Chapter 143: The Girl Known As Juunishima Youran / The Unfortunate Girl (2/2)

Despite being the one to bring up that topic in the first place, Aoba faltered. She was fidgeting, as if she were finding something difficult to say.

Youran waited.

A little while later, Aoba boldly broke the ice.

「Have they been pulled already?」

「Huh？」

Youran’s face stared blankly, as if to ask “What are you saying out of the blue?”

「What are you talking about？」

「Uhh, umm……you know……」

Aoba hesitated.

「H-Have they already been……pulled by Taiyou？」

「……Yeah」

The subject finally came out, and Youran undersrand what she was talking about.

She understand when she had heard “who”. She didn’t need to be told “what”.

She took her twintails into her hands.

They were two twintails tied from her temporal region, rustling.

And then she looked at Aoba. She saw the straight ponytail tied from the upper part of the back of her head.

「Is your hair also pulled regularly？」

「……No」

Aoba shook her head.

「Not even once」

「Really? But that’s a ponytail. Ah, so that means you don’t always have that hairstyle？」

「No, I’m normally like this」

「Seriously」

Youran frowned.

「You normally have that hairstyle, and yet he doesn’t pull it?」

「Yeah……」

「……You are his bride, right」

「Eh……」

Aoba was so surprised that she widened her eyes, soon after timidly nodding.

「Y-Yeah……」

「I’m going to ask straight away, are you close?」

「That is……」

「Can you tell me」

Youran pressed her with a much too earnest face. Slightly overwhelmed, Aoba nodded a bit bashfully.

「Yeah……I…think so」

「Really now……」

「Ah, but not that close, umm――」

「That guy……I guess he dislikes me after all」

「Huh？」

「See, he just pulls my twintails. Every time we meet, aaalways. That was definitely malicious」

「Is that……actually malicious」

「But that’s gotta be it, you’re his bride, and you’re close enough to be favored. But despite having an easy-to-pull ponytail out all the time, you haven’t had it pulled even once. Right」

「Y-Yeah」

「Then him pulling mine is because he’s just doing it to spite me right」

「Hmm, I don’t know about that」

「It’s plain and simple. Ahhh gosh! I shouldn’t have covered for him」

「……」

「What is it」

「No, Juunishima-san, it’s just that you don’t seem to be regretting it」

「Well of course, after all I decided that I’d do it. I can’t regret that. I don’t regret it, it just irritates me」

「Th-Then……」

「Hm？」

「If you got into the same situation again, what would Juunishima-san do?」

「Like earlier? I’d protect him, of course」

「……Even if you think that Natsuno-kun is spiteful・・・・・・・・, from now on?」

「That is that, and this is this」

「Huhhh……」

「Honestly! Pulling a girl’s hair just to be mean, what a jerk！」

「……」

Watching the indignant Youran, Aoba wondered……if that really was the case.

「I think, rather than being a jerk, he was messing with you」

「Eh？ You also one of those dodgeball folks？」

「Ah, not that……」

Do you really not know？ Aoba was surprised by the clever-looking girl’s reaction.

「That jerk, next time we meet I’m just gonna let it down」

「You’re seriously going to do that？」

「Of course I am! Cause I know it’s done out of spite! I’m gonna make sure it never gets pulled again」

「……I think, that you look better keeping the twintails」

Aoba thought a bit・・・・then said that to her.