Was it really necessary to go this far?
Lin Ye couldn't make sense of it.
In the original work, this girl's behavior had likewise left him, watching at the time, thoroughly puzzled. The reason given could, at best, be called an explanation, but it was a forced one, terribly far-fetched—
how could a perfectly good girl just hand herself over to a strange man she'd met only once.
The world was so vast, there were so many people, and besides, this was the two-dimensional world, so it didn't seem entirely unacceptable either.
Lin Ye stopped dwelling on it; no amount of thinking would produce a reason.
"Student Tachibana, a girl's growth and maturity has no necessary connection to whether she's dating someone."
He decided to take up a temporary guest role as a life mentor, guiding the girl back onto the right path in life.
"If you want to grow and mature, what matters is experiencing more of social life, getting along and interacting with more people, and learning more relevant knowledge."
Lin Ye looked at the girl and continued, "It's not about thinking that dating some man and falling in love will make you grow and mature. I don't know where you heard that from, but that method doesn't work."
"..."
Rui Tachibana thought for a while. "But isn't dating a form of interaction too? Can't it also let you gain more social experience?"
"Yes,"
Lin Ye's lack of any denial left the girl stunned. She had already prepared how to rebut him, and now she suddenly had nowhere to put that to use.
"But this kind of relationship should be a genuine one that comes straight from the heart,"
Rui Tachibana understood what Lin Ye meant.
The dating request she had put forward was not a relationship she truly yearned for in her heart, not a simple romance between a man and a woman, but a relationship mixed with an ulterior purpose, no longer simple or pure.
Was a relationship like that still a real relationship?
In this moment, even Rui Tachibana began to harbor self-doubt.
"I...I'm willing,"
she said again,
"But I'm not willing,"
Lin Ye answered with a smile. "Dating is an interpersonal act between a man and a woman that both parties enter into voluntarily. For the reasons you have, Student Tachibana, I'm not willing—and that also means this relationship wouldn't be real dating."
"Am I...not good enough?"
She pursed her lips, her expression unwilling.
No matter how you looked at it, for her, as a girl, to actively put forward such a request, and even to have once stated she'd allow him to do the things a boyfriend could do, was already a full-blown hint. It already showed she had made considerable mental preparation, that she had taken that inner step.
But even so,
Lin Ye had still refused, and she couldn't help doubting herself.
Did she really not have the slightest bit of charm?
Rui Tachibana looked back over her life from childhood to now, and it really did seem that not a single boy had ever confessed his love to her. Although her sister always said she was very cute, with no boy ever approaching her or confessing, what kind of cute did that even count as?
The moment Lin Ye heard the girl's answer and saw her reaction and expression, he realized she had fallen into a self-negating spiral of doubt—a side many women had.
No girl could be indifferent to her own appeal to the opposite sex, not even Yukino Yukinoshita. For instance, if he told her Yukinoshita was flat, he would absolutely be cursed to death by Yukinoshita's venomous tongue, without a moment's hesitation.
"Student Tachibana, you do have charm as a girl. Your looks are cute, your figure is slender, your skin is soft and smooth too. Your temperament seems cold, but you're actually very gentle, and you can cook a fine meal. You're a girl with quite a lot of charm,"
The sudden praise left Rui Tachibana momentarily flustered, and then a faint blush surfaced on her cheeks.
Being praised for the first time by a member of the opposite sex her own age,
those simple words of praise made a warm current of joy keep welling up inside her, warming her whole body.
"So, you don't need to doubt your charm, and you don't need to feel hurt or inferior because of my refusal. I can tell you for certain, you're absolutely a good girl, and at Sobu High there are sure to be plenty of boys who'll have feelings for you."
Rui Tachibana listened, recalling,
but she really couldn't think of anyone at Sobu High who'd have feelings for her.
During this stretch of time since transferring to Sobu High, she hadn't encountered a single boy who'd come up to talk to her of his own accord.
Among the boys, it was actually Lin Ye she talked with the most.
"Thank you."
