“What I’m trying to say is that there’s no need to panic, you know? Take it at your own pace!” Yui’s words suddenly resurfaced in Mina’s mind. I appreciate your help, Yui, but I want my conversation skills to be more... low-key. Ironically, Mina didn’t socialize with anyone at all, so her worries about conversation techniques were entirely irrelevant. Nobody is gonna come up and talk to me if I keep sitting around like this.
Mina began to suspect that perhaps pretending to sleep in class wasn’t exactly the best move, as it might’ve inadvertently made her less approachable. So she finally decided to make an effort to appear more friendly. Unfortunately, she again noticed someone staring at her just when she raised her head from the desk. She slowly looked to the side, and her eyes met with the girl sitting next to her. Mina’s face gradually began to burn up and redden the more she looked at her seatmate until, eventually, she couldn’t bear it anymore and turned away.
That almost gave me a heart attack! Mina thought. She had felt like someone was observing her in the classroom for a while now and even told Yuuki about it, though he simply chalked it up as a product of Mina's vivid imagination. Clearly this wasn’t the case. Not this time around. She was certain that someone was watching her while she faked sleeping.
Is this what society would feel like if people were under surveillance at all times? Possibly by some large organization hiding in the shadows? How dystopian, Mina pondered, looking down at her desk and trembling with fear.
“Umm, excuse me!” a voice abruptly rang out, startling Mina.
S-Somebody's watching me for real this time, Mina told herself, nervously turning her head to the source of the voice.
“A-Are you awake... Princess?” her seatmate asked with a stiff smile. Mina immediately took note of what the girl called her and concluded that it definitely meant that she was an agent sent by the organization. “I-I’m sorry to bother you, but—”
“I’m fine with not drinking diet croak!” Mina shouted.
“E-Excuse me?” the girl said, stunned.
“I told you to get off my lawn!” Mina continued. Oh wait, it’s toad, not told... and I didn’t even set the joke up, she remembered much too late. The damage had already been done.
“Wh-What lawn?” the girl inquired.
Crap, this is bad! I’m hit, I’m hit! Alpha One engaging evasive maneuvers! Mina quickly stood up from her chair in order to make a hasty retreat. Unluckily, she stumbled over her own legs and fell onto her hands in a shamefully over-the-top fashion.
“Are you, uh, fine?” the girl approached her.
“Sublime,” Mina answered with an out-of-place rhyme.
Now was not the time to sweat the small stuff. Mina put as much power as she could into her arms and swiftly pushed herself up off the floor. She desperately tried to appear as though nothing had happened, then hurriedly escaped the classroom and headed straight to the restrooms.
I messed up. I seriously messed up, she panicked. Mina was at her wit’s end as she locked herself inside a free stall. Once the adrenaline wore off a bit, she realized that she’d caught herself awkwardly when she slipped and fell, so both of her hands were now tingling in pain.
Man, I don’t think I can ever become like Yui, she thought. Whatever I try to do, I always just end up locking myself in a bathroom stall somewhere...
Her incompetence when it came to other people stirred up feelings of sadness within her, and she started to realize just how good Yui truly was at it. I mean, she carries a whole notebook brimming with jokes! She’s unstoppable! she thought as she recalled Yui’s jokes. I don’t think I could ever do that myself.
“Y-You’re ruining the ribbeting scenery, miss!” Mina recalled what Yui had said, and how the couple who were passing by laughed at her. Yui’s blushed face was particularly amusing, and it made Mina chuckle a bit, alleviating some of the gloomy feelings that were weighing on her.
It’s funny to me, but it must’ve been pretty embarrassing for poor Yui. They laughed so hard at her back then... Oh, I know! I’ll text Yukkie and tell him how hard I tried to talk with someone today!
Mina retrieved her phone from her pocket and opened the messaging app, then started to type up a message, Let’s see... How about something like: “Yukkie, you are hereby sentenced to patting my head for the day.”
She ultimately scrapped the idea and began drafting a new message. She considered opening by calling him “Bro,” but for some odd reason, that felt rather embarrassing to her.
Why am I getting so worked up over it? I’ll just send him one like I usually do. Hmm, how about: “Forsooth, I am the God of all lavatories. I demand my reverence posthaste!”
Again, however, her nimble fingers froze while her thumb hovered over the send button. Mina figured that she would be making her brother worry if she sent him such a wacky message. The mere thought of troubling her brother made her uneasy, which was quite a novel feeling for her.
What do I do here? she pondered to herself, her brother's worried face flashing in her mind as she tried to think up a new message to send.
Yuuki always looked so absentminded, he rarely showed any emotion, he seldom talked, and there were times where Mina genuinely couldn’t tell what he was thinking. He was sloppy, clumsy, not particularly good at school, and wasn’t athletically gifted or anything. In other words, he was worlds apart from the ideal older brother that everyone would envy.
Still, he was always there for Mina when she needed him the most, watching over her no matter what. Mina hung her head, completely lost. However, she suddenly recalled the way he would gently pat her head
“I’ll always be your older brother, Mina.”
Reminded of Yuuki’s words, Mina let out a quiet laugh. Her fingers moved once again, deleting that outlandish message altogether. Newfound determination flowed through her body as she put her phone away.
Regardless of what anybody else would say, Mina knew that she did well for herself today. “I’ll just take things at my own pace!”