Chapter 33

Even if it wasn’t certain whether the problem between Satsuki and Akira had truly been resolved, Satsuki informed her parents later that very day that she wanted to live on her own. Though she had been commuting from her family home since the university was close by, she explained that she wanted to experience independent living sooner rather than later.

Her parents must have felt a profound sense of loneliness. Even so, Satsuki’s resolve was absolute, and they reluctantly granted her permission to move out. Ryuichi received the news almost immediately, and while a rift still remained between her and Akira, Satsuki mentioned she wanted to put him out of her mind for the time being.

“Ryuichi-kun, you’re welcome to come over to my new apartment whenever you like, you know?”
“Well, I’ll think about it.”

Ryuichi offered a wry smile in response to her thinly veiled expectations.
She had reportedly rented a condominium nearby, making it a place he could easily visit whenever the mood struck. Chisa had immediately declared that she would drop by to help celebrate Satsuki’s challenge at independent living, offering all sorts of advice along the way.

“You better show up too, absolutely.”

With instructions like that laid down, Ryuichi had no choice but to tag along. He could have ignored it, but Chisa had a genuinely terrifying side when she was genuinely ticked off. On top of being a woman who shared a physical relationship with him, she also functioned, as he had noted before, as an endlessly nagging, protective older sister figure.

That was precisely why Ryuichi preferred not to make an enemy out of her.

The weekend gathering at Satsuki’s place with Chisa had been officially locked in, lifting one minor burden off his shoulders. As he sat at his desk at school, Makoto poked Ryuichi in the shoulder, looking as if he were having the time of his life.

“Man, you’re getting completely glared at. That look says, ‘You scumbag who tore me and my big sis apart, go burn in hell.’”
“Shut up.”

Just as Satsuki’s issue wrapped up, Akira was predictably shooting him looks filled with raw, unadulterated hatred. Akira’s friends looked entirely bewildered by his sudden mood swings, but the moment they realized Ryuichi was the target of his hostility, they wisely backed away.

“Nobody wants to deal with a scary bastard like you.”
“Which makes things easier for me, honestly. Rather than wasting time getting dragged into random friction, having people steer clear from the start is way better.”
“Can’t argue with that. Well, not like you’ve got anything to worry about, but let me know if something happens.”
“…What’s got into you?”

Normally Makoto would have just teased him and dropped it, but today he was explicitly telling Ryuichi to speak up if he needed help, in other words, offering a hand. While Ryuichi was close friends with Makoto and it wasn’t weird for him to offer backup, the unusual shift in tone caught Ryuichi’s attention.

“I was talking with Chisa-san at the club yesterday. And the topic happened to be you.”
“Hoh?”
“Heh, you really are a guy who never runs out of conversational material, aren’t you?”
“Hey, what on earth did you two talk about?”
“I’m curious about that too.”

Startled by the sudden voice cutting into their conversation, Ryuichi and Makoto instinctively jerked upright.
There was no doubt they had been the only two people occupying this space just a second ago, yet when they looked toward the source of the sound, Shizuna was standing there as naturally as could be. The fact that she had approached without emitting a single trace of presence left both boys genuinely stunned.

“What? I was standing right here from the very beginning! You don’t have to look so shocked, you know!”
“That makes it even scarier!”
“……I swear, Rindo’s really changed completely.”

Shizuna had apparently been lingering there the entire time, unable to break into the conversation the two boys were carrying on. Poutingly puffing out her cheeks, she caught the hem of Ryuichi’s shirt between her fingers and glared at Makoto. Though it was supposed to be an intimidating glare, it came off as remarkably cute, prompting Makoto to offer an understanding grin.

“Looks like the princess is jealous of me. You sure are loved, Ryuichi.”
“Is that so?”
“…Mhm. Because I want to talk with Ryuichi-kun all the time, too.”
“Want to talk with me, huh…”

Perhaps embarrassed by how honestly she had confessed her feelings, Shizuna dropped her gaze to the floor.
Ryuichi offered a helpless, affectionate smile at the sight of her reaction and placed a hand on top of her head. Even though Makoto’s body was acting as a temporary wall, certain classmates were bound to catch sight of them. Still, Ryuichi had long since moved past the point of caring about gossip.

“I’m… such a pushover of a girl. Just getting my head patted like this makes me so happy.”
“Isn’t that normal if you actually like the person? I don’t think being a pushover has anything to do with it.”
“You really think so…?”
“What about getting your head patted by someone other than Ryuichi?”
“I’d hate it.”

The flat, heavy pressure woven into her voice left zero room for argument.
Just to test the waters, Makoto reached a hand toward Shizuna’s head, causing her eyes to sharpen into an instant, razor-thin glare directed straight at him.

“Oof, terrifying, terrifying.”
“…I’m sorry. But the mere thought of being touched by any man other than Ryuichi-kun just… ugh.”

Watching the two of them interact, the actual Ryuichi couldn’t help marveling at how endearingly devoted Shizuna looked as she fretted over it. There were times she showed expressions fitting her exact age, yet she could also display that staggering, maternal depth of emotion she had shown him in his dreams.

“Seriously, I don’t deserve this.”

