A Rider Doesn't Need a Youth Romantic Comedy [28]

After lunch break, Rōma sprawled listlessly across his desk.

“Why do I always get so sleepy after eating?”

Yawning deeply, he stared ahead blankly.

Sakamoto, busy packing up his bag, turned to glance at him thoughtfully.

“It feels like you’ve been really exhausted lately.”

Hearing Sakamoto’s remark, Rōma once again pulled out his usual excuse:

“I had to work overtime at my part-time job last night.”

“I could’ve gotten off early, but a pretty troublesome customer showed up.”

“I see.”

Sakamoto nodded, apparently accepting Rōma’s explanation.

In fact, Rōma’s casual excuses might pass once or twice, but over time anyone would become suspicious.

Especially someone as observant as Sakamoto.

However, Sakamoto never once questioned Rōma’s explanations.

If Rōma gave that excuse, Sakamoto simply accepted it.

Privately, Sakamoto had his own suspicions about this so-called "part-time job."

Even though several years had passed, he still occasionally recalled that crimson figure from back then.

His memory of that day was vague, but the silhouette standing protectively before their classmates remained vividly etched in his mind.

Although he wasn’t sure why everyone else had completely forgotten the incident—

Sakamoto didn’t particularly mind.

He didn’t know exactly what Rōma’s "job" involved, nor where he'd disappeared to these past two years.

But did any of that really matter?

Adjusting his glasses, Sakamoto returned to reading his book.

If someone took a closer look, they’d discover he wasn’t reading high school textbooks—but rather highly specialized reference material.

He, too, was working hard in his own way.

“Good afternoon, everyone.”

Wearing her white lab coat, Hiratsuka Shizuka entered the classroom holding a lecture script.

Glancing briefly around the room, she began calling attendance.

“Hayama Hayato.”

“Here.”

“Miura Yumiko.”

“Here.”

“Oreki Houtarou.”

“Here.”

A distinctly quieter voice responded.

Not bothered, Hiratsuka-sensei continued down the list.

Honestly, Rōma never understood the purpose behind roll-call.

At university, it made sense—the seats weren't fixed, and absences wouldn’t immediately stand out.

But this was high school.

It was blatantly obvious if someone was absent, wasn’t it?

“Makoto Rōma.”

“Here.”

He raised his hand lazily, responding briefly before slumping back onto his desk.

The Institute had already completed a preliminary investigation into the Occult Research Club.

Based on current findings, there didn’t seem to be ties to any organized group.

Most likely, they'd accidentally gotten their hands on an anomalous item, or something containing related information.

“Sakamoto—”

Just as Hiratsuka-sensei called out Sakamoto’s name, someone loudly dragged their chair across the floor.

The harsh screech of chair legs drowned out her voice completely.

“Here.”

Sakamoto calmly raised his hand and replied.

Instantly, multiple female students in class shot sharp glares toward the culprit.

Almost everyone who knew Sakamoto felt immense curiosity about his full name.

No matter how hard they dug, nobody ever managed to uncover whether Sakamoto’s surname was followed by two or three characters.

Sakamoto’s real name had practically become Sobu High’s tenth “unexplainable mystery.”

The previous nine mysteries included: Hanako-san in the bathroom, the never-ending staircase, the piano playing itself at midnight, students lingering in the abandoned old school building, the songstress of the music room, the shadowy figure in the cafeteria kitchen, the dormitory thief, the moving anatomical model, the floating snow globe, and the midnight mirror reflection.

Why were there ten mysteries listed as “nine”?

Because it was just like how the Four Heavenly Kings always had five members, or the Five Tiger Generals always included Liu Bei as an extra.

These mysteries had been fairly popular until this semester, with plenty of students earnestly claiming to have witnessed them personally.

Hanako-san and the music-room songstress had been especially popular.

Of course, some people dismissed these outright.

Take, for example, the abandoned old school building—Sobu High didn’t even have an old building to begin with!

Surprisingly, however, since this semester began, many of these mysteries suddenly stopped appearing altogether.

For instance, Hanako-san and the songstress of the music room.

They had the highest number of reported sightings.

According to witnesses, Hanako was apparently a very cute boy.

And the music-room songstress wasn’t human—she had butterfly wings.

Previously, many students reported hearing her singing an unintelligible melody late at night.

But no one had heard her again recently.

To this, Rōma only smiled knowingly.

“All right, let’s start class.”

Snapping the attendance book shut, Hiratsuka-sensei tapped the podium firmly, quickly quieting down the noisy classroom.

Picking up chalk, she began her lesson.

As always, Rōma remained utterly indifferent, scribbling half-heartedly.

Not that it mattered much, but he did it anyway.

...

Time slowly passed amidst Hiratsuka-sensei’s lecture.

Soon enough, the bell rang.

“Class dismissed.”

Quickly closing her lecture script, Hiratsuka-sensei strode briskly out of the classroom.

Right now, she needed to go check on the club run by that particular problem child.

Lately, the student council had grown increasingly vocal about their dissatisfaction with the Service Club.

If they couldn't quickly recruit more members, disbandment would just be a matter of time.

Sobu High’s student council might not wield as much power as those at highly competitive high schools, but dissolving a small club wasn’t difficult at all.

Especially with the current president, Sengoku Shou.

Although he seemed easygoing on the surface, he was actually very stubborn—

Particularly when it came to club regulations.

Persuading him to be lenient was virtually impossible.

After Hiratsuka-sensei left, Rōma remained seated for a short while before getting up.

He'd already asked around earlier, so he knew the Occult Research Club’s location. Now he only needed to head straight there.

“Ready?”

“Ready!”

When Rōma reached the Occult Research Club’s door, he overheard this brief exchange from inside.

Through the small window in the door, he saw the interior was very dim—

Clearly, the curtains had been pulled tightly shut.

A single white candle burned quietly in the middle of the room.

“Are we really going to play a spirit-summoning game?”

Standing nervously in the corner, a female student filming with a camera asked timidly.

She and her best friend had joined this club simply to peacefully slack off.

How had they gotten dragged into this creepy ritual?

Normally, she didn't believe in things like this—

But the club president really seemed to know something!

“It’s fine, just watch quietly.”

Club president Kondō Yamato waved impatiently.

He’d spent days preparing meticulously for this game.

If it really worked, perhaps those other rituals might as well…

Thinking this, a faint trace of fanaticism flickered through Kondō Yamato’s eyes.

---

This is a fan translation of 骑士不需要青春恋爱物语 by 青琮 All rights to the original work belong to the creator. Please support them by exploring their original work or sharing it with others if you can. Thank you for reading and supporting my efforts to bring this story to a wider audience!