17-sai Kiss to Dilemma [Chapter 18]

While walking in the rain, Ririka recalls seeing Yuu kissing Minami and wonders if she’s the only one who thinks that she is someone unrivalled and important [to Yuu]. She really couldn’t believe it but they kissed. She sits on the floor and starts crying. Meanwhile, Tsubasa and his friend, Tanaka [guesswork from 田中] are walking with umbrellas. Tanaka suggests that they go sing [at a karaoke bar/KTV]. Tsubasa says that isn’t a place where two guys ought to go to. Tanaka tells him that it is because Tsubasa looks glum lately. Somewhat blushing, Tsubasa says that he had already recovered from that jilted attack-- Then, he sees Ririka crying in the rain. He rushes over to her and asks why she is here and stupid, she’s all wet.. Tanaka is aghast for Ririka is the one who rejected Tsubasa. Tsubasa notices that Ririka is crying. When he calls out her name again, Ririka snaps out of it. She quickly wipes her tears and puts on a smile. She laughs by saying that nothing happened and she forgot her umbrella. Ririka is startled when Tsubasa asks where Yuu is. Ririka smiles again and says that Yuu has something to do... Waving up her hand, Ririka assures him that it is alright and she’s just waiting for her parents to fetch her. Doubting her, Tsubasa grabs her wrist and says how he can just let her off with her looking like that. While holding the umbrella to Ririka and walking with her, Tsubasa apologizes to Tanaka that he’s going ahead. As Tanaka says okay, smiling Ririka tries to protest and insists that she is okay. Tsubasa scolds her stupid and do not force herself to smile. He holds her hand tightly as Ririka asks where they are going. Back at school, downcast Minami is sitting in front of a table with a chess board. Flashback: At the multi-function room, Minami closed the curtains and asked, so, what’s up. Yuu said that if he were to say that he’ll stay at her side, would she stop harassing Ririka. Minami smiled at serious Yuu and said that she’s quite happy for he unexpectedly admitted defeat to her, and Ririka is also almost at her limit. “I only tease her and she would become beet red and shiver up. *Yuu looked sad* Ah..[your] face is quite scary--..a hostile face. *held his coat and snickered* Are you serious *pulled Yuu to her* about wanting to stay at my side? Then, as a deal, *pointed to her lips* kiss me.” Yuu looked startled. He quickly put his hand into his pocket and said that she really has bad taste. Taking off her glasses, Minami replied that she only wanted him to kiss her and it appears that he’s quite an expert kisser.

As Yuu pulled her to him, Minami closed her eyes and they seem to kiss but it turns out that Yuu put his hand on her mouth. Minami is flustered that she called out his name. Yuu told her that he won’t kiss her. Minami exclaimed what is going on, isn’t he going to comply with the agreement for she will continue to harass Ririka. Yuu darkly told her to do what she wants but if she does it.. He smiled and held up his cellphone. Minami exclaimed if he.. There is a picture of Yuu going to kiss Minami on Yuu’s cellphone. Yuu said that if he distributed it in the school, isn’t it quite troublesome for her who is an intern (student). Minami looked flustered. Yuu asked Minami if she won’t cause trouble to Ririka again. Grinding her teeth, Minami shouted that girl doesn’t know how to play chess, doesn’t resist when bullied so what’s good about her. Yuu asked if he isn’t intelligent, not good in chess, not good at sports and a coward, what would she do. Frowning Minami said that if that’s how it is, it isn’t him anymore. Yuu smiled and said that Ririka isn’t the same, for even if he cannot play chess, a coward and a crybaby, she would still always be at his side. This surprised Minami. Yuu turned around and left. End flashback. Minami mutters that she got careless for in the most important competition, she has lost to Yuu. She smiles and thinks that is the first time she saw him with that kind of expression. At a karaoke bar, Ririka says that this KTV is quite hospitable that they lent them a hair dryer and towels. Wiping his head with a towel, Tsubasa tells her that this place is his family’s. Ririka sarcastically says that’s really nice, no wonder the child of a rich family can get special service. Tsubasa looks at her and throws the menu on her face. Ririka angrily shouts his name. Tsubasa grins and tells her to order what she likes and he’ll also treat her occasionally. Opening the menu, Tsubasa tells her that there are delicious takoyaki [octopus in batter balls] here and yakisoba [chow mein], what would she like to eat. Ririka thinks that he’s quite nice and could it be that he brought her to this place to comfort her. Ririka apologizes to him for recklessly venting her bad temper towards him. “I’m truly sorry.” Tsubasa smiles and strokes her head. He tells her not to apologize for aren’t they FRIENDS. Blushing Ririka looks at smiling Tsubasa. She tearfully says that he’s such a good person. Tsubasa tsks and asks if she noticed it only now. Ririka says that before, she always think that he was a bad person but it turns out that he’s a good person. “I’m really sorry.” This angers Tsubasa and mutters, geez. As Ririka happily looks at the menu and wonders what she’ll eat, Tsubasa looks at her and asks what happened between her and Yuu.

