"Ha—you think it's gonna be that easy, Hinami?"
It was three in the afternoon on a Sunday, the time of week when normies
typically build relationships by going bowling or singing karaoke or doing
other stuff with their friends.
I, on the other hand, was facing off with the TV screen in my room,
muttering to myself with a controller gripped in my hands. Typical behavior
for Tomozaki, world-class bottom-tier character. Yup, that's me, and right
now I was doing what I do best.
"Yeah, bam!"
As I put my geekiness on full display, Found—the ninja character that
Hinami was controlling—went flying off the stage. Naturally, the game on
the screen was Attack Families, aka Atafami.
"Ha-ha! Man, that felt good."
With that, I won, and the score screen came up.
I've still never lost to Aoi Hinami, the perfect heroine of our high school,
known to me as the up-and-coming gaming prodigy NO NAME. We'd
played ten matches just today and probably fifty altogether so far. In other
words, fifty wins, zero losses. I could practically see her frustrated scowl.
Of course, on the battlefield of real life, my score was still a big fat zero.
A chat message arrived from Hinami.
NO NAME: If you're not too tired, how about one more?
Even in that short message, I could sense both her stubborn drive to win
and that stoic determination that wouldn't allow her to be happy until she'd
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beaten me at my best. Without meaning to, I smiled.
nanashi: Nothing gets you down, huh, NO NAME?
Same old Hinami. Sighing good-naturedly, I thought back on the previous
day, when we met for lunch at an Italian place in Kitayono and went to see a
movie together.
* * *
One thing I can say right off the bat is it didn't go how it was supposed to.
"Nope. When you say it like that, it feels like you're talking too much, or
you're being sarcastic. Get it?"
"S-sarcastic?"
It was early afternoon, and the June heat was starting to get intense—the
season was at that midpoint when spring warmth turns to summer mugginess.
Hinami and I were sitting at an open-air café on the first floor of the mall.
"Try imagining yourself being a little more sincere, like you're just
speaking your mind."
Wrapped in a calf-length coat made out of some material they'd sell at
Muji, or a store like that, and gracefully cupping her chin in her palm, the
perfect heroine with the bad mouth continued to instruct me. As nanashi, the
top Atafami player but a noob at the game of life, all I could do was meekly
obey.
"Um…so that part where the heroines jumped out of the car with their
guns…"
But I was thinking about something else.
"Nope, try again. You still sound too lecture-y. Put more feeling into it."
"Feeling, huh…? Man, that one part! When the heroines jumped out of
the car?"
This wasn't how it was supposed to go at all!
"Not bad, but I think you should use your hands more. Don't overdo it or
anything, of course."
I mean, it took a lot of courage to ask her out. But as soon as the two of us
left the theater, she goes, "So if you just saw a movie with a girl, how would
you get a good conversation started? Give me a comment and don't forget the
tone!" And all of a sudden, I was getting a full-on lesson.
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"H-hands? …The heroines! Jumped out of the car! …Oh, come on,
Hinami."
"What?"
I stopped midsentence, looked over at her, and told her what was
bothering me. "Did you say yes when I asked you to see a movie just so you
could give me this lesson?"
She blinked twice. "Obviously! What other reason would I have for
seeing it?"
Better than a flat Duh, I guess. I sighed. "…Right."
Typical Hinami, I'll admit, but geez.
In other words, after I chewed out Erika Konno in the old principal's
office, which had absolutely no lasting impact on our class—or it seemed like
it didn't, at least on the surface—I asked Hinami to a movie without really
meaning to. Our class might not have changed, but I had, just a little. That
was all well and good, but then she went and treated it like one of our
ordinary normie lessons. Yeah, Hinami-san is a tough one. And yeah, I'm a
slow student.
That said, the only thing that's changed is that instead of thinking she's
got a lousy personality and way too much confidence, I've come around to
actually respecting her. She's pretty amazing, honestly. It really wasn't that
much of a shock that our trip to the movies turned into a lesson instead of a
date. In fact, I think this is healthier, or at least better in the long run…right?
"…Right?"
"Yeah… Wh-what?"
"What do you mean 'what'? Are you even listening to me?"
The penetrating, powerful gaze from Hinami's big eyes met my own. Her
beautiful hair swung lightly, tickling me as it brushed my cheek. Damn she's
close!
"S-sorry! What were you saying?"
Without meaning to, I looked away. Just because I've always been bad at
eye contact.
"Right now, you're practicing how to comment on a movie. When this is
over, you're gonna practice how to respond when she tells you her thoughts
on a movie. You know that, right? So hurry up and get it together so we can
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move on."
"A-are you serious?"
"Obviously. Anyway, next…"
In her usual Spartan way, Hinami-san was taking the reins completely. I
was starting to get embarrassed, so I decided to make a suggestion.
"First let me ask you something. Do you have time tomorrow?"
"Huh? What's with the sudden question? Listen, I have a lot to do. I can't
give you all my attention for two full days…"
"Atafami."
"What?"
I caught a glimpse of eagerness in her eyes when she flicked her gaze
toward me. When it comes to Atafami, she's an open book.
"First to win ten matches. What do you say?"
"Bring it on."
Yup, she's always ready to play.
That's how I ended up winning ten games in a row on Sunday. Man, that
felt good.
Wait a second… Are Hinami's flaws contagious?
* * *
It was Monday, the start of another week. I was in our classroom before
school started. Since we met on Saturday, Hinami and I had skipped our
usual morning meeting.
"Hey, Tomozaki! Tomozaki!"
"Huh? Oh, Izumi."
She'd come into the classroom a couple of minutes before homeroom
began. Same old Izumi: smells great, kinda ditzy, huge boobs.
