Book Girl and the Captive Fool Read Online Free PDF

‘I don’t want to be alone with Nojima for more than an hour.’ ”
    “I totally get that. Nojima is obnoxious. He just starts treatingSugiko like she’s his wife, and if she even talks to another man, he gets all angry and says, ‘That woman should be fed to the pigs. She is unworthy of my love.’ Who does this guy think he is?”
    “Seriously! He wants to be the only one Sugiko needs, and he’s in this fantasy where he’s an emperor and she’s the queen. Of course, Sugiko would try to get away from that!”
    “For sure.”
    The two of them had suddenly found themselves on the same wavelength, but Tohko continued to desperately defend Nojima.
    “What?! But that’s what’s so cute about him! When people fall in love, they construct all these stories in their minds and get fluttery and excited. But at the same time, they have no self-confidence and get irritable and depressed, and they take their stress out on people like a little kid would.
    “If the person they like so much likes them back, they can become much better people than they are. They could even rule the world. That happiness you feel, like your heart is soaring up to heaven, and then that anxiety when you want to cry because you come back to your senses. Nojima is genuinely running in panicked circles between those emotions.
I
think he’s very straightforward and cute and wonderful anyway.”
    Tohko smiled.
    “That may be your opinion, Tohko,” Kotobuki replied crisply, “but I just can’t get behind it. If you indulge boys who get these delusions, they’re just going to get more intense.”
    “Hundred percent! I agree! Compared to him, Omiya is smooth and a
may
zing. Like when he defeats Sugiko at Ping-Pong—he’s just too hot for words!”
    “Yeah.” Kotobuki nodded, looking triumphant. “Omiya’s a great guy. The things he says when he’s about to go abroad make me want to cry.”
    “Come onnnn! You have to appreciate Nojima’s charms! You guys!”
    I was impressed that they could get this worked up over a fictional character. Unable to jump into the girls’ discussion, Akutagawa and I were staring at them blankly when Takeda brought it back around to us.
    “Konoha, Akutagawa—what do you two think?”
    “What—? Uh… Nojima definitely didn’t pick up on Sugiko’s hints. But I’m not sure how I feel about Omiya putting his letters to Sugiko in that magazine and then telling Nojima out of nowhere to go read them.”
    Then Akutagawa spoke up in a firm voice.
    “I think Omiya shouldn’t have accepted Sugiko. It doesn’t matter what his reasons were. A person with any honor wouldn’t betray his friend’s trust.”
    Akutagawa’s face was as harshly clenched as his voice. His eyes flashed, too, fixed on a point in space.
    Takeda and Kotobuki both gaped at the sudden humorlessness.
    I was flustered, too.
What happened, Akutagawa?!
    Just as things were starting to get uncomfortable, Tohko rested her hands on the table and leaned toward us.
    “Oh, really! It’s only because upstanding men of honor have been tormented that thrilling literature was born. If Omiya were a womanizing playboy, he never would have sweated his correspondence with Sugiko. This scene is one of my favorites. Bring me one more block of tofu! No, make it three! Four! No, bring me everything you’ve got! With a heap of ginger on top! Like that?”
    I pressed a hand to my forehead.
    “That comparison is too obscure, Tohko.”
    Akutagawa was flabbergasted, and Kotobuki and Takeda looked confused.
    Tohko extended her right index finger, and wagging it backand forth, she cheerfully declared, “Heh-heh, well! To put it simply, it’s like you’re com
plete
ly full, but you keep on eating anyway.”
    “I don’t get it. But whatever, let’s move on. We’re running out of time.”
    She craned back to look at the clock on the wall, and her eyes widened. “Oh no, you’re right! Let’s pick roles, then. Konoha should probably be Nojima, and maybe