Chapter 279 - 279: So you're the type that secretly smokes and drinks!

Tsushima Kagami and Yukinoshita Shizuku exchanged a glance, but neither pressed further.

The three of them sat in silence for a while.

In the distance, Mrs. Yukinoshita was still surrounded by a crowd.

But she kept her composed bearing throughout, glancing over toward Tsushima Kagami now and then even as she fielded the crowd.

As if checking that he was all right.

Tsushima Kagami picked up the juice in front of him and took a sip.

"Shizu," he said.

"Do you want something to eat?"

Hiratsuka glanced down at the plate of sea bream in front of her, gone completely cold by now, and pursed her lips.

"Not hungry."

Yukinoshita Shizuku blinked, then suddenly stood up.

"I'll go get you something hot! I remember they had fresh-grilled beef over there."

"Oh, you don't have to—"

Before Hiratsuka could stop her, Yukinoshita Shizuku was already trotting off toward the food table.

Tsushima Kagami watched her retreating back, then turned to Hiratsuka.

"Dragged into another omiai, were you?"

Her chopstick-holding hand visibly stiffened.

"How'd you know?"

"One look at you and it's obvious."

Tsushima Kagami took another sip of his juice.

Hiratsuka fell silent for a moment, then sighed.

"It's not really an omiai... they just keep dragging me around to visit other families. It's exhausting."

She paused, her voice dropping.

"Once the party's over, I still have to go along with it."

Tsushima Kagami didn't respond.

He just listened quietly.

Hiratsuka glanced at him and suddenly laughed.

The smile carried a trace of self-mockery, a trace of resignation.

The two of them chatted for a while before they noticed that Yukinoshita Shizuku, who had gone to fetch food, still hadn't come back.

They ended up scanning the reception hall for her.

They spotted her being pulled aside by some lady for small talk.

She glanced back at him, her eyes screaming "help me," but the lady had already looped an arm through hers and was towing her off enthusiastically.

Mrs. Yukinoshita saw this too, but just smiled at Tsushima Kagami and shook her head.

It seemed she wanted to give Yukinoshita Shizuku some practice with her social skills.

Hiratsuka sat beside him, poking half-heartedly at the now-cold grilled beef on her plate.

"Aren't you going to rescue her?"

"She needs to learn to handle situations like this."

"How sly of you, sitting here in the corner enjoying the food."

"Letting a girl handle your socializing for you."

"Well, I guess I was just born lucky~"

Tsushima Kagami looked at Hiratsuka, who'd meant to tease him, and smiled smugly.

"Though you, Shizu, as a young lady from a good family, usually act like you never back down from anything."

"At school you're practically a delinquent."

"If you actually tried, I'd bet you'd handle social niceties far better than Yukinoshita Shizuku."

"Don't be ridiculous — I, Hiratsuka Shizuka, would never let myself be bound by such rules and conventions!"

Hiratsuka denied it immediately.

"Is that so? Earlier, watching you sit there so demurely in your kimono..."

"I almost didn't recognize you at first glance."

"Guess you're not that much better than Yukinoshita Shizuku after all."

"Yukinoshita Shizuku told me before that she's done helping me with these social events from now on."

"I was thinking maybe you'd be a good substitute, Shizu."

Tsushima Kagami sighed.

Hiratsuka immediately changed her tune.

"Is that so?"

"A-actually, I think I'm probably a little better than Yukinoshita Shizuku..."

The two of them kept chatting.

The atmosphere in the hall grew livelier; after a few rounds of drinks, the once-stiff ladies and gentlemen had loosened up considerably.

Amid the clink of cups, laughter and chatter blended together until the whole room grew noisy.

Hiratsuka set down her chopsticks and suddenly stood up.

"I'm going to the restroom."

Tsushima Kagami nodded without thinking much of it.

But nearly ten minutes passed, and she still hadn't returned.

Yukinoshita Shizuku finally managed to break free from the group of ladies and hurried back to her seat.

Her cheeks were tinged with a faint flush from all the socializing.

"Where's Shizu?"