At that low murmur, a bright, delighted smile bloomed across Shizuna’s face.
Shizuna was, above all else, an extraordinarily kind and considerate girl. Her core was unshakeable and unbreakable; everything she did, including choosing to spend her days alongside Ryuichi and his friends, was entirely of her own volition. No matter what kinds of vicious rumors floated around them outside, she had no intention of ever leaving Ryuichi’s side.

Even so, today marked the first time Ryuichi witnessed her openly pushing back against an adult authority figure.
It happened on their way back from the restrooms during lunch break, right on the staircase landing, where Shizuna was locked in a conversation with a faculty member. The man was a young, crew-cut teacher named Hamasaki who also served as the baseball team’s manager, and he and Shizuna were standing there all alone.

“Rindo, I hear you’ve been hanging around with delinquents like Shishido and Fushimi lately. The teachers are worried someone might be threatening or coercing you… Tell me, how about you talk to me about it?”

Ryuichi let out another internal sigh. He knew that even though he had straightened out his attitude somewhat recently, his terrible past academic record and defiant reputation meant the faculty despised him. The fact that his grades weren’t even bad probably only added to how insolent they found him.

“We teachers exist to protect our students. So please, Rindo, tell me what’s really going on.”

Hamasaki’s words weren’t entirely unreasonable, either.
If an honor student like Shizuna was voluntarily associating with delinquents, it was natural for someone to suspect foul play. While Shizuna’s close friends weren’t worried, the inherent distance between students and teachers meant misunderstandings were bound to happen.

(…Well, time to step in before this gets old.)

To begin with, Shizuna wasn’t being threatened in the slightest. She was voluntarily choosing to stay by Ryuichi’s side because she wanted to. In short, Hamasaki and the faculty’s worries were completely wide of the mark, simple as that. Yet Shizuna clearly had a few things she desperately wanted to get off her chest.

“I am not being threatened or coerced in any way. I am staying by their… by Ryuichi-kun’s side because I want to. Oh, and please spare me the predictable, misguided assumption that I’m just saying this because I’m being blackmailed or because they’ve got some dirt on me.”
“Tch… Rindo, I’m just–”
“Teacher.”

Shizuna cut him off right there.
Though Ryuichi couldn’t see her expression from his vantage point, whatever Hamasaki saw in her eyes made him involuntarily take a step back.

“I’m well aware that Ryuichi-kun, Fushimi-kun, and our other friends are labeled as delinquents. But just because of that, there is no rule stating we aren’t allowed to interact or be together.”
“Rindo, what I’m trying to say is–”

Clack. Shizuna’s shoe clicked sharply against the concrete step.
The sound was modest, but it was more than enough to freeze Hamasaki mid-sentence.

“Teacher, did you not just say a moment ago that teachers exist to protect their students?”
“Y-Yes… What about it?”
“Then why are you speaking about those very same students, about Ryuichi-kun and the others, in that kind of tone? Aren’t your own words completely contradicting themselves right now?”

For Hamasaki, those words must have felt like a sharp blade.
To begin with, Ryuichi could entirely understand why teachers instinctively wanted to weed out problematic students. Even if no direct damage had been done, the moment unpleasant rumors attached themselves to someone, people naturally wanted nothing to do with them; or worse, wished they would just vanish entirely.

“…It’s frustrating, but I understand how the teachers feel. Even knowing that, I am choosing to follow my own heart. You see, Teacher… Ryuichi-kun is actually an incredibly kind person. When I was trapped by a nasty, persistent scout, he stepped in and chased the man away.”
“…Eh?”
“To be completely honest, I used to only know his worst sides, too. It’s true that Ryuichi-kun gives people a reason to call him a delinquent. But I refuse to write someone off blindly just based on hearsay, especially not someone who has become precious to me.”

Hearing those words, Ryuichi’s eyes widened in sheer shock.
Shizuna had showered him with plenty of affectionate words before, but this was the very first time he had ever heard her call him precious to anyone outside of his immediate presence.

“……………”

Ryuichi wasn’t used to being called precious. The person he had desperately wanted to hear say those words, even if it was a lie, had always treated him as an obstruction, which made Shizuna’s declaration strike deep into the core of his chest.

“Teacher, if you were only saying those things out of genuine concern because you thought I was a good student, then thank you. But you don’t need to worry anymore because I’m already a bad girl now.”

Shizuna had mentioned becoming a “bad girl” once before.
He never imagined he would hear her declare it a second time. This time, delivered as a formal declaration straight to a teacher’s face. While Ryuichi tilted his head in mild confusion at the strange, unfamiliar hammering of his own heart, Shizuna descended the final steps and caught sight of him standing there.

“Ah, Ryuichi-kun.”
“Yo… Were you just sitting there spilling your deepest secrets?”
“Fufu, you were listening? But don’t worry, I didn’t say a single lie. Every single word came straight from the bottom of my heart.”

Debating her next move for a split second, Shizuna flashed a daring, mischievous grin and threw her arms around Ryuichi in a tight hug.
Stretching up on her tiptoes as high as she possibly could, she pressed a soft kiss right against his cheek. The entire scene was laid out in plain view for Hamasaki to witness, and fully aware of the teacher’s presence, Shizuna declared:

“Since I’m a bad girl now, I’m allowed to do at least this much even at school.”

The radiant smile Shizuna wore as she said those words was, as Ryuichi would later recount, truly breathtaking.