Yukino Is Definitely in Love with Me

Could there really be some kind of system that made you stronger every time you confessed to someone and got rejected???

Wild speculation [x

Kasumigaoka's expression remained all smiles on the surface, but none in her eyes. "Aren't you going to invite me in, Yuigahama?"

Is there a cop around? I think someone's trying to break in and murder me!

When Yukino had seen the victim's name, Eriri Sawamura, she'd thought that if she gave her real name, Eriri Sawamura definitely wouldn't show up. So she'd casually given Yui Yuigahama's name instead.

But she'd never imagined the person who came would be Kasumigaoka.

Compared to the easy-to-read Eriri Sawamura, Kasumigaoka-senpai was practically the embodiment of scheming, with a belly full of wicked plans.

There was no need to guess. This person was absolutely brimming with malice toward her!

Yukino blocked the door. "I think you're trying to murder me."

"Heh. Scum-chan isn't worth risking a prison sentence over."

"You already weighed whether going to prison for me would be worth it???"

"...Anyway, your family's driver is downstairs. There's absolutely nothing to worry about, okay?!"

"You even scoped out where my driver is???"

Kasumigaoka: "..."

In the end, Yukino still let Utaha Kasumigaoka into the room.

Yukino had been the one to arrange the tutoring in the first place, and she'd been the one to give a fake name, so she felt a little guilty about just leaving her outside.

Once inside, Kasumigaoka glanced around the room's minimalist decor and furnishings. It was a little unexpected; she'd thought Yukino was the kind of person who liked flashy things.

As a matter of fact, Kasumigaoka's guess had been right. Just two days ago, Yukino had thrown out a pile of flashy decorations and clothes from her apartment, looking thoroughly sour the whole time.

Yukino went over to the fridge. "Mineral water, sparkling water, or tap water?"

"No, thanks. I'm afraid you'll poison me."

Yukino poured herself a glass of water. As she came back and opened the first-year high school math textbook, she couldn't help feeling puzzled.

"You're not short on money, Kasumigaoka. Why'd you suddenly decide to tutor?"

"Call me Sawamura-sensei." Kasumigaoka's lips twitched. "I'm just getting a taste of practical work in advance."

Of course, that was a lie.

The truth was that one reason she'd pretended to be Eriri was to gather material for a new novel. Her identity as a light novel author wasn't exactly a secret worth keeping, but she hadn't told many people about it either.

The second reason was that she was worried she might run into a student from Sobu High School who knew the name of [the victim, Kasumigaoka].

Who would've thought that she wouldn't run into anyone who knew, but would instead run straight into the culprit, Yukino Yukinoshita?

What an utterly detestable person.

Looking at the malice beneath Kasumigaoka's seemingly quiet and refined expression, Yukino voiced her suspicion. "Are you planning to teach me a bunch of nonsense so I'll fail my next exam?"

Kasumigaoka chuckled. "I hear Yukinoshita is ranked dead last in her class at Sobu High and among the bottom ten in the whole school. For a social reject like you to do even worse than last time would be quite difficult."

Yukino: "..."

Damn you, Blonde Yukino!

Once they'd settled on the lesson plan, the tutoring session began in no time. Surprisingly, the lessons went very smoothly.

Kasumigaoka hadn't pulled any tricks, as Yukino had been on guard for, and the headache-inducing situation Kasumigaoka had expected—Yukino being a hopeless student who understood nothing and couldn't learn a thing—didn't happen either.

She absorbed new knowledge at incredible speed. Her train of thought and thought processes were lightning-fast, and her memory was excellent. Even "learning by analogy" was an understatement.

Even people who'd already studied the material couldn't learn it faster or remember it better than she did.

Kasumigaoka had held the top spot in her grade at Toyogasaki Academy for years, but she had to admit that she'd rarely encountered an opponent this clever.

She was even more surprised.

In fact, she'd been surprised ever since the moment she first saw Yukino Yukinoshita that day.

