Your hair is messy (Part 3)

Naoki travels to a parallel universe where Kotoko doesn't love him. (2013 Japanese TV series)

06

Naoki Irie knows nothing about love.

He didn't want to waste his limited energy on boring things. Moreover, since he was a child, others had always sent him signals of pursuit. He was a favored child who could be loved by others without making any effort.

So when he analyzed that Kotoko didn't like his conclusion, his first reaction was self-doubt. However, apart from this answer, there was no other reason to explain Kotoko's abnormality.

Irie fell into endless confusion.

The fact that Kotoko didn't like him was like a bug in a game. Bugs naturally needed to be fixed, but the question was how? Even the "wise, handsome, and gentle" Irie couldn't impress her, and the real Irie was far from as good as she imagined.

Could it be that Kotoko no longer cares about external things like appearance and academic performance, but instead appreciates a soft and delicate heart?

Irie thought of the night before he traveled through time, when he confronted Ikezawa Kinnosuke.

What did that guy say at that time? — "I want to take Kotoko from you, please don't get in my way."

Speaking of which, Kotoko has always had a close relationship with Ikezawa. Even though she knew that he had ulterior motives, she still kept her arm in arm with him. The two of them looked quite compatible in their silly ways. If it weren't for Irie, they might have been a very compatible couple.

So, Ikezawa, it seems like I'm really a hindrance to you.

Naoki Irie felt ridiculous.

If Ikezawa really replaced him and became Kotoko's lover, it would be ridiculous, like a satirical novel with bizarre plot twists.

He absolutely would not let this happen.

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"This is fried tofu made by Kotoko-san!"

Qinzi pointed to a dish of messy food on the table and said, "It may not look good, but it's delicious."

This was the second time Irie had seen this dish, and he still didn't think it looked like tofu. Kotoko was just like that, always cooking ingredients until they were unrecognizable, not only looking bad but also tasting even worse, making Uncle Aihara feel ashamed.

He said worriedly, "I don't know if this child will ever be able to get married."

Naoki Irie was concentrating on eating the fried tofu in his bowl. Even without looking up, he could feel his mother's gaze.

Irie's mother lived in a greenhouse all her life, carefully cared for by her parents, husband and sons. Even during the difficult period when Irie's father started his business, she hardly suffered any hardship.

Therefore, she always has a simple and naive nature, and in some aspects, she is even surprisingly similar to Kotoko, which makes people ignore her intelligent mind.

In her previous life, when Irie's mother first met Kotoko, she quietly teased Naoki: "It seems that Kotoko has a good impression of her brother. Not bad, she is a lively and sincere girl!"

Irie had always been puzzled. Why could his mother see Kotoko's affection for him, and how could she tell Kotoko's sincerity? Now that he thought about it, the ability to read people's hearts was also an innate talent, just like Irie's photographic memory, which made no sense at all.

Irie's mother is able to keenly detect those invisible "emotions" from other people's words and actions. For example, in this life, she has never said the sentence "I feel that Kotoko has a good impression of her brother."

When he made a shocking statement at the dinner table, he also added: "Don't worry, Kotoko is already accepted by our family - brother, you have to work hard and strive to win Kotoko's heart as soon as possible!"

"I object!" Yuki quickly made a capital X with his arms. "Why would my brother want to win the heart of a fool? I absolutely object!"

"That's right, there's no question of whether I love you or not." Kotoko was so scared that she choked on her rice: "Cough cough cough... cough... Irie-kun and I are not suitable."

"Really? Kotoko, don't be so quick to refuse. Although our brother looks cold, he also has a gentle side. Will you really not reconsider it for a while?"

"I refused... I didn't... How could I... I didn't refuse Irie-kun! I didn't think he was cold, I, I, I..." Kotoko was too nervous and started to speak incoherently: "Auntie, you may not know, but there are many smart and beautiful girls in our school who are more suitable for Irie-kun than me!"

He was truly self-aware, Irie thought sarcastically. But it was a shame that this self-awareness came too late, making it both inappropriate and annoying.

He couldn't help but ask, "Who's the right person for you then? Your close classmate, Ikezawa Kinnosuke?"

When Irie said this, he deliberately looked out the window. The glass reflected the overflowing golden light. He could not see the scene outside the window clearly, but he knew that in the thick night, someone was silently watching them.

