Join the discord server! https://discord.gg/e4BJxX6
Heyo folks, Bats here. Sorry for the lack of updates. TL became super busy and couldn’t work on it anymore. Hence, I’ll be taking over, so don’t be surprised about the drop in quality tehe~
When Two Introverted People Fight, Finding The Means To Make Up Becomes Even Harder
Despite June finally being upon us, we rarely saw any rain. It sure seems like the rainy season is getting pushed back further, so we might have more downpours during the fall season. As for what that really meant…it just gives us fewer days to eat outside. Although, the midterms during that time also lessened the options for us. The lunch break on that day I spent in the corner of the courtyard. Sitting around the narrow path were Takawashi and Aika, and I sat on the opposite side. It made me feel like I was the investigator about to question them. I would honestly be terrified if people thought we were here as a group of three from the very beginning.
“Gure-kun, I could smell that curry from the moment you sat in class today.”
“For real?! Sorry…”
My lunch today was actually a curry lunch box I bought at the convenience store on the way to school. I made sure to warm it up in the cafeteria using the microwave.
“It’s soon turning to summer, huh?”
“We’re still not in the rainy season. And you should worry about the end-of-term exams before anything else.”
Aika and Takawashi once again indulged in their familiar normie yet introverted conversation. I’ve gotten used to this sight by now.
“Aika just struggles so much with English, modern literature, classical literature, English, world history, and biology…” Aika held her head like she wanted to protect her head from being punched.
“That’s pretty much all of the subjects, no? And didn’t you also struggle in the last midterms, too?”
“Aika was 128th out of the 160 students…”
That…is definitely not good. And judging from Takawashi’s look, I guess she agreed with me there.
“Slightly off-topic, but I actually scored first place. And I saw that you were 23rd, Gure-kun.”
“None of this is off-topic! Although I knew about your good grades!”
“I mean, if the lower ranks of our class started a revolution, you’d be one of the first to get shot dead, right?”
“Like hell some revolution like that would happen. Plus, the hierarchy in class is not decided solely based on grades, right?”
Honestly, what a bummer. If only this society would gift you friends as soon as you entered the top 10 or something like that. Either way, the curry was a lot spicier than I’d thought. Personally, I prefer it if it’s sweet. While we were all eating, a pair of boys walked past us. Since this was a regular path, it was often used like this, and ultimately crowded. The two then glanced at the Takawashi and Aika pair. Loners like us are extremely sensitive to how we look in the eyes of others. How much? Well, if you walked down the street and a girl walked toward you while laughing, you automatically assume that she’s laughing about you—That’s how bad it is.
But this once, I can understand why they’d look this way. Both Takawashi and Aika are pretty famous students at Seikou. The girls often brand Aika as some sort of succubus, ultimately looking down on her, but she still is pretty high up in terms of school caste. Very high, actually. And that is the same for Takawashi. That is the fundamental difference between them and me. When boys are loners, we’re often at the bottom of the barrel. We hold no voice in our class. We’re basically like pebbles on the side of the road that nobody really misses even if it’s gone.
*Thinking about it this way made me feel depressed so I’m going home to cry.
That said, Takawashi is generally seen as the kind of distant character you shouldn’t try to get in touch with, and Aika’s pretty popular with the boys. Both of them are, in a way, in the winning group. They’re both highly-valued members of the class.
“Erin! Let’s study for the exams together?”
“And what do I get from that?”
That is not the response you should make when someone invites you to study together.
“I don’t see anything to gain from studying with you. That said, if you managed to rank within the top 20 of our school year, I wouldn’t mind teaching you.”
That is like wanting to become a professional in a sport, thus asking a professional to teach you, only to be told to become a professional first. I swear, that wall she keeps up is as thick as bricks like always. However, Aika’s got herself a skill that’s pretty effective for breaking down walls.
“It’d be a lot more fun if we studied together! And it’ll be a great memory!” She said with a sparkle in her eyes like there were gemstones hidden inside them.
And while saying so, she dropped some side dishes into Takawashi’s lunch box. She’s now also trying to bribe her, too. But she’s right—Making memories! An appeal to Takawashi to study together for completely different reasons!
“Th-That is basically like asking to work for exposure, and it’s what creators hate more than anything…!”
Whenever Takawashi feels cornered, her voice gets quieter like this. Meanwhile, the other guys around watched this situation unfold. I guess even the normies must be wondering what was going on over here. I can tell just from their gazes alone.
*And this is not because of any supernatural ability, but rather the perception skill inherent in any loner.
The three of us practically ended up in the center of a typhoon in the middle of the courtyard (although I was basically like an outsider myself, watching how things unfolded).
“So, are you gonna join us too, Narihira-kun?”
“Wueh?!”
That scream left my mouth for two reasons. First, it took me a few seconds to even realize that Aika was talking to me, and second, I’ve never been asked by a girl to hang out and study together.
“What kind of scream was that, geez!”
Dang it…Her smile is so dazzling…It makes me wanna go up to her and hug her! Or at the very least, get another 80 centimeters closer to her! This must be her ability at work! And I should know that, but…that smile…It just makes me want to protect her!
