Light Novel Chapter 30

わかる人、わからない人 (Wakaru Hito, Wakaranai Hito, lit: The People Who Understand, and the People Who Don't) is the thirtieth chapter of the light novel series of The "Hentai" Prince and the Stony Cat.
==Plot==
While the other students gather in an assembly, Yokodera Youto and Maimaki Mai meet up in an empty sports room to discuss their body swap. Youto explains to her about the Cat God, and the likely cause of the swap — it was the Cat God's way of granting their wishes to be like each other.
Hopeful that they might be able to revert the wish, Youto suggests to try bashing their heads against each other one more time. However, Mai hesitates. She becomes curious of Youto's male anatomy, leading to a chaotic confrontation where Yokodera desperately tries to protect his dignity. They are soon discovered by a teacher, the Old Miss, who is known for her disdain towards the Hentai Prince. Taking advantage of the situation, he begs the Old Miss to save him from the prince. However, he does not expect Mai to play along — she begins acting as perverted as possible, further ruining Youto's reputation.
The commotion attracts more people, one of them being the Moustached Daruma. He drags "Youto" aside to lecture him, while assuring "Mai" that it's okay now. The Old Miss comments that "Moustache-sensei"'s kindness can be a curse at times, expressing that she would kill off students like Yokodera if it were up to her. Mai promises the kind teacher that she'll listen to his lectures later but requests to go to the washroom first, a final move to solidify Youto's defeat. However, upon redirecting his attention to what dangles from his chest, Youto decides that it is not too bad after all.
Youto, as Mai, returns to the girls' room, finding Tsukiko alone, eating aggressively. Addressing who she thought was Maimaki-senpai, Tsukiko asks her what she talked to Youto about, writing it down in her notes in extreme detail. When questioned what the notes are for, she directly admits that she will use it to attack Youto when opportunity arises.
Tsukiko then makes a surprising request to "Mai" — to take off her clothes. Before Youto can even respond, she has already started to open the buttons on "Mai"'s blouse. She nods deeply after closely inspecting Mai's body, and follows with more strange requests: "Please cross your arms against your chest, lean forward a bit, push out your lips, and wink."
Tsukiko explains that she would like to use Mai as reference, claiming that their bodies are quite similar, which baffles Youto who finds that it cannot be further from the truth. She then proceeds to put herself in the same pose as "Mai," a heavenly sight to Youto, as she excitedly asks for feedback, her face still devoid of expressions.
Searching for a way out, Youto tells Tsukiko that she need not rely on such a pose, and what matters is the feelings of herself and the other party. Tsukiko seems satisfied as she affirms to herself that she, as the number one, have the most important feelings. Regardless, she thanks "Mai" for helping her learn a pose, once again mentioning the similarity between their bodies. When Youto tries to confirm what she said, she corrects her statement to "their bodies will be similar," as she draws a function on her notebook supposedly showing that she will catch up to Mai in a year.
Surprisingly, throughout their interactions, Tsukiko has completed failed to notice the body swap.
The next morning, Youto wakes up early and takes a shower in the vice president's body. When he returns, he is affectionate greeted by Cozy-sama, who attacks "Mai"'s ticklish sides and asks for a morning kiss. Noticing her fluster, Cozy-sama comments that Mai is acting differently from usual. She tells Mai to not push herself if she's feeling under the weather, and offers to fix her hair for her.
Declining Cozy-sama's invitation to a morning walk, Youto makes his way up to the fifth floor where the boys stayed. Arriving at his room, he hears discussion amongst the boys about Yokodera's unusually perverted acts. Spotting Mai in his body, Youto calls out to her, pointing at the cat piece. However, Mai averts her gaze, declaring that she's totally satisfied the way she is. She recounts having fun with Azuki Azusa, receiving emails from Tsukiko, and even getting a call from Tsukushi. She reasons that they need more time to think about their lives, and can always go back to normal, pleading to maintain the body swap for a bit longer. Reluctantly, Youto agrees.
With Tsukiko tagging along, the group sets off for Togakushi Ninja Village, a famous dating spot, as part of their research theme — an investigation on the Chūbu region's countermeasures for their declining birthrate. Due to a group size limit of 4 at the attraction, Tsukiko suggests splitting into groups of 2 and 3, with herself paired with who she thought was Youto. Thus, Tsukiko and Mai are left alone together as Youto, Cozy-sama, and Azusa form the other group.
Cozy-sama brings up Youto with Azusa, urging her to start working a bit harder so she doesn't lose to Tsukiko, but Azusa says that it's up to Youto to decide, and she doesn't want to force her feelings onto him. When asked if she might end up regretting it, Azusa expresses confidence in Youto's kindness, believing that he won't do anything cruel. Despite this, Azusa still accepts Cozy-sama's offer to teach her how to win over boys, with the teachings apparently involving taking off her clothes.
An hour after they make it out, Tsukiko and Mai are still nowhere to be seen. When Youto calls his on phone, it is Tsukiko who answers, stating that it will take senpai a bit longer to find the correct path. Azusa, apparently spotting some classmates from her old school, leaves to talk to them. Cozy-sama, still concerned for "Mai"'s well-being, goes to buy her some tea, leaving Youto alone.
