This couldn't be something she'd made up on the spot just to brush her off, could it?
Yukino Yukinoshita couldn't help but think so.
She held Lin Ye in extremely high regard, and in most matters he wouldn't deceive or hide things from her. But in certain matters, he still had a way of talking around the truth to conceal what was really going on.
What he'd just said gave her exactly that kind of feeling.
Yukino felt that Lin Ye had no intention of telling the truth at all — that what he'd given her was just a perfunctory answer.
This account of his must be hiding the real situation between him and Tachibana-sensei.
Yes, that had to be it.
There was definitely something he couldn't say, something being kept hidden.
The more Yukino turned it over, the more convinced she became that she was right.
"And then?"
"And then Sensei was very grateful to me, and it just so happened she had a lovely younger sister, so she strongly recommended her sister to me — she wanted me to be with her sister."
The words were simple enough.
But they didn't inspire the slightest trust in Yukino.
She watched Lin Ye coldly, waiting for him to give her a proper answer.
"And then?"
"And then, of course, I firmly refused. I really have no interest whatsoever in Student Tachibana," Lin Ye said, seeing Yukino's reaction, and went on, "and as I said before, Tachibana-sensei kept pushing her sister on me, kept talking up how good her sister was."
A faint, wistful look crossed Lin Ye's face.
That expression—
Yukino did not like it at all.
Yes.
She really didn't like it one bit.
"And Sensei even offered to help me strategize about it."
"But I refused, firmly. Nothing's changed from before to now — I refused, absolutely refused. I already have a girl I like."
At that moment,
Yukino's mood brightened considerably in a short span of time.
This was an affirmation from Lin Ye — even if that affirmation wasn't meant for her alone.
Lin Ye's fondness was, after all, also directed at that big star in Tokyo.
"Anything else?"
"That's all."
"I don't believe you."
"Even if you don't believe me, Yukino, what I'm saying is the truth."
But Yukino's expression didn't change.
"Haven't you ever thought about doing something with Tachibana-sensei?"
Lin Ye slowly typed out a question mark.
"Tachibana-sensei is so beautiful — don't you want to do something? She's beautiful, and her figure is great too. Don't you want to?"
This only made Lin Ye feel more baffled.
He wondered if Yukino was overthinking things.
"Yukino, are you saying you're not beautiful, that your figure isn't good?"
"My figure really isn't that good."
Lin Ye: ???
He was stunned.
Yukino's figure was, admittedly, average, but the real issue was that she shouldn't be saying it so bluntly! Could Yukino really admit her own figure wasn't good enough?
There was absolutely no way Lin Ye believed that.
"Hina-sensei's figure is much better than mine."
Lin Ye grew even more depressed.
Was this answer of Yukino's a bit much?
He truly couldn't make sense of it.
"So it's only natural that you'd have feelings for Hina-sensei."
That matter-of-fact tone made Lin Ye feel increasingly cornered.
He was certain there was some hidden, unspeakable little scheme buried in all this.
And it was absolutely not something he could afford to deal with.
So,
Lin Ye decided he'd better slow things down, tread carefully — otherwise he'd inevitably run into a much bigger problem down the road.
"So you do have feelings for Hina-sensei, don't you!"
"—"
"It's precisely because Hina-sensei noticed your feelings for her, and because of certain considerations, and because she owes you a debt of gratitude, that she found it hard to refuse you outright and send you away. So in the end, Sensei chose this method — introducing her sister — as a way to turn down those feelings of yours toward her."
Lin Ye:
For a moment he genuinely felt that Yukino's analysis was spot on.
Yes.
Logically speaking, there was nothing wrong with Yukino's reasoning at all.
In fact, Lin Ye even began to think that Yukino's analysis was probably exactly what Tachibana-sensei really thought, only Sensei had never said it out loud.
Otherwise, why would Sensei suddenly, out of nowhere, push her sister on him so hard?
He did have a life-debt with Hina-sensei, but that alone shouldn't be enough to give Sensei such strong feelings.
But if Hina-sensei had mistakenly believed he had feelings for her, and to nip that in the bud she'd resorted to introducing her sister — well, Lin Ye felt there was nothing wrong with that logic at all. It fit reality perfectly.
"Impressive."
That single word made Yukino Yukinoshita freeze for a moment.
What did that mean, calling her impressive? What was so impressive about this...
Wait — could it be that she'd hit the mark?
In that instant,
a surge of strong emotion rose in Yukino Yukinoshita. She was angry.
She hadn't expected the truth to really be exactly as she'd guessed.
This... how could she not be angry?
"I can't believe Yukino thought of that. I always assumed Hina-sensei was just trying to repay the debt she owed me."
Those words from Lin Ye made Yukino's mood swing in the blink of an eye, from a low to a high.
What was going on?
By the sound of it, Lin Ye had never realized this himself, but she had figured out something he hadn't even noticed.
"Hina-sensei must have been overly sensitive, thinking I had feelings for her, so afterward she kept recommending her sister, Student Tachibana."
So that really was how it was!
Yukino Yukinoshita couldn't help but sigh at the thought.
"But Sensei really was overthinking it. Sensei's beautiful and has a great figure, sure, but my feelings are actually quite simple."
Lin Ye's tone was calm, but Yukino still harbored some doubt — though with him saying this much, it was hard for her to press any further.
Lin Ye had already said as much as he had; if she kept doubting him now, it would only seem as though she didn't trust him.
There really was no need for that.
"So you've always believed Tachibana-sensei kept suggesting it out of gratitude for saving her life?"
"Yes, that was definitely the factor early on. Later, it was probably my constant refusals that triggered some kind of stubborn defiance in her."
Lin Ye said,
"Besides, she probably didn't want me fixating on one particular girl forever."
Who could that be?
But almost immediately, Yukino Yukinoshita realized exactly which girl Lin Ye was talking about.
Meeting Lin Ye's gaze, she knew who it was.
Who else could it be, besides her?
Thinking about it, Yukino supposed it made sense. At school, plenty of people already knew Lin Ye liked her — even after he'd confessed to Miura Yumiko, many students still knew Lin Ye's real feelings were for her.
Otherwise, why else would so many students gather to watch this morning instead of heading to class, if not hoping to catch a good show?
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