Kotoko became even more flustered: "There's nothing between Jin and me! We're just friends... What I meant just now was! I'm not worthy of Irie-kun, and I'm afraid of disturbing your peaceful life. Someone as good as Irie-kun should..."

"Heh." Irie Naoki's laugh was abrupt, but it didn't seem so rude compared to what he was about to say next: "You're obviously afraid that I'll disturb your peaceful life, but you still pretend to be thinking of me. Kotoko has really become smarter."

"Huh?"

Irie suddenly felt angry. He put down his cutlery, but his face remained calm. "I'm going upstairs now. Please enjoy your meal."

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"You can actually see through Kotoko's little thoughts at a glance. You're worthy of being Irie-kun!"

As Renko stuffed her mouth with takoyaki, she clasped her hands together in a gesture of respect. "Even we thought Kotoko was shy because she was acting so awkward, and we wished we could do something to bring you and Irie together."

"How could I be shy? I'm obviously scared! Afraid, okay?" Kotoko said indignantly, "It's all because of you two. You spread the word that Irie-kun and I were living together, and I got blasted! First it was on the news, then Jin was fundraising at the school gate, and now it's you two. I really don't want to be talked about anymore!"

"Well, we've sincerely apologized many times and even treated you to a delicious meal. Please don't be angry anymore, Kotoko."

Satomi handed over a piece of sushi in a flattering manner: "Besides, if you can really have something happen with Irie, it doesn't matter if you get scolded a few times. He's Naoki Irie!"

Kotoko Aihara shuddered immediately, as if she had seen countless pairs of ferocious eyes, emitting green light in front of her, ready to pounce on her and tear her to pieces at any time.

"Goodbye, goodbye." Kotoko wanted to raise the white flag and surrender to all of Irie's suitors, just hoping that there would be less inexplicable targeting so that she could spend her last semester of high school in peace.

She said with lingering fear: "I dare not think about the male god Irie, so I'd better leave it to others."

07

The national tennis tournament is approaching, and Naoki Irie, who can barely be considered a member of the tennis club, is asked by his friends to participate in summer tennis training.

The sun was at its highest point, casting a layer of scorching and dazzling light on his eyelids. Irie was feeling very irritated. After being reminded for the third time, "Irie, you need to concentrate," he put down his racket and found a piece of shade under a tree to avoid the sun.

Ikezawa Kinnosuke came to the Irie family early this morning. He and Kotoko were both students in Class F. Their grades were so bad that they almost had no chance of going to university. In order to improve the admission rate, the school arranged tutoring for them during the summer vacation. Naturally, Ikezawa took the opportunity to act as a flower protector and win the favor of Kotoko.

However, Irie didn't give him a chance. As soon as Kotoko stepped out of the house, Irie followed her and squeezed in between her and Ikezawa.

Irie looked at Kotoko and said, "I want to go to school too. Let's go together."

Ikezawa looked at Irie: "Huh?!"

The three of them stared at each other awkwardly for a long time, and in the end no one got what they wanted. Kotoko made an excuse that she had to find Renko and Satomi first, and quickly ran away. As a result, Ikezawa and Irie were left to accompany each other, and the two of them walked to school together with resentment.

In fact, it was not that Irie wanted to keep Ikezawa company. He was just going his own way, but Ikezawa kept jumping to his left and then to his right, chattering non-stop and trying to talk to him.

"I was wondering why you're so kind all of a sudden, always so sour-faced, coming to raise funds for Kotoko. It turns out you've been attracted to our lovely Kotoko for a long time. So-called genius Irie, but he's nothing but a beast!"

"Don't think you can do whatever you want just because you live under the same roof with Qinzi. If you dare to bully Qinzi, I, Jin, will not let you go easily!"

"Actually, I advise you not to waste your energy. Both Renko and Rimi told me that Kotoko has no feelings for you at all." Ikezawa stretched out his little finger, trying his best to show how insignificant the so-called "a little bit" was.

Irie pushed him away nonchalantly: "You've been pursuing Kotoko for so long, does she have any feelings for you at all?"

Having his sore spot touched, Chi Ze immediately yelled, "Hey, hey, hey! How can you compete with me!"

"You're right, I won't compete with you."

After getting rid of Ikezawa, Irie has been feeling uneasy.

