Chapter 46 Heart-Fluttering (Revised)

Riding the subway to Shibuya, the trains were not very crowded at this hour. After all, it was the time when schools let out, and given how much middle and high schools in Japan idolized extracurricular activities, students who belonged to the going-home club were usually relatively few.

Sitting inside the subway carriage, the quartet of gyarus continued their endless, cheerful laughter.

"I don't believe it. You definitely hypnotized him. Lord Yuki, please, I'm begging you, teach me hypnosis!"

Whether Utada Kyoko was just playing around or being entirely serious, she grabbed Takanashi Yuki's arm and shook it continuously, acting coquettishly.

Considering their multiple encounters and the fact that they had made formal contact, Sugawara Ryuichi briefly swept his gaze over them.

First was Utada Kyoko, with her red hair in a high ponytail and a pair of blue eyes, looking quite pretty overall. They had a direct interaction yesterday afternoon, and this girl possessed a remarkably lively personality.

Next was the gyaru with purple hair and purple eyes, a smiling expression always lingering on her face. Her demeanor and voice leaned toward gentleness, making her look like a very approachable girl. Judging by her sudden revelation from a moment ago, this type was likely the smiling-eyes sort—someone who looked all smiles on the surface, but was actually rather dark-hearted underneath. Her surname was unknown for the time being, and he only knew her name was Yoshino.

Finally came the gyaru with black hair and red eyes, wearing a rather sour expression and fond of keeping a straight face, looking as though her temper wasn't very pleasant. Her surname was also unknown, with only her name, Aine, known.

Taking everything in as a whole, Sugawara Ryuichi formed a general impression.

The reason the gyaru quartet was so notorious—leaving aside their habits of adjusting their skirts to ultra-short lengths, loving manicures, adoring trendy items, favoring slouch socks, and unbuttoning their upper collars to reveal proud figures—was that their appearances and temperaments were quite outstanding, with each one fully deserving to be called a beauty.

As for Takanashi Yuki, having won the Takeno High School Cultural Festival Beauty Pageant for two consecutive years, her looks and attractiveness needed no elaboration.

Be that as it may, Japan certainly had a fondness for such beauty pageants, even extending to online elections... Rather bizarre, yet genuinely existent.

"Hello~ Sugawara-san, I'm Sakai Yoshino. You can just call me Yoshino."

Just at that moment, noticing that he was sitting alone to the side and wishing to prevent anyone from feeling left out, Sakai Yoshino waved and greeted him.

"Hello... Yoshino."

Sugawara Ryuichi was not quite accustomed to the gyaru style of greeting, but he played along with the local customs anyway. Even though he didn't need to act as a boyfriend and only had to sing a few songs, Takanashi Yuki had, after all, paid good money. Besides, for high school students, that colossal sum of 22,500 yen meant he should at least be considerate of her friends' feelings.

"I'm Utada Kyoko. You can call me Kyoko."

Seeing someone take the lead, Utada Kyoko mustered the courage to strike up a conversation, tossing in a joke by the way.

"You already said that yesterday, Kyoko."

Seeing her join in the greetings, Sugawara Ryuichi teased her while respectfully granting her request.

"Sugawara-san, thank you very much!"

Hearing him call her directly by her given name, Utada Kyoko suddenly stood up and bowed to express her gratitude.

"?"

Seeing her inexplicable display of thanks, Sugawara Ryuichi felt slightly baffled.

"Don't mind her. She's just the type who likes to clown around."

Noticing that he was struggling to cope, Takanashi Yuki stepped in with a slightly amused tone to smooth things over.

"Right..."

Sugawara Ryuichi indeed found it a bit difficult to handle the conversational style of the gyarus, as they were simply too enthusiastic. One had to remember that interpersonal communication among Japanese people was relatively restrained; when had there ever been a situation like this, where people asked you to call them by their first name right off the bat?

"Ishikawa Aine... Just call me Ishikawa."

