Utsukushii Kare/ My Beautiful Man [ENGLISH TRANSLATION]

Chapter-3; PART-1: Sweet and Bitter

Translator: White Lotus

 
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             ——Who do you like, that guy or me? After asking that question.

               ——Huh?

The expression on Hira's face at that precise moment was something Kiyoi could never forget.

While sporting a dumb expression, Hira absentmindedly made a "huh?" sound, which conveyed, "What are you talking about?"

A feeling of shame and anger flared up inside Kiyoi like flames, so he kicked Hira with all his strength.

For having waited so long to hear from such a guy, Kiyoi felt extremely angry with himself. Both before and now, Kiyoi, in the end, couldn't figure out what that guy was thinking.

In the sophomore year of high school, on the first day of the class change, Kiyoi got to meet Hira for the first time.

After witnessing Hira stutter "Hi-Hi-Hi-Hi-Hi" with a scarlet face, it took Kiyoi only a second to judge that he was nothing more than a worthless guy.

As a slave, he was quite useful. He always proceeded to run errands in obedience and even appeared happy. However, the way his eyes, which were veiled by his bangs, constantly stared at Kiyoi was extremely repulsive.

Yet also, it felt very good.

From the very beginning, he was the only one on whom Hira fixed his sight.

The creepy intensity of it simply felt pleasant.

Kiyoi was raised as a latchkey kid after his parents got divorced. When his mother would leave the house to go to work, it was quite boring for him to return to the home where there was no one, so he always played with his friends till late. But when it was time for dinner, everyone would go back. The more high-spirited he had been until just a moment ago, the more lonely he felt on his way back home. Taking the key out of the small pocket of his randoseru*, Kiyoi, without uttering a word, would enter that empty house.

(T/N: *A randoseru (ランドセル) is a firm-sided backpack made of stitched firm leather or leather-like synthetic material, most commonly used in Japan by elementary schoolchildren (often red for girls and black for boys). Worn over the shoulders, it leaves both hands free; a flap covers an extra-wide opening that allows easy access to textbooks and notebooks inside. Traditionally in Japan, it is given to a child upon beginning their first year of school, whereupon the child uses the same bag until grade 6. They are incredidly expensive because they are supposed to last throughout the entire 6 years of elementary schooling. Image: