Gamers

Uehara Tasuku and Restarting After Getting Stronger

Translator: Skythewood

Editor: Deus ex-Machina, Ruzenor

“Ehhhh, Tasuku~~ Help Aguri catch that plus.h.i.+el~~”

“Ah?”

Aguri whined as she tugged at my sleeve, and I couldn’t help turning my head back with a pouting face.

A girl who appeared dull witted at a glance was looking up at me. She had a light tan, and her hair was dyed a faded orange. But thanks to her face and body figure, she was cute on the whole and her skills in appealing to men was top notch.

I tried putting on airs, but Aguri ignored that completely. She forcefully pulled me to the Claw Crane Game and pointed with her finger, saying: “That one, that one!”

“Ehhh, doesn’t that look sick?”

“... Ah~~ totally sick.”

Sick in a negative way. There were many cute kittens inside the Claw Crane Machine… Various plush toys that had weird changes to the usual design of the kittens, some had two long legs, others were full of muscles.

Even though I felt they were ‘sick’, but from the way Aguri squealed excitedly, her definition of ‘sick’ was probably opposite from mine… Instead of ‘ugly cute’, wasn’t ‘normal cute’ better? Or was my sense of aesthetic behind the current times?

I rubbed my neck lazily.

“... You want me to catch that one?”

“Yes! Because Tasuku is cheekily skilled in games!”

“What cheekily skilled…?”

I couldn’t help snickering. My gaming skill is much better than Aguri’s but I didn’t play much games before her at all. I think she saw me played fighting games a couple of times, so she thought I was ‘cheekily good’. Thinking that I was good with Claw Crane Machine because of that, was how people who don’t usually touch games would feel.

“Tasuku~~ catch it for me okay~~”

“Well, I don’t mind catching it… So, the hundred yen?”

“... Tasuku~~ C-Catch it for me.”

Aguri played it off with a smile. T-This girl…!

I sighed as I dug out a hundred yen coin from my wallet. Aguri who was squealing behind me might be annoying, but this wasn’t the first day she behaved like this. In fact, her frivolous style was popular among the boys… To be honest, I didn’t really get it though.

I pressed the two b.u.t.tons that controlled lateral and vertical movements respectively, and made the mechanical claw reach down in the vicinity of the plus.h.i.+e Aguri wanted. In the end…

“Ah, such a pity~~!”

“Sigh, that’s a shame.”

Wasting a hundred yen hurts me a little, but I didn’t invest any emotion in the plus.h.i.+e itself at all. I turned to leave -- but my arm was grabbed strongly by Aguri.

“Once more! Tasuku, one more try! You can do it! You can definitely catch it!”

“You…”

What’s with this girl? She want me to keep playing until I catch that plus.h.i.+e? For a game machine like this, shouldn’t she be grateful that I am willing to use my own money for one try?

To be honest, I didn’t want to humour her. But if I ignored Aguri here, it would be troublesome later. If the alternative was me having to treat Aguri to a pancake to cheer her up, since I already threw in a hundred yen, I would be better off showing off my sincerity and carry on the challenge.

With no other choice, I threw in another hundred yen, and leaned forward a little more seriously.

This time, I inspected the entire machine carefully, and found my serious face reflected on the gla.s.s.

My brown hair was carefully styled, and my brows neatly trimmed; placing emphasis on was.h.i.+ng my face with lotion kept my skin so smooth and clean that not a spot of acne was visible; a dull silver earring was hanging from my left ear.

Ah~~ I am cool today too.

My unpleasant mood diminished a little. And behind me was my girlfriend who wasn’t that smart, but could definitely be described as cute.

Hey hey, I am a winner in life, right?

I couldn’t help peeking at my past self who was residing in a corner of my mind… And greeted the me from my middle school days. In response, the plain guy with side parting and gla.s.ses and uniform b.u.t.toned all the way up answered meekly with a smile: “That’s right.” … That guy was still the same, why can’t he smile a bit more cheerfully?

