VII / VS Ice Princess
It was the lunch break.
As usual, Izumi called out to the boys in his class.
“Hey, wanna eat together?”
Satou turned away with a “Hmph.”
At the same time, the other boys around them also averted their gaze in the same way.
“Eh? What’s with the cold shoulder?”
“Shut up! A traitor has no right to speak!”
“What? What did I do?”
Then Satou and the others tearfully pleaded with him.
“You abandoned our group blind date, but you got confessed to by a cute girl!”
“But that’s not my fault, is it???”
It was a complete misplaced outburst.
Izumi sighed and scratched his head as he said,
“Look, it’s not like we’re dating or anything.”
“Then why don’t you start dating her!?”
“You’re just being overconfident!”
They were clamoring with criticism.
Even if he did start dating her, they’d be angry about that too…Izumi couldn’t make sense of their feelings. Izumi fidgeted with his index fingers and his face turned slightly red.
“Well, you get to know each other before starting to date, right…?”
“Look at how you usually act!”
“Such a poser player!”
They were completely trashing him.
Izumi cried inside, thinking their usual teasing was better than this.
However, he was surprised that the topic kept going on for so long. He thought they’d get bored of it after three days, but there was no sign of that happening.
“Besides, why are you so concerned about someone else’s love life?”
“You idiot! It’s because it’s Nanase!”
“She really have lots of fans, huh…”
Nanao was certainly cute, but she didn’t seem like the type to stand out too much.
In terms of glamor, Amane or Shiragiku…the combo of Haru and Inori might even stand out more, come to think of it. Well, the latter two also tended to stand out in a bad way.
But Nanao was more like a single flower blooming in the fields. While admitting she was cute, Izumi thought the over-the-top reaction to her was odd considering they were used to seeing girls like Amane.
However, Satou shook his finger saying, “You just don’t get it.” Izumi felt a tinge of irritation at his textbook example of a generic male lead attitude.
“A beautiful transfer student appearing out of nowhere is already a winner. And on top of that, she’s friendly, kind…but most importantly, that pure vibe she has is great!”
“Pure…vibe? Who?”
“Nanase-san, obviously. Amane is cute too, but Nanase-san feels like a natural idol. She has the lingering charm of a classic idol.”
“How old are you…?”
A scene from the other day came to Izumi’s mind.
That after-school study session…there were serious doubts about Nanao’s so-called “pure” vibe.
(Like Amane and Shiragiku-neesan…do cute girls just have to have an ulterior side to?)
To prevent his face from unintentionally heating up, Izumi cut off the conversation with his classmates.
“Ah, whatever. I’ll eat alone today.”
He opened his bag at his desk and then realized…
(Oh crap. I didn’t have a lunch today…)
It was rare for him.
Izumi’s lunch was basically always a bento box. Specifically, one made by his neighbor at the apartment next door.
However, this morning, Shiragiku had already left for school by the time Izumi left home.
(But she usually still prepares one for me…no, I shouldn’t keep relying on Shiragiku-neesan’s kindness too much.)
He checked his wallet and stood up to head to the cafeteria.
And when he left the classroom…
“Huh? Izumi-kun?”
He ran into Nanao coming out of the neighboring classroom.
She was with a couple of girls who seemed to be her friends from class. Since she was holding a bento pouch, she was probably planning to eat outside the classroom.
(Ah, she’s in the archery club, if I remember right. Friends through club activities, I guess…)
When their eyes met, she gave a little smile.
It seemed she was aware of his situation. Well, that made sense… Izumi tried to brush off his embarrassment as he said,
“Oh, hey Nanao. Where are you going?”
“I’m going to eat with everyone from my club…”
It had only been about a week since she transferred, but she already seemed right at home. Thinking about that, Satou’s comments from before made more sense.
“What about you, Izumi-kun? You usually have a bento, right?”
“Yeah, I forgot it today. I was heading to the cafeteria.”
Then, Nanao’s eyes sparkled.
Oh crap… Before Izumi could retract his slip-up, Nanao gave a sweet smile.
“Then why don’t I join you?”
“Eh?! But what about eating with your club friends?”
“It’s fine. Right?”
She checked with her friend for the latter part.
Her friend just shrugged and said, “Yeah, yeah, I’ll let everyone know,” before leaving. What a forced event.
