Several days passed. Thanks to Tama-chan's scolding, the
negative feelings toward Konno gradually faded, and while
she didn't return to her former top position, she did regain
some of her standing in the cool-girl group. Of course, the
incident with Hinami meant she couldn't flaunt her control
anymore, but she was still accepted. Gradually, she pulled
herself back up to a powerful position in the class hierarchy.
Her own political savvy and sense of balance were partly
to thank, but I think Izumi's support played an even bigger
role. Right after the incident, people didn't exactly victimize
her, but they did treat her kind of distantly. Izumi was the
only one who consistently stayed by her side.
Of course, the harassment stopped. Not just toward
Tama-chan, but the others, too, including Konno. And as for
Tama-chan herself…
"Tama-chan, want to come do karaoke with us?"
"Well, okay, if everyone's going!"
"What's that supposed to mean? Feel the love!"
"Shut up! I said I'm going!"
"Ah-ha-ha. You guys are playing around again!"
"Hey, wait! That wasn't playing around!"
"At it again, huh?"
To put it simply, she had way more friends. Ever since
the charm-school strategy, people had started to accept her,
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and then when she scolded the whole class, that cemented
her status. She'd gained a stable position as a really good,
really solid person.
In other words, the class came to define her character as
the essence of her personality. When we had talked about
people getting used to her character, I think this was it.
It went without saying that her charm, developed
through training and some help from all of us, played a big
role in all that.
And me? I was at a restaurant on the way home from
school with some people. The group included Mizusawa,
Nakamura, Takei, Hinami, Mimimi, Izumi, and Tama-chan.
"Shut up, Nakamura! I'd never do that!"
"Shit, you really are stubborn…"
Believe it or not, Nakamura and Tama-chan were joking
around. The charm-school strategy wasn't enough to make
the two of them friends, but after she defended Konno, the
tension softened. According to Mizusawa, "he probably just
needed a reason to forgive her."
If Nakamura gave in when Tama-chan didn't, he would
have felt like he'd lost. Given his position at the top of the
hierarchy, that wasn't acceptable. So he needed some kind of
"story" that would convince the rest of the class that it was
okay for him to give in. The Konno incident was more than
enough to serve that role. It's a real pain to have a higher
position than everyone else.
"Okay! Everyone, listen up!" Mimimi said, clapping her
hands. Once the whole group was looking at her, she
coughed. "We've gathered here today for one reason…"
After that overly formal introduction, she pulled a paper
bag from her school bag.
"Reinforcements!!!"
This mysterious military reference was followed by her
dumping the contents of the bag onto the table. Colorful
items rolled out, covering the whole surface. There were
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enough striped haniwa charms for everyone at the table to
have one.
"Oh wow…," Tama-chan said in surprise.
Everyone else grinned. We were all in on this one.
"Hee-hee-hee. Tama, look at this."
Mimimi flipped each of the charms over so that their
back sides showed. When she was done, she smiled wide.
"Now there won't be any more problems!" she said,
giving a thumbs-up. Tama-chan looked at the charms with
an astonished smile. Of course she did. I'd probably react the
same way.
"…So was Tomozaki the one who came up with this
idea?"
"How'd you know?"
My heart skipped a beat; she saw right through me. I did
come up with this plan.
The eight haniwa charms on the table in front of us each
had a red line of stitches down its back. I got the idea when
Konno destroyed Tama's charm. If the rip on that charm
made it not special anymore, why not rip all the others and
sew their backs up, too? Then they'd all be the same again.
"You're an idiot, Tomozaki…but thanks."
Tama-chan smiled happily, looking just a little more
grown-up than usual. In addition to the charms that
Mimimi, Hinami, and I already had, we'd bought new ones
for Mizusawa, Nakamura, Takei, and Izumi, too. We tore
them, then sewed them back up. Yeah, I'll admit it was a
little silly.
"I worked hard to sew those!" Izumi said proudly. Eight
of them must have been a slog; no wonder she felt like
boasting.
"Mine's coming unraveled already!" Nakamura said
teasingly.
"You're lying!" Izumi anxiously inspected the spot he
was pointing at. Glad to see they're getting along.
"Yeah, I was."
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"What?! …Hey!"
That was when Hinami smoothly jumped in. "Okay,
okay, enough flirting."
"We're not flirting."
"Y-yeah!"
Nakamura's denial was resolute, Izumi's less so.
"Man, which one should I choose?!" Takei butted in,
looking excitedly at the pile of bright charms.
"Calm down, everyone! I'll flip them over again, and
everyone can choose the Haniwa-chan they like!"
Mizusawa rolled his eyes and smiled. "All their faces are
the same, but anyway…"
"Stop being so picky! They all look different to me!"
Mimimi said, flipping them all faceup and arranging them in
a circle. "See? They're all different!"
"Really, now? Your eyesight must be great, Mimimi."
"You're asking for a fight, buddy."
The two of them glared at each other playfully.
Mizusawa's got a good touch with Mimimi.
Suddenly, Hinami mumbled something. "Huh…when
you line them up like that, they really are beautiful."
Her hushed words brought everyone's eyes to the table.
True enough, the striped charms lined up in a circle, each its
own color, made a vivid picture.
"…You're right. They are," I said softly.
Mimimi nodded with emotion. "Yeah! They're so round
and colorful, like fireworks!" Then she realized what she'd
just said—Tama-chan's real name meant fireworks . "Just
like you!"
Tama-chan pointed at her with a smirk on her face. "The
fireworks might be gone for the summer, but I'll still be
here…tama rrow!"
"Nooo, don't take my joke!"
"Come on, guys, can we choose already?" Takei
interrupted impatiently. Why was he so motivated when it
came to these charms?
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"Wait a second! Those of you who had a Haniwa-chan to
start with, please pick it up!" Mimimi said, making her
hands into a megaphone. What was she imagining now, a
sound truck or something?
"Damn!! I liked that one, but I guess it's Tomozaki's!!"
"Sorry, man."
Honestly, I couldn't care less what color I had. But Takei
always did have strong preferences.
"All right, now the remaining individuals may choose
which one they want! And no pushing!"
Mizusawa, Nakamura, Takei, and Izumi followed her
instructions and chose their charms. Incidentally, I think
Mimimi was envisioning herself as a lifeguard, not a soundtruck driver.
The four of them stared at their new charms, as
bewildered as the rest of us had been. Who'd have guessed
we'd end up in this situation again? Mizusawa broke the
silence.
"This thing is…," he mumbled. Nakamura, Izumi, and
Takei nodded.
"Yeah."
"Uh-huh, I thought so."
"You're right!"
Here it was again—the test of normie-ness. When I got
my charm, I was the only one who had said the wrong thing,
which made me feel horribly isolated. But since then, I'd
been gradually developing my social sensibilities, and my
feelings toward these charms had slowly changed as well!
"Yeah," I chimed in, hoping to make up for last time. A
second later, Mizusawa, Nakamura, Takei, Izumi, and I all
spoke at once.
"""So ugly!"""
""Cute!""
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Mizusawa, Nakamura, and Izumi weighed in for ugly ,
while Takei and I were on the cute side. Mizusawa burst out
laughing.
"Ha-ha-ha! Fumiya and Takei are two of a kind!"
I had nothing to say. All I could do was suffer through
my humiliation. Okay, maybe we're a little similar, but
something about that comparison just doesn't feel right!