It Seems That the Word Cute Was a Deadly Poison to the Girls Who Were Despised as Ugly Women in a World Where Beauty and Ugliness Are Inverted
The next morning, 8:15.
Rio and Hiyori had been pressing down on him since morning, and Yuma left the house as if he were running away, with his mother smiling at him as she sent him off.
In the classroom where he finally arrived, he sat down in his seat, lightly smiling back at the greetings sent to him one after another.
“I appreciate that we’re getting along so well, but …… you’re being a little too abrupt.”
He spoke to himself without letting anyone hear him.
Of course, for Yuuma, a brother and sister who can spend time together without any worries is far preferable to an awkward relationship.
But the two, who had been rejecting each other with just one word, suddenly closed the distance between them with too much skinship.
If he were to describe it in words, it was as if a parked sports car suddenly accelerated and came straight
If things went badly, the relationship itself could have cracked.
“Yuma, were you all right yesterday?”
It was Amase Reo who called out to him.
As if he couldn’t see that Yuma had sunk into heavy thoughts, he approached with light steps.
Before his memories were mixed up – when he still blended in as a normal student in the classroom – he was one of the boys with whom he most comfortably exchanged words.
His soft brown hair, bright eyes, and familiar smiling face make you feel at ease.
He is a typical cheerful boy who is naturally at the center of the circle in class.
His naturalness was a little dazzling to Yuma right now.
“What is it?”
When he sat down at Yuma’s desk, Reo was smiling wickedly.
“What do you mean? …… After school, Karei grabbed you by the arm and took you away, didn’t she?”
“Yeah, that’s it.”
“That’s easy. There was quite a stir around there, right? Karei led a guy along.”
“Was that so?”
“You really don’t care about that ……, do you? What did she do to you?
“Nothing. She just said she wanted to talk to me”
When Yuma answered with a shrug, Reo let out a drawn-out “Hmm” and crossed his legs.
“Well… I guess it’s fine as long as she’s not doing anything weird. That one is a bit hard to read.”
“…..Reo is rather worrisome, isn’t he?”
“You are just too insensitive.”
Without offering a retort, Reo narrowed his eyes and laughed.
For just a moment, it felt like I caught a glimpse of the seriousness behind the joke.
“You’re not very good at hiding things, are you? It shows on your face too much.”
“I told you I’m not……”
“No, it is. The face of Yuma is rather obvious in everything.”
He seemed a little annoyed, but his smile remained constant.
Reo’s voice was as light as ever, but there was a definite sense of familiarity in it.
“Thanks. If there is anything to worry about, I will talk to you.”
“Seriously? You’re the type of person who holds things in.”
He was joking, but he appreciated the seriousness in his every word.
Without saying anything more, Reo waved his hand and returned to his seat.
─ ─ It doesn’t matter if we have different values or if our memories are muddled.
It was just that the presence of a friend who spoke to him in the same way as before made Yuma’s heart feel lighter now.
“…..Good morning, Kana-kun.”
The voice from the seat next to him, a voice that he had grown accustomed to hearing yesterday, was thrown at him quietly.
When Yuuma turned towards her, he saw Mashiro already sitting down in her seat.
The expression on her face, which had been so heated, was now expressionless, as if she had completely hidden it.
However, only her eyes were staring at Yuma.
─ ─ However, the only thing that stuck out to me was the way she called me.
This morning, it was “Kana-kun” again.
And her voice was so quiet, it was as if she didn’t want anyone around her to hear.
“Good morning. What’s wrong……?
Mashiro paused for just a beat at the question and shook her head.
“Nothing…”
After that, Mashiro quietly opened the paperback book she had taken out of her bag and didn’t look at Yuma.
The fingertips that turn the pages are indifferent, and there is only an air of reluctance to talk to her.
Yuma swallowed her words as she seemed to be a different person from yesterday.
Soon the chime rings, signaling the beginning of another day.
Morning homeroom.
As Sasanami-sensei reads out the instructions in a matter-of-fact manner, there is only one gaze fixed on Yuma from next to him.
It was a silence that said much more than words.
First period.
The only sound in the classroom is the regular sound of a pen being run over a notebook.
But even this was distant to Yuma’s ears, and he was distracted by a presence that seemed to pierce his shoulder.
Mashiro does not avert her gaze at all.
Second period.
While the teacher continues to explain, Mashiro keeps her textbook open and does not move an inch.
Only her eyes are reading Yuma’s profile, not the textbook.
The eyes are straight and unwavering, yet they are strangely heavy.
All Yuma could do was to look forward and keep looking at the lectern.
Third period.
The hand that was copying the board trembled slightly.
Yuma pretends not to notice the reason, and silently spells the words.
He does not hear Mashiro’s writing.
She does not move her pen, but simply stares at Yuma.
The air becomes heavy with tension.
Fourth period.
Suddenly, he felt something on the back of his hand on the desk.
Mashiro’s hand was slightly closer.
Not touching. But the fingertips, placed gently at an exquisite distance, take away Yuma’s concentration.
–Why doesn’t she say anything? Why does she just appeal with her eyes?
(……Why don’t you put it into words? I beg you!)
The unformed question reverberated deep in his chest.
Fifth period.
The class resumed after the lunch break.