"Listen to this!"
"What's up?"
"I think…I've got it perfectly memorized."
Her tone was serious, almost grave. No doubt she was talking about the
assignment I'd given her: memorizing all the moves for an Atafami match.
"Oh wow, seriously?"
"Seriously!"
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Ever since the incident in the old principal's office, I'd been navigating
the subtly altered battlefield of school with slightly less of an inferiority
complex.
"In that case, you really are gonna be able to play Nakamura soon."
"Really?! …Yay!"
Izumi did a little "here we go" pose. Wow, that was cute. She was so
sincere and in love.
As you can see, I was actually able to have a normal conversation now.
Okay, I admit, that was mostly because Izumi is a good conversationalist, and
I was just following her lead. I hadn't improved all that much. Plus, we were
talking about Atafami, which was an easier topic for me.
That was why I decided to take the initiative and get myself some more
EXP.
"That reminds me…"
"Huh? What?"
For me, every day is a day for special training. I selected one of my
memorized conversation topics that I could use on Izumi.
"I heard Nakamura's birthday is coming up."
"…Yeah, it is, but why do you know that?! I mean, why did you say that
to me?" Izumi sputtered, turning red. I guess talking directly about Nakamura
is a little insensitive? Hinami-san, what's your verdict?
"Oh, I don't know… Ha-ha."
"Don't Ha-ha me! Anyway, his birthday isn't for a month. That's not
exactly 'coming up'!"
Come on, couldn't she find my flubs cute?
Still, I've improved compared to my old loner self. When I'm in class, I
talk to Izumi about Atafami and other random stuff, and I talk to Mimimi and
Tama-chan and Hinami in a group, too. My loner aura is gradually fading.
That's kind of amazing.
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Of course, if I think about it, being amazed by my own ability to talk to a
couple people in class might be its own problem. I'll pretend not to notice
that.
The problem is Erika Konno and her crew. It's like they're always saying
stuff loud enough for me to hear, such as "What a freak!" or "That look in his
eyes is so weird" or "It's hilarious how desperate he is!" like they're trying to
hit me where it hurts. I'm sick of it. Aside from that, everything is peaceful.
Thinking about it more, though, I'm always hanging out with girls, which
probably won't make me popular with the other guys. I wouldn't be surprised
if they think I'm one of those types.
I was just thinking I'd better get some advice from Hinami on the subject
when an incident occurred during the break before fourth period.
"Tomozaki."
"…Huh?"
An unfamiliar voice was saying my name. When I turned around, I found
Mizusawa.
Mizusawa was one of the guys who's always hanging out with Nakamara.
He was the one with the stylishly permed and dyed hair and the fresh,
handsome face. Unlike Takei, the other core member of Nakamura's crew,
Mizusawa was less like a hanger-on and more like a military advisor
propping him up from the shadows. Back when everything went down with
Mimimi and Tama-chan in home ec, that was the vibe I got.
"Uh, does someone want to see me again…?" I asked him in a low voice.
Mizusawa laughed loudly. "Chill out, dude! I'm just talking to you. Guess
that doesn't happen to you much, huh?"
His tone was light. But while I felt relieved that Nakamura wasn't
summoning me again, I was also bothered by the instability of my position. I
guess at my level, people feel like they can call me "dude" whenever they
feel like it.
"What do you mean you're just talking to me?"
"What do you think I mean? Listen, that was crazy the other day, huh?"
"The other day? You mean with Erika Konno?"
"Yeah!" Mizusawa cackled gleefully. "I've never seen anyone piss her off
that bad."
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"Sh-shut up, man!"
I didn't know what to say, but I tried to sound upbeat and comical. It's all
about practice. Obviously, I've been practicing every day so that I can
maintain the energy in my tone and expression. But it doesn't work so great
with higher-status people.
"Look, Tomozaki." For some reason, Mizusawa's expression was gentle.
"Actually…it was a good thing."
"A good thing?"
I couldn't help sounding like an idiot.
"Yeah. It's like, you were saying what was really on your mind, right?"
I thought back on what I'd screamed at Konno in the old principal's
office. Shit. It was a little embarrassing to be asked if those were my real
feelings, but I nodded. They were.
"Yeah, guess so."
Weirdly enough, Mizusawa grinned. "Thought so! Like, okay, I wanna
say this right. I'm not against what you did."
"…What?"
"Look, that kind of shit is usually too much for people. It's crazy. A lot of
people would call you a freak for it…people like Konno. But me? I think it
was awesome, and actually…"
He stopped talking, but I was so engrossed in his unexpected speech that I
couldn't help prodding him on. "…Actually?"
"I agree with what you said. And I was kind of impressed that you were
able to be so bold. I just wanted to tell you you've got people like me on your
side."
"On my side?" Never had I once considered during my time in high
school that someone might ever be on my side. Food for thought.
"Anyway, there's no real point I'm trying to make. Just, like, let's go grab
a bite sometime with some people."
"Some people…?"
Those words struck me as sinister, but I tried to keep my tone upbeat
when I said, "Okay!" I had Izumi in mind as my model. That light little
"Okay!" of hers had a pleasant ring to it.
"Of course, Shuji wouldn't come."
"Oh right."
Maybe he'd planned to say that all along, or maybe he'd guessed how I
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was feeling, but Mizusawa's words casually swept away my concerns.
"Right? That wouldn't be cool, right, if Shuji was there?"
"Uh, well…I guess," I said vaguely.
"Listen, Tomozaki." Mizusawa looked at me gravely, then smirked. "It's
funnier if you reply instantly. Like 'Yeah, no.'"
"…Oh, right."
