My youth romance is always confusing

"What? It's about Komachi."

Yukino sat on a chair and played with her hair while talking to Hachiman.

By the way, it feels awkward that Yukinoshita plays with her hair like a cat plays with its tail. And you're already cute enough, Miss Nekoshita. There's no need to be even cuter.

I swallowed, and tried to look away, to make my eyes look more normal.

"Um, Snow——"

"Yukino, how come you forgot what I just told you to call me?"

With a little anger, Yukino stopped playing with her hair.

What? I thought it was the kind of development that only required one shout to show awareness.

"Yuki... Yukino."

No, even though I've said it before, I'm still too shy now.

Also, I want to say, you over there, am I really that funny when I look like this? Why are you trying to hold back your laughter? If that’s the case, you might as well just laugh out loud like your sister.

"Huh, can you please stop teasing me?"

Gradually, I am adapting to this chat environment, and it is best to go back to my original way of chatting.

Yukino shuddered twice, then smiled and raised her head and said, "I know. I will definitely go to Komachi's ceremony. But are you ready? You won't still be wearing this outfit, will you, high school student Hikigaya-kun?"

Hi, the name has returned to normal now. Normally when people call me like this, they are trying to make fun of me, but it’s still easier for me to accept when they call me like this.

"No, I'll be fine like this. Those adult clothes look really weird on me. After all, I'm not old enough to wear them. Okay? Hey, wait a minute."

Before I could finish my sentence, Yukinoshita dragged me to her bedroom, or rather, "our" bedroom.

I was dragged into the door alive, and my arm was a little painful from being grabbed by Yukinoshita, but this guy's hands were so soft.

I was lost in thought, feeling the touch on my arm while looking at the layout of the room.

Well, how should I put it, it feels very ordinary, as if it is no different from my room? There are a few Mr. Pans placed by the bed. What? This guy actually likes this thing.

"Try putting on these clothes."

So they dragged me here to find clothes for me. Well, it’s not impossible. After all, it seems like I’ve been wearing these clothes for two days. Fortunately, these clothes were just washed, otherwise I probably wouldn’t be able to wear them now.

I picked up the clothes that Yukinoshita had thrown on the bed and looked at them carefully.

One is a short-sleeved shirt with black and white diagonal stripes, and the other is a pair of black trousers with gold patterns on them.

Wearing long pants in this weather.

Although I complained a few words in my heart, I knew that long pants would be more appropriate for that occasion.

"Try the size first. These are what you wore when you were in college. I think they should be fine."

Yukino took out the clothes, looked at Hachiman's current height, and nodded, thinking that the two pieces were very reasonable.

But she looked at Hachiman and saw him just standing there stupidly with his clothes in his hand, with no intention of changing.

"What's wrong? Try changing it quickly."

Huh? What is this woman talking about? How can I change clothes in front of her?

"Um, can you please go out for a moment? I need to change my clothes."

I stammered as I put forward my request to Yukinoshita.

"what?"

As if she had never expected me to make such a request, Yukinoshita showed a surprised expression on her face, but it only lasted for a moment, and then she put on the same malicious expression as her sister.

Really, you two are worthy of being sisters. Have your personalities finally developed to be similar? Well, your figures are the same...

"Oh? Then change quickly, innocent Mr. Hikigaya—"

Like a little devil, Yukino deliberately prolonged the tail sound while closing the door.

What? Are you trying to tease me, you weird woman?

While Yukishita was out, I quickly changed my clothes and went to the living room where there was more light.

Hmm, unexpected fit.

I put on my clothes and pants and felt them. There shouldn't be any big problems, right?

"How...how is it?"

Since there was no mirror in front of me, I could only ask Yukinoshita for advice.

Yukino walked around Hachiman, like a king examining his soldiers, and nodded.

"Not bad, you can wear this tomorrow."

"Oh well."

After solving the clothing problem, I put the school uniform into the laundry basket.

"Um, Yukino, what happened to Mr. Hiratsuka?"

After doing all this, I started chatting with Yukinoshita who was still in the living room.

"Just now I heard that your mood seemed a little off."

I scratched my cheek to hide my embarrassment. This didn't seem like the right thing to ask right now.

"Oh my, I didn't expect you to figure it out so quickly. You are truly amazing."

Although Yukino's tone was meant to tease Hachiman, there was obvious worry in it.

