Every Morning the Most Popular Girl at School Sits Next to Me on the Train

When I noticed Echizen, it seems that she also noticed me as she quickly turned her back to me.

“W-why…?”

Echizen said that in a panicked voice.

Well, that’s what I want to know too. Echizen has the image of a model student, so I didn’t think she would be the type to read stuff like manga. I guess she plays Human Beast Wars, so it isn’t that out of place… But still, to spontaneously buy so many is still very unexpected though.

“No, I mean, I came to buy manga, you came for that as well, Echizen?”

I glanced at Echizen’s shopping basket as I said that. Then, with a embarrassed looking expression, her face turned red as she hid the basket behind her.

“N-no, this is…”

“There isn’t a need to be embarrassed, right? It’s natural for girls to also read manga after all.”

Though, getting so much isn’t really normal…

“I-is that so?”

“Yeah, that is what I think, at least.”

“I see… that’s good.”

“Hmm? Did you say something?”

“No, nothing.”

“Ah, okay.”

I thought I heard her same something in a quiet voice but it seems to just be my imagination. Then, the both of us fell silent. Most likely, Echizen didn’t want me to see her like this, if I were here, I would feel the same. Because of that, the atmosphere became an awkward silence. Unable to bear it, I spoke out with my voice.

“…T-then, I’ll be going now.”

“W-wait!”

“What is it?”

“About this… and other people…”

“I won’t tell anyone, it’s fine.”

Rather, why would I tell anyone. Everyone has their own privacy. Besides, Echizen is free to have her own interests.

“Is that all? If so, I’ll be going now.”

“Please wait for a little more. T-today, are you free?”

“Well, I am free…”

“T-then, how about having lunch together?”

That’s surprising, I didn’t expect an invitation like this. Normally, she probably wouldn’t invite a guy out for a meal, but it seems I am now considered a “friend” by Echizen. I felt a little bit happy because of that, but to be honest, I feel a little awkward going out with another girl besides Mamiko.

“Sorry, right now is a bit…”

After I said that in a small voice, Echizen glares at me with a hurt expression.

“What, you have something to do?”

“It isn’t like that, but…”

“Then it should be fine. Come together with me.”

“Yeah, no…”

“Come on, let’s go.”

“No, you see.”

I wanted to say something back, but it would have been useless. In the end, I gave in to Echizen’s pushing, and decided to go with Echizen to a family restaurant.

Really, when it comes to things like this, I’m terrible. I’m weak to any pushing and quickly give in to someone else. Because I’m like this, it’s natural for me to be shaken. While looking at the family restaurant’s menu, I fell into a bit of self deprecation.

“Have you decided?”

Then, Echizen, who was sitting across from me in a 4 person booth, looked at me while unaware of my inner thoughts.

“Yeah.”

“What?”

“The pepper burger.”

“Got it. I’ll call the waiter.”

With that said, Echizen called over the waiter and ordered for me as well. However, I regretted it a little bit, as it’s usually the guy who should be doing that.

“I feel bad for you to also order mine.”

“It’s fine. It’s not that troublesome after all.”

Without looking at me, Echizen takes out of her bag the manga that she had bought earlier. She had more than 10 volumes before, but in the end, she only bought 2-3 volumes.

“That manga, it’s interesting, right?”

It would be awkward to say nothing so I tried speaking. I am curious why Echizen reads manga after all.

“You know this series?”

“Yeah, well, I’ve only watched the anime though.”

“I see, so you watch anime. That’s unexpected.”

“If you say that, then it’s still unexpected that you read manga.”

“… As I thought, me reading something like this is weird, right?”

“Nono, it isn’t like that. Rather, I’m somewhat happy. I also like manga, you see.”

“I-is that so… Fu~un”

With her cheeks slightly red, Echizen mutters that to herself. Going with the flow of the conversation, I thought this was my chance to ask her what I’ve been curious about.

“By the way, Echizen, didn’t you have more than 10 volumes in your basket earlier?”

“…Well.”

“Were you perhaps planning on buying them?”

“…Yeah.”

Is she for real… Still, I guess I ended up getting in the way of that so I do feel bad.

“If that’s the case, if you buy it from the used off the internet it would be cheaper.”

“New is better.”

“But doesn’t that mean you use a lot of money?”

“…That’s why I work part time.”

“…Umm, so, the reason Echizen is working part time, is so that you can buy manga…?”

I was quite scared of her response, as she slowly nodded her head with embarrassment. Perhaps, Echizen is more of an otaku than I thought. It’s reasonable that she works in order to buy manga. Oh yeah, the reason she wants to hide that she works, maybe this is the reason for that. After all, it would be hard to say to others that you work in order to buy manga.

“…It’s weird, right…?”

Then, probably because of the awkward face I made, Echizen made a negative comment for the third time today. This type of weak minded Echizen unusual.

“It’s not weird at all. Everyone has one or two interests of their own, it’s completely normal.”

When I said that, Echizen made a happy expression. And with that expression, she kept on staring at me.

“W-what is it?”

“The manga that you like, do you mind telling me them?”

“… I don’t mind, but they’re all targeted towards guys.”

“It’s fine. I want to know the things that you like.”

“…”

“…”

I stopped for a second after Echizen had said such bold words. Echizen probably also noticed as she had become redder than before and was now looking downwards.

“Thank you for waiting~. Pepper burger and a cheese doria [1]. It’s hot so please be careful.”

As if she had been timing it, the waiter had interrupted us with the best timing possible. That’s a relief, it was just about to become awkward again.

After that, Echizen and I basically ate in silent and quickly departed right after.

TL Note:

A doria is a dish that consists of rice and cheese and then baked generally. It looks kind of like this: