Kareshi Kanojo no Jijou
His and Her Circumstances
Volume 2
Act 4: The Day I Fell in Love
by Tsuda Masami
Hana to Yume Comics/ Hakusensha
Arima Souichirou-kun told Miyazawa Yukino-chan that he loved her,
but she blew him off. Right after that, he saw her hidden true
self, and she became Arima's servant. During this time, Miyazawa
started to have feelings for Arima, and after a lot of arguing,
they reached an understanding. The distance between them was
bridged by friendship, and finally, Arima said...
"I guess you didn't know how I felt, but I've always loved you."
Now, what do you suppose happened to them?
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Kareshi Kanojo no Jijou
Act 4: The Day I Fell in Love
--Hey, it's Miyazawa-san!
--She's cute! What's she reading?
--"Bridges of Madison County!" That's what the cover says.
--How romantic...it really suits her.
--That's how pretty girls always are...
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--Arima-kun! You look great today!
--I wonder if he really is going out with Miyazawa-san...
--They make the perfect couple...it's tragic, but true...
Yukino : Hi, Arima-kun.
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[The real book title is something else]
Arima : Why are you still so hung up on trying to impress people?
I told you to be true to yourself!
Yukino : Yeow! What's wrong with just a little showing off,
anyway? You don't have to give me such a hard time
about it.
{Until last month, Arima Souichirou-kun and I, Miyazawa
Yukino, were known throughout the school as the perfect
students, gifted with beauty, brains, and talent in
sports. But the reality is different.}
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Yukino : {Those were just parts that we played. For him, it was
because of the unhappy circumstances of his birth.
For me, it was because of an exaggerated desire to be
loved and admired. But we came to know each other's
true selves, and we decided to stop playing those
roles and become more like ourselves.}
Arima : Here's that print-out for sports day.
Yukino : Hmm, this could still use some work.
There's a typo here.
{But that's all right...}
Arima : Which one?
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Arima : Where is it?
Yukino : Um...h-here.
Arima : Oh, you're right.
Yukino : {I'm now confronted by a very difficult problem.
The truth is, the two of us still aren't dating.}
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Yukino : {Why, you ask? Let's go back to the time when he said
he liked me.}
Arima : I've always loved you.
Yukino : Oh? Well...um...
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Yukino : I'd better go home soon.
{The words just slipped out of my mouth...}
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Yukino : {It was totally out of character for me to get so nervous!
Stupid me! Stupid, stupid me! Now he's acting like
nothing ever happened and we're just friends. This
isn't good. This isn't the time to give up and just
let things happen with time! I have to do something!
I couldn't care less about my real self. Right now,
the very important task that lies before me is...to
tell Arima that I like him!}
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Yukino : Arima-kun, Arima-kun!
Sorry, I was asked to go to the chemistry classroom and
get a report, but something came up. Could you go
instead?
Arima : Sure!
Yukino : {This is the plan: to lure Arima into the deserted science
room and then tell him how I feel!}
Arima : What's wrong, Miyazawa?
I heard a fluorescent lamp broke in the 11th grade
class, and they had to switch classrooms.
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Yukino : {He's alone...}
Arima : Oh, Miyazawa.
--What was that noise? Oh dear! You'd better pick them
all up!
Yukino : Sorry!
{A deserted hallway!}
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Yukino : Arima-kun!
Arima : Huh?
--Presidents of class 1-A, Miyazawa and Arima, report to
the faculty room immediately.
Yukino : Arima-kun!
Yukino : {The moral of this story: recapturing a lost opportunity
really takes a lot of work!}
--Whatcha dreaming about, sis?
--It's getting to be annoying!
Yukino : {I really do like Arima. What is it about him?}
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Yukino : {Of course, he's smart and he has a good personality.
He has a neat and refined air...a wonderful soft,
calm voice...Japanese almond eyes, and wavy hair...
Oh, to think that he would like someone like me!}
Arima : What are you doing, Miyazawa? Let's go to the class
representatives' meeting.
Yukino : {I wish Arima would realize how much he's making me blush
and making me too nervous to talk.}
Watch out!
{Since then, he hasn't shown me any signs of love at all.
I guess it's because he's so polite, and doesn't want to
be a burden to me. And he's really good at making a
poker face...but if he showed how he felt more, it'd be
easier for me to say something.}
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Yukino : {That's it! When I try to just come out and say it, the
timing's all wrong. What I need to do is create a good
situation! If he gets a little nervous too, it will be
easy to tell him that I like him. I've got to destroy
his poker face!
He's alone...}
Arima-kun!
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Arima : What are you doing?
Yukino : NOTHING!
Yukino : I'm home...
Tsukino : Hi, sis.
Kano : Listen to this! Tsuki was being mean!
Tsukino : Oh, don't get upset. It's over now.
Kano : Today in school, I was in class, and...
{Tsuki!}
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Kano : Ha ha ha ha ha!
And then everybody got mad at me! You shouldn't do weird
things like that!
Tsukino : When I saw you, I just suddenly felt that I had to do
something to make you laugh. It's sisterly love.
Kano : Say something, Yukino!
Yukino : Middle school must be so much fun...
Kano : Yukino?
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Kano : Yukino?
Tsukino : What's wrong?
Yukino : Compared to middle school, high school is totally
unfathomable. I wish I were in middle school...
Tsukino : What's with her?
Kano : Just the usual. Must be something to do with Arima-kun.
You know sis...she digs her own grave, falls into her
grave, and wriggles around in it.
Yukino : Stop trying to analyze me, Kano!
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Yukino : {We both feel the same way about each other, and I
want to tell him how I feel, so why can't things
just go right?}
--I'm counting on you, Miyazawa-san!
Yukino : OK!
{What am I doing? I was one breath away from a
romantic rose-coloured high school life...}
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Arima : Where's everybody else?
Yukino : They left already. I've just gotta clean up.
Arima : I came right after my club was over. I'll help out.
Yukino : Thanks.
{We're alone...}
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Yukino : {This is my chance!}
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Yukino : Sorry, I'll pick those up.
Arima : That's all right.
Yukino : {Ah, I feel like he knows I'm watching him...
but I have to say something, right now.}
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Yukino : {But how? I just can't think of anything...and
it's already been days since that time, when I
couldn't answer him.}
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Yukino : {He might not even like me any more.}
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Yukino : {Yeah...maybe he liked me then, but that doesn't
necessarily mean he still does. His feelings might have
vanished. I'm weird...I'm always showing off, and
I'm a liar, and I don't have a good personality.
I'm not cool like Arima. Even if Arima said that he
likes me...why would he? What's so great about me
anyway?}
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Arima : What's wrong, Miyazawa?
Yukino : Nothing.
{No! We should just stay friends!}
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Yukino : {Being his girlfriend isn't everything! It's better
if we're just friends.}
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Arima : Miyazawa...I haven't heard how you felt yet. When
will you give me an answer?
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Yukino : {Better as friends...even if he liked me then, that
doesn't necessarily mean he still does...
we should just stay friends...}
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Yukino : I'm sorry!
{I must have looked awful just then. Now I finally know
what it was that set me in motion...}
Yukino : {I was running away.}
Yukino : I was trying to protect myself. I ran away so that I
wouldn't be hurt...I didn't try to trust Arima.
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Yukino : When I think about it now, even when I was trying to
tell Arima that I liked him, there was a part of me
that wasn't entirely serious. How did I end up like
this? It's so humiliating, what can I do?
Kano : Come on, don't cry. It's great just that you
realized it! When you admit you have a problem,
it's already half solved.
Yukino : Huh?
Kano : Well, sis, you've never been hurt before. You've
always been praised, but you hid your real self
because you were scared. If the false you gets
hurt, it doesn't really hurt at all...but your
real heart can still get hurt.
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Kano : And the person you're most scared of being hurt by
is Arima-kun.
Yukino : I see...
Kano : I think you've always known that, somewhere. Being
scared of getting hurt means that you care more about
your own heart than the heart of the other person...
but I think maybe falling in love means the
opposite of that.
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Yukino : Kano, that's awesome! How'd you get so smart?
Kano : By reading manga and novels!
Yukino : {I need courage!}
Yukino : {I've gotta jump over this hurdle, or love will stay
out of my reach!}
Good morning.
Arima : Morning.
Yukino : {If I try to say it with words, things might get all
screwed up again.}
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Yukino : {If I have to get hurt, I want it to be Arima who
hurts me.}
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Yukino : {On that day, we became "girlfriend" and "boyfriend."}