Chapter 52: The Taste of Lies

Chapter 52: The Taste of Lies

Come over?

Why did that sound like she was training a dog?

Did she really think of herself as an S now?

Yatsuno Gen had not sensed much sign of that particular inclination from the girl. She probably just felt that speaking in this manner made it seem like she had everything under control.

What kind of person would crave control over everything around them at every moment?

Yatsuno Gen did not dwell too deeply on that question. He picked up his schoolbag and still gave up on his plan to go straight home after school.

“Hey, Yatsuno, where are you going? Want to play basketball?”

The club Miura Akihiko had joined was the Basketball Club. Yatsuno Gen did not know how skilled he was, but he was certainly full of enthusiasm.

Yatsuno Gen shook his head.

“I have something to do.”

“What could you have to do? You don’t even have a club.”

“Who said I don’t? I do now.”

The boy stopped at the classroom door and turned to look at Miura Akihiko.

Miura Akihiko’s eyes gradually widened, as if he had heard something unbelievable.

“You joined a club? What club?”

He immediately leaned in, and Yatsuno Gen pulled away in deep disgust.

“Keep your voice down. It’s not a big deal.”

“It’s true that it wouldn’t be a big deal for someone else, but when it’s you, it becomes shocking. You actually joined a club? Have you started wanting rose-colored youth too?”

Standing at the classroom door and shouting about rose-colored youth, Yatsuno Gen felt that even he could not do something that abstract.

Good grief, quite a few people who had heard the voice were already looking over, their gazes filled with complicated smiles.

Yatsuno Gen felt a little headache coming on.

“Is shocking really the word to use here? Alright, enough. I’m going.”

“Wait! You still haven’t told me what club you joined. I want to go too, I want to go too!”

Like hell you are.

Do you think you’re me?

Yatsuno Gen still did not know why Asagiri Rin had changed her mind and let him join, but he could be certain that this girl would absolutely never let Miura Akihiko join.

It was not that he was looking down on this boy.

Rather, Asagiri Rin was not someone who held back her tongue with just anyone.

Yatsuno Gen arrived in front of the building where the activity classrooms were gathered and was about to step inside.

“Yatsuno-kun.”

A somewhat familiar voice stopped the boy.

Yatsuno Gen looked over and saw a girl with medium-short hair, exquisite and refined features, and a smile as gentle as a spring breeze walking toward him.

“Senior Saionji?”

She was the girl he had seen before in the Photography Club. The thing that made her feel most special was not the fact that she was his senior, but that she was the friend Asagiri Rin had mentioned as someone who had helped her.

Saionji smiled as she looked at Yatsuno Gen.

“So Yatsuno-kun still remembers me.”

Yatsuno Gen smiled and said, “We only met yesterday. My memory isn’t that bad yet.”

Saionji shook her head and said, “That’s different. For example, when little Rin isn’t interested in someone, she’ll forget who they are the moment she turns away, even if she just met them.”

The moment she opened her mouth, she brought up Asagiri Rin, which made Yatsuno Gen slightly wary. It seemed this was not as simple as a chance meeting and a greeting.

Perhaps because Asagiri Rin had warned him before, the other girl’s gentle smile no longer seemed quite so pure now.

“Is that so? I don’t know much about that.”

Yatsuno Gen’s answer was very simple, but Saionji stepped closer, allowing Yatsuno Gen to clearly smell the warm fragrance on this girl’s body.

Actually, Yatsuno Gen had always felt that compared with visual impact, the attraction of scent was even harder to resist. Everyone had their own distinct scent, and perhaps it was not as simple as the choice of hormones.

She smiled and looked up.

“Yatsuno-kun, saying it so distantly like that, are you deliberately trying to distance yourself from little Rin?”

“I don’t understand what you mean, Senior.”

Saionji smiled sweetly.

“My name is Saionji Karen. You can call me Karen too. Senior sounds too distant.”

Do we have any need to grow closer?

The expression on Yatsuno Gen’s face remained flawless.

“That would be too presumptuous. I’d better call you Senior Saionji.”

Saionji did not insist. She took the initiative to start walking into the corridor.

Yatsuno Gen had been heading to the activity classroom anyway, so the situation became the two of them walking side by side, as if they were fairly close friends. In reality, they had only met yesterday.

“I think Yatsuno-kun is a very smart person, so you probably understand that sometimes, people covered in thorns can only push others away because they’re afraid of pricking the people they care about.”

Yatsuno Gen looked at the corridor where people occasionally passed by, his voice calm.

“I don’t really understand that method. In most situations, I don’t have much patience.”

Saionji looked at Yatsuno Gen with a bright smile.

“What if that is the only way to protect everyone?”

“Too arrogant.”

Yatsuno Gen glanced at her.

“What right does she have to think everyone has to accept her protection, and in her way?”

Saionji nodded.

“Right, the photos from the shoot have already been developed. The Literature Club is very satisfied. I expect it won’t be long before you can see the finished publication. Would you like me to give you a copy when the time comes?”

Yatsuno Gen did not refuse. Unlike Asagiri Rin, he would not reject everything, even normal social interaction, just for the sake of coldness.

“Then I’ll trouble you, Senior. I’m also curious what the photos ended up looking like.”

Saionji nodded.

“To be honest, after seeing the result, even I wanted to use that photo as my phone wallpaper. It’s too perfect. Right, I have the photo after post-processing on my phone right now. Do you want it? I’ll send it to you.”

“Hm?”

