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
Walking along the sidewalk a short distance away from the rotary in front of the station, Yuma looked around at the scenery around him, keeping his eyes on his joined hands.
He could not just stand still as long as people were watching.
But he had to choose a place where he would feel safe.
The first place that came to mind was the shopping mall in front of the station.
However, it was too crowded on a Saturday afternoon to be a good place to talk.
There was no way she would feel at ease there. Rejected.
A fashionable café also came into view, but the interior of the store crowded with young couples and friends came to mind.
It was easy to imagine a future in which Kouno would shrug her shoulders and silently turn away. Rejected.
The option of going home came to mind for a moment, but was dismissed without even thinking about it.
It was unlikely that she would visit a strange house, and it was also difficult to imagine what would happen if her sister or older sister saw her there.
–Where would she let her guard down?
As Yuma walked forward, one option came to the forefront of his mind.
“Hey, Kouno san.”
“What……”
“Wanna go karaoke?”
“Karaoke? What are you talking about out of the blue?”
“You don’t like crowded places, do you? I was thinking of going to …… a place where we can talk quietly.”
As they walked side by side on the sidewalk, Yuma suddenly looked next to her and saw Kouno looking at him with half-closed eyes and a solemn look.
It was an impressive degree of caution.
Was it a defensive instinct because she had been scorned so much in the past, or was it a natural sense of self-preservation as a girl?
Yuma couldn’t tell which it was, so he just quietly accepted her gaze.
“To be honest, I don’t think it’s right to go into a closed room with a man.”
“…… I won’t do anything you know?”
“I don’t know. I know you’re different from the rest of them, but …… I don’t trust you yet.”
Her profile as she turned forward with her lips pursed gave her the appearance of a sulky, and also a little frightened.
“Just get your hands off me already. I’m not a child.”
“Promise me you won’t run away?”
“Sure, I’ll promise.”
Even after he let go of her hand, Kouno continued to walk beside Yuuma, keeping a few steps away.
“Where is it at ……? Karaoke.”
“There’s a chain restaurant a little further down the street. Reo took me there once before. It was calm and quiet, so I thought you might be comfortable there.”
Reo introduced the restaurant to me with a smile, saying, “It’s a hidden spot,” and the quietness left a strong impression on me.
“Hee, I thought you are used to taking women with you.”
“You are so prejudiced, aren’t you?”
The smile she suddenly showed was so beautiful that it almost stopped Yuma in his tracks.
“Let’s go then……”
“….Ou”
The two of them walked side by side to a karaoke bar.
After checking in at a chain store a short walk away, Yuuma steals a peek at Kouno who is standing next to him.
She looked around restlessly, but did not stop walking.
As if to match her somewhat uneasy air, Yuma quietly adjusted his stride and headed for the reserved “Room 105.”
“I didn’t know karaoke … was this quiet.”
“surprised, right? I was also surprised at first.”
“…… hmmm.”
Despite her gruff voice, her gaze was fixed on the back of the hallway.
Yuuma led the way to the front of the room and quietly opened the door.
“I’m alone with you here?”
“I’m not going to do anything. You’re so suspicious.”
“Shut up ……”
The room inside was much more relaxed than I had imagined.
A brown sofa was arranged in a U-shape in the six-tatami mat room.
The restrained lighting was in soft warm colors, and a music video was playing on a wall monitor with the volume turned down.
The room had a somewhat stifling feeling peculiar to a closed room, but on the other hand, it also had a sense of closure that made me feel relieved.
“……, you brought me to a strange place.”
Kouno then stops and looks around the room for a moment.
She slides her gaze to the corner of the sofa and gently fiddles with the cuffs.
After taking a breath, she walks wordlessly to the back of the room.
With hesitant steps, she sits down on the corner of the sofa without turning her back, and falls silent as her eyes fall to her feet.
Her profile looks both sultry and quietly observant.
Yuma closed the door and sat down on the seat across from her, keeping a certain distance.
Not directly in front of her, but at a slight angle so that their gazes did not clash too much.
“So…..? What do you want by bringing me here?”
“I just want to talk. I don’t mean in a weird way.”
“You know the worst kind of person is the one who comes up to you and says that……”
“If I were, you wouldn’t be here right now, would you?”
When Yuma’s mouth relaxed slightly, Kouno looked away as if to shake something off.
“…So, let me at least ask your name. I’m Kouno Momoka. What’s your name again?
“I’m Kanna Yuma. Nice to meet you Kouno-san.”
