ODL – Chapter  45 – The misunderstanding has been resolved

[Souma PoV]

“Sigh…” (Souma)

I release another sigh for the who-knows-how-many-th time. I have sighed so much that I feel like I have contaminated this room, but there has been no noticeable change in the surrounding air. Well, of course not, sighs are just air too.

“…I wonder what are they talking about?” (Souma)

Right now, Shizuka and Mafuyu-chan should be talking it out with Hiyorin somewhere. Shizuka’s room is out of the question, and Hiyorin’s room is overrun by alcohol, so it must have been Mafuyu-chan’s room.

Mafuyu-chan’s room is just as I thought it would be – very simple, or one could say, eerily quiet. It’s a room that can be seen as a result of pursuing functional beauty. In that room, Hiyorin opens her mouth.

“…Actually, I came here to say my goodbyes.” (<- Hiyorin in Souma’s delusion)

Her usual gentle expression fades away, and in its place, was a tense expression. It’s easy to imagine Mafuyu-chan and Shizuka hugging her while crying about her leaving. Even when I shake my head, I can’t seem to get that thought out of my head, and embarrassingly, my eyes even begin to tear up slightly.

“I wish I could just disappear…” (Souma)

As I wash the dishes for the three of them, words like that keep coming out of my mouth. Unlike the bubbles currently being sucked into the sink, disappearing seems impossible. I wonder if I could have disappeared if I were a mermaid¹. Uncharacteristically, such a thought even crossed my mind.

I finished washing the dishes earlier than usual. Well, it’s because there’s one less person’s worth of dishes to clean. It is quite difficult to get over this sense of loss, especially when everything around me reminds me of Hiyorin.

“Let’s go to bed…” (Souma)

Even staying awake was painful. I know that what has already happened won’t change, but nevertheless, I just wanted to go to sleep. With that thought in mind, I turned toward the bedroom, and at that moment…

“…Hm?” (Souma)

…There was a noise coming from the direction of the entrance. I wondered if Shizuka or Mafuyu-chan had forgotten something, and I turned my gaze toward the door leading to the living room. However, it wasn’t either of them who appeared.

“Hiyorin…san…?” (Souma)

“Go-Good evening…” (Hiyori)

Hiyorin, dressed in her fancy dress from this morning, stood hesitantly with her hand on the doorknob.

◆

“Why…?” (Souma)

The appearance of a person who should never have appeared caused my thoughts to short-circuit.

Hiyorin despises me, so there’s no way she would come to my place. It’s more plausible that this is Shizuka or Mafuyu-chan in disguise, but there is no way those two can impersonate Hiyorin. Mafuyu-chan is taller than Hiyorin, and Shizuka is petite.

Above all else, I couldn’t possibly mistake Hiyorin’s voice. The voice of the woman in front of me was undoubtedly Hiyorin’s.

So, in other words, the current situation unfolding before me is real and for some reason, Hiyorin has decided to come to my house.

“Ahaha… um… I’m sorry for today…? Um… I don’t dislike you, Souma-kun…?” (Hiyori)

“Huh…?” (Souma)

You don’t dislike… me…?

“…Why?”

I said something I should never have said.

“Earlier, I heard from the two of them that Souma-kun is sad because you think I don’t like you. So… I wanted to clear up the misunderstanding. I… don’t dislike you, Souma-kun.” (Hiyori)

“…Seriously?” (Souma)

“…Yeah.” (Hiyori)

I was happy. The fact that Hiyorin doesn’t dislike me was more than enough to make me happy. But there was something bothering me.

Then why doesn’t Hiyorin look at me while saying this? Why doesn’t she come into the living room? Or rather, why is she just standing at the entrance, gripping the doorknob and facing away?

“Hiyorin-san…” (Souma)

“Um, well! About what happened this morning…!” (Hiyori)

Hiyorin shouted with a trembling voice.

“Oh, uh, yes…?” (Souma)

What happened this morning huh… She dislikes me after all… That’s right, I did something that can never be forgiven. She must have come to say goodbye. Still, it’s much better than parting like that.

…Thank you, kind Hiyorin. Even if you dislike me, I will always be your fan.

“Um, well… I mean, right now is a bit… difficult, you know? I mean, I’ve been eating too much lately and gained some weight! And I haven’t really prepared myself emotionally either… I thought it might be better to take things a bit more slowly, you know? I’m sorry, even though I’m the older one…” (Hiyori)

“…Huh?” (Souma)

I thought she was going to say goodbye… but Hiyorin seemed flustered and couldn’t quite express herself.

Gained weight? 

Mental preparation?

…What on earth is she talking about?

“Hiyorin-san, what on earth…” (Souma)

“Um, so… I-I want you to wait a bit longer before… we sleep together! I’ll do my best to diet, so I’d be happy if you could wait until then…” (Hiyori)

“Sleep together!? Wait, Hiyorin-san, what on earth are you talking about!?” (Souma)

Hiyorin started saying incomprehensible things, and I panicked as if I were spitting out saliva.

Wait, don’t tell me… did she actually take what happened this morning seriously!?

“Eh…? Didn’t… you ask me to sleep together with you this morning…?” (Hiyori)

“I definitely didn’t! Well, I mean, maybe I did say something similar², but it was really just a joke or something I said without thinking! I really, definitely, absolutely don’t think like that!” (Souma)

“Eh…? Ah… I’m so sorry! I think I misunderstood something…!” (Hiyori)

Hiyorin’s face turned as red as an apple. Maybe I’m in no position to judge either.

“So, when you said you didn’t want dinner tonight, it wasn’t because you despised me, right…?” (Souma)

“Yeah… I was just embarrassed to see you and didn’t know what to do.” (Hiyori)

“Ah… I see… So that’s what it was… I’m glad…” (Souma)

So, Hiyorin didn’t actually dislike me, but she thought I was serious about sleeping together and felt embarrassed about it.

“I’m sorry, I feel very relieved, so I can’t find the right words to say… By the way, Hiyorin-san, did you have dinner?” (Souma)

My mind was a mess, and personally, I found it easier to distract myself by doing something.

“Now that I think about it… I haven’t…” (Hiyori)

“Well then… how about having some soba?” (Souma)

“Um… yeah, I’d like that…” (Hiyori)

“Got it. I’m going to make it now, so please have a seat and wait.” (Souma)

As I walked into the kitchen, I could hear Hiyorin sitting at the table right behind me. It felt like tears were about to well up. The everyday routine I thought I had lost was coming back.

I opened the fridge and took out the soba noodles and tempura. It would be better to re-fry the tempura to make it taste better, but… it’s probably too late at this point.

…Oh, wait a minute.

“Hiyorin-san, weren’t you on a diet? Would you prefer not to have tempura?” (Souma)

…

…

…In the end, Hiyorin finished all the tempura.

I briefly wondered about the diet, but when I saw Hiyorin looking so happy, I didn’t care about that anymore.

◇

───At that moment, I didn’t realize something important.

Hiyorin had taken my words seriously and was just feeling embarrassed.

…Normally, if someone you’re not interested in tells you to sleep with them, you’d probably start to hate them.

She was only feeling embarrassed — was what I thought.

I would only come to realize that there is more to her feeling than just embarrassment much later.

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TL notes:

Thanks for reading!

LMAO so Hiyorin assumes that MC thought that she hated him because she didn’t sleep with him. 

Btw the last paragraph may have gotten butchered, idk what it was trying to say.

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Footnote:

1. Probably a reference I don’t get.
2. If you don’t rmb, he said something about waking up to find her in her underwear in his bed.