My Youth Romantic Comedy Is Wrong, As I Expected

No matter what, I was the only guy there wearing a jacket. Totsuka looked too casual, while Zaimokuza looked like the owner of a ramen shop.

"D-Does that mean I can't go either?"

When Yuihama-san asked again, Yukinoshita looked a little troubled.

"The dress code for women isn't quite as strict... but if Hikigaya-kun is your escort, there may be a problem."

"Wait, wait, this is a jacket! A jacket!"

I hurriedly imitated Yoshimi ○ and flicked open my jacket to emphasize its presence, but Yukinoshita couldn't help laughing.

"Even if your outfit barely passes, those dead fish eyes probably won't."

...Were my eyes really that bad?

"It would be troublesome if you were turned away at the door and had to go back to change. Yuihama-san, would you like to come to my home and change first?"

"Huh, I can go to Yukino's home? I want to go, I want to go... Ah, but wouldn't visiting at this hour bother your family?"

"Don't worry. I live alone."

"So you're a career woman!"

Yuihama-san was utterly shocked. Hey, what kind of standard was that? By that logic, every girl living alone was a career woman. Still, when Yukinoshita said she lived by herself, it somehow made sense. She was good at cooking, for one thing, and more importantly, I couldn't imagine her living with anyone else.

"Then let's go. My home is over there."

Yukinoshita raised her gaze toward the sky behind us, where the area's particularly expensive high-rises stood. I rarely watched TV, so I wasn't sure, but those places seemed perfect for filming commercials and dramas. Incidentally, Mihama Ward was a favorite location for tokusatsu shows.

That skyscraper glowed faintly orange. Yukinoshita's gaze rested high up on the building, so she apparently lived on one of the upper floors. Whoa... was her family part of the wealthy class? Then again, if they weren't, they probably wouldn't let their high school daughter live by herself.

"Totsuka-kun, I'm sorry you came all this way for nothing."

"Not at all, don't worry about it. I was really happy just to see everyone in casual clothes."

Totsuka said so with a smile. His smile was so cute that it felt like a waste to just send him home.

"Then while Yuihama goes to change, let's get something to eat. Contact us once you're ready."

"Mm, it's settled then~"

After Yukinoshita and Yuihama-san left, the three boys remaining fell silent, as though confirming just how hungry we were.

"So, what should we eat?"

Zaimokuza asked, rubbing his stomach.

Totsuka and I looked at each other.

"Obviously ramen."

"Obviously ramen."

I said goodbye to Zaimokuza and Totsuka at the ticket gate. Earlier at the ramen shop, someone had mistaken Zaimokuza for an employee and tried to order from him, but they both looked satisfied after having some delicious ramen.

I left the station and headed for Hotel Okura. I was supposed to meet Yukinoshita and Yuihama-san there.

When I arrived beneath the hotel, its sheer size left me a little awed. Even the faint lights illuminating the building had an air of luxury. This was clearly not the kind of place a mere high school student should be visiting.

When I stepped into the hotel with a mixture of excitement and nerves, the feeling beneath my feet changed noticeably. The carpet covering the entire space sank softly under my steps. Was this the venue for the Oscars?

The gentlemen and ladies in the lobby all looked elegant, and I occasionally spotted foreigners among them. Amazing. Mihama Ward really was a big city.

According to the text Yuihama-san had sent, we were meeting in the hall in front of the elevators.

Even the elevator doors here lit up, completely unlike any I'd seen before, and the space was huge. Hey, hey, hey, there was even room for sofas? This was already bigger than my living room, wasn't it? And this sofa was incredibly comfortable. Was it stuffed with low-rebound pillows or something?

Huh? There was even a vase here. Just as I was admiring its beauty in awe, my phone rang.

"We just got here. Are you already there?"

I was here, but I couldn't see them... I looked around again.

"S-Sorry to keep you waiting..."

At that moment, a beautiful older girl who seemed to radiate perfume spoke to me.

Her off-the-shoulder crimson dress traced graceful lines around her body, giving her the silhouette of a mermaid. Her hair was pinned up, exposing her fair neck so beautifully that I almost forgot to breathe.

"I-It feels like you're going to a piano recital..."

"Oh, it's Yuihama. I was wondering who it was."

Luckily, she gave herself away the moment she spoke, allowing me to recognize Yuihama-san. If she had kept a straight face and stayed quiet, I might really not have known who she was.

"Couldn't you at least compare it to going to a wedding? Being told that this outfit makes me look like I'm going to a piano recital gives me really complicated feelings..."

Then another beautiful girl appeared, wrapped in a pitch-black dress.

Against the softly lustrous fabric, her skin—pure and white as fresh snow—looked even more dazzling. Beneath the ruffled skirt that ended above her knees stretched a pair of slender legs. Her glossy black hair, gathered together and lightly curled like the finest silk, cascaded down to her chest, looking like jewelry and drawing even more attention than the dress itself.

There was no doubt about it. This was Yukino Yukinoshita.

"B-Because it's my first time dressing like this. More importantly, Yukino, just who are you?"

"Isn't that an exaggeration? I just happened to have clothes like this."

"Ordinary people wouldn't have clothes like that. Come to think of it, where would you even buy something like that? Shimamura?"

"Shimamura? I've never heard of that brand."

That was actually her answer. If she'd never heard of Shimamura, she probably hadn't heard of UNIQLO either, right?

"All right, let's go."

Yukino pressed the elevator button. With a ding, the indicator lit up, and the elevator doors silently slid open.

