Let me start with the conclusion.
It seems that Chiaki and Komachi dislike me.
That's all.
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It was already past 10 pm. After Maria said she was going to change and left, I returned to the place where everyone seemed to be staying. There were only two people there. One was Kei. He was acting suspiciously and looking around nervously. The other was Hisui. He was lying on the ground and snoring.
"Amachi-kun, can I talk to you for a moment?"
Kei looked nervous and held his stomach.
"Did you guys pee together?"
Kei called me to a secret meeting in the boys' restroom zone.
Well, we only had to use the bathroom.
We headed to the abandoned toilet together.
When we arrived at the dirty toilet, Kei said, "Oh man, I was about to explode. Ammonia was starting to circulate in my body."
"Why didn't you go outside?"
"Oh, I prefer Western-style toilets. Plus, I like the bigger ones."
"You're a modern kid, aren't you?"
It seemed that Kei was just afraid to go to the abandoned toilet alone.
While Kei was afraid in the dark, I teased him and enjoyed my time in the bathroom.
When Kei finished his business and came out of the stall, he said, "Amachi-kun, I have one report for you."
"What is it?"
"Please calm down and listen carefully. Hisui-san brought alcohol with him."
"Seriously?"
"Yes. And something happened."
"What happened?"
".... Maybe they were talking bad about you? It seemed like they were criticizing you. The topic of Amachi-kun was getting heated. They were really excited about blaming you. I was spying on them."
I almost burst out laughing.
You don't have to eavesdrop on that kind of thing!!
"By the way... What did they say?"
I couldn't help but ask, even though I didn't really need to know.
"Do you want to know?"
Kei, with a blank expression, narrowed his eyes and spoke heavily.
"Ah, forget it."
I was about to say that I didn't want to hear it because it might hurt my feelings.
But then Kei burst into a detailed account of all the bad things they said about me, using gestures and body language.
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"Senpai's fashion sense is a complete disaster. He thinks he looks cool, but he's not. He says and does meaningless things to act cool. He even screams sometimes."
"I know, right? He's trying to look cool despite being so uncool. I can't deal with it anymore. It's embarrassing. I'm ashamed to know him."
"I know, it's painful to watch. He has no shame or sensitivity. He's just a weirdo or maybe even an oddball."
"Hahaha."
"But seriously, can't he read the atmosphere? He always makes things difficult for us."
"It's just the way he is, I guess. He was born without the ability to read the atmosphere."
"Yeah, it's sad that he has no sensitivity. He's too weird. Or should I say he's more like a strange person?"
"Hahaha."
"But the worst thing about him is his messed-up thoughts. That's not right."
"I agree. He was really out of it earlier. Especially his eyes. What's wrong with him? Is he doing drugs? Should we have him take a drug test later? I'm getting a little worried."
"He reads too much manga. He's at that age where he idolizes crazy psychopaths."
"Yeah, that's typical of adolescence. He probably thinks he's so cool. But even in high school, he's still thinking like that."
"Dumbass!!"
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I raised my hand to stop Kei.
"Hey, that's enough. Stop it. My life points are zero. And Kei...you're good at acting, huh?"
"Thank you. I trained in manipulating my voice for stealth purposes. And besides, this is only the prologue."
"The prologue? By the way, how many chapters are there in total? My criticism, or rather, insults and backhanded comments..."
I found myself asking another unnecessary question.
"Well, there are about seven chapters left."
Seven chapters? Just how much excitement did they build up?
"Okay, got it. My heart is dead. Or rather, it's already dead."
I hung my head in shame, laughing bitterly. My reputation had plummeted, of course. In an instant, my credibility had fallen to the depths of the earth. I was now the equivalent of a limit down.
Not only had my assets taken a nosedive, but it seemed that the girls' trust in me had fallen as well. I was now the epitome of an unpopular guy, a bargain basement man. If you wanted to buy low, now was the time!
"Oh, no need to compliment me now. It's only worth about 10%."
"That's not much of a compliment."
"Is that so?"
Kei had a carefree expression on her face.
"By the way, where are those two now?"
"I don't know. Maybe they're sleeping somewhere?"
"I see."
The next day, everyone dutifully gathered in front of the dungeon from early morning. There was Komachi with her slightly haggard face and messy hair.
"Hey, how are you feeling?"
"Oh, senpai..."
She bowed and then quickly moved away from me with an embarrassed look.
I let out a sigh and then spoke up to Chiaki.
"Chiaki, good morning."
"Uh, yeah."
Chiaki responded with a clouded expression as if she were trying to hide her greeting from me. She nodded slightly with her eyes lowered and then moved away from me.
"This is bad... the party has collapsed."
I rolled my eyes. They were avoiding me. What should I do? They hated me. Frankly, I didn't care if they hated me or insulted me, but this was not good. If we couldn't cooperate, it would be dangerous to venture into the dungeon.
I raised my voice to the group gathered in front of the dungeon.
"Listen up, everyone! I appreciate you all gathering here early in the morning, but we're taking the morning off today! We'll start at 1 pm and go for about five hours."
It would be impossible to expect any results if we went into the dungeon with our minds all over the place. I thought about various ways to say this, but I couldn't come up with a good enough line.
"No, it's okay. I'm going to go into the dungeon. From 1 pm for about five hours."
I shook my head.
"I'm not going to do anything like yesterday. I apologize for going too far. But I want you to understand that you have to go through some pain to get stronger. I'm not apologizing for that. If you want to come with me, just let me know. Even though there may be only small fry monsters in there, never venture into the dungeon alone. That's all."
I stumbled over my words as I tried to convey the necessary information, then turned on my heel and left.
"Huh?"
I thought I heard someone mutter.
Feeling their gaze on my back, I awkwardly turned around and raked my hand through my hair.
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"Are you okay?"
"Maria-san. Well, things aren't going very well. For various reasons. And I'm supposed to be the leader... "
I scratched my head and chuckled wryly.
Maria, as usual, smiled gently and said, "I thought it might be good to have fewer rivals."
"Huh? Rivals? What are you talking about?"
"Oh, it's something on my end. I'll take care of it."
"You will?"
"Don't worry. Nobody really dislikes Amachi-san. So have confidence. It's just that you're a little clumsy with some things. And everyone who came with you did so because it's you."
"Is that so?"
"Absolutely. And I feel a little relieved too."
"What do you mean?"
"I realized that Amachi-san also has things that he's not good at and can't do. So I felt relieved. That's more wonderful."
Cabaclub Maria was open for business as usual today. She really does praise anything. I might have to pay soon.
"I'm not good at anything. I've accomplished very few things. I'm just a hopeless person."
"That's not true. Someone who can do anything is probably boring. Such a person can just walk alone. It's more wonderful to support each other's weaknesses and strengths, hold hands, and live together. That's how the world goes around, I think."
"I mentioned it yesterday, but I'm your comrade. I'll take over the things you're not good at. I don't know if I'm good at them, but..."
Even Maria laughed and scratched her cheek.
"However, Amachi-san has one decisive weakness."
"My weakness?"
"Yes."
"What is it?"
"Forgive me, but I think it's 'relying on someone.' Amachi-san tries too hard to handle everything alone. That might not be a good thing."
"That might be true..."
"It's okay to rely on others. It's okay to have things you can't do and things you're not good at. That's not a shame, and it's not weakness."
"You're right. Thank you."
I bowed my head, and Maria fussed.
"No, no. I said too much. I sound like I'm preaching."
"No, not at all, Maria-san. I'm glad you're my comrade. Thank you for calling me your comrade, even though I'm like this."
"Ah..."
At my gratitude, Maria blushed and turned away, looking flustered.