“O-Okay, I’ll think about it…”
“Wohooo! Now my grades are definitely going up! And you’re coming too, Erin!” Aika raised both her hands for an exaggerated cheer.
Compared to Takawashi, she does move quite a lot.
“Why is it already decided that I’d be joining you…”
Honestly, I bet she’s happy on the inside. And for people with thick walls like Takawashi, you have to be forceful like this. Only at times like these is it fine to completely act like “consideration” and “restraint” don’t exist in our vocabulary. And this time around, I even heard voices in the distance.
—That succubus, she’s trying to suck another guy dry.
—Since she didn’t have any friends in our class, she’s set her marks on a guy from another one?
—She’s gonna take him out on a date only to bring up a strict curfew and leave him hanging.
…You know, this isn’t even about me, and even I feel hurt. To those girls, Aika really is like their mortal enemy. That’s how much they detest her.
“Oh, Narihira-kun! You have some curry stuck to your finger! And your uniform, too!”
“Seriously?! Ahh, dang it! I totally looked down on convenience store curry!”
Aika’s comment made me realize. This curry container makes it really easy to spill it. Maybe because I left it on my lap while eating? I figured keeping the lid under it would help, but that one’s just as dirty now.
“I swear…So nasty while eating.”
“Hold on, why do you say it like that?! There’s a good chance that it happened while I was eating!”
“Narihira-kun, can you sit still for a moment?”
Aika said so and took out a tissue, moving close toward me. She easily moved into my 1-meter range and started wiping my pants.
“Oh dear, you also have some stuck on your face!”
She took out another tissue and then wiped my face. I know what I’m about to say is going to invite misunderstandings, but—It felt incredibly good.
“Okay, you can do your hands yourself, right?”
She then handed me a small tissue pack. But not the kind of cheap pack people would sometimes hand out in front of the train station. It was the expensive kind you’d actually have to buy, with the name “Soft and Silky Tissues” written on it.
“Ah, yeah, thanks…”
Aika returned to beyond the 1-meter barrier, while I just wiped my hands in a daze. Do people usually operate with this kind of distance between each other? That just felt like something normies would do. And as the name suggested, the tissues were indeed incredibly soft that they got ripped apart immediately.
“Isn’t that because of your drain?” Takawashi said with a cynical tone as she stared into the distance.
Even though she didn’t even look at me, it felt like I was being glared at.
*
After school, I headed to the simulation room. Takawashi was already present, wearing a pair of headphones while reading through a book with a thick leather cover. Since our class might think that we’re dating if we headed over here together, we decided to arrive separately. And Elias also warned us before about that, too. Of course, this is not because we’re self-centered and self-absorbed. Rather, loners like us don’t want to stand out. As such, we don’t gain anything from doing so. Unlike us, the normies get excited if they stand out with their friends, after all. However, even if we loners stand out, we don’t get to enjoy it at all. It’s only the other people watching us. Nobody would think of being friends with us. So why would I have to suffer for other people’s enjoyment? Today, she didn’t send me a message about coming here, but to my surprise, she sat there like always. It tells me that using this room has become so normal for us, that we don’t even have to use messages anymore to communicate.
“Hey there.”
I called out to Takawashi, but she didn’t respond. I wish she’d at least do that, but oh well. She might not be able to hear me considering she’s listening to music. I grabbed a desk from behind and pulled it after me. I’m just going to do my English homework here. Being able to do my homework so freely is something I’m really thankful for. Whether I want to rest at my desk to get some sleep during recess, do my homework in silence, or do something on my phone, that should be my freedom. However, being the loner that I am, doing my homework like that would only make me feel awkward. I may be a loner, but that is exactly why I don’t want people to think I’m one. Of course, I’m fine not being seen like a normie. I just want to live a normal school life. That’s why this room is so great. I don’t have to worry about anything. It allows me psychological freedom to focus on anything else.
“Heeello, you two!”
After a brief while, Aika jumped inside the room like a rabbit.
“Aika bought some snacks at the convenience store, sorry! Here, have some ‘SweetKiss’!” she said and handed me a pink box.
“Oh, isn’t that the popular chocolate that’s incredibly sweet?” I asked
“Yup, yup! But Aika loves stuff that is so sweet! Because, if you can’t eat too much, you won’t get fat!”
“Then don’t buy them in the first place…?”
“Narihira-kun, that’s not something you should say!”
I didn’t want her to stay close to me for too long, so I quickly accepted one wrapped box with the chocolate. I then put one piece into my mouth. The first few chews were just the right amount of sweetness thanks to the chocolate powder, but once that was gone, you’d reach the strawberry chocolate packed inside, which almost made me pull a muscle. And that’s where all the sweetness exploded. Even someone like me, who enjoys sweet curry, has trouble keeping a straight face with that sweetness. Meanwhile, Aika jumped over to Takawashi and offered her another box of “SweetKiss”.
“Not right now, thanks,” Takawashi kept her eyes glued to her book and said so.
“Oh yeah, it’s no surprise that you don’t like sweet stuff!”
“If you think that’s why, then let’s keep it at that.”
I listened to that exchange while facing my own homework. English grammar is basically there to learn by heart, which makes it another friend of us loners.
“Oh, Narihira-kun! Where are you at in English right now?” Aika moved over and glanced at my paper.
