Chapter 4: That which was yet unknown.

Brought to you by Noir
Edited by Aeri (Senyang)

By the middle of September, the morning sun had considerably mellowed as it entered and hit me through the curtains of my room.

I watched that scenery with a sluggish and absentminded head from the top of my bed.

I had a hard time falling asleep last night. I felt a bit bewildered at the feelings I had noticed within myself. I wasn’t entirely sure what kind of feelings they had. Thus, I didn’t know how to handle it. Once I became aware of it, I was filled with a sense of frustration, a feeling that made me want to scratch my chest.

When I think about it… It’s a rather good story about a bug. I don’t have any memories where I have conversed properly at home or even at school. Well, when you look at it from Hiyori’s perspective, you might even start wondering about what’s wrong all of a sudden. In fact, dinner last night was really awkward.

[TL note: By ‘bug’, mc is probably depicting his own life.]

“But I don’t think I am hated… Am I?

I muttered quietly as if to motivate myself, although I couldn’t be sure. Hiyori’s reaction in the game to that in the real world was worlds apart. Just when I was about to enter a cul-de-sac of thoughts, I decided to shake my head and get out of bed. I looked at the time and saw that it was before my alarm would have gone off.

“… Ah”

“!”

When I went downstairs, I bumped into Hiyori who was coming out of the living room.

Looking at her holding her bag, she was probably on her way to school now.

“…” “…”

When our sights crossed each other, we slightly diverted our gaze. A moment of silence passed. Should I say something? What am I even supposed to say?

It had probably just been a few seconds, but it was getting more awkward.

“……”

Hiyori, perhaps no longer able to stand the atmosphere, lowered her flushed face and slipped past me, heading for the front door.

“Hiyori!” 

“!?”

It all happened subconsciously. I found myself grabbing Hiyori’s wrist all of a sudden. Even I had no clue why I did it. Hiyori’s cool yet firm, thin skin surprised me even more.

“Aa…u…”

“N…ope!… it’s just.”

Hiyori responded with a small voice she barely was able to squeeze out of herself. Hearing that, I took my hands off her in a hurry. However, thinking that I should say something, I desperately find the appropriate words that can be said.

“… Good morning, Hiyori.”

“… ah.”

What came out of my mouth was exactly just such a greeting. I think I could have said something better though. I started hating myself little by little. Hiyori silently turned herself around with her back facing me, and then she touched my hand which held her arm earlier. 

I couldn’t read her emotions.

“… Good, …morning”

“…!?”

The voice was small and quite slow. But surely, it was her own way of communicating back.

Hiyori, red till her ears and neck, opened the front door and ran out, as if to escape.

I could see that only a single line of dialogue was able to wash away my anxiety and regret. I felt like my feet became lighter, too. As I thought, I really am a simple boy.

“I’ll be returning the class’ test results now~, Those with failed marks will have make-up exams and lessons. Keep that in mind.”

The first thing in the morning turned out to be the results of SHR, and as the teacher said something like that, the classroom suddenly erupted into a huge uproar.

[TL note: SHR = Short HomeRoom]

I didn’t hear any of that!, But you said there would not be any make-up tests for that! 

Such voices of protests were heard. The classroom was enveloped in contrasting feelings of sadness and joy as the bunch of test papers were returned at once to their respective examinees who had no idea that the teacher would say this.

This was the test that ought to be scheduled just after the opening from the summer break. The scope of the test was based on summer vacation assignments so to those who had done their studies properly, they wouldn’t have had much trouble with this. As for me, I was in the lower part of the upper average in the class. I stroked my chest in relief of the result that I managed to achieve.

… Come to think of it, I wonder what the outcome was for Hiyori. 

I had never even paid attention to it before, but for some strange reason, I just can’t help but be curious. Mysteriously, as soon as our SHR was over, I found myself dragging my feet towards the class next door.

I repeat, there is no setting between me and Hiyori at school. Thus, it would be really unnatural for me to talk to her all of a sudden.

First of all, I looked for Yasutora… and found an object propping up above the desk, completely motionless. It was a corpse that emitted an unapproachable, gloomy aura from its entire body. Every classmate looked at him from a distance as if he were a tumor or something.

For a moment, I hesitated to speak to him, ―but then I remembered that if I turned back now, I wouldn’t be able to see Hiyori’s condition anymore. I sighed loudly and spoke to him.

“What’s the matter, Yasutora?”

“Subaru eh … hehe, it seems I have gone and done it …”

[TL: yeah… nothing new]

He answered with a muffled voice in a posture with his face facing down. It makes it even more bittersweet, and to be honest, a bit creepy.

“So, you failed eh? In how many?”

“ … in Everything”

“On the contrary, it’s kinda incredible.”

And then he stopped moving and returned to being the melancholic object he was earlier. He probably doesn’t even have the energy to talk anymore.

Yasutora usually plays around and doesn’t study much, which is why his grades are so poor. Last year, he had just barely passed the entrance exam, and it was still fresh in my memory that I had to help him with his studies. I don’t feel sorry for him because his failing marks in every subject were completely self-inflicted.

“… fufu.”

And when I shifted my gaze, I saw a girl who, like Yasutora, was laughing with a vacant expression. It was Hiyori. The unfocused eyes were tinged with despair.

…Was it that bad for her as well?