Does This Love Suit Your Taste? - Volume 1 Chapter 4.5

Likes and Dislikes 5

“Ahh, what a beautiful figure…”

The hem of her gym clothes flutters as she flies in the air, revealing glimpses of her outstandingly fair skin and waistline.

“And she’s super cute…”

Even with her intense movements, there’s not a single flaw in her beautiful face.

“She’s good at studying and also an all-rounder in sports…”

The ball she threw drew a beautiful parabola and was sucked into the hoop.

“And on top ofthat, she has a great personality too… Ah, how perfect can S-Hime be!”

The center of attention for the boys clinging to the net that divided the middle of the gymnasium as the girl played basketball was none other than S-Hime, also known as Shirahime Rira.

I grimaced at the voices of the boys who were captivated by her.

A good personality? Her?

It was the last class before the lunch break, physical education. The girls were playing basketball, and the boys were playing dodgeball.

I’m not part of any group, so I just listened in on people’s conversations.

“Rira-chan is amazing! You’re so good!”

“With Rira-chan here, it’s like we have the strength of a hundred people!”

“No-no, that’s not true. It’s just a fluke.”

S-Hime humbly responds to her teammate’s praise. She’s probably thinking to herself how awesome she is.

Then, the conversation of the boys from earlier can be heard again.

“But still… I wonder why did she cut her hair?”

“Yeah, I liked it better when it was long.”

“A lot of people are saying that. It’s a shame, it’s such a waste to cut off beautiful blonde hair like that.”

“I think the short hair suits her too!”

The topic of Shirahime’s short haircut is still a hot topic everywhere lately.

I take another glance at Shirahime in her gym clothes.

Hair doesn’t just get shorter on its own. Whether she had it cut or did it herself, the fact that she made a change is undeniable.

There must be a reason for it.

But I think that what kind of hairstyle to have is nobody’s business but the person’s own.

With that thought in mind, I absentmindedly watched Shirahime chase after the ball.

◇

“Then, today’s duty, please take care of the cleaning up today.”

Today’s duty falls on Shirahime alone.

With a clear voice, she responds ‘Yes!’ to the teacher’s request, playing her usual honor student role.

“Shirahime-san! Should I help you out!?”

“No, I’ll do it!”

“Quiet, you guys. I’m enough to help her!”

Around Shirahime, the place was swarming with boys trying to sell their kindness at every opportunity.

“Thank you, everyone. But sorry, I’m going to have this person help me!”

Saying that, Shirahime lightly placed her hand on my shoulder.

The boys glared at me in unison.

“…What’s with you? …Weren’t you just a delinquent a while ago?”

“Huh?”

“Eekk… no, we’ll let you go for today…”

After a scene like something out of a comedy show, the boys left almost as if running away.

Chicken.

Once the gym was empty except for Shirahime and me, she let out a big sigh.

“You look haggard.”

“Sigh… of course I’d look worn out. They probably only care about my appearance or think being close to a model is something to be proud of. That’s why I feel bad if I don’t act a certain way.”

“Wow, as expected of a model professionalism. Man, I’d love to see their faces when they find out Shirahime’s true nature.”

“What did you say?”

“Nope, nothing?”

“You’re making fun of me!”

“Oops, my bad… don’t take it so seriously, I’m doing what you asked me to do, you know.”

Listening to Shirahime’s half-bragging stories is boring, so I casually deal with her complaints while diligently picking up balls scattered around the gymnasium.

The reason she’s kept me here is, of course, to make me do all the cleaning up.

While I’m gathering the balls into the basket, Shirahime sits on the stage with her legs crossed and hands on her knees, looking down on me like an empress enthroned.

Thanks to my diligent work, the balls were quickly gathered. The last task was to store these two baskets in the sports equipment storage.

As I start pushing the wheeled basket towards the storage, Shirahime, who has come down from the stage, says ‘Good work!’ and takes one of the two types of baskets to help.

It seems Shirahime is going to help out in the end.

The sports equipment storage is cluttered, and we barely managed to make space for the baskets.

“Hey, put it further back. Mine won’t fit if you don’t.”

“Shut up. I’m doing it right now.”

As I fumble around trying to figure things out,

——Clatter- Bang-

There’s the sound of the warehouse door where we are being forcefully closed.

“Hm? Why did you close it——”

“What…? It wasn’t me… Someone just closed it now…”

Looking back, I see Shirahime with her hand on the basket in front of her, not the door.

It seems this isn’t a joke. Even the usually composed princess appears to be perplexed.

I place my hand on the door handle and attempt to open it.

“…It won’t open. We have the key, so maybe something is physically blocking the door from the outside. With all this noise, there’s no way they wouldn’t realize we’re in here. It seems deliberate. Maybe we’ve been set up…”

Shirahime holds her head in pain at this realization.

“…Sorry, it might be my fault.”

“Ha…? What are you talking about?”

Shirahime continues in a low voice.

“Maybe it’s girls who are jealous of me. I’ve never had anything like this happen before, but if it did, that’s probably the reason…”

“Huh…”

I see, so that’s the situation. Jealousy and envy among girls, huh?

“No, that’s not necessarily the case. Maybe it’s someone who holds a grudge against me?”

“A normal person wouldn’t drag me into this.”

“So it’s okay to drag me into something like this…”

Shirahime looks resigned, sits on a nearby mat, rests her forehead on her knees, and curls up.

‘How do we get out of here?’ I want to ask, but it’s not the right mood to ask such a question.

Well, as much as I hate to admit it, if they’re targeting me, they wouldn’t involve a popular person like Shirahime in their schemes.

By process of elimination, it’s more likely that Shirahime was the target. Plus, if she says she already has suspects in mind, it’s probably true. Bullying is something that the victim remembers more than the perpetrator, after all.

That being said, I thought everyone liked this popular girl.