My Youth Romantic Comedy Is Wrong, As Expected

After the meeting ended, it was already after school. Miura had already messaged her friends to go home first.

"Senpai Miura, that new transfer student joined our class a little over a week ago."

On the way out of school together, Ikeda was briefly telling Miura about her class.

"At first, I just thought she was new to transferring and wasn't used to it... until yesterday."

Ikeda sighed.

"Yesterday, she was completely isolated."

The pen recording information on the notebook paused for a moment, and Miura was silent for a bit, "...The bully in your class, what's her name?"

"Nishimiya," Ikeda whispered.

"Senpai, her name is Shoko Nishimiya."

After another successful meeting and signing the contract, Haruno shook hands politely with the other party.

"I hope our cooperation with your company goes smoothly."

The man in his mid-thirties to late thirties on the other side laughed heartily. "I had only heard of Miss Yukinoshita in the industry before. Seeing you today, I can confirm your reputation is well-deserved. It's truly a pleasure to cooperate with you."

He continued with a smile, "To be this outstanding at such a young age is truly terrifying. I'm starting to feel a bit old."

--- Nonsense.

For over half a month, she had been collecting information on the hobbies of the person in charge of this company, and even the bosses of the parent group above the branch companies. After preparing all aspects without any omissions, she struck a decisive blow today.

Haruno smiled modestly and replied, "You are too modest, sir. I am only able to stand here today thanks to the foundation of my family. If it comes to ability, I am still ten thousand miles behind you."

--- Fake.

My talent is number one in the world. You foolish insects better be aware of yourselves.

The man, however, was very pleased by the flattery from such a stunning beauty. "Oh my, Miss Yukinoshita, you are still studying, aren't you? You are still young and have many opportunities to grow."

The person in charge of the subsidiary branch company under the Shinomiya Conglomerate truly felt that this Eldest Miss of the Yukinoshita Family was outstanding. Her appearance was impeccable, her abilities were impeccable, and her social skills, intelligence, and emotional intelligence in dealing with people and matters were all impeccable.

Initially, when they first met, he thought she was likely just a showy vase relying on her family's residual influence. However, Haruno Yukinoshita used less than thirty minutes to make him cast aside all his underestimation with her professionalism and approachability.

After signing the contract and concluding the meeting, the two companies, as per custom, arranged a dinner gathering for that evening.

In a country like Japan with its strict hierarchical order, business dinners are extremely, extremely, extremely boring, especially company gatherings.

Since this was a dinner for two companies, the usual newcomer's test of power should be absent, but the annoying, vulgar, and lewd jokes were likely unavoidable.

Since it wasn't time for the evening dinner yet, Haruno remembered there were still some miscellaneous tasks at the company and took a car back.

She leaned back in the car seat and let out a soft breath, suppressing the urge to stretch. She opened her phone.

As the Heir of the Yukinoshita Family, she could never afford to slacken her posture in front of others. She had long been accustomed to demanding such strictness from herself.

Scrolling from Line to her email, she grumbled that Yukino hadn't sent her a single message today.

On the other hand, Mom had actually sent her two short emails despite her busy schedule.

[The conflict between the Shinomiya Family and the Shijo Family is intensifying daily. It would be best for the Yukinoshita Family to avoid getting involved.]

Haruno pulled at the corner of her mouth.

Easier said than done.

With a cough, the Shinomiya Conglomerate could shake all of Japan. And the Shijo Family, which had been forced to flee abroad as a branch family of the Shinomiya Family, had spent decades establishing roots in Europe and America, accumulating strength, and were now powerful enough to counterattack back home.

These two families were now using the entire country of Japan as their battlefield. Not only the financial world, but also the political and industrial sectors, and even academia, were being swept up in the vortex of their conflict.

For the Yukinoshita Family to stay out of it was as difficult as ascending to heaven.

Second email:

[Yukino is also nearing adulthood. Haruno, as her Older Sister, please arrange more social gatherings with young people for her.]