As Youto remarks on the peaceful atmosphere, he is interrupted by a strange man with a black cat puppet. Controlling the puppet, the man cryptically urges Youto to reclaim what is important for the stony girl. Proclaiming to be not suspicious at all, he proposes a conversation about a certain house god. He cautions Youto that he cannot deceive everyone forever, and warns him to confirm his own stance before a certain situation arises.
Some time later, Tsukiko and Mai have finally exited the ninja residence. Holding her grade book, Tsukiko glistens as she repeats "number one," while Mai is visibly traumatized. The group have lunch and visit several other attractions before boarding a train to return to their inn.
During their free time before dinner, Youto tries to talk to Mai again about switching back, but to no avail. He then finds Tsukiko and Azusa in the gaming room, having fun playing table tennis. Apparently, her interactions with "Youto" today has made her realize there is someone she must talk to. She invites Azusa to a bath in the hot spring, who fails to notice the ominous aura around her. Sensing the danger that Azusa is in, Youto makes the emergency decision to join them in the bath.
In the hot spring, Tsukiko begins talking about a "what-if" scenario involving three people, A Girl-chan, B Boy-kun, and C Beauty-san. A and B are close enough that they slept under the same roof together. However, as of late, C has started to get in between them, despite it being "decided" that A is the number one girl for B. Tsukiko poses an obviously targeted question: "Shouldn't C recognize that she can only ever be number two, and refrain from coming to the boy's club practice and clinging to him during the field trip?"
Though the question sounds familiar, Azusa mistakes it as discussion about a shoujo manga. She questions who determined the rankings of "number one" and "number two." Upon learning that it was A who decided it, she dismisses it as meaningless, as it should be up to B to decide. Tsukiko counters that B has also made it clear that she is the most precious, but Azusa continues to challenge her, reasoning that "precious" can mean a lot of different things and isn't necessarily romantic.
After a moment of hesitation, Tsukiko adds that everything B does with C, like kissing, headpats, or holding hands, he would do with A as well. Despite this, Azusa maintains that this still doesn't establish A's superiority. To her, A appears to be desperately trying to keep up. This time, Tsukiko is left without a rebuttal.
Azusa suggests that A's belief of being number one is merely an assumption, elaborating that controlling someone is a shallow delusion of early love and that true connection comes from accepting what lies beyond one's reach. Clinging desperately to her belief, Tsukiko insists that, for A, B will always be number one. However, Azusa counters that A is merely forcing her feelings onto B. To further her argument, she references the supposed manga's storyline, pointing out that C had an entire character arc that led to her falling for B, while A gave off the fragile air of a first love.
Youto tries to step between them by suggesting to leave, but it is already too late. Completely oblivious to the impact of her words, Azusa delivers the final, devastating blow: "If I had to guess, A Girl-chan probably never really loved him. I actually feel sorry for her." As if hit by a knockout punch, Tsukiko collapses into the water, sinking as she foams from her mouth.
They carry Tsukiko back to the room. Wholly unaware of her victory, Azusa blames herself for talking too much, and Youto tries to assure her it's not her fault. Staring at "Mai" for some time, Azusa comments that she is just like Yokodera, even though they look very different, prompting a frantic denial.
Azusa leaves the room to fetch some ice bags. Shortly after, the real Mai arrives, carrying a cat. She explains that Youto's reputation was so bad that Mai had to use a cat to barter herself in. Youto asks Mai if she managed to get along with everyone, and Mai eventually admits that Youto's relationships are too complicated to handle. Though she thought she had a grasp on things, what happened between her and Tsukiko at the ninja residence made her realize otherwise. She admits that the two of them were fundamentally different from the beginning and cannot become each other. With a subdued tone, she suggests that they back, but not without thanking Youto.
They take out their respective cat pieces, placing them together and pressing their heads close. In an instant, they return to their original bodies. Youto immediately feels the toll Mai had taken on his body, as it aches intensely from being pushed to its limits. Meanwhile, Mai grows flustered, noticing a change in her underwear, and becomes mortified at the thought of what Youto could have done while inhabiting her body.
Only after that do they realize that Tsukiko has risen from her futon, having listened to their entire exchange. Questioning their choice of words, Tsukiko recalls Mai behaving like Youto back in the bath, washing her fingertips first. Youto denies this, saying he only poured water on himself, only realizing after that he had practically admitted the truth.
Learning that Youto and Mai had switched bodies since the previous night, she compares herself to the cat asking for sweets: "Just like this cat. I didn't care who it was so long as I could get sweets. I said over and over that Senpai was most important to me. But I didn't even realize it. I just fell victim to relying on his looks. And kept talking like I knew everything. Even though I wasn't aware of anything. Nothing at all. I have nothing. Nothing at all."
Tsukiko, growing increasingly despondent, curls up smaller and smaller in front of the cat. Succumbing to her despair, she whispers something to one of the cat pieces resting on the tatami mat and bumps her head against the cat. Suddenly, the room is plunged into a brief power outage. When the lights turn back on, Youto and Mai find the cat lying on Tsukiko's futon, while Tsukiko herself is nowhere to be found.
==Characters==
==Navigation==