The Pain of an Inferior: A Blistering Love Comedy That Begins After a Broken Heart - Chapter 66

Haruka was on a run, one of his few hobbies, around the city.

He was dressed in a black jersey with a red line, which was suitable for exercise. His slightly long hair was tied up with a hairpin and a hair elastic.

His light ash-brown hair color looked good against the black jersey. Some people on the street were checking out his running figure.

After running for about an hour with breaks in between, Haruka rented a paid shower room in a public facility and washed off his sweat.

He dried his hair with the hair dryer provided, but it was a bit messy and inadequate even for Haruka. He thought that it is too much work to dry his hair perfectly since he was going to exercise again later.

He fixed his hair, which was still a little damp, and styled it back together again with hairpins and hair elastics.

Leaving the facility, Haruka heads for a nearby arcade.

For a moment he thought of asking Yunika to join him, but he decided not to. He had already played with Yunika about five times during the summer vacation alone, so she might be fed up with him inside. He quickly closed his friend list.

Ria and Miyako are fighting in a VRMMO today, and Yuzurika is at work.

Once again, Haruka was all alone and felt a little lonely.

At the batting center, he tried to hit a 0.140kg ball with the batting bat in his hand.

It must have been about two months ago since the last time he came in this place. He was with Ria at that time.

It’s a well-known fact that Ria’s reflexes are out of this world.

She was able to handle a wide variety of breaking pitches, fastballs of 160 km/h, and super slow balls. There were a few misses, but Haruka guessed that she didn’t strike out.

Ria, who has a man’s body but feminine flesh, has a girlish arm strength, which was not as strong as Haruka’s. Nevertheless, she was able to launch even the most powerful balls far.

Still not perfecting his hitting form, Haruka barely hit the 0.140kg ball in front of him.

He was able to move enough to be able to see the ball with just his athletic sense.

After hitting the ball hard, using muscles he doesn’t usually use, Haruka left the cage.

He was so engrossed in the game that his arms cramped a little from the fatigue.

He moved to the lounge near the cage, bought a drink from the vending machine, and sat down on the sofa.

The sporadic sound of hitting the ball was a little comforting.

While Haruka was in a daze, a girl came into the lounge.

When she sees him, her eyes widen and she stiffens.

“Haruka…?”

“?”

He came back to himself and stared at the girl who called his name.

“Yuuku… It’s been a while.”

She was an acquaintance of Haruka’s

She was a girl named Kisara Yuuku, a girl that Haruka had been in the same class with several times when he was in elementary school.

Her long orange-beige hair was fluffy like Ria’s, and the ends bounce outward. She has red eyes.

She wore a white sweatshirt and black sweatpants, with colorful and stylish athletic shoes.

She was one the numerous that Haruka had blocked and broke his relationship with when he graduated from elementary school.

“Y-you… Why are you here?”

It was a safe question that Yuuku didn’t really care about, but she was so upset that she couldn’t think straight.

“… Killing time.”

Haruka looked a little uncomfortable.

He didn’t have good memories from his elementary school days, and no matter how beautiful the girl in front of him was, he didn’t feel very happy about it.

“I see.. Well.um… Can I sit next to you?”

“Hmm? It’s fine…”

Haruka had thought that they had parted on awkward terms and would never see each other again, but Yuuku, contrary to his expectations, tried to continue the conversation.

It occured to Haruka that Yuuku might not want to miss out on the valuable connection to Shun that she has found after a long time. When he was in elementary school, Haruka had been asked to introduce her to Shun to the point that he got fed up with it. Right now, he doesn’t even want to take his time to help her out.

“……”

“……”

As expected, an awkward atmosphere ensued.

With Ria and Miyako, even hanging out with them in silence was pleasant, but with Yuuku it was just painful.

“Um…”

“Yes.”

“Is Shun-ku-Aa, it’s nothing…”

Yuuku turned pale at herself mentioniong of Shun’s name, and she rushed to keep her mouth shut.

When she was in elementary school, she wanted to talk to Haruka so much that she tried to start a conversation using Shun as a pretext, as if she were an idiot. Yuuku, who thought that this was the reason she was cut off by Haruka, nearly repeated the same mistake and scolds herself for it.

“Shun is fine.”

“I don’t really care about Shun-kun. Really.”

Yuuku doesn’t want to be misunderstood. With this one thought in mind, Yuuku desperately searched for words to say.

“..Hey.”

“What?”

“…… You blocked me, didn’t you?”

“Yes.”

Without any trace of apology, Haruka answered.

Haruka’s expression as he looked at Yuuku was dignified, showing that he had neither guilt nor anything to be shamful about. This made Yuuku felt a pain in her heart which she had experienced countless times up until this point.

