Chapter 4

Translated by KaiesV Edited by KaiesV

I kept practicing basketball all the time.

I would practice the same exercises to the point of boredom and deepen my fundamentals.

I kept repeating such a process.

After practice, I was going home to a place called Hell——

Haah, I don’t wanna go home～

It’s stressful to be with those people.

When I came home, it was dark inside.

Nhn? No one’s here today?

I even try to head to my room.

I look into the next room and see a light leaking from the door.

Mm, looks like I have my sister-in-law.

I haven’t spoken to her since that greeting.

Not that I disliked her terribly much, but I had no intention of getting used to her.

I went into my room, took out a book from the shelf, and decided to read.

It was then that someone knocked on the door of the room.

Tch, who’s that?

「Yes, who is it?」

「It’s Yui, and I’d like to talk to you for a moment.」

Mm, apparently, Yui Sakata (my sister-in-law) knocked on my door.

「All right, get in the room.」

After saying so, Yui Sakata opens the door.

She entered the room and looked around my room with a curious look on her face.

「What do you want?」

「I just wanted to report that my father and auntie said they weren’t coming home today.」

「That’s very kind of you.」

Nhn? Eh? Is that the only reason you spoke to me?

「Also, I was told to eat dinner with this money today.」

Yui Sakata said just that and handed me the money in her hand.

Mhm, 5,000 yen, huh.

I don’t have a problem with my five hundred yen.

「Well, thanks for going out of your way. You can go now.」

「Okay, I understand.」

Yui Sakata leaves the room with these words.

Mm, those parents are giving me money.

I thought I had to be the one to cook today.

Now, what shall I do with this 5,000 yen?

Well, since I’ve come all this way, I might as well eat yakiniku by myself.

I get dressed and head for the front door.

I go to the front door and see Yui Sakata trying to put on her shoes.

Apparently, she was planning to go out for dinner as well.

I ignored Yui Sakata and tried to put on my shoes——

「Where are you going?」

Nhn? What’s up with this girl, she’s being so involved today…

「I’m eating out, eating out. See ya.」

「I’m planning to eat out too. If you want, why don’t we eat together?」

「What?」

The suggestion of this girl in front of me baffles me.

What the hell is this girl up to……?

This Yui Sakata must hate me.

I treated her harshly when I first met her.

So why did you ask me out?

I don’t understand.

「Was it a no?」

I wonder what this girl thinks of that uncle and my mother.

Then———

「Haah, I don’t mind.」

「Fufu, thank you very much.」

Yui Sakata says so and walks next to me.

「Where were you planning to eat today?」

「I was thinking of having some yakiniku.」

When I say this, Yui Sakata rolls her eyes just a little.

「Oh, I see. Well, I’ll be happy to join you.」

Here it is.

There was only one more reason I wanted to have dinner with this girl.

The way this Yui Sakata speaks, her tone of voice, her gestures, all seem to be made up.

It’s as if she is hiding her true nature…

Perhaps this girl has a dark side.

I wanted to remove that mask.

◇◇◇

We even came to a yakiniku restaurant.

We were sitting facing each other, eating meat.

Mmm, this meat is moderately tasty.

I’ve moved a lot today, and I think I could eat quite a bit.

「Meat for you.」

I placed the grilled meat on the plate that Yui Sakata was using.

「Thank you very much.」

She ate the meat with a smile on her face.

Well, it’s time to cut to the chase.

「You, you can relax, all right?」

「Eh? What do you mean by that?」

「I’m saying you don’t have to play cat on me.」

When I said this, the girl in front of me looked surprised.

「Fufu, I knew you were aware.」

Yui Sakata says this and looks at me blankly with her cheekbones.

「Well, I guess.」

「I’ve never even been noticed at school.」

Her voice and facial expression were different from the Yui Sakata of a moment ago.

It was as if her personality had been replaced.

I can’t believe she’s changed this much…

「I’m surprised you noticed.」

「I just felt like you were making it up a little bit.」

「Yeah, I’ll be more careful next time.」

「…You, do you treat your school friends with that attitude?」

「Yes, although I don’t consider them all friends. They’re just fakes.」

What do you mean by fake?

「A fake? What do you mean by that?」

I’m not sure what this woman is talking about, so I can’t help but question her.

「They’re all just using me to maintain their positions. If you didn’t have any kind of friends, they’d look at you like you were pitiful, right? And if you’re not good at it, it can turn into bullying… I make pretend friends to get around that.」

I see, well, I understand most of what this girl is saying.

It’s true, if you are alone, there is a possibility of being bullied.

So this girl is making friends to avoid that.

「I see. So why did you suggest that you and I go out to dinner together?」

I’m puzzled, why is this girl messing with me?

「I just wanted to talk to you because you were a little like me.」

「You and I are alike?」

Doesn’t look like we’re at all similar, though.

「You reject those parents too, don’t you?」

「Well, yeah.」

「I too have rejected my parents since the fifth grade.」

Is this girl disappointed in her parents, too?

Well, in my case, I don’t hate my dad at all.

「I see.」

Maybe this girl feels the same way I do.

Or it could be worse.

「Can I ask you one question?」

「I don’t mind.」

「You, why are you with that uncle? Don’t you usually go with your mother?」

That uncle had an affair with my mother.

Why are you with such a man?

I don’t understand it at all.

「…My mother…」

Yui Sakata mutters, her eyes glazed over.

