Perhaps creativity itself has no limits, but the environment in which writers operate inevitably imposes objective constraints.
Just as books promoting Nazi ideology from World War II cannot be published in Germany, and openly promoting anti-social ideology would be impossible in China, works must inevitably conform—at least to some degree—to the local environment, ideological trends, and social customs. In reality, true freedom of speech does not exist anywhere in the world.
Therefore, genres such as BL (Boys' Love), yuri, and even traditional romance works are, in essence, not so different.
If one ignores differences in gender and character identity, the "love" expressed between men and women is fundamentally similar to love between people of the same sex. The methods of expression may differ, but the emotional result is largely the same.
However, creative works are always influenced by social environments and ideological trends. Because of this, the depiction of same-sex love is often treated as something that runs counter to mainstream social morality.
This gives same-sex love stories a particular emotional color—one that involves resisting social expectations, challenging other people's perceptions, and seeking personal identity and self-salvation. Ironically, these conflicts themselves often become one of the main attractions of such works.
In other words—
BL and yuri stories share certain similarities with the famous Chinese tragic love story "Liang Shanbo and Zhu Yingtai."(Forbidden love & hidden identity.)
Both involve resisting the moral expectations of society and pursuing true love despite those pressures.
This emotional conflict and the hardships involved create strong dramatic tension, which is why BL works, in Hikaru's opinion, possess tremendous creative potential.
---
Hikaru's long explanation was something Hina found genuinely fascinating.
As a seasoned fujoshi, she could easily have continued discussing BL writing with him for a long time, sharing her perspective as a devoted fan of the genre.
Yet at this moment, she simply walked beside him, smiling quietly as she listened to him speak enthusiastically about BL novels.
She did not offer any particularly deep opinions on the topic. Occasionally she would add a small comment or question, simply encouraging him to continue his passionate explanation.
Although Hina had long decided that she would not date anyone during high school, she had to admit something.
Hikaru possessed a strangely powerful attraction.
—or rather, for many people, Hikaru possessed that same unusual attraction.
Normally, Hikaru behaved quite erratically in front of others, making it difficult to understand his thought process.
And yet, even though she had only known him for a short time since meeting him on the way to school, her evaluation of him had already risen to a level she could only describe as unique.
He was a genius, yet not arrogant.
He was knowledgeable, yet used that knowledge mainly to cater to the interests of the people around him.
He showed not the slightest discomfort toward her enthusiastic fujoshi persona.
He possessed social status and influence beyond most of his peers—and perhaps even beyond many adults—yet he never displayed any sense of superiority.
Instead, people unconsciously forgot that he was actually a social elite with influence on the internet and within society, with both wealth and reputation. They simply treated him as another student.
And on top of that, he was witty, humorous, and genuinely entertaining.
There were many other advantages as well.
He could easily perceive the inner thoughts of others.
He could detect subtle social cues and respond instantly.
Even when his long explanations were not necessarily correct, they opened conversations naturally, allowing others to express their thoughts freely.
Despite his status and abilities, he was still willing to admit mistakes and apologize sincerely.
His virtues were almost too numerous to count.
And yet—
with so many virtues, he should theoretically have been someone completely separate from ordinary people like her.
Someone like a parallel line that would never intersect with her life.
But ever since he appeared, the feeling was not that they belonged to different worlds.
At most, it simply felt as if the distance between them had suddenly grown larger.
Compared to someone like her—someone who had to deliberately strengthen her fujoshi persona as a protective barrier—she had never even imagined that such a "perfect high school boy" could actually exist.
And even more unbelievable—
that such a "perfect high school boy" was now casually discussing BL writing with her.
At that moment, Hina suddenly realized something.
Sometimes reality could be even more exaggerated than novels or movies.
Because this situation felt almost unreal.
Even in dreams, it would be difficult to imagine something like this.
---
57. So, Will the Problem Child Take Revenge Ten Years Later?
Although Hikaru had briefly considered jokingly "confessing his love by offering water" to Hachiman and Yui, he ultimately decided against it.
After chatting with Hina about BL novels on the way back to the tennis court, he simply handed drinks to Yui and Hachiman and then sat down on the bench in the middle of the court, casually playing with his phone.
Now the ones playing tennis were Yui and Hina.
Hachiman sat beside him, holding a drink with his usual dead-fish eyes, quietly watching the two JK girls playing tennis.
After a long silence, he suddenly spoke.
"By the way… have you ever heard of School Days?"
"I know it."
Hikaru switched his phone to camera mode and took a photo of Hachiman sitting beside him. Then he aimed the camera at the tennis court and captured the "beautiful scenery" of Yui and Hina playing tennis.
