Chapter 49: Screening Event (Laughter)
The screen showed Tachibana's monologue.
Kashii-san was troubled by class issues. She was hurt by bullying and teasing.
This time too, she got involved. That girl thinks she can do anything.
She believes that if everyone can truly smile, then she just needs to handle things well. I want to make that happen for her.
For that, I want to resolve things without leaving any bad blood.
That's how I felt, and I conveyed it just as I thought it.
After that, Tachibana on the screen spoke.
Tachibana 'If talking doesn't work, if I can't stop the bullying or violence... then I'll...'
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While watching
Ise 'Huh? Isn't Tachibana seriously cool? Did you edit this?'
Saho 'He looked so cool, I couldn't cut it out.'
Tachibana (Embarrassing.)
Kashii (You're so cool. My heart's racing!)
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On the screen, Aoi noticed. Six people wearing glowing fluorescent masks. Each holding a bat, a hammer, a sturdy umbrella, a spiked bat, and a huge triangular ruler.
And one person holding a dull, gleaming industrial hand mixer with three heads attached.
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Ise 'That hand mixer is just insane!'
Aoi 'I knew right away just by looking. The triangular ruler and hand mixer definitely belong to some crazy guys.'
Kashii '...'
Obata '...'
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On the screen
Tachibana 'You awake, Aoi?'
Aoi 'Yeah.'
Tachibana 'You lost.'
Aoi 'Yeah.'
Aoi said to do as I pleased.
The captions showed the two of them talking about each other for about an hour.
That's the flow, and thankfully, the casual chat was cut out.
Then, Tachibana on the screen demanded a pledge to never tease or bully again.
Tachibana 'It's a promise between men, so if you break it, I'll make sure you're ashamed for the rest of your life. Even if I forget, Aoi, you won't forget that you broke your pledge, right? You've got to live with yourself forever.'
Aoi couldn't stop crying.
Aoi 'I swear. The men here are my witnesses.'
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While watching
Aoi 'This is seriously embarrassing...'
Tachibana 'I'm saying some pretty embarrassing stuff too...'
Kousuke 'If anything, it starts from here.'
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On the screen, right after the men said they were witnesses,
Obata 'Achoo♪'
Kashii 'Auntie! Shh!'
Obata 'I told you to stop calling me Auntie!'
※ The captions replayed the conversation scene with subtitles.
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While watching
Aoi 'Obata, that's embarrassing!'
Obata 'It's Reina's fault!'
Kashii 'It's Auntie's fault!'
Obata 'Stop calling me Auntie!'
Tanaka 'Obata-san, that sneeze was cute.'
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On the screen
Aoi realized the true identities of Obata and Kashii, but...
Aoi 'Nah, I lost, so I'm not saying anything.'
Kousuke cut the zip ties holding Aoi down with nippers.
Kousuke said as he took off his mask.
Kousuke 'There's no need for masks or restraints when men talk things out.'
Aoi shed tears at Kousuke's words.
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While watching
Ise 'Youth! It's pure youth!'
Kousuke '...Embarrassing... but I'm only here up to this point.'
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On the screen, the men talked, forgetting their bad blood.
Tanaka 'I was really moved by Tachibana-kun and Aoi-kun's fight!'
Tachibana 'That was an amazing fist!'
Aoi 'Tachibana waited three minutes for me even though I was exhausted, you know? Just like last time, and on top of that, he doesn't start fighting until he takes a hit without dodging. I thought it was straight out of a manga!'
Tachibana 'Aoi is strong. He was once my enemy, but... now he's a worthy rival.'
Saho 'Seriously?! You're really calling him a worthy rival with that reading?!'
Aoi 'You're calling me a worthy rival?!'
Aoi shed tears.
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While watching
I looked at Kousuke. He edited this just to show this moment!
Tachibana 'Isn't this enough already?'
Aoi 'My energy was all messed up at that moment. Please stop it already!'
Ise-san was laughing hysterically.
Ise 'Isn't Aoi crying way too much? lol Worthy rival lol'
Kashii-san and Obata-san, who hadn't seen this scene, were also laughing.
This is bad. This is really bad. What did I say after this?
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On the screen, the three of us talked with weird energy.
Anyway, we talked with high energy.
This passion kept the excitement going.
Tachibana 'The starry sky is beautiful tonight! I'll never forget today!'
Aoi 'Yeah, I won't forget it either!'
Tanaka 'Me too!'
Everyone 'I'm glad we were born in the same era!'
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While watching
Tachibana and Aoi were speechless at their own embarrassing behavior.
Unable to stand it, Ise-san pressed pause.
Ise 'I'll never forget today lol ugh lol my stomach hurts lol Born in the same era lol Isn't that great? lol'
Kashii 'You shouldn't laugh that much, okay? Sorry, I'm really sorry lol'
Obata-san kept laughing without making a sound.
Someone, please help me.
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The version of us on screen was passionately talking, getting into a strange high.
I lost to the passion of this fist!
When Aoi's fist hit, I saw the universe, and—
We're totally connected now!
I'll go one-on-one with Aoi-kun too!
Now I won't lose to anyone! (His face is super swollen) The boys, fully in chuunibyou mode, repeatedly exchanged power words from their sense of omnipotence due to excitement (Kousuke was silently nodding in agreement).
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While watching, it paused again.
Ise 'Ugh w, please stop w, my stomach hurts w. Universe w, power words w, ugh w.'
This woman... For the first time, I felt murderous intent towards Ise-san.
She was laughing so hard she rolled over, her underwear showing, and Tanaka and Saho were staring intently.
Obata 'Aoi-kun, did you lose to the passion of this fist?'
Aoi was also cornered by Obata-san, looked down, turned bright red, and was trembling.
Kashii-san... gently spoke to me with a kind gaze.
Kashii 'It's okay!'
Tachibana 'What is?'
Kashii 'It's okay.'
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And finally, the last scene.
How did they film this? At the end, Tachibana looked up at the night sky.
Tachibana '...I won't forget today....'
FIN
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While watching—
Ise '...I won't forget today.... Encore! Encore, here it comes w! Hehe w, stop it already! My abs have been cramping this whole time! When I see Tachibana's face, I keep remembering this video w... I won't forget today... w'
Aoi '...I won't forget today... w.'
Aoi had a change of heart!?
Kousuke 'I was worried about him for half a year and watched over him patiently, so I got irritated when he came to me third for advice. I don't regret it.'
To think that the quiet Kousuke was thinking such things.
Kousuke asked Obata-san.
Kousuke 'Obata-san, if your best friend Kashii-san was troubled and you were worried for about half a year, and then after the year ranking changed, she consulted with about two guys, especially one she got close to three months ago, before coming to you for advice, wouldn't you be annoyed?'
Obata 'You should talk like that at school too! But I understand exactly how you feel! It's infuriating!'
Kousuke 'He said he was embarrassed to ask for advice, so I decided to reply with a different vector of embarrassment.'
Aoi 'Huh? Then what about me? Why did I get the second most embarrassed?'
Kousuke 'Collateral damage?'
Aoi 'That's awful.'
And so, the first celebration, the Riverside Duel: Tachibana vs. Aoi screening event, concluded.
The celebration ended successfully.
Tachibana sent everyone off, tidied Kousuke's room, greeted Kousuke's Mama, and went home.
'Ah—! That was embarrassing! ...But it was fun. We laughed and ate a lot of different things and talked a lot. Kashii-san's casual clothes were cute, and the cheesecake was amazing. I won't forget today either.'
Tachibana suddenly looked around, hoping he wasn't being filmed, right?
It was the evening of that closing ceremony day.
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On the way home. While talking about the screening event.
Aoi 'Hey, am I really, truly that bad-mannered?'
He's not as bad-mannered now as he was back then. However.
Obata 'You're like a semi-gangster, aren't you? I recommend you improve yourself now.'
(Good opportunity! I want to re-train him!)
Tanaka 'What did you think you were like?'
Aoi '...If it were a game, like a wild warrior type?'
Obata 'By the looks of it, you're a barbarian or a bandit, right?'
And so, Aoi began to seriously consider improving his character? Image? That sort of thing.