Even with chuunibyou, let's learn together!

Page 202

Chapter 308 Joy

"Hmm... Hayakawa-kun, did Mia run into some trouble when she went out just now?"

Aoba Yuzuki watched Mia's departing figure, hesitant to speak. She wanted to ask, but was too embarrassed to press the matter. She could only turn to Hayakawa and cautiously ask, "Could it be…?"

Hayakawa said succinctly, "It's nothing, it's just that after we got to the shopping street, someone hit on her."

"Ah, so that's what it is. It's been here before."

Upon hearing this, Aoba Yuzuki visibly relaxed, patting her chest and saying, "I thought I'd run into some creditors from the temple outside. I'm so glad you're alright..."

Hayakawa: "..."

This place actually has outstanding debts? It seems the situation is even more serious than I imagined.

"Miss Yuzuki, let's put aside what happened before. I have something I'd like to discuss with you."

Hayakawa hesitated for a moment, then looked at the earnest and sincere face.

"Hmm? What is it?"

Yuzuki asked in confusion, but the next moment, as if realizing something, Ban's expression suddenly changed drastically, and he looked at Hayakawa in horror: "It's not that Hayakawa-kun wants to leave, is it? No!"

In an instant, Yuzuki's face was filled with sorrow and loneliness. Her watery eyes looked like those of a stray kitten begging for pity from kind-hearted humans on the roadside, making people feel sympathy at first glance.

"no!"

Hayakawa's lips twitched slightly, and he said simply, "Two of my friends are coming over soon and may stay for a few more days. I was wondering if the temple is convenient and if you could make an exception."

"Eh? You're not leaving,"

Yuzuki was stunned, tilted her head with a blank expression, and finally repeated, "Two friends are coming?"

"Yes, it's the friend who initially came to Hokkaido with me. He said he wanted to come over as a tourist, and he wants to experience the temple life that is characteristic of Hokkaido and Sapporo, so he wants to stay at Mikazuki-ji Temple for a few days."

Hayakawa looked at Yuzuki earnestly and said, "If you find it difficult, I will pay for it, consider it as rent for staying at the temple."

"No...no need, definitely not!"

Yuzuki, who had been silent, suddenly interrupted Hayakawa, then rushed to Hayakawa's side, her eyes shining with excitement, and said, "So, Hayakawa-kun, not only are you not leaving Mikazuki-ji to go to another temple, but you're also going to introduce your friends to come and worship at the temple?"

"Uh...sort of."

Hayakawa was stunned, and the next moment he realized his mistake.

Temples are places that are meant to receive guests. For example, even though Mikazuki-ji Temple has fallen into such a state of disrepair, it still keeps its reception room clean and presentable. It also has rooms specifically for guests to stay in for a short period of time, even though the corridor floors of those rooms are rotten and dangerous to walk in, and most guests are unwilling to stay there. But just because no one stays there doesn't mean there aren't any.

Even ordinary guests can stay in temples to worship, chant sutras, and offer incense, and can even call themselves pilgrims, let alone the relatives and friends of temple members, who should naturally receive very good treatment.

"Haha."

Hayakawa chuckled. Temples and spiritual practice had always held a noble aura in his eyes, to the point that he had forgotten that one of the temple's duties was to receive worshippers. He had brought two people to the temple to pay their respects, hoping that more and more visitors would come. Yuzuki was overjoyed and would never turn anyone away.

"Isn't this a great thing? The number of worshippers this month can be increased by two again,"

As Aoba Yuzuki spoke, she happily counted on her fingers how many guests had visited Mikazuki Temple this month. Then, she coughed lightly and, with a reserved yet undisguised joy, said to Hayakawa, "Hayakawa-kun, please have your friends come as soon as possible... anytime is fine. We will prepare well and do our best for the temple."

"OK, all right."

