Chapter 021: Meeting Horikita Suzune! Part 2!
Hachiman looked at Karuizawa and suddenly felt that she might have misunderstood something. However, he didn't know where to start explaining, and Karuizawa didn't seem intent on pursuing the topic.
Karuizawa picked up her milk tea, took a sip that made her cheeks bulge slightly, and then set the cup down.
"I understand," she added. "That book. I'll help you find it."
Hachiman nodded. "Thanks."
Karuizawa gave a soft "Mm" and said no more.
A silence fell between them, though it wasn't awkward; after all, they had been spending time together for over half a month now. They had become familiar with one another.
Outside the window, the sunlight was beautiful.
But Karuizawa lowered her head, staring at the half-finished milk tea in front of her. She was thinking about that book: The Insulted and Humiliated. The protagonist is a "simp." He helps the childhood friend he loves cover up her tracks and assists her in eloping when she falls for someone else. In the end, the girl regrets it, saying, "We could have grown old together and been happy forever."
She wondered why Hachiman chose to mention this book now.
Was it because his birthday was coming up and he wanted to read it? Or was he trying to tell her something through the book? Or was she just overthinking it? Perhaps he simply wanted to revisit something he'd read before. Or... was she becoming too obsessed with him? If she stayed like this, would she become clingy and be hated?
Karuizawa's finger tapped lightly against the side of her cup.
She didn't dare think further. Pushing those thoughts to the back of her mind, she looked up and flashed Hachiman a smile.
"Our class has training for PE this afternoon," she said. "I'll head back first."
Hachiman nodded. "Mm."
Karuizawa stood up, grabbed her notebook and milk tea cup, and headed for the door. After a few steps, she suddenly stopped and looked back at him.
"Hachiman."
"Yeah?"
"The protagonist in that book," her voice was very soft, "do you think what he did was right?"
Hachiman looked at her and remained silent for two seconds.
"No," he said. "Personally, when it comes to someone I like, I tend to take the initiative rather than the so-called 'helping her because I love her' approach."
"Oh—"
The corners of Karuizawa's mouth twitched slightly. Without another word, she pushed the door open and walked out. The door closed gently behind her.
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That evening, when Karuizawa returned to the dormitory building, the elevator happened to be waiting on the first floor. The doors were open, and someone was standing inside.
Horikita Suzune.
Her long black hair was draped over her shoulders, and she was holding a thick book with a blue cover, face down. The title was hidden. Horikita's expression remained as cold and aloof as ever, but she gave a slight nod when she saw Karuizawa enter.
"Karuizawa." Horikita's tone was neither high nor low.
Karuizawa stepped into the elevator and pressed the button for her floor. The doors slid shut, reflecting their two silhouettes against the metal walls.
"Horikita-san," Karuizawa began, her tone carrying a hint of testing, "Just getting back?"
"Yes." Horikita's reply was brief.
The elevator rose slowly. The numbers jumped from 1 to 2, then 3...
Karuizawa watched the flickering numbers, her mind racing. She was hesitating. Should she tell Horikita? About the fact that she and Hachiman were dating. Even though she knew from Hachiman that Horikita already knew—that she'd known from the moment Hachiman sent the message—it was still different to say it to her face.
"Um," Karuizawa spoke up, her voice a bit lower than usual, "I had lunch with Hikigaya-kun today."
Horikita glanced at her. "Mm."
"Also—" Karuizawa paused. "You know about us dating, right?"
Horikita's finger tapped lightly on the cover of the library book. Her expression didn't change, but the movement was slight and restrained.
"I know," Horikita said calmly. "He sent me a message to tell me."
The elevator stopped at the 4th floor. The doors opened to an empty hallway and closed again.
Karuizawa looked at Horikita's profile; she couldn't read any emotion on that icy face. She didn't know what Horikita was thinking, but she felt that since Hachiman had already told her, there was no point in hiding anything.
"Actually," Karuizawa continued, "I only agreed to it at first because he needed someone to help him gain experience."
