My Youth Romantic Comedy Is Wrong, As Expected

Hirata, covering his head with a textbook, immediately said in a weak voice: "...Kasumigaoka said that if I tell you where she is, I won't have an easy time when she gets back."

She's the type of person who, once her minefield or point of interest is triggered, instantly tears off her disguise and reveals her ferocious, passionate, and obsessively fanatical true nature.

She's practically a stick of dynamite ready to explode.

But in reality, in front of outsiders, Eriri Sawamura could maintain her perfect lady-like etiquette.

"Ah, is that so..."

Smiling, Eriri lightly tapped her chin with her index finger and said in a low voice: "Then, about the information on Ryoko that we agreed on, I'll have to think about it too~"

Hirata's eyes widened, "But last week Eriri told me she'd help me get information on Nakano..."

Eriri previously considered Kasumigaoka her lifelong rival, so of course she had to get some information on this person.

Hirata, a third-year, and Ryoko Nakano, in the same class, seemed to like each other but could never get together. As Ryoko's close friend in class, Eriri was fed dog food daily, not to mention having to take on the responsibility of helping them gather information about each other.

Enough is enough!

Eriri smiled gently, "I did say that, but Ryoko is so cute, and many guys from other classes ask me about her. Should I tell them this information?"

Hirata immediately groveled, "Kasumigaoka is on the rooftop..."

Eriri showed a victor's smile and turned to leave. Behind her, a scream echoed, "Don't tell Kasumigaoka that I was the one who snitched..."

Naive!

Besides you, who else would be the informant?

Eriri Sawamura found Utaha Kasumigaoka on the rooftop.

She was leaning against a lounge chair, idly looking at her phone. Her mature figure gave her a certain allure that was somewhere between a young girl and an adult woman.

Eriri's blood boiled.

She was furious!

"Kasumigaoka, are you chatting with that green tea cheating scum woman again?!!!"

Utaha raised her head with a headache, "You're here..."

Hirata is too useless.

He couldn't even last a few minutes after class. Does this kind of guy who climaxes too quickly even have the right to date?

May you be single for your entire life, damn it!

Eriri casually locked the door from the inside, finally revealing a smug smile that she would never show to outsiders.

"You've been avoiding me for the past two days, but I finally caught you, Kasumigaoka-senpai~"

She shook her twin tails triumphantly. "Alright, tell me directly, what is your relationship with that woman!"

Kasumigaoka sighed and put away her phone. "I've already told you, she and I are just in a Private Tutor-student relationship."

"You're deceiving a fool, Kasumigaoka! I saw it that day, she walked you home!"

"She walked me home because it was late, that's all." Kasumigaoka crossed her arms. "Besides, is there any law that prohibits a student from walking their teacher home? Is that a rule in Sawa Country law?"

Eriri was momentarily speechless. "...But, but I also saw you two standing so close that day!"

"You saw us standing close, but did you not see the cat between us? We just found a stray cat downstairs at the apartment building that day and were looking at the cat."

Eriri paused, then took a deep breath and said, "Don't lie to me, Kasumigaoka..."

Her voice was tinged with a low sob.

"You're such a terrible person, so difficult to get along with, with a foul temper, germophobia, sharp tongue, and high vigilance... If you really disliked that woman Yukino, how could you be willing to stand so close to her?"

Now it was Kasumigaoka's turn to be stunned.

Certain subtle emotions in her heart, which she hadn't noticed or dared to acknowledge, were like a fragile bubble, easily popped by Eriri, an outsider, at that moment.

She wanted to retort, but her mouth opened, and no words came out.

They had been bitter rivals for several years, and just as she understood Eriri, Eriri also understood her.

On some matters, it was easier to deceive oneself than to deceive Eriri.

Seeing Kasumigaoka's inability to refute, Eriri became even angrier.

The relationship between girls is both so strong and so fragile; they can become close because they mutually dislike someone, or their relationship can break apart because they mutually like someone.

Kasumigaoka felt a little uncomfortable. She tried to say a word or two in defense of Yukino. "Actually, Yukino might not be the kind of person we thought she was..."

"Kasumigaoka, are you an idiot??? Yukino once called you a fat woman in front of Tomo?!!!"

Oh, did that happen?

It seemed like it did...

But if Eriri hadn't brought it up today, she might not have even remembered.

After all, the gap between the former Yukino and the current Yukino in Kasumigaoka's heart was so vast that she inadvertently treated the two sides of Yukino as two different people.

Kasumigaoka felt a bit awkward. "...Perhaps there was some misunderstanding?"

Eriri looked at her in disbelief, her eyes gradually filling with indignant sorrow. "Then when she called me brainless and an idiot, saying that even though I'm the 'yellow hair,' I'm always getting cuckolded and deserve it, was that also a misunderstanding???"

Kasumigaoka: "..."

Eriri's eyes turned red. "We agreed to hate her together, but in the end, Tomo, and you too..."

She rubbed her eyes, her voice choked with sobs. "If it's like this, then I'm the only one left behind!"

Kasumigaoka felt a little guilty. "Well, actually, Yukino has already mended her ways..."

"I don't care about that!" Eriri flicked her ponytail. "Kasumigaoka and Tomo are both idiots. It's just Yukino, isn't it? You're the only ones who can be deceived by her!"

Her eyes were red, but her expression was stubborn.

"Even if I interact with Yukino for a month, I'll hate her immensely. I will never be weak, and I will never compromise!"

