A few days passed in the blink of an eye.
When Ren realized it, it was already Sunday, and Sunday, for those who followed 'Momentary Blossoms', wasn't a "day off," it wasn't "rest," it wasn't a "day to lie down." Sunday was the day the world judged you.
The new edition had arrived at bookstores early. Hurried hands flipped through the table of contents, eyes scanned familiar titles, and amidst the usual routine: students buying before lunch, adults picking up on their way to work, and once again the name 'Ao Haru Ride' slipped into the pages, now with the second chapter.
The second chapter of 'Ao Haru Ride' unfolded at a slightly slower pace.
After reuniting with Kou at school after three years, the protagonist, Futaba, turned her attention to her classmate, Yuri.
Gentle and delicate, with a cute and innocent appearance and elegant manners, Yuri was the favorite among the boys in her class. She was excessively polite, smiling at the right moment, almost as if her body had learned early on to ask permission to exist.
The boys liked her, which was precisely why the girls didn't.
It wasn't explicit hatred. It was worse: it was the kind of rejection that spreads in whispers, in glances, and muffled giggles, with conversations that stop when you approach. It was an invisible net that traps without touching.
That's why Futaba saw a reflection of herself from elementary school in Yuri. Instinctively, she approached and unexpectedly got along well with her. Yuri even gave her a backpack keychain as a gift.
That's why she approached. Not to "save" anyone, but because Yuri's loneliness was too familiar for her to pretend not to see.
Friendship isn't born from grand gestures. It's born in the details: a casual "hi," a simple question, a silly comment that turns into laughter, a comfortable moment of silence that begins to form between two people. When Futaba realized it, Yuri was already telling her things she didn't tell anyone else.
"Futaba, thank you for talking to me, even though everyone seems to reject me like this."
Futaba was quiet for a second, unable to find an immediate answer. Because she knew exactly what it felt like to be pushed out of the group without anyone saying "you're forbidden." And before Futaba could say anything, Yuri continued:
"If it's wrong to seem fragile and want to be liked, and that's why I'm isolated by the girls, why do they dress so meticulously every day? They also don't want others to find them beautiful, and that's why they dress up? In the end, what's the difference between them and me?"
Yuri was a girl who could say these things with a smile and with such naturalness.
It was a portrait of something many people experience but don't know how to name: the violence born from jealousy, insecurity, and the fear of being replaced.
The narrative then devoted a generous amount of time to the birth of that friendship. Nothing was rushed. Futaba and Yuri grew closer as if walking on thin ice: carefully, with retreat, with small advances.
When her classmates defamed Yuri, saying she was acting cute on purpose to seduce the boys, Futaba, unusually, didn't ignore it as she usually did, but spoke up and reprimanded them.
A circle of girls, in a corner, laughed venomously:
"Acting cute on purpose in front of the boys is disgusting."
"If you think Yuri is disgusting, it means you also want the boys to find you beautiful, right? So, what's the point of talking nonsense here? Why don't you do the same?" Futaba took a deep breath and retorted to the girls in her class. The shock was immediate, because the school isn't used to sincerity. The school is used to invisible rules and disguised punishments. One of the girls reacted defensively, irritated:
"Who wants to pretend! We just hate people like Yuri."
Futaba narrowed her eyes, and the anger in her wasn't theatrical. It was an anger that came from the past, from old memories, from having heard similar things before and having kept them to herself without responding.
"Looking down on others might make you feel superior, but that's a big mistake. You're just so envious of her that you can't ignore her, that's why you say these things." Futaba's expression hardened.
That was the sentence that made many readers gasp.
And Shiori Haruki was one of them.
When she read that scene, lying in bed with the magazine in her hands, her fingers trembled so slightly that it wasn't even noticeable. But she knew that mechanism. I knew how the room was organized to punish someone without needing an "acceptable" reason. She knew the fake smile, the compliment to her face, the gossip behind her back. She knew it like someone who'd spent too much time being the subject of someone's conversation.
Shiori Haruki had always been looked at by boys. Always remembered and talked about. However, along with that, she had always been the target of another kind of attention: the kind that hurts.
Of course, she was also the target of gossip and mockery among the girls. Some smiled at her, but in reality, others secretly envied her and spread rumors behind her back.
Like the fact that Shiori's mother was a mistress who married her husband.
Like the fact that she dated seven boys in elementary school.
Like the fact that she was extremely ugly in elementary school, and her family spent millions on plastic surgery for her in high school.
Although now she is largely immune to all of that. The comments, after all, show that seeing such plots inevitably touches her heart.
She learned not to break because of it. But that doesn't mean it doesn't hurt. Reading Futaba says that aloud, within a story, was like seeing someone do for her what no one had done at certain moments in her life.
"Is he really a boy?" Shiori lay on the bed, unable to comprehend.
Ren, a mere high school boy, how could he write such a realistic romance for girls? At the same time, she couldn't deny what she felt while reading.
Futaba was incredible.
"If someone defended me like that when others spoke ill of me, I probably, no, definitely would be friends with her. I really envy Yuri for having a friend like Futaba."
Perhaps the reason someone likes to read romances is to find that kind of emotional connection that doesn't exist in reality. Shiori's lips curved into a slight smile.
She plunged back into the chapter.