Horikita didn't interject.
"You know... dating a girl to learn how to get along with them, so he could go after the person he truly likes." Karuizawa's voice grew quieter. "I originally thought it was just practice."
Horikita's gaze shifted slightly.
"But," Karuizawa paused, "while eating together today, I learned a bit more about him. I was actually quite happy."
The corners of her mouth curled up slightly. It was a faint smile, but it carried an indescribable tenderness.
The elevator stopped at the 6th floor. The doors opened. Karuizawa stepped out, and after a few paces, Horikita's voice came from behind her.
"Karuizawa."
Karuizawa stopped and turned around.
Horikita stood in the elevator, one hand holding the "open" button and the other still holding the blue book. Her expression was unchanged, but something flickered in those burgundy eyes.
"You said just now that you learned more about him today," Horikita said evenly. "So, you didn't understand him before?"
Karuizawa blinked, then nodded gently. "Yeah. There were many things I didn't know."
Horikita was silent for a second before releasing the button.
"I see," she said.
The doors closed slowly, and Horikita's figure vanished behind the metal.
Standing in the hallway, Karuizawa stared at the closed doors, a sudden surge of doubt filling her heart.
As a girl, she was quite sensitive. Her intuition told her that Horikita actually had feelings for Hachiman. Furthermore, as Hachiman's girlfriend, she sensed that Horikita actually felt a greater sense of urgency than Matsushita, who had openly expressed interest.
Whether Horikita's feelings would develop further, she didn't know.
It was because she was dating Hachiman that she had considered whether to be direct with Horikita. Moreover, Karuizawa felt that Horikita was superior to her in almost every way. Compared to Horikita, she really didn't have much of an advantage.
She felt like there was something hidden in Horikita's last sentence that she hadn't quite caught.
Thinking this, she turned and continued toward her room. Once inside, she sat on her bed, placed her notebook on the desk, and flipped to the page where she'd recorded their lunch conversation.
"I'm a second-year. Only good at humanities. Parents are corporate drones. Don't want to become like them."
She stared at the words for a few seconds, then picked up her phone and opened her chat with Hachiman. Her fingers tapped the screen a few times, then deleted it. Tapped again, deleted again.
Finally, she opened Horikita's chat and sent a single message:
[Horikita, Hachiman wants you to meet him tomorrow.]
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On the other side, just as Horikita Suzune returned to her room, her phone vibrated. She pulled it out to see the message from Karuizawa. Just one line:
[Horikita, Hachiman wants you to meet him tomorrow.]
Horikita stared at the text for a few seconds. No time, no location, no context. Just that one sentence, like a dry fragment clipped from a longer conversation sitting on the screen.
She set the phone on the desk and sat on the edge of her bed.
She had assumed that if he wanted to meet, Hachiman would contact her directly. Just like back on the ship—sending a message saying "Come out, let's discuss something" or "Let's meet tomorrow." Even if his phrasing was always blunt and lacked a lead-in, at least it came from him.
Yet now, he was having Karuizawa notify her.
Horikita's finger tapped lightly on the desk. She was feeling a bit disgruntled, but only she knew there was something stuck in her chest that she couldn't quite name.
It wasn't anger.
She picked up her phone and opened her chat with Hachiman. The last message was still regarding the arrangements for the Sports Festival exam. He was directing her, telling her how to act. That task was already done—they had intentionally given the authority to create Class D's participation list to Class B, letting Class B manipulate Class B.
She stared at the chat for a few seconds, then exited and locked the screen. She placed the phone face down on the desk.
It's not anger, she told herself again. It just felt strange. Why have Karuizawa notify her? Couldn't he send a message himself? Or... did he feel that Karuizawa should know about such things?
Thinking this, Horikita sent a message directly.
[Why are you the one notifying me?]
[Eh? Asking me? Since we're dating now, even though I think it's fine for him to meet girls, he feels it's better to go through me,] Karuizawa replied quickly.
"..."
