THE GYARU SITTING BEHIND ME LIKED ME. MIGHT BE NO HOPE FOR ME ANYMORE V1: NOVEMBER 3âNOVEMBER 5 A LONER WONâT EVEN REMEMBER THE SCHOOL FESTIVAL, ISNâT IT? â PARTÂ 2
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The next day, the two of them went around asking their classmates if they needed help. However, the responses werenât really good.
âEh?â Help? Nah, Iâm on schedule so itâs fine⊠I mean even if it gets hectic, I donât want to be working while breathing in sweet air, so Iâll refuse⊠go to hell.â
That was what a male student told the two, and from a female studentâ
âBy help⊠you mean you two together? I can only see that as you picking a fight with me whoâs never got a boyfriend for as long as Iâve been alive, though?â
Such words came out and were thrown at the two.
They just seemed to be awfully hostile, but⊠well, the act of showing off oneâs intimacy is something that is generally frowned upon.
But it didnât mean everyone was showing such a response, as Shinoâs gyaru friends clapped their hands and welcomed them.
The refused gyarus didnât get dispirited. Given that they knew of Shinoâs personality, it seemed from the start theyâd thought of just giving it a shot and nothing more.
âHaah⊠itâs a no, huh.â
âIâve told you we can only give up if she used her BF as a reason.â
âYep right. Shinopyon just lives in a different world from the likes of us who got no boyfriend.â
âI want a boyfriend~.â
âI get you.â
The gyarus stuck out their tongues and waved their hands, then left to go see the outfit.
ââŠCâmon, you donât have to worry. Iâm not inconsiderate like that after all. I might tease you, but I wonât think of trying to make you jealous. Youâd totally hate things to get shaky from doing something like that, right? Well?â
Unlike Sandai who might make the wrong decisions occasionally regarding actions related to peopleâs feelings, Shino drew the correct answer truly without hesitation.
Incidentally, she was also good at giving a warning; indirectly saying, âDonât do anything unnecessary like trying to make me jealous.â She seemed to be wary around this area, perhaps because he got the previous offense of ending up worrying her.
Such words like âThat was inevitableâ or âHow long are you gonna be holding a grudge?â would have the opposite effect, so Sandai nodded without saying anything.
Shino narrowed her eyes and stared fixedly at Sandaiâs profile.
ââŠâ
âWh-What?â
ââŠNothing really.â
It felt like she was suspecting him whether he really understood or not. Since getting weirdly shaken would only stir up suspicion, Sandai deliberately pretended to be oblivious and changed the subject.
âBut still, there sure are nothing but people who said they donât need help.â
They had already asked around so much, but got shot down everywhere, and the only one showing willingness to accept them so far was Shinoâs friends, but sheâd refused that as well.
At this rate, they might not even be able to say âWeâve participated in the school festival preparations.â
âI think there are still some classmates we havenât asked, but⊠looks like weâre gonna get similar results, huh.â
ââŠWell, it wonât hurt to ask, and if itâs a no then so be it.â
When they sat down together on the stairs at the back of the gymnasium, caww caww, the cawing of a crow resounded. They both hung their heads down feebly.
Suddenly a shadow of a person fell upon them. When Sandai looked up, it was the class president.
ââŠSo itâs you, Prez.â
âFufufu⊠It has reached my ears about you guys going around asking people if thereâs anything you can help with! Iâm extremely delighted as you seem willing to participate.â
ââŠWe got refused from everywhere, though.â
âThatâs just how itâs going to be if you show off yourself flirting around. Just everyone will get pissed.â
âRather than flirting, weâre just going about as usual, though.â
âYup.â
âYouâre completely not aware, huhâŠâ
âWeâre not even aware of it, thatâs why itâs as usual⊠Nah, this talk seems like just gonna go around in circles. Anyway, since everyone says they donât need any help, we canât help but not be able to join the school festival, right?â
âThatâs not the case. I have good news.â The class president snorted, and pointed at a certain corner of the school building.
Over there was the room for cooking class, howeverâŠ
âLooks like thereâs a girl practicing to make the food for the cafe, but she seems to be troubled as itâs not going well. By all means, go help that girl out. The girlâs got the personality that wonât give you guys the cold shoulder, so rest assured. âŠYouâre good at cooking arenât you, Yuizaki-kun? Seeing that youâre even making boxed lunches where looking at it makes me feel embarrassed and all. Iâm counting on you. Well then, I have things to do as a class president,â the class president said and then went off somewhere with a rough huff.
How to put this, maybe it could be said that he was surprisingly very caring⊠He seemed to have guessed the situation on their side and found a place they could help with.
In the sense of âthe rare chance of not having to help out in any way was destroyed,â it was nothing but uncalled-for, but saying that wouldnât do any good either. Heave-ho, Sandai and Shino stood up and headed for the cooking-class room.