It was a glass elevator. As we rose, the entirety of Tokyo Bay spread out before us. The lights of ships sailing across the water, the taillights of vehicles driving along the bay, and the dazzling glow of skyscrapers added vivid color to Makuhari's nightscape.

When we reached the top floor, the elevator doors opened once more.

Before us lay an entire dimly lit bar area. The lighting was soft and subdued, like candlelight.

"Hey... this isn't some kind of joke, is it...?"

The atmosphere here clearly did not welcome someone like me stepping inside.

Under the stage spotlights, a white woman was playing jazz piano. I guessed she was American, because foreigner and American were basically synonyms.

Let's go back—I signaled to Yuihama with my eyes, and she nodded vigorously. Just having Yuihama, another commoner, here with me made me feel tremendously relieved.

Unfortunately, Yukino, who lived among the upper class, wasn't about to allow that.

"Don't look around."

A heel came down on my foot.

"Urgh!"

The intense pain nearly made me cry out. Your heels were way too sharp! Were you Ray Stinger from Bakusou Kyoudai or something?

"Straighten your back, lift your chest, and tuck in your chin."

As Yukino whispered the reminder, she gently took hold of my right arm, her slender, graceful fingers curling around it.

"Um, what... what's going on, Yukinoshita-san...?"

"Don't panic. Yuihama-san, you do the same."

"Huh? Huh?"

Yuihama wore an expression that said, I have no idea what you're thinking, but she obediently did as told anyway. In other words, she placed her hand on my left arm.

"Now then, let's go."

At Yukino's command, I matched the pace of the two girls and slowly started walking. The moment we passed through the open, heavy wooden doors, a male attendant approached and bowed to us.

The attendant did not ask questions like, "How many in your party?" or "Smoking or non-smoking?" Keeping a distance of about a step and a half from us, he guided us to seats at the bar along the wall of glass windows.

Behind the bar, a female bartender was polishing a glass. She was tall and well-featured. In this dim bar, her faintly sorrowful expression and the beauty mark beneath her eye suited the atmosphere perfectly.

...Wait, wasn't that Kawasaki?

Her long hair was pinned up, and she wore a server's uniform. Her movements were graceful and utterly silent. She looked completely different from how she did at school, without even a trace of laziness.

Kawasaki didn't recognize us. She simply set out coasters and nuts, then waited quietly. I had thought she'd shove a menu at us and ask, "Hey, what'll you have?" but of course that kind of thing would never happen in a place like this.

"Kawasaki."

I spoke softly to her, and Kawasaki looked slightly puzzled.

"I'm terribly sorry, but who might you be?"

"You can't even recognize someone from your own class. Just as expected of Hikigaya-kun."

Yukino said this admiringly as she took a seat on one of the barstools.

"No, it's just that he's dressed really differently today. It can't be helped if she doesn't recognize him."

Yuihama came to my defense and sat down as well. The remaining empty seat was between the two of them. If this were Othello, all I could do was surrender; if it were Go... never mind, I didn't know the rules of Go.

"We finally found you, Saki Kawasaki."

The moment Yukino spoke, Kawasaki's expression changed.

"Yukinoshita..."

Kawasaki's hostility was plain as day, as though she had just seen the enemy who'd murdered her father. These two shouldn't have had any contact, but Yukino was fairly famous at school. With a face like that and a personality like that, she probably rubbed some people the wrong way.

"Good evening."

Yukino merely greeted her as though nothing were wrong. I had no idea whether she understood how Kawasaki felt at all.

When the two locked eyes, I thought I saw sparks fly.

It was probably just the lighting, right? Terrifying.

Kawasaki narrowed her eyes as she examined Yuihama. Perhaps seeing Yukino from the same school here made her assume the person beside her was also a classmate, so she took a closer look.

"H-hello..."

Overwhelmed by Kawasaki's intensity, Yuihama assessed the situation and offered a greeting.

"Yuihama... I didn't recognize you at first. So, is he a student at Sobu High School too?"

"Ah, that's right. He's the shut-in from our class, Hachiman Hikigaya."

After I gave a simple nod in greeting, Kawasaki suddenly laughed, seeming unwilling to offer any further explanation.

"So you found out..."

She stopped hiding it, merely shrugging as she folded her arms and leaned against the wall. Perhaps because the secret was already out, she felt like none of it mattered anymore.

She began showing that particular languidness she had at school. After letting out a soft sigh, she glanced at us.

"What would you like to drink?"

"Perrier."

Yukino named something I had never heard of. What was that... Peri? Was she ordering a drink just now?

"M-Me too!"

"Ah..."

I had been about to say the same thing, but Yuihama beat me to it, making me miss my chance entirely. Ugh... What was I supposed to order now? Should I say Dom Pérignon or Don Pen-guin? To clarify, Don Pen-guin was the mascot of Don Quijote, and even if I actually ordered it, there was an eighty percent chance they would not serve it.

"You're Hachiman, right? What would you like?"

That Peri thing Yukino ordered earlier seemed to be some kind of drink... So as long as I did not say something like Harris or Satow, I should be fine. In that case, I just had to think of some drink name...

"I'll have MAX—"

"Give him a spicy Ginger Ale."

Yukino cut me off before I could finish.

"Okay."

Kawasaki smiled wryly, then took out three champagne flutes. She skillfully poured in our drinks and placed them on three separate coasters.

Silently, we raised our glasses to one another and took a sip of our respective drinks. Only then did Yukino seem to remember to add:

"...There's no way this place would have MAX Coffee, right?"

"Seriously? This is Chiba Prefecture!"