I’m pretty sure something happened.

「My mother, you see, ever since she found out my father was cheating on her, she has been taking it out on me… She beats me up just for making a noise, and she even skip feeding..」

Yui Sakata tells us what her mother did to her.

Apparently, she was even abused by her mother.

「……」

Wh–What the hell is that?

「I’ve been living like that for a long time, and I really hated both my father and my mother. But my father gave me an allowance, so it was better than living with my mother. So I felt like I had no choice but to stay with my father. No, that’s wrong, my mother left me because she didn’t need me. That’s why I’m with my father.」

I can’t believe a mother would abandon her child.

Is she really a parent?

「My life with my father is pretty normal. I’d get paid to eat bento like I did today. Well, as someone who lived without food, I guess I have my father to thank for that.」

「………」

「Because of such a life, playing with friends was the only thing that gave me hope or a sense of living. Well, not that I had that many friends.」

The only thing that was interesting from Yui Sakata’s point of view was probably playing with the girls she was really close to.

「But this good friend of mine was also bad-mouthing me when I wasn’t around… Honestly, it was so hard, I cried quite a bit. I didn’t have a lot of time to spare at the time, so…」

「………」

「But when I go to school, the friend smiles at me. It really didn’t seem like she was bad-mouthing me… That’s when I realized that people only show lies. They show me nothing but lies. Seeing people like that, I don’t trust anyone anymore.」

Friends who have been bad-mouthing her behind her back show kindness when interacting with Yui Sakata.

Seeing her friend’s attitude, did Yui Sakata become distrustful of people?

「I stopped trusting anyone, stopped expecting anything from them. So I started wearing masks all the time.」

Yui Sakata eats the meat in her plate nonchalantly with a bored expression on her face.

「Haah— I’m sorry, our talk became strange… It’s been kind of a while since I’ve had a conversation without catnip, so I got relaxed and said some weird stuff.」

Yui Sakata says apologetically.

「No, that’s fine. I’m more sorry…」

Yui Sakata tilts her head while rolling her eyes at my comment.

「Why are you the one apologizing?」

「I treated you harshly when I first met you. Sorry…」

That was completely my fault.

I don’t want to ask for forgiveness, but out of a sense of guilt, I apologized to her.

「Eh–? Ahh, I don’t mind it. Because those words made me start to wonder a little bit about you.」

「Hah!?」

I could not understand what this girl in front of me was saying.

Did she think she was interested in me because of my cold attitude?

「Frankly, I had no intention of getting involved with you at all. So I thought I’d just say that greeting and not get involved anymore, but… I changed my mind when I saw your attitude. We were so alike.」

「We’re alike?」

What in the world was our resemblance to each other?

「Yes, we looked alike. Your expression was so similar to mine. You lived your life like it was boring, and you looked at your parents like you were dreading them. I wondered if you were the same as me, and I felt a kind of affinity for you. That’s why I wanted to talk to you today.」

This girl was thinking that?

「I don’t think you and I are the same.」

「It’s true, I see the resemblance. You don’t think well of those two either, do you?」

Those two people must be my mother and that uncle.

「Ahh, I don’t want to be with them. It’s just too hard to be with them.」

「Of course you are, you’ve been abused by your own mother.」

「You were watching me?」

「I don’t have a choice. I’d be in my room and I’d hear aunt’s angry voice.」

It is in my room that she often get angry and violent.

Her room is next to mine, so she can hear me even if she don’t want to.

「I see…」

「It must be hard for you too…」

「Don’t give me that, same with sympathizing me. I’m used to that…」

That’s right, it was not the first time I have been abused by my mother.

She has been beating me once a week since that fifth grade.

So I am used to it.

「I’m used to it…」

Yui Sakata looks into my eyes with pitiful eyes.

Tch, don’t look at me that way.

「Well, I hope you’re okay… but if you’re having a hard time, come to my room.」

「Ha?」

Why do I have to come to your room?

「I can at least listen to you. Maybe I can be someone who understands you.」

「……」

「In return, can I talk to you like I do now?」

Yui Sakata said in an anxious voice.

After a few seconds of pondering, I spoke up with my answer.

「Alright, you can talk to me anytime.」

「Really!?」

Yui Sakata turned her happy smile toward me for the first time.

Is this girl like this when she smiles?

「I’m serious.」

「Thank goodness, because I’ve never known anyone who could reveal their true nature.」

「You don’t have to be me to talk to them.」

「There’s no way, they will just say bad things about me again without me. I don’t want to have to deal with that, and I don’t want to go through that again.」

It must have been very painful for her to hear her close friends speak ill of her.

It must have been a kind of trauma.

Is that why she never shows her true self to anyone?

And her story is something I can relate too.

Parents are indeed a pain in the ass.

I can’t grieve for that uncle or my mother if they died today.

I’m sure I’d be rather full of joy.

Maybe this girl is thinking the same thing.

Maybe we can really understand each other.

「I don’t know if I can be an understanding person, but maybe I can relate to what you’re thinking.」

「That’s good. Well, I’ll come visit you in your room next time.」

「Ahh, alright.」

At this point, we were a little closer to each other.

「Erm, I believe it was Yūji-kun, right?」

「Eh? Yes, that’s right.」

「Then I will call you Yūji-kun. You call me Yūi.」

「Alright then, Yūi.」

「Okay.」

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