Vol 5 Chapter 31 (2/2)

“Is that so…”

Satoshi+ responded in the exact same way that Ōhinata had done so to his previous answer Alation, he then asked, ”Oh, so there's someone like that in your life?”

As she heard this, Ōhinata suddenly broke out into a huge grin

”Nope, not at the uess because that's the case, what's really important to me would be…”

She suddenly dropped her gaze to stare at her feet and continued, only her voice still containing the enthusiasm she just had

“…friends”

I clearly understood why Satoshi+ had previously let out his disappointed “Is that so…” Although it wasn’t a very pleasant subject, I was still expecting her to respond with a more elaborate answer “Love” wasn’t exactly a terrible one, but it was so clichéd

On the other hand, I could also understand why Ōhinata had responded sih school, had a student heard so like, “That which I treasure most is my own unique nature,” they would most likely not be very moved

I understood the vague h his face constantly looked as if he had never faced a single hardshi+p in the world, he had many problems in his oay, and he tried to correct these to produce a better version of himself There were many times when I could only think about how incredibly carefree I was coht have made an entirely ordinary impression, there was a determination in that answer that really defined who Satoshi+ was

I started thinking from there

First came love, but because there were no prospects there, her answer became her friends This hat Ōhinata had said That kind of ansas certainly uninteresting by itself, however, just as Satoshi+ had a unique determination that only he could have, the same had to be the case for Ōhinata Had she si? Probably not

After all, when Ōhinata had offered up “love” as her answer, she had been s, and yet, when she switched her answer to “friends,” her eyes were cast down

I knew the answer rested in that behavior, but I couldn’t figure out the exactbehind it

The reason I felt like I could understand at least a ss was because of a certain incident Last winter, after a series of coree that which rested behind his façade and shared it with me

Co siirl, Ōhinata After all, it hadn’t even been two months since I had iven the circumstances?

It ht’ve been possible The fact remained, however, that I hadn’t even tried

While I ran, I tried to think of a way to reclai at those in front of me head-on It was idiotic ofclass, I would have to buy a reference book before the test ca the thief[1] At any rate, it was difficult for the energy-saver in me to say it, but I had only one option open to me If a person resembled a bodhisattva on the outside, then they were like a yakṣa on the inside A yakṣa In other words, a demon

There were three ways to interpret this

The first as to assume that Ibara’s memory was incorrect and that Ōhinata had actually said soh, that wasExactly what kind ofwould have had to take place for her to incorrectly hear the sentence, “She really does look like a bodhisattva, doesn’t she”

The second as to assume that Ōhinata had indeed said that exact line, but hador observation, without any hint of an ulteriorThis was also difficult to justify Up until this point, I had never heard anyone use the phrase “That person is like a bodhisattva” to compliment someone else Of course, you couldn’t say that there wasn’t anyone in this world that used strange phrases like that to praise others Still overall, I had exchanged words with Ōhinata nuht that it was safe for me to say that she didn’t fit that description

This meant that I had to concede to the third possibility after all: Ōhinata had referred to Chitanda in a roundaboutlike a dee, but I could understand why she would do it She wanted to criticize Chitanda, but naturally she couldn’t say anything like that out loud in front of Ibara, as such good friends with her She probably didn’t expect Ibara to catch onto thatalone

If it did become a proble about lesser-known idioms, like “A person who resembles a bodhisattva on the outside is a yakṣa on the inside” However, not only had Satoshi+ known thebehind the word, but I also clearly re points as well On the day of the New Recruit Festival, she had mentioned, “classical Chinese literature seems difficult, but I love japanese studies,” and she was also able to quickly discern that the joke I told on iwara’s poems As I saw it, Ōhinata was quite skilled in this discipline

And yet, in the end, I still wasn’t satisfied

I couldn’t think of anything that one poorly between Chitanda and Ōhinata

I didn’t doubt that whatever had happened yesterday after school ended up being the deciding ht it was i up to that e It happened on a Saturday if I remember correctly

I ended up running a bit tooall too much

I approached another hill in the road up ahead The line of students aroundto slon, and all of a sudden, I felt like running alone

Translator's Notes and References

Jump up↑ A japanese proverb (盗人を見て縄を綯う) It refers to so preparations after it is already too late