Ore wo Suki nano wa Omae dake ka yo - Chapter 3 Part 1
Chapter 3 – And I Thought Everything is Going Well…
“Good morning, Joro!”
“Ow!”
Monday morning, the first day of the week. As I walked to school, I heard a lively voice, followed by a sharp pain on my back.
“Joro, you should answer my greeting with a ‘Good morning!’ not ‘Ow!’”
A short while after I received the impact, Himawari appeared, peeking into my face.
“Then, say your greeting like a normal person instead of slapping me in the back like that!”
“This is my normal greeting!”
Annoyed, I gave out my complaints at her, but she just brushed it off.
While I was glad that we made up and all, I didn’t like that we had to go back to this particular morning routine. I really should find a way so she could stop on doing this…
“Ehehe! I know it, it just feels right to walk to school with you!”
Never mind, if that meant losing the soft feeling that I felt as she clung to my arm, it wouldn’t be worth it.
“Sun-chan and I didn’t get any red marks in the midterms! Thanks for your help!”
Himawari proudly said as she walked beside me.
I guess that was why she was in an especially good mood today. The sense of freedom and accomplishment after going through the midterms.
“Don’t sweat it. You did your best.”
It was worth all the effort they put into studying. Both Sun-chan and Himawari managed to get passing marks. But, what was especially amazing was Cosmos’ predictions.
Her predictions were so accurate that I almost suspected that she stole the actual exam questions instead of making a prediction. Thanks to that, Sun-chan and Himawari weren’t the only ones benefiting from the study sessions.
My average grade was ten points higher than usual. Meanwhile, Pansy’s grade was…
“Still, Pansy-chan is amazing! She got the highest rank in our grade!”
Exactly. I guess even the devil herself could be useful if one were to keep everything in moderation when consulting with her.
“By the way, Joro! What is our class going to do for the Hyakka Festival?”
“They want to showcase the history of game consoles in Japan or something like that.”
The Hyakka Festival was our school’s traditional festival. It was held in May and it wasn’t considered as our school’s cultural festival.
Our school’s cultural festival was the Ryoran Festival, which was held in September.
So, what exactly was the Hyakka Festival? To put it simply, it was an exhibit made by the students.
Each class would do research about certain subjects and they’d exhibit the result of that research. The festival was also known as ‘Pedia-sensei’s Festival’ among the students. (T/N: Pedia as in Wikipedia.)
“I see. Consoles as in NES or something similar?” (T/N: Nintendo Entertainment System, if you don’t know, most of the well-known game series like Super Mario or The Legend of Zelda started from this console.)
“No, consoles as in the TV Tennis.” (T/N: TV Tennis Electrotennis, it’s the very first console ever released in Japan. NES was released in 1983, but TV Tennis was released in 1975, so there was almost a decade gap between the two.)
Seriously, the NES was a third generation console, it was old, but not that old, Himawari.
Well, it couldn’t be helped then, I’d give her a lecture about the history of consoles.
“You see, in Japan, everything started with Epo–” (T/N: Epoch, Co. The company who made the TV Tennis.)
“Well, whatever! As long as everyone is doing everything together, it’ll all be fun!”
This girl! I was just about to tell her the beauty and wonder of the TV Tennis and Cassette Vision, but she already lost interest before I could even start! She really hated hearing about something that she had no interest in, huh? (T/N: If TV Tennis is the first generation console and NES is the third, then Cassette Vision is the second. It’s the first console that implements a ROM-based cartridge as a media to play games.)
“Alright, Joro! Let’s race all the way to school!”
Look at her, completely ignoring something that she had no interest in, yet she forced me to do something I had no interest in. Unacceptable. A hug in my arm didn’t excuse this kind of behavior.
“Okay, good luck with that.”
So, I pulled my arm out of her embrace.
“Eh? But why?! We used to do this together…”
She looked up at me with puppy eyes. That was a good attempt, but I wouldn’t be tempted by that anymore.