As everyone introduced themselves one by one, Shiraishi Aine seized the moment to speak up by tacit mutual understanding, though without nearly as much enthusiasm. After all, she had spoken quite a bit of ill of Sugawara Ryuichi in front of her friends—calling him conceited, immensely irritating, unappreciative of kindness, and so forth. If she acted too eager now, it would be far too embarrassing in front of her companions.

"Understood, Ishikawa-san."

Given her rather cold attitude, Sugawara Ryuichi politely retained the honorific suffix.

"Yuki, aren't you going to introduce yourself?"

Utada Kyoko, who held boundless reverence for handsome guys, swept her gaze around and finally let it land on Yuki. Although she had been calling her Lord Yuki just moments before, now that she had successfully struck up a conversation with Sugawara Ryuichi, she dropped the title.

"Don't ask her. She must think she's some kind of wildly famous super bishoujo whom everyone already knows."

Seeing this situation, Sakai Yoshino hurriedly intervened to stop it.

"I do not think anything of the sort! Sometimes I really want to tear your mouth apart, you're way too crafty."

Hearing them talk like that, Takanashi Yuki was instantly amused, playfully scolding and reaching out to tug at her.

"..."

Witnessing their playful bickering, Sugawara Ryuichi remained silent, but he was thoroughly entertained, the corners of his mouth curving upward against his will. The personalities of the gyaru quartet vastly exceeded his expectations and proved far more entertaining than anticipated.

Though such playful antics inside a subway carriage were quite prone to drawing sideways glances from others, perhaps because the culprits happened to be four beautiful girls, the male passengers generally kept silent, content merely to steal glances.

"Hey now, don't pull my clothes, I'm going to have a wardrobe malfunction."

Just then, Sakai Yoshino let out a sudden cry.

As soon as those words left her mouth, the male passengers—who had already been paying extraordinary attention to them—turned their heads in unison like sunflowers drawn to the sun.

"Cut it out, I clearly didn't pull your clothes."

Noticing the gazes of the surrounding people, Takanashi Yuki, though still harboring lingering resentment, had no choice but to stop her hands.

"How surprising, today there isn't even some annoying middle-aged aunt lecturing us."

Sakai Yoshino's clothes had indeed not been tugged, but under the collective stare of the crowd, she still lowered her head to adjust her outfit a few times. After confirming everything was in order, she expressed genuine wonder. Under normal circumstances, if they were bickering like this, some bothersome middle-aged auntie would have already rushed over to scold them.

"That's because they're all looking at Sugawara-san and don't want to leave him with the bad impression of being a naggy aunt, just like Aine over there, keeping a straight face and pretending to be aloof so she can leave a good impression."

Utada Kyoko clutched the collar ribbon of her uniform with a grave expression, looking like Conan having seen through everything, lacking only a pair of reflecting glasses.

"Go away, you stupid boy-crazy idiot."

Because she had bad-mouthed Sugawara Ryuichi both yesterday and today, Ishikawa Aine found herself in an awkward position. Seeing Utada Kyoko act like this, she could no longer maintain her stoic facade and lashed out with a playful, scolding punch.

"The criminal is panicking and about to commit murder! Help!"

"Oh, so calling me a criminal, are you? Then I'm going to kill you."

"Ladies, we are on the subway, please mind yourselves and try not to make a ruckus."

At that moment, Sakai Yoshino adopted the persona of an impartial mediator to stop them. However, having just been making a ruckus herself, she hardly qualified to say such things.

"Pfft..."

Seeing this scene, Sugawara Ryuichi finally lost his composure and laughed out loud.

[Takanashi Yuki feels her heart skip a beat, heart value +2]

Simultaneously, a system notification popped up.

Noticing this, Sugawara Ryuichi turned his head in slight surprise and looked toward Takanashi Yuki.

"Everyone, cut it out. We're still on the subway, save the horseplay for after we get off."

Just as his gaze landed on her, Takanashi Yuki had already stood up to halt their antics, leaving behind no trace at all. Though her reaction speed was lightning fast, as Sugawara Ryuichi looked at the system prompt that had yet to fade from the corner of his vision, he fully understood the situation.