With her long, straight black hair, Yukino was so beautiful she seemed unreal. Compared to her old blonde-gal look, she was like a completely different person. If Kasumigaoka hadn't hated her so much that she could never forget her face, she might not have recognized her at all.

She couldn't help saying something that sounded like a compliment. "Why did you let yourself go like that back then?"

How would I know? You're asking me?

Yukino propped her chin on her hand and sighed without answering. "Let's move on to the next Knowledge Point, Sawamura-sensei."

Kasumigaoka had never seen Yukino like this.

The Yukino she remembered had a head full of messy blonde hair, heavy makeup, and an arrogant expression. She'd been an obnoxious person who was completely unappealing to Kasumigaoka.

Now Yukino wore a light blue cotton dress with a beige knitted cardigan over it. As her black hair fell over her slender shoulders, it revealed a stretch of delicate skin as pale as jade at the nape of her neck.

Her whole presence gave off a gentle, pristine warmth.

Kasumigaoka didn't even dare look for too long. She felt that her dislike of Yukino had already faded by a tenth.

Eriri Sawamura was so haughty and infuriating whenever she opened her mouth, but she really was beautiful. Kasumigaoka enjoyed bickering with her now and then, watching her fly into a helpless rage.

That was right: Kasumigaoka was a sucker for a pretty face.

Even Aki, who seemed like a nerdy otaku when she first liked him, turned out to be a handsome classmate once he took off his glasses.

One taught quickly, and the other learned quickly. They finished the lesson they'd planned for the day in no time, and even got a little further than expected.

Kasumigaoka sat on the carpet, leaning back against the sofa. She tipped her head back and let out a breath. Even she was a little surprised that she hadn't felt as if she were sitting on pins and needles, counting the minutes, despite being stuck with someone as detestable as Yukino.

She casually rested her arm on the sofa, but felt something slightly hard pressing into her forearm. When she lifted her hand, she found a familiar-looking book.

No way, no way. It couldn't be that kind of coincidence, could it?

She picked it up and flipped through it. Sure enough, it was a light novel, and the signs of repeated reading were obvious. It looked like its owner really enjoyed it.

Kasumigaoka cleared her throat and waved the paperback in her hand. "You like light novels?"

Yukino, slumped over the table and so exhausted she was about to blow bubbles, lifted her eyelids. "Yeah."

Yukino had only given a quiet little "yeah," but Kasumigaoka's expression had already turned awkward.

The title Love Metronome stood out on the cover.

It was the bestselling debut novel Kasumigaoka had published after becoming an author.

Recently, the most famous name at Sobu High School had undoubtedly been Yukino Yukinoshita.

She'd once been such a scumbag that the whole school hated her. Now, she was making a grand show of turning over a new leaf and abandoning her playboy ways. She'd dropped her old gyaru look and started taking classes seriously and studying hard. She'd even given up her favorite extracurricular pastime of stringing girls along and cheating on them.

The atmosphere at Sobu High had improved dramatically.

Even the principal and vice-principal had been praising Shizuka Hiratsuka at every school meeting lately. They said that thanks to her never giving up on her students, Sobu High's number-one menace had finally turned over a new leaf.

They called her a model of professionalism and said she had the virtues of the sages of old.

Shizuka Hiratsuka had been feeling rather guilty about all that praise.

After school one day, she called Yukino over as usual. "Come with me."

Although she hadn't encountered any more serious bullying in her new class, Yukino was always cautious and sensible, and kept her bag with her at all times.

She'd expected another reminder or a concerned check-in, but Ms. Hiratsuka led her to the school parking lot. A red Aston Martin was parked there.

Yukino: "?"

Guys, put my face on a question mark.

"Sensei?"

Shizuka Hiratsuka planted one hand on her hip and laughed heartily. "Haha! You've been doing well lately, Yukinoshita, so I'm taking you for a drive."

"...Isn't it going to cause gossip if a teacher drives a student off campus in a sports car?"

"Yo-ho! Little Yukino, are you worried about me?"

What was with that familiar, awful feeling?

And how had she so casually switched to the nickname Little Yukino?