I focused on the Claw Crane machine to escape from that mindset. After spending plenty of time and carefully controlling the b.u.t.tons, the mechanical claw stopped right on top of the plus.h.i.+e -- and slightly to the side. Aguri said unhappily:

“Ahh! Tasuku, what are you doing! How sloppy!”

“Noisy, just watch.”

After I said that, the mechanical claw slowly… descended to the position slightly off to the side. As I expected, it didn’t grab the plus.h.i.+e-- however, one side of the claw hooked onto the tag on the plus.h.i.+e splendidly.

“Ahhh!”

Aguri opened her eyes wide. After the mechanical arm rose with the tag in tow, it was wobbling unsteadily, but the plus.h.i.+e didn’t fall. Next, it returned to the starting point… and the claw opened, dropping the plus.h.i.+e at the prize retrieval slot.

The next instance, Aguri took out the plus.h.i.+e excitedly, and showed it to me as if she was the one who caught it then said:

“How sick! It’s really fluffy! Tasuku you are really good at games~~!”

“... Don’t get too excited.”

Feeling a little embarra.s.sed, I averted my eyes. To be honest, half of it was a fluke. I did aim for the tag, but I wasn’t good enough to be certain that it would definitely work, so the over exaggerated praise was a little troubling. Eh, getting my girlfriend to fall for me again wasn’t too bad--

“Wah~~ … Awesome…”

“?”

-- I turned and saw a male schoolmate who was wearing an Otobuki high school uniform just like us. It seemed that he just happened to see me playing the Claw Crane game as he stared blankly at the kitten plus.h.i.+e Aguri was holding with a dumb impressed face.

… Hmmm? This guy is...

At this moment, I realized that I knew this guy. He seemed to have noticed us at the same time. When Aguri looked at him and asked “What’s the matter?” his face blushed and he panickedly bowed at us before leaving in a hurry.

Aguri tilted his head confusedly.

“Ehh… What was that?”

“Ah, he is our cla.s.smate, although we never spoke before.”

“That’s right. But why did he run away?”

“Ehh, instead of running…”

A cla.s.smate that he wasn’t close to had a girl who seemed to be his girlfriend. Normally speaking, it would be quite difficult to chat with me in such a situation. Aguri didn’t seem to think that far, and looked baffled.

I just said: ”Doesn’t matter, it’s great that we caught the plus.h.i.+e.”

And so, Aguri’s mood became great as she hugged the plus.h.i.+e tightly in her chest… The way she intentionally hugs it with the head of the kitty facing me was really skilled… Well, that was definitely cute.

As she had something extra in her hands, we left the arcade directly and headed home.

After we exited downtown and I bid Aguri farewell, I walked by myself for a while. As I was about to take a shortcut through the park… it suddenly hit me.

Ah, that’s Amano. Amano… what’s his name? Anyway, he’s that guy from my cla.s.s...

I remembered the family name of the cla.s.smate I just met, but no matter how long I thought, I couldn’t remember anything else. I smiled wryly.

Speaking of which, he was probably more plain than me in my middle school days. I wouldn’t be that impressed with someone playing a Claw Crane game. And he was in such a panic just seeing me who he never even talked to being with my girlfriend… how lame.

I smiled awkwardly as I recalled the dumb look on that plain cla.s.smate. My mood turned great for no good reason as I whistled badly and strode through the quiet residential zone.

“... Yawn… Morning~~”

I stifled my yawn as I greeted Daiki and Masaya. I dumped my schoolbag onto the table, tickled the waist of s.h.i.+youji who was sitting at my seat, getting him to move away.

The four of us played around a little, then Masaya’s girlfriend Mika came in, followed by a girl from the light music club Reina that s.h.i.+youji hooked up with recently. The group started chatting idly as usual.

Today’s topic was mainly about Masaya and Mika complaining about their karaoke session yesterday. Even though I commented: “That’s horrible.” the topic wasn’t that interesting. My eyes wandered carelessly in the cla.s.sroom to stave off my boredom. At this moment, the boy who I never paid attention to in the past appeared in a corner of my vision suddenly.

