The cafe door rang with the wind chimes again, and a tall, beautiful figure walked in. Yukinoshita Haruno wore a well-tailored beige trench coat over a simple dress. With a perfect social smile, she looked both fashionable and capable. Her gaze swept the room, first landing accurately on Kanjuro. A genuine smile instantly flashed in her eyes, which were similar to Yukino's but more charming and lively, and her steps quickened.
However, this smile quickly dimmed like a candle blown out by the wind when she caught sight of Hayama Hayato beside Kanjuro, who was so nervous he was practically stiff. It turned into undisguised helplessness. She let out a barely audible sigh, a flicker of "just as I thought" realization crossing her brow.
She walked straight to the empty seat opposite Kanjuro, sat down gracefully, placed her handbag aside, and then looked up. In a tone both coquettish and implicitly disappointed, she said to Kanjuro, "Uncle Kanjuro, I thought you were asking me out alone. You made me look forward to it a little after getting the call, only for it to be a disappointment."
To Hayama Hayato's ears, these words were like a fine needle pricking his heart. His face turned a shade paler.
As if unaware of his low spirits, Kanjuro remained his usual calm self, explaining with a smile, "It's nothing. This kid Hayama had something he wanted to talk to you about no matter what, so I just did him a favor."
Haruno turned her gaze to Hayama Hayato, her smile becoming polite yet distant, carrying a clear sense of boundaries. "Hayato, we've been friends since we were kids, and I treasure that. But I generally don't go on one-on-one dates, especially in a setting like this... it's easy for people to misunderstand and lose the necessary sense of boundaries, don't you think?"
Hearing this, Kanjuro seemed to just remember something. He looked up at the dejected Hayama Hayato and said with a casual air of someone enjoying the drama, "Did you hear that? Haruno says this lacks boundaries. If you have anything to say, say it now."
At that moment, Kagawa Kuroe was nearby wiping another table. Her movements slowed down, and her azure eyes, filled with undisguised curiosity, quietly observed the interaction between Kanjuro and Haruno. In particular, Kanjuro's posture of being detached yet in total control felt very special to her.
Pushed to the edge of a cliff, Hayama Hayato took a deep breath, as if using every ounce of his courage. He looked up, his gaze locking onto Haruno, ignoring everything around him—including the curious gaze of the silver-haired girl nearby. Years of pent-up emotion surged like a flood, breaking through his reason and reserve.
"Haruno!!!" His voice trembled with excitement, yet it was loud enough to make customers at nearby tables turn their heads. "You know! You know how I feel about you! From childhood until now, from the moment I understood what it meant to like someone, you're the only person in my heart! I keep asking you out, but you always push me away with all sorts of excuses. I don't understand! I really don't understand! Am I not good enough? I just want to tell you now, clearly—I love you! I like you! Not as an older sister, but as a man likes a woman!"
He roared out everything in his heart in one go, his face flushed red, his chest heaving violently. His eyes were filled with a desperate, all-or-nothing heat and expectation as he awaited his final judgment.
In this corner of the cafe, the air seemed to freeze completely. The polite smile on Haruno's face didn't change at all, though a very faint emotion, something akin to pity, flickered deep in her eyes. Kanjuro, meanwhile, picked up his coffee cup and took a light sip, hiding the playful curve of his lips.
Kuroe, who was watching from the side, blinked her large eyes. She seemed to have developed an even deeper interest in this sudden confession drama and the consistently composed Mr. Kanjuro.
Yukinoshita Haruno looked at Hayama Hayato's devastated, almost shattered appearance and helplessly raised a hand to rub her temple. Her gaze held a trace of subtle blame as she glanced at the leisurely Kanjuro beside her, as if saying, 'Look at the mess you've caused.'
"Honestly..." Haruno's voice carried a sense of long-expected fatigue. "I guessed you would be like this, which is why I've been refusing to meet you alone, Hayama." She paused, her tone becoming clear and firm, even carrying a hint of unquestionable coldness. "Why can't you just understand? Between you and me, it's impossible."
"Impossible..." Hayama Hayato looked as if those words had struck him in his vitals. He stumbled back half a step, the color draining from his face, leaving only pain and disbelief. "Then... then what did your past kindness toward me mean?! Since we were kids, you've taken such good care of me, cared for me... was all of that fake?!" He sounded like a man clutching at a final straw, his voice filled with desperate questioning.
Upon hearing this, the social mask of a smile on Haruno's face actually deepened, but there was no warmth in it, only a near-cruel clarification. She tilted her head slightly and said in a relaxed yet distant tone:
"Because we are friends, Hayama. Isn't it natural to take care of a friend and care for a playmate you grew up with?" Her words were like ice water, extinguishing the final embers of hope in Hayama Hayato's heart.
After speaking, she even turned her gaze toward Kanjuro, asking in a sly tone that seemed to seek validation: "Right? Uncle Kanjuro? It's normal for friends to take care of each other, isn't it?" She skillfully pulled Kanjuro into the conversation, as if making him responsible for this 'misunderstanding.'
Holding his coffee cup, Kanjuro merely raised an eyebrow noncommittally at Haruno's question. He gave no response, maintaining his posture as a bystander.
Hayama Hayato looked at Haruno's matter-of-fact expression and then at the silent Kanjuro. A massive sense of loss and pain almost suffocated him. He was unwilling to give up, and an obsession drove him to ask one final question, his voice hoarse:
"If that's the case... Haruno, do you... do you have someone you like now?"
At this question, a bright light instantly flashed in Haruno's eyes, and a near-triumphant smile tugged at the corners of her mouth. It seemed this was the moment she had been waiting for.
"I do," she said slowly, her voice carrying a hint of deliberate sweetness and mystery. "That's also why I must refuse you." She paused, successfully capturing the attention of everyone present (including Kuroe, who was observing in secret), before extending a slender finger and pointing gently forward—
"The person I like is right in front of me."
Her fingertip pointed unerringly at Kanjuro, who was sitting across from her! At the same time, she looked up, meeting Kanjuro's gaze directly with bright eyes that mixed provocation, testing, and some indescribable emotion.
"What?!!" Hayama Hayato felt as if he'd been struck by lightning. He whipped his head toward Kanjuro, his eyes filled with shock, absurdity, and a trace of betrayed anger. "Uncle Kanjuro?! How is that possible! Haruno, he's... he's our uncle!" He could not understand, nor could he accept it.
Haruno, however, smiled even more radiantly, seemingly enjoying the sight of Hayama Hayato's worldview collapsing. "Yes," she said in a light tone, as if talking about the weather. "But everyone has the right to pursue their feelings and the person they like. Age, seniority... sometimes those things aren't that important, are they?" As she spoke, she gave Kanjuro a playful wink, her actions intimate and bold.
Watching Haruno's obviously deliberate performance—seeing her attempt to draw the fire toward him and even use such a shocking 'confession' to stir up the situation—Kanjuro finally couldn't help but let out a low laugh.
How could he not see through it? This little fox, Yukinoshita Haruno, was clearly sowing discord on purpose. On one hand, she was completely severing Hayama Hayato's hopes; on the other, she was testing Kanjuro's bottom line and reaction, wanting to see how this 'uncle' would handle such an awkward and ambiguous situation.
This date he had facilitated had indeed evolved into a brilliant psychological game, just as he expected. And Haruno was undoubtedly an exceptional 'actor' and 'opponent.' He set down his coffee cup and met Haruno's provocative gaze, his eyes gleaming with an unfathomable light, as if saying: The game has only just begun.
Kanjuro's sudden questioning was like a precise scalpel, instantly slicing through the composed, effortless facade Haruno had so carefully maintained. He wasn't led astray by her declaration of 'liking' him; instead, he seized upon the core flaw in her previous words—'boundaries.'
