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Chapter 43 Part 2

As such, it was completely beyond his expectation to suddenly be found out by a complete stranger.

If he had thought about it calmly, he could have taken other measures, but the current Yuu was being seized by panic.

As such, what he chose to do there was to run away.

「Ah, hey!」

As Yuu threw away the can he had almost finished drinking and suddenly broke into a run, the woman chased after him.

Yuu had better explosive power, but the woman was also desperate, refusing to let go of the opportunity to meet a young man she had happened to get.

Him vigorously making a run for it was fine and all, but as he was about to lose his balance due to a bump in the road, the woman’s hand reached out for his back.

However, what she managed to grab was his long, flowing hair.

She then fiercely yanked it backward.

「Gah!」

Yuu’s chin jerked up and his wig ended up falling off the moment he had the hair pulled.

This caused the woman to fall on her buttocks, giving rise to a gap between her and Yuu, who regained his balance and dashed off.

「Ah! Wait up, young one!」

As the women shouted so loudly, the gazes of the women passing by gathered on them, but Yuu, who was too preoccupied with running away, was oblivious to it.

As he ran through the narrow street and was about to make it to the sidewalk of the road, where cars came and went incessantly, as expected, even Yuu noticed that something was not right.

That everyone around him was staring at him.

It seemed that unknowingly, he ended up running to a place with heavy pedestrian traffic.

「H, huh?」

He didn’t notice when he was running, but his head felt lighter, or rather, the touch of his hair, which had been hanging annoyingly over his face, was gone.

Yuu, who had stopped on his tracks, put his hand on his head.

*Swishhh* He felt like his blood had suddenly drained away.

Although it was too late, he finally realized that the 「Man」 and 「Boy」 every woman in the vicinity had been muttering about were referring to him.

「W, why is a boy in such place alone?」

「Oh my, he’s so cool.」

「How cute!」

「A young man! Moreover, he’s so beautiful and stylish! Very nice. Slurp.」

「I wonder if it’s okay to come closer? Is it?」

As Yuu stood stock still on the wide sidewalk, the number of women looking at him a few meters away from his front and rear rapidly increased.

At first there were only ten, but then the number doubled to twenty, to forty.

They included not only passersby, but also those who had come out of nearby stores and those who had taken the trouble to stop their cars and get out.

Children of elementary school age, students in school uniforms, office ladies in suits, pairs of mothers and children, aunties and grannies. They were all of various ages, but the one thing they all had in common was that they were all looking at Yuu with a passionate gaze.

Given that they were on the street in the middle of the day, even if there was a young beautiful man in front of them, as expected none was animalistic enough to come at him right away.

For now, they were still just watching from a distance.

Since Yuu was simply standing there quietly alone, there were some who felt doubtful, looking around in wonder if this was a movie shooting or if there were some security personnel stationed some distance away.

The crowd surrounding Yuu slowly narrowed down the encirclement.

Ah, this could be bad.

When he went to the gymnasium in April to observe the basketball club activities, he was also subjected to a lot of passionate gazes, but that time was still good.

Given that they were students from the same school, there was a sense of security that they would likely not do anything reckless to him.

In the basketball club, there was also a leader figure in the name of Captain Shiina.

However, what he had right now was a completely uncoordinated group. Currently, they were still watching the situation, but it was hard to predict what kind of action they would take.

Yuu hurriedly looked around the surrounding area.

He couldn’t afford to just stay still here.

He had to make a swift decision.

Turning around, Yuu headed for the entrance-like gate of a large building along the street that he saw nearby.

There were four or five aunties on the way, but they happened to have just come out the stores and were carrying large shopping bags and paper bags in their hands, so they couldn’t move even when Yuu ran toward them.

Yuu quickly slipped through that opening.

「「「「「Ah! He went away! 」」」」」

The women who had been surrounding him began chasing after him as fast as they could.

When someone ran away, you would have the urge to chase after them.

Until just a moment ago, they had been watching the situation out of surprise and confusion, but their desire began to gradually rear its heads.

I want to exchange words with that beautiful boy. I want to touch him. I want to hug him. I want to kiss him. If circumstances permit….