Amano Keita…

I looked at him because I ran into him at the arcade yesterday. After observing him a while, he really was a boy without anything. It goes without saying that he had nothing to do with me, he wasn’t prominent in school at all. As far as I know, I have never heard any friends talked about him at all… For example, who he was close to, what club he was in, nothing at all. I only learned his name after looking through the cla.s.s nominal roll that was placed inside the cla.s.sroom.

I couldn’t help smiling wryly.

People with a sense of presence as thin as a ghost… they can be found anywhere.

If we flip through the graduation booklet during a cla.s.s reunion ten years later, we will definitely have a hard time recalling his name… That’s how I felt.

Is he happy with such a plain life?

I suddenly remembered how I was in my middle school days. It was different from Amano, but my life was really dull too. I would just work hard on preparing for my high school entrance exam as instructed by my parents, and play games occasionally for entertainment. I lived my life seriously, and was influenced by the people around me to attempt the entrance exam of a high school beyond my standard… After failing, I entered my safety school Otobuki. This was treated as a scar that shouldn’t be mentioned by my family.

In the end, you can only win in life by living in the moment.

Talking about life at such a age might seem a little arrogant, but ever since I made up my mind to start over again, my life had been smooth sailing.

Right, for example, this was like ‘The ant and the gra.s.shopper’.

The guidance of my parents was a factor, the young naive me was nurtured to have the view that I should ‘live seriously like the ant’ after hearing the story.

However, instead of the ant who had to work hard in order to save for the future, I think the gra.s.shopper who got a share of the food just by apologizing was smarter and more worthy of respect.

… At this point, I tilted my head.

Weird? Why… am I thinking so deep about Amano’s circ.u.mstances?

When I realized it, my mood turned sour. What was going on? Amano didn’t do anything to me, we were cla.s.smates whose path didn’t cross at all. I didn’t have any reason to be this frustrated.

… Ah, no...

After thinking this far, I realized something.

Why was I so fl.u.s.tered when I looked at Amano? The reason was…

That guy… Why does he look so happy…?

That’s right, that was the reason why I felt fl.u.s.tered.

At a glance, Amano was sitting by his lonesome self in his seat, but he was smiling about something. I thought he was busy with some stuff, but he was toying with his phone. From the position of his fingers, he wasn’t texting or surfing the web, but playing games.

Now that I thought about it, this guy was always playing games by himself after cla.s.s. He was happily isolated from the outside world, minding his own business without being noticed by us.

Even so, there shouldn’t be any reason that would make me fl.u.s.tered… Why was that? Amano was just playing games on his phone, but he looked so cheerful…

What the h.e.l.l… So lame. I can’t stand it...

I couldn’t help scowling my face, and Masaya suddenly toss the topic to me.

“Isn’t that right, Tasuku!? Don’t you think that is awful? What I ordered was fried chicken, fried chicken!”

“T… True, you are right. A cold fried chicken is not even half as delicious as before.”

“Absolutely! Hmm, Tasuku, you feel me!? Please work over there~~”

“Forget it, I can’t be bothered to work.”

I faked a smile as I joined them in their idle chat. It wasn’t that boring, and everyone bickered with Masaya, such times were enjoyable too. However…

I glanced at Amano, peeking at what he was doing.

So why… Do you look happier than me?

He should be a loser in life, but the face he was showing seemed happier than me who was chatting with my friends, and I felt dissatisfied by this. Just what was he so happy about?

“? What’s the matter Tasuku? Feeling unwell?”

Reina who saw my sour face asked.

I was panicking in my heart, but I still found an out for myself.

“Nothing, I just got a bit unhappy after listening to what Masaya described.”

I pretended to be angry, and the pure Masaya seemed to be very moved.

“Oh, my dear friend! Tasuku, you really are a good guy!”

“You didn’t know? That’s right, no matter what, I will always take the side of… Mean customers.”

“How wicked!”

Everyone retorted, then laughed out loud. I didn’t care about the cla.s.smates who turned our way, wondering what happened as I laughed dumbly with my friends.