Since she had already left, Izumi couldn’t refuse at this point. Not that he really had a reason to refuse in the first place, but…
Even so, he could feel the piercing, resentful gazes from the sharp guys in his class, so Izumi decided to move along quickly.
“…Alright. Let’s eat together then.”
“Yay!”
He stared intently at the happily grinning Nanao by his side.
“What’s wrong, Izumi-kun?”
“Well, some guys in class were just talking about you earlier…”
He recalled the contrasting opinions about Nanao from before.
“They said you give off a pure vibe.”
“Ahaha. What’s that mean?”
“So which is it today?”
“What do you mean?”
Izumi lightly teased the tilting Nanao.
It was payback for the other day.
“The pure White Nanao, or the Black Nanao from the study session?”
“Wah, how mean. Izumi-kun, are you misunderstanding me?”
“You should ask the SNS experts what ‘misunderstanding’ means…”
At the very least, a pure girl wouldn’t casually hold a boy’s hand.
Nanao puffed out her cheeks in displeasure, but then her eyes narrowed. The mischievous atmosphere made Izumi shudder a little.
“I’m just a girl who really likes you, you know?”
“There’s the Black Nanao! Seriously, stop dropping lines like that so casually!”
Izumi’s face flushed bright red as he barked at her.
Satisfied with his reaction, Nanao giggled.
(Dammit. This girl, does she really have no sense of shame or hesitation…?)
READ THE ORIGINAL TRANSLATION AT LOCALIZERMEERKAT.PAGES.DEV
They arrived at the rooftop after buying bread from the cafeteria.
At this time of year, there were still a decent number of students eating lunch up here. But it would become less popular once the rainy season transitioned into summer.
Izumi and Nanao settled down in a shaded corner where it wasn’t too uncomfortable.
As Izumi opened the bread bag, next to him Nanao opened her bento box lid. It was a colorful bento with plenty of vegetables.
“You have a boxed lunch, Nanao?”
“Yep. My mom made it.”
“Lucky you. I haven’t had my mom’s cooking in a long time.”
“That’s right, you mentioned living alone. That’s impressive.”
“It’s just family circumstances, nothing that impressive. Actually, my neighbor really helps me out a lot.”
About 70% of Izumi’s meals were made by Shiragiku.
He hadn’t eaten his mother’s cooking for a long time, but he frequently ate something comparable. Izumi gave a wry smile at his own misleading choice of words.
“But living alone sounds kind of appealing too. People often say I space out, and my parents worry about me going to university.”
“Space out…?”
“Ah! Izumi-kun, you probably think I’m really calculating too, don’t you?”
“I wouldn’t go that far, but you’re definitely not 100% pure like the others say.”
However, Nanao didn’t seem bothered by Izumi’s words.
In fact, she leaned in with an oddly delighted look on her face.
“So you know I’m a bad girl, but you’re still eating lunch with me? Could it be you’re starting to like me?”
“Uh…”
Just as he was about to be flustered again, Izumi reconsidered.
Putting on his signature poker face…no, fully flexing his facial muscles, he adopted an extremely suave expression. Then, leaning in close, he whispered in a sweet tone,
“What kind of man wouldn’t be tempted by such a lovely lady?”
“……..”
For a moment, Nanao’s eyes went wide.
Her cheeks flushed slightly as she shyly averted her gaze. Seeing her reaction, Izumi was confident his counter had succeeded.
(Yeah! Payback for all the times she’s gotten me…Huh?)
He realized too late the oddity.
Tracing the outline of Izumi’s face, Nanao gently stroked his chin with her index finger.
“You’re the one who turned me into this kind of girl, Izumi-kun.”
“~~~!!?”
As Izumi’s face turned beet red, he hurriedly put some distance between them.
“H-Hey, don’t counter my counter!”
“Ahaha. You said it yourself, Izumi-kun.”
“There’s the Black side coming out. Keep working on Pure.”
“I only show this side of me to you in this world.”
“That’s why you shouldn’t just casually drop lines like that!”
As they bantered, they suddenly heard footsteps approaching.
Visit the request page If there’s a Japanese Light Novel (LN) or Web Novel (WN) you’d like me to translate
When the donation goal progress bar above hit 100% one novel will be chosen for translation
| Table of Contents | Next* |
Support the Author by Buying the Original Books!
