EPISODE 48 – The Calm Before the… Calm?
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Out in the hallway, I ponder who to check-up on.

“Maybe I shouldn’t have actually bothered Arisu. All that and I can’t help with anything?”

I was bound to encounter this. They have top tier minds. I can’t even compare.

Inside me, I feel worry. But I shake my head, there was one fact I had to remember.

“They’re protagonists bound by a plot.”

I’m sure somehow, someway… this is part of the plot. This has to be one of their trials and tribulations.

This washes away my growing worry.

“Everything will be fine. If there’s anyone to worry about, it should be myself.”

After all, I’m a makeshift protagonist. I don’t know how much of the plot has been bent to my will or has accounted me. Has it considered me at all? Or was there a plot to begin with?

“In any case, I can’t find the answers now. I can assume myself safe since I’m in a Slice-of-Life story. There should be no real stakes involved.”

While I mutter to myself, I spot another familiar face.

“Ah, Takabi-senpai.”

Oh, this girl.

If it wasn’t obvious already, the person in front of me was Kurata Kasumi. Last time we met, I tasked her with something. But that was about it?

“What are you doing walking through these hallways? Shouldn’t it be dismissal already?” I query.

“… No reason. I simply like strolling.”

“I-Is that so?”

“How about you, Takabi-senpai? Do you still go home alone? Do you still not have friends?”

That basically clarifies that our relationship was not, in fact, friends.

“You know… despite that dull face, you know some pretty sharp remarks. For the record, I have four friends now! Take that!”

“… I see. I don’t have friends, but I’m happy for you… I guess?”

“… Don’t just drop me some incredibly sad information! That just makes me pity you!”

Seriously… I had expected her to be from the Rom-Com genre, but if she doesn’t have friends… where does that even put er?

I heave a sigh.

I bring out my phone and open a certain app. After that, I give it to her. Though when faced with it, she only tilts her head and I could only imagine the question marks appearing near her head.

“Let’s exchange LINE contacts,” I tell her.

“Pervert.”

“HOW?!”

GRAGHH?! For once that I felt like doing the senpai thing to do, she calls me a pervert out of nowhere?!

“Forget it!” I yell.

Just as I was about to retract my phone along with my hand, she suddenly grabs my wrist. It was surprisingly

“Wh-What is it?”

“That was a joke.”

That was a joke? Sure didn’t feel like it.

..

.

We exchange our contacts. For a second there, I stare.

If this had happened way earlier, I would have went full-force with the Rom-Com protagonist plan.

“Why did you exchange contacts with me, Takabi-senpai?” she asks me.

“Do I really have to spell it out for you?! Read between the lines!”

She tilts her head yet again.

Goodness.

“Look… I know we’re not friends. But how do you expect me to react when you tell me you have no friends…”

I know she probably isn’t doing this on purpose, judging from what I see, but that makes the feeling of guilt worse! Urgh…

“You… want to be friends with me?” she looks at me with sparkling eyes.

Friends? Uh…

“I… I don’t know. I’m not a chatterbox, I’m pretty reserved, so… I won’t keep any promises.”

“You won’t become friends with me?”

The sparkles in her eyes disappear and it almost looks like she’s going to cry without so much as a change in expression.

“I-I’ll try.”

I don’t want to claim friendship to be something simple. We can talk from time to time, but that wouldn’t mean we’d be friends. Asking favors from each other is just a business relationship.

There’s this cliché in the anime landscape where there’s a group of people who don’t have friends, team up and try to search for friends only to end up learning they were friends with each other. But I believe friendship is a bit more complicated than that.

I just don’t want to bring false promises.

She merely nods.

“Takabi-senpai, I’ll keep strolling the hallway. See you later.”

Just like that, we split off.

What an odd girl…

I reflect upon my actions.

Was it really necessary for me to exchange LINE contacts? What do I expect in our relationship going forward?

“I swear… I’ve been making these rash decisions here and there. What’s going on?”

I guess it’s fine. More connections should mean more opportunities.

“Should I visit my senpai next? Actually, maybe not… I don’t think she’s still in school anyway.”

Besides, I’ve got bad memories from when we parted ways.

“Maybe I’ll call it a day. I should have made my mind way earlier.”

I take a glance at my contacts.

“Hm, why is it suddenly that I have loads of contacts? It keeps increasing, what the hell?”

Going down the stairs, my steps echo around me.

“I’m going home.”

..

.

It was evening.

Nakatani and I were eating karaage for dinner with rice and Japanese pickles on the side.

Munch. Munch. Munch.

“Mhm~ mhm~” Nakatani hums just as she fills her mouth.

“Someone seems to be in a good mood,” I call out.

Her trance breaks and immediately turns as red as a tomato.

“Wh-What a-a-are you saying o-onii-chan? I-I’m just enjoying our meal because it’s so delicious! Y-Yeah, that’s it!”

She gulps down on her food hastily.

“B-Be careful you might-”

Funnily, just as I was about to warn her, she chokes and ends up coughing violently. To avoid accidentally spitting out what she was eating, she averts and coughs to the side.

“… cough,” I finish my sentence.

Geez, no need to go through such lengths to hide. It’s plenty obvious you’re in love, dear little sister.

She recovers from coughing and remains silent for a bit. Then she eats again right after.