What am I doing? Why should I care about someone like Amano… Alright.

And so, I made up my mind again.

“Don’t be annoying! I am a good guy! Before this, Aguri even asked me--”

I pushed the plain nerdy cla.s.smate out from my mind, and resumed my rowdy everyday life.

Until a few days later, when the famous Tendo Karen came to chat with Amano.

After cla.s.s was over, Cla.s.s 2F would split into groups of various sizes, chatting idly together and creating a noisy atmosphere.

Among them, our group of six was exceptionally influential.

Leaving our numbers aside, the six of us were the type with lots of acquaintances and friends in cla.s.s, and would naturally influence the overall atmosphere of cla.s.s 2F.

When we laugh, the emotions in cla.s.s would become high; when we rage, the tension of the other people would rise.

And so, whether cla.s.s 2F was rowdy or not was mostly dependent on us.

And now─

The school idol Tendo Karen suddenly graced us with her presence, and the entire cla.s.s turned silent.

Tendo… Why is she...

I couldn’t help holding my breath because of the blonde schoolmate standing at the entrance of the cla.s.s. The first to notice Tendo was Mika who was always looking around her. From the angle she was looking from, she already saw Tendo walking along the corridor. But at that moment, Mika just treated it as a part of the conversation, pointing to the corridor as she said: “Ehh, look, it’s Tendo-san…”

When we heard Mika, we all turned to look at the face of the rare beauty… At this moment.

We noticed this at the same time… and were all stunned by the fact that Tendo was about to enter Cla.s.s F.

Influenced by our silence, everyone in cla.s.s noticed Tendo’s existence─

She surveyed the cla.s.sroom from the entrance, and smiled as if she found a lost treasure. Then─

“Ah, found you, Amano-kun!”

─ n.o.body expected that… Tendo was here for the person who was furthest away from her in a sense, Amano Keita.

All the chatter in cla.s.s stopped instantly, and then… following Tendo’s actions, we all focused our gaze on Amano.

At the same time, I was feeling agitated for some reason.

… Why would she find someone like Amano...

It was similar to the ‘frustration’ I felt about Amano a few days ago, the same emotion was reignited in my heart.

Amano seemed to be shaken by Tendo’s appearance and being the center of attention in cla.s.s too. His plain face was even more stiff now, and he couldn’t even smile… Agitation mixed in with several other complicated emotions were gradually expanding in my chest.

On the other hand, Tendo who didn’t seem to mind the gaze of the crowd strode forth confidently and approached Amano’s seat nimbly. When she was before his desk… She leaned to look at the phone Amano was toying with in an intimate way.

“!”

Some of our cla.s.smates finally made some wavering noise, and sound returned to the cla.s.sroom.

Tendo seemed to be talking about something to Amano, but because of the whispering everywhere, I couldn’t hear what they were saying clearly.

The only thing I could tell was that Tendo was talking to Amano rather one sidedly. Games, promise, library… I heard these terms, but I couldn’t grasp the contents of their conversation.

As the cla.s.s was getting anxious, Amano seemed to have nodded at Tendo hurriedly several times. And the next instant─

“I see!”

Tendo smiled and enchanted the entire cla.s.s. At the same time, when everyone noticed that she was smiling just at Amano, the wavering in our heart increased and the noise level went up a notch.

However, the bell announcing that cla.s.s would be starting soon rang as if if on cue, and Tendo said hurriedly: “Ah, I have to go now. See you after school, Amano-kun!” She said in an intimate tone and left right away.

When the entire cla.s.s was dumbfounded, and Amano who was left behind watched Tendo leave in a daze─

s.h.i.+youji beside me muttered something that left a deep impression on my mind.

“What the heck was that…”

These words seemed to represent how the entire Cla.s.s 2F felt.

But before I could gossip with my friends, the teacher came in to start the next lesson, so it left a strange ‘itch’ in the heart of everyone in cla.s.s.

