Ore wo Suki nano wa Omae dake ka yo - Chapter 1 Part 1

Chapter 1 – I’m Really Just an Ordinary Guy That You Can Find Anywhere

 

 

My name is Kisaragi Amatsuyu, a.k.a Joro.

 

Take the ‘tsuki’ out of my name and it became ‘Joro,’ hence why they called me Joro. It was pretty simple. (T/N: 如月雨露/Kisaragi Amatsuyu. Take 雨/Tsuki out it becomes 如月露/Joro, it means watering can. Explanation regarding the spelling change is a little long, but just know that there are different ways to read kanjis and that’s the basis for all the characters’ nicknames in this series.)

 

My appearance was just average. So was my grade and athletic capability.

 

I was just your average boy in his second year of high school.

 

I didn’t join any clubs, but I have been the secretary of the student council since October last year.

 

When I was a first year, the previous vice president recommended me for the position. That was why even though I never ran for the council, they gave me the position anyway.

 

“Miscellaneous works like this suit you.” Or so they said.

 

Honestly, it felt like they were just trying to dump all the hard work onto me…

 

Well, that was what it felt like to me.

 

My daily life consisted of me going to school every day, attending classes and doing council work after school.

 

On my days off, if I had no plans, I’d spend the whole day at home absent-mindedly.

 

Since today wasn’t a day off though, I was currently at school.

 

It was currently spring, so I didn’t need to wear the heavy winter coat anymore. It felt great.

 

“Good morning, Joro!”

“O-Ouch! A-Ahaha, good morning, Himawari…”

“Hehehe, you’re the same as always, Joro!”

 

Of course… My personality wouldn’t change overnight…

 

The girl who hit me in the back while smiling innocently was Hinata Aoi a.k.a Himawari. 

 

If one were to switch the kanji in her name around, they’d get ‘Himawari.’ Like mine, the reason behind her nickname was simple. (T/N: 日向葵/Hinata Aoi. Swap the first two kanjis and you’ll get 向日葵/Himawari or Sunflower.)

 

Himawari was my childhood friend and a classmate.

 

She was the ace of the tennis club, a really athletic girl.

 

Contrary to that, though, her grade was below average, though it wasn’t bad enough that she’d have to worry about being held back for a year.

 

She had shoulder-length hair that was styled in a bob-cut. Her eyes reminded me of a puppy’s, cute. Her chest wasn’t big, but it wasn’t small either. I’d say her size was around B-cup.

 

Despite that, her figure was quite something.

 

Since she was doing sports, she had a thin waistline, that alone emphasized the rest of the curves in her body.

 

As for her personality, well, she was a little silly, but she was a cheerful girl. 

 

A complete opposite to my gloomy personality. That was why she was so popular among the whole student body.

 

Of course, she was also a target of admiration among the boys.

 

According to the rumors that I heard, someone would confess to her at least once a month.

 

I asked her one time, “Why aren’t you dating anyone right now?” She answered me by saying, “I don’t want to tell you~” while blushing. I wasn’t actually interested, so I just accepted her answer as it was and moved on.

 

“The weather is great today, Joro! Spring is already here, huh?~”

“Yes, it’s spring already.”

“Jeez, put some spirit into it, Joro!”

“It’s still early in the morning… That’s a tall order for me…”

“You’re so boring! Well, since you’re Joro, I’ll give you a pass!”

 

We had known each other for a while already, but I never got tired of her various expressions. She could change it rapidly with such ease.

 

I felt kinda envious of that as I couldn’t do it as easily as she did.

 

“Alright, let’s race to school again today! C’mon, let’s go!”

“Eh… Again?”

 

Himawari grabbed my hand and pulled it.

 

Ouch! I-It actually hurts… Despite her appearance, this girl was pretty strong. I hope that she held back a little.

 

“Of course! Running with you this early in the morning is fun! Let’s go!”

 

Can’t relate with that…

 

Well, if I were to look at the brighter side, no other boys had the privilege to run hand in hand with her every morning like this.

 

With that in mind, I suddenly thought that running this early in the morning wasn’t that bad.

 

…That thought didn’t last for more than a minute though.

 

*   *   *

 

“Good morning, everyone!”

 

As soon as she entered the classroom, she greeted everyone with a loud voice.

 

“S-So tired…”

 

Meanwhile I had no lenience to do the same.

 

With my hands on my knees, I tried to regulate my breathing.

 

Looking at the clock, it was currently 8.10, there was still more than half an hour before the homeroom started.

 

What the hell am I doing here this early in the morning?

“…Phew… I need to rest…”

 

With wobbly steps, I went to my seat and took a deep breath.