"She went to the restroom."

"This long?"

Yukinoshita Shizuku blinked, about to say something.

A waiter approached carrying a tray and bowed slightly.

"Mr. Tsushima, there's a lady outside asking for you."

Tsushima Kagami blinked in surprise.

He exchanged a glance with Yukinoshita Shizuku and got to his feet.

"I'll go take a look."

The corridor outside the main hall was far quieter than the room inside.

The cold winter night air poured in through the open doors, setting the lanterns under the eaves swaying gently.

The moment Tsushima Kagami stepped out of the entrance hall, he spotted Hiratsuka standing beside a pillar on the porch.

She still wore the same deep indigo kimono, though her feet were still in the tabi and geta from before.

In her right hand she carried a cloth bag; in her left, his coat and scarf.

"Let's go."

Hiratsuka tossed the coat and scarf at him.

"...Go where?"

"Just come with me."

"But Yukinoshita Shizuku's still inside..."

"I'll text her."

Hiratsuka had already turned and was walking toward the parking lot, her stride far too quick for someone in a kimono.

"If you keep dawdling, my mother will come looking for me, and I won't be able to get away."

Tsushima Kagami stood frozen for a couple of seconds, coat in his arms.

In the end, he followed after her.

The parking lot was on the west side of the estate, reserved for guests.

Hiratsuka walked up to a dark blue motorcycle and pulled a key out of the cloth bag.

It was a Honda CB400 Super Four.

Its body had been polished to a shine, gleaming with that cold metallic luster under the moonlight.

Hiratsuka swung a leg over the bike, hiking up the hem of her kimono and tucking it carelessly into her obi.

revealing the layers of juban underneath.

An elegant indigo kimono, black motorcycle boots, a silver-gray helmet.

The whole picture had a strange, jarring incongruity to it.

"Get on."

She handed him a helmet.

Tsushima Kagami took it.

"Where to?"

"Anywhere."

Hiratsuka started the engine, and the exhaust let out a deep, powerful roar.

"I just didn't want to stay there anymore, that's all."

Tsushima Kagami looked at the loose strands of hair fluttering at her temple, and at her eyes, unusually bright in the night.

He suddenly smiled.

"Then let's go."

He put his coat on backward, strapped on the helmet, and climbed onto the back seat.

Before he'd even settled in, Hiratsuka twisted the throttle.

The motorcycle shot forward like an arrow loosed from a bow.

Tsushima Kagami's body jerked back, and he instinctively grabbed the obi at her waist.

"Slow down!"

"Hold on tight!"

The wind tore her voice apart and scattered it behind them.

The motorcycle burst out of the lot and turned onto the road.

The engine's roar echoed down the empty road.

Even through the scarf and helmet, Tsushima Kagami could feel the bone-chilling cold.

But Hiratsuka rode fast.

The needle on the dashboard swung back and forth between eighty and a hundred.

Streetlights streaked overhead one after another, drawing out ribbons of flowing light.

Chiba's night skyline rushed past on either side.

Tsushima Kagami had no idea how long they rode.

All he remembered was the strong wind, the loud engine, and how soft and slender her waist felt.

She rode with a beautiful posture.

Her body leaned slightly forward, her jawline taut, her long fingers gripping the handlebars with quiet strength.

The wide sleeves of her kimono snapped in the wind like a pair of dark wings unfurling in the night.

They rode through downtown, through residential streets, and finally out onto a road leading to the coast.

Buildings grew sparser on either side, and the view opened up.

The air began to carry the briny scent of the sea.

Hiratsuka finally slowed down.

The motorcycle cruised slowly along the coastal road, a seawall on the left, low hills on the right.

Streetlights grew sparse; only the headlight lit up a small stretch of road ahead.

In the distance, the sound of waves slapping against the seawall drifted over.

"We're here."

Hiratsuka pulled the bike over at a lookout point beside the road that overlooked the sea.

She took off her helmet; her hair had come loose, a few strands sticking to her forehead.

Her kimono had been ruffled by the wind, but she didn't seem to mind at all.