His relationship with Kotoko had indeed reached a bottleneck. Although they never interacted at school, they got along well at home.

The problem is, no matter how well Irie treats Kotoko, she will only thank him over and over again and say stupid things like "Irie-kun is like the perfect brother I long for."

Brother? Who wants to be a stupid brother? I'm so angry.

In short, after so much time has passed, there has been no progress in the relationship between Irie and Kotoko.

Irie was depressed for a while before he picked up the racket and went back to practice. Because he was absent-minded, he didn't notice that the ball he hit casually hit Kotoko again.

"You, why did you get punished for being distracted in class again?"

The meaningful plot was changed beyond recognition, while the meaningless things were perfectly reproduced. Irie felt unbalanced and even more annoyed.

Kotoko couldn't understand him at all, and not just at this moment, she didn't understand all of Irie's joys and sorrows.

Maybe this is what a genius is like. There is no reason for being good, no reason for being bad, no reason for being happy or worried. It's like they can switch between multiple personalities at any time and do anything on a whim.

Kotoko couldn't guess Irie's answer, and she didn't bother to guess, she didn't care.

"Why do you say again? This is my first time being punished by running. Hiss, it hurts..." Qinzi covered her forehead with her hands, looking aggrieved and pitiful.

Irie carefully examined the wound and found a large red patch on her fair skin, which was indeed horrible, so he subconsciously raised his hand - he didn't know what the meaning of this action was, but seeing that everyone was doing this, it seemed that gently touching someone's wound could relieve the pain.

However, Kotoko's subconscious reaction was to take a big step back swiftly.

She also didn't know the meaning of Irie's actions. His sudden approach alone was enough to make her panic.

After quickly looking around and confirming that no one had noticed, Kotoko felt a sense of joy at having survived a disaster. Her intuition told her that this place should not be stayed for long. At least she had to escape before Irie behaved abnormally again.

"I suddenly feel no pain anymore. How miraculous! It can't be serious, haha. Looks like the teacher is coming this way. I'll continue running. Bye, Irie-kun!"

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Kotoko Aihara also daydreams about love, looking forward to a romantic encounter with her destined person one evening or afternoon, and then starting a sweet romance.

But that person is definitely not Naoki Irie.

Kotoko had no illusions about Irie. She didn't imagine that their short time together would spark something special, nor did she imagine that Irie had a crush on her and wanted to compete with Kin for her heart. Because all of this sounded ridiculous.

Irie? Like her? How is that possible!

Even though the usually cold Irie would be gentle to her occasionally, it was only out of politeness, kindness, and consideration for the relationship between the elders, and he had to show his friendliness!

Why did everyone interpret this as love? It was strange. She didn't feel that Irie liked her at all. Instead, she had to bear a heavy price for this inexplicable love.

There was no way to stop the gossip in the school. No matter how much she explained, she could not escape the fate of being scolded. She could not have peace when she returned home. Aunt Irie talked to her several times, wanting to ask her what she thought of Naoki.

Kotoko had no opinion of Naoki. He was like an extremely dazzling star, pleasing to the eye but out of reach. It was nice to be able to decorate the night view outside her window, but it was okay without him.

This star is moody and not easy to get along with.

On the last day of summer vacation, the two fathers went out to attend a class reunion. Irie's mother suddenly decided to take Yuki back to visit his sick grandmother. Only Kotoko and Irie were left alone at home. Kotoko felt inexplicably stressed.

She originally wanted to repeat the same trick and go to Renzi's house to stay for one night. School was about to start, and she hadn't finished her holiday homework yet. She made an appointment with her friends to do the homework together, with each of them copying. It was better than struggling alone until dawn.

But Kotoko felt that it was not good to leave Irie alone at home, and it would be even worse to take him out.

What's more, since the holiday started, Irie has not paid much attention to her, as if he has a lot of anger that he has nowhere to vent.

Kotoko guessed that it was her avoidance at school that hurt Irie's self-esteem.

In fact, she didn't want to be so extreme. If Irie was just an ordinary male high school student like Ajin and the others, they would definitely become good friends.

However, the school's most admired genius is destined to never become Jin. Just getting close to him will hurt her. Thinking of the comments against her at school, Qinzi couldn't help but feel depressed.

Of course, Irie himself was innocent, so after much thought, Kotoko decided to clear up the misunderstanding.