“You know I’m not the most athletic guy around, right? I don’t want to do something like that this early in the morning. So, if you want to do it, then do it alone.”
Finally… Finally, I was able to say those words to her!
“Eh?! No way! Running with you is the thing that I do in the morning! It’s in the rules!”
“Rules existed to benefit everyone involved, not to benefit a specific individual.”
“Boo!”
Why was she booing me? I was right!
“Ei!”
She tried to grab my arm again, but I dodged her this time.
What a fool. I had already discerned her behavioral pattern.
“Uu…!”
Sure, that pout of hers was cute, but that wasn’t enough to win me over.
Hm? She came closer to me, slowly, but steadily. I bet you a hundred that she’d try to grab my arm again.
“Meanie!”
So I raised both my hands up high. Her reflex might be outstanding, but she wouldn’t beat me in this game with our height difference. This 155cm gremlin could never beat my 170cm majesty.
“What about this? If you can grab my arm, I’ll run with you.”
“It’s on! I’ll grab your arm for sure!”
Oi, what was that look? Why was she treating this like a new amusement park attraction?
She could make a cute face all she wanted, but she could never shrink me to her height.
“Yah! Here!”
Huh?! She jumped right into me, our bodies were practically touching each other now.
Oh no… I could smell her scent… The refreshing smell of citrus…
“Yaah! Yaay! I grabbed your arm! Hehehe!”
One moment of carelessness gave birth to a fatal mistake. Himawari’s scent distracted me and I inadvertently lowered my hands.
This was the horror a natural b*tch could bring… I’ll do my best to last longer tomorrow.
“Alright, let’s go! Let’s dash!”
“…Fine.”
In the end, even after I showed her my true self, our morning routine didn’t change.
Well, whatever.
* * *
“Good morning, boys!”
Himawari’s voice echoed through the classroom as she entered.
“S-So tired…”
Meanwhile, I was stoned. I had to drag my limp legs to where my desk was. When I arrived, I immediately slumped my body on the desk. Seriously, this gotta be the worst morning I have ever experienced in my life… Need… Rest…
“…Hahaha…”
Oh, whoops, I accidentally let out a laugh that made me sound like a target of assassination.
I really shouldn’t behave this way, but it was hard to go against my true nature.
Because, you know, I’ve been doing well these days, haven’t I?
I made up with Himawari, Sun-chan and Cosmos.
Even after we showed our true nature to each other, we stayed as friends. If anything, it only strengthened our bonds.
I worked really hard for this, you know? I was amazing, wasn’t I? This was what I call a wonderful make up!
If this kept up, maybe Himawari and Cosmos would eventually develop a special feeling for me and my wonderful school life would begin by then! Man, I couldn’t wait to see what the future holds!
The dense, innocent boy trope was already out of season! Nowadays, people wanted to see—
“Heya, Joro, can I talk to you for a second?”
“Hm? What’s up, Asunaro?”
As I started to get carried away, Asunaro suddenly popped out from my side.
I didn’t know why, but she had a big smile on her face.
“This is a little important, so, can you come with me for a second?”
“Can’t you just talk to me here?”
“No. Here’s no good!”
She didn’t want to talk here? Did I do something to her? No, I didn’t remember doing anything…
But, off the chance that I did something and I was unaware of it…
“Alright, after you, Asunaro.”
“Okay! Thank you!”
Whatever. It would be easier to get the answer I wanted from the person herself than guessing it on my own.
And so, I got up from my seat and left the classroom with Asunaro.
* * *
“No one can overhear our talk here!”
“I guess.”
We went to the rooftop together. When we arrived, Asunaro let out an excited voice.
Right, I hadn’t been here since the time when I placed a letter of challenge inside Sun-chan’s shoebox.
I’ve grown up since then.
“So, what’s up?”
Anyway, let’s stop being nostalgic for a second.