He gently set down his coffee cup with a crisp clink. His gaze, filled with an all-knowing calm, turned toward Haruno, whose expression had changed slightly. His voice wasn't loud, but every word was clear:
"Haruno, you said just now that there should be boundaries between people. That's good." He started with affirmation before shifting his tone. "Then let me ask you: since you emphasize boundaries with Hayama, why have you shown him extraordinary care and concern since you were children? Is this long-term, easily misunderstood closeness what you call 'boundaries'?"
He paused, giving Haruno no time to think, and turned his gaze to the pale Hayama Hayato, who had yet to recover from the blow. He asked leadingly, "Hayama, think back carefully. When did Haruno suddenly start distancing herself from you and emphasizing these so-called 'boundaries'?"
Hayama Hayato, in the midst of great pain and confusion, subconsciously followed Kanjuro's question. He murmured, "It was... starting from high school entrance... from then on, she stopped being like she used to..."
"High school entrance," Kanjuro repeated, locking his gaze back onto Haruno with a hint of cold mockery. "See, the timing is very clear. Haruno, if you truly insisted on 'boundaries' regarding feelings and distance, given a girl's precocity, you should have established them clearly in middle school or even earlier. Why was it only in high school—after you became more aware of your own charm and more suitors appeared—that you suddenly started emphasizing 'boundaries' with the 'friend' you grew up with?"
His logically tight, core-piercing questioning was like peeling silk from a cocoon, exposing the true intentions beneath Haruno's 'friend theory' and 'boundaries.'
The forced smile on Yukinoshita Haruno's face finally broke. Her expression shifted several times, and a flash of panic crossed her eyes, though it was quickly replaced by a stubborn streak. She tried to use a coquettish act to get through it, her voice carrying a deliberate sense of grievance: "Uncle Kanjuro, what are you trying to say... I... I only said that because I like you and didn't want to be misunderstood by others..."
"Like?" Kanjuro scoffed, his laugh full of merciless exposure. "Your so-called 'like' is nothing more than displeasure because I took the initiative to arrange this meeting. You wanted to use this method to 'retaliate' against me while simultaneously shifting Hayama's target to me to watch a good show."
His eyes grew sharp, and his tone carried an unprecedented coldness:
"But that 'boundary' nonsense you keep spouting is what's truly disgusting."
These words were like a heavy hammer slamming into Haruno's heart, and they also made Hayama Hayato jerk his head up.
Kanjuro continued coldly, "Because Hayama likes you; his feelings are sincere and passionate. If you don't like him, you could have rejected him cleanly and told him there was no possibility between you. Why use 'boundaries' as such a vague and hypocritical excuse? You enjoy the feeling of being pursued while using the status of 'friend' as a shield—neither accepting him nor letting go completely, maintaining an ambiguous distance that keeps you safe and in a position of power. Yukinoshita Haruno, your 'Central Air Conditioner' personality—playing both sides and toyed with people's sincerity—is truly something to behold."
This analysis was a killing blow! It completely exposed the secret desire deep within Yukinoshita Haruno's heart that she refused to admit—the desire to use others' affection to satisfy her own sense of superiority and security.
The color drained from Yukinoshita Haruno's face inch by inch, and her hands on her knees clenched slightly. She looked at Kanjuro's all-seeing gaze and then glanced at Hayama Hayato, whose expression had shifted from pain to realization, then to disappointment and disbelief. She knew that all her disguises had been completely torn to shreds.
She remained silent for a long time. Finally, as if giving up all resistance, she let out a soft sigh filled with self-deprecation. For the first time, that face which always wore a perfect smile showed a hint of genuine fatigue and gloom.
"Yes..." her voice was very soft, carrying a sense of resigned frankness. "What Uncle Kanjuro said... is not wrong at all."
She looked up, no longer avoiding his gaze, and looked directly at the complex-faced Hayama Hayato. Her tone was calm to the point of cruelty:
"I just enjoy the feeling of being liked and watched. But that doesn't mean I have to like the person back or respond to their feelings. Hayama, you... should fully know what kind of person I am now, right?"
She had finally removed all her masks, revealing the cold, selfish, and manipulative true self within. In this corner of the cafe, the air seemed to stagnate, leaving only the silent truth to flow freely.
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