You and I Are Polar Opposites (正反対な君と僕)

December 25th, Christmas Day.

At night.

*TAIRA

Who walks into a convenience store

targeted at long-haul truckers, sees a pile of unsold cakes

and decides to buy one?

Oh, stop! Why would you say something like that?

Oh, look. They're selling cakes!

We just ate some, didn't we? How much are you planning to eat?

It doesn't matter, does it?

I was used to get a laugh.

At work, when we're not particularly busy,

I end up thinking in circles about all kinds of things.

POPURI

BUY A CAKE AND CHICKEN TOGETHER AND SAVE!

Back in my first year of high school...

Taira-kun!

Huh?

He looked this way!

Was she really talking to me?

He's so confused.

Hey, Taira-kun. I bet you get told you're cool a lot, right?

Right? And he's tall, too. He's such a hottie!

What?

M-Me?

That's absolutely never happened to me!

Seriously, please stop!

Azuma's listening!

MIDDLE SCHOOL CLASSMATE AZUMA

Oh wow!

He's blushing. That's adorable.

What is this?

IN MIDDLE SCHOOL

Um, that's my seat.

Huh? Gross.

He's trying to talk to you.

WHISPER WHISPER...

Get a clue.

That's what middle school was like, but now...

I didn't think the high-school personal relationship reset would work this well!

I'm scared of what Azuma thinks, though.

Even though I'm not sure of anything...

little by little, being treated differently than I was before

has started to make me feel like maybe I can do this.

ARE YOU HERE?

I JUST STEPPED OFF THE TRAIN

Welcome!

Can I take your order?

This is the first time I've come to a place like this.

Which one are you ordering?

Huh? Um...

SHOCK

MORE THAN STAPLE FOODS...?!

BEVERAGE

BEEF BOWL 600 YEN

That's so expensive!

Sorry, Taira-kun.

Your personality is sort of different than what I'd imagined.

My appearance may have changed...

but at the core, I was still me.

There's no way things would work out so easily.

For a while, when the girls were snickering, it was usually about me.

How did it go with Three-Quarter Sleeves?

Oh, please stop bringing up my dark history!

Three-Quarter Sleeves...

Are they calling me Three-Quarter Sleeves now?

And what I realized later was...

I just passed that upperclassman in the connecting passage! It was crazy!

You should try talking to him.

What? No way! I'd be way too nervous!

And if he thought I was annoying, I'd just die!

the feelings she'd approached me with weren't the kinds of feelings

where you worry about what the other person thinks.

I realized that they were something just a little below that.

From that moment, to this very day,

when I remember the me that took words at face value and got excited...

when I remember my own lack of a sense for things...

SHOCK

when I remember the moment that I blurted out what I was thinking...

MORE THAN STAPLE FOODS...?!

BEVERAGE

BEEF BOWL 600 YEN

I felt like they were ridiculing and laughing at me for all of it.

SNICKER

SNICKER

SNICKER

SNICKER

SNICKER

Even supposing that my appearance changed...

if my inherent pathetic nature leaked out,

I would be laughed at, and that terrified me.

Aren't you cold?

Of course I'm cold!

What're you doing?

I'm on my way home from my winter courses.

Huh? Today of all days?

And you said you'd be working today.

Huh?

So, I came to window-shop.

Your style of annoyance is starting to resemble Suzuki's.

The Santa suit... looks good on you.

You're making fun of me, aren't you?

No, you look cool.

Stop laughing!

Taira!

Yamada.

Huh? Tani, you're here, too!

What kind of coincidence is this? You're showing up one after another.

I passed this place a bunch of times making deliveries today,

and I kept thinking, "Taira's really got it good!"

For real? I didn't notice at all.

And actually...

your cosplay is super cool!

You're making fun of me, too, aren't you?

No, I'm super serious.

The fabric for the one where I work was way thinner,

and there was no beard or hat.

It sort of makes me jealous.

I-Is that so...

And you. Stop laughing to yourself.

Taira-kun, you can go now!

Yes, sir.

Well, I'll be going, then.

Sure! Hurry up and get changed.

Huh?

It's cold, so we'll wait inside.

Tani, what did you come to buy?

Nothing in particular.

Yeah?

POPURI

POPURI

Huh?!

BOOM

They're tossing them, so they gave me one.

Let's eat.

For real? That's awesome!

Thank you for your purchase, Taira-kun!

SUCH A BIG HELP...

YOU AND I ARE

POLAR OPPOSITES

I've never eaten a cake this way before.

Tani-kun the model student would never do anything this ill-mannered, I suppose.

What's that mean?

Taira, do you do buy-and-eat from work with your friends a lot?

Don't talk about stuff that doesn't exist.

This cake is so good!

Having cram school on Christmas... Didn't Suzuki complain about that?

No. I mean, we saw each other yesterday.

Is that so?

You're the one who asked.

She's getting together with her club from middle school today.

Oh! In that case, it'd be people like Satou, Takao, Mito-chan,

Furukawa, Sekine...

Those club members?

I don't have that deep a grasp of the details.

Don't just spout names we don't know.

Thanks for the treat!

PARTY'S DONE!

Suzuki-san sent a photo.

Yamada-kun, are these all your friends?

Yeah, I know them! Brings back memories!

Oh, but there are a few I don't recognize because of make up or hairstyles.

Does she send you updates about everything?

Pretty much.

Really.

What?

I'm sure she wants to put you at ease.

Huh?

You seem like the type who'd doubt her and get jealous quickly.

Why are you being like this?

Is that true?

It's not.

It's not something we need to discuss now.

You're being evasive.

I don't think I am... probably.

Photos are memories stored on an external hard drive!

By sharing memories externally,

I think she's attempting to cement them more firmly in place.

Are you talking about AI?

You're overthinking it.

Assigning deep meaning and thought to every little thing won't get you anywhere.

Hey... humans aren't machines.

They're living creatures with emotions.

Don't just sloppily pick out one or two key points.

Please don't tell me two different things at once.

Oh, my! Aoi-chan, come right in!

Hey, there!

Thank you. It's been quite a while since I saw you last.

Oh, my! What a grown-up greeting!

AOI-CHAN

You're growing into a young lady so quickly!

And you're so well- put-together again today!

Mom, you say that every time!

It's as lively as ever here.

The manga books must've been heavy. Sorry about that!

It's fine. My older brother said,

if he only lends out a few out a time, he'll forget who has them,

so if you're gonna read them, please take them all at once.

I wonder if Satobro has lent stuff to someone who just kept it.

Somehow lazing around like this makes it really feel like the end of the year.