After all that, I was fortunate enough to have another weekly gathering with Asanagi-san, so⊠I decided to apologize to her for eavesdropping on her confession the other day.
âAh, that happened, huh? Itâs fine, donât worry about it. You just happened to be there and didnât actually tail me, right? In that case, it was completely on me.â
I thought her mood would worsen if I brought that up, but instead, she just dismissed it lightly as she ate the pudding she bought at the convenience store.
âYou sure?â
âWell, I donât mind being asked out. The reason why I snuck out instead of announcing it to everyone was out of consideration for the other person⊠After all, someone might start unpleasant rumors between both of us, like Nitta from our class, she would do something like that.â
âNitta would be⊠that girl you usually hang around with, right, Asanagi?â
âRight. Well, I donât know if she would gossip about me, but she did gossip about other people, as you could expect.â
As I promised, I decided to hide the fact that I had run into Amami-san and Nitta-san there. Itâs completely on them to decide what they would do.
Of course, I also hid the fact that I got Amami-sanâs phone number.
Then again, itâs Asanagi-san we are talking about, she would notice Amami-sanâs antics easily.
âI wonder if I should ask you this, butâŠâ
âMm?â
âAsanagi⊠arenât you rather popular?â
âMmm⊠Well, not really? Iâm not as popular as Yuu.â
If getting confessed by five people in less than half a year was an average number (according to Nitta-san), then how many confessions did Amami-san get?
âWhat wrong? Are you jealous, Maehara?â
âNot really⊠Well, I just thought that being popular sounds troublesomeâŠâ
âHmm⊠Why?â
âMaybe itâs because Iâm a loner?â
Even if she asked me why I couldnât really answer her.
In my case, I was bad enough at socializing that it was hard for me to ask my classmate to befriend me. I donât think someone like me should shamelessly talk about matters concerning love and relationships.
âTry to explain it. Donât worry, Iâm not going to laugh at you.â
âThereâs the âIâm not going to laugh at youâ line⊠If anything, youâre just raising the hurdle for me.â
âHaha, itâs fine, itâs fine. Just tell me whatâs on your mind, Maehara.â
âFineâŠâ
Well, even if sheâs going to laugh at me, Asanagiâs the only one here, so it should be fine, I guessâŠ
ââŠWell, to me, I canât understand it, being popular and stuff. I mean, people will look up to you when youâre popular, right? They would try to get to know you better and somehow form a special relationship with you?â
âMhm, thatâs true.â
Of course, being popular isnât necessarily a bad thing. It proves that you have a special charm that attracts people, itâs better than attracting malice at the very least.
However, being popular isnât all sunshine and rainbows.
Case and point, the boy who confessed to Asanagi-san the other day.
âThere are all kinds of people around you, including those you have no interest in and those you secretly hate⊠Dealing with those people would be troublesome, no? They donât even care about you, so why must you be mindful of them?â
Even Asanagi-san had to be careful back then when she replied to that boyâs confession. Sure, they might be people who would straight up say, âI donât like youâ or âYouâre grossâ and dismiss such confessions outright, but Asanagi-san wasnât one of them. Besides, it would create an unnecessary grudge.
Peopleâs emotions, their likes, and dislikes were tricky to deal with.
âWhen I think about it, I feel glad that Iâm not popular. Sure, itâs hard to be a loner, but that means I donât have to worry about such things.â
ââŠThatâs quite a lonely thought.â
âI know. Well, I guess thatâs why Iâm a loner.â
Unless I change this way of thinking, I will probably keep on leading this boring lifestyle for a long time.
Iâve been trying to find the courage to take a step forward but I always fell short.
ââŠThere, a lonerâs perspective on relationships.â
âMm. That sounds like what a virgin would say.â
âOof.â
That actually hurts. But sheâs not wrong, so I canât refute.
âWell, I donât hate the loner Maehara, on the contrary, I like him. Of course, only as a âfriendâ, donât misunderstand that, okay?â
âOf course. Me too, I like Asanagi, but, only as a âfriendâ, you shouldnât misunderstand that either.â
âOh, really? Youâre saying something like that now? Acting cocky even though you are a virgin.â
âWhat? You wanna go? Sure, I wonât hold back today, Iâll give you ten, no, a hundred rounds for you to beat me. Iâll make sure to turn you into swiss cheese.â
âIâm ready whenever. Youâll fall to my godly aim anyway.â
âSo cocky even though you just barely know how to play.â
Asanagi and I put an end to our relationship talk as we turned our gaze toward the game screen once more.
I think this is more suitable for me than complicated things like other peopleâs likes and dislikes.