a private university."

"Then maybe I can give it a try too!"

Yuihama finally smiled again. But what was that supposed to mean?

"Let me tell you now, don't underestimate humanities departments at private universities. Apologize to every such department in all of Japan! Besides, we're not even on the same level."

"Ugh... I-I'll study hard!"

She let go of Yukino and declared it loudly.

"S-so, starting this week, we're holding study sessions."

"...What?"

"Club activities stop the week before exams anyway, so aren't the afternoons free? Oh, right, there's also the Municipal Education Research Conference this Tuesday, so club activities are canceled. That would be a good time too."

She completely ignored Yukino's confusion and started making plans on her own. Come to think of it, I had heard the term "Municipal Education Research Conference" back in middle school. It was short for the Chiba City Education Research Association, and all teachers had to attend, so schools sometimes ended early or suspended club activities.

It wasn't as if I didn't understand what Yuihama was thinking. With Yukino here—the top student in the entire grade, preparing to apply to a science department at a national or public university—and me, third in the grade in Japanese, it was like a shot of adrenaline before an exam for her. Besides, thanks to having a stupid younger sister, I was fairly confident about tutoring people. As for why my younger sister's grades had shown no improvement after receiving my guidance, that was entirely because she was too stupid.

If there was still a problem, it was that I didn't want to help with this sort of thing.

What I hated most was having my private time taken away. The post-sports-festival celebration was also on my blacklist. I-it wasn't because I hadn't been invited, okay! Time was an extremely limited resource, and sacrificing my own time to keep others company was incredibly painful for me.

"Um..."

While I was still thinking of how to refuse, the two girls continued their discussion without a care.

"Then how about Saizeriya at PIENA?"

"I'm fine with anything."

"Um, Yuihama..."

If I didn't make myself clear soon, this would become a settled plan! Just as I was about to refuse, Yuihama's next words interrupted me.

"This is my first time going out alone with Yukino!"

"Is that so?"

Apparently, I hadn't been on the guest list to begin with.

"Shut-in, what were you about to say?"

"N-nothing... Good luck."

Studying alone was more efficient! I definitely wouldn't lose!

FROM　☆★Yui★☆:　18:21

TITLE nontitle

Please provide the text you would like me to translate or revise. I am ready to process it according to your instructions.

Have you finished studying world history? I really have

no idea at all (＞_＜)!

What parts do you think will be on the test?

There was no time left, so all they could do was try to guess the exam questions.

...Please tell me☆

FROM Hachiman 18:29

TITLE Re

It's no use. World history covers such a huge range, there's no way to predict it. But because the range is so broad, there won't be any essay questions.

Make sure you know the terms that appear in the timeline, and for the rest, just brute-force memorize them.

FROM ☆★Yui★☆ 18:30

TITLE Re2

Shut-in, why are you angry (ˊ˙ω˙ˋ)?

FROM Hachiman 18:30

TITLE Re3

Huh? I'm not angry.

FROM ☆★Yui★☆ 18:31

TITLE Re4

Without any emojis, you totally look like you're angry (ˋ˙ω˙ˊ)!

FROM Hachiman 18:32

TITLE Re5

What country's culture is that? Ancient Egypt? I'm not using something like that.