“Did you do this already? I feel like class 5 was probably faster.” I showed her the paper.
“We did! Although Aika had no clue about anything!”
Why does she sound so excited about that? Her way of expressing emotions is as varied as always. I know about her succubus supernatural ability, but…it still feels like each expression she shows has its own charm. M-Maybe I should just confess to her and accept that I’d get rejected anyway? I’d upgrade five levels from being a loner to being a guy with a friend. And even if I fail, it might be a precious memory…No, it’d be a waste to ruin this group we have just for that. My value of having friends is 300 times higher than that of the average high school student.
“So, Narihira-kun? Mind teaching Aika that part? Although the best thing I can offer you is more ‘SweetKiss’.”
She pushed a box of chocolate in front of her and crouched down to meet my line of sight. Following that, she closed only her left eye and asked “How about it?” Seriously, she’s so cute. I don’t know how much of that is calculated, but it absolutely is cute!
“I-I don’t mind, but…Won’t my Drain get in the way?” I said and moved a good distance away from her, but she wouldn’t back down.
“Then Aika will just move back and forth like this! Don’t worry about it!”
“But repeating that over and over is just going to have the same effect as getting constant jabs…”
“—That’s enough from you already!”
Takawashi slammed her book on the desk, effectively closing it. At the same time, she raised her head to reveal her expression. Her face itself seemed sour and bothered by something, but the hand she kept on the book looked more anxious than anything. With her other hand, she pushed the headphones off her ears.
“Ayameike-san…You’re getting in the way of Gure-kun’s homework. In regards to his supernatural ability, and simply in terms of comfortable distance, you are crossing the line and should consider being more considerate.”
I was bewildered at that. After all…Those words made it sound like she was getting angry for my sake. And that, in turn, could be interpreted as Aika disturbing me. But honestly, I couldn’t tell you. I’ve never experienced something like this.
“A-Aika didn’t want to bother anybody…” She said as her hand holding the chocolate box quivered.
This was different from Takawashi’s usual air of slight rejection. That’s the only way to explain this shift in mood. She’s openly showing how she feels, not hiding her anger. And Aika knew that, which is why she couldn’t just smile it off with an apology.
“It might be even worse if you’re not even aware of it.”
And yet, Takawashi was far from done. Honestly, I had no idea what was going on anymore.
“Each person has their own territory. Of course, being too desperate about that will leave you all alone, but being too aggressive about entering that territory is not the thing to do. Especially so if it’s Gure-kun, who is cursed with this supernatural ability that he had no choice in. And whenever someone gets close to him, he’s forced to be considerate. That’s how people with supernatural abilities have to function. You’re the same as the rest of us, right? So surely, you should understand what I’m saying.”
Even though Takawashi sounded furious, her own expression made it seem like she was suffering. And I doubt Aika and I looked any different right now.
“What you are doing isn’t wrong. However, this kind of answer only works for those who excel at communicating with others. You yourself might be alone like the rest of us, but…you are a special case. I don’t ask you to understand us, but…just know that there are differences. Even loners have their own way of…doing things, so…do you…get it…?”
It was rare to see Takawashi so worked up she’d kept on rambling like that. She’s just one-sidedly lecturing Aika. Even though, judging from her tone alone, she didn’t want to do all that. Because Aika isn’t her enemy. She doesn’t mind Takawashi’s harsh tone all that much. Speaking of Aika, she looked at Takawashi with a genuine expression. It reminds me of a student getting lectured by their teacher. Should I help her out here? But…what should I even say? I thought I had to at least clean up the air. That’s the best start. The mood is in grave danger. Something confusing is happening. And it will only get worse.
While being lectured, Aika obviously looked at Takawashi’s face. And she respected that and returned the gaze. Or rather, she couldn’t do it in any other way. As one would expect, the electronic billboard showed up again.
[Huh? Why did things end up like this? But, I just couldn’t keep myself in check anymore…And she should be wrong, too…Do I stand out all the time because I act like this? Still, that is how loners live their lives, and if she doesn’t understand that, then I don’t think I can get along with her. Honestly, she’s…annoying? Or at least, we don’t fit at all. She’s not like us.]
The words just lined up on the billboard. That in itself reflected how stirred up Takawashi’s heart was.
“So you…really thought of Aika as annoying…” Aika covered her mouth with her hands and started crying.
The chocolate box fell to the ground, as the small bags fell out.
“N-No…! I never said that…”
“You absolutely do! Because your supernatural ability is telling Aika exactly that!”
[W-Wait! It’s not fair for you to get angry now! If you’re gonna act like that, then grow up! Otherwise, we won’t find a common ground…]
“You got angry at Aika way before that, and if you really thought of her as annoying, then there’s nothing to find a common ground for! Aika tried to get along, but…you’re just like everyone else in Aika’s class who talks behind her back!”
I heard the sound of someone stomping on the ground. Aika had already turned around, grabbed her bag, and rushed out of the room. I wanted to chase after her, but I couldn’t. After all—Takawashi was also crying.
[This is why I hate these stupid abilities…And seriously, judging people after reading their thoughts…That’s just not fair. It’s cruel…Other people feel this way, too. And I tried to make it clear with my own words because I didn’t want this to happen…]
Watching her weep like that, even I got close to tearing up.