At the shoe lockers, Yuu thinks that it is bad for he doesn’t have an umbrella. Then, his cellphone is ringing and it shows that it is Ririka. He answers it and asks her what the matter is. The one who answers is Tsubasa who said that it isn’t what the matter is, coward crybaby. “I heard you kissed some other girl. What’s up with that.” Yuu asks him how he knew about that and where’s Ririka, give her the phone. Thinking that it is good that Ririka is in the toilet, Tsubasa tells him that Ririka saw it and does he think that he won’t be found out. “Don’t do that kind of thing that will hurt the girl you like, idiot.” This made Yuu flustered. He asks where they are. Tsubasa says that they are at the KTV in front of the station. “..ah, if you don’t hurry, I would be comforting her. The quality of the sound proofing here is quite good and there is no CCTV[closed-circuit tv]. Fufu.” Yuu warns him not to dare touch her for he absolutely won’t forgive him. With that, Yuu hangs up the phone. Tsubasa looks surprised then laughs for it turns out that Yuu wasn’t two-timing. At the traffic light, Yuu is catching his breath from running. He curses over no public transport available or else, he would have reached the place earlier. Then, the bus with Ririka inside passes by. Ririka has emailed Tsubasa an apology for suddenly going home and thanked him for today. And, Yuu starts running at the opposite way to go to the KTV. The rain has stopped and Ririka is at the beach. She takes a deep breath and shouts, “Yuu, you idiot, coward!! Liar, two-timer..” She sits down and laughs that her voice is quite hoarse. She thinks that no matter how much shouted, she still feels quite sad. Holding her necklace tight, she prepares to throw it to the sea. Then, she remembers Yuu telling her that he always really likes her and please go steady with him, and saying that it is because she is very important to him. Ririka trembles and closes her eyes. She wonders why at this time, she would think of their happy moments. She holds the necklace tightly to her chest. She cries over being stupid. “Stupid..how come I couldn’t let it go to throw it away. (-see, in the end, I cannot go and hate Yuu-)” Then, Ririka is surprised when Yuu hugs her from behind and says, “I finally found you.”

Comment: And, it turns out that Yuu did use that cellphone to counter-blackmail Minami to quit harassing Ririka. It’s not quite original but then, it’s good that things aren’t unnecessarily dragged on. This is what I like about Yuu, he does something to stop the ‘threat/obstacle’ before things get out of hand. And, he is serious when he warned Minami earlier. From Minami’s reaction, it seems that she is going to back off. From what Yuu said, it makes me wonder if aside from pretending to be weak, coward and a crybaby to get Ririka to ‘protect’ him, it is also some sort of way to screen out girls who are just interested in his ‘positive side’ like Minami. Tsubasa is quite a good guy and even after being rejected, he can still act as a friend to Ririka. And, for a while there, I thought Ririka is going to do a Hana Ni Kedamono scene of girl throwing away something precious into the sea..thankfully, she didn’t. And, thankfully, Yuu is a good guy for it might be bad if she still loves him even if he is two-timing her. ^^; So, Yuu finds her and will probably explain what happened. And, maybe some lovey-dovey while doing that..hehe. Also, it is interesting that Yuu would lie about his ‘real self’, Minami would lie to bully Ririka, and Ririka would tend to lie that she is alright. :P Scans by 离境汉化组

Quote of the day:

Love is weakest when there is more doubt than trust, but love is strongest when we learn to trust in spite of doubts. ~ Author Unknown