My Youth Romantic Comedy Is Wrong, As Expected

"Like what?"

Yukino thought for a moment. "There are countless stars in the sky, so don't cry, okay? Even the worst child can have a star of her own."

Those were the words Naoto, the male lead of Love Metronome, had said to Sayuka, the second heroine.

She spoke softly. "Even now, I still believe those words are true."

No matter how difficult life became, one day she would have a star of her own.

The smile on Kasumigaoka's lips faltered slightly.

There was no denying that when she wrote this book, she had drawn a lot of courage and encouragement from Aki.

But she had never felt so keenly before that the words she wrote could give someone else courage and strength.

"What are you spacing out for?" Yukino tapped the textbook with her pen. "Now that the gossip's over, you need to speed up the lesson. I don't want to be taking you home in the middle of the night."

"Eh? Yukino, you're so heartless. What if something bad happens to me on my way home tonight~"

"You're the worst person there is."

[The system has selected the best option for reversing your Negative Image: Take Utaha Kasumigaoka home]

Yukino's mouth twitched. If it really got late, she'd take her home even without the system giving her a task.

"I'll ask Mr. Ito to drive you home. Don't worry."

Mr. Ito was a driver who had worked for the Yukinoshita Family for many years.

Kasumigaoka smiled, shamelessly pressing her advantage as she leaned closer and cooed, "But I'm not used to being alone with strangers. Could you take me home too, Yukino~"

Yukino hurriedly pushed her away, feeling goosebumps rise all over her body.

"...Fine, fine, all right? Let's get started. I have an in-school mock exam next week."

Kasumigaoka gave a soft laugh.

After spending this much time together, she had figured Yukino out. She seemed cold and difficult to approach, but she was actually soft-hearted. Unless something crossed one of her principles, if you pestered her a little, all she could do was sigh and reluctantly agree.

If she hadn't known that this Scum King had coldly dumped Aki, Kasumigaoka thought that if she spent more time with Yukino, she might want to be friends with her too.

As the thought circled through Kasumigaoka's mind, she suddenly jolted.

If Yukino hadn't happened to bring him up today, how long had it been since she last thought about Aki?

After all, they had compressed two days' worth of tutoring into one. Sure enough, by the time the lesson ended, it was already late.

True to her promise, Yukino had Mr. Ito drive them and take Kasumigaoka home.

Kasumigaoka could tell that Yukino truly admired Miss Kasumigaoka.

In Yukino's eyes, Miss Kasumigaoka was an elegant woman in her thirties, gentle and resolute at heart, someone who had clearly defined her dream and pursued it.

She was deeply envious of people like that.

The filter Yukino had put over Miss Kasumigaoka was so strong that Kasumigaoka was starting to worry about getting found out.

Wouldn't Yukino kill her on the spot for sullying her idol?

Kasumigaoka gave a light cough. "Yukino, what kind of person do you think I am?"

Sitting in the back seat with Kasumigaoka, Yukino glanced at her in confusion, then looked toward Mr. Ito in the front. She said nothing.

Kasumigaoka immediately got angry. "Am I really that awful?"

So awful that even someone as sharp-tongued and caustic as you couldn't say it in front of someone else???

Yukino said with relief, "It's good that you have some self-awareness."

Kasumigaoka laughed in exasperation. "Have you ever considered that the Miss Kasumigaoka you admire might be a lot like me?"

Yukino looked at her pityingly. "I know Miss Kasumigaoka better than you do. She only considers you a friend because she was momentarily blind. You don't need to put yourself on the same level as her to make yourself look good."

This woman was seriously vicious!

But since she was praising one version of herself and insulting another, Kasumigaoka couldn't even get angry!

Kasumigaoka said, "I'm mad!"

"Oh."

"I curse you to have every novel you follow get axed or abandoned. All the novels you like are alt accounts run by serial abandoners, and the Miss Kasumigaoka you admire is an eighteen-year-old romance-obsessed, vicious high school girl!"

Yukino said, "...You're so mean!"

If I really were guilty, the law could punish me. I shouldn't have to be tortured by this vicious eighteen-year-old high school girl beside me!

As the two of them traded barbs in the back, Mr. Ito chuckled as he drove.

Embarrassed at having made a scene in front of someone else, Kasumigaoka said, "Sorry for behaving so rudely in front of you."

Mr. Ito shook his head. "No, no. The young lady is rarely this happy. I should be thanking you, Miss Kasumigaoka."

Yukino put on a stern face. "Mr. Ito!"

Happy?

Kasumigaoka turned to look at Yukino several times, but she still saw the same face, an iceberg that would never melt, with an air that warned people to keep their distance.

She didn't look happy at all.

They soon arrived at the apartment building where Kasumigaoka lived. It was clearly a stylish apartment complex designed for young people living alone.

Yukino was curious and asked, "Do you live alone?"

Kasumigaoka nodded. "My parents don't live in this city, so I live here by myself."

She kept her expression composed, but inside she was hesitating.

In this situation, if they were friends, wouldn't she invite her upstairs for a cup of tea before they parted?

But could she and Yukino really be called friends?

When they first met, Yukino had cleanly stolen Aki from her and then dumped him. After they met again, Kasumigaoka had nearly done something stupid to get back at her.

By all rights, the two of them should never have been able to become friends.

But Kasumigaoka couldn't deny that, whatever Yukino had been like in the past, spending time with the Yukino of today had made her feel at ease and happy again for the first time in a long while.

She was wondering whether to invite her in when she saw Yukino's gaze fix on something.

Kasumigaoka followed her gaze and saw a tiny calico kitten inside a small cardboard box, its paws hooked over the edge as it looked their way.

"Meow~"

"Huh? There's a kitten here? It must have been abandoned. Honestly, what a terrible owner..."

In Japan, people usually abandoned small animals by putting them in a box or something and leaving them somewhere conspicuous by the roadside, hoping someone kind would adopt them.

Kasumigaoka had been about to say something else, but her gaze suddenly fell on Yukino's silent face. "...Yukino, do you like cats?"

Yukino turned to her at once. "What nonsense are you talking about!"

That settled it, then.

Kasumigaoka walked over, amused. "There's nothing embarrassing about liking kittens... Come over and pet it."

She tentatively reached out to stroke its head. The kitten was a little wary of strangers, but when she touched it, it rubbed its head against her palm.

"Wow, you're so sweet..."

This time, she picked the kitten up outright. She didn't care whether it got her coat dirty; after gently stroking its back a few times to soothe it, she held the little thing out in front of Yukino.

"It's really sweet. Want to try petting it?"

Yukino instinctively took a step back. Her lips pressed together as she stared fixedly at the kitten, her eyelashes trembling slightly.

She looked utterly smitten, yet forced herself to look away.

"Forget it. They don't like me."

That was true.

Cats had never seemed to like Yukino. Even this kitten rubbed its head affectionately against Kasumigaoka's palm, but the moment Yukino came near, it bristled and took a fighting stance.

Kasumigaoka hurriedly held all four of its legs. "That's okay! Quick, quick, I've got all its paws. It can't fight back now, so take the chance and give it a big pet!"

Yukino said, "...Forget it."

She wasn't the type to force things.

Kasumigaoka got annoyed. "Yukino, you're so bound by convention. If you don't try, how will you know whether it might like you?"

Yukino was clearly moved by those words. She hesitated, then cautiously reached out and lightly touched the kitten's head.

The kitten glared at her, fierce despite its tiny size. "Meow!"

Yukino lowered her head and leaned closer, her face faintly red as if she were trying to soothe it. "Meow~"

Someone who was usually so cold and imposing was now flustered and childlike in front of a kitten.

Yukino was meowing at the kitten, but Kasumigaoka felt as if a restless cat had landed in her own heart.

They were so close, with only a tiny kitten between them. Yukino's faint, clean scent reached her so clearly.

In that moment, Kasumigaoka felt as if the girl who had stood alone atop a lonely, snow-covered mountain had tumbled down into the warmth and bustle of the everyday world.

She couldn't help saying, "Yukino, would you..."

Would you like to come over to my place? I could make you some tea. You could drink tea or play with the cat—whatever you like.

Yukino, would you like to be friends with me?

Before she could finish, Kasumigaoka heard a familiar voice behind her.

"Kasumigaoka and... Yukinoshita...?"

Kasumigaoka turned around and saw Eriri Sawamura staring at them in disbelief, her face frozen in shock.

The atmosphere at Sobu High School had been a little strange lately, because next week was the monthly in-school mock exam.

Yukino Yukinoshita had once been the school's great troublemaker, after all. She had attracted countless admirers and made countless enemies at school, and there was no end to the number of people who disliked her.

Although Yukino was now in a different class and had the protection of some unnamed blonde disciplinary committee member who refused to admit it, there were few people who confronted or bullied her to her face, whether in class or around school.

Of course, Yukino had only managed to raise her standing among her classmates and the school to neutral. Plenty of people still occasionally took jabs at her in private.

This was especially true whenever the topic turned to Yukino and the in-school mock exam.

She had been the school's great troublemaker, after all. She had a reputation to uphold.

"The in-school mock exam is next week. Yukinoshita should move up a few places this time, right? Hehe."

Japan was East Asia's neighbor. It hadn't adopted the other side's belief that exams and grades came first in its entirety, but it wasn't like public schools in the West, where students were so anti-intellectual that they looked down on high achievers and worshipped "fun learning."

In manga, the perfect male and female leads were beautiful, academically gifted, athletic, talented in both the arts and combat, and from prestigious families. Among all those character traits, good grades were also quite important.

Clearly, Japanese high school students still admired top students.

"Come on, Yukinoshita's been working hard for more than three weeks. Moving up a few places would be way too low an estimate... I say she'll rise, hmm, ten places this time. Haha...?"

A few girls gathered together, taking advantage of the moment when Miura and the others had gone to the restroom and Yukino had been called to the staff room by Teacher Hiratsuka. They giggled and made sarcastic remarks in the classroom.

They didn't dare say things like that to Yukino's face, because the gloomy look in her eyes was genuinely terrifying.

They didn't dare say those things in front of Yumiko Miura and the others, either, because Miura's expression was even more terrifying when she heard them.

"Please, I still think Yukinoshita's trying to seduce Ito from Class 2-G. Ito's handsome and gets good grades. This time, she's just trying a new approach to seducing men."

"Doesn't Ito have a girlfriend?"

"Hehe, wouldn't that make it even better for Yukinoshita? Isn't she a rotten person who likes stealing other people's things?"

"Some people are just awful like that. They think anything—whether it's a thing or a person—is better when they steal it~"

"Please don't say things like that anymore."

Someone in the class suddenly spoke up.