Facing this boy before her, Rui Tachibana realized this was meant to comfort her, to keep her from feeling inferior and dejected, to let her be a little more confident.
"I'm telling the truth. If I didn't have a girl I liked, didn't have a girlfriend, I'd be quite happy to take Hina-sensei's advice and give dating you a try,"
At the very end, Lin Ye cracked a joke.
The atmosphere eased up quite a bit.
Rui Tachibana more or less came to believe the matter of Lin Ye having a girlfriend.
She was also curious about who Lin Ye's girlfriend was.
At the very least, her sister surely didn't know—the secrecy was being maintained very well—or else they'd only just started dating recently, so her sister still didn't know.
"I'm okay with it,"
"Hahaha."
Lin Ye laughed. "I'm afraid of my girlfriend hauling out a cleaver and chopping me to death. I still want to live a couple more years and enjoy the wonderful things of this world."
Rui Tachibana couldn't help giving a helpless little smile too.
Since Lin Ye had put it that way, she naturally had no need to keep pressing the matter.
Only, it was somewhat regrettable.
She had originally made considerable mental preparation, willing for its sake to accept some of the improper requests Lin Ye might put forward.
If he were her boyfriend, he'd inevitably make all sorts of requests, and she'd be willing to agree to them.
In the end, Lin Ye didn't want it.
Her heart was surely left with a bit of hurt and a jarring sense of letdown.
"Student Lin,"
"Go ahead,"
"Thank you for tonight, thank you for helping me, thank you for comforting me,"
"No need to thank me. After all, I've received quite a bit of care from Student Tachibana and Tachibana-sensei."
"I haven't taken care of you at all,"
She shook her head; her care for Lin Ye was nearly zero.
"That night before, when I was passed out asleep at home, wasn't it Student Tachibana taking care of me?"
Rui Tachibana remembered, and even more so she recalled what had happened that day.
At once, a blush surfaced on her fair cheeks.
"Compared to taking care of you, I even threatened you, didn't I?"
"That's already in the past."
"But I remember it,"
She seemed to make some kind of decision, slowly exhaling a breath. "As compensation for my behavior that day, Student Lin, why don't you give me a punch!"
"Haha, and here I thought you'd say, 'whatever request I make is fine'!"
"That works too."
Lin Ye reached out and rapped his finger on Rui Tachibana's little head.
Not hard, but not light either.
A crisp 'bonk' rang out.
Rui Tachibana cradled her head with both hands, letting out a whimpering 'ow.' Her eyes, with a faint mist in them, looked toward Lin Ye, as if blaming him for rapping her with such force.
"As a man, let me give Student Tachibana a friendly reminder,"
She watched,
"Don't make promises like 'any request is fine.'"
Lin Ye spoke earnestly. "Not every man can control and restrain himself the way I can. A promise like that from you very easily makes men let their imaginations run wild and put forward some excessive requests."
She knew that, and she'd made the mental preparation too.
'Bonk...'
"Owww..."
Rui Tachibana cradled her head again, gazing up with teary eyes,
"You're thinking you've already made the mental preparation, aren't you?"
She froze, a flash of astonishment crossing her eyes,
because Lin Ye had hit her thoughts dead-on.
"Don't fail to cherish your own body. Only when you cherish and protect your own body will boys come to cherish and protect it. If you have relations with someone you don't like, you'll regret it—unless you simply want to satisfy your own urges, in which case any man will do."
"That's not it,"
The instant these words came out, Rui Tachibana was immediately set off. "I'm not that kind of casual girl. Only Lin—only Student Lin is allowed."
Lin Ye: "..."
He didn't think Rui Tachibana was casual; after all, this girl obviously had no experience and was as pure as a blank sheet of paper.
But to make the girl pay a little more attention, he felt it necessary to remind her, to make her realize the impropriety of her own behavior.
"But when you were saying those few lines, I really did have thoughts along those lines. I was wondering whether Student Tachibana's private life is very messy,"
"It's not, it's not, I haven't, I haven't."
