Chapter 1

Author’s Note:
This is my first post. There are some parts I am not used to, so I look forward to your cooperation.
There is another novel which I have posted by the name of “Tengoshi kōkō kuizukenkyūbu no chishiki wa ikasa renai” which I hope you read as well.

The scene must have felt strange to someone looking from the surroundings. It felt like most of the people in the class were looking at me.

At first glance, it was just a normal situation where a female student from the next class came to talk to a male student during recess, but the mismatch between me, Etsuji Ninomiya, a plain, gloomy guy who always sits in a daze beside the window, and Sayuri Shiraishi, who is said to be one of the prettiest girls in the school, is probably the reason why it attracted so much attention.

“Etsuji! Listen to me!”

“Eh?!”

I was so confused by her sudden visit that I couldn’t give her a proper reply.

“I was confessed to by one of my seniors, and he…”

“Wa-Wait a minute!”

“Hm? What is it? You look so surprised….”

“Of course I’d be surprised if Shiraishi-san talked to me out of the blue like that.”

“Shirashi-san? Out of the blue? What do you mean?”

Guh! It was a critical hit.

“You’ve been calling me Sayuri ever since elementary school. Out of the blue or whatever, we’ve always been close. I mean, you’ve become less friendly after you’ve entered high school.”

“Th-That is…”

It’s been a month since I entered high school, and I haven’t talked to Shiraishi Sayuri properly. But that doesn’t mean I don’t know her. In fact, we have been close friends and spent 9 years together in Elementary and Junior High School. To be precise, we two were the only ones who had been friends since Elementary School, and there were four others who we were particularly close with. But when I entered High School, I deliberately avoided contact with Sayuri and the other four.

Looks like you aren’t only avoiding me but the other four as well. When we try to contact you, your replies are really late…
And when you do, your reply has only one or two words in it…”
“Did something happen? Did we do something that you didn’t like? I won’t know if you don’t say it.”

“……”

It turns out, I don’t actually dislike them. I just had a small thought.
It seems that I was a good listener in Elementary school. At least, that’s what I’ve been told by people around me. I was often asked for advice by my friends. The content varied, but people usually felt better after being listened to, and sometimes I gave advice or help. In particular, my close friends often asked me for help, and I was idolized by them. And those friends were Sayuri and the others. At that time, I was happy to be relied on, so I worked hard in sports and studies to meet the expectations and to increase my knowledge. Thanks to my efforts, our relationship remained the same in junior high school, and we became the best of friends who trusted each other.

I was in the 2nd year of Junior High when I felt uncomfortable around them. At that age, it is normal to more or less pay attention to one’s appearance, but my five close friends were rumored to be really attractive. There were times when I was asked for advice on appearance and grooming, and the me that was ignorant in those matters decided to study about them and try to contribute a little more to their attractiveness. Well, I guess the original was good. I was always going to be a plain, unremarkable mob character, no matter how well I dressed myself.

Of course, they were not the kind of people who would change their attitude just because of their looks, so nothing changed and we were always together. Maybe I was the only one who cared. Something was bothering me deep inside. Was it envy or was it jealousy? In their group, I was the odd one. Wasn’t I lowering everyone’s stock? These feelings would make me worry about the eyes around me. “Why is he a part of that group?” I thought I heard someone say that.

In the end, I tried not to think about it too much after that. I knew they would go their separate ways when they reached high school, so I spent my days enjoying the middle school years and listening to them when they asked me for help again.

I didn’t think that out my of six friends, five would join the same school….

After a short pause, I answer.

“No no, none of you have actually done anything to make you hate me. I just thought that since I am in a new High School, I would be able to find new friends. I was also thinking if I would be a hindrance to you all….”

You aren’t in my way! It’s true that I can make new friends, but that doesn’t mean I’ll lose my relationship with Etsuji and the others! Now I’m angry.”

I sooth Sayuri who was shouting at the top of her voice. As expected, She attracted too much attention.

At any rate, I don’t want to stand out.

“All right, I’m sorry. I’ll be careful from now on.”

As for me, I like my humble life now. I don’t have a lot of friends, but I’m getting along reasonably well with other kids who have a similar vibe.

I looked up at her from my seat and thought. I knew Sayuri was cute.

She is petite, has a charming face and has her brown hair tied up in twin tails. Her cuteness has been further refined after entering high school. She looks like she could be in any idol group out there.

If I were to hang out with a girl like her, I’d stand out and antagonize everyone. More than that, I would feel guilty and tired. As I thought, we should keep a moderate distance. Let’s just get through this for now.

“It’s good if you understand. But you’re going to have to make it up to me for all this!”

“Hahahaha…If only the day was right.”

“Well, okay. So back to the topic at hand, I came here today to ask Etsuji for a favor.”

It’s a request again? That’s going to be troublesome. What should I do?

“I thought there was a lot of noise, but it was you guys.”

When I was at a loss for a response, the voice that entered the conversation sounded familiar.

“Ah, it’s Erica. What happened? why are you here?”

“Why are I here, you say? I’m the class president. What are you doing here?”

Speak of the devil and you shall hear. This person, our class president, is Mayumi Erika, one of the six members of the aforementioned group.

Erika is a different type of girl compared to Sayuri that can be called beautiful rather than cute. There is no difference in their popularity. She has a crisp face, long arms and legs, and long, shiny black hair that any girl would envy.

“There’s something I want to ask Etsuji. You’ve been talking less lately, so I came to talk to you about that as well.”

“…You’re right, Etsuji-kun has been cold lately.”

Erika looks at me. I don’t like it when you look at me like that…

“It’s fine now! It seems like he was kind of worried about getting into high school. I gave him a good talking to.”

“I see that you did. Good, because I thought we were hated.”

I was a little nervous when my eyes met Erika’s, who smiled happily at me.

“But Sayuri, recess is almost over.”

“It’s going to end already?!”

When I looked at my watch, the hands were pointing to the start of next period in about a minute.

“Hm… can’t help it. I’ll contact you later, so reply properly.”

After saying that, Sayuri hurried back to her own classroom.

“As lively as ever.

“I guess so.”

Erica also went back to her seat after saying, “Once again, looking forward to working with you.”

Yare Yare, What’s going to happen now?