The girls’ voices reverberated throughout the classroom, which had been left near empty now that the rest of our classmates had set off for karaoke.
“Nanami loses! It’s decided—Nanami faces the penalty!”
“Pe-nal-ty! Pe-nal-ty! Yaaay, I’m so glad it’s not me!”
“Huuuh, why me?!”
The gyaru—the girls at the top of the class caste system; the embodiment of extroverted, beautiful, and cute; and thus the girls who already belonged to the winning team in life—were, for some reason, playing cards in our classroom after school.
They didn’t seem to be betting money; instead, they were setting up a game of some sort—a game where the loser had to face a dare. I was impressed that, despite their gaudy appearances, they would play their card game so wholesomely.
I, Yoshin Misumai, had no direct contact with the girls in question but had just so happened to come across the scene. I’d forgotten something in the classroom and caught them here—with no intention of eavesdropping, of course. But since I’m an introvert without much of a presence, it seemed that they hadn’t even noticed me.
It was ironic, really. That is, being an introvert when the “yo” in my name meant “extroverted.” I sure wasn’t living up to the name. Not that I really cared.
For the time being, I couldn’t help but wonder what was so important about their penalty game that it had kept them from joining their friends for karaoke. Couldn’t they have just made the karaoke a part of the game?
Well, it had nothing to do with me. It was time I forgot about the whole thing and headed home. It was no big deal—I’d just forgotten my pencil case.
I grabbed the container from my desk, put it in my bag, and began to leave the classroom. As I’d imagined, the girls continued talking without noticing me.
My seat was at the back, and the door was open, so I hadn’t made a sound when I entered. But considering how loud they were being, even if the door had been closed, the sound of me opening it would probably have been drowned out anyway.
“As for the penalty... Let’s go for a confession! Tomorrow after school, I dare you to go bare your heart to a guy you don’t normally talk to!”
“Oh, that’s good! Confessing on a dare... That’s a classic!”
“Huh? A confession?”
The girl who had been sentenced to the penalty... Her name was...Nanami, wasn’t it? Yeah, I was pretty sure it was Nanami Barato-san.
Barato-san responded in a tone that signaled displeasure and, despite wearing an unreasonably short skirt, crossed her legs on the desk she was sitting on. From the front, her secrets probably would’ve been in full view, but I suppressed my desire to circle around to the spot in front of her.
Hey, even introverts have sex drives, so I couldn’t help wanting to do so. Not that I had the courage to go stand there and look.
“Toying with someone’s emotions is the worst! You can’t ask someone out on a dare. A confession has to be more serious, like to someone you’re really into!”
“You keep saying that, but you’re the only one of the three of us who doesn’t have a boyfriend, you know?”
Barato-san didn’t have a boyfriend? I’d thought for sure all three of them had boyfriends.
Anyway, I’d thought that since she was a gyaru, she’d be all into the whole hooking up on a dare thing, but it turned out she actually had some common sense. What she was saying was perfectly reasonable.
“Right, right. But come on, you’re the hottest one here, and people ask you out all the time, but you always turn them down, don’t you?”
“Uh... That’s because...guys are kinda scary, and...when they ask me out while they’re just ogling me the whole time, it’s like...”
So she thinks men are scary, huh? Again, this was unexpected. Perhaps that relieved expression I’d glimpsed earlier hadn’t just been my imagination.
While her two friends—whose names I’d already forgotten—continued talking, their voices full of concern, Barato-san remained silent.
Hey, wait, you need to speak up, Barato-san! You’re right about this. Don’t give in—stick it out! Having formed a better opinion of her, I rooted for her in my mind. Just mentally, of course, not out loud.
“You don’t know the first thing about guys, Nanami. So, for now, try asking out a guy who seems harmless, and go out with him for at least a month! That’s your penalty.”
“What?! For a month?”
“It doesn’t matter how you get started. You just have to get used to guys. We’re worried about you. At this rate, we’re afraid you’re gonna get attacked by some weirdo.”
All things considered, it seemed the two friends were worried about Barato-san in their own way—even if they were going about it in the wrong manner.