Because the text didn't stop at the strong sentence. It carried the consequences along with it.
After saying those things in class, Futaba basically ruined her relationships with girls. She was alone in a corner, heartbroken by her destroyed relationships, unable to hold back the tears.
She cried in secret, her face flushed, her chest tight, with that typical teenage shame of thinking being seen crying is the worst thing in the world. When she heard footsteps, she tried to hide her face, tried to escape, tried to find a place where no one could see that "failure."
Kou appeared. He approached Futaba, shielding her face with his shoulder, gently stroking her head, acting like a couple, hiding the tears streaming down her face from others passing by.
He simply approached and, with a simple gesture, placed his shoulder in front of her face, like a discreet wall. He pulled Futaba close enough to make it seem to anyone passing by that the two were together, as a couple, in intimacy.
"You've been so focused on achieving your goal that you've lost sight of everything."
The young man's calm, distant voice soothed Futaba's heart, softening her wounded feelings.
Kou was like that: distant on the surface, present at the crucial moment. The kind of person who doesn't hug you because he likes to hug, but because at that moment you needed shelter.
Although he generally seemed indifferent to Futaba, he appeared at crucial moments, offering emotional support to the female protagonist; that was his role as the male protagonist.
The chapter ended making clear what was lost and what was gained. Futaba lost the superficial and insincere friendships of a group of girls in her class, but gained something worth much more: the serious and true friendship of Yuri.
The romance between Futaba and Kou, on the other hand, progressed slowly, but in the sense that what exists between two people is not "instant passion," but something built on the basis of what is left unsaid.
Thus, the subtle emotion conveyed by the story's text reached hundreds of thousands of readers in the Southern Province through the magazine 'Momentary Blossoms' today.
Many readers, after finishing the first chapter of 'Ao Haru Ride', didn't find it as moving as they had expected. However, many readers, like Shiori Haruki, were deeply touched after reading the second chapter.
No novel can satisfy all readers, but in the end, the second chapter resonated with the vast majority of readers of the magazine 'Momentary Blossoms'.
The internet reacted as it always does when it finds something that seems to "understand us": people started creating groups, chats, communities, places to talk about the story as if it were an urgent matter. On the official Red Violet Literature forum, the 'Momentary Blossoms' area was taken over by topics about 'Ao Haru Ride'.
[The second chapter of 'Ao Haru Ride' is so realistic, I totally identified with it, it almost made me cry.]
[A girl who has been ostracized by her classmates since childhood: my thoughts after reading the second chapter of 'Ao Haru Ride']
[Is it wrong to want others to find you beautiful? Of course not! If I have beauty, I will certainly show it off and want to be praised. Those who can't handle that are simply too envious and have gone crazy. I love Yuri's character so much, she's great at teasing those envious classmates.]
[I really love the female protagonist, Futaba.] It had been a long time since I'd seen such a realistic female protagonist in a novel, with such a strong and lovable personality.
The author, "Mizuki Ito," must have suffered ostracism from girls when she was young to write a novel like this.
Why does everyone call the author "Mizuki Ito"? Has her age been revealed?
Only teenage girls can write young adult novels like this! Is that even a question? Most adult novelists write professional novels.
Excellent people are always ostracized.
Kou really understands! That hug at the crucial moment, offering his shoulder to Futaba to shield her from tears, really moved me. Why aren't there kind guys like that in real life?
Why does it seem like all the forum posts are from girls? Doesn't any guy like 'Ao Haru Ride'?
Of course! [I'm a burly guy lurking.]
[Hehe, even though I'm over twenty, I still have a girl's heart. I love reading pure romance novels. I also like kind guys like Kou. I learned a trick from a novel today: next time my girlfriend cries, I'll just hug her.]
Among the posts, there were also men, some laughing, others sincere, saying they were reading, that they were enjoying it, that they had been moved. But, as always, amidst the euphoria, someone appeared reminding everyone what truly sustains the life of a serialized work:
"Don't just chat on the forum, folks. There's a verification code on the back of the romance magazine you bought. Quickly access the official website to vote and rate the novel. This is very, very important! A good vote and rating will cause the editorial team to ask the author to extend the novel; otherwise, publication may be terminated soon, or even canceled. If you like this novel, please support it!"
And many people did.
On the forum, as soon as someone started talking, discussions about "Ao Haru Ride" sprouted like mushrooms after the rain.
Of course, fans of the novel also promoted it in real life and online, spreading its influence.
However, at 9 a.m. on Monday, the data statistics from Red Violet Literature were completed 24 hours after the release of the second chapter of "Ao Haru Ride".
The second chapter received 3512 votes from readers on the official website, placing third among the thirteen serialized novels in this edition of "Momentary Blossoms".
The novel's rating rose another 0.1 point, from 9.2 to 9.3, maintaining its first position.
Frankly, many in the Red Violet Literature editorial staff were somewhat speechless at this result. After all, judging by this situation, the popularity of "Ao Haru Ride" was growing very rapidly.
The previous edition had just over two thousand reader votes; this edition has already surpassed three thousand votes.
Furthermore, it is extremely difficult for ratings to rise after exceeding nine points, but unexpectedly, this novel continued to climb after the release of this edition.
How much must readers have enjoyed this novel to give it such a high rating?
End of chapter 21