There was a single girl in the cooking-class room.
That bob-haired, like-a-small-animal small-built girl was silently stretching a dough with a rolling pin.
It was a face Sandai had never seen before.
When Sandai tilted his head wondering whether there had ever been such a girl among his classmates, Shino gave an answer. ââŠItâs Takasago-chan.â
âYou know her?â
âI wonât remember a manâs name unless Iâm super interested in them, but I will remember a girlâs name. That girl is Takasago Mahiro-chan.â
âLet alone someone of the same school year, I donât even know my classmates well to begin with, be it guys or girls.â
Sandai remembered only to the extent of students who were standing out like the class president or Shino and his homeroom teacher Nakaoka, and no more than that.
It was because he thought that knowing someone with whom he would never get involved with anyway would just be a wasted use of brain capacity.
ââŠThatâs so like you, Sandai.â
When Shino chuckled, Takasago suddenly noticed them and turned to look. âUmm⊠errr⊠Yuizaki-san and Fujiwara-kunâŠ?â Immediately after asking and jolting up, Takasago went, âAwa awa,â and moved to the corner of the room and curled up. Apparently timid just like how she looked.
âYou donât have to get that scared⊠Weâve been asking around trying to offer help with the school festival preparations, but we got refused everywhere we went, you see. Then when we wondered what to do, Prez led us here,â Sandai explained the situation while scratching his head.
And then Takasago responded to the âPrezâ part. âPrez⊠Shihouin-kun didâŠ?â
âShihou⊠in? Eh?â Sandai couldnât help but glance to the side. He hadnât expected the class president to have such a cool, high-class sounding surname. âSomehow⊠what an amazing surname heâs got, huh? That Prez.â
âI mean, I also didnât know Prezâs username, though⊠Sounds like a rich kid.â
As Sandai and Shino were talking in whispers, Takasago came closer albeit nervously, perhaps a little less tense now after having seen them like that.
âU-Umm⊠err⊠so you came here to help⊠a-at Shihouin-kunâs order?â
âOrder? Oh well, it wouldnât be good to argue semantics. Well, thatâs right.â
âWell, something like that.â
âThank you so much. Then this is sudden, but Iâd like you to see what Iâve made. I think I made this one up nicely.â
Takasago bowed her head repeatedly, and immediately brought a plate of cookies, but they were of an incredible color.
They were seven-colored.
âUmm⊠what an amazing⊠color, huh.â Sandai swallowed down his saliva at the sight of the cookies in color he had never seen before, and Shino picked one up and stared at it intently.
âI-Itâs cool in a sense⊠and there are also sweets like this, but⊠how do I say it, it feels different from thoseâŠâ
Contrary to her round-about way of speaking, Shino was awfully grim. Sheâd like to defend Takasagoâs own hard work, but⊠she was at a loss for words, so to say.
That said, although those were awfully disquieting cookies, it would also be possible for the impression and the reality to be different.
âWe-Well, look, itâs common for foreign sweets and the like to be colorful⊠and this might be in that vein⊠right?â
âTh-Thatâs certainly possible, but⊠this is⊠n-no, yeah, youâll never know unless you try it, isnât it?â Shino said and put the cookie into her mouth.
In the next momentâ
Shino broke out into a puddle of unpleasant sweat all over her face, âUeeh,â spat out the cookie and then immediately collapsed.
Sandai was startled and rushed over to her.
âH-Hey!â
âI-Iâm sorry! Iâm terrible at cooking and making sweets! It might not have tasted good⊠and I didnât taste test it, tooâŠâ
âThis is totally not on the level of being terrible at it, it not being good, or not taste testing itâŠâ
While glancing at Takasago with a horrified look in his eyes, Sandai wiped Shinoâs mouth which still got some vomit on it and rubbed her back.
Although Shino was out cold for some time, she somehow managed to regain consciousness with Sandai fervent, continuous nursing.
âUwhâŠâ
ââŠYou feeling good? Should we go to the infirmary?â
âItâs okay⊠I mean, these cookies are crazy.â
âBy crazy⊠How crazy?â
âIf you eat it⊠youâll know.â
It is true that experiencing it would be quicker, but Sandai had seen Shino immediately spitting it out and collapsing, so to be honest, he wouldnât want to eat it.
However, it was also the truth that there would be no other way besides that to truly understand just how dangerous these cookies were.
After some contemplation, Sandai held Shinoâs hand, nodded, and extended his hand for a cookie.
âU-Umm⊠I think itâs better for you not toâŠâ Takasago anxiously looked at him and gave a warning, but not planning to back down anymore, Sandai readied himself and tossed it into his mouthâonly to feel a bizarre stimulation.
A pain like being stabbed with a pin or something ran through his sinus, he involuntarily cried, then next his tongue went numb, and the back of his ears suddenly heated up.