Chapter 6 - Baggage Guy

– Uu, you"re so cruel, Ichijou-kun

One of the loners of my cla.s.s, in other words, my comrade-in-loneliness Komatsu-kun has said so with glistening eyes.
I have unconsciously had a trivial thought about how this boy"s freckles made his face look so young. Lost in thought, I forgot why he was angry for a moment.

Well, according to me, someone talking to me is a very unlikely situation.
However, this time only the circ.u.mstances are somewhat special. As the school trip is self-catering, yesterday every group had a discussion on this and that.

And I was absent at that time.

On Sunday, agreeing for some reason with my little sister"s "Beautiful girl comes in a set with a precious vase" theory, I have restored my mood by playing games. I was so enthusiastic, that my body broke down. By the end of our session, I could win two out of five fights against my little sister, so yesterday I was lying on the sickbed with a satisfaction from personal growth.

On the other hand, at the same time this feeble boy was encircled by three stylish gals and forced to talk with them.

– That was too much for me! How could you leave me alone with them!

– I"m really sorry, okay?

– You"re so…

I"m terrified just by imagining that scene.
It"s not a lightly problematic combination of "background characters and outgoing girls", but a large problem called "one background character and outgoing girls".

Sitting in silence and having no rights to speak is actually a nice outcome. If I was there, I would s.h.i.t myself from fright right there. Not only that, I feel that, if I was extorted money from, I would be saying "Please forgive me with this, thank you, thank you" while taking everything out of my purse. School castes are scary.

Although I haven"t skipped the school on purpose, I have truly done a bad thing to Komatsu-kun.
Besides, school trip is still ahead, and I don"t want to harm my companion loner"s spirit. I decided to apologize with all of my sincerity.

– Are you okay? How much did they take from you? Yeah, about that. I have to at least share half the burden.

– They haven"t taken anything from me. It"s just that it was so awkward… While the three of them were happily chatting, I was fidgeting nearby alone.

– So that"s how it went…

It seems I was imagining too much.
Well, people of different castes differ not only in cla.s.s, they are entirely different race of people. My imagination tends to go wild if I"m careless. Especially when it comes to sociable people, I end up thinking their standard is "Alcohol, blackjack and hookers"1, yet in reality they are surprisingly normal people when you speak face-to-face with them. So, people do not necessarily match their appearance.

Still, the other party this time is Tachibana Karen and her merry friends.
Appearances not matching or whatever, I know what kind of group they are.
Those girls live making fun of others, there is no such thing as too vigilant with them. Even Komatsu-kun, who knows how they will treat him in the future.

– So, that discussion… What exactly have you guys done? - I timidly asked.

– … Ichijou-kun was absent, so they decided some things on their own.

– Some things?

– Like cooking paella in a pot.

Oh my, we will do actual cooking.
It is probably because the core of our group are girls, but cooking is a somewhat attention-grabbing activity.
Though I can"t cook.

– Therefore, Ichijou-kun is now in charge of shopping.

– Why is it a.s.sumed that I know ingredients needed for paella?

– She said "That loner is smart, doesn"t he know everything anyway?"

– Too sloppy… First of all, a.s.suming I"m smart is too sloppy.

Well, I may say so, but I just need to look up the recipe and find out the ingredients.
Huh? Apart from some irresponsible points, isn"t our group unexpectedly normal?
It may called being in charge, but I"m just being a gofer. The fact that I"m going shopping, means that someone else is in charge of cooking. Seems like I"m having an easy ride this time.

… So I was thinking, but the conversation was left until after the lessons.

In general, school events are torture for loners and pessimists, so I rejoiced, having found out that trip will be easier than I thought. Not so easy that I would start humming though… I came to the library a bit tensed up.

Tachibana was there, at the usual place.

Seems like today she is not so motivated to study.
She was playing with her abundant blonde hair while listlessly looking out of the window.

There was a clear blue sky outside.
This room is on the opposite side of the sports ground, so yells coming from sports clubs were not resounding, but felt more like faint echoes. This almost empty and soundless room gives an impression that it is strangely isolated from any other place, both visually and acoustically.

It seems Tachibana has noticed me.

– Ah, bookworm…♪

She blinked at looked at me with round eyes.
She started smiling, but apparently she suddenly recalled something at that moment. Her expression changed to the blaming stare,

– …No way.

– What? If it"s about yesterday"s absence, I"m sorry.

Well, we do belong to the same group… And I haven"t partic.i.p.ated in the discussion.
Moreover, I haven"t helped with her studies.
This apology is not the same with the one I expressed to Komatsu-kun, but it"s not that I don"t think I should say "I"m sorry" to her.