“Do you have Self? Let’s add each other as friends.”

Yatsuno Gen reacted.

This seemed like a prepared little combo.

It was impressive that she could say it so naturally, without the slightest trace of embarrassment on her face. It was as if it were genuinely just a spontaneous idea, with no reason for her to feel guilty at all.

Yatsuno Gen took out his phone and added her as a Self friend, then looked at her.

“Senior, are you always this natural when asking for someone’s contact information?”

Saionji glanced at Yatsuno Gen, then covered her mouth and laughed softly.

“Yatsuno-kun, since you saw through it, why did you have to say it out loud? Are you trying to embarrass me?”

“Not really. I just wanted to confirm it.”

“There’s nothing to confirm, is there? After all, most girls in this school share the consensus that no girl can resist Yatsuno-kun’s charm. Of course I would want to become friends with Yatsuno-kun too.”

Only wanting to become friends?

Yatsuno Gen was not disappointed by that.

It was just that she said it so lightly, which made it highly likely that it was not the truth.

Nor was he so narcissistic as to think she truly had some special intent toward him. The issue was probably still with Asagiri Rin.

There was no evidence. It was purely intuition.

As soon as they finished adding each other, a photo was sent over.

It was a photo of Asagiri Rin holding an umbrella, with him under it alongside her. The background had been edited in post-processing and seemed to be a blurry forest, with rain effects added too. It was not the kind of crude technique that could be recognized as fake at a glance.

The handling was quite good. Of course, the most important part was still the two people in the image.

At a glance, one could tell that Asagiri Rin had an extraordinarily cold and aloof temperament. She was practically an untouchable flower on a high peak.

And there was Yatsuno Gen, with a warm smile like a ray of sunlight in the rain.

Just as Saionji had said when taking the photo, they looked like two people in sharp contrast, yet they were beneath the same umbrella. It created a rather wondrous atmosphere.

Different expressions, as if from different worlds, yet at a very close distance, as though they were always on the edge of blending together.

And yet there was no concrete evidence proving any of it. It was a photo that invited imagination while also offering visual pleasure.

“What do you think?”

Saionji asked.

Yatsuno Gen nodded.

“It really is quite good. So Senior’s skills are actually this high.”

Saionji smiled.

“It doesn’t have much to do with my skill. The main thing is that the two of you fit the requirements too well. How should I put it? If a photographer’s duty is to discover beauty, then you and little Rin are beings who already possess beauty that people cannot ignore. You don’t need to be discovered.”

Yatsuno Gen certainly knew that the trait that attracted people at first glance was his appearance, but hearing it said so directly to his face actually gave him the illusion that his old face was turning red.

“Senior, are you always this direct when praising people? It makes me a little embarrassed.”

“Pfft. Why should praise take a roundabout route? If something is good, then it’s good. If it’s not, then it’s not. I won’t be stingy with it. I suppose that’s why I was able to become friends with little Rin.”

The hand holding her phone rested behind her back, while her other hand held her wrist.

When she walked, she seemed very light. Her medium-short hair bounced on her shoulders, giving off an especially relaxed and lively feeling.

When they reached the second floor, Yatsuno Gen stopped.

“I’m going to the activity classroom now. Goodbye, Senior.”

Saionji nodded.

“Mm. Right, how are things going with little Rin? I don’t mean anything else. It’s just that little Rin doesn’t like telling people about her situation, and I always feel that’s a kind of self-protection. It leaves people who want to care about her helpless, so I wanted to ask you.”

Yatsuno Gen thought for a moment and said, “I think it’s alright. Within the normal range. Besides, I don’t usually have much interaction with her. We’re not even in the same class, so I can’t understand anything more.”

“I see... Then if anything abnormal happens, please tell me immediately, Yatsuno-kun.”

This request seemed normal, but was actually strange.

His current relationship with Asagiri Rin could barely even be called friendship. She clearly had more time and more opportunities to interact with her, didn’t she?

However, Yatsuno Gen did not voice his suspicion. He only nodded.

“Mm, I’ll try.”

He would not guarantee something that had no meaning or result.

The girl waved her hand and went upstairs briskly.

Yatsuno Gen also walked toward activity classroom 215.

He pulled open the door.

Asagiri Rin was inside, still in the same seat. By the hand she had resting on the table was a bottle of mango juice. The girl had her head lowered as she looked at her phone, her face slightly turned to the side. Her long, straight black hair spilled down, covering part of her features.

It made her look very much like the kind of deeply hidden, beautiful, and dangerous villain in an anime.

Yatsuno Gen came in and closed the door, but the girl did not raise her head, as if she had not noticed at all.

Only after the boy came closer and sat down did he take a look.

“Why is there only one bottle? Where’s mine?”

Asagiri Rin raised her head and looked at him with that familiar gaze of disdain.

“Was there supposed to be one for you?”

“Of course. I’m a member of your club now. If you don’t treat me well, I could leave at any moment.”

Those words were irritating just to hear.

Asagiri Rin said testily, “If you want to leave, then hurry up. No one’s keeping you here.”

Yatsuno Gen did not reply to that sentence.

The brief silence made Asagiri Rin’s heart suddenly skip a beat.

He didn’t actually leave, did he?

When she raised her head, she saw that this boy was twitching his nose, as if he had smelled some scent in the air.

Her gaze turned disdainful, even disgusted.

“What are you smelling? You look like a pervert.”

Yatsuno Gen smiled and said, “I smelled the taste of lies.”

“...Yatsuno Gen!”