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Chapter 6: Contacts
I arrived at the school to escape from the gloomy morning gathering, and at lunchtime, I realized something.
“Noo. I forgot to buy lunch.”
Usually, I stopped at a convenience store along the way to buy lunch, but today, I was so preoccupied with getting out of that uncomfortable house that I forgot to do so.
“Is that so? What do you want to do then? Do you want to go to the cafeteria?”
“It’ll be crowded if we go there now. 

 I’ll just get some bread.”
“I’ll go with you then.”
“You have your lunch.”
“Of course. I’ll eat that one, okay? But I want to buy one for my afternoon snack, you know?”
“Do you have a snack in the morning too?”
“This morning it was a Baumkuchen. It’s from a convenience store near the school. The eggs are sweet and delicious.”
“Is that what you were chewing on in class?”


Well, as a high school boy who was also a big eater, I could understand why he was always hungry.
“Let’s buy some juice while we’re at it. I think there was a limited-time offer.”
“The carrot soda? You’re a challenger.”
“Yeah. I’m curious about what it tastes like. Is Kouta the usual melon soda?”
“I’m not as adventurous as you.”
The two men then quickly head to the purchasing area, safely secure bread and melon soda for lunch, and promptly return to the classroom.
“Hm? What is it?”
I returned to my seat with my bread and was about to enjoy a slightly delayed lunch break when I noticed something going on in the classroom.
“Alright. Let’s have a class gathering this Friday!”
Classmates around him responded vigorously to the voice of the boy

Sawada, in the center of the classroom.
Sawada—Sawada Takeru.
With a height in the latter half of 170 centimeters and a fresh face reminiscent of the coolness of summer. The word “prince” came naturally to my mind from his appearance and air.
He was the ace of the soccer team of Hoshimoto Gakuen. Not only that, but his grades were also top class, and he had great popularity among students and teachers alike.
In the opposite sense to Kazemiya, he was a famous prince(hero) in this school. Even I, who wasn’t familiar with gossip, knew about him.
“Class reunion, huh? We weren’t in your class last year, though?” (+)
“What is a class gathering anyway?”
“Everyone eats sweets together and makes a lot of noise. There are usually a lot of people, so it’s usually karaoke or something.”
In other words, like a party.
It was the kind of event that a top-caste prince would like.
From what I saw, it seemed to have been spontaneously decided just a few minutes ago. The difference in our energy seemed to be clearly shown.
“Then, anyone who wants to participate should send a message to the group chat.”
In addition to the details of the class reunion, one after another, messages of participation pour into the group chat on the messaging app.
“Are you coming, Kouta? You don’t have a part-time job on that day, do you?”
“I’ll pass. I’m taking that day off to stay home. It’s bad for my mom if I don’t take a day like this once in a while to make adjustments.”
More importantly, there was the matter of this morning. I needed to reassure my mom a little

and with that in mind, I quickly sent a message to the group chat that I wouldn’t be attending.
“Then I won’t participate either.”
“Why not? You like this kind of thing, don’t you?”
“I like it, but
Actually, I was wondering which one to go to because other kids invited me to play with them on the same day. Kouta usually works part-time, so I thought I’d go to the class meeting if you’re coming, but if you’re not coming

it’s better to play with other kids in other classes to broaden my range of friends. It’s fine.”
Looking at my phone, I saw that Natsuki had also announced his decision not to participate as well.
“Kazemiya-san”
As soon as Sawada called out to her, the air around her calmed down for a moment. Then, as if in a flash, the heat in everyone’s gaze focused on the two of them.


I know the name of the heat in those gazes.
That is—curiosity.
“

what?”
Removing her earphones, which featured a noise-canceling function, Kazemiya returned the question to Sawada, who approached her seat and called out to her.
“We’re having a class gathering on Friday after school, do you want to come, Kazemiya-san?”
“I’m not going.”
Kazemiya dismissed the invitation in a refreshingly straightforward manner.
It seemed that even an invitation from the school’s prince(hero) didn’t interest her much.
“I’m sorry I decided so suddenly about this. Did you already have something planned?”
“It’s none of your business.”
It wasn’t just a cold answer. One wrong move and it would be absolute zero.
The girls who were supposed to be Sawada’s fans were beginning to feel disgusted by the extremely cold treatment.
“Alright. Then we’ll cancel the class gathering. 
Lastly, can you just give me your contact information? When we want to do something together as a class like this, it would be useful to be able to communicate with each other.”
Come to think of it, the total number of people in the group chat was 34, while the total number of students in Class D of the second year was 35. This meant that only one member was missing from the group chat.
So that one person would be Kazemiya Kohaku. 
I would imagine that some of my classmates would ask her questions about her sister again, and it was probably Kazemiya’s self-preservation to not join this group chat.
“I already said no before.”
“I thought you might have changed your mind.”
“I haven’t.”
“What about exchanging personal contact information with me? If you don’t want to communicate in the group chat, I can be your contact. Next time we hold a class gathering, please let me know if you want to attend and I’ll let everyone know.”
Oh, good one. 
And I gave him hearty praise in my mind.
The offer was calculated from the beginning based on the fact that Kazemiya would refuse it, and it also offered the advantage that Kazemiya would be able to save the trouble of group notifications (I have turned them off because they are too annoying for me).
“No need. I’m not interested in class gatherings in the first place.”

but apparently, that was not appealing to Kazemiya, either. It would not be unusual for her to be used to get close to her celebrity sister, and she would want to limit the number of people with whom she exchanges contact information as much as possible.
“I understand. But if you change your mind, you can always tell me.”
“Sure.”
Without losing her cool air, Kazemiya ended the conversation with Sawada.
Even Sawada, the prince(hero) of the second year, couldn’t win over Kazemiya Kohaku.
“
.”
While munching on a piece of bread, I launched the Messages app on the screen of my smartphone.
In the list of my contacts, which wasn’t very many, the account name of Kazemiya Kohaku, “kohaku,” was listed.
—Lastly, why don’t we exchange contact information?
Last night’s conversation came to my mind.
Thinking back, it was Kazemiya who offered to exchange contact information, which even Sawada couldn’t get.
I wondered if this meant that just because I was an alliance partner.
“What’s wrong? Kouta. You look kind of spaced out.”
“

nothing.”
I had a contact here that even the second-year Prince(Hero)couldn’t get.
Just thinking about it made my phone, which had only been replaced about a year ago, felt a little heavier.