Even with chuunibyou, let's learn together!

Page 199

"..."

Hayakawa felt even more ashamed upon hearing this, because his first thought was to borrow a stick from Furuhashi.

Hayakawa felt strange. When he first entered high school, he was not as withdrawn as he was in elementary and middle school. He started to pretend to be friendly. Although he gained some popularity on campus because of his good looks and excellent grades, he never had a real friendship.

He had never experienced romance or brotherhood, nor had he ever cared about them. He had never even had a teacher-student relationship because of his deeply entrenched and stubborn beliefs. All he had was aimless studying and an endless sea of ​​problems.

Chapter 303 The Emperor's Change

The beauty of youth lies in its fleeting nature.

During puppy love, you might be peeking into a study hall with your girlfriend when you suddenly spot your homeroom teacher's large, dark face pressed against the back window. A moment of panic ensues, followed by a severe reprimand in the office. Or perhaps you're curled up in a corner of your dorm room, playing online games with your roommate, howling and screaming all night. Or maybe you spend a holiday night whispering on your phone to someone whose gender you don't even know, until dawn before finally saying goodnight… These scenes don't linger in your memory for long. You might even find them commonplace, or even too shameful to recall. But then, one exhausting work afternoon, forced by your boss to post a work-related ad on social media, you accidentally stumble upon an old graduation photo. A flood of memories rushes back, and you finally realize the true meaning of youth, and that you can never recapture it.

Hayakawa had never had such an experience. His youth seemed to have been filled with inexplicable fighting spirit and mountains of textbooks and books since elementary school. Countless nights until dawn, while others said goodnight to the person on the other end of the phone and went to sleep, Hayakawa wrote pen after pen until the nib was worn out under the light, and then threw the full notebook of wrong questions into the bookshelf.

Sometimes, when he was so tired from studying that he could barely keep his eyes open, Hayakawa would prop his chin up with his hand, turn his head to look at the desk lamp that was used to illuminate the room, and feel lost.

He felt like the protagonist in those old-fashioned movies and TV dramas, burdened with a deep-seated hatred, looking at everyone with a bitter and resentful air, as if others owed him millions, especially looking at Furuhashi and Ogata.

But what will happen after a few years is still unknown. What is certain is that when he looks back after a few years, he will find that there is nothing worth remembering about his student days. All he has is studying, studying, and studying.

Hayakawa felt lost because of this, and that's why he came to Mikazuki-ji Temple, hoping to find his true self.

"Humph…"

Hayakawa smiled faintly as he thought of this.

He knew he had changed, even significantly compared to when he first entered the school.

When I first entered Ichinose Academy, I was a pure emperor. What youth? What memories? The meaning of youth is to trample others underfoot! And my future memories should also be about trampling others underfoot!

Dominating the school and making everyone look up to him from below, becoming Ichinose's undisputed king... Isn't that a good kind of youth and memories?

If things really went that smoothly, then Hayakawa's three years of high school would probably be exactly the same as his junior high school years. Socializing and classmates would all be ignored. Isn't school just about teachers and textbooks? All he would need to do is study.

However, reality is far from ideal. Hayakawa, who was full of determination to study and strong self-esteem, encountered the biggest setback of his short life in his first monthly exam after joining the high school. He also met two formidable rivals who were obviously strong at first glance.

Fumino Furuhashi and Riju Ogata stood like two towering mountains before him, rendering his efforts futile.

When Hayakawa first heard about their grades, he couldn't help but ask the students around him about their situation.

"The top scorers in this month's exam were Furuhashi and Ogata, right? How were they?"

"Incredible! They've gotten perfect scores in every subject since junior high, and... I feel like they haven't even used their full strength yet."

Hayakawa: "..."

At that moment, Hayakawa looked at his test paper with a score in the nineties and felt a little panicked.

But it didn't matter. After taking the test twice more, Hayakawa wasn't panicked at all; she was simply in despair.

Therefore, he began to communicate with the people around him, trying to get information about Furuhashi and Ogata indirectly. Even if it was just being polite, he had to pretend to be friendly. Although it was really difficult at first, and he couldn't even speak clearly when talking to people, Hayakawa had no shortage of effort to move forward... So in the end, it actually had a good effect. He gained some popularity at school. Although it didn't help with his studies, gradually, the campus, which was originally empty and full of studying, seemed to be changing.

This change left Hayakawa feeling lost, and the greetings from his classmates only added to his distress. But he still tried his best to adapt to the environment while thinking of a way to defeat the two men…

However, one morning, as he lay on a deckchair on the rooftop, wall-mounted loudspeakers suddenly started broadcasting a message.

"Hayakawa Shiro, Class 1-B, please proceed to the principal's office immediately."

The story begins here…

"Ugh…"

The recollection ended, and Hayakawa sighed with emotion.

