Translator: Haruto.

This is a mass release (Ch29-33).

After lunch, we were told we’d be learning new things about nature, so the teachers gave us a long presentation on various things as they showed us some slides on a screen. I thought their presentation was pretty informative… but, truth be told, I was feeling so full that at some point I just stopped paying attention.

Once dinner was over, we were allowed to do whatever we wanted until 10:40 p.m. when the lights would go off…

I’m currently in front of a vending machine, about to get something to quench my thirst with. I buy a drink, and right when I try walking back to my room—

“Hey there, Kasashima-kun! What a coincidence.”

“Mahiro-san…”

Waving her hand, Mahiro walks over to me.

“Today was pretty tiring, but it was fun too, don’t you think?”

“Yeah, it was…”

…It seems I’ve got no choice but to keep her company for a bit…

Having lost my chance to escape, I keep looking at Mahiro as she buys a drink at the vending machine.

“Now, Kasashima-kun. I assume you have an idea as to why I’ve approached you…?”

“Why you’ve… Aahh…”

Please take lots of sneaky pics of Yuito during the school camp—

No, wait, that’s not the right flashback.

Three pictures with Yuito in them. That’s all I want. Can you help me out?

That’s the one. I’m pretty sure I told her I’d only give her two, though.

I take my phone out of my pocket and search for the right folder.

“I actually took a few, but…”

“Ohh! Can I see them?”

“You really are something else, Mahiro-san…” I guess she wants to choose the two pictures herself.

I begin showing her the pictures I got and she draws her face close to my screen in excitement. She spends a few seconds admiring each picture, after which she scrolls to the next one.

When she’s done going over all of them, Mahiro says, “I had low expectations, but you’ve actually gotten some amazing pics! Especially this one of him dozing off in bed… He’s so freaking adorable!!”

And her drooling face makes yet another appearance. She really seems to like it.

“I must say, though, this is the kind of picture a stalker would take…”

“…Hey, you were the one who wanted sneaky pics, remember?”

“I’m so happy!”

Man, she looks dashing even when she’s blushing… But who cares about that?! It’s her fault I’m feeling both embarrassed and kind of pissed off right now!!

I only took one stalker-ish picture of Yuito, but it still was one of the most heart-racing experiences I’ve had to go through, even though all I did was photograph a guy sleeping… And by “heart-racing” I’m referring to how nervous I felt about being caught, of course.

“Okay, this will be the first one. And the second picture… well, we can just leave it for tomorrow!”

“I had a feeling you’d say that.”  

In other words, I’m back on camera duty tomorrow. My gallery is already full of pictures of Yuito, though. If someone saw this, they’d surely get the wrong idea.

“ I have to return to my room. I’m glad to have found you here, Kasashima-kun.”

“I kind of freaked out when I saw you walking towards me.”

“You sure love to exaggerate. I know I’m one of the most popular girls in the class, but it’s nothing to freak out about.”

A heroine that’s aware of how popular she is, huh… Not bad. I’m actually not a fan of dense and overly humble characters.

“Someone as popular as you must be pretty busy all the time.”  

“Yup, the other girls in class invited me to go have fun with them. Ah, I’m not talking about anything lewd, okay? We’re just going to play cards.”

“I see. Will Rina-san be joining you?” They always seem to be together after all…

I don’t think my question was anything out of the ordinary, and yet for some reason, Mahiro’s expression soured for an instant.

“Rina… has never been such an outgoing girl, you see. I think she’ll just stay in her room tonight taking it easy.”

“Huh.”

“Now then, I’ll see you tomorrow.”

Mahiro runs off somewhere, waving me goodbye.

“…She cut the conversation short all of a sudden…”

It felt like she was trying to avoid talking about Rina… and her past.

“Huh? What is she doing here? Is this life’s way of bullying me or something?”

As I continue on my way back to my room, I happen to stumble upon Rina, who’s resting her back against the wall of the corridor. Didn’t Mahiro say that she’d be chilling in her room…?

“I need to talk to you.”

“…Urk.”

I was planning to ignore her at first, but it seems she’s been waiting for me.

“What would you do if I refused? And what could you even want with me?”

“I’d scream. And I just… think you’ll understand… since you’re going through something similar.”

She’s being rather vague, but I believe I know what this is all about. She wants to talk to me about her past because I’m also constantly misunderstood due to my menacing appearance. This is quite sudden, though…

Oh well, ignoring the two sisters and their requests could spell real trouble for me, even if being near them is as nerve-racking as ever, so after some pondering, I say, “Fine, but can we leave it for some other time?”  

“You’re running away just like back at the amusement park?”

“I just haven’t taken a bath yet.”

“You haven’t?”

I can’t blame her for being surprised. It’s already past nine. I bet most students went into the bath early to enjoy their free time to their heart’s content.

“There’s a large bath Yuito wants to check out so I’m planning to go there with him.”

“…Well, let’s leave it for later, then.”

“Great. We’d stand out a bit too much here, so how about we meet in front of the vending machine over there? I’ll probably be out of the bath by 9:40.”

“Okay.” Rina walks away in the opposite direction. I guess she’s going back to her room.

She agreed to my request way too easily. I can’t help but wonder where that overbearingness she first showed me at the amusement park went.

More importantly, though, what happened this morning must have affected her more than I thought if she decided to talk to me now of all times…

***

“There really isn’t anyone here. I’m sorry, Yuuji-kun. I shouldn’t have fallen asleep.”

“It’s fine. We can relax better having the entire place to ourselves.”

Yuito and I have arrived at the changing area of the large bath. We’re the only ones present, so I guess my assumption was right and everyone took their bath early.

When I start unbuttoning my shirt, Yuito says, “By the way, after you left the room earlier, Tajima-kun dropped by.”

“Huh.”

“They’re collecting money to cover the cost of the present they got for Mr. Takebayashi, so we need to give Tajima-kun 300 yen either today or tomorrow.

“So we’re really going to give him a present.” Oh well, I already knew we would.

There are 25 students in our class, so they’ll collect 7,500 yen in total. They must have bought something really nice for our teacher.

“And it seems we’ll hand him the present tomorrow.”

“Even though his birthday is today…?”

I guess the idea is to catch him by surprise. We’ll make it seem as though we completely forgot about his birthday, only to give him a great present the next day. He might even be moved to tears.

“Also, Yuuji-kun…”

“Hm?”

I thought he was going to keep talking about the present, but Yuito is now fidgeting nervously for some reason…

“Um, could you please… turn around? I-It’s kind of embarrassing…”

“Aah, yeah, sure…”

It’s normal to feel embarrassed about being seen without clothes, especially at this age, so I do as Yuito says and turn around.

“T-Thank you.”

“Don’t mention it.”

The moment I finish taking my shirt off, however, a certain memory pops into my head.

Yuito-sama’s a girl until proven otherwise.

I can’t get Hibari’s weird comment out of my mind.

Crap, I really don’t like this uncertainty… I need to make sure…

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