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Chapter 62 – [Extra] The Tomato Addict Next Door (1)
My friend loved to joke around.
Yes, he is a joker, not that Joker though. He never ran out of jokes to tell, his stock of jokes must be deeper than the dark hole itself.
Nevertheless, he was the first friend I’ve ever made in high school.
*   *   *
It was a beautiful day in April, back when the cherry blossoms were in full bloom.
From the school gate, I saw that the seniors were leading the freshmen to enter the school building.
I was a freshman myself, so I was looking forward to my high school life that was about to start but at the same time, I was ridden with anxiety. It was mostly because according to the class list that I’ve just read, none of my new classmates were students from my middle school. It would be helpful for me if one of them was, but alas, reality was harsh.
Would I be able to get along with my new classmates?
Such worries lingered in my mind.
I wandered around the school building while carrying a map that was handed to me. This place was way bigger than my middle school.
After wandering for a while, I entered the school building. I found out that it was hard for me to find the courage to enter the classroom. I took a peek inside the classroom and saw that few groups had already been formed, as expected; this fact made me even more anxious than before.
Can I really do this?

That was the only thing that occupied my mind.
But, staying around won’t change anything. Besides, I’ll get along with them eventually anyway since we’ll be classmates for two years.
After telling that to myself, I entered the class and checked the seating chart on the blackboard.
The seats were arranged by our names in order, so I was placed right in the center of the classroom.
I turned around to look at my seat.
There was a boy sitting next to my seat. He had a weird expression on his face and there were three cans of tomato juice on his desk.
He has a fourth?!
The boy reached into his bag and pulled out another tomato juice. I thought that he was joking around, but he actually opened and gulped it down.
I turned around once more and looked up his name on the chart.
Sakakiki
 Sui
 No, it was Sakaki Sui.
I double checked my seat’s location and confirmed that my seat was next to this weird guy.
God, have mercy on me

Surely, this guy was a weirdo. A real one. A person that lacked something called common sense, that was what this guy was.
At that time, I was so focused on him that I didn’t notice that there was a girl standing beside me. It seemed like she was checking her seat too. After a while, she turned around, shouted and ran toward the weirdo.
“Sui! We’re in the same class!”
“I never thought that this would happen
 Did you bribe the teacher again?”
“Jeez
 No! Anyway, I’ll be in your care~”
Were they lovers? They seemed lovey-dovey enough.
I dragged my heavy feet to my seat. It would be weird if I were to stay there for too long, so I had to do this even if I didn’t want to.
“Anyway– Wait, Sui, how many cans have you drunk this morning?”
“Seven.”
“There are only four cans here though?”
“I drank three on the way.”
“You’ll die from too much sodium
”
“I’ll be fine! Have more faith in my sister!”
Is he a monster? No human could drink that much–!

