Episode 93 – Crossing Expectation

“Come here for a minute !”

The moment I entered, I was immediately abducted. Or rather, I was dragged away and thrown into a random room. And the person who did it was, of course, the one who knew in advance that I was coming, Yukihana Hisui.

“You really came, you bastard.”

“I told you on the phone yesterday.”

Apparently, Hisui thought that yesterday’s phone call and the one just now were just a bluff. But this time I’m unusually active in taking action. I was reluctant to take action when it came to taking care of Shinya, but it was a different matter with the Yukihanas. At any rate, I have succeeded in getting inside the house.

“So, how’s your sister doing now?”

“She’s still sleeping in her room. Before the weekend, she stays up until midnight teaching me about anime things on overseas review sites…….like hell I’ll tell you that !?”

“You said it all yourself.”

Apparently, Hisui is also confused. Well, if someone doesn’t know whether they’re friend or foe comes in early in the morning, will their emotions be a little unstable? At any rate, I asked Hisui the same question I had asked him on the phone yesterday.

“So, are you willing to tell me what your problem is? ”

“Huh, there’s no reason for me to tell you that.”

“Well, that’s too bad.”

But since he gave me permission to come in, maybe he really wants me to know what’s going on. But from this attitude, it may be that he is being told by the people involved that he must not tell anyone about the ‘problem’. Or perhaps his pride gets in the way and he won’t tell the truth. Either way, it’s still a big hassle.

“So, what are you to my sister? Depending on your answer, I’ll show you no mercy.”

“We just sit next to each other, nothing more, nothing less.”

“That being said, it seems like you’re pretty familiar with her, aren’t you?Close enough to get my phone number.”

It seems that when the distance between me and Yukihana is close, Hisui doesn’t like it. In reality, we’re wary of each other and keep our distance, so the relationship isn’t like what he thinks, but no matter how much I explain, he’s the type who only believes what he sees with his own eyes. I don’t deny it any more than I have to. That’s because I can’t throw away the possibility that the situation will move in my favor only this time.

“Then, what about the idiot Natsu? Why are you getting along with her of all people !”

“Idiot Natsu?”

“It’s Natsume. Nanase Natsume !”

Come to think of it, yesterday I asked Nanase to act as an intermediary between me and Hisui. If that’s the case, it can’t be helped if it’s pursued. Thinking that there’s no particular meaning in trying to deceive him here, I dared to honestly reveal that she helped me. Hisui was a little surprised, but at the same time he seemed to be in disbelief.

“Is that true? She can kick the shit out of most guys.”

“If it’s inside the school, things will be a little different.”

“I’m sure that’s true, but…..she never said a word about it to me.”

Apparently not all information is shared between Nanase and Hisui. In this case, should Nanase deliberately keep silent about what happened that day so as not to worry Hisui?

“So, it’s okay for me to stay here in this house, right?”

“Ahh? Do you have a good reason?”

“Either way, you have no choice but to accept it. Yesterday, you agreed in front of Nanase.”

When I say that, Hisui looks embarrassed. Yes, the reason I went to the trouble of calling Hisui yesterday was to get permission to go over to the Yukihana house. For that reason, Nanase was appointed to unilaterally impose a promise. That was the detail of the collusion that was going on in the room yesterday.

“You know how many ways you can go against something like that, right?”

“If that happens, I’ll have no choice but to press your sister for answers. Wouldn’t that be unpleasant for you?”

“Are you threatening me?”

“No, it’s not a threat, it’s just my way of trying to make you feel better. You know what I mean?”

“Huh, I don’t know.”

Hisui realizes when he looks away while saying that. TThat I’m thinking about Yukihana’s mental side. In this operation, the most important thing is Yukihana Ruri’s inner mental state.

She is the kind of person who would seriously beat her opponent if she didn’t like what she saw. Yes, that was when she had a delicate relationship with Kisaragi at the beginning. She tried to hit Kisaragi in public.

(That kind of behavior would never happen under normal circumstances.)

Even If someone doesn’t like someone, who would try to hit a classmate in front of a train station, a public place where they don’t want to be seen? Hisui may look violent, but he is still rational. However, at that time, Yukihana’s rationality was completely off the rails. To put it bluntly, her thought process was out of the ordinary.

(Perhaps, that was the dark part of her mind.)

I don’t know what happened to her in the past, but she grew up to be a person who can do such things normally. I had left her alone until now because it seemed easy to take advantage of her personality, but there is a possibility that her personality will become an obstacle at this time.

To make sure of that, I came over to her house in secret.

“How long until the underlings arrive?”

“……Soon. I don’t suppose you’re planning to blend in with the rest of them?”

“No way. If I dress like that, it probably won’t matter. Besides, they don’t seem to have a sense of unity.”

I don’t think they’re working in unison. I had heard various rumors that they are serious about high school students and that they cause trouble. It seems to me that it would be very easy to blend in with such a group.

“Above all, those guys don’t get along very well.”

“….Well, yeah. A faction has formed among us.”

“Faction, huh.”

Somehow, I felt like I was able to see the outline of the problems that were happening to Yukihana and the others. But it’s not enough to confirm. Since Yukihana is in such a corner, it seems that there are still many things that are hidden.

As I was considering the possibilities, Hisui suddenly grabbed my arm and pulled me out of the room. I braced myself for an attack, but Hisui had no hostile or malicious intent, so I decided to go along with it. I was then taken down a long hallway and thrown into a different room again. This time, however, the room was nicer than the previous one, with tatami mats.

“If you wait there, the others will come to you directly. You can handle the rest on your own.”

“So I got permission.”

“I don’t care.”

With that, Hisui closed the door and walked away, leaving me alone. I don’t know if he gave me permission, but it seems to be a tacit approval. At any rate, this was the end of the intrusion into the Yukihana house in the true sense of the word.

“All I have to do now is to get some good information out of the people in this house.”

Yes, this time my target is not the Yukihana siblings, but their cronies. They would know more about the two of them than I do. There seems to be a lot of simple-minded people out there, and there are plenty of ways to fool them.

(Well, here I go.)

I stop thinking once I notice footsteps coming toward this room. These footsteps do not correspond to either of the Yukihana siblings. That means the cronies have finally arrived. Let’s start by getting into their pockets.

(Now, I’ll do my best.)

I took a step forward while unusually muttering something silly in my mind.