Kasumigaoka: "..."

Actually, she wanted to ask Eriri one thing.

With such a tendency to throw away lives, are you here performing Calabash Brothers Save Grandpa?

Sobu High School's once-a-month campus-wide mock exam, which no one particularly looked forward to, finally began.

And two days had passed since that warehouse incident where the three of them looked at each other awkwardly.

"Yukino, did you bring all your pens?"

Before the exam, Miura specifically asked Yukino about her preparations.

Yukino nodded.

But after Miura asked, she picked up Yukino's pens herself, checked each one to make sure they were all fine, and then returned them all to her.

"I heard that Teacher Fukukon is one of the teachers grading the second-year exams this time, Yukino."

Yukino tilted her head slightly, looking at Miura.

Miura knew that this was how the taciturn Yukino expressed confusion.

Teacher Fukukon was a stern and demanding old gentleman at Sobu High School. Whenever he was involved in setting the exam, the difficulty of that exam was always very high.

Similarly, it would also cause countless students to wail.

"With Teacher Fukukon setting the questions, this exam will likely be quite difficult," Miura said in a low voice. "Don't worry even if you feel strained while answering the questions, because this exam will be difficult for everyone."

Yukino nodded again.

Perhaps because she wasn't wearing that expression that kept people at a distance, she looked particularly well-behaved when she wasn't speaking.

Miura even felt like patting her head, but ultimately restrained herself.

Yukino glanced at her with confusion, not understanding why she was so worried.

Even her own mother had never worried about her life choices like this.

Speaking of which, her parents rarely paid attention to her; they even rarely attended her school activities.

They were busy with work and needed to attend various important events. Things like parent-teacher conferences, where time wasted was disproportionate to returns, were basically outside their consideration.

Taking a gentle breath, Yukino casually dismissed these fleeting thoughts.

Having already gone through things countless times, she no longer had any extra emotions about it.

Clearing all extraneous thoughts, Yukino spread out the distributed exam papers, unscrewed the pen cap, wrote her name on the paper, and then began to answer the questions.

At this moment, the exam paper was her battlefield, and her pen was her sword and shield.

At this moment, she no longer forced herself to crave the approval and favor of others; she fought only for herself.

This life, already messed up by Blonde Yukino, no longer required her to place excessive expectations on anyone.

This month's school mock exam was really difficult. Even Yumiko, who was in the middle to lower tier academically, felt the strain this time.

She grudgingly followed the key points Yumiko had marked for her to review. She first tackled the questions she felt most confident about, then gritted her teeth through the ones she had some idea about but wasn't sure of, and finally almost gave up on the problems she had no clue about.

She wouldn't be able to solve these difficult problems even if she tried for another ten years, so there was no need to feel upset about them~

This was Yumiko Yuigahama's super optimistic approach to taking exams!

Japanese, Geography and History, Civics, Science, Foreign Language. After two days of taking six subjects, it was already Friday, and the weekend holiday began right after the exams.

During the last class before school ended, Teacher Hiratsuka came over as usual, earnestly (and physically) lecturing.

She slapped her lesson plan book on the desk with a bang while smiling and warning those whose mock exam scores were too poor next week that they would be placed on the school's make-up exam list.

A wave of groans swept through the class again.

Yumiko felt guilty inside. She felt that even though Yumiko had helped her cram last minute, she would still fail at least one subject this time.

She subconsciously turned to look at Yukino. Seeing her still calm expression, it seemed she didn't think she would be on the make-up exam list at all.

Yumiko slumped back onto her desk, lost in thought.

Until the warehouse incident that day, no matter how unwilling Yumiko Yuigahama was to admit it, she had to soberly tell herself one fact.

Yukino was truly no longer the Yukino of the past.

In the past, she and Yukino were good partners who failed and took make-up exams together.

She would give him a brilliant smile showing eight teeth, dye her hair in messy colors, and discuss with him which nearby nail salon was truly Superb. She would affectionately call him Yui.

Of course, she would also agonizingly draw a line between them. She said she had actually fallen for Hikigaya. She would scold him mercilessly, calling him brainless and deserving to be Deceived, saying she had only approached him because he and Hikigaya had been close during that time.

The first friendship the girl, who had just entered high school, found was with Yukino. The first betrayal she also found was from Yukino.

She had tried her best to convince herself, thinking, There's no other way, Yukino is just like that. Yukino had changed her demeanor again.

She showed no favor to anyone. She was silent, like ice buried under snow. She acted as if she had never known her.

She called her, "Classmate Yuigahama."

Being abandoned and being treated coldly, which was more painful? Yuigahama couldn't quite tell.

That day, in the closed-off warehouse, in the silent darkness, the timid Yuigahama finally found some courage.

She said, "Yumiko is my most important friend. I don't want her to be as sad as I once was someday."

There was silence in the darkness. Yukino gave her no response.

Yuigahama continued, "Before, I told you that if you wanted to use me or make a mistake, you could do it to me... That still stands, Yukino."

Yukino still didn't speak.

Yuigahama sighed softly, "You don't have to feel like you can't go through with it. I've been through this kind of thing before... I should have more resilience than Yumiko."

Silence.

Yuigahama finally sensed something was wrong.

She took two quick steps and, using the faint light from the doorway, saw Yukino huddled on the ground, trembling.

"Yukino? What's wrong? Speak to me!"

Yuigahama anxiously crouched down and reached out, only to touch Yukino's sweaty forehead and cheeks.