The secretary sitting in the passenger seat of the sedan saw in the rearview mirror that Eldest Miss Yukinoshita, who always greeted people with a gentle and kind smile, had changed her expression in an instant.

The look on her face could even be described as gloomy and terrifying.

This Aristocratic Families' white-collar beauty, who always wore a smile, had been greatly admired by the secretary when she first started working for her.

It wasn't until later, on one occasion, that she saw Haruno Yukinoshita, with the same smiling expression, completely crush a certain business competitor.

The business owner's company later went bankrupt, his family was ruined, and it was rumored that he had almost jumped off a building.

The assistant instantly averted her gaze, not daring to look further.

Haruno, in the back seat, gripped her phone so tightly that her fingers turned slightly white.

She stared at the phone screen for a long time.

The car was silent; no one spoke.

Haruno knew exactly what Mom meant.

The Yukinoshita Family could begin selecting a marriage partner for Yukino.

To become a qualified future wife of an aristocratic family, this had always been Madam Yukinoshita's expectation for her Second Daughter.

Haruno Yukinoshita gritted her teeth at that moment, barely managing to suppress the uncontrollable rage in her chest.

Was it anger at her mother's indifference and harshness towards Yukino, or anger at Yukino's potential future fiancé?

Haruno Yukinoshita closed her eyes, feeling only darkness before her.

Sitting in the back of another car, a girl with blonde hair tied in a side ponytail, dressed in a maid's uniform, silently watched Haruno Yukinoshita's car drive out of sight.

"We're going back."

The driver responded, and the black sedan slowly started moving.

The girl spread a notebook on her lap and wrote down several names on the paper, drawing lines between them and writing their respective relationships on either side of the lines.

The names on the notebook were none other than Yukino Yukinoshita, Haruno Yukinoshita, Yui Yuigahama, Yumiko Miura, and so on.

Yukino Yukinoshita's name was in the center, with lines from others pulling towards her, making the relationship lines around her complex and fragmented.

She let out a soft scoff and closed the notebook.

The black sedan soon stopped in front of a solemn and luxurious manor-style mansion. The blonde girl lightly brushed down her skirt before getting out of the car.

"Where is the Eldest Miss?"

"The Eldest Miss is in the archery range in the backyard."

After asking the other maids in the mansion, the girl headed straight for the mansion's backyard.

As she approached the private archery range, she heard the sound of arrows cutting through the air.

The girl stood respectfully to the side, and when the Eldest Miss paused to change arrows, she straightened up and reported her recent progress.

"Since one month and three weeks ago, the perceptions of those around the second daughter of the Yukinoshita Family towards her have been gradually changing. As you predicted, the most obvious among them is Haruno Yukinoshita."

Silence.

In the backlight ahead, even in her kyudo archery attire, the figure's slender and graceful curves could not be concealed as she drew her bow.

The muscles in her forearm bulged in a beautiful arc.

Swish--!!!

Even from a distance, the blonde maid girl could hear the arrow hitting the bullseye.

And similarly, even without looking, she could guess that the photo pierced through the center of the target by this arrow was that of the second daughter of the Yukinoshita Family.

---Yukino Yukinoshita.

Miura had intended to avoid Yukinoshita for the time being.

Junko and the others used to tease her, saying she was like a worrywart old mother, born with a savior complex. Whenever she saw someone trapped in worries or even suffering, she couldn't help but want to help them if she could.

Even when she had the most opinions about Yukino, she never harbored any ill will towards her. They would only bicker like elementary schoolers whenever they met, and she was always the one who lost the argument.

This was also why Miura, despite her appearance of not adhering to school rules, always held such high prestige within the school and the Disciplinary Committee.

Yui was not only a pushover but also a pushover who couldn't learn to refuse or put on a cold face. Someone like her, who looked so easy to bully, was the most likely to be targeted for school bullying.