“Takawashi, your way of phrasing it was bad, but I don’t think you’re wrong.”
“I didn’t want to get angry at her. But since her goal is to make the kind of friends a normie would, I just tried to let her know that it was different from how we see friends, and yet…”
She’s right. We loners have our own ways of acting that we consider right. However, there is still a right way and time to express that. If I had to guess, we loners just don’t know the right order of things, and because we lack experience, we choose the wrong approach.
“But you should’ve at least tried to hide your thoughts. Although, I guess it’s too late to regret now.”
If you just put your heart and soul into it, you’ll reach the other person—That is just a lie. Or maybe it’s just a rule amongst the loners who exaggerate, but in reality, if you don’t read the mood, things will never become clear to others. I glanced over at the hallway, away from the electronic billboard.
“I guess…I’ll stop pretending like we’re friends. I’m sorry, but please don’t follow me. I mean it this time. If you get too close to me…it’ll just leave us both exhausted,” she said while grabbing her bag and stepping out of the hallway.
There was a time when I read a manga with a similar development, and the protagonist then stopped the other person with an embrace, but that’s all nonsense. Left alone in that room, the only thing I could do was send a LINE message to Aika.
‘Takawashi went too far. Could you forgive her?’
‘Aika doesn’t mind being friends with you, but with her…That’s impossible.’
I couldn’t respond to that. At the very least, not right now. Since I never had any real friends, I had no idea how to resolve a fight like this.
*
I never got any LINE messages from either of them until the next day’s lunch break, and Takawashi did not once approach me to talk. Aika said ‘Maybe we should give her some time to cool down?’ in a message, and as they say, a hunter hunting two rabbits catches neither, so I decided to focus on Takawashi first.
‘Can I talk to you?’
My message was, of course, ignored. During recess, Takawashi would always put on her headphones and listen to something while shutting out the world. She oozed out her typical “Don’t talk to me” aura, so nobody dared to get any closer. We went right back to how it was a month ago. Maybe I should just charge ahead and approach her either way? As the weakling that I was, just ignoring other people’s feelings to do something they didn’t approve of is way above my league. Taking all my education into consideration, rather than being a good person, I’d be more like an “I don’t care” person. If you only think about respecting the other person, then the chances of them getting hurt are relatively low. First of all, I can’t even possibly fall in love with my situation like this, and just making friends is far too difficult for me.
But even I knew that staying quiet here would absolutely get us to the bottom of the scraped barrel. I sent her another LINE message. No matter what, I did not want to go back to how it was back in May. She read my messages but didn’t respond. At least she saw my messages. Thus, I made sure to regularly send her messages, all the while making sure I wouldn’t bomb her phone. But for the entire time this continued, it felt like my heart would be ripped apart. It’s been a while since I spent my lunch break genuinely all by myself. Even though I’d been through this many times over by now.
Yet despite that, I didn’t take time off school. Or more accurately, I don’t know how to. Loners have perfect attendance, after all. Loners like us wouldn’t even think of doing that, nor do we have the guts to do so. We don’t really hang out with others or go outside often, so it’s relatively rare for us to get sick. And that’s simply because we don’t have anybody to hang out with. Who’d even go to karaoke all alone by themselves on a regular weekday evening? It’s hard getting a cold when you don’t see people. As for what I’m trying to say, most people with no friends have nothing else to do other than come to school. I feel like this kind of mentality should receive more praise from the government. We are the working force. Either way, things changed on the following Friday.
‘Today after school, come to that room on the 5th floor.’
I finally got a response.
The tables and chairs in the simulation room were still the same from back when Aika stormed out of it. Takawashi stood in the corner of the room, almost like a ghost not wanting to be seen, while she had her arms crossed. Only her expression was the same as always. Yet, even disregarding my supernatural ability, I could not get close to her.
“I don’t believe that I’m in the wrong, just so you know.”
“That’s the first thing you’re saying? Really?”
Takawashi faintly nodded.
“You know, Ayameike-san’s conception of mood and behavior is that of a normal person. Becoming friends with her means adapting to the mood of a normie. I can’t possibly do that. I will never participate in a BBQ at the beach until the day I die. I would be willing to bet my life on that.”
I feel like Takawashi has already established herself too much. That’s why she doesn’t understand how to match and get along with someone who has a different style of being than her. And that’s why she’s just not even trying to adjust. I think, up to this point, Takawashi didn’t struggle with making friends, but instead cut them off far too quickly. All while using the argument of being righteous and all.
“If you keep that up, you’ll never be able to make friends, you know?”
“Then I’m fine this way. It’s easier and more comfortable.”
“Easier, huh? Honestly, I’d rather not admit it, but I totally get you…”
For loners, it’s perfectly normal and acceptable to be alone. Being with others is just exhausting.
“Ayameike-san and I can’t get along. She’ll pull back, too. But I do think that you both can become friends. You two didn’t end up in a fight, after all.”
So this is the compromise, huh? At the very least for now.
“All right. I’ll contact Aika. She’ll probably have calmed down by now.”