 

Meanwhile Himawari was chatting with our classmates.

 

I decided to leave her alone and take a short rest.

 

“Joro, heya~”

“Ah, morning, Sun-chan…”

 

A cheerful voice greeted me from behind. I replied to that voice with my gloomy, fatigued-sounding voice.

 

That person who greeted me with a warm and cheerful smile was Oga Taiyou a.k.a Sun-chan.

 

We called him Sun-chan because of the ‘Taiyo’ in his name. (T/N: 大賀太陽/Oga Taiyou. The 太陽/Taiyo in his name literally means sun.)

 

He was really good at sports, but his grades were below average. He had a crew cut because he was the ace of the baseball club. The haircut suited him.

 

He had a cheerful and energetic personality, the kind of person who’d always give it his all.

 

However, he had a competitive personality. Whenever there was a competition, he’d get completely fired up.

 

His 180 something cm tall, muscular body actually described his personality quite well.

 

Our personalities were the complete opposite, but strangely enough, we got along quite well.

 

“You look exhausted as usual, huh?”

“I mean… Himawari knew that I’m not good at running, yet she…”

“Don’t worry about it! Himawari doesn’t mind your slow feet!”

 

That wasn’t what I was going to say, though…

 

“Right, Joro! If you want to get yourself in shape, do a morning workout with me!”

 

Sun-chan proceeded to show off his biceps. Gotta say, they looked pretty cool.

 

“Ah! Sounds fun! I’ll join you!”

“Ah! Himawari, heya!”

“Good morning, Sun-chan! Good morning, Joro!”

 

Before I knew it, Himawari joined our conversation.

 

Also, why was she greeting me again? She had already done it earlier…

 

“You guys are as close as always! You two came to school together, didn’t you?”

 

 With a smile, Sun-chan looked at us.

 

“Ding dong! Correct! We came to school together today!”

 

Himawari said, puffing her chest.

 

Ah… Thanks to her saying those words out loud, everyone was staring at us.

 

‘They’re doing their usual routine.’ Their cold gazes seemed to be saying those words to me. Well, whatever.

 

“So, when will you guys start dating already?”

 

Sun-chan didn’t even try to be subtle.

 

Normally, he’d just say something like. ‘The atmosphere is getting hot today!’ or ‘As expected of childhood friends!’

 

By the way, there was nothing going on between me and Himawari.

 

People thought that childhood friends would end up being together, but that wasn’t always the case.

 

I only thought of Himawari as a good friend and I knew that she thought of me the same way.

 

“W-Wait, Sun-chan, stop it!”

 

Wait, what? Himawari? Why are you blushing?!

 

 

Hmm… Normally, she’d just brush his joke off and move on, but she somehow had a different reaction today…

 

“Haha! No need to be flustered, Himawari! If it’s you, Joro will fall in love with you in no time!”

 

With a thumb up and a dashing grin, Sun-chan said those words to her.

 

Perhaps his words turned a strange switch on her, Himawari started to act strangely.

 

“Ah… U-Um… Umm…”

 

Like a child that was being scolded, her eyes started to tear up.

 

She started to look alternatively between me and Sun-chan.

 

Seeing her acting like this, Sun-chan and I tilted our heads in confusion.

 

As expected of my best friend, we had the exact same reaction… Huh? Himawari was turning her body around for some reason.

 

“~!”

“Ah, oi, Himawari!”

 

She immediately dashed away.

 

Sun-chan tried to stop her but he failed to do so.

 

In no time at all, she left the classroom and went away somewhere.

 

…No good. Himawari, why did you have to do that?

 

Thanks to her antics, Sun-chan and I became the main focus of our classmates’ gazes.

 

What should I do?

 

“Oops… I messed up, didn’t I?”
“Yes, yes you did.”

 

Sun-chan looked at me with an awkward look. I replied to his words with a wry smile.

 

Still, I didn’t understand. What was wrong with Himawari?

 

She could just brush it off like usual, but instead, she ran off with a bright red face.

 

Well she must have her own reason.

 

The Himawari that I know wouldn’t do something for no reason, after all.

 

When she came back staggering into the class, Sun-chan greeted her while bowing in apology. In response, she bowed her head as well.

 

Were those guys trying to imitate a shishi-odoshi or what? (T/N: Shishi-odoshi is a device the Japanese used to help with irrigation as well as scaring animals with its sound. Nowadays people use it for decoration purposes. If you’ve ever went to a traditional Japanese inn, it’s the bamboo device that they put in the fountain or waterways.)

 

*   *   *

 

“Alright, I’m gonna get my blood pumping again today! Here I come, ground!”