For now, I had to find out what Asunaro was up to. What exactly was it that made her not want to talk in class?
“Ahahaha! Y-You see…”
Hm? Was something wrong? Her voice cracked…
When I took a close look at her, I could see her cheeks were red and she was desperately trying to avoid eye contact with me.
“Y-You see…”
Could it be, she— No, no, no! There was no way that was the case!
“A-Actually… I-I…”
Was this the advent of a new heroine?! No way! What kind of wish fulfillment romcom was this series exactly?! How could they introduce another heroine at this point?!
“I-I’m interested in you, Joro!”
Eh? Really? Was she for real?! My life finally turned into a proper romcom?!
I wasn’t hearing things, right? She really said that she was interested in me, right?!
And since she went out of her way to bring me here, that meant she was interested in me in that way, right?! What should I do?!
Asunaro might be a cute girl and I knew that she was a good girl. But, we didn’t know each other that well yet! But, if I were to reject her here… I wouldn’t get another chance like this!
“W-Why don’t we move over there? W-We can’t stand around forever, right?”
Sweating profusely, probably out of embarrassment, Asunaro pointed at a certain area on the rooftop. So, I followed her and sat down next to her— Wait a minute…
Just the other day, I came here with Himawari to make up with Sun-chan.
Back then, it wasn’t here. I looked around to check back then, but there wasn’t even a trace of it being here!
And yet… And yet… Why was it here?! Why was the bench here?! (T/N: Cue our real protagonist.)
“Hawawa…”
Calm down! This wasn’t the time to make a panicked voice similar to a certain military strategist’s! (T/N: Sangokushi manga reference. ‘Hawawa’ seems to be Zhuge Liang’s iconic line in that manga. Feel free to correct me since I haven’t read the manga, though I don’t know if the translator left the line untranslated or not if you read it in English. It also seems to be a meme, but I don’t want to dig through Nico Nico Douga to understand the context.)
Besides, everything hadn’t been decided yet!
“U-Um… Do you mind sitting next to me first?”
NOOOO! DON’T USE THAT LINE ON ME AGAIN!!
“S-Sure…”
I gulped and followed her instruction to sit down on her left— No, she made a space for me on her right side and beckoned me to sit there.
However, even after that, Asunaro didn’t continue her words.
Stop! Don’t play around with your hair like that!
“Um… Uu…”
Stop acting so shy! Act like your usual self, Asunaro!
“I-In truth… I’ve always been interested in you, Joro…”
…No, wait. In all the previous cases, when I was in this situation, everyone didn’t give out any names to me.
But this time, Asunaro specifically named me. That meant…
I still had a chance? Was this a blessing from God above?
“When I think about you, Joro, my chest suddenly feels tight. Just being able to see you every day makes me so happy. I know that this might sound selfish of me, but I always forced myself to make an excuse to talk with you…”
See?! She specifically named me!
You guys remember the current standing for this kind of event? Two for Sun-chan, one for me and one for the demon king!
With this one, I could finally catch up to Sun-chan!
I had a good feeling about this! Guess I could open myself to negotiate with God and the world itself!
“Joro…”
Asunaro’s face came closer. Slowly, but surely.
She had the look of a maiden in love. Well, it couldn’t be helped, right~?
As our faces got close enough to the point that we could feel each other’s breath, she closed her eyes tightly/
Joro! Showtime!
“You scum. The enemy of all women on earth!”
Pardon?
“W-What…?”
“You’re three-timing all those girls, aren’t you, Joro?”
“T-Three-timing?! Me?! With who?!”
“…Heh. It’s no use trying to play dumb with me.”
No, no, playing dumb? Girl, I didn’t even know what in the hell were you talking about.
“It all started last year, when the baseball club went to the finals at the regionals!”
We went back there again?! How the hell did that event lead to me trying to three-time girls?!
“At that time, when everyone was cheering for the baseball team, you were staring intently at a girl with a big chest! That was suspicious!”