Horikita looked at Karuizawa's last sentence: [It's better to go through me.]
Leaning against her headboard, Horikita stared at the ceiling. The fluorescent light was blindingly white, but she didn't look away. She picked up her phone and replied.
[Understood. What time?]
The reply was instant.
[Tomorrow is Saturday, so 7:00 AM. The shopping district. He'll be waiting for you in front of the bookstore.]
[Most students won't wake up that early on a holiday, so meeting in the shopping district will be no problem at all,] Karuizawa added.
"......"
Horikita looked at the lines of text but didn't reply again.
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The time soon came to 7:00 AM the next morning.
Despite studying for ten hours a day, Horikita kept a very disciplined schedule; she was already awake by seven.
The shopping district. Waiting.
Hachiman stood in front of the bookstore holding a can of coffee from the convenience store, his thumb on the tab but not opening it. Leaning against the wall, his gaze drifted to the other end of the street. Soon, a figure emerged from the morning light.
Her long black hair swayed gently in the morning breeze, and her burgundy eyes were as sharp as ever. Hachiman noticed she was wearing a white shirt with her first-year red blazer over it, carrying nothing in her hands.
This straightforward Horikita was the one he was familiar with.
Horikita Suzune walked up to him and stopped. Hachiman looked at her, remaining silent for a second. Her expression was the same as usual—cold, calm, lips slightly pursed. But having known her this long, he knew what was hidden beneath that mask.
In other words, Horikita Suzune was angry.
"So, did something happen to make you mad?" Hachiman said directly.
Horikita looked at him and didn't answer immediately. Then she shook her head.
"I'm not angry," she said.
Hachiman raised an eyebrow. "Then what's with that look on your face?"
Horikita shifted her gaze to the bookstore window next to them. A few new books were on display. she stared at them for two seconds before speaking, each word sounding carefully weighed.
"You had Karuizawa tell me."
Hachiman blinked, seemingly not understanding the sudden significance of her words.
"The fact that you were meeting me this morning," she continued, "you had her tell me."
'Uh.
Oh?
I see.'
Hachiman leaned against the wall and rotated the coffee can in his hand. He looked at her.
Hikigaya Hachiman truly didn't have much experience with girls, even though his relationships with Yuigahama, Yukinoshita, and Isshiki in the Service Club had been decent.
However, he could sense the atmosphere of the Service Club.
First, Yuigahama seemed to have feelings for him. As for Yukinoshita, he likely had feelings for her—he had once selfishly idealized her, only to discover that even Yukinoshita could lie. But there was no denying he had strong feelings for her.
Yet, if Yuigahama or he himself ever showed those feelings, the trio's relationship would quickly fall apart.
Now, he was dating Karuizawa. The relationship between Karuizawa and Horikita wasn't like that of Yukinoshita and Yuigahama.
But then, he remembered the state of the "Adult Horikita" he had dreamed of during the break.
Perhaps the relationship between him and Horikita was also complicated. That relationship was likely "favorable interest." Perhaps the current Horikita viewed him as a friend—she didn't have many friends, especially male ones—and when a male friend suddenly gets a partner, she gets categorized differently. Thus, she wasn't happy.
That much was undeniable.
Friendship and romance really can't coexist easily; once romance is confirmed, it's very easy to neglect friendship.
So, Horikita likely felt that they were friends and partners, but being notified by his girlfriend about a meeting gave her a sense of defeat—as if the girlfriend were more important or of higher status than her. Naturally, she was a bit piqued.
This would also make the atmosphere among the three of them strange.
But wasn't this weird atmosphere exactly what Chabashira-sensei and Hoshinomiya-sensei had gone through? Though, he was relieved to think that Horikita would definitely never turn into a pervert like Hoshinomiya-sensei.
"Since I'm dating her now and learning how to love, I have to be especially careful about how I interact and relate to the opposite sex," Hachiman said.
"After all, I'm hoping to get married directly after dating. I'm not just playing around."
Horikita: "..."
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