"But I was able to find out in such a short time that Hiratsuka-sensei really has no reservations about you. It seems that what she said is true."

"Really? What really?"

Besides, there was something wrong with that teacher. When I recalled the teacher's expression at that time, I felt it was very unnatural, so I kept asking questions, which was uncharacteristic of mine.

"As for the 'you are my best student' thing, haven't you noticed that Hiratsuka-sensei treats you very differently from others?"

"What... what is the best student, that guy?"

Huh? Why am I blushing, and my tongue, what's wrong with you?

I didn't expect that female teacher thought so highly of me. Should I be less critical of her in the future?

But since there are expectations, I have to shoulder them well. I, Hikigaya Hachiman, am not a man without responsibility.

So I continued to ask Yukinoshita, "But since that's what you said, can you tell me about Mr. Hiratsuka's situation?"

"Actually, you should handle this matter, and from the perspective of the matter itself, we can't help much."

Yukino thought back to what happened many years ago. To be honest, during those two years at Sobu High School, she had never seen Mr. Hiratsuka so distraught.

"Counting the days, six years have passed."

Six years? According to the date, I should still be in college at that time.

Yukino didn't look at Hachiman and continued to talk: "I remember it was raining the day I received the call, or rather, it was because of the rain that the accident happened."

"At that time, we were still working on our graduation project, and I suddenly received a call from my sister, and her tone was very anxious."

"'Xiao Jing's parents were in a car accident' I only heard this sentence and knew something was wrong."

"You can probably guess what happened next. We rushed to the hospital and saw our teacher slumped in a chair."

As she spoke, Yukino sighed and closed her eyes, as if she was recalling what happened that day.

"After that, I don't know how long it lasted, but whenever I closed my eyes, I could only see Hiratsuka-sensei's lifeless face."

I listened carefully to Yukinoshita's story, but as students, we couldn't do anything about this kind of thing.

"Is that so?"

I had originally felt that something was not right about Mr. Hiratsuka's work, but now I suddenly understood.

"Well, Hiratsuka-sensei didn't have any relatives other than his parents. And at that time, Hiratsuka-sensei was in the adjustment period at work, and he didn't have many friends. On the contrary, we students have a close relationship with the teacher."

Yukino slowly explained to Hachiman the situation of Hiratsuka Shizuka at that time.

"So in order to appease Mr. Hiratsuka slightly, we should bring him back to Chiba and let him come to our house to help?"

I speculate what “I” do, and that’s really how I do things.

"Well, although asking the teacher to come to our house to help was a little later, you did think so at the time."

Yukino agreed with her husband's actions this time.

"Time is the only thing that can relieve pain. It's really hard to deal with it."

I really can't think of any good solution to this problem. It seems that it is better to maintain the status quo. After all, Chiba has me and Yukinoshita, many people in the class, and Yukinoshita Haruno who seems to have a close relationship with Hiratsuka teacher.

"I can only hope that time will allow the teacher to recover. But I think the teacher is doing fine now. Apart from the occasional abnormality, he has returned to normal overall."

Thinking back to what Mr. Hiratsuka did this afternoon, if I hadn't asked a few more questions, I really wouldn't have realized what the teacher's problem was.

"Well, compared to before, Hiratsuka-sensei has recovered quite well."

Yukino didn't want to see that again, which was why she was determined to get Hiratsuka-sensei to work even if it meant using the resources of the Yukinoshita family.

We looked at each other in silence after that. In order to ease the awkward atmosphere, Yukinoshita and I went back to our rooms to rest.

Casually kicking off my shoes, I changed into a larger size of pajamas and lay down on the bed in the study.

"Whoo~"

After hosting Mr. Hiratsuka at home for a day, to be honest, I felt a little tired.

As soon as my back touched the bed, it gave me a comfortable touch. In the midsummer, air conditioning and bedding are really a perfect match.

The moonlight outside the window stepped on my face, leaving a bright white gift.

Separation between life and death, it always sounds so far away. Although I know that I will have to face it one day, it must be difficult for the person concerned to accept such a sudden death.

But even so, Ms. Hiratsuka responded to our kindness. She still cared about us and even found excuses to come and check on me like today.

"What's going on, that nice guy?"

I fall asleep under the moonlight, and I hope everything is well with my teacher.