天国の日没 Tengoku No Nichibotsu (Heaven's Sunset) - Volume 2

Chapter 18 - Ignorance

"So the only one remaining is Wolf, huh?" Shuichi glanced over at Toadette while the two of them were on their way to Wolf's room.

Everyone else was waiting for them in Memory field. Daisy and Reyman gladly accepted the invitation to participate in hide and seek. Since Toadette and Shuichi volunteered to be the first ones to seek, the others went to examine the terrain and possible hiding places while the two of them try to persuade Wolf to join, although nobody thought it had any chance of happening.

"Yeah, Wolf's the only one remaining..." Toadette replied. The actual reason she wanted to stay behind with Shuichi was so she could ask him about Yuuji.

Shuichi was not stupid. He felt Toadette had a sensitive topic on her mind, so he tried to prevent it before she could even ask anything. "Do you really think the others are fine with the rule of two people seeking, instead of one? I mean, the landscape is big, but still... Ah, perhaps we should limit the-"

"Is Sanae Yuuji bullying you?" Toadette saw right through Shuichi and cut him in mid-sentence, not allowing him to steer the conversation in the entirely opposite direction.

"Sanae? No, why would you think that? We are friends, not particularly too close, though. Why would you assume he's bullying me?" Shuichi put on a fake laid-back attitude, for this called for drastic measures. There was no way he could get Toadette involved into this. Shuichi was a terrible liar, but he couldn't afford to let it get in the way now. He faced Toadette, pretending he was solely looking forward to the hide and seek.

Toadette stopped for a moment.

Shuichi, seeing she's not moving from the spot, stopped as well and turned around. "Huh, is something the matter?" he ignorantly asked, turning the blind eye to her irritated face.

"Shuichi, do you not trust me?" Toadette wanted to play the card of Shuichi's kindness.

"I do trust you, very much" Shuichi replied casually. "That's exactly why I'm telling you there's absolutely nothing to worry about." Shuichi wanted to smirk, but figured that would give him away pretty easily.

"I don't buy it." Toadette was persistent. She continued walking up the stairs, along with Shuichi. "Types like Sanae Yuuji are easy to read. Egoistic, manipulative, arrogant... the first time I saw him, I could tell he was a jerk." Toadette didn't want to face Shuichi. Truth to be told, she was mad at him as well, for protecting the bully.

Shuichi agreed with every word Toadette used to describe Yuuji, so much it was starting to get agonizing for him to keep acting. "Well, we did hang out during high school, but I was never too close to him, so I don't really know much about Yuuji." What he said wasn't entirely false, but he sincerely hoped they would drop the subject of Yuuji soon.

Toadette gave up on getting anything out of him now. "Let it be as you say, but just so you know Shuichi... I don't believe you and if you're not going to tell me anything, I'll find out for myself." She wholeheartedly planned on carrying out the deed.

Shuichi smirked at that, even though he didn't feel like laughing at all. He, of all people, knew very well how dangerous Yuuji is. "After you find out I'm being bullied, I ask you to inform me of it." He gave her a wink. Shuichi was impressed of his own acting skills.

They reached Wolf's door, much to Shuichi's relief. "If Wolf's sleeping, we won't be waking him up" Shuichi quickly changed the subject.

"If he's not awake by now, something's wrong." Toadette shrugged, watching Shuichi open the door.

Before Shuichi could get in, Wolf opened the door from the other side.

Shuichi: -----

Toadette: -----