Her face flushed crimson, Rui Tachibana shook her head hard in denial. "I—my first time is still there, I...I've never done it at all, I...I haven't even kissed a boy, my first kiss...is still there too,"
To make Lin Ye believe her, she even hurriedly grasped his hand to convey her credibility.
Watching the girl beside him grow so anxious, Lin Ye knew this girl really was quite inexperienced.
"Since that's the case, then you ought to cherish your own body all the more."
Lin Ye steadied the girl by both shoulders and said with a serious face,
"From now on you're not allowed to do this, and you can't say similar things to other men either. Otherwise, I'll tell Hina-sensei everything about you."
In this moment,
the blue-haired girl's body gave a shudder.
"Student Tachibana, you don't want your thoughts to be known by Hina-sensei either, do you!"
This threat felt so familiar!
Rui Tachibana immediately recalled how she had threatened Lin Ye at school.
Back then Lin Ye had counterattacked on the spot, and now Lin Ye was doing it again, which left her in a complicated mood.
"I, I...understand."
What else could she do?
She could only accept it.
Lin Ye had already issued the threat, and if Lin Ye really did tell her sister, then what would she do?
How could a matter like this possibly be known by family?
Rui Tachibana simply couldn't accept that.
"If I...refuse, would you really tell my sister?"
In the end the blue-haired girl couldn't help asking, confirming Lin Ye's true intentions.
"What do you think!"
So would he, or wouldn't he?!
Rui Tachibana cried out inwardly, knowing she wouldn't get an answer out of her question.
Still, at least she didn't have to worry about Lin Ye using this handle to threaten her into anything—she had practically already declared that he could do whatever he liked, that as long as he agreed to date her, she'd allow him to do everything a boyfriend was entitled to do.
But Lin Ye had refused, which showed Lin Ye had no designs on her beauty.
If Lin Ye were a lecherous man, there was no way he'd refuse; instead he'd accept and eat her up first, and as for afterward, that would be a problem for afterward—breaking the agreement and running off and the like wouldn't be an issue at all.
"So the matter between us ends here too,"
"No, not yet,"
Rui Tachibana was about to give an affirmative grunt when she thought of something and immediately spoke up, "The matter of my sister."
"I won't say anything about it,"
"But this matter really is a matter between us. I won't pester you with questions, unless I learn the actual situation—otherwise, the matter between us isn't over."
This girl, it seemed, still wasn't willing to give up.
"Just don't come bothering me,"
"Worried I'll affect your relationship with your girlfriend?"
"Yes,"
Lin Ye actually wasn't worried, but right now answering 'yes' was the best answer to make Rui Tachibana grasp the seriousness of the matter.
"If your two's relationship could be affected by me, that would show your two's relationship isn't very good, that she doesn't have enough trust in you."
This...does make sense!
Lin Ye thought.
He wanted to know what the girl before him intended to say.
"I suggest you break up."
Lin Ye: "..."
"And then we can give it a try,"
She said it seriously, without a trace of joking in it.
This was clearly different from her earlier attitude and resolve, and Lin Ye could feel it.
If before it was because Rui Tachibana merely thought he was a suitable dating partner, attempting to have him help her grow, then now this line from the girl carried a little added trust and fondness.
Lin Ye felt it, but he guessed the girl before him hadn't even noticed this change in herself.
"Sorry, it's not your turn, Student Tachibana,"
Lin Ye shrugged. "I'm too charming—there are far too many girls who want to be my girlfriend. Even if you want to, you'd have to get in line at the back."
Rui Tachibana was downright stunned.
Where had she ever seen a man as shameless as Lin Ye, who'd dare say something like this.
The smile on his face made her think for a moment that Lin Ye was joking, but a voice deep in her heart was telling her that what Lin Ye said might be true.
There really were a lot of girls who liked him and wanted to be his girlfriend.
"Sooner or later you'll get the cleaver,"
"Hahaha."
Lin Ye laughed out loud.
With that, the two's conversation officially drew toward its close.
In the enclosed private room of the KTV,
Lin Ye and Rui Tachibana sat until the very end of their booked time.
"I'll see you home."
Lin Ye saw Rui Tachibana home.
At this hour, Lin Ye didn't feel at ease letting the girl head back alone.
And Rui Tachibana didn't refuse either.
If anything, Lin Ye's act of seeing her home instead gave rise to a kind of joy in her.
'Clatter, clatter...'
The tram rolled along,
the car packed,
Rui Tachibana stood in the corner, with Lin Ye at her side, one hand bracing to carve out a bit of roomier space for her.
A few minutes later,
they reached the stop,
"Lin-kun, I'll head back from here."
Rui Tachibana prepared to part with Lin Ye at the tram stop.
But Lin Ye wouldn't accept that.
"I already said I'd see you home."
Lin Ye said.
The tram stop was less than a ten-minute walk from Rui Tachibana's home—not far—but Lin Ye still didn't quite feel at ease.
Since she'd come out with him, she ought to be seen home safe and sound.
Lin Ye even figured Rui Tachibana had already told her sister about the two of them talking and going out to eat today.
If he didn't see the girl home, Hina-sensei would give him a proper lecture tomorrow.
Rui Tachibana started to speak several times and then stopped, but in the end she silently accepted Lin Ye's escort.
The two walked along the street,
the streetlamps casting their glow,
their black shadows stretching out very, very long.
'Whoosh, whoosh...' a faint evening breeze blew past,
yet Rui Tachibana grew more and more nervous inside.
If her sister saw her coming home with Lin Ye, would her sister think they were dating?
On second thought, Rui Tachibana felt this wasn't a problem at all.
Her sister had wanted her to date Lin Ye in the first place. If the two of them were dating, her sister would actually be glad.
Ten minutes later,
the two finally arrived in front of an apartment building.
The two took the elevator up to the eighth floor.
'Ding-dong...'
The doorbell rang.
But,
there was no response.
Rui Tachibana took out her key and inserted it into the door lock.
'Click...'
The door opened.
"Is my sister asleep already?"
She flicked on the light with a snap,
and the dark living room was instantly bathed in white light.
"Student Tachibana, I'll head back now,"
"Have a glass of water before you go!"
Under the girl's repeated insistence, Lin Ye took off his shoes and stepped inside.
A glass of water it was, then!
Rui Tachibana first went to the kitchen and poured a glass of water, then took fruit out of the fridge and set it on the tea table.
"I'll go check on my sister in her room,"
At this hour, her sister shouldn't be asleep yet.
Besides, the kitchen showed no sign of the stove having been used, and there was no trace of any bento box in the household trash either.
She guessed her sister simply hadn't come home and was out somewhere.
What could she be doing out there?
What she worried about most was that her sister had gone drinking at a bar again.
As the sister, Rui Tachibana worried!
Many of the men at bars were specifically out to prey on women. What if she ran into a man with ill intentions—wouldn't her sister be in danger?
Even if her sister had never run into danger at a bar up to now, that didn't mean a bar was completely safe.
'Click...'
Just as she'd thought, the room was empty—her sister simply wasn't there.
"At least say something!"
Rui Tachibana looked at her phone—her sister's contact column had absolutely no new messages at all—
and she knew her sister must have seized on the chance while she was out and not coming home to go drinking at a bar.
"What's wrong?"
Lin Ye asked.
"My sister still hasn't come home."
"Hm?"
Lin Ye instantly thought of something. "Did something happen? Let me give Hina-sensei a call,"
As he spoke, Lin Ye took out his phone.
"No, no, no, no need. My sister isn't necessarily in danger,"
she said.
"Try contacting her first,"
Lin Ye gestured for Rui Tachibana to make the call.
It was more fitting for Rui Tachibana, the sister, to make contact.
"Mm,"
Rui Tachibana dialed the number; the phone rang for quite a while without any response.
Her expression still turned worse.
"Thud..."
At this moment,
the entry door gave off a dull thump.
