Yukinoshita’s Method of Correction [19]

The Service Club. Inside the clubroom.

Yukinoshita Yukino sat on the chair by the window. The muscle soreness from earlier had long faded, but she hadn’t moved the table away.

After all, having the table there made it more comfortable to read.

Her hand continued flipping through the pages, then paused to tuck a stray strand of hair behind her ear, revealing a lobe as smooth and pale as jade.

She tilted her head slightly in Higashigumo Sugi’s direction. “Why do you keep staring at me?”

Higashigumo steadied his breath and gripped the dumbbell in his hand. “Have you ever heard of mind-muscle connection?”

“It refers to the deliberate synchronization of mental focus and physical movement during strength training, especially when working on isolated muscle groups,” Yukinoshita replied fluently. “It helps establish a neural link between the brain and the targeted muscles.”

“When you concentrate your thoughts on one part of your body, your mind tends to go blank—and your gaze ends up fixating somewhere without you realizing it.” Higashigumo blinked at her. “Basically, I was spacing out.”

“So you weren’t staring at me on purpose—you were spacing out?” Yukinoshita withdrew her gaze. “Here I thought you just couldn’t suppress your feelings for me.”

“Before you decide that I like you,” Higashigumo switched the dumbbell to his other hand, “maybe define what you mean by ‘like’ first.”

Yukinoshita’s tone remained flat. “I see. You’ve never actually been liked before.”

“Hold on. If you weren’t looking at me, how did you know I was looking at you?” Higashigumo caught the flaw in her logic. “Wait—could you be the one who can’t suppress your feelings for me?”

“People look at me during class all the time. I can tell right away when someone’s staring,” Yukinoshita replied, flipping another page. “Didn’t you say so yourself? When someone suddenly finds themselves the center of attention, they instinctively look at the person they like first—there’s another related case too.”

“Oh?”

“When someone laughs, they tend to look at the person they like.” Yukinoshita’s voice was even and quiet. “When something funny happens in class, most of the girls will glance at the boys they’re interested in. Most of the boys, though… look at me.”

Higashigumo couldn’t help but sigh. “That’s pretty rough on whoever the joke was about.”

Not only are they being laughed at—no one’s even looking at them.

“When those boys realize I’m not looking at them, then they’ll turn to look at the one being laughed at,” Yukinoshita added coldly. “The girls take a second longer. They follow the boys’ gaze, glare at me first, then look at the class clown.”

Higashigumo offered a thought. “Logically, you can’t be the only girl they’re jealous of, right?”

Yukinoshita’s gaze dipped. “When I transferred back from abroad in middle school, there were two fairly cute girls in class. They had a decent following among the boys—and the other girls were practically foaming at the mouth to drive them out.”

Higashigumo set the dumbbell down and wiped his sweat. “Then you just need to rope one group in and suppress the other. Boom—instant faction.”

“But once I enrolled, every girl in the school wanted me gone.” Yukinoshita flicked her hair over her shoulder. “In terms of looks, I was head and shoulders above the rest. The only ones who could even begin to compare were Yamashita-san and Shimamura-san—and even then, it was purely appearance. Academics, sports, arts… even manners and character. In every area, they fell far short. In front of me, they were just like every other ordinary girl. Their only option was to band together and drag me down. Not one of them made the effort to surpass me by improving themselves. That bunch of idiots…”

Maybe because of how heated she’d gotten, Yukinoshita’s cheeks were tinged faintly pink.

When Higashigumo returned to his seat to rest, he noticed her breathing was slightly uneven.

So she just talked too much in one go and ran out of breath.

“If it were you,” Yukinoshita turned to him, “what would you have done?”

Higashigumo answered honestly. “No idea.”

“…What?”

“I wasn’t there, and the plan I just came up with was already shot down by you,” he said, shrugging. “If I don’t even know the full situation, how would I know what to do?”

“I heard you’ve helped a lot of people.” Yukinoshita pressed. “Haven’t you seen anything similar?”

“Actually… yeah.” Higashigumo thought back. “Back in second year of middle school in Nagoya, we got a transfer student. Real nasty attitude.”

“And?”

“I hung out with him for a few days,” Higashigumo recalled. “Played games, kicked around a soccer ball, went out to eat… Before long, he was getting along fine with the rest of the class.”

“Are you two still in contact?”

“…Huh?” Higashigumo blinked, then scratched his head. “I guess… not really, lately.”

Yukinoshita shook her head slightly. “That’s why I don’t waste time on things like that.”

“Not keeping in touch doesn’t mean we’re not friends,” Higashigumo said with a light laugh. “Honestly, if he reached out to me now, I’d be worried. Like, did something happen—?”

Knock knock.

A knock at the door.

Yukinoshita slipped a bookmark into her book, and she and Higashigumo responded in unison:

“Come in.”

Yuigahama Yui pushed open the door, calling out brightly, “Yahallo~!”

“Hellooo~” Higashigumo waved with a grin.

Yukinoshita let out a long sigh. “...Did you need something?”

Yuigahama, who had just looked so happy, suddenly tensed. “Huh? Do I… seem unwelcome? Wait—does Yukinoshita-san hate me?”

“‘Hate’...” Yukinoshita actually paused to consider the word. “No, I don’t hate you. I’m just… a little troubled.”

This was club activity time. Ideally, those who came in would be students in need of help.

But as far as Yukinoshita was concerned, Yuigahama’s issue had already been resolved.

So her presence here would only take up time meant for others.

And interfere with Higashigumo’s correction.

Yuigahama pouted. “When a girl says that, it does mean she hates you!”

“So,” Yukinoshita cut to the point, considering the possibility that Yuigahama had a new problem, “do you need something?”

“It’s about what happened before!” Yuigahama pulled a chair over and sat down, lifting her phone to show them with pride. “Look at this!”

Attached to her phone was a new charm—a mushroom-shaped keychain.

“Kaori made this for me,” she said, recounting what happened after that day. “After Satou gave the plushie to Kaori, she contacted me and said she wanted to return it. But I turned her down.”

The old Yuigahama wouldn’t have done that.

Even if she wanted to refuse, she wouldn’t have followed through.

But this time—was different...

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This is a fan translation of 雪之下的矫正方式 by 微凉温热 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!