As I stood there awed by the power of the normie, Mizusawa went on
talking. "Right? Anyway, when I said some people…"
He smirked again and looked me in the eye.
"…I meant Aoi or someone."
His choice caught me off guard.
"Oh yeah. Hinami," I said, trying to sound calm enough to hide that he'd
gotten to me.
"Yeah, you guys are tight lately, right? We'll invite her and another girl
and hang out. Sound good?"
"Yeah, that does sound fun."
I flexed my face muscles to make myself smile casually.
"Right? Okay, dude, I'll check in later."
"Okay."
As I fired off another Izumi-inspired "Okay," it finally hit me that a lot of
people had noticed Hinami and I were getting close. Mimimi and Izumi had
said something about it, too. As I suspected, normies are incredibly good at
noticing changes in human relationships…
Still, going out to eat together? Honestly, it was all so sudden that I felt
kind of intimidated. But this kind of thing wouldn't be that unusual for a
normal high school student, right? Damn, high schoolers are incredible. They
must be out doing stuff all the time.
Then again, going out to eat wasn't such a big deal, and I'd be okay as
long as Hinami was there, right? I didn't want to be so dependent on her,
though.
That same day, Mizusawa and I talked a little at lunch and again after
school. He's got a full-on normie aura. Of course, Mimimi and Izumi are
normies, too, but everything about normie guys is intimidating. They've got
this vibe that reminds you of where you are on the food chain—way scarier
than normie girls. I was super nervous while we were talking. Hope I was at
least getting some EXP out of it.
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At the same time, well, I don't know what's gonna happen in the future,
but it seems like this might develop into a sort of friendship with another guy
in my class, and a normie at that, too. Can't complain about that!
Plus, I'm kind of happy he agreed with the stuff I screamed at Konno.
* * *
"All righty, then. It's been a while since we met here. Let's get started."
"Go easy on me, please."
We were in Sewing Room #2 after school. It was the first time we'd met
there since the incident in the old principal's office. The familiar, dusty room
felt oddly calming.
"First let's go over your current goal. Do you remember what it is? The
small one, I mean." Hinami didn't waste any time getting the discussion
going.
"Yeah, of course. To go out alone with a girl other than you, right?"
"Right." She nodded.
"But the more I think about it, the scarier it seems."
"And the more I hear your whining, the more I get tired of it," Hinami
retorted indifferently, stroking the ends of her beautiful silky black hair. As
she recrossed her legs, I glimpsed the sunlight from the windows reflect off
her inner thigh with a blinding white flash. She really is good-looking,
including her figure.
"But what should I do? Do I just come up with a slick way to ask
someone out?"
Hinami shook her head. "No, it's better if it happens as the natural
conclusion to a conversation. It'd be easy to achieve the goal if you just
barreled ahead asking everyone out, after all."
Not so easy for me, but anyway. "Gotta make it natural, huh?"
"Yeah. Plus, if you were to go out alone with someone right now, your
skills are still so low that the conversation would probably dry up and the
date would be a failure. You need to strengthen those skills first."
"O-oh, okay. You mean conversation skills, right?"
"It's not a problem you can solve overnight, but topic memorization is the
answer. Are you keeping up with that?"
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Memorization. In other words, building a stock of things to talk to people
about. I'd been continuing with that even during these couple days when I
hadn't met with Hinami.
"Yeah."
"I thought so. From what I've seen, you seem to be practicing."
"From what you've seen?" I repeated, startled.
"You've been using the topics, right? For example, when you're talking to
me and Mimimi and Hanabi."
"Oh, yeah."
So that's all she meant. When I'm talking with Izumi or Mimimi and
Tama-chan and her, I try to find as many opportunities as possible to bring up
the topics I've memorized. She can tell that simply by watching me.
"Keep up the good work. There's a big difference between memorizing
topics and using them in real conversations. The fact that you're able to use
them is a big step forward."
"R-really?"
I didn't know how to respond to the compliment.
"Of course, sometimes you're so desperate to introduce a topic you come
off as unnatural, or you give a big lead-in to something that ends up being
trivial. Like you'll go, 'Hey, everyone, listen to this! That show on TV the
other day…' That still needs some work."
Her words hit hard, especially given the unnecessary use of her acting
skills to imitate my nerdy tone.
"I'll fix it…"
I trailed off into dejected silence. Hinami glanced at me with a satisfied
smile. Was she getting even more sadistic than before?
"Well, it shouldn't be too hard, since the areas for improvement are clear.
Next, I'd like to talk about our plan moving forward…but first, has anything
changed lately?"
"Any changes… Oh." I remembered something. "Today I talked with
Mizusawa about a bunch of stuff."
"Mizusawa? Now that you mention it, I did see you two talking a couple
times."
"Yeah. That's why I wasn't able to go to the library before we changed
classrooms today."
"I see… Well, there's not much you can do about that."
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Hinami had instructed me to keep working on my ridiculous midrange
goal—getting a girlfriend by the time we start our third year. As part of that,
she's also been reminding me to keep talking to Kikuchi-san, my love
interest, as much as possible.
"We switch classrooms on Mondays and Wednesdays, so I'm planning to
go the day after tomorrow…"
"In that case, it doesn't matter. It might even be for the best. Anyway,
what happened with Mizusawa?"
"Well, you know that whole mess with Konno? He told me he agreed with
what I said to her, and he said we should go get a bite to eat sometime with
some people. He said you should come, too, and another girl."
"…Huh. Mizusawa said that?"
Hinami knit her brows. Unusual behavior. Well, knitting her brows wasn't
unusual in itself, but she rarely made that expression in response to
something or someone other than me, especially when it was someone she
seemed to be on decent terms with.
"What? Is something wrong?"
"Why?"
"Nothing, it's just…"
"It's not a big deal. Anyway, that might work out just about right."
She brought one finger to her lips as if she were deep in thought. I felt like
she might be about to change the subject, but her expression stayed the same.
"What do you mean by 'just about right'?"
"Obviously what we were talking about a minute ago. Conversation skills.
Or I should say, date skills. You should be able to get in some good practice
if we all go out."
She seemed to be taking this in an entirely different direction.
"Practice, huh…? Well, it would be easy to practice if I was in a group
with you and Mizusawa and one other person."
"Right?"
I imagined the scenario: There I was, in a vaguely normie setting, feeling
reassured because Hinami was sitting next to me.
Just as I was getting annoyed at myself for needing that reassurance,
Hinami started talking again. "Plus, you can practice asking someone out, in
addition to talking with them on a date."
"Huh? Asking someone out?"
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Uh-oh, I see where this is going.
"Yeah. You're going to invite the other girl. Obviously."
"…Figures."
Well, I guess that's how it works. In the game of life, the harsh training
just doesn't stop.
* * *
To summarize the rest of our meeting, here's what we decided:
My job was to choose who to invite, taking into consideration the
relationships between myself, Hinami, and Mizusawa. Once I decided, I
would have to think about the best way to invite her and then actually do it.
In other words, the choosing, thinking, and inviting were all up to me. A
one-man play starring Fumiya Tomozaki. Everything depended on me. Is it
safe to leave so much up to me? Or maybe it's a test? Kind of like how lions
drop their cubs over the edge of a cliff to see which one can climb back up?
Only thing is, I'm more of a mosquito larva than a lion cub. Wonder if that's
gonna be a problem.
In the end, though, if expert player Hinami-san is telling me to do it, I
don't have much of a choice. I might find it frustrating, but I don't think she's
way off the mark. Meaning it won't do for the top gamer nanashi, aka
Fumiya Tomozaki, to cut corners.
With those thoughts in my head, I headed home and started my solitary
reflection.
Number one. Who to invite?
I didn't struggle too much over this one. The list of girls I could invite
was basically limited to Mimimi, Tama-chan, Izumi, and Kikuchi-san.
Kikuchi-san would be tough both in terms of personality and the group she
hung out with. Tama-chan didn't seem well suited to that kind of situation,
either. After all, she almost got herself into big trouble the other day in home
ec. Even if Nakamura wasn't there, I didn't think it would work.
That left Mimimi and Izumi. Of the two, Izumi probably had a stronger
connection to Mizusawa. She belonged to Erika Konno's group, which was
closely tied to Nakamura's.
Given that, I tentatively settled on Izumi.
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With her in mind, I moved on to point two: how to invite her.
I was expecting this to be the hardest part, but it was surprisingly easy.
Among the conversation topics I'd prepared based on information from
Hinami, one stood out as especially promising. Actually, it was one I'd
already brought up with Izumi.
I heard Nakamura's birthday is coming up.
Basically, I'd use that as the pretext for inviting her. More specifically, I'd
tell her: "You're probably not sure what to get Nakamura for his birthday,
right? You should ask Mizusawa! You guys are friends anyway. And Hinami
seems like she's good at that kind of thing, too. You should come with us!
Wait a second… Guess you don't really need me in this operation!" I'll admit
I thought it was a damn good plan.
The next morning, I laid it all out for Hinami when we met in Sewing
Room #2.
"…Well, if that's what you want to do, go ahead. Is that your final
decision?"
Her reply was a little loaded, but she gave me her approval. She refused to
elaborate when I asked her what she meant, so I can't say what was up, but I
decided to go with it. When I asked Hinami about my one concern—whether
Izumi would get Nakamura a present in the first place—she said chances
were nearly a hundred percent that she would. She added that she probably
hadn't bought one yet since his birthday was still a month off. Which left me
with just one option: Go for it.
* * *
So there I was in our classroom on the day I had to invite Izumi. But…
Before I did that, my first hurdle was telling Mizusawa I was going to
invite her. If I didn't, he'd think I was randomly inviting someone without
asking him, and he might have already invited someone else. It was the polite
thing to do. Or so Hinami told me, adding, "Normie or not, shouldn't that
have occurred to you?" She looked totally annoyed. I didn't give up, though.
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I'm way too used to her harsh comments for that. I did file that bit of
knowledge away for next time, though.
With that in mind, I headed into morning homeroom. I was planning to
approach Mizusawa when he got to class. He usually got there before
Nakamura, so I aimed for that window of opportunity.
"Mizusawa."
Surprised at how smoothly I'd been able to say his name, I waited for his
response. Normally I'd have stuttered for sure. Not bad, Tomozaki.
"Huh? Oh, hey, Tomozaki! Why so serious?"
"S-serious?"
"Anyway, what's up? Are you nervous about something? Relax, dude!"
Grinning, Mizusawa thumped my shoulders. Apparently, I was so nervous
he could see it in my face. Not so good after all, Tomozaki. Whatever, that's
me. Onward!
"Oh, no, I just wanted to ask you about getting something to eat, like we
were talking about the other day."
"Oh yeah, that."
"You were saying it'd be me and you and Hinami and one more person."
"Yeah, sounds about right."
"I was thinking of inviting Izumi. Wh-what do you think?"
It was clear I was testing the waters; Mizusawa peered into my eyes like
he was trying to read something there. Guess I should have said it a little
more naturally and confidently?
"…Yeah, I guess that's fine."
"Really? Th-then I'll invite her later."
He hardly waited for me to finish before he said, "Listen, dude." Then he
smirked. "You're up to something, aren't you?"
"Huh?"
