Summer Vacation Arc: 77 Surprise Attack and Changing Thoughts

Summer Vacation Arc
77 Surprise Attack and Changing Thoughts

Today as well, Meru woke up in the well-ventilated hallway.

Waking up a little early so that it would be okay if someone came by, she sat with her feet dangling into the garden from the walkway, staring blankly at a single spot as she thought.

Even if it’s you, I can’t forgive that statement.

Suddenly recalling Hayate’s words, Meru stopped moving.

She knew it wasn’t something she should have said. However, it’s true that those were Meru’s true thoughts.

“I thought he’d deny what I said…”

That was the reaction she’d been hoping for the most. However, Hayate didn’t do that. Meru was unable to stop the shock from that.
But even more of a shock than that was…

“…I made him hate me…”

Meru muttered, casting her eyes downward.

Hayate’s cold gaze was proof of his anger.
Hayate said he would affirm every part of her. Words that hurt Hayate were also words that would hurt the other executives in the same way.

Meru’s worries could only hurt those important to her. Knowing that now, even if her concerns grew, she wouldn’t be able to talk about them.

“…Haah.”

A sigh spilled out.
If she hadn’t said that to Kouri, the current good times wouldn’t have been spoiled.
It was really easy to say whose fault it was.

However, those worries would have come to the surface sooner or later.

Meru understood that nothing would change even if she regretted it.

“Kusuhara.”

As she was thinking about that, the sound of her own name came from the corner of the hallway and she looked over. There, she saw an incredibly tired-looking Shoutarou.

“Morning, Katsuragi-kun. What happened? You look even worse than usual.”

Pointing that out with her usual chuckle, Shoutarou sighed heavily.

“You’d understand if you were in my position.”
“Ahh, Rengetsu-kun.”

It seemed that her guess was correct, and Shoutarou began to express his dissatisfaction at being in the same room as Fuuga while pressing a hand to his head.

“I can’t even express how dumbfounded I am by his terrible sleeping posture. How can he move from one end of the room to the other when it’s that spacious? I don’t understand what’s so good about that guy that girls keep sending him messages until late at night. He’s just an idiot.”
“If you aren’t at the executive level, you won’t notice Rengetsu-kun’s stupidity, right?”

Fuuga’s behavior toward his fans and other guys was always attractive and appropriate. He was an entirely different person when he came into contact with the executives. According to Maiko, he was so good-looking that “Just looking at him brings happiness.”

“His sleeping posture is that bad, huh? It fits with Rengetsu-kun’s image, but at the same time, it doesn’t…”
“I can’t comprehend moving and the like while sleeping.”
“I imagine you not moving at an inch while you sleep, Katsuragi-kun.”
“Wh…!”

Shoutarou blushed a little as Meru grinned cheerfully.

“You, though…”

Speaking up to there, Shoutarou seemed to suddenly realize something. Then, he grabbed Meru’s arm and turned her toward him.

“Where have you been sleeping?”
“Where… In the room directly behind you.”
“I can’t imagine you sleeping in someone else’s house with the lights left on.”

Shoutarou gave another heavy sigh and made Meru stand up.

“I was careless. It’s something obvious if I’d given it a little thought.”
“Hahaha…”

At any rate, it seemed that her sleeping in the hallway had been found out.
Like that, Shoutarou pushed Meru into her lit room.

“Katsuragi-kun…”
“It’s still early. Sleep for a while.”
“I’m already awake.”
“You can’t sleep well if you don’t lie down properly.”

Saying that, Shoutarou lightly knocked Meru’s head as she made to get up.

“It’s fine, so rest now.”

Shoutarou said and made sure Meru got into her futon before leaving the room.
Meru stared at Shoutarou uneasily, and as if guessing what it was about, Shoutarou spoke with his back turned toward her.

“If someone says something, I’ll explain.”

Meru said “Thanks” with a wry smile directed at his back.
The shouji door closed with a thud.

I don’t want to lose this kindness.

Hopeless thoughts took over, going around and around in her head. As if to shake them off, Meru shook her head, pulled the futon over it, and closed her eyes.

Meru woke up when the surrounding atmosphere grew bustling.
Just as Shoutarou had said, it seemed that sleeping in the hallway didn’t have much value, and she slept much better than she had expected.

Meru got dressed and left the room.

““Ah.””

Stepping out of the room, she happened to come across a boy in a hakama.

“Morning, Aidou-kun.”
“…Good morning.”

Yuuri smiled with a complicated expression when Meru smiled at him.
Just like yesterday, Yuuri seemed off. However, although Meru hadn’t heard the details from anyone in particular, she more or less guessed why Yuuri had been down based on the incident with Kouri yesterday.

“You were training today as well?”
“…Yes.”
“I see.”

A strange silence lingered. From the beginning, neither Meru nor Yuuri were the type of people to hold a conversation, so it wasn’t strange for them to be quiet when it was just them.
However, it couldn’t be helped that it was awkward right now.

“…Kusuhara-san.”
“…Yes?”

As Yuuri began to speak, Meru looked at him while feeling a little surprised.

“I’m sorry.”
“Eh…?”

As Yuuri bowed his head, Meru tilted hers to the side in confusion.

“I heard from Kamishiro-kun. In the end, you were troubled by Kouri…”

Yuuri closed his eyes and once again apologized with a serious expression.
Hayate told Yuuri about Kouri pushing Meru yesterday.
She didn’t understand why Hayate had told Yuuri about that. Despite that, Meru felt a little relief at the fact that he was still even just a little concerned about her even after that.

“That was a misunderstanding. It’s not something for you to go out of your way to apologize about.”

Meru smiled as though it really was nothing. Seeing that smile, Yuuri bit his lip.

“Kusuhara-san.”
“Hm? …Wah!”

Yuuri grabbed Meru’s arm. He pulled her into the room directly behind them, and Meru’s eyes widened.

“Aidou-kun?”

Meru stared at Yuuri strangely. Yuuri checked the situation in the hallway from the crack between the not yet fully closed door and the wall.

“I’m sorry. The maids often travel down this hallway, so…”
“Y-Yeah.”

Meru stopped herself from adding, “So what?” That was because Yuuri seemed to be choosing his words with an incredibly mysterious face.

“Aidou-kun.”
“Y…es.”

Yuuri had a blank expression. When he opened his mouth to reply, Meru popped a candy into the opening.

“Kusu…”
“Well, don’t make such a gloomy face. You won’t be able to get rid of your wrinkles, and you’ll end up looking like Katsuragi-kun, you know?”

Meru smiled, pointing at the middle of her own forehead. Yuuri couldn’t help laughing in response to Meru’s playful smile.

“Rengetsu-kun likes this candy, right?”
“Yeah. Thanks to that, it’s often sold out.”

Meru shrugged helplessly. Yuuri recalled the first time he received this candy from Meru.

“Kusuhara-san. You also gave me this candy the first time I helped you with your punishment.”
“Really? Ah, that’s true.”

It wasn’t something particularly memorable, so she didn’t remember immediately. However, as long as she tried, there was nothing Meru couldn’t recall. She really did give Yuuri a candy as thanks.

“I thought that you were one of Rengetsu-kun’s fans.”
“Please don’t say that to Rengetsu-kun, even as a joke.”

Meru’s smile reached her eyes.
If someone said Meru was Fuuga’s fan, even as a joke, Fuuga would be thrilled and come to hug her.

After talking about that, silence came to visit again. But this time, the atmosphere wasn’t as awkward as before.

“Kusuhara-san.”
“Yeah?”
“There’s something I always wanted to talk about.”

Yuuri spoke with a gentle expression.

He had something he had always wanted to confide in Meru from the first day she saw him with his switch flipped and laughed.

Despite that, the reason he had yet to tell her was that in some critical part of the depths of his heart, he still didn’t fully trust Meru.

But now…

“I destroyed Kouri’s life.”

He felt that even if it was the past he didn’t want to remember, he wanted Meru to know about it.

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<TLN>
Y’all, I realized as I was setting up this week’s release that I completely spaced posting last week’s. And here I was, pleased with myself for being ahead on translating (I still am, I worked hard so that the next time life slaps me, I have some leeway 😡 ). I am so sorry, my brain has been absolute Swiss cheese lately from all the stress. I’ve set up next week’s to post already too, though, so at least we are safe for that time frame (unless the bonus chapter gets funded, in which case I’ll release it on the 31st instead and set up the next to post on the usual day). Anyway, I’m releasing both chapters back-to-back since I’m a dumb ass! Enjoy!

8 chapters left in the summer vacation arc!

Ko-fi link here.
March bonus chapter funded: 0/1 ($15/$30 to the chapter!)