And Miura had always known that although Sobu High School had a good school spirit, the dark emotions of humanity would never cease to exist anywhere. Those hidden, hard-to-detect malicious intents would become increasingly commonplace as they accumulated day after day.

However, after Miura brought Yui into her circle of close friends, those malicious tentacles quickly disappeared almost entirely.

Now, were the signs of such malicious incidents appearing again among the first-years?

The next day during lunch break, Miura intended to find other first-years she knew to inquire about the situation, but she was stopped by an unexpected person at the base of the teaching building.

Miura, holding her notebook, arrived at an empty classroom called the Service Club with Hachiman Hikigaya.

Miura had heard about this school club established by her classmate Hikigaya before, but as a popular person, she had never had any requests that required the Service Club to fulfill.

As she sat down, Miura couldn't help but complain, "It's really hard to imagine that Hikigaya, who has no motivation for anything, would actually establish the Service Club."

He had such a strong presence and was such a topic of conversation in class, yet he acted as if he was uninterested in everything and didn't take anything to heart. To be honest, Miura even suspected that this guy's life dream was to just coast by and do nothing.

"This..." Hikigaya rubbed his slightly messy hair, looking listless. "Teacher Hiratsuka forced me to fill in."

---This is nonsense.

In their first year, Teacher Hiratsuka proposed Yukino's suggestion for the Service Club, but it was flatly rejected by that blonde girl with her nose in the air. Later, the teacher wanted to recruit Hikigaya to fill the spot, as they were both rare problem children in the first year at that time.

And the problem child Hikigaya also refused without hesitation.

The reason he later accepted this extremely troublesome position was entirely because he wanted to use a slightly more selfless reason to pull that girl out of the vortex.

However, it seemed to have failed terribly later on.

"So, Hikigaya, is there something you want to tell me by specifically asking me here?"

Miura put down her notebook. "Please keep it brief. You know I have club duties later!"

Hikigaya propped his chin up. "Actually, what I need to say is related to the problem you've been troubled with recently."

Miura was stunned.

Hikigaya said, "I happened to see you asking first-year students for information about Shoko Nishimiya today."

At this moment, the door of the Service Club was knocked on, and a beautiful girl with brown hair pushed the door open.

She wore a gentle and energetic smile, the kind that instantly marked her as a popular person accustomed to being around crowds.

"Senpai Hikigaya, Senpai Miura."

She bowed slightly and introduced herself with a smile, "I am Iroha Isshiki."

Miura, though confused, nodded. "Oh, I've heard of you."

As a Disciplinary Committee Member, Miura was well aware of the shining figures in the school.

This Iroha Isshiki, just after enrolling, had become a universally loved figure among the first-years with her good looks and approachable demeanor.

"Actually, yesterday, Classmate Iroha Isshiki came to the Service Club with a request," Hachiman Hikigaya said in a calm tone. "A request concerning Classmate Shoko Nishimiya."

Miura realized that Iroha Isshiki was also in Class D of the first-years, and should be classmates with Shoko Nishimiya.

Iroha Isshiki, who had just sat down, nodded. "Classmate Nishimiya suddenly transferred into our class. At this time, most of the small groups in the class had already formed. It's difficult for Classmate Nishimiya to integrate, and..."

And, she was with someone somewhat "special."

Miura added that sentence in her heart.

Classmate Shoko Nishimiya has a severe hearing impairment, requiring a hearing aid to barely hear anything, and needs extensive sign language to "understand" what others are saying.

Shoko Nishimiya, who suddenly transferred to Sobu High School, was like a lagging, solitary shadow awkwardly excluded from all groups.

And how could the self-centered young men and women in their teens, full of youthful vigor, have the patience to wait for others to catch up?

On the contrary, her strange accent, her unintelligible sign language, often drew a crowd of people snickering behind her.

The day before yesterday, someone's wallet went missing in the classroom. At that time, only Shoko Nishimiya, who had taken a leave of absence from Physical Education Class, was in the classroom.

At first, it was just suspicion in secret, which later turned into angry, direct questioning.