"So, why did you say that Hayama likes my sister?"
Yukinoshita Yukino narrowed her icy gaze, her expression carrying that signature sharpness, like a katana drawn halfway from its sheath—elegant, but deadly.
Nozomi lay with his head comfortably on her lap, gazing up at her face with a teasing glint in his eyes. "I just wanted to hear about your childhood," he said, voice unusually soft, "Since I've finally got the time. Can you tell me?"
He tilted his head slightly. "Like… how come someone as cute as you didn't have any friends? Or maybe… the story of those indoor shoes?"
(Not sure y'all remember the incident with the indoor shoes but it was mentioned in the earlier chapters, not sure which.)
His eyes gleamed with curiosity as he asked, like a mischievous protagonist poking a tsundere for reactions.
Yukino's cheeks puffed in slight annoyance, and she quickly covered his eyes with one hand. "You didn't even tell me about your childhood," she huffed, "And now you want to pry into mine? Doesn't that seem a bit unfair?"
Nozomi sighed and gently clasped her hand in his. His tone lowered into something less playful and more… melancholic. "I want to tell you," he admitted, "But… I can't remember."
Yukino blinked in surprise.
"If it weren't for meeting you again," he continued, "I probably wouldn't even remember your name. My past—before all this—is just a blur. A blank page."
His expression was distant, the warmth in his voice replaced by a hollowness that seemed far too old for someone their age. For a brief moment, Yukino felt something stir within her. That soft, untouched place in her heart throbbed, just a little.
So, she changed the subject.
"…Then I'll talk," she muttered, turning her face slightly away as though it hurt to look at him.
"As you might expect, I've always been… well, cute. Even when I was a child, I received attention wherever I went. Teachers praised me, relatives doted on me."
She spoke slowly, as though peeling back layers of old, buried memories.
"I knew that if I lowered myself, smiled more like my sister, and acted like a typical, friendly girl, I could easily win people over. I could've had a circle of friends around me. Like Hayato Hayama."
Her lips tightened slightly.
"But… something happened in elementary school. Something that left a bad taste in my mouth."
She exhaled quietly.
"I wanted to catch up to my sister, so I entered the class monitor elections. Hayama was my only real rival."
Yukino looked up at the ceiling, as if the past played like a film on its blank white canvas.
"I believed that by remaining excellent—and helping others to become excellent too—I could win. I tutored classmates. Explained difficult subjects. I didn't hoard knowledge."
A bitter smile crept onto her lips.
"But maybe I was too blunt. Too straightforward. The people I helped stopped talking to me."
"Meanwhile," she continued, her voice colder now, "Hayama wore that perfect, gentle smile and used patience to win the others over. Just like my elder sister. Everyone liked him."
"Somehow… I became 'the arrogant one.' That's what they started calling me."
She looked at Nozomi with a hint of sadness.
"Can you believe that? Just because I helped people study and corrected their mistakes, I became the 'arrogant' girl. They whispered that I thought I was better than everyone."
"I lost the election."
Her voice cracked faintly, just enough to make it feel real. "But it wasn't the failure that changed me. I could have accepted that. What broke me was everything that came after."
She glanced at her hands resting in her lap, as if recalling every scar that couldn't be seen.
"After Hayama became class monitor, the class gathered around him. Even the girls who used to be close to me… they distanced themselves. Maybe they were afraid of being labeled 'arrogant' too."
"And then," she said in a low tone, "my indoor shoes started disappearing. At first, I thought it was an accident. But it kept happening."
"Hayama helped me look for them once or twice. He even tried to bring me into conversations. But the moment he walked away, it was like I didn't exist."
"I was… invisible. Ostracized."
Yukino inhaled sharply. "All because I was too good. That's it. They hated that I worked hard. Instead of trying to improve, they just tore me down."
"After elementary school, I went abroad. I didn't want to spend middle school, high school—let alone college—surrounded by people like that again."
Nozomi suddenly sat up slightly, eyes flashing.
"No need to think about college," he declared with the seriousness of a protagonist making a vow under a cherry blossom tree. "Once you graduate high school, I'm marrying you!"
