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Volume 2, Chapter 0: Prologue ー It’s not like that!
Translated by Damian's TLs
Edited by Damian's TLs
TN: Read volume 1 at I Can’t Read Japanese TL. Link is available on NovelUpdates. Another note: this project will not be done as MTL but rather hand-translated. Please be aware that this will often lead to slower releases. Thank you for reading.
A room in a certain apartment building. In a room with a calm and quiet feel, a girl rolls around on her bed, making a million different expressions.
“Why… No, but…”
A girl named Alisa mutters to herself as her facial expression restlessly changes back and forth. This, ladies and gentlemen, is the owner of this room: Alisa Mikhailovna Kujou.
She was still wearing her high school uniform as she rolled back and forth on her bed. She’d only taken off her blazer, so her shirt was still getting wrinkled, but she didn’t care. It was unusual for her to act like this, but today wasn’t a normal day anyway.
She was thinking about what happened half an hour ago. On the way back from school, he looked into my eyes and held out his hand to me. His hand… The words leaked out on their own.
“Love? ‘Love’? ‘Love’? Eh? Ehh??”
The words slipped out of her mouth almost unconsciously. She found herself thinking out loud as a huge wave of emotions welled in her heart.
“Love? Kuze-kun? I-… Ah-!!”
She asked herself again, as if to make sure. Right on cue, her face turned red and she dove into her pillow.
“It’s not-! It’s like not thaaaaat!”
With her face pressed against her pillow, she shouted out in denial as though it’s a reflex.
Me? In love with Kuze-kun? No! It’s not that simple!
There’s no way she could be in love with someone so lazy, she thought. She’d even told him that to his face, …in Russian. Still, she was just stubbornly saying things she didn’t mean. But this Masachika was pulling at her heartstrings, over and over.
He’s always one step ahead of me, he never shows his nervousness on his face, he never notices what I do for him, what a joke he is, and yet I could never tell him what I really wanted to say. …There’s no way I love him… Right?
That question bounced back and forth inside her head. She tried to get rid of the thought.
“Really. I don’t like Kuze-kun at all. I just… got a little carried away in the heat of the moment. That’s all it was!”
She defended herself in front of nobody in particular, got up, and went to the closet.
Even if… That’s right, even if. Yeah, even if I did like Kuze-kun. There are more important things to do, so…
As she changed out of her uniform, Alisa mentally organized what was most important to her. There was no need to even think about it. It was, of course, to become the student council president. It would be ridiculous for her to set her goal aside just because of some silly boy. It would be a betrayal to none other than Masachika, who said he would do all he could to support Alisa’s dream.
Yeah… Since I have Kuze-kun’s support, I should do everything to live up to his expectations, right? What would he think if I threw away my entire campaign and confessed to him?
As she asked herself that question, she imagined Masashika’s face.
‘Huh? I love you? …No, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it like that, I said I like you. …You know, platonically. Like, I support you. …Did you see me that way? Well… sorry. I don’t think I can really be vice president either…’
That’s what the Masachika in her imagination told her in a flat and uninterested tone.
“Wha-, Hahh…”
She took a critical hit from her own imagination and tripped over her own words. She staggered back toward her bed and collapsed onto the quilt. She was motionless for a bit, then raised her forehead a bit and started slapping her blanket.
“I don’t! I don’t care! Everything about you! I don’t like it! I don’t!!”
She smacked her hand down every time she said a word and breathed heavily.
And anyway, it’s Kuze-kun. The moment I see him at school tomorrow, he’s going to piss me off with that lazy attitude of his.
Everything I’ve said up until now-
“Ghh!”
The thought of it made her impossibly angry again, so she got out of bed and closed her closet with a bang. As she did, she heard the front door close, and with her hands on her flushed cheeks, she calmed herself down and went to greet them.
“Welcome back, Masha.”
“I’m home, Alya-chan.”
“Hm?”
Maria smiled as fluffily as usual, hugged Alisa’s shoulders with her free arm, and kissed both her cheeks. But she was moving as though she was distracted, and she seemed to be spacing out.
“Maria… What’s going on?”
“Uh… What do you mean?”
“‘What do you mean’…”
Alisa couldn’t find the words to explain what she meant. Maria looked at Alisa in a bit of a weird way, but suddenly took a stuffed animal out of the plastic bag and smiled.
“Right, right, that’s right! Actually, I… met someone that’s really nice!”
A stuffed cat suddenly appeared in front of Alisa, who was taken aback by how suddenly cheerful Maria became.
“Ta-daa~ Alya-nyan!”
TN: Chan, nyan, yeah.
“A-, Alya-nyan…? Eh?”
“Look, look! Doesn’t it look like you?”
“…Which part?”
Alisa took a step back and looked at the stuffed animal. She couldn’t help but ask back with a straight face.
“Ehh~? Its expression?”
“Stuffed animals don’t have expressions…”
“They do~ See? Look!”
“Ahh, yup, yup, I get it. …Just don’t call me that.”
“Ehh~?”
“It feels uncomfortable to be called that.”
“Uhhhh, then… A-nyan?”
“Well, that’s…”
“Yayy, I’ll take you home then~? A-nyan?”
Maria hugged the stuffed animal to her chest with a happy smile and went to her room. As Aliya still stood at the door with a dumbfounded expression, Maria suddenly stopped and called out to her.
“Right, Alya-chan, I’m talking about Kuze-kun…”
“…Huh?”
The name of the person Alisa was thinking about just before got called, so she immediately put her guard up. Maria continued in a cheerful voice, and Alisa couldn’t tell if she’d been caught.
“Nah, I just thought that he was a really nice boy. I can see why you like him so much~”
“I’m telling you, I don’t like him.”
“Really~?”
“You’re persistent.”
As though trying to hide her scattered thoughts, Alisa let out a heavy sigh. And immediately after, she gasped when she saw Maria’s gaze over her shoulder. That was because unlike her cheerful voice from just before, her eyes had… a scary seriousness in them. Soon though, those scary eyes were once again replaced with her usual smiling face.
“Yup, yup, I see~”
“Eh?”
“Oh, I see~ Alya-chan is cute when she’s not honest with herself.”
“H-, huhh?”
“But if you like him, you better confess soon~ It’ll be too late once someone else has taken him.”
“Wha-, what are you talking about!”
“Hehe, youth~”
Maria, unconvinced by Alisa’s words, replied with a giggle as she went into her room.
“Really, what the hell…”
Alisa had a look of resignation on her face since she couldn’t keep up with her sister’s pace. She tried not to worry about it and went back into her own room. But try as she might,
“…”
She just couldn’t get Maria’s scary-serious gaze out of her head.