"School Days is a horror and supernatural film," Hikaru said.
"Its international reputation is comparable to Ring and Ju-On, and it's considered one of Japan's three great horror films along with those two."
"Unfortunately, I'm very timid, so I've never watched horror movies."
Hachiman was silent for a moment.
Then he asked another question.
"Then do you know what a woodcutting knife is?"
"Of course."
"It's an axe used for chopping wood in ancient times."
Hikaru continued taking photos while answering casually.
"The design is similar to the uchigatana or katana used in ancient Japan, but it's specifically for chopping wood."
"You know those sword demonstrations where they cut bamboo mats?"
"That tradition actually originated from people testing the sharpness of blades while chopping wood."
Hachiman paused again.
"Then do you know what a 'nice boat' is?"
"Of course."
"During the Ming Dynasty, the Chinese emperor sent Zheng He on massive naval expeditions."
"The main ships were called treasure ships, but due to translation differences, the term eventually spread as 'nice boat.'"
Hachiman stared at him.
"…Then do you know who Makoto Itou is?"
"He's an important hidden character in a galgame series."
Hachiman nodded slowly.
"…Good. Then I'm relieved."
"Hikitani-sensei always says mysterious chuunibyou things that are hard to understand."
Hikaru ignored the deeper meaning behind Hachiman's questions.
Instead, he selected several photos and sent them through LINE to Yamada Elf, adding a message.
[I have more friends than you think.]
The reply came quickly.
Popular Writer Yamada Elf:
[?]
Popular Writer Yamada Elf:
[Didn't you just go back to school? And aren't you in that weird club doing "human observation"?]
Popular Writer Yamada Elf:
[How do you already have so many female friends willing to play tennis with you on a holiday?]
[Because I'm popular.]
Popular Writer Yamada Elf:
[…]
---
Ishikawa Hikaru waited for a while but didn't receive a reply from Yamada Elf, assuming that something might have delayed her response. Holding his phone as he waited, he leaned back on the bench and quietly enjoyed the youthful energy of the JKs playing tennis.
Hachiman Hikigaya didn't say anything else either.
Ebina Hina and Yui Yuigahama continued playing until fine beads of sweat appeared on their foreheads and their faces turned slightly red from the exercise. Eventually, they gave up on continuing the match and walked together toward the central rest bench.
Hikaru looked at them and asked,
"How was it?"
"It was really fun!" Yui said happily. "I never thought tennis could be this enjoyable."
"But Ishikawa-sensei… did you secretly take pictures of Yui and me?" Hina teased. "Unauthorized photography is technically illegal in Japan, you know. If the girls being photographed decide to pursue the matter, Ishikawa-sensei might end up with a bad reputation. You should really change that habit."
"I don't just photograph anyone," Hikaru replied casually. "If they were strangers, I wouldn't even think about taking pictures."
Hikaru then opened the photo album on his phone and handed it directly to Hina.
"Still, taking photos without permission is indeed an issue. All the pictures are here. I have an eighty-year-old mother above and a crying infant below to support, so please have mercy on me."
"Let me see."
Hina took the phone and began checking the photos. Yui leaned over curiously to look as well.
"Eh, this photo—"
"Ishikawa-sensei, please wait a moment."
Hina cut Yui off mid-sentence. After saying that, she pulled Yui to the corner of the tennis court, whispering something to her while still holding Hikaru's phone.
"Oh boy," Hachiman muttered sarcastically. "Looks like someone's about to get into trouble over unauthorized photography. The duplicity of high school girls will stab you to death sooner or later."
"Are you jealous?" Hikaru replied. "I have so many beautiful high school girl friends, while you're just the Dead Fish Eyes Monster at the bottom of the food chain."
Hachiman rolled his eyes.
"Anyway, after you die, I'll take Komachi to your grave to pay our respects."
"Why would I die?"
"Killed by a high school girl after love turns into hatred."
"That's ridiculous," Hikaru said, also rolling his eyes. "You might as well say a meteorite will fall tomorrow and wipe out humanity. Besides, how long are you going to hold a grudge about me using Yukinoshita and you to create a delusional CP? Now you're finally trying to give me a taste of my own medicine?"
"It's never too late for revenge," Hachiman replied coldly. "Even after a million years."
"Hikitani-sensei, I think people should be a little more magnanimous."
Hikaru sighed.
"In a person's life, they forget hundreds or thousands of things. If you forget all the happiness but keep every grudge carved into your heart, you'll eventually turn into a psychopath. So how about starting by forgetting that small matter of me drawing two cards in Yu-Gi-Oh! when we played together? Let's just laugh off our mutual grudges."