He pointed accusingly at my head. "I've been suspicious for a while now!
That haircut—you started going to a salon instead of a barber recently, didn't
you? You're wasting a good cut by not styling it."
Once again, he'd caught me totally off guard. "Y-you can tell?"
"Obviously!" he said, touching my hair. "…They really did a nice job,
too. I'm planning to be a beautician, so I'm a harsh critic."
"Huh."
So that was his deal. Since I wasn't a normie, that was the best response I
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could come up with. I reflexively looked away. My embarrassment didn't
stop him from ruffling my hair.
"Look, you've always been kind of a loser, but suddenly you start going
to the salon, you're buddies with Aoi and Mimimi and Izumi, and you're
acting way more upbeat! And to top it all off, you're gonna invite Izumi
yourself? Don't tell me that's all a coincidence."
"Uh…"
I was panicking because he'd hit the nail right on the head, but at the same
time, I was kinda glad he noticed I was more upbeat.
"So basically, you're on a campaign to fix your reputation, aren't you?
But you're way too gung ho. I mean, it's hard to imagine you're coming up
with all these ideas on your own. Something's going on, isn't it?"
"Uh, n-no, not particularly."
Mizusawa was rattling off his points like a motivational speaker, declaring
everything as fact, with accompanying hand gestures. Even as I marveled at
his powers of deduction and communication, I was internally panicking. If he
figured out Hinami's role in everything, that was a worst-case scenario.
"I know what you're up to, dude…"
I waited in silence for Mizusawa's verdict. He pointed straight at my face.
"…You've been reading one of those books on how not to be a geek!!"
For the second time in two weeks, I was being accused of following the
advice in one of those books. He was insulting my dignity just like my sister
had.
* * *
Lunch period rolled around, and everyone started putting away their books
and other stuff. That was when I planned to invite Izumi.
After Mizusawa finished his deductive tour de force, which turned out to
be harmless, he'd said, "It's totally fine if you invite Izumi. Good luck,
dude!" With his moral support as well as his permission secured, I had to go
through with it. I wanted to take a second to pull myself together, but when I
glanced to my left, Izumi was right there, which made that impossible. This
was the downside of sitting next to her. By the way, not saying anything until
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lunch wasn't part of my strategy—I was just running behind schedule
because I was so nervous.
Still, I'd planned out my speech and played it in my head a bunch of
times, and I'd put in some solid practice on my delivery and phrasing, too, so
it shouldn't be that hard.
Of course, I knew getting too comfortable could set me up for a fall. I'd
made that mistake too many times, so I wasn't letting myself feel overly
confident. Here I go!
"Izumi."
"Hmm?"
Her round eyes turned toward me without the slightest shade of anything
unkind in her expression. Come on, what's with those beautiful eyes? I ought
to be grateful for her good intentions. But that's not what this is about.
"Um, remember we were talking about Nakamura's birthday coming up
soon?"
"That again?! It's not soon! It's still a ways off!"
Izumi turned a very noticeable shade of red as she protested furiously.
Suppressing the desire to ask her what exactly counted as "not soon" versus
"a ways off," I continued with my speech.
"Okay, but you're going to buy him a present, right?"
"Yeah, I probably will… What are you getting at?"
Izumi fanned her face with both hands to cool off. Good luck with that!
Anyway, now I was sure that she planned to buy him a present, but she
hadn't yet. Onward!
"Actually, Mizusawa and Hinami and I were talking about going out to
eat, and we wanted to invite one more person…"
"Uh-huh. And you were thinking of asking me?"
I continued with my script, as outgoing as I could manage.
"Yeah, pretty much. And…you're going to get Nakamura a present, right?
Well, Mizusawa is close with him, and I thought maybe you could ask him
what you should buy."
"Good point!"
Izumi clapped and looked at me with satisfaction, like she was following
my line of thinking.
"Hinami seems pretty good at that kind of thing, too, so…I was thinking
we could all go shopping for it together."
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"Oh, no, I wouldn't want to make you guys do that!"
"Huh?"
Make us do it? My mind ground to a halt after this little curveball.
"You guys are planning to eat out, right? I wouldn't want to drag
everyone along on my personal shopping trip."
She waved her hands energetically. That's when I realized what was
going on. This was just Izumi's personality.
Even though she belonged to Erika Konno's group, which was at the top
of the class hierarchy, she was hyperaware of the general mood of a
conversation and cared a lot about what other people thought of her. She was
good at doing things for others and being considerate. The flip side was that
she was bad at letting other people do things for her. It was like that saying
about monks being bad at combat. If you've got a strength, then its opposite
is likely to be your weak point. Maybe.
If that was true, then she probably didn't like getting favors without
giving anything in return. Darn, I screwed this up. How do I fix it? I'd hate if
she turned down the invitation because of this.
"You shouldn't worry about it! It wouldn't be a problem at all!"
"Really? But…is everyone else going to buy presents for Shuji, too?"
Uh, were we? We hadn't mentioned anything about that. Probably
shouldn't outright lie about it…
"I—I don't know."
"Thought so! I'll go if everyone else is going to buy him a present, too!"
She was offering a compromise, but I got the feeling this was basically a
no. Shit, what do I do? She was avoiding a definite answer, which meant I
might have to ask her again. That idea definitely didn't appeal to me, which
made me want to keep insisting until she made up her mind here and now.
Was that evasion or aggression?
"Um, but I really don't think you need to worry about it…"
"Really?"
"…Okay, how do I put this?"
"What?"
I wasn't being clear anymore, and Izumi was getting more and more
confused. This was not good.
Just as I was thinking I had to figure out something quick…I had a flash
of inspiration.
