Parsed with an automated reader. The content accuracy is not guranteed.
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No, probably she was looking for someone.\n
Who on earth is she looking for that she would even come to such a crowded place?\n\n
āDidnāt Saotome-san come here to look for Kazehaya-kun ?ā\n
āWhat? Why?ā\n
āSee, sheās carrying something that looks like a lunch box.ā\n\n
When the class rep said that, I followed Saotomeās hand and looked at it. It looks like she is indeed holding a bag that seems to contain a lunch box.\n
If you just look at the situation, it looks like sheās trying to eat her lunch at the cafeteria.\n
And if she is going to the trouble of eating her lunch in the cafeteria, it is natural to imagine that she is trying to eat with someone who can only eat in the cafeteria.\n
But thereās nothing to connect it to me.\n
Iāve indeed been communicating with her, but I donāt think weāve become close enough for her to want to have meals with me.\n
After all, it was only yesterday that we started to communicate with each other.\n
It will still take some time for us to become friends close enough to want to have meals together.\n
After all, I am a man and Saotome-san is a woman.\n
Eating with the opposite sex must be a hurdle for her.\n
t would be especially hard for Saotome-san,Ā who has been avoiding other people until now.\n
But if you ask me who else she came here looking for, no one comes to mind.\n
I have never seen Saotome-san getting along with anyone, be it a senior or a junior.\n
So, considering what happened today, the most likely person she would be looking for was me.\n
āFor the time being, I sent her a message in the chat application.\n
[Saotome-san, are you in the cafeteria? Are you looking for someone?]\n
Then, within a few tens of seconds, I received a reply.\n\n
[A~, where are you sitting? (>_<)]\n\n
She was looking for me.\n
It would be hard to find me from over there, so I might as well go over there.\n
āAre you going to pick her up?ā\n
āRather than picking her up, there might be something else for me to do, so Iāll just go and checkā\n\n
I left class rep with those words and went to Saotome-san, who was restlessly scurrying around, alternately looking at her phone and around the cafeteria.\n
When she noticed me, she loosened her cheeks happily and walked up to me.\n
āIām sorry, I kept you waiting. Is there something I can do for you?ā\n
If she didnāt have something to do, she probably wouldnāt have bothered to come here, but I still asked her.\n
Then Saotome-san started looking at her phone and my face alternately as if she was thinking about something.\n
What in the world is she thinking about?\n
I decided to wait for Saotome to open her mouth while having doubts like that.\n
When dealing with a girl like this, itād do no good to rush her.\n
If you rush her, she will get flustered and will not be able to speak properly.\n
If you let them talk at their own pace, they will be able to talk a lot more.\n
ā¦ā¦Well, in the case of Saotome-san, she speaks not with her mouth but with her phone.\n
But after this, something unexpected happened to me.\n
ā Itās that,Ā is it okay if we have lunch togetherā¦?ā\n
It was a unique, high-pitched, cute voice that I heard after Saotome-san plucked my shirt sleeve and moved me to a different place.\n
The voice that sounded familiar to me was undoubtedly from Saotome-san standing in front of me.\n
The voice was so pleasant to listen to that it almost made my cheeks relax, and she was holding her phone in front of her chest, restlessly forgetting.\n
She glanced up at me and then quickly dropped her gaze to her phone, and I could tell that she was nervous.\n
āYouāve decided to speak up, havenāt you?ā\n
I was a little confused, but happy that she was talking to me in her voice and not in the chat room.\n
So I forgot to reply to what she asked me and asked her back.\n
āUm, I thought it would be okay Iām alone with Kazehaya-kunā¦..ā\n
Saotome-san answered my question as she began to play with her hair restlessly.\n
Only when itās just the two of us ā Iām sure itās because I praised her voice instead of making fun of it.\n
She was still afraid to let anyone else hear it, but now that I acknowledged her voice, she thought it was okay to let me hear it.\n
It seems that it was the right decision to praise her voice at that time after all.\n
āā¦ā¦ā¦ā¦ā¦ā¦ Kazehaya-kun, you didnāt even notice when you heard my voice, and you complimented me on how cute it was. So it should be okay when we are alone right. I am very happy to have you like my voice after allā¦ā¦ā\n
Iām not sure whatās going on, but Saotome-san is getting all fidgety again ā or is that shyness?\n
She is squeezing her body and mumbling, but I wonder if sheās okay.\n
Iām worried about Saotome-sanās sudden strange behavior.\n
However, I know that I shouldnāt point it out at a time like this.\n
So I decided to ignore her mumbling.\n
āYeah, Iād be happier if you spoke to me directly with your voice, too. And if you get used to using me as a practice ground, then maybe youāll be able to talk to everyone properly.ā\n
āPractice ground ā¦ā¦Maybe if I request it, will you continue to talk with just the two of us from now on ā¦ā¦!?ā\n
When I told her I would be her practice ground, for some reason, Saotome-san came up to me and pulled her face close to mine.\n
I took a few steps back at the unexpected move, but it didnāt change the distance between us as Saotome-san closed the distance between us.\n
Iāve never talked to her properly before, but she seems to become a different person when she speaks.\n
She doesnāt look like a gloomy girl who avoids strangers.\n
To be honest, I thought Saotome-san was a mysterious girl.\n
ć\n
āUm, of course. ā\n
I nodded at her words even though I was a little pressured by Saotome-san.\n
Iām not a save or anything, so it wasnāt like I didnāt have the option to refuse her.\n
But I had an agreement with the class rep, and more than anything, Iām interested in this girl Kaori Saotome.\n
Thatās why I simply nodded to her words.\n
Maybe itās because her height and voice are very similar to Nekoto-chan.\n
ć\n
The way she speaks in honorifics is also very similar to Nekoto-chan, which explains why heās interested in her.\n
Well, in Nekoto-chanās case, itās probably because sheās concerned about the impression sheāll make if she uses casual language with her fans.\n
āEhehe ā¦ā¦ I did it ā¦ā¦!ā\n
Saotome-san smiled happily when she heard my words.\n
I couldnāt hear clearly what she said because she covered her mouth with her hand, but she wanted to overcome her inability to talk to others.\n
I thought to myself, āIf thatās the case, Iāll try my best to help her overcome it.ā\n
ć\n
After that, I went back to the class rep and others with her as she wanted to eat lunch with me.\n
She was a little confused as if she hadnāt expected the class rep to be there, let alone Shota and Minato. But the class rep welcomed Saotome-san with a smile and she didnāt run away, but sat down next to me, rest assured.\n
The only thing that bothered me was the fact that Shota and Minato were looking around at me, the class rep and Saotome-san with a grudging look in their eyes.\n\n
<hr class="wp-block-separator is-style-wide">\nTN: Minato & Shota be like, go explode you normie. And thats the last chapter for the day. Next is probably tomorrow night. Will see.\n
<s>The poll will be closed tomorrow morning. Do vote if you havenāt. Well, outcome is almost already decided though. Discord or not. </s>\n