“T-The reason, can I ask you why?”

“I just thought I don’t need the contact information from the people in elementary school. I blocked not only Yuuku, but everyone except Miyako and Shun. Boys and girls alike.”

It was true that Haruka was obsessed with Miyako, and his isolation was partly his own fault. Even though he was aware of that, the treatment he received from the people in elementary school was nothing but painful.

“Um, um… You know… I… I’ve always regretted it.”

“Regret?”

The word comes out of nowhere and made Haruka cocked his head to the side.

Yuuku was not involved in the bullying, though she may had a little hand in talking behind Haruka’s back in order to fit in with the crowd and was now regretting it.

“I’m sorry. It’s nothing.”

“…?”

No matter what she said, it came out as a confession that she was guilty about something. Unable to find a reason, Haruka couldn’t help but just assume what Yuuku was implying by reading between the lines.

“Well… I wanted to talk to you more… I don’t mean Shun-kun, okay? With you… I want to talk about things with you.”

“Okay.”

“S-so… I… I need you to unblock me.”

Yuuku looked sad. Her face was pretty pale. She was not very articulate, but her eyes were fixed firmly on Haruka as she pleaded him.

Haruka silently called up a floating window. He displayed his friend list, and then jumped to his block list. Finding Yuuku among the fifty-one members, Haruka unblocked her.

“Is this okay?”

Yuuku also called out her floating window.

Yuuku had no hard feelings towards Shun, but talking about him seemed to be a depressing topic for her. Haruka had no qualms from unblocking her.

“Aa… Yeah… Thank you.”

She smiled like a blooming flower and said her thanks.

“I’ll go get something to drink.”

Yuuku got up from her seat and bought a drink from a vending machine nearby.

When she came back, she was smiling, reminding Haruka of Ria’s smile.

He looked at Yuuku who returned to her seat.

He thought that she is as beautiful as ever.

As Haruka gazes at her, Yuuku’s cheeks gradually blushed.

“W-What is it?”

“No, nothing?”

Feeling a little embarrassed, Haruka turned his face toward the batting cage outside.

Although he couldn’t see the batting cage from the lounge, he looked at the balls being thrown by men and women, young and old, from a distance.

“What are you doing here today?”

“Karaoke, and then batting.”

“A healthy routine.”

Karaoke and batting are both possible in the virtual world.

However, they don’t burn any calories like in the real world. Naturally, there were many people who try to play in reality in order to prevent themselves from getting restricted due to not getting enough exercise.

The conversation was interrupted again and it became quiet, but there was no awkwardness as before.

“You know, Haruka…”

“Hm.”

“You’re still a vanilla.”

“But I play tennis, though?”

“You’ve done it a lot less often than I have.”

Haruka played six public matches using advanced VR.

Against players in the same rank as him, Haruka won five matches.

However, five wins was not much. He was almost no different from a blank slate vanilla.

“Yuuku.. You seem to be doing well.”

“Yeah.”

Yuuku, who was a member of the drama, film, and choir clubs when she was in elementary school, had already achieved a lot.

Although she was a first-year student in the same junior high school as Haruka, she was already a member of a theater troupe and a choir group. Not only that, just like Ria, she also has a little experience in voice acting.

“Hey, Haruka…”

“What is it?”

“Would you like to be an actor with me?”

“Actor? I’m not cut out for that.”

“You’ll definitely be good at it.

You don’t stutter at all, you don’t bite your tongue, and you’re always so confident and cool. Besides…”

“Besides?”

Haruka prompted Yuuku, who broke off for a moment, as she shook her body shyly, her cheeks flushed.

“You have a nice voice…”

“I think that’s the first time I’ve been told that…”

“Well, anyway! Think about it! I’m going to be the star of the next show, so come and see me.”

“It’s good, but.”

Yuuku left her seat to cover her embarrassment.

A floating window appeared in front of Haruka.

It’s a ticket for the theater company to which Yuuku belonged.

“Tonight I’ll contact you, so don’t block me again.”

“I won’t.”

“Bye, see you later.”

“Okay, see you.”

Yuuku walked away quickly.

Haruka thought for a while, wondering if Yuuku was such a busy woman. In his memory, she seemed to be a little cooler and calmer.

“I should go home too…”

After taking a break, the fatigue from running and batting came to bear down on his body.

Haruka checked out the homepage of the theater company to which Yuuku belongs, and head for home.

There was a short video clip of Yuuku playing the role of a girl whom he didn’t know.

While viewing the video, Haruka imagined himself as an actor, but he wasn’t quite sure what he wanted to do.

“I’m not cut out for this…”

Haruka said in a casual manner.

He wasn’t aware of his strong interest in Yuuku’s performance, which lasted only about 20 seconds.