Without them, I would still be just like Hayakawa in junior high school, a weirdo in the eyes of my classmates and teachers who only knew how to study and never communicated. But now, because I met those two people, I have transformed from the great and ruthless "academic emperor" into Hayakawa who thinks of borrowing underwear from girls when I encounter problems.

A flash of realization crossed Hayakawa's eyes: they had brought her a lot of emotional pain, not to mention physical pain, and a whole host of troublesome things... but at the same time, they had also changed her a lot.

Hayakawa isn't quite sure whether this change is good or bad, but she will try to accept it.

"Hayakawa, Hayakawa-kun?"

A soft call from the side interrupted Hayakawa's thoughts; it was Aoba Yuzuki's voice, along with Mia's usual indifferent gaze.

"what happened?"

Hayakawa turned to look at the two women, a faint smile on his face, like ripples on a clear spring, and a gentle light reflected in his clear black eyes.

Mia, who was looking at him, happened to see this scene. Her face turned red for no reason, and she quickly turned her head to the other side.

At that moment, she suddenly felt that the person in front of her might be a good person, and that what happened with Yueye before might have been a misunderstanding.

However, this idea only lasted for a moment before being rejected by Mia, whose mind was full of misogyny, and she returned to her firm idea of ​​getting rid of the temple bugs.

"nothing,"

Aoba Yuzuki looked at Hayakawa and said, "We just don't have matching underwear, so I was thinking of going to buy some together today."

"Should we go out at this time?"

Hayakawa glanced at the sky; it was almost noon, the sun was gradually moving directly overhead, so he said to Yuzuki, "Miss Yuzuki, you still need to cook lunch. If we go out to buy food now, will we have enough time to cook later?"

"Actually, we were a bit rushed...after all, our area is a bit remote,"

Aoba Yuzuki said somewhat embarrassedly, "Actually, normally there should be shops selling all kinds of clothing for training next to temples, but at Mikazuki Temple... you know, we don't have much business."

Chapter 304 The Phone Call at the Ancient Bridge

"Uh, this..."

Hayakawa's expression froze upon hearing this, and he was speechless. Aoba Yuzuki often unintentionally revealed her miserable state at the temple in just a few words, and the sense of inferiority that she naturally exuded was both funny and pitiful.

"How about this, I'll go buy it."

Hayakawa looked at Aoba Yuzuki's troubled expression and said without hesitation, "Tell me roughly where it is, and I'll go buy it. Then, Yuzuki-san, you can just cook as usual at the temple. After I come back and we finish eating, we can start our training in the afternoon."

"That would be acceptable,"

Aoba Yuzuki's eyes lit up, then she looked at Hayakawa with a mixture of disappointment and shame and said, "I'm so sorry, Hayakawa-kun. We agreed to start training this morning, but it was postponed because we didn't prepare in advance. It's all my fault for not checking beforehand."

"It's alright, half a day won't make a difference."

Hayakawa smiled faintly and said, "Then I'll go now."

"Um,"

Aoba Yuzuki looked up at Hayakawa, then nodded vigorously: "The location is roughly after exiting the temple gate, then heading south, and then..."

"okay, I get it."

As soon as Aoba Yuzuki finished speaking, Hayakawa was about to leave when a voice suddenly came from the side: "Wait."

"Ok?"

Hayakawa turned his head in confusion, only to see Mia with her arms crossed, staring coldly at the two of them, her pink lips tightly pursed as if she hadn't just spoken.

"What's wrong, Miss Meiya?"

Hayakawa said confused.

"I also have something to do over there,"

Meiya's expression hardened, and she said in a slightly cold but nonchalant tone, "I'll go."

"Oh, that works too,"

Hayakawa was taken aback, then said nonchalantly, "Then bring one for me too."

"Who...who wants to buy you panties?!"

Miya's face instantly flushed crimson, and she looked at Hayakawa with utter disgust.

Hayakawa said, puzzled, "Uh...then let me go buy it for you?"

"Who asked you to buy me panties?!"

Meiya's eyes showed even more disgust, and the blood red on her face was almost impossible to hide.

"..."

Hayakawa asked expressionlessly, "What exactly do you want?"

"that is…"

Meiya bit her pink lips, seemingly wanting to say something but holding back.

"Ah... don't fight,"

Aoba Yuzuki glanced at Hayakawa to the left, then at Mia to the right, her eyes lighting up as if she had suddenly thought of something: "That's right, why don't you two go together?"

Meiya: "..."

ha?

……

Not far from Mikazuki-ji Temple, on the downhill sidewalk, a boy in monk's robes and a girl in the same attire walked side by side. Despite wearing the same clothes, they maintained an extremely subtle distance from each other, giving the impression of being strangers.