I laid out my textbook and notebook onto my table, and pretended to listen to cla.s.s as I thought about Amano. Unfortunately, from the seat a.s.signment, I couldn’t see Amano who was beside the window at the back of the cla.s.sroom from my seat in the middle, but he was definitely…

Showing a c.o.c.ky face that is saying ‘did you all see that?’

Once I imagined that, my unpleasant mood wouldn’t stop.

The plain loner nerd who was suddenly chatted up by the number beauty in the entire school.

This was like the story from a boring trash light novel. The subject might be having the time of his life, but from the perspectives of the people around him, there was nothing that was more disgusting than this. I knew very well that was jealousy or ‘sour grapes mentality’, but so what? That was my true feelings right now. In fact, most of my cla.s.smates more or less felt annoyed by this.

… Sigh.

That might be so, I was aware that I my reaction was bigger than others.

After all… I didn’t meet with such a wonderful salvation in middle school… d.a.m.n it!

I got angrier the more I thought about it. Amano Keita. As I couldn’t see his face, I imagined that he was showing a smug face. Even ignoring that, I was still…

… Who would be happy to see a plain nerd who didn’t put in any effort to obtain happiness out of nowhere… Arghh, so annoying!

I took out my stationeries in a rough manner.

After that, I stabbed the lead of my mechanical pencil into my white eraser again and again.

The next aftercla.s.s break, the cla.s.sroom was covered in a strange atmosphere. Even though the groups were all chatting as usual, but the topic revolves around Amano and Tendo. It was the same for us, especially the two girls who were speculating blindly.

As for me… To be honest, I think the act of ‘chatting about this topic’ would make Amano happy, so I didn’t partic.i.p.ate too keenly. However, when Reina asked cheerfully: “So, what exactly are their relations.h.i.+p?”, I couldn’t help responding.

“Reina, what do you think?”

“Hmm? Me? Ehh~~ That’s hard to say. It will be fun if it is love related. Well, to be honest, it doesn’t feel that way, saying they are friends is unrealistic too. They felt more like official business contacts?”

“You mean, the two of them got acquainted through club society or their jobs?”

That felt close to the truth. As I was about to let it go, Mika who loves to gossip made a ‘Hmm~~’ sound.

“That is boring~~ And actually, I remember that Tendo-san didn’t join any committees or clubs right? And to be frank, I don’t think she works part time.”

Masaya nodded in agreement to Mika’s opinion.

“That’s right. Tendo’s family is rich right? And also, I don’t have any impression of Amano working or joining clubs.”

“Or rather, Amano didn’t leave much of an impression at all.”

Daiki’s words made everyone laugh. I joined in too, but my laugh was superficial.

As we slowly went off topic and everyone started fooling around─

I noticed that… I couldn’t let my unhappy mood go, and treated this as an entertaining piece of gossip like everyone else.

What the… Having so much fun talking about Amano. Are you all r.e.t.a.r.ds? How boring.

I peeked at Amano. Even though he was intimidated by the gaze of the entire cla.s.s, he seem unconcerned with the surroundings, and was looking at his desk with sparkling eyes. I was wondering what he was doing, but he seemed to be engrossed in his game. He wasn’t playing with his phone, but a handheld console.

… Hmmp, what a loner. Are games that fun?

There was a time when I was addicted to games. During the spare time I had while preparing for exams, I found the large arcade machines really interesting. And with the unique sense of s.p.a.ce it had, it was a refuge for my soul during middle school. That was why I would be as excited as Pavlov’s dog whenever I step into an arcade. However…

At least the time I spent chatting between cla.s.ses with my friends are more meaningful than games. That guy is just hiding in his own world, engrossed in his games...

Even though we were the same age, I detested him with a ‘kids these days’ sort of feeling. I couldn’t stand it.

… Well, other than Amano, there were a few others who spent the time after cla.s.s by themselves, but somehow, I didn’t feel fl.u.s.tered when I look at them. I only felt p.i.s.sed off about Amano… Because of his expression when he looks at the screen of the game.