I placed my notebooks and stuff on my desk. My desk looked considerably empty because they haven’t distributed our textbooks yet but that wasn’t something I’m concerned about currently. The couple next to me seemed to be enjoying themselves. Should I leave them alone?
I decided to do so and was about to stand up when the girl called out to me.
“Takane
 Makoto-kun
 Right?”
She was stretching her neck and looked at the piece of paper that taped on the side of my desk. The paper had my name written on it.
“Y-Yeah
”
I unintentionally stuttered.
“I’m Namiki Shirona! I’ll be in your care!”
An angel. A real angel was right in front of me. TSKR.
“Ah, I’m Sakaki Sui, I’ll be in your care too.”
Sakaki Sui pitched in while shaking the can in his hand. Huh? He seemed more normal than I previously thought.
I let out a sigh of relief before saying, “My name is Takane Makoto. Nice to meet you.”
At that moment, I could hear the hallway growing incredibly noisy.
“Huh? What’s going on?”
Shirona furrowed her eyebrows.
“It’s probably that, you know? That! Someone revealed their fetish for exhibitionism and started stripping! I mean, there are a lot of new freshmen in this school, no? It wouldn’t be a surprise if one of them was an exhibitionist!”
“Your thought process is too nasty, Sui!”
The three of us stood up and looked outside to see what was going on.
There was one girl that everyone was staring at. She was walking calmly with a map of the school in her hand.
“Wah. What a beautiful girl.”
Said Sakaki Sui in a monotone voice.
“Yeah
”
Namiki Shirona said her agreement while puffing her cheeks.
Personally, if I were to describe this girl in one word, it would be ‘artistic’.
She was tall and slender, her hair was long, shiny and looked delicate. Her beauty was out of this world and her eyes were deep like the night sky.
“Man, she’s a real beauty, isn’t she? If she were to be a model, she’ll climb to the top easily, I’m sure.”
“I want to know what’s her name
 Also, is her mom an actress or something?”
“Let’s follow her!”
Following Sakaki Sui’s lead, Namiki Shirona and I chased after the beautiful girl.
The girl entered the class next door. D**n, the boys in that class sure were lucky.
I peeked into the classroom. I didn’t even need to look around for her, she stood out like a sore thumb. The whole class was looking at her, they didn’t even try to hide it.
“Hiwa? Hiwa Arina, huh? Now that’s an actressy name.”
Said Sakaki Sui after she looked up her name on the class’ seating chart.
I think I fell in love with Hiwa Arina at first sight. I could feel my heart beating so fast and loud to the point that I was afraid the two people beside me heard it.
Then, months passed and I couldn’t stop thinking about Hiwa.
In the end, I got along well with my classmates, I even became one of the most talkative people in the class along with Sui. My first impression of him didn’t change as he was an actual weirdo, but now I know that he wasn’t an ordinary weirdo. Even though he wasn’t a member of any circles in the class, he got along with everyone. His relationship management was insane.
Also, I joined the badminton club since I played it back in middle school. Sui on the other hand, didn’t even take a glance at the clubs. After school, he would disappear from the class immediately to God knows where.
“Sui, you didn’t join any club?”
I asked Sui who was playing with his cans during the lunch break. It was a well-known fact that Sui was a tomato juice addict. He asked me to call him ‘Tomato Addict’ but I ignored him. No way I’m going to embarrass myself by calling him that.
“I did.”
“Huh?! Which club?!”
Sui snapped his finger in a grandiose manner.
“The Going-Home Club.”
That isn’t a real club, man

Seriously, this guy

“I thought you were going to join the tennis club with Shirona-chan.”
“And why would I do that? Do you think I’ll follow Shirona alone like a duckling?”
“Huh? Aren’t you two dating?”
“Makoto-kun, let me tell you something. I have a sacred vow, to be single until my soul parts from my body. No one is worthy enough to accompany me
 Do you know the reason why, Makoto-kun?”
“No
”
“Because of money, Makoto-kun. No one is worthy enough to accompany me because money is worthier existence than anyone in this world!”
Dear God, please smite him with lightning or something.
I felt bad for Shirona-chan. I noticed her feelings toward him since the first time I saw them together, but I’ve never seen him answering her feelings, even a little.
Well, maybe he didn’t notice it, but still, I hope that someday he will. And I hope that Shirona could be rewarded for her efforts

“Anyway, anyway. What about you, Makoto? I know that you have someone in mind already though~”
“Urk–”
“What’s that sound? Did your bones break or something?”
“N-No
”
“Anyway, you like her, don’t you? Hiwa Arina. Well, I understand your feelings, she’s a real beauty, it’s completely normal to fall for her.”
“S-So what? Got a problem with that?”
“No, no, I’m just looking out for you, you know? Have you heard the rumors about her yet?”
Of course I have. Hiwa Arina had a venomous tongue. She had the tendency to humiliate other people who came up to her. It wasn’t even as a joke or anything, she went really far to humiliate the other person to the point that a lot of people were scared of her. At first, everyone thought that she would be the idol of the school year, but instead she became the most famous problem child.
“I know about it
 Hell, I’ve seen it with my own eyes
”
“Me too. Well, I got curious so I gathered some information and followed her for a bit. Man, everyone who confessed to her just fell down to the ground after hearing her speak. ‘Your face looks dirty’, ‘Your fingers made me want to vomit’, ‘Interesting, bipedal pigs exist in this world’, she said all of that to them. I think God min-maxed her character. They put all the stats into her looks and brain and left her EQ at the minimum.”
“
Hiwa is something else
”
Poisonous Rose.
The girl with a venomous tongue.
And many more horrible nicknames for her.
Despite that, my feelings for her didn’t subside. Instead, they grew stronger by the day.