Hayakawa smiled and nodded, then hesitated for a moment before saying, "I'm sorry, Ms. Yuzuki, those two people don't come from well-off families, and they're both students like me, so we can't provide a lot for their donations..."

"Hayakawa-kun,"

Upon hearing this, Aoba Yuzuki puffed out her cheeks in dissatisfaction and said, "What kind of person do you take me for? A greedy vampire?"

She straightened her upper body and squinted at Hayakawa, her body language exuding a sense of pressure, causing Hayakawa to involuntarily take a half step back.

"No matter how difficult things are for the temple, I would never ask a friend of a friend for donations,"

Cang Ye Yuyue spoke earnestly, then a faint smile appeared on her fair face: "Lighting two incense sticks at the temple to add some incense to the Buddha's offerings is enough."

"...Excuse me, Ms. Yuzuki."

Hayakawa looked at Aoba Yuzuki's gentle smile and felt her sincere apology with a pure and earnest heart, and felt a sense of emotion.

Even though the temple had fallen into such dire straits that it could no longer sustain itself, for some reason, whenever I saw Ms. Yuzuki's carefree and innocent smile, I always felt that "there is still hope for this temple," just like the phrase she often said.

"There will always be a way."

No matter what difficulties you encounter, as long as you maintain your mindset and keep working hard, there will always be a way.

But myself.

Hayakawa couldn't help but think of himself, and his mood darkened again. He probably couldn't find anyone in the World Championship with a better mentality and who worked harder than him, but so much time had passed and he still hadn't found a "solution".

Perhaps this is the difference between people. Miss Yuzuki is optimistic and always faces any insurmountable predicament with a smile, while I always feel sorry for myself and feel sad when I encounter setbacks and failures.

I am not as good as Miss Yuzuki.

As Hayakawa was thinking this, he overheard Aoba Yuzuki talking on the phone with Hihi, reporting the good news that her friend was coming to the acting abbot.

"What kind of almsgiving?"

Aoba Yuzuki asked the person on the other end of the phone, puzzled, "But almsgiving is never mandatory; it's always the worshippers' own decision..."

"Can we decide that? No, no, we can't decide that. And what's this 'hot spring fee'? Sister Xixi, are you running a fever? Where are the hot springs in our temple?"

"Experience the life of a temple servant? Isn't that just making guests do chores and then asking them for money? That's going too far!"

"That's enough!!"

Aoba Yuzuki angrily hung up the phone, her smile vanishing completely, replaced by a feeling that her purity had been tainted by evil worldly affairs.

Hayakawa: "..."

I take back what I said earlier. With such an insatiable and excessively greedy abbot, Mikazuki-ji Temple is doomed.

"Excuse me…"

Seeing Hayakawa's empty eyes, Aoba Yuzuki smiled awkwardly and explained, "Hihi-nee worries too much about the temple, so sometimes she's a bit..."

A gust of wind blew by, and Hayakawa nodded gently: "It's alright, I understand."

Chapter 309 Your Grades?

Although Hayakawa only lived in Mikazuki-ji Temple for two days, he already knew the situation there very well. Hayakawa could understand that it was only natural for the temple's abbot to want to maintain order. However, while he could understand, he was still unwilling to let Furuhashi and Ogata do chores.

After all, they are different from other children. Both of them are so smart, born to study. Their hands should not be used for work, but for reading and writing.

However, they have indeed been somewhat lazy lately, going on trips and eating monkfish, their minds not on studying at all.

Wouldn't it be better to let them suffer a little...?

Hayakawa pondered for a moment, but then noticed that Aoba Yuzuki looked troubled and hesitant, so he said, "Miss Yuzuki, please just say what you want to say."

"Um... I actually wanted to ask, Hayakawa-kun, are your two friends boys or girls?"

Aoba Yuzuki was a little embarrassed and waved her hands repeatedly, saying, "I'm not saying that boys can't come, but after all, this place was a nunnery not long ago, and the members living in the temple now are all girls. If two boys come, there will definitely be many inconveniences, so I want to make preparations in advance."