She bought two steaks cooked by the restaurant. The name was difficult to pronounce, called Beauvais French steak, but it looked very good, at least it looked quite appetizing to her.

Kotoko hummed a little tune as she took the steak out of the takeout box and paired it with the dessert she had just bought. After the table was set, Irie happened to come downstairs to drink some water and came across this sumptuous dinner.

"This wasn't something you did." Using the declarative sentence, Irie was certain that Kotoko would never be able to do such a thing.

"I bought it when I went out." Kotoko warmly invited him to sit down: "Irie-kun, let's eat together!"

Irie's face was filled with displeasure again: "It seems you also know that cooking by yourself will only waste food."

What on earth am I unhappy about...Kotoko was completely confused.

Fortunately, Irie didn't turn around and leave, and the two of them finished their dinner smoothly, although it was quite depressing.

Irie remained silent the entire time, allowing Kotoko to chatter on and on about explanations and clarifications, proving that she truly had no intention of disliking Irie. It was just that Irie's fans were too crazy, and she couldn't handle it, so she deliberately distanced herself from him. In her heart, she was actually reluctant. After all, Irie-kun was smart, handsome, and kind-hearted. He had helped her out at the school gate when they first met, and later he had kindly taken her in when she was homeless. She couldn't admire him enough...

Irie listened to her speech until the end, and she started to flatter him for a long time. Whether it was her dancing or her sparkling eyes, she was quite similar to the Kotoko who had admired him in the past.

Just similar, not the same.

Irie admitted that he was angry with Kotoko because he could not accept that the person who once had his heart and eyes full of him began to regard him as a scourge and was even unwilling to prepare a loving dinner for him personally.

Irie couldn't accept that Kotoko didn't love him.

But if you think about it carefully, Kotoko did nothing wrong. She was still herself, cheerful, kind and grateful. She didn't know what had happened to her, just like Irie traveled through time and space for no reason. It was all fate.

Irie suddenly felt powerless and asked himself, what are you doing?

There were so many obstacles between him and Kotoko before, Oizumi Sahoko, Pandai, his father's illness... all of which forced them to miss each other, but now God has given him a chance to start over, allowing him to be reborn in despair. Should he waste his time on being angry because of a boring bug?

That won't work.

So he deliberately asked, "Have you finished your summer homework? Do you want to do it together later?"

Kotoko said that she didn't understand Irie-kun at all. He had ignored her for some time and she was the only one talking during dinner. She was already discouraged, but then he suddenly invited her to do homework together.

How come a genius would rush to finish homework on the last day of vacation? I thought I would finish it all on the first day...

She didn't really want to do her homework with Irie. What if the conversation became boring again? The night was long, the homework was overwhelming, and there was an iceberg next to her. How could she endure it?

Kotoko smiled awkwardly: "I don't want to bother Irie-kun anymore. I'm stupid and will waste a lot of your time..."

"With your level, you'll need to pull all-nighters for at least a week to catch up on your summer homework." Irie stood up and put away his dishes, saying nonchalantly, "And high school will soon be over. With your current state, you can't even hope for internal promotion. Since you don't need my help, then just do your best."

"Eh? Nooo ...

In the end, we stayed up all night together to finish our homework.

Kotoko listened to Irie's explanations all night, feeling bitter and vindictive. She was half-conscious, feeling like she was about to grow a new head. Irie was also unhappy. He was just as irritated by the experience of explaining the problems to Kotoko again. It seemed like nothing had changed except that Irie no longer liked him.

Although both of them had their own dissatisfactions, they still spent a harmonious night.

The next morning, Kotoko, who had finally escaped from the sea of ​​questions, happily made coffee for Irie in the living room to thank him.

That's good.

Seeing her busy figure, Irie felt calm inside.

Let's do it step by step, little by little.

Irie believes that Kotoko will fall in love with him again, just like the fundraising money he gave to Ikezawa will eventually return to him.

Fate wouldn't change. It was just that, in the past, it was Kotoko who had bridged the gap between them, but this time, he needed to work a little harder.

tbc

I didn’t expect that in such a cold circle, I could still receive everyone’s likes and comments. I thought I could only be happy by myself. I am so touched.

Thank you for your support, you have given me great motivation, I will continue to work hard! Today's update is 5000+