Thinking back, that guy had always been showing such a face after cla.s.s. He didn’t laughed out loud, and was simply staring at the screen with a dumb smile, as if he was enjoying a little piece of happiness. That was why he could blend into the rowdy atmosphere in cla.s.s despite being a loner, and won’t become a subject in others conversation for better or worse, or remain in other’s vision.

Not for me… It felt like he was making a dig at me. After all, even though I was surrounded by friends, I felt from the bottom of my heart that the things they were talking about was boring, and my smile was completely fake.

… What… You got a problem with that? Don’t look down on interpersonal relations.

Even though Amano didn’t say anything, I averted my eyes from him.

… I will find Aguri and play in the arcade after school.

I didn’t know why I decided on that. And because I could look forward to that, I was able to make it through the entire day of Tendo and Amano topic.

And so, school ended like what I was hoping for.

After finis.h.i.+ng up on cleaning duties, I met up with my cute girlfriend at the school gate.

Alright, we will set off to the arcade happily. But on the way there─

“Oh right, Tasuku, that Amano something is in the same cla.s.s as you right?”

─ When I heard Aguri said that…

I felt faint, as if I was lost in a nightmare.

Aguri who was walking beside me didn’t notice my face was tense, and kept going on while swinging her school bag around.

“It was an uproar in Cla.s.s C too. The famous Tendo-san actually went to find a male schoolmate from another cla.s.s─”

“─ So noisy!”

“Huh?”

I couldn’t help yelling, and scared Aguri into stopping in her tracks. I glared at her for a moment, but noticed I had lost my composure and soothed her:

“It’s nothing, nothing. It’s fine…”

Strange, my tongue was not working well. I seemed to have reverted to my middle school self.

I squeezed out a stiff smile to the stunned Aguri.

“I-I’m sorry. I think… Let’s not go to the arcade today, and go home straight alright?”

“Huh? A-Alright… It’s okay… Tasuku, are you feeling unwell?”

Aguri looked my way with a face of concern. But I hid how I felt and only told her: “I’m just not in the mood.” and kept walking.

Aguri caught up with me but still couldn’t read the mood and talked about Amano again.

“And so, that Amano boy, what do you think he is like ─”

“I’m telling you!”

I said in a heavy tone and cut her off forcefully.

“There couldn’t be any guy who is good enough for Tendo in a school like Otobuki.”

“Hmm? Is that so?”

Aguri thought naively. I sighed and continued:

“It is a miracle that Tendo actually enrolled in this school with such low entrance grades. In fact, people from elite schools and baseball club members from famous schools would confess to her every other day. Why would a girl like that look for a suitor from the bottom feeder guys in Otobuki…?”

“Ah, but I think that you and Tendo-san match rather well, Tasuku.”

When I heard something that didn’t sound like what a girlfriend would say, I turned my head in surprise. But Aguri didn’t seem to mind at all… She had the same dull look as usual, and said calmly with a smile:

“You are handsome with good points too, and is amazing at everything you do. You two would be a perfect match.”

“... That’s right.”

I felt disheartened… This girl is the same as usual, just how do her nerves look like? Where in the world would you find someone naive enough to say her own boyfriend is a good match for other girls… I couldn’t stand her.

Speaking of which, the reason I started dating Aguri was really casual too. When I debuted successfully in the high school social world, I bid farewell to my dark middle school days and was making a lot of friends, she confessed to me on a certain day in winter even though we just met: “Uehara, let’s start dating~~” The fact was, Aguri looked really cute, and with no reason to turn her down, I started dating her out of nowhere. That happened about half a year ago.

… After that, the things we had actually done was just playing together like this after school. And we both had plenty of friends, so we didn’t stick to each other on non school days, and didn’t go on any proper date before. We didn’t create any nice atmosphere, so things like kissing or beyond didn’t even need to be mentioned.

