The azure sea, but a lonely, fulfilled life.

"Hmm... nothing special."

Komachi tapped her chin lightly with her index finger, looking thoughtful. Tiny bits of bonito flakes with a little sauce clung to her lips. Her dazed expression made Hachiman sigh once again, thinking, "This unintentional cuteness is adorable, Komachi, but it's best not to show it off in front of others."

Seeing this, Hiratsuka Shizuka, who had been silent, picked up a tissue and helped Komachi wipe herself clean. Cleaning up after a meal was also very important. She looked at Hachiman and finally couldn't help but ask the question that had been holding back for so long.

Why do you smell so strongly of alcohol?

I wasn't sure just now, but as soon as he walked over, the smell of alcohol wafted over, and even a fool could tell that the smell of alcohol came from him.

Hachiman's face stiffened; he had actually forgotten about that.

"It's a long story," he replied vaguely.

His head throbbed whenever he thought about it; those two guys really did nothing but bad things.

Hachiman Hikigaya sighed. He knew that no matter how he tried to explain, he would be exposed, so he didn't bother to explain further. Anyway...

He had tried to hide everything, but now it's all been exposed: drinking, nudity, indecent behavior, perversion—good heavens, he couldn't hide a single thing. I thought their decision to go out last night was a wise one, but it turns out they were better off keeping it under their noses.

The way you put it, it sounds like you're talking to a parent.

Hachiman Hikigaya was feeling a little depressed. It was his fault; he had done something wrong but didn't want to admit it, choosing instead to hide it. However, he also hoped to report only good news and not bad news, so that Komachi and the others wouldn't worry.

Komachi smoothed out her slightly furrowed brows, and Hiratsuka Shizuka's helpless words followed. She roughly scratched her hair, the messy strands reflecting in her eyes.

"I'm not trying to criticize you, I just want to remind you that it's better to drink less alcohol. You're not fully developed yet, and drinking too much can easily damage your spleen and stomach."

"..."

Hiratsuka Shizuka looked at Hachiman's stunned expression with displeasure.

“It was just a bit unexpected,” he muttered to himself. “In the past, I should have been punched in the head next.”

"...Aren't you just being a jerk?"

Hiratsuka Shizuka raised her fist, baring her teeth. This guy was as annoying as ever. At a time like this, she should be grateful and trembling with fear at the words of concern spoken by her teacher whom she hadn't seen in a long time.

"It's just a result deduced from past habits."

Hearing his words, she chuckled and punched him on the forehead. This kind of unruly and talkative student needs the teacher's iron fist to comfort him.

"This feeling is right."

"Onii-chan...were you originally from the BDSM community?"

"certainly not!"

At most, she just likes being noticed!

……

For the rest of the day, Hachiman Hikigaya led the two on a brief tour of the Izu Islands. To be honest, as a homebody, he hadn't really explored the surrounding scenery since coming here to study at university. As a result, they spent most of their time following the directions on the navigation app.

After going around the area, he didn't feel anything else, except that there were just too many aquariums and shrines. Today, he spent nearly 1,500 yen just on praying for wealth and marriage. He hoped that the god of wealth he prayed to would really be able to help him get his money back.

Oh, right, when they went to make offerings to Ebisu the Hermit, they also encountered Yamada Ryo and a red-haired girl. What was her name again? Guilai Quxi? They were also praying. Yamada Ryo borrowed 500 yen from the girl and put it into the offering box. Because they were close by, he could hear her muttering to herself.

"I pray for divine mercy. I've already paid off my entire next month's salary. If this continues, I'll be eating grass. I pray for sudden wealth."

What a realistic wish! It almost made him want to chime in.

Hachiman shook his head. "What a pity, Yamada-kun. It's all superstition."

"Onii-chan, there's a fortune teller over there who asks for help in finding a partner. Why don't you go and ask him?"

...Does he really need to ask for this?

Staggering, he followed Komachi to the shrine of Ignebime-no-Mikoto, one of the oldest deities in the Izu region, and looked up.

"Fan Yan? Boqi?"

Upon hearing the familiar sound, the two immediately covered their faces with their hands and cowered like quails.

……

"Then, we'll be going."

"Bye-bye, Onii-chan, remember to text me often!"

"Well, be careful on the road."

After seeing the two off onto the train, gazing at the sunset in the distance, I realized that today's day was finally over.

It was a fulfilling day, but also the most nerve-wracking. He thought that once everything was exposed, his trip to Izu would be shackled, but in the end nothing happened. He had only scared himself.

Is it that they are broad-minded, or that they trust themselves too much?

He smiled helplessly. As long as the ending is good, why bother with these things?

[drop--]

I took my phone out of my pocket and saw a text message from Hiratsuka-sensei.

Oh, right, there's something I forgot to tell you.

[What's up?]

[Yono said she'd come to see you in a while, most likely to ask you about Yukino. She seems indifferent on the surface, but as Yukino's older sister, she's always been concerned about her. You need to be careful.]

Hachiman looked at the message but didn't have much of an opinion. He had long expected this day to come. As a sister-complex man, if he knew what had happened to Komachi, he would definitely find the source.

[Since we're here, let's make the best of it.]

He didn't have much to worry about. Ultimately, he didn't think he had done anything wrong. It was just that the timing, circumstances, and people weren't right, and he was lacking courage at the time.

Everything collapsed as if it were the middle way.

Chapter Fifty-Three: The Breakup Farce (Revised version in a separate chapter)

The atmosphere is a bit off.