“Let’s go! Club activities, here I go!”

 

The moment the last class ended, both Sun-chan and Himawari ran off the classroom.

 

As expected of the ace of the tennis and baseball club. They were built different.

 

No, that was just how they usually acted. Ever since they joined their clubs, they had been more fired up than usual.

 

Well, whatever. I wasn’t trying to follow in their footsteps, but I, too, went out of the classroom and immediately headed toward the student council room.

 

With my bag, lightly bouncing on my shoulder, my legs brought me to my destination.

 

I said that I wasn’t trying to follow in those two’s footsteps, but actually, I was also motivated for after school. Alright, today too, I’ll do my best as the secretary of the student council!

 

*   *   *

 

When I reached my destination, the student council room, I knocked on the door.

 

“Come in.”

 

Knocking on the door and only opening it after the person inside let us in, was kind of a formality among the council members.

 

As I entered the room after hearing the gentle voice coming from behind the door, a pretty girl smiled at me and welcomed me.

 

“Hello, Joro-kun. You came early again today.”

“Our homeroom ended early.”

 

Man, she was as pretty as always.

 

To be able to see and talk to her everyday was the best part of being a member of the student council.

 

And that was just the start of it.

 

“But still, you’re always the first one to come to the council room. I always appreciate you, you know? You’re precious to me.”

 

The girl who said those kind words to me was Akino Sakura a.k.a Cosmos.

 

If you take a kanji from her name, you got Cosmos. (T/N: 秋野桜/Akino Sakura. Take the 野/No, you’ll get 秋桜/Cosmos. As in the flower, not the universe.)

 

She was a third year student, a senpai of mine.

 

To describe her appearance with a few words, she was pretty. Her waist-length hair looked so pleasing to the eyes.

 

In addition to her outstanding appearance, she was also the student council president.

 

Since that was the case, her grades were outstanding. The first place on her year.

 

You asked me what about her athletic capability? It was as amazing as her grades. She was simply good at everything, an all-rounder.

 

Her figure was also amazing. Unlike Himawari, she got some assets.

 

According to the information I got from a reliable source, they were at least D-cup.

 

Not only that, she had an amiable personality. Her eyes looked cold, but as a person, she was really warm and well-liked by everyone.

 

She was one of the most popular girls in our school, on par with Himawari.

 

If Himawari was popular because of her cuteness, she was popular because of her beauty.

 

Everyone treated her like an unreachable flower.

 

Because of this, most people would only admire her from afar. According to the information I gained from a reliable source, she had not received many confessions as one might think.

 

Despite that, I believed that she received more confessions than an ordinary person could ever receive in their lives…

 

But, for some reason, she was still single.

 

According to the information I gained from a reliable source, she had someone in mind already.

 

As for who the person was, I didn’t know. One thing that I knew was that I was jealous of him. I hope the reliable source could feed me with new information about him.

 

“The others haven’t arrived yet, huh?”

“Yes. Well, homeroom hasn’t finished yet for most classes.”

“I don’t know… Yamada is in the same class as me, you know?…”

 

By the way, Yamada was the treasurer.

 

He wasn’t that important, so I’ll keep his introduction short.

 

Yamada was a mob character.

 

“Well, whatever, let’s just wait for them.”

“Hahaha. Your my pace attitude is something that I like from you, Joro-kun.” (T/N: My pace is a slang in Japanese for a person who goes at their own pace regardless of the situation.)

“Thank you very much.”

 

When I heard the word ‘like’ coming out from her mouth, my heart started beating faster.

 

Honestly, I wished that she could watch what she said. That kind of word coming out from the mouth of a beautiful person like her was quite dangerous for my heart.

 

If someone else were here… Wait, we were the only ones here right now…

 

Realizing that fact made me feel a little excited…

 

“Ah, right, Joro-kun, can I ask you for a favor?”

“Yes! What ish it?”

“Hm?”

 

Oh no! I bit my tongue by mistake! That was embarrassing…

 

“A-Anyway, what do you want me to do?”

“A-Ah, right…”

 

Somehow, I managed to cover up my mistake.

 

I hope that she won’t think of me as a weirdo or anything…

 

“I need a book from the library, can you get it for me? The Hundred Flowers festival is coming up in May, so I need some references from the past festival for that. There should be enough time for you to get the book and bring it here. So, can you do it for me?” 

“Y-Yes! With pleasure!”

“Yes, thank you.”

 

Her warm voice, her gentle smile… Oh, my heart…

 

Wait, no! I need to calm down!

I understand what they meant by getting shot through the heart now.

