23 October

Kenji walks to school with Manaka. She asks him about his part-time job, and she is interested in taking up one as well. Not because she doesn’t have enough money (that would actually be impressive), but rather she wants to see how the real world works (社(shè)会(huì)实(shí)践(jiàn)). She also wants to experience what Kenji is doing right now.

That’s actually very caring of her.

Kenji attempts to hold her hand, but makes a timing mistake as his wingman was still reeling from what happened in the parallel universe.

He is still feeling restless after the exams, so in an attempt to calm his feelings, he calls Manaka out for a short date.

Or rather, I am still a bit restless after killing Yamada and am still reeling from what the fuck happened. That coffee probably didn’t help either.

They meet in the courtyard. Kenji apologises for calling her out like this, but she is fine with it.

What's this? Going full Canadian here?

They have another interesting conversation which the wingman is not privy to.

Eh, I don’t care anyway.

They get close to each other and kiss. Kenji’s skills have gotten better since last night. Manaka playfully tells him off for doing this in school.

After returning to class, Manaka sends a text to Kenji, saying how she misses him even though they just met.

Awww. How cute.

Kenji’s second exam was another flop, though not as epic a failure as yesterday.

The two walk home together. Manaka asks Kenji where the most popular spot in school is. Kenji guesses the rooftop, but it is only rated no. 3. Turns out no. 1 is the courtyard.

You’d think he would have guessed it, since his past few short dates were at the courtyard. Besides, it is a better idea than the school corridor.

Manaka mentions that the results were from a survey done by the journalism club. The club also did a survey on the best places in the school to have a nap in, but it was never published. It was rumoured that the club did not publish it to preserve the atmosphere of the places mentioned. They don’t want students flocking over to that place after publishing the result. Kenji proposes checking out for themselves, to which Manaka agrees.

Kenji holds Manaka’s hand, and she comments that his hand is sweaty, which she finds cute.

Despite what the Chinese translation says, it was never mentioned that Manaka finds Kenji ‘bashful’（腼腆） or anything. She only said: 「ううん、可愛い…なんて。」(No, it’s cute, I think.) It was added in during translation.

They kiss on the way home. Kenji is getting better at this.

He’d better. I went to some weird shit going through the notes.

During work, Kenji receives a text from Manaka. She wants to be the first to celebrate his birthday, which is tomorrow.

Oh, right. I forgot Kenji’s birthday is 24 October.

After work, Kenji goes to sing karaoke. He ends up singing until his voice is hoarse.

Sheesh, man. Don’t force yourself.

He returns home. Before he goes to sleep, he sends another mushy text to Manaka. As he drifts off to sleep, he imagines Manaka saying to him “You’re forcing yourself too much! It’s dangerous!”

Huh. Considering how Kenji lost his voice singing karaoke just now, I’d say this is good advice.