Rather than fans chasing a male idol at the peak of his popularity, they were about to finish their transformation into predators chasing their prey.

The building where Yuu entered was the Daimatsu Department Store, the only department store in Higashimatsusaka City.

Generally, the first floor of a department store was reserved for women’s goods such as cosmetics, jewelry, accessories, and bags. Children’s and men’s goods could only be found on the upper floors.

Daimatu Department Store was no exception, and on a Saturday afternoon, the first floor was very crowded.

When Yuu burst in by his lonesome, he immediately attracted the gazes of numerous women there.

So to speak, it was the worst place for a man to escape to.

「Ugh…..」

「「「Huh?」」」

「「「Oh!」」」

Most of the women there were mature ladies in their thirties or older.

There were also some who were married, and if you looked all the way to the end of the floor, you could even see a few men with their families, solidly guarded.

However, women who had never had any luck with men until that age were taking up the majority, and the actions they took were very direct.

「「「Kyaa! It’s a young boy!」」」

「Geh!」

Seeing ladies of more than twice his age gathering around him in droves, Yuu was impatient.

He went in the direction where there were fewer people, but no matter which direction he went, all he met were women, women, and women.

It was on the level where even the women who came out of the stores in wonder as to what was all the fuss about ended up becoming in a frenzy the moment they saw Yuu.

If this had been a common commotion in the department store, such as a bargain sale, the store clerks and security guards would have been able to deal with it.

However, a situation in which a man as good-looking as Yuu burst in all alone and got surrounded by a crowd of female customers was beyond their expectation.

「Everyone, please calm down!」

Even when he called out to them, all of them turned a deaf ear to it.

Yuu tried to go outside again, but realizing that the group from earlier was approaching from the entrance, it seemed that he had been driven to a corner

「What happened for you to make such a face? Hey, hey, what’s your name? How old are you? Where did you come from?」

Suddenly, an aunty with heavy makeup came up to him from the front and called out to him.

No matter the world, aunties of a certain age were stronger in this kind of situation than younger women.

Aunties with heavy make-up and flashy clothes closed the distance in unison.

「Ah, err….」

As Yuu looked around while showing an amiable smile on his face, trying not to provoke them, he noticed that there was an escalator.

However, the passageway to it was completely blocked.

「Gununu, don’t get in my way!」

「What? You’re the one who’s in my way!」

Bam!

Two aunties were also coming up to Yuu from behind, pushing each other away all the while, but they fell face first as their hands bumped into each other.

「Huh? Where is he?」

「Where did he go?」

As Yuu got under the shadow of a life-size billboard of a model, which happened to be set up nearby, and lowered his posture, the women around him lost sight of him in an instant.

There it is!

Maintaining that posture, Yuu aimed for the opening.

That place was inside the counter of the cosmetic section.

Since the commotion started, the clerks had done nothing but move about in confusion.

At most, the sole sensible clerk had called the security guards through the extension phone.

It was hard to believe that the commotion would stop just because a few security guards rushed to the scene, though.

Yuu, who had gone inside the counter, raised his upper body in front of the clerk in a navy-blue uniform.

The one who was surprised was the clerk.

「Hyaa?!」

Since she got the job after graduating from a vocational school, she had been living for nothing but work for 20 years.

The female clerk, 40 years old, who had never had any interactions with men, was so shocked that she almost fainted when Yuu suddenly appeared in front of her and not only stared at her but also put both hands on her shoulders.

「I’m sorry. I’m passing through here, okay?」

「Y, yesss.」

Even though things had escalated to that point, Yuu still didn’t have it in him to treat women in rough manners.

No, if anything, as someone working in the store, I guess you can say that she’s a victim here.

At that time, he still had that kind of thoughtfulness.

「I’m sorry. I’m sorry.」

「Ahh….」

Managing to slip through, putting his hands on the shoulders of the stunned clerk and apologizing to her all the while, Yuu passed through the inside of the counter.

Coming back to their senses, the clerks put up their bodies to hold back the customers who were trying to go into the counter to chase after Yuu.

Thanks to their efforts, Yuu was able to successfully take a shortcut to the escalator and go up to the second floor.