“That’s good. I don’t think I’ll be of much help, but I hope everything will work out. You two are still friends, and although you only have each other, although you’re still somewhat like loners, you’re, at least strictly speaking, loners no longer.”
Can you not turn the concept of being a loner into some societal law? But leaving that aside. A life with friends…It should be incomparably different, but it doesn’t allow me to attack twice, nor did I suddenly learn how to fly, nor did my personality get more cheerful. And because Takawashi and I are still acquaintances, I can’t just put all my attention on my new friend.
“Hey, are you still going to come here to the simulation room—”
“If I feel like it,” she said and put on her headphones, stepping out onto the hallway. Be it boys or girls, all human beings can be such a pain, I swear…But you know, Takawashi…I’m not going to let your story end here. I sent Aika a LINE message, asking if we could meet and talk. I thought that, if this continued beyond the two weeks we hadn’t seen each other, it would only get more awkward between us.
‘Let’s meet up tomorrow in front of the train station!’
That was quick.
*
In front of the Hachiouji train station, there’s pretty much everything, but outside the train station, there’s nothing else. That’s why you’d most often meet up in front of the station. And to make it even easier, we decided to wait for each other at the JR ticket gate. While pushing my bicycle to the train station, I started thinking.
—How am I even supposed to act around Aika?
I couldn’t think of anything. Since I don’t know how she feels, or what she’s thinking, the only thing I can do is go see her. That was the whole motive, and it was high time. Since it’d be too dangerous to ride my bicycle while thinking, I opted to just push it instead. I was another 50 meters away from the train station. Even from here, I could hear loud voices ahead of me. There must be some sort of trouble brewing.
“Hey, I promise I’ll divorce my wife, so let’s get married! I don’t have much money, but I have plenty of love to give!”
“Just listen! This is all because of Aika’s power! Just relax! And take better care of your wife, you asshole!”
Speak of the devil! She stood in front of a curry restaurant, totally obstructing business. And since I could immediately tell what the issue was, I barged in between them. My bicycle would just get in the way, so I left it at the nearby guard rail.
“Mister, just take a deep breath, okay? Deep breaths!” I said and moved closer to the man.
“I’m not the weird one! I just asked this high school girl for her hand in marriage…Wait…Why do I feel so dizzy…”
Sticking close to him, I could feel his strength entering my own body. I really hate doing this, but I raised the amount I was draining from him. Roughly 15 seconds later, his knees gave in and he sacked to the ground, so I let him sit against a tree at the side of the road. He’s not injured to the point I’d have to call an ambulance, so it should be fine to have him stay here.
“Narihira-kun! Thank you for helping Aika! You’re like a knight!” She put her hands together and looked at me with a gaze full of admiration.
Not bad of a reunion, I gotta say. If only more chances of me positively using my powers would pop up in the future. But I guess this is just a one-time miracle.
“Let’s just head inside somewhere, yeah?”
We’re clearly standing out too much out here, so I’d much rather move to a different location.
The area in front of the train station was packed with cafés, family restaurants, drug stores, convenience stores, and even home electronic stores to the point you wonder if they aren’t ruining each other’s business. Out of all these options, we chose a random family restaurant and headed inside. Of course, if we sat across the table from each other, my ability would activate, so we had to sit at different tables in order to talk properly, which was an odd sight I’m sure. When we asked for two separate tables, the waitress already gave us weird looks. Of course, talking across tables would bother the other customers, so we instead chatted via LINE or used our expressions. It was unnatural, but this was our only option. If a customer sat at the table between us, we wouldn’t be able to talk at all.
‘Thanks for helping Aika earlier. These things just tend to happen sometimes…And it could be especially dangerous at night, so Aika tries to stay inside once the sun sets.’
Oh yeah, I remember her curfew being awfully early, but I guess that makes sense.
‘Although the girls talking badly about Aika think this is some type of strategy to keep a guy warm for her…’
Aika showed a saddened expression. It’s one I’ve never seen her make at school before.
‘Experiencing that just now, Aika once again realized that there are people who suffer because of their powers.’
If she gets aggressively approached like that, she absolutely can’t go outside carelessly. Both of us grabbed a drink from the drink bar and then returned to our seats. The melon soda was such a beautiful green that it looked like it might have been poisoned. After sitting down, our LINE exchange continued.
‘Leaving what Takawashi-san said aside, Aika wanted to apologize for yesterday. She definitely crossed a line with you, Narihira-kun. It seems like she doesn’t really know what distance to keep with other boys…’
She didn’t write “Erin” like she usually would. Maybe it was because of her usual energetic attitude, but now, she felt at least two years older than before. Sometimes, high school girls really tend to have these kinds of mature expressions. And that “Leaving Takawashi-san aside” comment did irk me, but there was no helping that.
‘I did feel like you were a bit close at times, but I didn’t think you did it out of bad intentions.’
I didn’t know if I should be calling her Aika or Ayameike-san, but going by her family name sounded rude, so I just didn’t even choose either of them. I guess showing that kind of hesitation tells me that I’m not succeeding at all in making friends…
‘What happened with Takawashi-san after that?’
‘Two days ago, she finally talked to me again. Saying that getting along with you probably won’t work.’
‘Yeah, figures.’