 

I took the note that the Prez gave me with care before opening the door and ran straight to the library,

 

Well, by ‘ran’ I didn’t mean actually running since we weren’t allowed to run in the hallway. I called it a speedy walk!

 

Swinging my hands furiously, I hurriedly went to the library,

 

*   *   *

 

“Phew…”

 

I took a deep breath. My heart that was racing wildly had calmed down the moment I arrived in front of the library. 

 

It was the library, after all…

 

If possible, I really didn’t want to come here…

 

It wasn’t like our school’s library was special or anything.

 

Actually, the fact that they let us eat and drink in the reading area made it kinda special, but aside from that, it was a normal library you could find anywhere. I had no problem with the library itself, but with the person inside.

 

After swallowing my saliva, I opened the door to the library.

 

Peeking through the opened door, I took a peek at the reception desk.

 

I hope she isn’t here today!

 

“Oh, my? Joro-kun?”

 

There she was! I knew it! She was the reason why I didn’t want to come here!

The girl who earned my disgust was Sanshokuin Sumireko a.k.a Pansy.

 

If you remove a few kanjis in her name, you’ll get Pansy. (T/N: 三色院菫子/Sanshokuin Sumireko. Remove the 院/in and the 子/ko, you’ll get 三色菫 which means Pansy. All three girls’ nicknames are based on flowers. Joro is the watering can and Sun-chan is the sun.)

 

From the trend so far, with Himawari and Cosmos, you’d think that she was as attractive as they were, but let me set this straight.

 

There was nothing attractive about her!

 

Let me convince you by providing some explanation.

 

She was a second year student like me, but she went to a different class.

 

Despite having a fancy name, she grew up in an ordinary household. In other words,her name was a clickbait.

 

Also, she wore thick glasses and her hair was braided.

 

Like, seriously? In this day and age? Even children knew how lame she looked.

 

There were plenty of different hairstyles she could go for. Instead of braiding her hair, she could just roll it.

 

Not only that, her face was just okay and her chest was flat.

 

Her grades… To my dismay, like her appearance suggested, she was the top ranker.

 

In particular, her grades in modern Japanese, classic Japanese and Chinese were absurdly high.

 

Ever since she attended this school, no one was able to top her score on aforementioned subjects.

 

To put it simply, she was the smartest student in our year. As expected of the girl wearing thick glasses and braided hair, she really was something else.

 

Her personality, though, to put it bluntly, was awful.

 

She always acted indifferent, so it was hard to tell what she was thinking. Not to mention that she had a really foul mouth.

 

And for some reason, I was the only person she’d abuse with her words.

 

Only me and no one else!

 

Every time she saw my face, she’d always try to harass me and hurl violent words at me.

 

I wish she knew that it was because of her rotten personality that everyone tried to avoid her.

 

…So, have I made myself clear?

 

I hated this girl with all my being.

 

“H-Heya…”

 

Despite that, I still managed to let out a smile and greeted her.

 

Even though I hated her, there was no need for me to needlessly antagonize her. I was a pacifist, after all.

 

“What are you coming to die for?” (T/N: This is actually a pun. She asked 何を死に来たの？/nani wo shi ni kita no? Which normally means, why did you come here? Except that she used 死/shi/death instead of し/shi. It’s hard to convert it to English, so I’ll leave it at this instead.)

 

Huh? What?

 

What was it with the sudden malice?

 

N-No, that was probably just my imagination.

 

It wasn’t like I could snap at her even if it was true. She’d beat me with her words and that would be counterproductive.

 

I knew that she had been reading various books and referenced those books to take jabs at me. Her words hit where it hurts too.

 

The venomous words she’d been spewing at me included, but not limited to; small fry, shortie, gloomy guy.

 

And the worst part about it was that she enjoyed watching me writhe after hearing those words.

 

I had a student council meeting coming up, so if possible I didn’t want to deal with her antics.

 

But, she was the librarian. It was impossible for me to ignore her.

 

She wasn’t the only member of the library committee, but ever since she became a member, she had been doing most of the committee’s jobs by herself.

 

As you could see from the way she dressed, she was a bookworm. To support her hobby, buying whatever book that she wanted, she made her way to become the head librarian and succeeded in doing so.

 

This was the information that I got from her when I asked her out of curiosity. I had to pay the price for asking though, a tremendous amount of emotional damage.

 

That was the moment when I found out why the phrase ‘curiosity kills the cat’ existed.

 

…In any case, that was a bad memory. I should seal it deeply within my heart and never let it resurface ever again.

 

“Uh, I’m looking for some documents about the past Hyakka festival. Do you know where I could find it?”