“Don’t call me san, It’s weird.”
“Then …… Momoka?”
“Hey, you’re going too far! You’re younger than me, you know.”
Momoka scratches her head vigorously and complains, “This thing really messes with my mood.”
But her cheeks were slightly reddish.
“You’re really strange, aren’t you? Normally, you’d have gone home already.”
Momoka crossed her arms and looked at Yuma.
“I’m not a normal person, that’s why I approached you.”
“Huh? What’s that? I don’t understand it. What you’re saying is disgusting.”
“But I’m not lying.”
“……I see”
Just when you thought she’d stay quiet after that, Momoka glanced at Yuuma and her eyes wavered slightly.
“…Seriously, I don’t understand what you’re saying.”
Suddenly, Momoka’s voice came flying at him with a piercing force.
“What do you mean, just because I was pretty? You called out to me out of nowhere, grabbed me by the hand, and brought me all the way here? Are you stupid?”
““You’re abusing me all of a sudden. ……, that’s a little hurtful.”
“Shut up. And you’re like, “Is there any reason why you shouldn’t choose me?” That’s just too creepy. How confident are you?”
As she said this, Momoka grabbed a cushion and roughly tossed it onto the sofa.
“You still say that! I guess I wanted you to let that part slide!”
“Haaa! I don’t know! You stepped in without my permission and were nice to me without my permission, what? If I misunderstand you, are you going to take responsibility?
“…Yeah, of course. Since I said so, you know.”
Yuuma’s voice was quiet and there was no joking or embarrassment in it.
It was just directed straight at Momoka.
“…Huh? Are you stupid?”
The voice that leaked out was tinged with some heat.
However, that lingering feeling was soon drowned out by her own irritation.
“…Are you enjoying saying that!? Such sweet words! I’ve never be treated so kindly before, I’m not used to it…”
Yuma opened his mouth, puzzled by the sudden cry.
“That’s not what I meant–“
“Then why!”
The voice that interrupted him was sharp and trembled with anger.
“Why are you talking so much? You’ve been so nice to me and you’ve been forcing me to do things even though I didn’t ask… it’s disgusting!”
Yuma’s expression stopped at the force of the words.
Her lips moved slightly, but she couldn’t find the words to reply, and only her eyes were shaking.
“I’m just… just sitting there so I don’t get left behind…!”
Her voice was trembling. It sounded like she was about to yell, about to start crying, but she was determined not to let her tears show.
Silence falls. Only the low hum of the air conditioner running and the music on the walls filled the place instead of the air.
Momoka remained motionless as she looked forward.
She neither turned her head nor kept her eyes down, but simply stared at Yuma.
“……Why, why, why–“
The voice was like a drop of a whisper.
The mutterings, like a soliloquy, gradually became heated.
“Why… why did it have to be me…”
Her hands were gripping her knees so tightly that they were turning white.
“For someone like Kanna to go out of his way to call out to me… seriously, I don’t understand… Am I that easy to laugh at? Am I that easy to tease? You can see how I’m different from the others!”
Without looking away, she glared at Yuuma.
The eyes are straight and serious to the point of pain.
“You don’t know anything about me, ……! Don’t look like you understand me, ……!”
The remote control on the table was popped by Momoka’s hand with all her might.
It hit the edge of the sofa with a mighty thud and rolled with a clatter and a dry thud.
The momentary impulse of the moment, Momoka’s breathing became erratic, as if she were surprised herself.
“…… Damn it, what the hell am I doing ……!”
Momoka’s shoulders shook, but there were no tears in her eyes.
But behind the taut voice, I thought I heard the sound of the lid of her crumbling heart quietly breaking.
“…Getting hope just because someone was a little nice to me…I’m really stupid.”
The voice is snarled.
Without even covering her eyes, Momoka simply stared at Yuuma and pleaded.
“…I don’t have any expectations. I don’t, but…But if, if you were serious even for a moment…I just need a little bit of your kindness–“
Yuuma stood up without saying a word, walked around the table and came over to her side, sitting down gently without touching her.
Momoka noticed this and her shoulders shook slightly, but she kept her eyes down and muttered softly.
“…. seriously, you ain’t saying nothing.”
A dry laugh mingles slightly.
Momoka muttered softly as she let out a small sigh.
“…Kana’s kindness is really nasty.”
Yuma just smiled without saying anything.
To Momoka, that was the most nasty kindness of all.
Maiasa