That one was correct. I was looking at the demon king’s chest, but I didn’t know it was her!
I still remembered it because I moved to a seat where I could get a better view, but when I got there, a foul ball flew straight to my head. Anyway, I got why she’d thought my action back then was suspicious, but I still couldn’t see the correlation between it and her accusation.
“That’s why, I thought to myself! Since this person with lecherous eyes loves cute girls so much to the point that he’d change his seat for that, maybe he’s the kind of person who’d throw away all his morals to fulfill his desires!”
That was what I’d call an active imagination! How the f**k did she manage to come to that conclusion?!
I loved cute girls though, she was right about that part.
“W-Wait a second, but that has nothing to do with me three-timing or whatnot!”
“I knew you’d say that, Joro, so place your hand on your chest and listen to the voice of your heart.”
“What’s there to listen to?! Also, I’ve never even been in a relationship before, how could I three-time someone that didn’t exist?!”
“Haah… I wish you’d just admit that you’re guilty, it’ll make everything easier for both of us… Well, it can’t be helped then.”
Asunaro let out a sigh of dismay. I swear, I was this close to slapping her…
“Since you insisted, I’ll spell it out for you! You’ve been hanging around with Himawari, Sanshokuin-san and the President, haven’t you? You’re taking advantage of their pure, innocent hearts!”
I had a feeling that she’d mention those three and that premonition came true! But I didn’t date any of them!
“There’s no way that’s the case! If anything I’m the victim when it comes to my relationship with Pansy!”
“I can’t believe you’re still blaming other girls for your own sins! You’re so unsightly! Besides, there’s already evidence that you’ve been three-timing them!”
“E-Evidence?”
Why the hell was I acting like a cornered criminal? There was no way that she’d have evidence on something that didn’t exist!
“Hehehe!”
With a fearless smile, she pulled off three photos from her pocket and held them out in front of me.
“Your first victim is Himawari. You walk to school with her every day, hand in hand, right, Joro?”
The first photo. It was a photo of Himawari hugging my arm with a big smile on her face.
No, like… She’d do it in class too, not only on our way to school…
“Your second victim is the President. The other day, you grabbed her shoulders and yelled at her to show off your love to her, didn’t you?”
The second photo. It was a photo of me yelling at Cosmos while grabbing her shoulders.
Right… She was there too… With a camera in hand… Wait, wasn’t this bad for me…?
“Your third victim is Sanshokuin-san. Joro, don’t you have a matching cup with her? From that, it’s clear that you two are very into each other.”
The third photo. It was a photo of a certain pair of cups in the library. Two names written in each of the cups. The two cups were placed next to each other and formed a full heart mark.
PAAAANSYYY! WHAT THE HELL WAS SHE DOING?! HOW COULD SHE LET SOMEONE ELSE SEE THIS?!
“By the way, I’ve seen you two staring at each other’s faces on the street on a certain night!”
She was there too?! What the hell?! How could I not notice her?!
“So, Joro, are you still saying that you don’t have any special relationships with those three girls?”
I wanted to reject her accusations so badly, but I couldn’t!
…Not good. Of all people, it just had to be Asunaro who misunderstood my relationship with those three.
For your information, Asunaro was a talented member of the newspaper club. She created various legends from all the articles she wrote.
One time, she wrote an article about the magnificence of a confession and made people start to confess to the girls they liked and they managed to become couples!
Another time, she wrote an article about a female student’s lost keychain that made everyone in the school want to look for it and they actually found the thing!
There was also the time when she exposed the former head of the kendo club for embezzling club funds, a feat that even Cosmos couldn’t achieve!
In that sense, she was more influential than Cosmos, let alone Himawari! Not to mention that she was practically a detective with amazing investigation skills!
If this girl were to write an article about me three-timing with those girls… My school life would be over. I would be treated even worse than back when I was isolated by the rest of the student body.