– How is your health?

– No problems. Then, let"s quickly start. Which subject today?

However, when I got closer, Tachibana held out her hand to me.
What is it? Is she saying "Hand over"?

Eh? Is this…

– Extortion…?

– No! Idi-o-o-t! Bookworm is an idi-o-o-t!

Tachibana has folded her arms in dissatisfied manner and puffed out her cheeks.

What should I have taken out for it to be correct?

– Smartphone! LINE! I was simply worried and couldn"t contact you!

– Aa, so that"s what it was about…

– School trip doesn"t matter. Well… I have done as I pleased thanks to your absence. But not being able to make a contact during times like this… No way.

– Didn"t I just take a day off?

I see. Still, I"m a little troubled here…

– I don"t have it

– Don"t have what?

– I truly don"t have it. Neither smartphone nor cell phone. Never had one. Even once.

Tachibana was lightly lost for words, getting stiff for a moment.
She couldn"t even reply "Seriously?" or "Stop kidding, quickly take it out"
Instead, she gave me a criticizing look,

– Seriously, no way, virgin

– How do you even link it to virgin!

This girl, she just wants to say virgin this, virgin that.

Not that her being surprised is unreasonable.
Nowadays, it"s almost impossible to finds someone in high school who doesn"t have a phone.

Nevertheless, yeah… There are many benefits to not having smartphone.
Your contact address book is so hollow, there is absolutely no possibility of feeling inferiority complex due to anybody.
By the way, right after cla.s.s shuffle, during the common contacts exchange, it is magnificent as I can act grandly. After all, I don"t have a phone in the first place.

– If anything, why don"t you have one? Everyone has it, you know? Are you a fossil?

– Excuse me for answering a question with a question, but why do you think that a loner has a need for it? I simply do not need it. Something like "parents are prohibiting me from having it" is certainly not the case.

– In that case, go quickly buy one. You"re not loner anymore. Now there is me.

– Huh? I"m not proud of it, but even if I buy one, there is no one except you to register as a contact. I"m not going to pay phone price and mobile fees because of one person.

– Please?

– No

– Seriously, please…

Tachibana has roughly clasped my arm sleeve and stared at me with a serious look.
She pulled me so close, I could smell her scent. Somehow, this girl has different perfume every single day… Uh, what am I thinking about?

Why is it that… I have been like this many times, but I still can"t get used to looking someone in the eye.
I feel my heart squeezing every time it happens. Truly stressful. What face should I make, where should I look, I honestly don"t understand…
Thus, I reflexively turn my gaze away and answer.

– …Sometime, soon. I"ll tell when I buy it.

– Yay, great! I"m counting on you, truly.

Soon, I didn"t say when exactly.
One year later is approximately soon too, yeah. Perfectly true.

In the end, I was still outsmarted.
Later that day, when we were finished with studies, Tachibana has already cheered up and gave my back a poke with her usual complacent smile.

– Hey, bookworm? Then, we meet on Sat.u.r.day at 12 o"clock in front of the station.

There is absolutely no logic in what she said.
I asked with my facial expression only "What are you talking about?"
As a result, for some reason she triumphantly grinned.

– Eh, haven"t you heard? Shopping, it was decided that you will go.

– I know that I"m in charge of shopping. That sort of work, I can do it alone.

– Look here, there"s no way I will entrust it to you alone, lol. And the recipe is already decided on. Everything was on the premise that I will go along.

Uh, she certainly has a point.
Besides, haven"t you meddled with me too much recently?
I haven"t thought that her meddling will expand to my days off.
Look, make advances on more guys, otherwise your qualifications and reputation as a b.i.t.c.h will drop.

Come to think of it, rumors of her being b.i.t.c.hy, how true are they?

– Well, that"s how it is, so you absolutely cannot catch a cold or anything on Sat.u.r.day, Baggage guy.

– Haa… For the reference, if I accidentally catch a cold, what will happen?

– Every day I will come to tease you during lunch break in front of everyone. You don"t like it, right? I already know that.

– I"ll go, I"ll go. Err, I would be glad to accompany you.

– Very well ♪

And this are the circ.u.mstances of how my plans for weekend were drawn up.
How am I going to explain this to Keyaki?

– Fufu… I"m so looking forward to it. Do you?

– Eh, ah, I do.

– Haha, you"re so shy.

I seriously don"t understand what type of face to make in front of her.
And it doesn"t look like to change no matter how many days pa.s.s.