… I was a healthy high school boy too. Even though I was filled with l.u.s.t, but for some reason, probably because Aguri being the one who confessed, I had some strange pride that stopped me from taking the initiative to do anything to her. But Aguri also maintained this pace, so our relations.h.i.+p developed into playmates who could talk about anything without worries, while our boy girl relations.h.i.+p didn’t move forward one bit. In the end, I couldn’t really grasp the difference between Aguri and my other female friends, so I couldn’t be more ‘aggressive’ with her.

… That might be so, but we were still a couple, so saying things like ‘you match Tendo-san well’ is too insensitive.

I glared at Aguri’s eyes.

“So you are determining if we match by our looks?”

“Huh? Yes! You are handsome after all, and Tendo-san is cute just like me!”

“... How stupid.”

I already thought that Aguri was a stupid girl, but I didn’t expect her to be this r.e.t.a.r.ded. She probably confessed to me for my looks anyway, it would be a joke to describe it as love at first sight. Really now, women these days… Wait, I shouldn’t use Aguri as the standard. Mika and Reina might be frivolous, but not this bad… sigh.

It is true that dating a girl like Tendo might be a happy ending...

If I was choosing a partner solely on looks, she would be the top choice. No, it was the same for her personality. At least, if I was dating her, our relations.h.i.+p wouldn’t be as tiring like Aguri and mine was. Even chatting would be a joy, if anyone could monopolize Tendo’s intimate smile and shy expression, be it boy or girl, they would be captivated by her… That was why…

Why did that girl just have to choose Amano…?

Probably because Aguri said I was compatible with Tendo, my fl.u.s.tered emotions came back… Arggh, enough already! I felt like asking myself what was wrong with me! I kept thinking about Amano, Amano!

In a fit of the moment, I grabbed Aguri’s hand crudely.

“Come Aguri, let’s go home!”

“Huh? Eh, but I am not going in that direction, Tasuku…”

After she reminded me, I realized we were at the splitting point where we should be heading home separately. I felt my face heating up a little, but I couldn’t take my words back, so I pulled Aguri to conceal my embarra.s.sment.

“I-It’s fine! Aguri, a-accompany me home some time!”

Even I would feel that a guy like this would be too much of a brute. What the h.e.l.l? It’s fine for a boyfriend to walk her girl home, but forcing his girlfriend to walk home with him doesn’t even happen in the olden patriarchal society, and was just plain r.e.t.a.r.ded.

I made up my mind to let go of her hand and dash back home once Aguri rejects me. However, it just happened that my girlfriend couldn’t read the mood…

“... Uwah. Alright, I will send you home~~!”

Aguri was all smiles for some reason, and accepted my suggestion excitedly… Since she said that, I couldn’t turn her down now.

“Ugh… A-Alright! I will let you walk me home!”

“Yes! Hehehe~~”

Aguri held my hand again with glee… Eh, what’s with this girl… And what’s with me today…?

In the end, it’s all Amano’s fault!

After deflecting all the responsibility, I managed to keep a steady mind… And walked home all lovey dovey with Aguri depressed.

… How unfathomable…

Ugh, enough already, what is this...

The next morning, in cla.s.s 2F.

I had thrown aside all the frustration and doubts from yesterday, but I was still stunned. Not just me, the entire cla.s.s was the same after witnessing ‘that scene’. It would be hard not to, after seeing ‘that scene’.

‘That scene’ ─ refers to…

Amano… dumped Tendo Karen!

Amano rejected Tendo about something, and with tears of vexation in her eyes, she left Cla.s.s F with a flushed face ─ What an unbelievable scene.

After witnessing that scene that could very well herald the end of times, the cla.s.sroom fell into utter chaos.

“Huh? What happened? This is the first time I have seen Tendo-san looked so vexed…”

“Yeah, that’s obviously emotional entanglement!”

Mika and Masaya said in a volume loud enough that Amano might hear them, even Daiki, s.h.i.+youji and Reina were discussing it too. They said that it sounded something like clubs, Tendo’s reaction being abnormal, and even suggested asking Amano.

They asked for my opinion too, but I answered disinterestedly. During all this while, I was staring right at Amano.

Honestly, just what are you thinking…?

