Chapter 10: Romance Novel – Part 1
“Here you go, milk tea with lots of sugar.”
Megumi gently placed the steaming cup in front of him.
As Kyouya tilted the cup to feel the aroma before tasting it, she brought her face closer to his.
“(This is unusual, isn’t it? s.h.i.+on-san reading a novel.)”
His eyes turned to the other side of the round table.
The long-haired beauty was reading a paperback novel. As they watched her, she flipped a page.
Oddly, s.h.i.+on wasn’t playing any games that day.
The book she read was a novel; and a light novel on top of that.
“(That book is yours, isn’t it, s.h.i.+nomiya-kun?)”
“(Y-yes. That’s right.)”
“(What kind of story is it?)”
“(Err…)”
Talking only in whispers, Megumi held her face way too close to his. Kyouya’s face was red as he explained to her.
It was a story aimed at boys, but it wasn’t a battle story or anything like that; it was a romance. Aside from him, every member of the GJ club was a girl. He had imagined that the girls might read something like this too.
“(That’s why you left it there.)”
Megumi antic.i.p.ated his explanation with a big nod.
Everybody had brought several of their own personal belongings into the large clubroom, which had originally been a cla.s.sroom. For example, Megumi had her tea set and tea leaves collection and s.h.i.+on had several game boards. Mao’s things looked like a collection of rubbish, but she’d get angry if you tried touching them and she’d bite you if you tried throwing them away. They were things like cicadas’ cast-off skins or s.h.i.+ny and serrated ten yen coins; a bunch of pretty things she treasured. Kirara kept several animal bones she’d made pure white in a wooden box below the sofa. Who knew whether she kept them as a memorial service to the animals or as treasure?
Kyouya would constantly bring in manga and light novels.
“(You’re quite the devious person, aren’t you, s.h.i.+nomiya-kun?)”
“(Devious?)”
“(s.h.i.+on-san fell right into your trap. She looks completely immersed already.)”
“(No, well… trap is kinda…)”
“(Ah, she just went back a page. She’s reading the same part again. I wonder what part has her so interested. She’s already in the palm of your hand, isn’t she? Before the trap that you set for her, even the Game Genius becomes just like my sister after she had her blanket taken away.)”
Megumi wouldn’t hear what he was saying. In this sense, she was just like Mao… like her sister. On top of that, Kyouya couldn’t make sense of that last comparison. If it was some inside joke of the Amatsuka family, she ought to properly explain it.
“(You said that book was a romance, but just what type of romance is it?)”
“(Eh?)”
Kyouya was at a loss for words at that question.
He’d never thought that there was something like different genres in romance.
“(Well… it’s the type where a boy has an encounter with a girl. In short, the ones they call ‘boy-meets-girl’ in English.)”
“Then the part that got s.h.i.+on-san so immersed must be the girl-meets-boy part.”
Getting agitated over something, Megumi completely forgot to keep her voice low. She spoke with her normal voice.
s.h.i.+on, who’d been concentrating on the book, noticed it, as expected.
“Cough.”
She cleared her throat.
“Okay, understood s.h.i.+nomiya-kun. Next is lemon tea, right? Maybe I’ll try blending nilgiri(1) in.”
Megumi swiftly took her leave.
How unfair.
Left alone, Kyouya timidly turned to face s.h.i.+on.
Then he saw something unexpected.
s.h.i.+on faced the opposite way. Her earlobe that poked out through her long hair was deep red.
“I’m already done reading this so…”
She slid the book on top of the table, never letting her face meet Kyouya’s.
He doubted it.
That was a lie. The part she kept going back and forth through, just then, was still at the beginning of the book.
The part where the boy and the girl meet each other. The boy-meets-girl part.
“If you’d like I could lend it to you.”
“No, I’m done reading it already.”
“I’d be happy if you took it home and read it at your leisure. After all, this is from my personal selection of recommended books.”
“Y-yes, I understand. The book that was left here was one you’d already read. This item you went to the trouble of bringing here is your recommended selection. Logically, I am obliged to go along with this turn of events.”
The game expert discreetly pulled the book resting on the table into her hands, tightly holding it against her lap.
In the end, s.h.i.+on was…
For the several hours remaining until the end of school, she preciously held that book on her lap.
Sign: “Continuation”
TRANSLATOR’S NOTES
(1) A strong black tea produced in India (Source: Wikipedia).