“I see. A ghost, huh? There’s one right in front of me.” (T/N: 資料/Documents and 死霊/ghost sounds the same, ‘Shiryo’.)

 

See?! Did you hear that?! What did I tell you? She was horrible!

 

I didn’t even do anything to her! I just walked in, asked her a question and she did this to me!

 

For the record, I’ve never done anything to her in the past either.

 

Hell, I’ve never even talked to her. She was the one who suddenly barged into my life last year. Ever since then, she had been treating me like this for no reason.

 

I got too worked up, I need to calm down… I noticed my temple was twitching…

 

For the time being, I should just act like normal so that I can get away from here quickly.

 

“As usual, your face looks like a rotten tangerine.”

 

…No, acting like normal wouldn’t work.

 

Wait, if we were to continue to do this, this conversation would never end!

 

Whatever, I’ll leave her alone and find the documents myself.

 

I swear, if I keep talking to her, my stomach will explode.

 

“W-Well, I-I’m in a hurry, so, I’ll look for them myself, see you!”

 

I let out a non-hostile smile and left the place immediately to start to look for the documents I needed.

 

Yes, I was running away from her.

 

Anyway… Where were they, I wonder?…

 

I looked all over the bookshelf, but I couldn’t find the documents. Has someone taken it already?

 

“Joro?”

“Gyaah!”

 

When did she get behind me?!

 

Could it be that this was her true identity?! A ghost who wanted to haunt and curse me to death?!

 

“I know that you want to be with me all the time, but please don’t turn me into a ghost in your imagination. It’s unpleasant.”

 

Sure, but did you just respond to my inner monologue?! How?!

 

Haah… Why must I suffer through this? Why couldn’t she just look for another person to bully?!

 

I’ve asked around, I was the only one who received this kind of treatment from her! This was unfair!

 

Wait, this wasn’t the time to be complaining!

If I don’t reply to her quickly, my situation will get worse!

 

“W-What is it?”

 

I endured my anger, bent my neck back and somehow made a smile. Good job, me! Keep this up!

“The documents you’re looking for aren’t here anymore.”

“What? What did you just say?”

“They’re in my bag. I hid it.”

“??”

 

Pansy let out a snicker. I was speechless.

 

What did she just say?

 

“While you’re making a fool out of yourself, looking for them in the wrong places, I borrowed them under my name and placed it in my bag.”

 

But why?!

 

“Um, Sanshokuin-san?…”

“Just call me Sumireko.”

“Alright, Sumireko-san…”

“What is it? I suddenly felt like writing a death poem, so I’ll be going to the infirmary before I actually die after hearing my name come out of your mouth.” (T/N: Death poem is a poem that someone would come up with when faced with imminent death.)

 

You were the one who made me call your name!

 

“W-Wait! Sumi– I mean, Sanshokuin-san!”

 

As she hurriedly tried to leave, I stopped her in panic.

 

“What is it, Joro-kun?”

 

Looking somewhat amused, she turned around to face me.

 

The moment I saw that expression, I had a terrible premonition.

 

“U-Um, can I borrow those documents for today?”

“Sure.”

 

Ah, she let me borrow it quite easily. If I knew it, I shoulda asked from the beginning. What a fool I was—

 

“Only if you turn around three times and say ‘Battled*me! Shoot the ball into your opponent’s goal! Super exciting!’ After you do that, I’ll let you borrow them.” (T/N: It’s a reference to the Japanese Battledome commercial. It’s a meme. If you don’t know what Battledome is, well, must be nice to be young.)

 

Never mind, I was a fool for believing her words. I was just digging my own grave even deeper. Also, how the hell did she know about such an old commercial?!

 

“So, what will you do? I don’t really care if you were to do it or not.”

 

I took a glance at my watch and realized that this farce had been going on for quite a while.

 

Meanwhile, Pansy was staring at me with eyes void of emotion.

 

From the look of it, she wouldn’t let me borrow those documents if I didn’t do what she said.

 

“…”

 

I turned around in silence.

 

“One!”

 

And then,

 

“Battled*me! Shoot the ball into your opponent’s goal! Super exciting!”

“Yes, good job.”

 

At least all this humiliation was worth it. Pansy took some documents out of her bag and handed them to me.

 

“T-Thank you…”

“You’re welcome. Your performance satisfied me.”

 

After saying that, Pansy turned around and went back to the reception desk.

 

If I could, I’d let my anger consume me and snap at her, but I held myself back.

 

There was no way that I could beat her even if I did that. Besides, knowing when to retreat was also a victory.

 

Anyway, let’s get out of here first.

 

TL: Iyo

ED: Iyo

 

 

Support me on Ko-fi!