Chapter 207. Ran Returns to School. (3/5)

I re-entered the classroom, approached Rosa’s desk, and stopped in front of it. She was sitting up and looking at me with an expression ready to laugh.

Seeing the cocky look on her face I didn’t bother to say anything at all like she might have expected. I bent forward and kissed her on the lips with all eyes on us.

Her eyes shot open wide in shock when I didn’t even ask her to be my girlfriend. Everyone looked on waiting to see how she would react. It was only a brief kiss and I stood back up straight after. Without saying anything I sat down in the seat beside her. 

She was frozen in place with her back to me.

I put my head down on my desk, closed my eyes, and took a nap. I’d converted too much energy into youth. That one punch sapped away all my strength.

Her lack of a negative reaction caused an uproar of gossip in the class.

What did it mean?

Were we dating? An item? An official couple? Everyone wanted to know what her lack of rejection to such a bold kiss in front of everyone meant.

The girls in the class swarmed around her desk for the first time and grilled Rosa for answers. They couldn’t help themselves when such a juicy topic had presented itself all of a sudden. Hah! Why don’t you suffer a bit too? You sure had a laugh, didn’t you?

As for the guys in the class, they actually seemed… impressed that I had the balls to walk up to her and kiss her then play it off like it wasn’t a big deal. Well, we’d already been together for a while. Kissing her wasn’t something I was unaccustomed to by now. They just didn’t know that.

Rosa was bombarded for the next fifteen minutes with overly excited girls digging up everything they could. They didn’t leave any stone unturned. She just scratched her cheek and awkwardly confessed she was in love with me. When asked ‘Since when?’ she admitted she realized it turned into something like love around the midterms last semester.

After fifteen minutes past lunch period was over and the teacher for our next class walked in. They noticed the strange rowdy atmosphere in the class but were in the dark over what it was about. They didn’t ask and instead silenced the students and had them return to their seats to begin the lesson.

The day passed by quickly after that. Rumors had spread fast, and in a single day, everyone had heard about us being a couple. It was only because of how spontaneous it happened. Rosa was also a pretty hot topic among the guys in other classes and other grades as well, so for an eye-catching girl like her who’d been single all this time, it was natural this would happen.

The guys in my class turned out to be the easiest to deal with since they personally witnessed the entire development and could come to terms with it to a certain degree. They’d all already given it their all to try and woo her themselves, but they’d failed miserably. However, the same couldn’t be said for the guys in other classes and grades. Whenever they walked past our classroom, they’d take a look inside and glare at me like I was a nuisance.

The girls didn’t do that though. For some reason, my stocks had gone up in their eyes. I couldn’t understand why though. Was it just because I had a girlfriend now? That had been the only thing that really changed.

If you were adored by a pretty girl, did other girls subconsciously think there had to be a reason for it? If you put a pretty gem beside a piece of garbage, does the piece of garbage beside the gem begin to look more valuable? I wasn’t sure if it was that sort of logic.

You know, a piece of garbage beside a gem is still a piece of garbage. Please don’t be deceived so easily. Or is it? If you tie the garbage to the gem and they become inseparable… I guess the worth is at least going to end up as the average value of the two in the worst case or simply remain the same value as the gem depending on the buyer.

Wait, did that mean Rosa’s stocks would also go up among girls too? When she was seen as too out of the other girls' league when by herself, if she lowered her value by tying herself to me, she might appear as though she’s suddenly within arms reach. Isn’t social psychology just an unreasonable pain in the ass?

What if it was the opposite case? If I had a girlfriend that was unattractive, would my stocks still have risen among the girls?

Probably not, right? Two pieces of garbage with zero value were still equivalent to a single piece of garbage with zero value. No overall value was gained in such a case, You’d both just be ignored by everyone, nobody would even notice or care if you two got together. It wasn’t particularly juicy gossip either. Rather, it would be an expected result.

People might hear it and think, ‘Oh, they’re together? I didn’t know that. Since when?’ It would typically end after that. They’d move on with their day as if they’d been casually told about the weather.

The greater the difference in perceived status between two parties, the more juicy the gossip. But impact was another factor in gossip as well. Impact was correlated to the sum of the perceived status of the two parties. So though our relationship was quite the juicy piece of gossip, it lacked the same impact it would have if it were two high profile individuals with a high perceived status becoming romantically entangled.

Thus, the gossip, though it spread like wildfire, it wouldn’t take very long before it died down as the impact value was low.

After school, Rosa and I headed to work as usual. The day ended rather uneventfully.

When we got home though, we bumped into Alicia and Irene. I couldn’t help but notice how Alicia greeted Rosa but she avoided me. She didn’t look me in the eyes either.

I thought she might have been a bit tired so I dismissed it as nothing much at the time. However, the next day at work when my shift was with her, I noticed her behavior around me had changed. I couldn’t figure out why though. Was it because of how my relationship with Rosa had become official in school?

Whenever I got close to Alicia she unconsciously put some distance between us. Anytime I talked to her, the conversation wouldn’t last very long. Usually, I was the one who gave short responses at work and she’d be more chatty, but that wasn’t the case now. Her responses to me were all very short, she didn’t try to keep a conversation going like she normally did.

She also didn’t look me in the eyes at work similar to the lack of interaction we had the day news came out in school Rosa and I were dating.

I tried asking her if there was anything bothering her, but she said there wasn’t. She was an awful liar though, I could tell there was definitely something gnawing away at her. I just couldn’t figure out what it was no matter how I thought things over. I couldn’t imagine it was the revelation of my relationship with Rosa at school. Alicia had never been the type to let it bother her before ever since the three of us became romantically entangled.

Simply put, it didn’t feel like jealousy was what ate away at her. Rather… if I had to say what it felt like… it was guilt. She felt guilty over something, but what that was I didn’t know. Had she maybe been confessed to by someone recently for Valentine’s Day where she couldn’t refuse them?

“Hey, Alicia.” On a rare occasion where there weren’t any customers in the store, I opened my mouth and called out her name.

“What?”

“Did you do something recently that you feel guilty about?” I decided to at least confirm my suspicions by asking her. Even if she didn’t answer truthfully, I was certain I’d still get my answer.

Alicia did her best to hide it, but her body froze up when I asked her that.

“No. What would I have done that I’d feel guilty about?”

“I don’t know. I wasn’t asking what it was you might have done. I was just asking whether you had or not. That’s all. But from your reaction alone, it looks like the answer is yes. Well, I won’t ask you to tell me whatever it is since it’s none of my business. But if you ever feel like I’m a nuisance or making you uncomfortable just say so.”

“You’re not a nuisance or making me uncomfortable at all! Why would you think something like that?”

“I’m not? Well, that’s good then. If you ever feel like spilling the beans about whatever’s bothering you, though I’m not particularly interested in what it is, I’ll listen I guess.”

“Sorry. I think you’ll hate me if I say it. I… don’t want to be hated by you.”

“Hate you? I already hate you though.”

“Huh? You hate me?” She took a step back in shock.

“Duh, you’re my mortal enemy, remember?”

“Ugh. So I’m still your mortal enemy despite being your girlfriend?”

“Yeah, that won’t ever change. There’s no need to feel any sort of guilt toward your mortal enemy. You shouldn’t ever show them any mercy, remember?”

“Haha, you always say that sort of thing.”

“Yeah, I guess I do.”

She smiled a bit. Though her mood was a bit better after our little exchange, it was obvious it still bothered her.

I could only leave the rest of the job up to time I guess. Forcing it out of her at work didn’t feel like the correct choice. If I messed up and made things awkward at work, that would be quite troubling.