Tsushima Kagami took off his helmet and drew a deep breath.

The sea breeze, laced with winter cold, filled his lungs and cleared his head instantly.

He walked up to the railing and looked down.

Below, the sea lay black, the moonlight scattered across it like a handful of silver foil.

Far off, where sea met sky, he could just make out the lights of a few fishing boats.

"So quiet."

Hiratsuka came up beside him, set the cloth bag on the ground, and leaned against the railing.

She pulled a pack of cigarettes out of her kimono sleeve and put one between her lips.

Then she rummaged through the whole cloth bag but couldn't find a lighter.

"Damn it."

"I forgot my lighter!"

She was about to take the cigarette out of her mouth.

Tsushima Kagami pulled a lighter out of his coat pocket.

With a click, he flicked it to life and held the flame up to the cigarette in her mouth.

She leaned in to meet it.

The scarlet ember flickered on and off in the darkness.

She took a deep drag, then slowly exhaled.

A rich scent of blueberry rolled out along with the smell of tobacco.

The sea wind scattered the smoke, and it vanished without a trace.

The two of them stood in silence for a long while.

A long while.

Hiratsuka glanced at him.

"Aren't you supposed to not smoke?"

"I picked it up at the party earlier and just pocketed it," Tsushima Kagami said with a smile.

"Didn't know you had this kind of habit!"

Hiratsuka's gaze seemed to reassess him from scratch.

The sea wind howled, and the tide beat against the seawall in steady rhythm.

Now and then a car passed in the distance, its headlights slicing through the dark before the night fell silent again.

"Shizu."

Tsushima Kagami finally spoke.

"Hm."

"Did you drag me out here just to look at the ocean?"

Hiratsuka exhaled a puff of smoke.

"Something wrong with that?"

"Nothing."

Tsushima Kagami smiled.

"But what about Yukinoshita Shizuku..."

"I already told her," Hiratsuka cut him off.

"I told her you were in a bad mood and I was taking you out to clear your head."

Tsushima Kagami blinked.

"I was in a bad mood?"

"Are you in a better mood now?"

Hiratsuka tilted her head to look at him, the corner of her mouth curling slightly.

"You used me as an excuse?"

"What, is that a problem?"

She took another drag, her tone matter-of-fact.

"Should I have told her I was borrowing her boyfriend for a bit instead?"

"She'd have eaten me alive."

"Then she'll eat me alive when I get back," Tsushima Kagami countered.

Hiratsuka looked at him with interest.

She exhaled another puff and said flatly.

"Looks to me like you enjoy being eaten by her."

"Ahaha, is that so?"

"I hadn't even noticed until you said it."

"So why did you actually want to come out here?"

Hiratsuka fell silent for a moment.

She stubbed the cigarette out on the railing and clenched the butt in her palm.

"I'm just... fed up."

"Fed up with what?"

"Everything."

"The closer graduation gets, the worse it feels."

She leaned against the railing and tilted her head back to look at the sky.

The winter night sky was unusually clear, stars set into it one by one, densely packed.

She took the pack of cigarettes out again and pulled out another one.

Then she nodded at Tsushima Kagami, signaling him to light it for her.

Only then did he notice the brand in her hand was Seven Stars.

He flicked the lighter again and lit her cigarette.

The blueberry scent that had just faded thickened again.

"You know what?"

"Sometimes I really envy Yukinoshita Shizuku."

"She doesn't have to deal with the constraints of being a young lady from a good family anymore."

"She never has to worry about arranged marriages again."

"Of course..."

"I know that's only the result of Yukinoshita Shizuku's misfortune."

"If she had a choice, she definitely wouldn't want it this way."

"But I still sometimes envy her, sometimes even feel jealous."

As she spoke, Hiratsuka gave him another long look.

"I've always felt..."

"that in terms of personality, you and I are actually the same kind of person."

"Why do you think that?"

"Just because I don't like socializing either?"

"Because neither of us likes occasions like this?" Tsushima Kagami asked with a smile, turning the question back on her.