Yukino climbed into the passenger seat and fastened her seat belt, then neatly set her schoolbag on her lap. Her expression was cool. "Don't be ridiculous, Ms. Hiratsuka."

Shizuka Hiratsuka couldn't understand how a girl who seemed to have "well-bred" written from head to toe could have been a delinquent gyaru just over a week ago.

She shook her head and stopped thinking about it. "Today, I'm taking you to experience my favorite thing. You're lucky!"

"I'm not looking forward to it."

Although she'd said she wasn't looking forward to it, when they finally arrived at their destination, she was still a little stunned.

"...A ramen shop?"

That was right. This rich, beautiful teacher, who drove a roughly hundred-million-yen—six-million-RMB—Aston Martin sports car, had taken her student on a joyride of more than twenty kilometers to an unremarkable ramen shop where the average bowl cost five hundred yen, or thirty-one RMB, all just to eat a bowl of ramen.

Shizuka Hiratsuka greeted the staff and owner with practiced ease and ordered in a hearty voice. "What would you like, Little Yukino?"

A wooden divider separated off a small booth with room for two, giving them something like a little private space.

Yukino glanced at the menu and casually ordered the shop's specialty. "A bowl of tonkotsu ramen."

"A rich girl like you, Little Yukino, hasn't ever eaten ramen, that humble commoner's food, has she?"

Yukino glared at her expressionlessly. "It's not that exaggerated, okay?"

While they waited for their food, even Yukino couldn't help making a comment. "I feel like there's a terrible old man's soul inside you, Sensei."

She was a beautiful woman with an elegant appearance, but her personality was either completely unrestrained or downright rough and violent.

Even in Japan, where people's personalities seemed to swing back and forth between conservative and open-minded, Ms. Hiratsuka was probably an especially eccentric standout.

Shizuka Hiratsuka had been propping up her chin. At that, she turned toward Yukino with a smile. "Say that again and Sensei will get mad."

Yukino wisely shut up.

The ramen came quickly.

Yukino took out her chopsticks. "Let's eat."

As soon as the ramen arrived, Ms. Hiratsuka visibly relaxed. She eagerly took a bite first, then said, "Little Yukino, how does it taste?"

Steam and fragrance wafted toward them. Even the somewhat unfamiliar atmosphere between teacher and student seemed to warm up and grow more relaxed in an instant.

Yukino gently picked up a little with her chopsticks and tasted it. After a moment, she said, "Ordinarily delicious."

A ramen shop that had stayed open for more than a decade obviously wouldn't serve bad food. Yukino had thought that the ramen Ms. Hiratsuka loved so much would be unbelievably delicious and special, but in reality, it was just ordinarily delicious.

It was nothing unusual, nothing special. It was simply tasty.

Ms. Hiratsuka laughed. "Ordinarily good is more than enough. A lot of people want something ordinary and good, but can't even manage that."

Yukino turned to look at her.

"Sensei, you don't have to chase after ordinary goodness. Even someone as unusual as you is wonderful to me."

Shizuka Hiratsuka nearly choked on her words. "Whoa, Little Yukino, why are you saying something like that all of a sudden?"

Yukino's expression remained calm. "Because I like you, Sensei."

The air went quiet for a moment.

Shizuka Hiratsuka practically shattered on the spot. "Hey, hey, are you trying to make your teacher suffer Social Death?"

"...I just mean the positive feelings a student has toward a teacher in the ordinary sense."

"Anyone would misunderstand you if you put it like that!"

Shizuka Hiratsuka gulped down water again and again, trying to hide the blush on her face.

She might look outgoing, but she was actually terrible at handling heartfelt conversations like this.

She'd heard that this girl had recently blurted out that she liked girls.

No way, no way. Could she have a crush on me?

No. She had to stamp out this forbidden love before it could take root!

When Shizuka Hiratsuka, practically steaming all over, sneaked a glance at Yukino, she saw that the girl who'd just brought up such a shocking subject was still eating her ramen with a completely expressionless face.

Even when she ate ramen, she carried herself as elegantly as if she were dining at a five-star hotel.