"Ha?! Don't get ahead of yourself, idiot!"
Yukino smacked his shoulder lightly, her face glowing with embarrassment.
"Hahaha! Okay, okay, I'm joking! We can get married after college, no rush!"
"Who said I'd marry you at all?!" Yukino snapped, cheeks puffed and scarlet. "And stop interrupting!"
"Got it!" Nozomi zipped his lips and held her hand like a knight making a solemn oath.
Nozomi gently took Yukino's hand and brought it to his lips, pressing a quiet kiss against her palm as if sealing his silence with a vow.
The moment his lips brushed her skin, Yukinoshita Yukino's cheeks bloomed a soft pink. Her heart fluttered, but she quickly masked it behind a sharp glare.
"Hmph. Shameless," she muttered, pulling her hand back with a pout. But she didn't pull away entirely.
Still, she continued speaking—her voice softer now, as if peeling back layers of armor.
"Because of what happened in elementary school... I gave up on the idea of having friends. Those so-called friends never truly mattered anyway. They only brought noise and distraction, things that chipped away at my grades."
Her eyes drifted downward as she spoke, her tone detached, like someone recounting the ending of a play they'd long since stopped caring about.
"And so... I stayed like this. Alone."
She looked back up at him, a quiet question glimmering in her eyes.
"So? Now that you've heard my story, do you think I'm cold? Strange? Awkward?"
Her lips curled ever so slightly in self-deprecation.
"I'm not like my sister. I've always known that."
Nozomi didn't hesitate. He shook his head slowly, firmly.
"I don't think you're weird at all, Yukino. I just think… it's really sad. If I had been in the same elementary school with you, things might've been different."
Her eyes flickered with curiosity.
"If you were in the same school back then… what would you have done?"
Nozomi's grin turned playful.
"Easy. I would've become your one and only friend. The kind that sticks so close everyone else gets jealous just watching."
"Yukino's adorable, after all. If no one else dared approach you, that'd just mean more opportunity for me."
He winked.
"Just like now."
Yukino's gaze followed his hand as it drifted—not-so-innocently—down to rest on her smooth, fair thigh. Her blush deepened like a spreading sunrise.
"Get your claws off me, you pervert!"
She smacked his hand away, flustered. "I didn't agree to being your friend!"
Nozomi just chuckled, utterly unfazed. He reached out again, teasingly brushing her calf with the back of his fingers.
"You will admit it eventually. I've got confidence in my persistence."
Yukino huffed, covering his eyes in exasperation.
But her heart felt light, warm. His silly antics might've been ridiculous, but she couldn't deny it—she was happy.
"Yukino, I've got a secret to tell you," Nozomi said suddenly, his voice a little lower, a little more serious.
She narrowed her eyes.
"What kind of secret?"
"Come closer. Just lower your head a bit."
"...What are you plotting?"
She eyed him warily, arms crossed. She knew that look—he was up to something.
Nozomi sighed exaggeratedly, resting his head on her lap with a dramatically wounded expression.
"I'm already lying on your legs, Yukino. What more can I do from this position? I just want to tell you something up close, that's all."
"Nice try. I'm not falling for that."
She turned her head defiantly.
"With your track record, if I actually lowered my head, you'd totally steal a kiss."
"Tch. Foiled again," he muttered under his breath. Then smiled. "Fine, I'll say it from here."
"What I wanted to tell you is… Haruno is a total sister-con."
Yukino blinked. "Eh? Sister-con?"
Nozomi nodded sagely.
"Yep. The kind who's completely obsessed with her cute little sister and would rather die than admit it."
"That can't be right!" Yukino said in disbelief. "She used to prank me all the time when we were kids!"
He shrugged.
"Well, you don't have to believe me, but I'm telling you—she watches over you in her own weird way."
"Why do you think she treats Hayato like he doesn't exist? It's because he hurt you when you were younger."
Yukino's eyes widened at that, her expression clouding with something complicated—like a puzzle she'd never thought to put together before.