novel-bin Page 56
Page 56
"You were having a great chat with Irito when he suddenly hugged you tightly."
"ah!"
Then he whispered in your ear in a deep voice, "...Sorry, can I not be your friend for now?"
"Oh dear!"
"Uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu...!"
"While you were still panicking, Irito-san pressed her lips against yours without giving you a chance to speak—wait, why are you lying on the table, Link-Girl?"
No, it's nothing, it's just that my brain reacted incorrectly. It's all Xiaoyue's fault for imitating that voice so much, it sounded just like that guy's voice in that situation...!
"Well, anyway..."
"Snap!" Xiaoyue quickly took a picture of Dongtou's face with her phone.
Then the screen was placed in front of the student in the east.
"With an expression like that on your face, how can you say you don't like it?"
I imagine there's a girl on the screen with a flushed face, moist eyes, and barely managing to purse her lips, which are almost showing a smile.
As soon as Dongtou saw the screen, he immediately started shaking uncontrollably.
"...This...is this...me...!"
"yes."
"She's practically a female dog!"
"Yes, you are a bitch."
"Waaah..." Dongtou blushed for another reason and pressed his forehead against the family restaurant table.
"He even claimed to be a friend when he approached her, but it turns out he was just taking advantage of Shui Dou's classmate with the eyes of a horny bitch... a pervert... the actions of a complete pervert..."
"If this is what a succubus is, then I think all the women in the world are demon queens or something..."
I tried to smooth things over discreetly, but she didn't seem to hear me. She seemed busy dealing with her first truly conscious romantic relationship. Ugh, it's a bittersweet feeling. I'm starting to feel nauseous.
"After all that fuss, we can finally get down to business."
After Xiaoyue finished speaking, she drank the almost flat cantaloupe soda, and then let out a burp. How tasteless.
"To the main point... Is there anything else to say...?"
Seeing Dongtou raise her head uneasily, Xiaoyue smiled affectionately at her.
"Higashitou-kun! Yui and I are here to help set you up with Irito-kun!"
"Eek...!"
In front of Dongtou's classmate, who was blinking repeatedly, Xiaoyue confidently puffed out her thin chest. She said—Me and Jienu?
"Um, Xiaoyue... it might be too late to talk about this now, but I haven't promised to help you yet..."
"Huh—? But if Yui is around, Irito-san's preferences and stuff will be completely exposed. Higashi-san also thinks it's more reliable to have Yui as an ally, right—?"
"W-what...? Um, I..."
"I'm not bragging, but people often confide in me about these kinds of problems! You can rest assured!"
Indeed, Xiaoyue is the type of person who frequently offers that kind of advice—from her conversation, it's clear she's had some dating experience herself. She occasionally declines our invitations, and we all privately speculate that she's out looking for a boyfriend.
"How about it, Higashi-kun? With me and Yui-onna, I doubt you could find such a strong alliance, right? What about Irito-kun? I charmed her in a second, in a second!"
I already said I hadn't even offered to help.
...But I have no reason to refuse. If I refuse now, I'll really be stuck with the stigma of being a brother-obsessed person. No, but...
Just as my mind started wandering aimlessly, a complete mess...
"...No, no need. You don't need to help me like that..."
The student from the east end spoke softly, as if raindrops were falling:
"When I said I liked Mizuto as a friend, it was the truth... I'm happy just being able to chat with him like this... You know, no matter how much I try to show off, I'll probably just embarrass myself! Or rather, it'll be a waste of my time... I'm really sorry to have to decline your kind offer..."
His voice grew softer and softer, and he shrank smaller and smaller.
...This scene feels strangely familiar to me.
Lacking self-confidence, they insist they will fail at everything they do and refuse to take any action. They use the flimsy excuse of "don't create trouble for yourself" to cling to a situation they are not truly satisfied with.
—Yes, it's just like the person I was in junior high school, the person I've already let go of.
"Don't choose to run away before you even face the challenge."
It took me a moment to realize that I had spoken to her in a sharp tone.
Dongtou and Xiaoyue looked at me with surprise, but I couldn't stop the words from overflowing.
"If you're going to give up, you have to give it your all. You really want to be, don't you? You really want to be that guy's girlfriend, right? You want to do things that ordinary friends can't do, right?"
I stood up, leaned forward, and lifted the face of the student at the east end, saying:
"If you become his girlfriend, you can do all of this! You can hold hands to and from school every day, kiss when you say goodbye, and call each other before bed to chat about anything and everything! You can go on dates, receive Christmas gifts, and have him there to take care of you when you have a cold! How about that! If you become his girlfriend, all of this will become a part of your life!"
It's clear that the imagined scene was swirling in Dongtou's eyes.
I would be so happy if I could do those things.
If we could become that kind of relationship, I don't know how happy I would be.
By making assumptions, predictions, and simulations, one repeatedly confirms the source of their own happiness...
"—Are you still not changing your mind? Or do you think it's okay not to be my girlfriend?"
Her eyes flickered.
That is enough to answer the question.
But the student at the east end lowered her head and tightly gripped the skirt of her uniform—
"...I...want to be...!"
With a hoarse voice, he managed to squeeze out the words with great difficulty.
"I...I want to be sweet with him...I want to hear him say he likes me...! I want to do things with Mizuto-kun...things that ordinary friends can't do...!"
When the student in the east raised his head again...
Her eyes were no longer filled with resignation, but with a strong fighting spirit.
"How can I do this...? How can I become Mizuto's girlfriend?"
Dongtou's classmate stood up, leaned forward, grasped my hand tightly, and then said:
"Please teach me, teacher!"
…………strangeness?
I suddenly regained my senses.
I acted impulsively just now and stirred up her emotions...
...But is this really a good thing for me?
"Yay!"
Xiaoyue, who was next to me, quietly cheered with a fist pump.
On the night I impulsively agreed to provide relationship advice to Dongtou, I was in my room looking at a LINE group named "Irito Mizuto's Love Strategy Meeting".
This meeting was set up by me, Xiaoyue, and Dongtou to prepare for future events—but it started with Dongtou complaining. He was saying, how could this girl have the nerve to use a deity's name as her personal name?
Xiaoyue posted a picture of a cantaloupe.
Xiaoyue started posting pictures of kitchen knives one after another, and I chuckled.
In fact, even from a girl's perspective, Dongtou's chest is quite impressive. Impressive enough to make people take a second look. And for boys, it goes without saying.
With a girl like her around, is it really possible to just be friends...?
"What!"
I suddenly sat up in bed.
What kind of question is this from a girl?! Is this how you normally ask a question?! Asking something like this!
If I answer "yes" at this moment, will it affect her mood...?
As I carefully considered my words, I typed out the questions in my mind.
...How enviable.
If I had her personality, being with that guy might be easier...
She copied and pasted the question again. Just how much did she want to know?
I hesitated a little, but since I was the one who encouraged them first, I couldn't pretend to be deaf and dumb.
I think it's probably my ears. For example, when he wants to kiss me, he'll gently bite my ear.
I have to admit I'm a little curious about how the two of them usually get along—no, I'm doing this purely for Dongtou's sake.
And so, Xiaoyue and I pretended to be students who stayed behind to study and sneaked into the library after school.
Xiaoyue let down her hair, which she usually always tied in a ponytail, while I tied my hair into low pigtails and put on the glasses I used in junior high school.