Ore wo Suki nano wa Omae dake ka yo - Prologue

Prologue – I Don’t Want to See You!

 

“Today for sure… For sure…”

 

Lunch. Holding my lunch in my right hand, I stared at the string of letters, plastered to the door in front of me. ‘Library.’ I cut a cross with my free hand, holding a prayer to God.

 

“Isn’t that person the second-year that everyone’s been talking about? The one that they told to avoid at all costs?…”

“Let’s get out of here quickly! Your lunch will turn bad if you stare at that guy any longer!”

 

Those were the words directed to me by a group of first years that I passed by.

 

Only special existences like me, the one who bore the title ‘Loner’ would receive this kind of treatment. And as always, the title’s effect was going strong.

 

Well, by now I was used to being treated like this. If I were to care about it each time it happened, I’d go bald from stress.

 

“Alright, let’s do this!”

 

Motivation up! I pretended not to hear the first years’ remark and opened the door vigorously.

 

Bam! With a powerful step, I entered the library.

 

I’ll never run away no matter what kind of difficulties await me from beyond the door!

 

With that thought in mind, I turned my gaze toward the reception desk with a great vigor.

 

“Huh? There’s no one here? …That’s strange… Normally, she’d be—”

“Hello.”

“?!”

It didn’t occur to me that she would approach me from behind. Goosebumps started to appear all over my body.

 

Calm down! If I get flustered here, I’ll be playing right into this girl’s hands!

 

“Did that surprise you?”

“…Phew. No, I expected you to do that.”

 

As I told her so, I calmly brushed my hair.

 

My legs were still shaking like a newborn fawn, but I decided to ignore them.

 

“Stop giving me that look… It’s embarrassing…”

 

I turned to look at the girl behind me, sending her a disgusted gaze while doing so, but it seemed like that action backfired on me.

 

The girl optimistically interpreted my gaze filled with disgust as a gaze filled with interest. Her cheeks reddened as she used the book in her hands, Rashomon by Akutagawa Ryunosuke, to hide her face from me. (T/N: No, it’s not a Bungou Stray Dogs reference. The book and the author are both real.)

 

Not only that, she also tried to peek at my face by lowering the book slightly.

 

The action that she performed befit that of the ‘shy librarian’ trope. She executed the act flawlessly, if I may say so.

 

“Haah…”

 

But, instead of being bashful, I let out a big sigh.

 

If the one who did it was a cute girl, I’d definitely feel that way.

 

But this girl wasn’t someone that I would call ‘cute’, surprisingly enough.

 

Flat chest, emotionless face, outdated hairstyle; braided, and she wore thick glasses. Her appearance was straight from the Showa era. (T/N: Showa era was 1926-1989.)

 

Except that it was currently the Heisei era. Seeing her didn’t make my heart skip a beat. My excitement rate was as low as the survival rate of the baby ocean sunfish. (T/N: Heisei era was 1989-2019.)

 

“You, go there. Me, go there.”

 

I ignored her and pointed at two places. Where the girl should go, the reception desk and where I should go, the reading area. Then, I left her behind. By the way, there was a reason why I was heading toward the reading area.

 

For some reason, they allowed us to eat and drink in the library’s reading area.

 

With a wide desk and the sunlight shining through the window, making the place felt pleasant to sit at, it was my favorite healing spot.

 

Just by sitting there, my wounded heart began to heal. I spread out my lunch and started making preparations to eat.

 

“Huh?”

 

At that moment, I noticed that the girl ignored my instruction completely and sat right next to me.

 

“I brought some tea with me. Let’s talk for a bit.”

 

It seemed like she wanted to talk with me.

 

Fluttering in her hand was a bag of black tea leaves.

 

“I’m terribly sorry, but I have to reject your request.”

 

Since I was a kind-hearted gentleman, I would never treat someone rudely, even if they were terrible people.

 

And so, I bowed and offered the girl my apology.

 

If there was a third-party witnessing our exchange, I bet that they would be moved to tears after seeing this wonderful attitude of mine.

 

“I see… Got it.”

 

The girl seemed to understand my kind intention. Without unnecessary actions, she stood up and left the area. Always treat other people kindly, no matter what happens. 

 

Normally, she wouldn’t give up this easily, but after seeing my kindness, she backed off without making any fuss.

 

Alright, now that’s out of the way, time to eat! First let’s eat the sausage! So juicy!

*   *   *

 

“Phew~ That was a good meal!”

 

I finished my lunch and laid my upper body on the desk. 

 

If I were to go back to the classroom at this hour, I’d have to deal with other people there and that would stress me out. I’d rather stay here and take a good nap.

 

Ah, the sun felt so nice… It feels so warm…

 

So warm…

 

“Ow!”

 

The moment I was about to fall asleep, I felt a sharp pain in my back.

