In the hallway, Hoshimi and Yukinoshita, having bid farewell to Yuigahama, were heading towards the exit of the school building.
At that moment, Yukinoshita was still feeling a bit irritated.
She sensed something strange about Yuigahama but couldn't figure out what Yuigahama was thinking. All she could tell was that Yuigahama seemed somewhat down.
Earlier, she had hinted for Hoshimi to talk to Yuigahama, hoping he could say something to lift Yuigahama's spirits. However, after Hoshimi spoke, Yuigahama seemed even more disheartened.
Hoshimi definitely understood her intention and could have easily cheered Yuigahama up with his words, but he chose not to. Instead, he made Yuigahama feel worse.
That jerk!
Yukinoshita cursed inwardly. She was angry but had no outlet to vent her frustration.
After all, Yuigahama was her friend, not Hoshimi's. She had been helpless and asked Hoshimi to speak on her behalf, so she couldn't blame him for the outcome.
"Sigh~" Yukinoshita sighed softly.
She glanced at Hoshimi's sports clothes and, feeling her anger rise again, said coldly, "Hoshimi, why are you in such a hurry? Aren't you going to get your school uniform?"
"It doesn't matter. I have a spare uniform at home."
"..." Yukinoshita's fingers tightened slightly. She then asked, "What about your backpack?"
"It's in the classroom. I didn't take it."
"Aren't you going to get it? Are you planning to skip your homework?"
"I'm not taking it, not doing the homework." Hoshimi thought for a moment and then corrected himself, "I'll do it tomorrow at school. As long as I finish before it's due, it's fine."
"..." Yukinoshita was silent for a moment before saying icily, "You lack ambition to progress!"
Hoshimi raised an eyebrow and pinched Yukinoshita's leg, "Enough talk. Get the umbrella out."
During their conversation, they had already reached the exit of the school building.
Seeing the drizzling rain, Yukinoshita didn't want to argue with Hoshimi any further.
She first took the keys and access card from her school uniform and put them in the pocket of her sports clothes. Then she put her school uniform in her backpack and finally took out an umbrella from the inner layer of the backpack.
"Yukinoshita, your umbrella is a bit small." Hoshimi looked at Yukinoshita's small transparent umbrella and felt speechless.
"This is a single-person umbrella for my own use. Any problem with that?"
"I see. So you never thought you'd have friends or share an umbrella with someone."
"..." Yukinoshita was silent.
She angrily poked Hoshimi's chest with the umbrella handle, "Hoshimi, you talk too much."
"Heh~" Hoshimi let out a cryptic laugh.
"Let's go. Hold the umbrella properly." With that, Hoshimi stepped into the rain.
Feeling the wind and rain, Yukinoshita frowned and leaned down to let the umbrella cover Hoshimi more.
This brought them very close together, with Yukinoshita's chest and abdomen tightly pressed against Hoshimi's back.
"..."
"..."
The rain continued to fall, the sound of raindrops hitting the umbrella, the ground, and the branches, harmonizing with the sound of Hoshimi's footsteps.
Neither of them spoke, maintaining a silent companionship.
The quiet atmosphere made Yukinoshita feel slightly uncomfortable. She moved a bit, seemingly hearing the faint sound of their clothes rubbing together.
How strange... Hoshimi is so quiet...
Watching the silent Hoshimi, Yukinoshita felt a trace of curiosity.
Since she met Hoshimi, he had always been very noisy, not verbally but through his actions.
Hoshimi constantly came up with new ways to tease her, one after another, never stopping, always "noisy."
Suddenly, Hoshimi's silence made her a bit uneasy.
She kept wondering if Hoshimi would take advantage of her injury, so she didn't dare to relax her vigilance for a moment...
Yukinoshita looked at Hoshimi, trying to figure out what he was thinking.
After a while, Yukinoshita gave up. Hoshimi's ever-changing nature was beyond her rational understanding.
Since Hoshimi chose to be quiet at this moment, she could relax and think about other things.
"Hu~"
Yukinoshita let out a breath, her guarded body relaxing.
She rested her chin on Hoshimi's shoulder, looking at the street in the rain.
Seeing a taxi speeding down the road, Yukinoshita's eyes moved.
She wanted to ask Hoshimi something but decided against it.
It didn't matter. If Hoshimi wanted to suffer, let him. After all, she weighed 45 kilograms, and carrying her for ten minutes wouldn't be easy for Hoshimi, who wasn't very strong and had been through two days of intense training.
She would endure some discomfort, and Hoshimi would get tired, making them even.
"Yukinoshita, what do you think of Yuigahama-san?"
Suddenly, as Yukinoshita fully relaxed her guard, Hoshimi spoke.
"What do you mean?" Yukinoshita instinctively asked, not immediately understanding.
"I mean, what do you think of her as a person, in various aspects?"
Yukinoshita realized what he meant. She looked at Hoshimi's side profile and asked, "Why are you asking this?"
"I'm just curious."
Hoshimi's face unusually lacked any smile, and he asked in a purely calm manner.
Seeing Hoshimi without his usual fake smile, Yukinoshita thought deeply and said, "Yuigahama-san? It's hard to say."
"At first, I thought she was an indecisive, conformist, and mediocre person."
"But after getting to know her, I found she's not simple."
"You know about my Service Club, right?"
Hoshimi nodded. He had heard about the so-called Service Club from the girls in their class. It was a club Yukinoshita managed, akin to an odd-jobs agency.
However, unlike a typical odd-jobs agency, Yukinoshita's Service Club leaned more towards "teaching people to fish rather than giving them fish."
The idea was nice, but judging by the club's past commission records, it hadn't achieved that goal.
"The Service Club was founded in my first year, and I was the only member. Few students came to request help, and the club room was often empty for a month or two."
"Rather than a club, it was more like a quiet place for me to read."
Yukinoshita had a clear understanding of her club's initial state.
"The Service Club really started functioning in the second year, at the beginning of this semester."
"Shortly after the semester began, Hiratsuka-sensei forcibly placed Hikigaya-kun in my club and asked me to correct his twisted personality."
"Because Hiratsuka-sensei is the club's advisor, even though I wanted to refuse, it was hard to do so."
"Moreover, Hiratsuka-sensei used reverse psychology on me..."
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