Come to think of it, I was totally eavesdropping, but there was no way I could leave now. I was curious to hear Barato-san’s answer. Fortunately, I hadn’t been noticed yet. What was a guy to do?
“Let’s see... We should go for a no-libido or celibate type, who wouldn’t try to pounce on you when you’re alone.”
“It’s just a dare, so there’s no need to force yourself to keep going out with them, but of course it’s okay if you do! And anyway, even if you two do break up, if he doesn’t know it was on a dare in the first place, he wouldn’t be that hurt either, right? I mean, if you confess to him and he gets to go out with you for a whole month, he’ll be totally happy! And we’ll never spill that we dared you to do it!”
Both friends were thoroughly into the idea and continued goading Barato-san to do it. True, if they dated for a month and the guy didn’t find out, his feelings wouldn’t get hurt. In fact, that month might even feel like a reward, except... Did these girls realize? Did they have any idea how a guy confessed to by Barato-san would be looked at by other guys?
Nanami Barato.
Thinking the name sounded familiar, I culled through my memories and recalled an anecdote about her. It was the name of the girl made legendary for having attacked, exploded, and sunk the love boats of numerous good-looking guys.
It was such a well-known rumor that even I knew about it, and to go out with that legendary girl would for sure mean being looked at by said good-looking guys with eyes filled with jealousy and envy.
If I were that guy—the guy that she chose to go out with—I didn’t think I’d be able to stand it. My stomach would be filled with holes, and instead of sweat, digestive fluids would come spurting out of my body. In the end, I’d dissolve into oblivion.
It sounds like a joke, but that’s just how high the hurdle was.
I didn’t know who the guy was who would taste heaven and hell simultaneously—the guy to be both envied and pitied—but that was no concern of mine. I wished him the best in a situation that was none of my business. I’d overheard the details about the confession and the one month of dating, but I’d keep it all to myself.
Having made up my mind, I was about to stop eavesdropping and sneak away unnoticed when their next words froze me in place.
“Then, tomorrow, go confess to the quietest guy in class: Yoshin Misumai!”
Was it my imagination, or did I just hear a familiar name?
“Misumai, huh? I guess if it’s him... Yeah, okay. I’ll do it!”
Oh? So the name of the guy to be envied and pitied was Yoshin Misumai. That sure sounded familiar. Yeah, that sounded like a very near and dear name. I bet we’d get along.
No, wait. Was there someone else in our class—or in our school, even—with that same exact name? No, there wasn’t. This wasn’t the time to be escaping reality.
Um, I’m here. I heard everything.
Hey, wait. I’m gonna be confessed to tomorrow? By Barato-san? Should I prepare myself for this?
“But how am I supposed to confess?”
“Huh? I mean, if you just ask him to meet you behind the school building and tell him you like him, that’s all it takes, right?”
“It’s like in a shojo manga! Good luck, Nanami!”
“Speaking of which, how did you guys confess to your boyfriends?”
Having heard enough, I set off home, unnoticed by the three girls who had begun chattering about their own confessions. With my head spinning with the plans I’d just witnessed, I felt uncharacteristically perturbed.
Fortunately, no one had arrived home just yet, so my state of shock passed by unseen.
♢♢♢
Canyon: ...And that’s what happened, Baron-san. What should I do?
Baron: Ha ha ha, confessing on a dare, huh? How very high school. Ah, the joy of youth.
Back at home, I was discussing today’s happenings with Baron-san, who belonged to the same team as I did in one of our online games. I wasn’t comfortable with voice chat, so I took the liberty to play in a way that was comfortable for me: using my phone to chat and my computer to play.
A team-based tournament was starting today, and despite being in the middle of the qualifiers, I was asking him about my personal problems. I felt bad about it, but he had very graciously accepted my request for help.
Although I had no friends at school, there were loads of people I could talk to online. It doesn’t matter where your friends are these days. Even online friends are friends—it just so happened that I didn’t seek any out at school.
Canyon: It’s no laughing matter, Baron-san. Please try putting yourself in my shoes...
Baron: But these aren’t my shoes, and it’s hilarious. Anyway, how did they not notice you? They singled you out as someone who’s quiet, so your presence can’t be going that unnoticed. It’s a relief, really.