The day began and ended as usual, without incident.
At least it was supposed to be one of those days.
âHey, do you want to go to karaoke? Itâs been a while since weâve sung.â
âEh? Itâs still Monday, though?â
âCome on! Iâll show you my beautiful voice to blow away your Monday blues!â
A group of young people, who seemed to be at the top of the school caste, were talking to a man and a woman who were close friends.
As I was getting ready to leave, I listened to their voices.
âHey, come on, you guys. Itâs been a while since Iâve heard any anime songs.â
That was how they approached the otaku group in class in that mannerâŚeven calling out to the guys who looked like me, but actually not.
The boys who approached were acting kind of overblown and accepting of their invitation.
Fortunately, there was no such thing as bullying in our class.
At least, I donât know of any.
There were different groups of people in the class who were close to one another. Although there were inevitably people who held a relatively strong position within the group, each group got along rather well.
The only exception would be me.
I donât belong to any particular group, and I rarely speak to my classmates. I donât have any special friends either.
Even now, everyone seems to be oblivious to me as they go on about their karaoke plans.
âHey, Nanami. You guys are coming too, right? I canât get excited if you three donât come.â
In the midst of all this, one of the boys made up his mind to call out to the three of them.
He stood out from the rest of the class.
His voice was a little slurred, indicating that he was a little nervous.
âOh, weâre not going this time. Nanami and I have some business to attend to. Have fun with everyone else.â
The boyâs question was a dull one, despite his determination. The black-haired girl looks back at him only once, and with a flutter of her hand, immediately declines.
âWhat the hellâŚ..karaoke with everyone is more funâŚâŚâ
âIf youâre that persistentâŚ..â
The black-haired girl gave the boy a powerful smile, forcing the boy who approached her to back away.
âO-Okay. I guess the three of you arenât joining us this time, understoodâŚâ
She nodded her head in satisfaction as the boy withdrew his words.
The girl called Nanami looked somewhat relieved behind her, or was that just my imagination?
All three of the girls looked like they were used to being with boys, and they had the revealing body of a gal.
Yeah, Iâm sure itâs just my imagination.
EhâŚwaitâŚher name itâsâŚ..Nanami right?
I donât remember where exactly, but I felt like I had heard that name before.
Well, itâs none of my business, I thought as I left the classroom.
I could hear them talking about where the best karaoke place was in the classroom, but my mind was fixated on the game I was going to play when I got home.
There was only one difference between having friends in class and having friends outside of class.
I could play games online with my online friends.
Thatâs what I prioritize.
Thatâs was simply it.
Thatâs why my classmates who were going to karaoke and the gals who said they had something to do soon faded from my mind.
I knew that they and I had nothing to do with each other and would never have anything to do with each otherâespecially those three eye-catching gals, who probably werenât even interested in me.
Until this day, thatâs what I thought.
I never imagined that these girls, who I thought were irrelevant, would be âŚâŚ No, it was her.
I had no idea that I would become so deeply involved with her and that so many things would change.
Whether this was a good thing or a bad thing, I still couldnât know at this point.