While his classmates were heading to class with a slightly relaxed atmosphere, Mashiro remained as tense as ever.
Gaze, silence, and quiet pressure.
It would have been easier if she had just said, “I’m watching to make sure you don’t run away.”
“Mashiro…… why are you being so silent?”
Even when he said it out loud, her expression didn’t change.
The sixth period.
The last class.
The end of the day was approaching, but only Mashiro’s gaze was deeper and more intense than in the morning.
Faintly tracing the edge of her desk with her finger, she appeals to me without uttering a word.
Then homeroom on the way home.
Sasanami-sensei left the classroom after speaking what she wanted to say in a flowing manner.
The act of being watched seemed to come more mentally than he had imagined, and Yuma’s body and mind were on the verge of falling apart.
As his classmates began to make a commotion, he called out to Mashiro
“Can you follow me?”
“….Yes.”
The words were unusually rough for Yuma.
Mashiro agreed to his question without a flicker of recognition.
The two of them left the classroom with Yuma leading the way before everyone’s attention was focused on the two of them.
They headed for a small park on the outskirts of a residential area not far from High School.
It was a simple structure with only playground equipment and benches, but there were no signs of people around, making it the perfect place for a quiet exchange of words.
Yuma and Mashiro sat down on a bench near the entrance.
They sat side by side, but the distance between them seemed close, yet somehow distant.
There was a thin, heavy air between them that made them hesitant to talk to each other.
“…..It’s so comfortable to sit here.”
Muttering the one formality, Yuuma immediately turned to face Mashiro.
She didn’t look away from the front, her gaze was serious and didn’t seem to tolerate any silence.
“Why were you so distant today?”
He didn’t say it in a roundabout way.
Without any excuses or reservations, Yuma simply wanted to know Mashiro’s true feelings, so he put them into words.
She blinked once, took a small breath, and dropped her gaze.
“…… Nothing.”
“Did I do something ……? I’ve been feeling like you’ve been avoiding me all day.”
“I told you I’m not avoiding you.”
“……, then look at me.”
“I’m looking at you. I’ve been looking at you.”
“In …… class, you’ve been avoiding me the whole time.”
He was still gentle, but his questions were getting a little stronger.
“It’s just a matter of …… mood. Even you have your days.”
“Please don’t let it end like that. Yesterday’s Mashiro and today’s Mashiro are like …… different people.”
“Well, let me ask you something. I think it’s the same for you that you didn’t say anything to me.”
“…… that’s …….”
Yuuma, who had been searching for words, stopped speaking as Mashiro pursued him.
He couldn’t find an answer to come out right away.
“You never said anything… why are you asking me that now?”
“Because when I tried to talk to you, I didn’t know if I should approach you because you called me …… Kamina-kun.”
“…. so you felt like you had to pull away.”
“No, that’s why I’m…”
No matter how hard he tried to put words together, all he got in return was cold, dismissive responses.
Every time this happened, an uncontrollable sense of urgency tightened in Yuuma’s chest.
“Then why did you stay silent and not even look me in the eye? I was worried that if I approached you first, you’d avoid me again…”
“I didn’t mean to ……”
“But you kept quiet. That’s your answer, isn’t it?”
Yuma’s throat tightened at Mashiro’s words, but he couldn’t back down.
“I just want to know what you think!”
His voice became much stronger, and Mashiro’s shoulders shook slightly.
It was not his intention – he didn’t want to yell at her.
Nevertheless, he was still annoyed by the wall she had put up.
“Yesterday you told me I was pretty. What did you mean by that ……?”
“I meant it. How can you say that in a joke?!”
“Then why did you …… avoid me today?”
“I wasn’t avoiding you. I just didn’t …… know what to do.”
“…I told you to only look at me! I thought I’d made that clear to you…!”
“There’s no way I’d get it! Mashiro has to say it properly!”
With his voice rising, Yuuma looked at Mashiro’s face and clenched his fists in his lap.
The reason he was clenching his fists so hard that his fingernails were digging in was not because of anger, but because of the frustration of the empty feeling of wanting to communicate.
It was painful that the words were not reaching her, but she still did not want to give up, so she just kept on appealing desperately.
“I thought I told you, …… everything yesterday, that was my–!
“But they weren’t words!”
“Ah …….”
Before they knew it, both of them had stood up from the bench.
Yuma’s breathing is shallow, and Mashiro is frantically babbling words to each other, tears blurring around her eyes.
They were close enough to reach out and touch, but their hearts seemed far apart.
He took a deep breath and opened his mouth quietly, as if choosing his words.
“I wanted to face Mashiro properly. I wasn’t lying about yesterday. I was serious in my own way.”
Mashiro said nothing. She just kept her gaze lowered.
“….. but I don’t know what you’re thinking. I don’t know what you want me to do. ……”
Still, the only thing that came back was silence.
With the heavy, heavy silence, Yuma slowly exhaled.
“…..I’m going home today.”
With that, Yuma quietly left the place without looking back.
Mashiro said nothing. She could not say anything.
Maiasa
For people who are supposedly really ugly, they seem to accept that MC is sincere way too fast. In real life, years of deep-rooted insecurity doesn’t go away if a single person praises you. You’d be more likely to think they are mocking you or are being insincere