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Was it really a good idea? I wasn't sure, but in my panic, I just spit it out
on pure momentum.
"I'm gonna buy him one, too."
"Huh?" Izumi froze.
"I'm gonna buy Nakamura a present, too."
"…What?"
She looked at me like she had no idea what I was talking about. Of course
she didn't. If a carbon copy of me were listening to our conversation, he'd
probably be even more confused than Izumi right now. Why the hell would I
buy Nakamura a present? We were more like enemies than friends.
I had to recover the ball and find an excuse.
"It's just… I want to patch things up," I said, grasping at straws.
"Patch things up?"
Izumi's eyes lit up a little.
Wait, what was she expecting? I continued apprehensively. "I mean,
things got weird the other day, but since we both like Atafami, I think we
should make up… Nakamura is really into Atafami now, right? Plus, going
by what happened the other day, he's not a bad guy. I bet we could be
friends…"
The excuses came with surprising ease. Wonder why. Had I gained some
skills?
"Anyway, I was thinking maybe his birthday would be a good
opportunity…"
When I'd finished explaining, Izumi gaped at me. Then, after a brief
silence, she broke into a huge grin.
"That's awesome!!"
She put both hands on my shoulders and shook me violently. What the
heck? My head flailed back and forth.
"That's awesome! I love it, Tomozaki! I was actually feeling kind of
weird about all this. I mean, you know I'm…friends with Shuji, right?! And
lately I've been talking to you a lot, too. So I was thinking, like, both of you
are good guys, and both of you are friends with me, so I didn't want you to
be, like, in a fight! Oh, s-sorry."
Suddenly realizing what she was doing, she removed her hands from my
shoulders. Meanwhile, my heart filled with emotion upon hearing Izumi call
me her friend. And please don't say she was just being polite.
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"O-oh…"
"Plus, it sucks when your friends are fighting, right? So I'd be really
happy if two of my friends could be friends with each other! It's just more
fun that way! Uh, sorry if I'm being weird about this; I just think it would be
so great!"
"Um, y-yeah, that's what I thought, too!"
Her beautiful, saintly speech sounded like a girl in love blasting me with
her true feelings. What was this? Light?
Even though it was obvious she was wearing makeup, and she wore her
school uniform all sexy, her heart was so pure. And her boobs were so big…
Okay, no, you can't think stuff like that in the presence of a saint.
"I'll help you! We'll go present shopping together!"
As I was thinking irrelevant thoughts, the conversation took a weird turn.
Still, she was accepting my invitation, so all's well that ends well, right…?
"Oh, uh… Um, thank you!"
With that, the "Grand Strategy to Get Nakamura a Present; Oops,
Tomozaki Wasn't Even Needed" had suddenly turned into the "Grand
Strategy to Reconcile Nakamura and Tomozaki."
After school, I told Hinami what had happened.
"…So anyway, I managed to invite her."
Once again, Hinami's response was loaded. "Good job. But I'll ask you
one more time. Are you sure this is what you want?"
"What do you mean? I was wondering about that the other day, too."
"Well, you and Mizusawa had originally planned to go out to eat."
"Yes, and…?"
Oh yeah. I guess the plan did change to shopping.
"I feel like you'd realize this if you thought about it at all, but there's a big
difference between sitting somewhere and talking while you eat, and walking
around to a bunch of places shopping. Shopping is going to be way harder for
someone at your level."
"…Oh."
She was right. If we were just eating, as long as Hinami was there, the
conversation would be fine, and there wouldn't be much else to think about,
so I could relax. But if we went shopping…I'd have to think about what to
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buy, what to say about what other people bought, where to stand, what to
look at, and… Ugh, way too many things I didn't know how to do.
"I can tell you didn't think about any of that." Hinami sighed.
"B-but if I didn't say I was getting a present, she wouldn't have said yes."
"Normally, if someone says they feel bad about making everyone come
shopping, you say, 'Then let's just go eat,' right?"
"Oh…"
Hinami looked down, shaking her head and sighing.
Looks like I just raised the difficulty.
* * *
The evening after our meeting, I was eating dinner with my family.
According to the master, it would be weird for me to organize everything,
not to mention too much for me to handle anyway, so she was going to take
over.
I was enjoying that sense of relief as I ate. My sister was sitting next to me
and my mom was across from us, but my mom ate only a few bites before
going into the kitchen to start cleaning up. She was on a mini diet where she
didn't eat much at night. Still a go-getter in her late thirties. My dad was at
work, so he wasn't eating with us.
My sister and I were staring at the TV and eating in silence when my
phone started buzzing in my pocket. I figured it was for some e-mail
newsletter.
"Huh."
When I pulled it out, there was a notification from a messaging app
saying, "You've been invited to join a group." What was going on? I'd never
seen something like that before. Invited?
When I tapped on it, an invitation to a sort of chat room called "Pre-BDay Strategy Group" popped up, and I had to either accept or decline.
"…What is this?"
Hinami must have created the chat room—there was a notification saying,
"Aoi Hinami-san has invited you to join this group." Apparently it was
possible to view the other members, so I tapped on that button and the names
Takahiro and Yuzu-san popped up as "invited." Yuzu-san must be Izumi,
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which meant Takahiro was Mizusawa.
This was the first time I'd been invited to something like this, but I
imagined it was a group chat to figure out our plans for shopping. The
messaging app probably had a system for that, which Hinami, our event
organizer, had used. Impressive deduction skills, huh? Just don't mention
how I didn't know all this stuff to start with. At least I can figure it out.
As I glanced back at my phone, I noticed that Yuzu-san's status had
changed from "invited" to "joined." Ooh, the action here's in real time. She
must have noticed the invitation and decided to accept on the spot. Just what
I'd expect from a normie like Izumi. No hesitation whatsoever when it comes
to joining social circles.