She accepted that rather quickly. I guess making up is going to be rather detrimentally difficult.
‘So, she said it was fine if we wanted to be friends. And that we shouldn’t worry about her.’
‘She’s going with that, huh? Well, Aika’s okay with that.’
Half of me was relieved to hear that, but I also felt almost grossed out at the fact that human relationships really are an impossible game to win. Is there nothing akin to those shonen manga where the two people come to a mutual understanding after beating the crap out of each other? Of course not! Because that would be the end in itself! Are all the normies going through this regularly? I feel like I might just die from the stress after a single month. We loners can’t possibly copy that. Then, Aika stood up from her seat.
“Mind if Aika sits next to you?” she said and sat down facing me.
This happened so out of the blue, I dropped my smartphone on the table.
“You do remember my ability, right?! At least try to stay a bit more!”
Yet she didn’t seem bothered by this whatsoever and just smiled. She’s doing this on purpose, huh?
“If you start to feel sick, just move away again. When people hurt others, they also suffer some substantial mental damage themselves,” I said.
I took a moment of respite and sipped from my melon soda. It had a chemical taste different from regular melon. We sat diagonally from each other, staying as far away as possible.
“In that regard, you’re quite the gentleman, Narihira-kun,” Aika said while her big eyes, resembling that of a squirrel, looked directly at me.
“Haha, you may call it being a gentleman, but you read it as ‘Wuss.’ It’s because of this personality that I can’t make friends, and getting a girlfriend is as unbelievable as an urban legend.”
You can’t run away from everybody while wanting to build relationships.
“So then…Do you wanna go out with Aika?”
“Pffffft!”
I spit out my melon soda! That couldn’t have been a worse timing.
“How about it? From a boy’s perspective, Aika should be quite the catch, right? Of course, she won’t ask you to pay money or anything like that,” she closed one eye and smiled.
That damn succubus…! She knows exactly how to click the buttons of a non-popular loner like me! I feel like proposing to her here and now! However, I’m not gonna rush into the fray like that. It’s weird to not cross the stone bridge of loners when given the chance.
“I don’t really know about love and all that, so I’ll have to decline for now…”
If I was a normie, I might have agreed on the spot. However, I want to treasure my own feelings, as well as hers, and I don’t think it’s right to make that decision. And those guys calling me a virgin right now, I’ll come for you later.
“Figures!”
Aika swiftly returned to her previous seat. Please don’t test other people like that, okay? I already spit out my melon soda, so I’d like to leave it at that. Shortly after, another LINE message reached me.
‘For Aika, it’s hard to tell who actually loves her, you know?’
That is some hefty trauma dumping out of nowhere. Looking over, she played with her straw, stirring up the white soda in front of her. The blocks of ice bumped into each other, creating a clattering sound.
‘That said, Aika’s ability allows her to understand if people like me or not, so she tends to be nice back to them. The people it doesn’t work on either don’t care about love or romance, or hate Aika.’
I see, so each time she meets someone, she can instinctively tell to a certain degree how they feel about her.
‘If Takawashi heard that, she’d probably agree, too. E-Excluding the part about her calling you a slut.’
‘But there’s also an issue for Aika. Since it’s all happening subconsciously, I can’t exactly work on it or improve it.’
Maybe the increase in my affection for her caused this, but she suddenly began looking like the cutest girl in all of Japan.
‘Of course, Aika wouldn’t go so far as to do anything for Takawashi-san to hate her. It’s just, learning that she’s being hated by all sorts of girls is definitely a shock. The contribution level is 1. In other words, it causes trouble in the holder’s life.’
I might be at a 0, but I’m still famous thanks to that.
“Aika just…wants to be of help for someone.”
She purposefully said so out loud.
‘I think you just have to use the “If I was the hitter several times, I’d definitely get a homerun” strategy. Although it is a bit exhausting. I learned about it while sitting in a karaoke box with other normies.’
‘What kind of strategy is that?’
I delivered an explanation based on the logic behind it. Basically, no matter how much you suck at making friends, if she doesn’t have something that makes it virtually impossible for me, something like my ability, if she keeps going on the offensive, there’s bound to be one or two people who are willing to accept her. In other words, you forget about the chance of success and just keep pressing with sheer numbers of attempts.
‘That sounds possible on paper, but it’s going to be extremely exhausting for the person trying to pull it off!’
‘Yeah, I agree with that…If you get rejected 30 times in a row, I could see myself just giving up on society and living in the woods to recite haiku all day.’
‘But reading haiku won’t bring in any money, so you’d have to work part-time either way.’
You can just become a hermit in today’s world? What is this, hell?
“Also, Aika is more the type to go after quality than quantity. She wants to treasure what she has right now.”
She said out loud once again, reaching for me from afar with her hand.
“Let’s start again as friends, Narihira-kun.”
I think I’ve established this fact plenty at this point…but Aika really knows how to tug on a guy’s heartstrings. Is she aware of it, or is she doing it subconsciously? Who knows. At the very least, she’s hitting exactly where it hurts. And this isn’t just me being inexperienced with women that I’m about to drown in my fantasies, I’m pretty sure anybody would get the wrong idea here. Well, I’m still only talking about a friend.