"Heh—"
---
58. So, Will the Problem Child Have an Alibi?
Yui and Hina whispered together for a while. During their conversation, they both suddenly pulled out their phones, checked something, and then hurried back toward Hikaru, handing his phone back to him.
"Ishikawa-sensei, open LINE and take a look."
"Oh?"
Hikaru opened the app.
Miura had posted a message in their group chat.
[Something suddenly came up today. If you're going to the KTV this afternoon, don't bother inviting me.]
No one had replied yet.
"Ishikawa-sensei," Hina said seriously, "can you help Yumiko?"
"I'll accept this quest," Hikaru said immediately. "Remember to give me experience points when I finish."
He stuffed his phone into his pocket, took out his wallet, and pulled out a 10,000-yen bill, handing it to Hachiman.
"I can't drive you back anymore. Take a taxi."
Hachiman instinctively leaned back.
"…What?"
"I don't have time for polite comedy routines with you right now."
Hikaru forced the money into Hachiman's hand. Then, under the confused gazes of Hachiman, Hina, and Yui, he hurried out of the tennis court and disappeared.
Hachiman looked down at the Fukuzawa Yukichi bill in his hand and then turned to Hina.
"…What happened?"
"To put it simply," Hina sighed, "Yumiko has always liked Hayama. That's why we left earlier—to give the two of them some private time. We even planned to meet again later this afternoon and go sing at the new KTV near Takasu-Higashi Station."
"But just now, Yumiko suddenly said in the group chat that she isn't coming."
"M-maybe she really does have something urgent today…" Yui said uncertainly.
"Unlikely," Hachiman replied calmly. "Even I can see that Miura-san likes Hayama-kun. If she had other plans, she would postpone them. Saying she suddenly has something to do is just an excuse."
"Yeah," Hina nodded. "Hayama must have said something to her at the water park."
"So that's why you want Ishikawa to handle it," Hachiman said after thinking for a moment. "It's actually a good choice."
"As Yumiko's friends, you can't ask her directly right now. But Ishikawa doesn't have that restriction."
"He's not really part of your group—he's just a friend of a friend."
"So he has far more freedom to act."
"More importantly," Hina added, "Ishikawa-sensei should be able to handle it."
She smiled.
"If even he can't solve this problem, then none of us could do any better."
"Yeah," Hachiman said, standing up and waving the 10,000-yen bill.
"That guy shoved this into my hand without saying anything. If I keep it all, he'll definitely use it to blackmail me later."
"So let's split it."
"Anywhere you want to go? I want to stop by a bookstore."
"A bookstore sounds great," Hina said. "I actually wanted to buy some things too. What about you, Yui?"
"Eh? Wait… why did the conversation suddenly change to this?"
"Because we're accomplices now," Hachiman said, waving the bill again.
"If we split it three ways, each of us gets about 3,300 yen. Enough for yakiniku."
"So where do you want to spend it?"
"…Then I'll just go with you two."
"Alright," Hachiman sighed. "Bookstore first."
He stuffed the bill into his wallet and walked out of the tennis court.
Hina followed, pulling Yui along behind him.
Their quick decision left Yui hesitant.
After a moment, Hina spoke gently.
"If you have something to say, it's better to just say it."
"I-It's just… everything changed too suddenly. We were talking about Yumiko and Hayama, and now you're talking about splitting money…"
Hina sighed softly.
"That's because when Ishikawa-sensei gave Hikitani money and told him to take a taxi, he was actually asking Hikitani to entertain us on his behalf."
"And at the same time, he created an alibi for us."
"This way, if Yumiko asks later, we can say we were shopping with Hikitani or browsing books. After an hour or two, we can reply to her message and say we hadn't checked the group chat."
"That way, even if Ishikawa-sensei doesn't solve the problem immediately, we can act like we don't know anything."
"So Yumiko won't feel pressured."
"I-I see…"
"Hikitani understands this too," Hina added. "That's why he called us accomplices."
Yui nodded slowly.
"…I see."
"So now," Hina said with a smile, "all we have to do is wait for Ishikawa-sensei's results."
"After all, if even he can't solve Yumiko's problem, then maybe our group was destined to break apart anyway."
"In that case, the future might divide into two groups."
"The Hayama Group—Hayama, Tobe, and the others."
"And the Ishikawa Group—me, Yui, Yumiko, Hikitani, and Ishikawa-sensei."
She smiled faintly.
"But honestly… that wouldn't be such a bad outcome."