I was about to tap "accept," too…but I get nervous about stuff like this.
Even though Hinami was the one who had made the group and Izumi and
Mizusawa already knew about the plan to go shopping, I was weirdly
uncomfortable, like maybe I shouldn't be there. Must be because I'm not one
of them.
As I was staring at my phone and agonizing over what to do, an
unpleasant voice interrupted my thoughts.
"Hey, stop talking to yourself so loudly. People are trying to eat here."
My sister was glowering at me. When I looked back at her, she turned her
head away and started eating again. She sure is full of herself for someone
who's not even here for dinner most of the time.
"Chill out."
"Pfft. What, are you playing a porn game or something?"
"Hey! I don't play those. Believe me."
"Ugh. I wasn't even being serious."
She glared at me with a look halfway between an absent stare and disgust.
"Hey, what's that…? LINE? You're on LINE?"
She must have glimpsed the screen on my phone in the process of glaring
at me, because she suddenly sounded surprised.
"…Yeah, and?"
"Huh. Weird." She sounded unhappy about this for some reason, and she
kept glancing over at me as she ate.
"What?"
"Nothing."
"No, what?" I insisted.
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"I just thought it was unusual for you to be on LINE," she huffed. "And
that's a group message, isn't it?"
"Yeah…"
"What, you got invited to some weird group you don't want to join?" For
once, my sister took the initiative and continued the conversation. Normally
she was like, Hi, bye!
"It's not weird, but…I don't know. Joining just doesn't feel right."
"Huh."
With that uninterested response, she turned away and started absently
watching TV again while she ate. Geez, you're the one who asked.
I didn't care all that much, though, so I went back to my dinner, too.
"…Well, that does happen sometimes."
"Huh?"
She was looking up at me. What was she trying to say?
"I mean, it's like, sometimes you get invited to join a group and you feel
awkward about it, but you still have to join."
"Huh."
So that's what she meant. This was a new experience for me, but
apparently it wasn't that unusual. What was unusual was that my sister and I
were actually talking about a shared topic of interest.
"Could be, but it's still super awkward."
"Huh."
She suddenly started acting bored again and went back to ignoring me in
favor of her dinner. What was with her?
Slightly hurt by her rudeness, I started eating again, too.
"…Are they your new friends or something?"
"Huh?"
She glanced at me again as she asked her weirdly timed question. What
was she up to?
"I'm asking if you made some new friends and decided to make a group
chat together."
She pouted, glancing sidelong at me. I didn't get it.
But seriously, how long had it been since we had a real conversation like
this? We'd never had anything in common. And now she was talking about
the awkward side of making friends?
I really wasn't expecting this. She was a fairly solid member of the inPage 24 Goldenagato | https://mp4directs.com
crowd, and she always seemed cheerful and happy without thinking about
things too much. Still, I guess even she worried about these LINE groups
sometimes. If that was true, how long would it be before I could get through a
day without worrying about this stuff?
"No, it's like, I don't know. I just got to know these people recently, and
they're all fairly popular. I'm just hesitant to join their group, or…nervous, I
guess? That's all."
"Yeah, I know where you're coming from. That stuff is so annoying."
She shrugged melodramatically. She got peeved like that sometimes. Still,
she seemed kind of off today. Maybe something had happened recently that
was bugging her? I thought I'd try asking.
Okay, EXP might have been a minor consideration, but I was also her big
brother, y'know?
"You having any trouble with your friends or people in your class?"
She looked surprised for a second, then sighed with exasperation and eyed
me with a condescending sort of pity. "If I was, would you have any good
advice for me?" She gave me an appraising look.
"Da…"
I couldn't even say "damn." Humiliating. Would I ever be able to hold my
own in a battle with my sister, the normie in my own family?
With a silent groan, I joined Aoi's group. It was like my sister said; this
inner conflict over accepting the invitation was stupid.
In a couple minutes, the discussion started, and we decided to go shopping
on the coming Saturday. Not much time…
* * *
The next day was Wednesday. I was in morning homeroom when our
teacher, Ms. Kawamura, made an announcement.
"Okay, so I handed out an explanation about this already, but next, uh…
Tuesday, the campaign period starts for student council elections. All right?
Third-year students will be taking their university entrance exams, so starting
next month, the first- and second-year students will be in charge. If you want
to run, you gotta get an application from me this week. You'll need a
campaign manager, and you'd better choose that person carefully. The forms
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are due next Monday, guys."
Ms. Kawamura had a distinctive way of talking, and this time was no
exception. She was no pushover—she was already head teacher for our grade
level, even though she was on the young side. Her whole personality was
distinctive, really. She was super pretty, too.
So it was time for student elections again. Now that I thought about it, I
remembered the election being around this time last year. Of course, last year
I was a first-year student, and none of my classmates were pushy enough to
be like I'm gonna be student council president! all of a sudden. The elections
were totally uneventful. I don't think any first-years ran, not even Hinami, if I
remember correctly. She must have decided the downsides would outweigh
the benefits.
When homeroom ended, everyone started chatting noisily. I stayed in my
seat and watched Hinami absently. She slipped away from the normie group
with ease and got a paper from Ms. Kawamura. Figures. Must be an
application to run. She swept the field in just about every arena, so why
would she let such an obvious chance to be number one slip by?
Which reminded me, Ms. Kawamura had said something about campaign
managers. Each candidate needed one, I think. I couldn't really remember the
details, but I was fairly sure they had to give a speech last year. As long as no
one popular runs, no one really cares about the student council elections.
