Chapter 25: I Pretended To Be Calm

**I Pretended To Be Calm** is the twenty-fifth chapter of *Boku no Kokoro no Yabai Yatsu*.

## Summary

Outside of the Akita Shoten main headquarters, Yamada gets distracted trying to eat fried chicken and drink milk tea. Stuck with only the girls and Adachi, Ichikawa resigns to the fact that he'll only be able to interact with him. The group eventually goes inside, and Adachi asks Ichikawa which receptionist he likes, and he only tells him to shut up in response. Moe then announces that despite her looks, she knows all about manga, listing off popular titles, which gives Ichikawa a bad feeling. The students are brought into the Editorial Department, and the other girls begin pointing out manga or posters, asking Moe what they are, but she has no clue, leaving Ichikawa frustrated at her normie tastes.

At one point, Adachi slides up next to Yamada, asking her if she likes manga, to which she says "not really." Adachi agrees, trying to stay in line with her flow of the conversation, and Ichikawa thinks this may be a good idea, but without a mutual interest, the conversation fizzles into nothing. A poster of a scantily-clad girl catches Yamada's attention, and she points to it, saying it's Araki Yuuri, a model from Yamada's agency. This causes Adachi to go off, and Yamada asks if he knows her, and asks if he thinks she's cute. He then goes into an overlong tirade about her body, going way over the line, and causing Yamada and Chi to react with disgust. Chi walks up to him and begins stomping on his foot, and Ichikawa finds himself relieved that Adachi is so stupid.

Meanwhile, Serina is asking the guides if Hiroshi Takahashi is working, and that she is a huge fan of the works Crows and Worst. Moe claims she knows about this, but is only aware of the live action adaptation of Crows, again upsetting Ichikawa. He tries to play it cool as the others get excited over the manga, but a worker then comes out with a raw manuscript of the manga Baki, which suddenly captures his interest. Yamada, noticing this rare excitement from Ichikawa, asks him if he wants to see. Despite his aloof attitude, he eventually agrees that he'd like to, and she grabs his wrist, clearing the other students out of the way. He admires the artwork, being uncharacteristically enthusiastic, and looks up at Yamada asking her how awesome it is. She stammers out a confirmation, leaving Ichikawa believing that girls just don't understand anything.

* A bonus page is Yamada and Ichikawa still looking at the raw manuscript, and her saying that it is simply "drawn well." The workers behind them get an aura of gloom at the blasé response.

* Another bonus page is Yamada seeming to offer Ichikawa to share a blanket while she is sitting at the library table.

## Trivia

* The bonus page features an out-of-universe apology from Norio Sakurai to "Itagaki-sensei," that being Keisuke Itagaki, the mangaka of Baki. She is effectively apologizing for using Yamada's lack of interest in her co-worker's manga as a joke.

* A poster for Rorroro, one of Norio Sakurai's previous series, is on the wall, likely meaning she exists as a mangaka in-universe as well.

* The real-world Akita Shoten building also has a Family (Fairy) Mart next to it, here.