In the classroom, Hachiman felt uneasy as he sensed the clearly malicious gazes focusing on him from all directions. He glanced around discreetly and saw that, apart from Iori Kohei, the eyes of the other male students were filled with gloomy expressions. He swallowed hard.

"Don't you guys feel like everyone's expression is weird today, except for us?"

"Have it?"

Iori looked at the boy sitting in the front seat with a puzzled expression. He smiled kindly and gently ran his thumb across Iori's neck to remind him that his neck was dirty and needed to be cleaned properly, suggesting that the other person's newly sharpened kitchen knife would be a good example.

He looked terrified and quickly leaned back.

"Something's really wrong! They want to kill me!"

"Why? We're acting exactly the same as usual."

Kohei also noticed the strange atmosphere. He watched as someone plucked out the doll's golden hair strand by strand, and he covered his own hair in pain.

"Yes, the underwear is on properly."

Three of you, look at me and I look at you.

"If anything's wrong, Hachiman, why are you dressed so neatly? You even have a shirt and trousers!"

Iori angrily pointed at Hachiman, who was wearing an outer garment, saying, "Doesn't this make them look like perverts, wearing only their underwear?!"

"I'm not a pervert, why would I be completely naked in the classroom?"

Hachiman silently slapped his hand away, then, under Hachiman's incredulous expression, he clenched his fists and leaned against the table, deep in thought. He hadn't been very visible to his classmates lately, and usually no one paid him much attention. They mostly just looked at Iori and Hachiman like they were clowns.

So, the only possibility is that something happened at the recent spring festival that he was unaware of. But what could it be? Male contestants? Impossible. They messed with that show-off, popular guy. Logically, he should have been appreciated by the single guys who were all fully developed but had no opportunity to use their talents. He shouldn't have been reacting with this kind of expression.

That was after the men's competition, but nothing particularly unusual happened that night.

Could it be that someone saw him walking with Hiratsuka-sensei and Komachi and misunderstood?

It's unlikely. If he were really misunderstood, he would probably be in Myanmar that very night. Why would he wait until now to try and kill him with his eyes?

That happened yesterday. What event was it? There was an awards ceremony in the morning. He went to remove his makeup, so they let Iori, who was completely drunk, go on stage.

Thinking of this, he leaned closer to Iori: "Did anything happen at the awards ceremony yesterday morning?"

"I don't know, I have absolutely no recollection of yesterday."

Iori shook her head. He was still with his great-grandmother back then. It had been a long time since she had seen him. She made a lot of cookies for him, and he ate them until this morning.

"What about you, Kohei?"

Kohei stylishly flicked his bangs: "I'm at the amusement park with Lala, and she called me Onii-chan 726 times."

Neither of these two is useful.

"Why don't you just ask them why they're angry? They're classmates, they shouldn't make you bleed on the spot," Iori suggested.

"What if it comes to that?" Hachiman countered.

“Then we’ll sneak out the back door and escape the moment you’re tied to the stake.” Iori gave him a hearty smile and a thumbs-up.

"I might as well ask Chisa."

"I advise you to give up on this idea. She hasn't been in a good mood lately. Have you forgotten that night when she made us drink almost five liters of liquor?"

What's the difference between the death penalty and life imprisonment?

Hachiman ignored them and turned to look at Chisa. He had made up his mind that no matter the cost, he would find out what was going on from her.

(*^ω^*)

"..."

He silently pulled his head back; it seemed his retina hadn't adjusted properly, and he was hallucinating.

I looked back again!

(^_^)ノ

"It's better to live a miserable life than to die a good death; the death penalty is far more painful than life imprisonment." Hachiman turned his head and uttered these few words.

"Got it?" Iori patted his shoulder.

"But don't you guys feel the chill getting heavier?" Kohei hugged his shoulders and shivered.

No need to pretend anymore, he could already see someone taking out a freezer and preparing to take him on a "colorful" mini snow mountain trip.

"But people have to be cool."

With that arrogant remark, Hachiman stood up and resolutely stepped onto the thorns, bearing the malice of the crowd, to walk to Chisa's side.

"Chisa, I have something to ask you."

"We can talk about it when we get back."

Chisa Kotegawa smiled broadly, politely declining his question. At the same time, Hachiman felt a barrage of glares raining down on him.

What exactly is going on? After thinking it over, he chose to leave and return to his seat, which surprised Chisa, who stared blankly at his back.

"Iori, it's your turn to ask this time."

"why?"

"I want to test which one of us they are hostile to."

Hachiman said that although he already knew that the reason why they became abnormal was definitely related to Chisa, he was not sure whether his speculation was true or false. At this time, someone needed to help him dig deeper.

"Ok."

Despite not understanding why, Iori listened to Hachiman's words, as it would be no good for them if they didn't understand the situation clearly.

He walked up to Chisa, but before he could speak, the sound of a ballpoint pen being inserted into a wooden board reached his ears.

Iori is back, but he didn't bring back any information. He's such a useless person, just like the son in Sixty Seconds.

"Next up is Kohei."

Three seconds later, Kohei returned, covering his face and crying.

Well, all three of them carried different kinds of malice.

Among them, Iori is the largest, he is the second largest, and Kohei is the smallest.

"So, do you see what's going on here?" Iori asked.

"Okay." Hachiman nodded. "Kouhei, let's go."

"Eh?"

"Wait, are you going to leave me here alone?"