Hiratsuka paused abruptly.

She tried to come up with some good explanation.

In the end, she just said it plainly.

"Instinct. The moment I first laid eyes on you."

"I just knew we were the same kind."

After she said this, she took another deep drag.

Then, leaning back against the railing, cigarette between her lips, she exhaled slowly.

"Then you're a pretty good judge of character."

Tsushima Kagami's quiet laugh reached her ear.

Then she saw his hand reaching toward her mouth.

She felt the cigarette lifted away from her lips.

She watched him smile and slip the very cigarette that had just been in her mouth expertly between his own lips.

Then, like a seasoned smoker, he drew the nicotine deep into his lungs and blew the smoke right back at her.

"I quit ages ago."

"If I start again now, wasn't quitting for nothing?"

Tsushima Kagami held the cigarette between his fingers, turning it over idly.

Then he stubbed it out on the railing.

He looked at Hiratsuka with a smile.

"Y-y-you..."

"You smoke!"

Hiratsuka stared at him, incredulous, at the mischievous grin on his face.

"Is smoking really that strange?"

"It's not exactly a world-record-level challenge."

"Then why didn't you smoke before?"

"Because I'd quit."

"See, smoking gives you yellow teeth and bad breath."

"Just sitting at the same table eating with a smoker feels disgusting."

"Eh— stop, don't say any more!"

"I just wanted one today because I was feeling down."

"I'm never smoking again after this!"

Hiratsuka suddenly recalled that the first time they'd met, Tsushima Kagami had said the exact same thing to her.

But the way he'd just smoked made him look, no matter how she looked at it, like a hardcore smoker with more years under his belt than even Komoe-sensei or Douraku Utage-sensei.

Had he started smoking back in kindergarten or something?

No way!

She shook her head, tossing aside a guess even she found ridiculous.

Then she looked him over again with disbelief.

Reassessing him from scratch.

Tsushima Kagami looked back at her, smiling.

"What?"

"Do I seem more manly to you now that I smoke?"

"Not at all."

"I just didn't expect it."

"Didn't expect what?"

Tsushima Kagami asked with a smile, looking at Hiratsuka's expression, which said plainly, 'So this is who you really are — you've fooled everyone.'

"So you're actually the type who drinks and smokes behind everyone's back!"

Tsushima Kagami laughed and clapped his hands.

Then he wagged a finger in front of her face, tsking.

"I don't drink, though."

Hiratsuka glanced at him again.

"You really do hide things well."

"Yukinoshita Shizuku and the others must have been completely fooled."

Tsushima Kagami kept wagging his finger.

"A secret makes a man more charming."

Hiratsuka burst out laughing and smacked him on the shoulder.

"Ahaha, what is this."

"That line made you sound so sleazy just now, Kagami!"

"Like some old guy trying to look cool in front of high school girls!"

"That's a famous quote! You have zero taste!"

Tsushima Kagami hadn't expected her critique to hit so close to the mark.

He'd thought his charm alone would have the girl swooning the moment he said it.

Watching Hiratsuka doubled over laughing for no apparent reason, Tsushima Kagami asked with a smile.

"So, still feeling frustrated?"

"Hm... I feel a lot better."

"Then let's keep going."

Tsushima Kagami reached out and pulled Hiratsuka up from where she'd crouched on the ground.

Hiratsuka took his hand and tilted her head to look at him.

"Keep going with what?"

"Didn't you say we're the same kind of person?"

"If we're both delinquents, then we should do what delinquents do."

"Don't you think so, Shizu?"

____

📢 WANT MORE CHAPTERS? HELP THE STORY GROW!

💬 Reviews: Leave your review! Every 5 REVIEWS unlocks 1 bonus chapter.

💎 Power Stones: Reach 100 POWER STONES and another bonus chapter drops!

🚀 P@treon: Want to read ahead? Support on P@treon (Walnut-chan) to access over 60 stories and 40 chapters ahead!

🔥 New history: DanMachi: Inheriting the Legacy of Alternate Versions — posted on The_Mikudayo