“Aika gave up on making friends with boys because of her ability. But if it’s with you…maybe it’ll turn out alright. You understand how Aika feels as the loner that she is.”
Of course, I never had any choice of rejecting her.
“Yeah. Let’s get along, Aika.”
It should be fine to call her that, right? And I hope she heard that, because we do sit quite a bit away from each other.
“C’mon, that’s not right!” Aika shook her head. “Coming this far, we have to at least shake hands.”
Naturally, she’s saying this while being more than aware of my ability. But waiting like that only works for good-looking girls like her. I have to be the one to move. So, I moved seats looking as natural as possible, and grasped her hand. I could immediately feel how my ability was sucking up her vitality. Hence, I let go right after. This reminded me of the time Takawashi and I put our fingertips together. Of course, we weren’t friends back then. We simply formed an alliance. But how did I feel at that time? I think I was pretty happy.
“Is this good enough?”
“Yep! More than enough!” Aika looked a bit exhausted because of my Drain, but still responded with a beaming smile. “So, do you have any plans after this by any chance?” she asked.
“No, not really.”
“Then, could you go out with me somewhere?”
That “Go out” part made my shoulders jump. Loners just naturally end up unpopular, so we don’t have any resistance toward that language. Of course, some people aren’t popular despite not being loners, but I can’t remember ever seeing a popular loner.
“There’s a place Aika would like to check out and shop at. And it’d be even better to have a friend around.”
“It’s easy to forget considering your personality, but you really didn’t have any friends before, huh?”
Aika pouted exaggeratedly. That’s a function LINE doesn’t have.
“That’s rich coming from you.”
*
The train station itself had restaurants or other crafting material shops on the second floor, but out of all of that, there was also a singular 100-yen store, which was also Aika’s destination. Sure, everything here might be 100-yen, but Aika nonchalantly filled her basket with a bunch of stuff. Notebooks, clear files, which make sense, but even random stickers or bathing goods, it all filled the basket in no time.
“I’m just gonna ask you straight…Are you alright in the head?”
“Of course. All of this is 100 yen, so AIka’s saving a bunch of money right now.”
I bet it’s these kinds of people that 100-yen shops exist and thrive in the first place…The two of us (all the while keeping the 1-meter distance between us, of course) then continued to look through all the 100-yen items we could find.
“This here is actually a sponge used for bathing, but you can even use it to scrub metal squeaky-clean, you know.”
In fact, we were so far apart that I accidentally reacted to her when I thought it was Aika. I’m sorry about that.
“This thick box-shaped case here works wonders if you want to store documents matching the subject.”
She said that right as someone walked between us, so I could only understand half of it.
“And this pen here feels the best to use out of all the ones here.”
“You’re…a regular here, aren’t you?”
Aika just shook her head in response. And that’s when I started thinking. To the other people, maybe it looks like Aika and I are dating. Naturally, we aren’t like that at all. We only just became friends. I wouldn’t even ask for more than that. However, it wouldn’t be surprising if other people saw us talking and assumed that something was going on between us. Of course, the 1-meter distance between us would probably confuse them, but there still must be people who believe that—And I guess…it’s not so bad.
It was just a simple misunderstanding, but being believed to be a normie is something I never thought I’d experience. At the very least, it’s much better than getting sympathy for being a loner. That just shows how alone I was all this time. If I’d been standing in the desert or on a prairie all by myself, but because I didn’t know about the existence of other people, I never felt lonely. I didn’t know the concept of solitude. However, there are countless people I see every day. Even just five days a week, I spend more than half my day with people my age at school. And yet, nobody comes closer to me. Nobody even tries to reach out with their hand. No wonder that’s chipping away at my mental health.
I’m honestly a bit shocked I didn’t turn into some delinquent back in middle school, but for the most part, delinquents also swarm together, right? I’m honestly more of a lone wolf in that scenario, suffering all by myself. But what you really need is a friend. Because the kanji for human 人 is two singular ones 一 supporting each other. In that sense, loners aren’t more than lone wolves. Sure, sometimes that can be pretty cool, but for the most part, it’s just exhausting.
I wouldn’t be surprised if Takawashi is just as exhausted. I guess she’s gotta keep up her armament of being the [Ice Princess] if she wants to not break down. I think I’ll be a bit more forgiving next time we talk. Because if I go beyond that, she’ll just say “Everything other than your face is gross, too.”
“Hey, Narihira-kun? Between that bear-shaped ornament and that panda-shaped one, which do you think I should buy?”
Looking over, Aika seemed torn between two particular ornaments. On any other day, I would’ve just said “Neither of them,” but I feel happy right now, so…
“Why not switch it up completely and get that gorilla one?”
I felt good, so I could even joke around like that. Gonna pretend like I’m her boyfriend. We’re not even at a distance of being friends, and we might look like strangers, but I felt like a boyfriend.
“I already bought that one last time.”
“For real?! I get that people out there try to get a complete figurine collection, but animal ornament goods from a 100-yen store, too?!”
Honestly, and I genuinely mean it when I say this, but this conversation is pretty pointless. And yet…it’s fun! Indulging in an idle talk that is pretty much empty deep down is so much fun! So this is the power of friends? I can feel my whole body being filled with energy even stronger than atomic power.