“W-Wait a minute! Your stories are true, but I’m not in a relationship with any of them…!”
“Use your common sense, Joro.”
Speak for yourself! I wasn’t the one who made wild assumptions about someone else’s relationship!
“Just think about it, one guy gets along that well with three girls at once but he doesn’t have special relationships with them? What do you think is this, a romcom manga? There’s no way reality is that sweet, am I wrong?”
It was true that reality was cruel to me… But, even if this was a romcom manga, I wouldn’t be anything other than a mob!
If I was a romcom manga protagonist, wouldn’t I be able to get out of this situation easily?!
“I’ll never approve of your three-timing attempt, Joro! What, do you seriously think that you can make all of them happy just because you love all of them? Don’t be silly! Girls are the ones who’ll suffer in that kind of relationship! Do you think they’d want to share the man they love with someone else? Stop being selfish! I will never let them get hurt because of your selfishness!”
“Don’t mess with me! What selfishness?! I just want to get along with all of them and nothing more! I just want to have a fun and fulfilling school life! Asunaro, do you know how painful it is to be misunderstood by others?! I haven’t done anything to earn this but why are you pushing me around because of your selfish misunderstandings! I just want a peaceful life and nothing else! Why can’t you understand this?!”
I felt like crying after saying that loudly.
“If you want me to be honest, I don’t trust you at all.”
“Then, what do you want me to do? What can I do for you to trust me?”
“Hm… Let’s see…”
What choice did I have other than doing this?!
Also, stop putting your finger on your forehead while you think! Who do you think you were, Furuhata-san?! (T/N: Furuhata Ninzaburo, a detective from the TV series Furuhata Ninzaburo as well as the main character of the show.)
“Alright, let’s do this. I’m going to keep an eye on you closely for a period of time, Joro.”
“W-What? A-Are you going to conduct a hot and steamy interview session with me? Well, you should just ask me! I’ll gladly—”
“I will personally monitor your activity and see if your three-timing attempt is merely my assumption or not. If it really is just my assumption, then we’re all good.”
Ah, she brushed it off. I thought I could turn this pinch into an opportunity, but I failed.
“However, if it isn’t… You get what I’m trying to say, right?”
No. And I didn’t want to know.
“By the way, here’s how the article I’m going to write looks like currently.”
Asunaro smiled as she pulled out something out of nowhere. It looked like the paper that was distributed through the school.
I took it from her and read the words on the front page…
“What the hell?!”
I screamed toward the sun. The words written on that paper was ‘Scum of the Century: Kisaragi Amatsuyu! Suspected to be Three-Timing!’
“Don’t worry, I haven’t distributed it yet. I also withheld the names of the victims for their safety. I’m going to publish it during the Hyakka Festival, so I’ll be keeping a close eye on you in the meantime! Depending on your actions, I’ll change the content of the article accordingly!”
She wanted to distribute this during the festival?! O-Oh no… W-What should I do…?
The festival wouldn’t be attended only by students and their parents from our school, but from other schools as well!
Furthermore, the newspaper club had a space to publish their article at the front gate!
If she were to publish this article during that time, my school life would be over!
I had to stop her from publishing it, no matter what the cost…
“That’s all, let’s go back to the classroom now. I’ll be in your care, Joro.”
Think… How to get myself out of this predicament… Ah, right!
Since the root cause of this was because I was acting like a romcom protagonist despite not being one, I should just stop that and act like a mob! The mobbest of the mob!
To do that, I’d have to lay low, participate in the school events without doing anything unnecessary!
Avoid all the romcom cliches! Onwards to my uneventful school life!
I wouldn’t give out love advice to anyone, I wouldn’t do anything at all! I’d live the boring life of a mob!
Good grief… It couldn’t be helped… Let’s enjoy my completely normal day to day life!
TL: Iyo
ED: Iyo
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More bench, please.
Bench is love Bench is life.