Seems like there’s steady progress on her part. That’s great, I suppose. Though, I do wonder when he’ll come back. Because it’s necessary for the male lead to visit a heroine’s home from time-to-time.

I snicker.

Maybe I’ll mess with him.

“Oh… speaking of which, where are Mom and Dad? They’re gone again.”

“Hm? Didn’t they inform you?”

“About what?”

“They said another honeymoon.”

I swear those two people… we might be getting a third sibling at this rate.

“Of course,” I grunt.

I wish I can score myself a partner who was as passionate and in love with me. But that’s not going to happen in a good while, is it?

“Did they ever say when they were going to return?”

“In a few months’ time, they said!”

“No specific date or anything?”

“Not at all!”

“I see.”

Staring at my food, I believed it was about high time I finish my meal.

Munch. Munch. Munch.

Gulp. Gulp. Gulp.

“Ah! Thank you for the meal!”

I pick up my plates and glass to put them by the sink.

“I’m going to bed. Don’t stay up too late Nakatani.”

“R-Roger!” she answers with enthusiasm.

I go up my stairs, enter my room, and sit on my bed. I can’t actually sleep yet since I just ate. So I look at my phone. Upon closer inspection, it seems I’d been sent a message by Kurata.

“Ah.”

The boys were currently active in the group chat, but I prioritized her. Reading her message, it says:

“Takabi-senpai.

Which is then followed by a building emoji and a fire emoji.

Is this a code?

“建物...火...” (Building… fire…)

can also be read as ‘hi’ or ‘bi’. Then that building… does that mean high?

Note: High translates to 高い(たかい)

 

“高火...” (Takabi…)

Realizing what she meant, I began typing a message.

“Hey! You’re not slick! Don’t you assign a kanji for my name! I hate that nickname! Just call me senpai already! Or even my name would do.”

Waiting for her reply, she answers.

“See you tomorrow, Takabi-senpai.”

Before I could even retort, her status turns offline.

“… What an odd girl.”

I turn off my phone.

I don’t really want to talk to anyone else for today. Reaching out to different people is already sufficient for my introverted self.

Lights off, I do a little bit of exercise to burn off the energy, just so I can sleep. Once I feel a little less empty, I tuck myself in bed and close my eyes.

“Here’s to another normal day.”

..

.

Next day.

My alarm rings and forces me out of bed.

“Urgh…”

No sense fighting it. I have to go to school.

Since it was creating a ruckus, I pick up my phone and turn off the alarm. I squint to see the time.

“6:30 AM.”

Speaking of which… I don’t know the date it is today. It’s stopped appearing a few episodes ago. I always relied on those to tell the time.

In my phone, it says ‘May 20XX’.

“Hmm… didn’t phones show the date?”

Also, I didn’t know it was still May. I thought for sure the next month had come around.

“Maybe it’s around 30 or 31.”

Well, it doesn’t really matter anyway. Someway the date will show up.

Doing my usual, I eat the breakfast Nakatani prepared for me, take a bath, wear my clothes, grab my bag, and head off.

Seeing my surroundings, the wind blows as usual. Nothing unusual. But I felt like I needed to describe something to copy the feeling of a Visual Novel protagonist. The lush green leaves from the trees make the air feel cold. People walk here and there, including students from the same school I go to.

“St. Naganawa Academy.”

I reach the holy vending machine.

“Oh, my angel! You look as gorgeous as ever!”

I take my wallet out of my bag and slip in a modest 100-yen coin followed by 2-10 yen coins.

Clank.

Picking up my black coffee, I take a seat on the bench. Once again, I spend that time looking at the students.

I crack open the can.

Sip.

My expression sours and hurriedly distance myself from my drink. I unconsciously stick out my tongue.

“Bitter. Is there a reason people drink this?”

Probably for those cutting down on sugar and still crave coffee. Is this an acquired taste?

“I’ll just make sure not to buy it again.”

Sip.

“Blech, bitter.”

While I force myself to drink the substance, a noticeable pattern occurs to me.

“They seem to be of the Slice-of-Life type again.”

The same conclusion strikes me once more.

I’m being quite hasty in my generalization and I can never truly know what kind of genres the people walking in front of me are part of, but hear me out. There’s the lack of unruly hairstyles. Their body proportions are pretty normal. I don’t know… it’s just that feeling of… mundane. The exact feeling that a Slice-of-Life protagonist exerts and I can feel the aura of protagonists. No one is overtaking mine or anyone else’s aura.

“We’re blending in with each other.”

Precisely because of that fact that there is barely any difference in the aura being exuded is why I can declare that the people I’m seeing right now belong in the same genre. I do believe it has direct correlation with the Overruling Statement with Slice-of-Life being on the lowest, while Hentai having the highest. All the other genres are in between those two.

“Odd. Where are the other people hiding at?”

I saw Arisu yesterday, didn’t I? She belonged to the Sci-fi genre.

“I’ll check up on them once more later.”

I wonder what’s going on?

Though I wanted to continue figuring out the current events, I’d gotten sick of the bitter coffee, so I drank it all in one go. Then I shot it at the trash can nearby.

“Maybe I’m overthinking it.”

I stand up and continue on my way.

“Here’s to another day of school.”

END OF EPISODE 48

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