NOVEL NEXT Chapter 28
Chapter 28: The Purple-Haired Beautiful Girl
“It seems like Princess-sama was just overthinking. That guy is just like that, at most the impression his dead fish eyes leave is a bit deep.”
In the club activity room, only Sakanagi, Hashimoto, and others remained. As for Hikigaya, who had lost, he had already left.
Hashimoto kicked his feet up on the table, shaking his chair back and forth while watching the white-haired girl.
“Half a month has passed since the start of the school year, so it’s not surprising that other classes have students who ‘realize the truth of the school.’ In fact, it was bound to happen sooner or later. After all, any normal person would notice the weirdness of this school after such a long time. I’ve heard that Class B has already noticed, Class C is still busy with some ‘world’s number one martial arts tournament’ and fighting every day, and as for Class D, it seems like they haven’t noticed at all.
“Maybe this guy, Hikigaya, found out about it from some other source, or maybe he just happened to think ‘I want to earn some personal points’…
“I’m very familiar with this kind of person, I’ve seen them many times before. Just by smelling the air, I can tell, he’s filled with the scent of ‘loneliness,’ probably doesn’t have many friends or influence in his class. Didn’t Kamuro’s investigation over the past few days confirm that he’s an outlier?
“So, don’t waste too much attention on this ‘generic’ type of character. We should focus on Katsuragi instead, he’s the one who’s the biggest threat to us.”
Unfortunately, the “Princess-sama’s response” that Hashimoto was expecting didn’t come. The white-haired girl, Sakanagi, remained sitting upright in front of the chessboard, seemingly lost in thought, while Kito kept his usual silence.
As for Kamuro, who usually retorted against him, this time… Hashimoto belatedly realized that the purple-haired girl wasn’t in the activity room.
Sakanagi slowly raised her head and looked at the still-chattering Hashimoto, who immediately shut his mouth in silence.
“Reading chess is like reading people. Sometimes your eyes may deceive you, but the game will not.”
There was no joy of victory on Sakanagi’s face, instead, her expression was calm. “There are very few people who have earned Yukinoshita’s admiration. The ‘ordinary person’ you just mentioned is exactly one of them.”
Hashimoto, and even Kito, who looked like a statue, both subconsciously showed an expression of surprise.
“Ha, haha, Princess-sama, you must be joking. Yukinoshita could actually think highly of that dead fish-eyed guy?” Hashimoto said, clearly not believing it, and said confidently, “I think he’s probably just being treated like a toy, just like the dog with its tail wagging around Katsuragi, being played with without realizing it.”
Sakanagi didn’t explain, only giving a faint smile, as though she had discovered something interesting.
…
“Hey, stop right there.”
Just after leaving the club activity building, and not having gone far, Hikigaya heard the voice of the purple-haired girl behind him. However, this voice didn’t stop him; instead, it made him speed up his pace.
Are you kidding me? Finally managed to get away, who would want to stay any longer?
Kamuro, seeing this, widened her eyes, seemingly not expecting Hikigaya’s actions. She stomped her foot in frustration before quickly chasing after him and easily grabbing the back of his shirt collar, lifting him up like a little kitten.
Their eyes met.
“Hello?”
“Huh? What do you mean? Are you pretending you didn’t hear me?”
Kamuro almost laughed out of anger. She glared at him and said, “Anyway, I have something to ask you!”
Is this how you ask questions?
Hikigaya thought to himself, but he said, “K-Kamuro-san, please go ahead.”
Kamuro’s sharp eyes stared at Hikigaya, studying him carefully. After a moment of silence, she spoke, “Have we met somewhere before?”
“…No, we haven’t!” Hikigaya replied quickly.
“Then why the sudden pause?” Kamuro asked, her gaze unwavering.
“…”
Wait! Why are you getting closer and closer?! Hikigaya instinctively took a step back, but the purple-haired girl stepped forward, her eyes locked onto him.
“I’ll ask again, have we met before?”
“Well, maybe? We might have bumped into each other on the way to school or home, right?” Hikigaya hastily answered.
In reality, the dormitories for each grade were separate. Students of the same grade stayed in the same building: the upper floors were for girls, and the lower floors for boys. The classrooms were also in the same building, so there was a high chance of running into each other.
“Wrong, you’re lying!” Kamuro said firmly.
“I’ve never seen you!” Hikigaya said again, a little annoyed.
Kamuro frowned in irritation and began to doubt if she had made a mistake.
For the past week, she had been assigned a task by Sakanagi to track and investigate a student in Class D, and it was none other than this dead fish-eyed student in front of her. She had thought it would be an easy task and was confident that the boy wouldn’t even notice her following him!
In fact, after nearly a week of observation, he hadn’t noticed her at all. He spent most of his time in the library, always alone, with no friends and clearly isolated by the rest of his class. A timid person like that wouldn’t even notice if someone was following him!
But then, just recently… this Hikigaya, the dead fish-eyed student, had his ‘first’ encounter with her. The moment their eyes met, Kamuro felt as though she had been ‘seen through,’ and she noticed a flash of surprise and realization in his gaze. Though it disappeared quickly, her sharp senses had caught it!
This was the sixth sense of a woman!
He knows me?
Impossible!
Unless…
“You’ve known all along, haven’t you…” Kamuro frowned deeply, staring into Hikigaya’s eyes, trying to ‘read’ his thoughts.
Upon hearing this, Hikigaya finally understood why this purple-haired girl was so ‘obsessed’ with him. He then recalled the earlier interactions in the activity room, along with Sakanagi’s relationships with the others. After thinking for a moment, he said, “I’ve never seen you before!”
Then, Hikigaya quickly added in a quieter voice, “I won’t tell anyone.”
Sure enough!
This guy had already noticed she was following him?!
Kamuro suddenly felt an impulse to explode. It wasn’t so much the fact that he had discovered her, but rather his attitude that made her angry.
“Huh? Are you threatening me?”
“…”
Hikigaya opened his mouth, but it took him a while to catch up to her line of thought. He quickly clarified, “Y-You misunderstood.”
Kamuro impatiently interrupted him, “How did you know I was following you, investigating you?”
“Um… When school first started, there weren’t many students in the library. Also, I’m sensitive to the attention around me. With a cute girl like you, any normal guy would notice, right?”
“You, you, what are you talking about! Cute or not!” Kamuro suddenly panicked, her face turning slightly red. She quickly took several deep breaths to calm herself.