Hayakawa smiled upon hearing this: "You don't need to worry about that. Those two are girls, they won't cause any trouble for the temple."

"Really? That would be great."

Aoba Yuzuki patted her chest, clearly relieved, but the next second she looked at Hayakawa with a strange expression.

Hayakawa was taken aback: "What's with that expression?"

"It's nothing, I just felt... Hayakawa-kun is the type of student who can go on trips with two girls during holidays... How should I put it, he's really popular."

Aoba Yuzuki glanced at Hayakawa and asked in a strangely admiring tone, "Could it be that Hayakawa is what you call a 'normie' on campus?"

"Currently charged?"

Hayakawa's face turned green upon hearing the word. It instantly brought to mind a multitude of things: the boisterous JK girls and dyed-hair guys in his class who would sit noisily on the backs of their chairs and desks as soon as get out of class ended; the muscular gorillas who would sweat and bask in their youth on the track instead of attending class; and Wu, who spoke in a frivolous, drawn-out tone, constantly mentioning who in the next class was dating…

They're all the kind of people Hayakawa despises the most!

"I'm not!"

Hayakawa's face was more gloomy than ever before. This was the Nth time in his life that he had been so humiliated. Well, although the number was countless, before it was Furuhashi and Ogata who had humiliated him with his grades. This time, he was truly humiliated by his way of addressing people.

He would never allow anyone to call him that.

"Ahem, forgive my bluntness,"

Aoba Yuzuki wasn't like those two small fry, Furuhashi and Ogata, so Hayakawa couldn't just bully her. She could only cough lightly and argue her point, proudly pointing to herself: "My grades at my school are pretty good. I wouldn't say I'm always number one, but I'm definitely among the top students. How could I be a 'normie'?"

When Hayakawa said those words, he was in great pain. The phrase "ranking among the best" would be a compliment to 99% of people, but for him it was a real disgrace. Yet now Hayakawa was going to use this disgrace to bolster his credibility, which made his heart feel as if it were being gripped by a giant hand.

It hurts... Oh well, I'm used to it.

Hayakawa silently wept, but the next moment she heard Aoba Yuzuki say in a confused tone, "Good grades... isn't that what it means to be a popular person?"

"Huh? Where is it?!"

Upon hearing this, Hayakawa immediately frowned and retorted. He could not allow such a vulgar term as "normie" to be confused with "model student".

"Huh? Why are you so excited?"

Aoba Yuzuki looked at Hayakawa with a puzzled expression, not quite understanding Hayakawa's trigger point, but still explained earnestly: "Look, aren't the popular students in school also students? So if you want to be popular and have a high status among students, grades are also a very important factor, so popular students usually have good grades... That's how it's portrayed in TV dramas."

"I've never heard of such a thing,"

Hayakawa said firmly, looking at Aoba Yuzuki in a low voice, "Miss Yuzuki, the TV series you watched must be in the magical realism style. Although film and television works are made, they should at least conform to the basic logic of reality. If something like this can be broadcast on TV, then I think the environment of TV dramas needs to be drastically reformed. Don't watch this kind of TV series in the future."

That's right, I, the future king of Tokyo and the future ruler of Japan, will change all of this!

Aoba Yuzuki: "...Oh, okay."

"Oh, I almost forgot."

Hayakawa turned to Aoba Yuzuki and asked curiously, "I remember you're a high school student too, Yuzuki-san, right? I think you're a second-year student. How are your grades?"

"Huh? Why are you asking this suddenly?"

Aoba Yuzuki's eyes narrowed slightly in surprise, clearly not expecting Hayakawa to ask that question.

Hayakawa said calmly, "I was just asking casually."

"That's it,"

Aoba Yuzuki felt a slight sense of relief. After observing that Hayakawa's expression was normal, she vaguely said, "I'm alright."