The weather was pretty good today. The midday sun flickered between the towering buildings. Cars sparsely navigated the network of roads along the side streets, weaving through the steel jungle. People in their houses and garages gestured to each other through glass windows. Pedestrians on bicycles and electric bikes rode through the shadows of the towering buildings. Crowds waited at traffic lights for the traffic lights to turn on. Cars of all sizes flowed like water, blocking the city's main roads. The small eateries along the roadside were bustling with people, their steam rising. The colorful billboards on the buildings overhead, like trees adorned with gray skyscrapers, together created a dazzling world.

Hayakawa stared straight ahead at the road stretching into the distance. His eyesight was particularly poor due to his studies. While it wasn't to the point where he couldn't distinguish between people and dogs in a foggy weather, he could still not tell faces from a distance. However, he didn't like wearing glasses, so he didn't get them. Despite his poor eyesight, his other senses were relatively sharp, such as his sense of smell and hearing. His sense of smell was naturally exceptional; even if Hayakawa brought a dog to compete with him in a sense of smell, the outcome would be uncertain. The same was true for his hearing.

At this moment, he could hear many subtle sounds: birds chirping and hopping on the bare branches of the trees by the roadside, the sounds of people walking in the residential buildings along the roadside, but the most prominent sound was the roar of the nearby factories operating.

A common feature of modern cities is that the sparsely populated outskirts are often occupied by water plants, paper mills, and car factories. The loud noise is the main theme in these places, which is obviously very different from the quiet Buddhist sanctuary that temples should be.

Hayakawa withdrew his gaze and silently continued forward.

Just as Ms. Aoba Yuzuki said, the location of Mikazuki Temple is too remote, situated in a corner of the city. With the increasing number of factories and mechanized buildings, people in the vicinity will naturally move to the city center to avoid the noise and environmental problems caused by the factories. Fewer and fewer people will come to the temple to worship, leaving only some elderly people who have been there for a long time. And these elderly people will gradually stop going out because of their advanced age.

Therefore, the decline of Mikazuki Temple was perhaps inevitable. This is probably why Miss Yuzuki's mother chose to leave the temple and did not support Miss Yuzuki's inheritance of the temple. She may have already seen that Mikazuki Temple had no future, so she did not want to add such a burden to her daughter.

Thinking about it this way, even if his mother were willing to help, it would probably be of no use, because it would only be a temporary solution. Even if the nearby residents regained their recognition of Mikazuki-ji's status as a local temple in the short term, the problem of people gradually moving away would still not be solved. When there are fewer nearby residents, there will still be very few people who come to worship. In a few years, without subsidies, Mikazuki-ji will still have all sorts of problems and eventually will not be able to continue.

Perhaps this is the dilemma of modern temples. Like a commercial street that is gradually becoming deserted, attracting only regular customers will eventually lead to their elimination. They must change from the inside out to have any hope.

"Um…"

As Hayakawa walked, he pondered deeply. If he were to come up with a solution, the first thing he would need to do is to completely renovate the entire Mikazuki Temple. In particular, all the rotten floorboards must be removed and replaced. Otherwise, if a worshipper finally comes to pay their respects, they will be scared away after only a few steps because they have to wade through the rotten ground.

Another unique aspect of the temple is that since fewer people live nearby, it's time to spread its fame. As long as the fame is big enough and spreads far enough, there's no need to worry about a lack of visitors. That's how it is in the information age; as long as there's a gimmick, plenty of people will be willing to travel long distances to join in the fun.

For example, comments like "Oh no, the fortune-telling at this temple is incredibly accurate!" or "The red bean tea here is really unique!" can even be considered special. For instance, the temple Hayakawa visited in Tokyo had elevators installed; they were practically ready to cast the Buddha statues entirely in metal...

However, Mikazuki-ji Temple isn't particularly special; it's a very ordinary and traditional temple. If there's anything special about it, it's that the members are all very beautiful, especially the head priestess, Aoba Yuzuki, and Tsukiyo. They all share one thing in common: they're all beautiful…

Hayakawa's rapidly processing thoughts suddenly stopped, and he instantly headed in a strange direction.

If we absolutely had to find a way to cause a temple fire without any scruples…

Hayakawa: "..."

Inner Theater:

"Welcome to Mikazuki-ji Temple! Please come in, guests!"

"Should we pray first? Or should we ask for a marriage partner?"

"Or is it... Wa~da~shi~wa!"

……

Hayakawa: "..."

That probably won't work.

"Wow, Kimo~"

Suddenly, Miya, who was standing next to him, said something coldly, looking at Hayakawa with such disgust that it was as if she were looking at some kind of industrial waste discharged from a chemical plant.

"...cough cough,"

Hayakawa frowned, a strange sense of unease creeping into his heart: "What do you mean?"

"Although I can't tell what you're thinking, you're definitely thinking bad things,"

Mei Ya spoke in a cold and arrogant tone, raising her head as if it were a matter of course: "I could tell from your expression instantly."

Hayakawa: "..."

Although my perception was very accurate, I was actually thinking deeply about the future of this temple!

"Seriously, this is unbelievable..."