Despite what just happened, Amano was still toying with his phone happily. Even though he seemed depressed and regretful momentarily, after he looked at his phone and smiled, he reverted to that ‘Amano who smiles happily even though he was playing with his phone alone’.

… He rejected Tendo’s invitation, so why is he showing such a face…?

I gulped. Instead of frustration, I felt more crept out. However, I got the gist of their relations.

Tendo probably invited Amano to join a certain club yesterday. As she was exceptionally loud today, we could hear this part clearly.

However… Amano turned her down coldly… He actually turned her down.

For Tendo, this was an unexpected turn of events. Her face turned red midway, and even left with an expression that she rarely showed… Even though this wasn’t a matter about love, the cla.s.s would still riot. After chattering noisily for a while, Mika looked towards Amano and muttered:

“This feels… a little annoying…”

“Huh?”

After hearing something unexpected from Mika, I s.h.i.+fted my gaze away from Amano. Mika said a little fl.u.s.teredly: “No, it’s nothing deep…”

After opening unconfidently, she continued:

“I think he is putting on airs… A-After all, he was invited kindly, would normal people reject this?

What surprised me was that the other three agreed with what Mika said. Even though I was annoyed with Amano in the beginning, I couldn’t keep up with their train of thoughts and started defending Amano:

“Well, there is probably some reasons we don’t know?”

This time, Reina doubted my opinion: “Is that so?”

“If there is some compelling reason, Tendo won’t show such a face right?”

“Eh…”

“From what I am seeing, I think she was rejected because of Amano’s state of mind.”

Reina had a keen eye in observing others. That was true. If there was a good reason, Tendo’s expression would show that it was a shame, and she wouldn’t react that way.

s.h.i.+youji who had the aura of being a ‘follower’ in the group sighed in resignation, and mumbled:

“He is the receiving party, yet he still wants to keep up his ego, how unsightly.”

When I heard him say that, I felt a fire surge up within me for some reason. I couldn’t help las.h.i.+ng out at s.h.i.+youji:

“... We are all students from the same school year, so there isn’t any higher or lower status anyway.”

“Huh? Eh, what’s with you, Tasuku?”

I only realized after seeing s.h.i.+youji acting a little shaken up… What lofty things was I talking about? Yes, there were higher and lower status. In fact, I thought that Amano was lower down the totem pole than me right? So what was I saying…

The quick witted and calm Daiki noticed that I was shaken up, and helped to smooth out the situation.

“But I do feel that Amano is looking down on people today.”

It was a brilliant way of putting it. Thanks to that, what I said earlier could be interpreted as me feeling annoyed by ‘Amano looking down on others. The truth was, such a flawed explanation couldn’t smooth out the conversation that well, but s.h.i.+youji and I were both happy to accept it, and the discussion moved on.

I was relieved and rejoined the conversation. We discussed about Tendo and Amano pa.s.sionately up until the bell rang.

I felt guilty about spoiling the mood for a short instance, and worked hard in talking about delusions and nonsensical speculations for laughs…

But whenever there was a pause, my gaze would be drawn to Amano who was playing games happily by himself.

After school, I visited the arcade myself because Aguri couldn’t make it at the last moment. After visiting it one time, I would unconsciously visit it several more times. I was very particular about things, and would focus single mindedly into things I was engrossed in.

I remembered that was the reason why I kept my distance from games when I prepared for my high school entrance exams…

As I walked along the streets, I recalled this. Why had I thought until a moment ago that the reason I strayed away from games was because I was ‘tired of it’ or ‘faded interest’? Even though I really like games, and only managed to pull through by keeping my distance.

From this perspective, it was only natural for my pa.s.sion to be reignited after I started visiting the arcade with Aguri.

After I reached the arcade, I walked around the entire facility. Even though it was not that easy to bring in new machines, the rewards of prize machines do change frequently. My taste was different from Aguri, and I wasn’t interested in plus.h.i.+es. But I found something I kind of liked today and stopped in my tracks.

That’s… a game cartridge?