Wonder who Hinami'll choose.
As all these thoughts were running through my head, I noticed Hinami
glancing toward me. She smiled a little, then looked away. She returned to
her seat, slipped the paper into a plastic folder, and put it in her bag.
Uh, does this mean what I'm thinking? A shiver of dread ran through me.
"Morning, Tomozaki!"
An overly perky greeting reached my ears.
"Whoa!"
Practically falling out of my seat, I turned around to see Mimimi. As
usual, her figure was way too attractive, her face was way too pretty, and she
was way too energetic.
"Why are you staring at Aoi? Got a crush?"
She giggled and sidled up to me. I shrank back.
"N-no, I don't have a c—"
"Aha! So you don't deny you were looking at her!"
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"Hey, wait a second…"
She was setting the pace, and I was scrambling to deny her accusations.
She looked away, rested her chin in her hand like a detective, and turned her
gaze to the front.
"…Yup, looks like she's gonna run." Her eyes were on Hinami.
"For student council?"
"Yup!"
Guess Mimimi saw her get the paper, too.
"Well, this is Hinami we're talking about… Of course she'll run."
"Oh. You think so?"
There was a hint of gravity in her voice.
"Huh? Oh, well, she's number one in everything. I just assumed she'd go
for this, too."
"…So true! She really is perfect at everything!"
Mimimi paused for a second, like she was thinking about something, then
laughed a little too hard. What was that pause for? I was curious, but I
couldn't think of a natural way of asking, and given all the stops and starts
when I try talking to people, I had no room to comment. For the moment, I
focused on how to move the conversation forward without any more pauses.
Um, perfect? Well, maybe if she wasn't so rude…
"Ha-ha-ha, she really is perfect," I said, agreeing. It wasn't a lie, after all.
"What I'm wondering is…who is Aoi going to pick as her campaign
manager?"
"Yeah…" I thought back to the bad feeling I had a minute earlier. "Yeah,
that is the big question."
"Whoever Aoi chooses will be the center of attention, huh?"
"Y-yeah, the center of attention…," I agreed, all the while sensing my
dread grow.
"In one sense, it would be an honor, but in another, it would be, like, a
really big job…"
"A-a big job…" As dread turned to certainty, all I could do was nod.
"You definitely wouldn't want to mess that one up… Oh, here comes the
teacher! See ya!" With that, Mimimi returned to her seat.
Attention, responsibility, a high price for failure. Yeah, that would sum it
up.
As I prayed my hunch was wrong, I thought about how we had class in
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another room today, which meant I absolutely had to talk to Kikuchi-san, and
then on Saturday I was going shopping with the normies, and…I had so much
on my mind, I didn't know what to tackle first. For the moment I decided to
empty my mind and just get ready for first period. Ah, enlightenment.
Before long, break time after third period had arrived.
After returning from the realm of enlightenment to the real world, I
headed for the library. Needless to say, I wasn't going there to plan Atafami
strategies this time. I was going to talk to Kikuchi-san.
This would be the first time meeting her one-on-one after fessing up to my
lie about reading Michael Andi's books. I mean, she sat behind me in class,
and we'd even talked a little, but there was a difference between seeing her in
class and meeting here in the library. You know how you can sometimes get
an elemental boost from the field? Well, Kikuchi-san's attractiveness would
get a boost when she was around books.
"…Ah!"
When I came into the library, for some reason walking very slowly and
quietly, Kikuchi-san noticed me right away and looked toward me. I was sure
those eyes could dispel any negative status effects all on their own. She
smiled kindly at me before looking down at her book. The library was as
quiet and calming as a temple.
I walked slowly toward her, feeling slightly embarrassed as that little
smile reminded me of the one from a week ago. I pulled out the chair next to
her, scooched it the tiniest bit closer to her than last time, and sat down.
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"Hello." Turning toward me with the calmness and loving kindness of
Mother Mary, she greeted me with a voice as gentle as a fairy plucking a
harp.
"H-hello," I replied, flustered.
"Planning more strategies?" She was so pure, almost childlike.
"Uh, no, nope. Today I was…"
"…Yes?"
Hugging her book to her chest like a woodland squirrel holding nuts, she
tipped her head inquisitively to the side. The trees outside the library window
chose that moment to wave softly in the wind, and personally, I don't think it
was a coincidence.
I'd planned to be honest that I'd come specifically to talk with her, but
faced with a magic so powerful it could even move the trees and flowers, I
couldn't possibly pull off such an over-the-top stunt.
"Um…I was interested in that book we were talking about the other
day…"
I stood up, walked over to the bookshelf near us, and pulled out a book. It
was the same one I always pretended to read while I was planning Atafami
strategies. The book that led Kikuchi-san to mistakenly think I was a Michael
Andi fan.
For the first time, I took in the title of my favorite prop. The Masked Pilot
and the Fairy of Truth.
"…And I thought I'd try reading it for real."
Her eyes sparkling like the legendary jewels that open the door to heaven,
she raised her eyebrows in surprise and then smiled like a typical teenage
bookworm.
"Oh, that would be great…!"
"Whew…I'm glad to hear you say that."
I smiled back at her (I didn't even have to think about how!), inched my
chair a tiny bit closer to her, and sat back down.
The soft sound of two people turning the pages of their books filled the
library, accompanied by the shuffling of feet. Neither of us said a word; we
just followed the words on the page. We were reading different books by
Michael Andi, but I felt like we were traveling together through the same
world, understanding one another bit by bit as time flowed by like a calm and
gentle river.
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It was all so tranquil, I could hardly imagine that in three days I would be
out shopping with three normies. Which is to say, I didn't want that day to
come. I wanted to stay in this moment forever.