Chapter 82

“High School Boys and Zippers” is the 82nd chapter of the manga.

Cover Page
End scene of Chapter 81. Yoshitake, probably recounting his own annoyances now, stares at Hidenori picking his nose.

Detailed Summary
Takahiro and his friend are sitting on a bench, when Takahiro asks him what it was that made a guy cool. The friend responds instantly that it’s his looks, which Takahiro mulls over before saying it was too obvious. He tells him there has to be something else. This results in a prolonged silence.

Seeing that none of them have any ideas, Takahiro doesn’t sit well with the thought that a man is only worth as much as his looks. He says that they had plenty to talk about when it came to discussing girls and it was tragic for them to have such a short list. The friend thinks some more before saying that men could lay down their lives to protect women.

Takahiro finds this too forced and his friend agrees. However, he adds that if they were to put aside their surface-level disdain, they would find it to be cool. This confuses Takahiro, but his friend doesn’t have any further explanation. They then start walking home.

On the way, they see a schoolgirl taking the same road a little ahead of them. A gust of wind suddenly  blows and ends up raising her skirt. She clutches at it with an embarrassed squeal and the boys are startled. Immediately, Takahiro’s friend extends his hand. Swiftly, he pulls down the zipper of his pants.

Takahiro stares at him before shouting out that his zipper was down and his underwear was exposed. The friend reacts as if severely embarrassed. The girl regards them silently, having forgotten her own discomfiture. She walks away.

Having seen this, Takahiro remarks that he now understands what it means to be cool. A note by the author states that he's totally off the mark, though.

Characters
In order of appearance:
 * Yoshitake (cover)
 * Hidenori (cover)
 * Takahiro
 * Takahiro's friend