"What do you mean by 'okay'? What was your score? What was your rank in the grade? How difficult was the exam? What is the school's ranking in the local area?!"

"Are you really just asking casually!?"

Aoba Yuzuki was completely overwhelmed by the series of questions, her eyes swirling with confusion. She helplessly reached out to block Hayakawa, who was rapidly approaching.

"Uh, sorry."

Hayakawa realized his lapse in composure and silently took a step back. But it's no wonder he reacted this way. Ever since the names Ogata Riju and Furuhashi Fumino appeared in his world, his life seemed to have been flipped by a strange switch. Suffocating beings kept appearing, trampling him into the ground and humiliating him mercilessly. After repeated occurrences, Hayakawa had developed PTSD from the phrase "transfer girl." Whenever he heard that a transfer girl was coming to his grade, Hayakawa's heart would immediately ache reflexively, as if he had already foreseen another future of being shrouded in secrecy. And now, the girl in front of him, Aoba Yuzuki, was undoubtedly beautiful and had a perfect figure. She was also a high school student, especially her familiar high breasts, which gave Hayakawa an uncontrollable sense of déjà vu. Naturally, he didn't want to let her go.

Fearing

"That~"

Aoba Yuzuki scratched her face, somewhat guiltily saying, "My best recent result was around 100th place."

"Top 100 in the city?"

Hayakawa muttered to himself, his brows furrowed on the surface, but a slight sense of relief settled in his heart.

Chapter 310 Hayakawa's True Level

Being ranked in the top 100 in the city is already quite good, but that's only for ordinary students; it's nothing special for Hayakawa.

The difficulty of Ichinose Academy's exam question bank is notorious in Hayakawa and even in several nearby cities. For example, several high schools near Ichinose use Ichinose High School's monthly exam questions as their own extended thinking questions, which shows how difficult the questions are. Hayakawa chose to enroll in Ichinose precisely because of this.

Hayakawa, though he usually acts like a defeated warrior when taking exams, repeatedly losing and being humiliated by various strong figures in the school, is actually at the top level in the school.

Similar to the top warrior under the boss in a shonen manga, defeating him would basically mean the manga is about to end. Other ordinary students in the school would find it extremely difficult to beat him, while those who can consistently defeat him are definitely not normal students; they are all extraordinary beings who have broken through the ceiling.

Fumino Furuhashi and Rizu Ogata are both at the level of being able to skip grades and be specially admitted to top universities at any time. To exaggerate further, they can be said to be the future stars of literature and science in the country. Hayakawa, an ordinary person with mediocre talent, would be like an egg hitting a rock no matter how hard he tries to go head-to-head with them. He would break with a single touch. Umaru Doma and Masuzu Natsukawa are also at an abnormal level of talent. Although they are not at the level of the two masters of literature and science, they can grasp the knowledge of high school level with ease. If they did not go to Ichinose High School, they would easily be the top students in their grade if they took simple tests at nearby schools. Just like Umaru was always the top student in the high school before her.

Despite such a huge gap in talent, Hayakawa still managed to narrow the gap between herself and them to a level that was barely acceptable through her own efforts, which was truly remarkable.

So although Hayakawa was constantly wallowing in self-pity and filled with resentment, in the eyes of people from other schools, he was someone who could dominate a region in the dark and forbidden zone of Ichinose Academy and even fight on par with a supreme being like Furuhashi Ogata. That was truly terrifying.

Therefore, being among the top 100 in the city is nothing special for Hayakawa. Every year, the students from Ichinose High School consistently rank among the top in various city-wide exams. If it weren't for those strange individuals, Hayakawa would be number one in the city.

However, upon hearing Hayakawa's words, Aoba Yuzuki could no longer maintain her composure and blushed deeply, exclaiming, "What?! Hayakawa-kun, are you deliberately humiliating me?"

"Huh? What do you mean? Me?"