That was the sound of a person bumping into the door.
"Knock, knock, knock..."
A knocking sounded.
"Who is it."
"Knock, knock, knock..."
"Open...the door..."
It was Hina's voice, her words still slurred with drunkenness.
Rui Tachibana strode over quickly and, pouting, opened the door. "Sister, I've told you, from now on, even when you go to a bar you can't...get blackout drunk..."
But the next second,
she froze.
The other woman propping up her sister before her left her, for a moment, at a loss for words.
"Hira...Hiratsuka-sensei...Shizuka..."
Rui Tachibana trembled, so much so that even the thick smell of alcohol was subconsciously ignored by her.
"Help her inside...she's dead heavy..."
Shizuka Hiratsuka's face was flushed, her eyes a little glazed, but compared to Hina, whose eyes were already half-closed, she was better off by who knew how much.
"Oh, oh..."
Rui Tachibana hurriedly supported her sister and helped her inside.
With the weight off her, Shizuka Hiratsuka immediately let out a sigh of relief.
"I'm...burning up."
As she spoke, Shizuka Hiratsuka, now stepped inside, reached up and undid the buttons of her clothes, while with her other hand she tugged at her clothes to let out the heat.
She clearly hadn't noticed Lin Ye sitting on the sofa drinking water and looking over at her.
When she did notice,
Shizuka Hiratsuka even blinked. Her reactions were a bit slow just then, and for a moment she even wondered whether she'd had too much to drink and was seeing things.
"Lin...Ye?"
"Good evening! Hiratsuka-sensei,"
At the sound of the voice, Shizuka Hiratsuka came to her senses and slowly widened her eyes. "Aaaah! Close your eyes right now!"
As she spoke, she immediately pulled her coat over to cover the exposed skin.
"Sensei, it's not like there's anything worth looking at on you,"
Shizuka Hiratsuka slowly put up several question marks.
Sure, she was pushing thirty, but she was a beauty too!
"You..."
"Isn't a young, cute girl better?"
Lin Ye teased with a smile.
Now was a prime chance for his payback.
"You bastard..."
"In what way am I old,"
"If I said I was twenty, there'd be a whole pile of men who'd believe it,"
As she spoke, Shizuka Hiratsuka furiously charged over, but her body was a bit uncooperative and her steps were unsteady.
One foot didn't land right, and her whole body crashed down hard.
Lin Ye, quick of eye and hand, caught her and set Shizuka Hiratsuka down on the sofa.
"You, you, you, you..."
After a long string of "you"s, Shizuka Hiratsuka didn't even know what she wanted to say.
"Stop with the 'you,' Hiratsuka-sensei. You really did drink a lot today,"
Having said that, Lin Ye saw that Rui Tachibana was struggling to support Hina Tachibana, so he walked over and steadied the sensei's other side.
"Thank you..."
"It's nothing,"
If he'd left first, Rui Tachibana would probably have been run ragged tonight.
"Sister,"
At this moment,
Hina Tachibana suddenly began to tremble, and the hand they were supporting started to struggle too.
"Urgh..."
The next second,
her stomach convulsed and she retched,
and most unfortunately,
Lin Ye took the hit.
"S-sorry,"
Rui Tachibana apologized over and over, but right now she simply couldn't free a hand to wipe Lin Ye off.
"It's fine, take care of Hina-sensei first,"
With Lin Ye's help, the three of them made it to the bathroom.
Rui Tachibana busied herself,
and Lin Ye took off his coat.
Meanwhile Shizuka Hiratsuka sat half-dazed on the sofa.
"Sensei, why don't you just stay here and sleep tonight!"
"Go...go home..."
As she spoke, she made to get up, but after a couple of steps she plopped back down onto the sofa again.
Shizuka Hiratsuka had a habit of drinking.
For her to get drunk to this degree meant she really had drunk a lot tonight; otherwise, there was no way she'd be this drunk.
"There's class tomorrow. I'd really love to see what you look like showing up late, Sensei,"
Lin Ye was rather looking forward to that scene.