“…You know, Aika’s having a lot of fun right now.”
Hearing Aika’s voice, I thought she read my thoughts for a moment. She had the bear and panda ornament in both her hands, smiling happily.
“It’s rare that Aika has this much fun just going shopping. Good thing we became friends, Narihira-kun.”
“Agreed. I’m having a blast right now.”
That said, maybe I shouldn’t have gotten so excited. Because this kind of happiness never lasts long. I mean, I guess that’s just a saying in the end, but it did feel that way, after all—
“Stop! You thief!”
This shrill voice reached us from another store. Immediately after, a man with a knitted cap, a knife in one hand, and a plastic bag of cash, came running down the hallway. Thankfully, there was no blood on the knife, but this was still enough of a bone-chilling sight. As a result, the inside of the store became noisy. I doubt he’d keep going and rob this store after already getting some cash, so we should just hide in here. That guy would probably look for an escape route right now.
“Aika, let’s just stay in here for a mo—”
But before I could finish my words, Aika had already rushed out of the store, opening both her arms.
“Mr. Thief! Over here!”
What is she doing?! This is not the time to be fooling around! Does she want to get stabbed?! However, the thief must have been bewildered by this action and stopped in his tracks. What’s her plan now? She’s not making this any better!
“Surely, something bad must have happened, right? Something you’d rather forget.”
The thief’s expression seemed love-struck as he wobbled his way over to Aika. She, in return, just stayed calm and smiled. She was like a light at the end of the dark tunnel, smiling like she would forgive all your sins. I don’t think she’s fooling around. If she’s going to accept even that thief, then this is an entirely different level of love. She’d be close to an angel.
“It’ll be fine. Just let Aika give you a hug. Come over here.”
The thief slowly walked over to her. His heart must have been cleansed…No, wait a second. He still has that knife. I’m going to jump out from behind the shelf as soon as he’s close to Aika. It’s honestly way too dangerous for my taste, but now that she can’t run away, this is the best I can do. Only right before he’s about to touch her. That’s where he’ll be the most careless. Slowly but steadily, the distance between them was reaching zero. All right, now—
“Good…Now just take a nap!”
Aika’s leg suddenly raised up high. And in the next moment, her leg slammed into the side of the thief’s head. I should clarify here that she’s wearing pink panties today…But of course, none of that matters. I failed my chance to jump out, just slumping down. The thief immediately lost consciousness and collapsed.
“Erm…Aika…san…?”
Feeling rather terrified because of this display, I couldn’t stop myself from using formal language. But Aika just showed me a peaceful smile and a peace sign with her fingers.
“Actually, Aika learned self-defense, you know? Just in case she ever gets attacked at night.”
“I see…I guess you’d need that, yeah.”
“Going so far as to commit robbery meant that this person was backed into a corner. In that depraved state, Aika’s power works even better. And that makes it easier to take care of them.”
I could tell as much when I saw the robber’s face. But…
“Even so, I’d rather not have you do something so dangerous again…”
“If things had taken a turn for the worse, Aika would’ve run away, too. Not to mention…” She smiled at me. “You were ready to jump out and help Aika, right? You’re not one to talk.”
“I mean…We’re friends, so…”
I didn’t know if that was enough of a reason, but that’s all I could say at that moment.
“Holy smokes!”
“She really did that?!”
“And she’s so cute, too!”
These voices came from the onlookers at the scene. In response, Aika politely bowed to the people.
“Seems like Aika’s ability does have its use for other people,” she said with a smile, looking into the distance. “It makes Aika…happy.”
“Yeah. I felt the same way when I helped you earlier today.”
Because of these similar experiences, the distance between us shrunk—I think.
Shortly after, the police arrived to arrest the thief, with a detective coming to talk to us. We couldn’t just walk away after being directly involved, at least on paper, so we talked with them at the police station, but it basically all ended with Aika being praised from start to finish. Rather than a questioning, it was like a praising session.
“Maybe I could give you an award for your commendable deed?”
Aika scratched her head and agreed.
“…This feels like the perfect starting point for an idol debut…”
“Yeah, no…”
*
Of course, becoming an idol through that was too much of a pipe dream, but something similar to that did occur. Many news outlets and newspapers began to interview her. It didn’t take long until news about the “Charming high school girl who used her ability to defeat an armed thief” went around everywhere. Some people even interviewed Aika, who read the following.
‘Walking around isolated areas and the like while having that kind of supernatural ability is super dangerous, right? That’s why Aika learned self-defense!’
‘Aika still has her curfew of 5 pm. Whenever she eats out, it’ll be in the afternoon so she gets to be home by night.’
Well, that’s to be expected. I felt a bit proud to see all of that and read about all the articles the day after. Every supernatural ability has its way of using it. I sent Takawashi a LINE message about it, too, but she just bluntly responded “Don’t care.” I guess it’s gonna take a lot more time for the snow to thaw. Late Sunday evening, I got a message from Aika.
‘Aika feels like her luck changed a whole lot because she became friends with you! Let’s stay friends, okay?’
It felt an honor to finally have a friend myself. We might be boy and girl, but let’s always be friends, Ayameike Aika!
CClaw Translations 