Shimotsuki-san Likes the Mob

–Eh? I am the narrator?

How can that be? I don’t think there is any demand for me since I am a sub-character who has nothing to do with the story.

However, I would do it if I was asked to do so.

In the meantime, let me introduce myself. Perhaps many of you do not know me.

My name is Niou Futako.

What has always bothered me since birth is that my last name is strong, but my name is weak. My hobby is reading. I am a bookworm, so I read a lot.

For financial reasons, I read only books from the library. So naturally I read only literary works, but it is not that I dislike entertaining novels. Recently, I borrowed a light novel from Asakura-san and started reading it. It was very interesting and I got hooked. I also want a little sister who calls me “Onii-chan”. Well, I am a woman, so I can’t be an elder brother.

The month is December. I am sitting right across from the podium, taking a class right now.

I am good at studying there. Or rather, my family is poor, so there is nothing else I can do but study and read.

So, before I knew it, I was good at studying.

With my grades, it seems that I can aim for a special scholarship at university, so I’m going to do my best. I want to make it as easy as possible for my mother, who is raising me as a single parent.

Eh? Are you not interested?

I don’t care about you?

No, no, no, please calm down. This is an interlude anyway. It doesn’t seem to have much to do with the story, so let me take it easy.

This is usually a very meta story, but this time I’m going to make it even more meta. Because I am a sub-character. I’m a minor character who won’t appear in the story from now on, so I’m going to go wild and do whatever I want.

I am the only neutral character in the story.

I am not in Ryoma Ryuzaki’s camp or Kotaro Nakayama’s camp. I am just an ordinary character. So let me inform you of the current situation from an unfiltered perspective.

First, let’s talk about Ryoma Ryuzaki’s perception.

Perhaps you are all wondering about this. What kind of impression do his classmates have of his harem-like nature?

The short answer is that he is quite popular among his classmates.

No, he is not bullied or ignored or anything like that, but … most of the boys look at him from a distance. And the girls who don’t like him also try not to get too involved.

I am one of them. Because Ryuzaki-san is surrounded by many cute girls, there is no place for a mediocre girl like me. That’s why I stand out. I guess everyone is careful because if I touch him, I might get burned. Well, as far as girls are concerned, most of the girls in my class like him, so I am in the minority.

That is why, when you look at his story, you may feel as if there are no other people involved.

On the other hand, what is my impression of Nakayama-san? He is quiet and reserved, and although he is not as buoyant as Ryuzaki-san, he does seem to be somewhat avoiding his surroundings.

However, he is good friends with Shimotsuki-san, and the two of them are always flirting with each other. I often see them chatting in the corner of the classroom. Their voices are quiet, so it is hard to tell what they are talking about, but they both look happy and it makes me smile to see them.

I think that many of the members of the Class 2 of Year 1 are cheering for the relationship between Nakayama and Shimotsuki, although they don’t say it out loud…

The reason why is because of the strong impression they left on us at the time of the overnight learning program.

Until that moment, I am ashamed to admit that I did not know what kind of person Nakayama-san was either.

But when I saw him protecting the crying Shimotsuki-san on stage, I was struck with emotion.

It was not that I fell in love with him.

I simply respected him as a human being.

Because he was trying his best to protect her.

After seeing him like that, it was understandable that I wanted to support him.