 

Reflexively, I stood up. Only to see that the annoying girl had come back, dropping a stack of books on my back.

 

“What’s wrong with you?!”

“It’s payback for being mean to me.”

 

She turned her face away from me while pouting. Her words implied that everything was my fault.

 

“I don’t want to talk with you!”

“I want to talk with you, though.”

“No! I refuse!”

“I refuse your refusal.”

 

Despite my words, she was really determined to talk with me. Before I knew it, there were two mugs of tea sitting right in front of me.

 

One of the mugs had her name written on it, while the other had mine. They were written in such a way that if the mugs were to be put next to each other, it would create a heart-shape.

 

D**n it… So she was just pretending to give up…

 

“Fine, whatever! If you want us to talk then, let’s talk!”

“I’m glad to hear that. Alright, let me get everything prepared.”

 

When I stated my willingness to engage in this farce, the girl sat down next to me while holding her skirt down gracefully.

 

Sipping her tea, she was clearly in a good mood.

 

“So, what do you want to talk about?”

“!”

 

She still had the perfect manners when she was drinking her tea. After hearing my question though, she started to turn fidgety.

 

“…Oi, could it be? …You haven’t thought of a topic beforehand, have you?!”

“I’m the kind of person who moves before she thinks.”

“Too aggressive! You’re a librarian, think before you move!”

“Now you know one more thing about me.”

“And that doesn’t make me happy at all!”

“But it makes me happy, so it’s all good.”

 

There was no change in her tone. Like usual, she sounded indifferent. Though, I could tell that she was in a really good mood.

 

With a thump, the aggressive librarian placed her mug on the table. Then, she moved it toward where my mug was, trying to form a heart pattern.

 

“…Fine, let’s do this instead. Ask me something, I’ll answer you.”

 

I quickly grabbed my mug before the heart pattern was formed. Then, I gulped the content.

 

To my dismay, the tea tasted good.

 

“How have you been lately?”

 

 

“Too vague! Ask a more concrete question!”

 

Then, the girl pulled out a suspicious-looking sepia-colored bottle from her breast pocket.

 

“How’s the bacteria on your body going?” (T/N: This is actually a pun. Her first question was ‘最近どう/saikin dou?’ which means ‘how have you been lately?’ Meanwhile this one is ‘細菌どう/saikin dou?’ The two questions sound the same, but the second one has a different kanji, 細菌, which meant germ. Sorry if it sounds bad because it’s hard to translate this kind of out of the left field pun.)

“Get that away from me! I’ll die! Why is that in your hand?! How much did you prepare for this bit?!” (T/N: The last three sentences are probably a reference to something. I tried to look it up but I didn’t find anything, sadly.)

“I’m doing this because you didn’t answer my question. Even though you told me you will… You liar.”

“…Ah… It’s the same as always. People are still treating me like a freak.”

“Sounds tough.”

“Whose fault do you think it is?”

“…That might be so, but…”

 

She slumped her shoulders after hearing my words. I had zero sympathy for her, though.

 

I was only in this situation because of the thing that she did to me.

 

That depressed, teary-eyed look she gave me wouldn’t make me forgive her.

 

“If you truly are sorry, then try to please me.”

 

I gave her a sideway glance and a chance. She was a perspective one, so she would understand my intention if I did this much.

 

And she didn’t fail my expectations. Her eyes quickly regained their liveliness.

 

“Got it.”

“Really?”

 

Now we’re talking!

 

“…This feels… A little embarrassing…”

 

Her cheeks were dyed in the shade of red as she stood up.

 

Both of her eyes were locked at me as she gradually raised one of her legs and offered her shoe to my face.

 

As expected of her 20cm under the knee skirt. I couldn’t see her underwear from my position.

 

Wait, what the hell was she doing?!

 

“Go ahead, lick it. It’s your favorite food.”

“I won’t lick it! What are you on about?! Your shoe isn’t my favorite food!”

“! N-No way… You’re lying…”

 

The girl’s poor attempt at feigning surprise depleted the rest of my patience.

 

“You did that on purpose, did you?! You rotten, four-eyed, braided washboard!”

“Oh my, I was just trying to imitate your mean attitude to me. Why are you lashing out at me like that?”

“What you were doing was a hundred times worse than whatever I did to you!”

 

…If it wasn’t obvious already, I hated this girl.

 

She had a plain, outdated look. That expressionless face of hers made it hard for me to guess what she was thinking about.

 

The only thing that came out of her mouth was the words of abuse that she directed at me.

 

She was horrible. If possible, I didn’t want anything to do with her. In the first place, I didn’t even want to frequent the library.

 

But, my circumstances forced me to.

 

If one were to hear the reason, I bet that they’d be surprised. They’d be able to understand my feelings afterwards, though.

 

It was related to the worst and most malicious thing this girl ever did to me…

 

TL: Iyo

ED: Iyo

 

 

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