When the chance came, he could also give Shizuka Hiratsuka a good lecture, make Shizuka Hiratsuka realize her own 'mistake,' and stop fixating on him day after day.
A dozen or so minutes later,
Rui Tachibana came out.
"Student Lin, could you help me get my sister to her room?"
"Sure,"
Reaching the bathroom, Lin Ye discovered that the drunk woman had only been wrapped in a bathrobe by her sister Rui Tachibana, with a great deal of her skin exposed to the air.
Lin Ye breathed in and caught a pleasant, delicate fragrance.
Keeping calm, he supported Hina Tachibana to her room.
After that,
it was Shizuka Hiratsuka's turn,
and it took quite a while.
Shizuka Hiratsuka was dumped into the guest room.
"Student Lin, why don't you tonight..."
"No, I'll head back now,"
"You could sleep in the living room, or...you could sleep in my room, and I'll share a room with my sister, which would also let me look after her at the same time."
It was already getting a bit late tonight,
and Rui Tachibana felt it was somewhat inappropriate to make Lin Ye go back.
"No, I'll head back now. If anything comes up during the night, contact me right away,"
Lin Ye pointed at Hina Tachibana and Shizuka Hiratsuka.
These two sensei were now blackout drunk.
Getting home safely wouldn't be much of a problem, but Lin Ye also thought of some emergencies that might arise during the night.
"I understand. Leave this coat here, I'll wash it."
"Sure."
Rui Tachibana realized Lin Ye had made up his mind; no amount of further persuasion could make Lin Ye stay. "Be careful on the way, and send me a message once you get home."
she urged.
"Mm-hm, I will. As for safety, don't worry—I've still got some real ability,"
He did have real ability.
Never mind the matter of the Strange Restaurant; just those few hooligans outside, all put together, weren't enough for Lin Ye to handle alone, and Rui Tachibana had seen Lin Ye's fighting prowess.
Lin Ye carried himself with an upright bearing,
but she'd never have imagined Lin Ye could fight like that.
Two fists are no match for four hands—that had been a fixed impression of hers, but now it had been utterly shattered by Lin Ye.
Rui Tachibana even felt that even if the number of hooligans doubled, Lin Ye could easily deal with them.
Finally,
Rui Tachibana saw Lin Ye to the door.
As the door closed, everything returned to calm.
"Haah!"
There really had been so much going on today.
This world really did contain such dangerous Strange events,
and she had successfully survived.
A boy toward whom she'd always held a none-too-good attitude had saved her.
Rui Tachibana's feelings toward Lin Ye grew ever more complicated.
Lin Ye set out on the road back to his apartment.
The instant he opened the door upon returning to the apartment,
the first to come, naturally, was German Shepherd John,
but it had only run toward him for a moment before immediately whipping around and bolting.
At once,
he realized the reason.
"You German Shepherd, you even find me distasteful—no late-night snack for you tonight."
"Woof woof woof..."
Having understood, John went 'woof woof woof' and put on an ingratiating expression.
Compared to the stink, eating was still more important.
It was willing to make a little sacrifice.
John circled around Lin Ye twice, going 'woof woof woof.'
After patting the dog's head, Lin Ye took the dog food out of the kitchen cabinet and filled John's bowl.
He then took off his clothes and stepped into the bathroom to start washing up.
"I'm dead tired today too,"
"Need to get some good rest."
When he finished washing up and lay down on the bed, ready to scroll through his phone, he discovered that in these twenty minutes there had been three missed calls.
And they were from the same person.
Yukino Yukinoshita.
His girlfriend, and fiancée as well.
...
Yukino Yukinoshita sat at her desk, yet she couldn't calm down no matter what.
Normally she could focus her attention on reading a book very quickly, but right now, she couldn't concentrate at all.
At this hour, three calls in a row had all gone unanswered.
Was he asleep, or busy with something?
But whichever possibility it was, neither was a good thing.
She couldn't help but worry.
...
...
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