Chapter 3: The Side Character and the Heroine
It was the next day, and I was at school once again. Same old, same old.
I entered the classroom, and all the lively chatter that was going on immediately stopped. It was dead silent.
I hadn’t done anything wrong, so I just went to my seat. I felt a little upset about the situation.
“Yo. Morning, dude,” Ike called out to me the moment I sat down.
“Morning.”
As we exchanged greetings, everyone else slowly went back to chatting. Weird.
Last year, people wouldn't even talk while I was in the classroom. I figured it would have been the same thing this year, too. Maybe it was because they had some extra time before classes started? Maybe it was because it was a new class with fresh faces? I didn't know why, but at least they seemed to be less on guard than I'd expected.
“Well, yesterday, I pretty much told them how you're anything but a criminal. Seems like I've managed to convince them, at least a little."
Ike didn’t sound very happy about the classroom’s attitude, though.
“Always sticking your nose into other people’s business.”
“I just wanted everyone to know that you’re actually not a bad guy at all. You haven't really done anything since last year to warrant the way they've been treating you, so that's why they trusted me. I guess you didn't want me to do that, though?"
“Do whatever you want.”
I tried to answer as coldly as I could; in reality, though, I couldn’t have been happier—he'd actually helped me, his friend, out. Then again, he was the protagonist—of course he’d help his friend out, right?
“Yep. Will do,” he retorted with a smile.
The bell rang, which signaled the beginning of class. Our teacher entered the room.
“Good morning. I’m taking attendance, so everyone sit down in your seats.”
“Smell ya later.”
And with that, Ike returned to his chair.
☆
Classes ended without much fuss. The final bell rang, signalling the end of school, and I stood up, ready to head home.
“Yuuji—if you're free, could you lend me a hand for a bit? I have some printouts for the first years here, and I have to carry them from the printing room to the student council one. I can’t really carry them all alone, so…”
Ike bowed his head apologetically. He was popular in school, so he'd managed to win the vote to be the Student Council’s president, no problem.
“Hm? Helping the Student Council? I mean, sure. As long as it doesn’t take an eternity.”
“Thanks! Sorry to ask you. I owe you one."
“Sweet.”
Before we went to the printing room, we decided to leave our bags in the student council room. There were a number of buildings in the school: one where the classes were located, one that dealt with the administrative side of things, etc. The student council room was located on the second floor of the administrative building, so we headed over there.
Ike fished a key out of his bag once we reached the door.
“Wait a sec, lemme open the door real quick… Oh, wait, it’s already open.”
“Forgot to close it last time?”
“No, it's gotta be…," he whispered as he opened the door. It opened to reveal a woman inside the room.
“Good work today, Makiri-sensei.”
“Yeah, the same for you, Ike-kun… Looks like you’ve come to help out again, Tomoki-kun?”
She was Makiri Chiaki, a teacher at the school and the advisor for the student council. She was pretty new—she'd transferred here last year—but she’d already built up a fanbase because of her youth and cute looks.
I wouldn't let her looks deceive you, though. She was tough as nails and acted like it around everyone. She garnered not only admiration, but also fear.
“I didn’t have anything better to do, so yeah.”
I actually liked her. Not because of her looks or anything like that...
“I see, thanks. You’re a lifesaver.”
…It was because she didn’t look at me like everyone else did. She wasn't guarded around me, nor did she hate or fear me. She always looked at me gently instead. She didn't judge a book by its cover, so she saw me for who I really was. That was something I couldn’t really say about the rest of the teachers I’d had so far.
“I’ll leave the rest to you, Ike-kun. I just came here to grab the council's daily activity report.”
She took the report and left.
“Good for you, huh?” Ike joked and nudged me with his elbow.
“Oh, shut up,” I answered with a smack to his shoulder.
“Come on, bro! That hurt! Let’s get to carrying those prints, Yuuji.”
☆
“Hey, Haruma! Doing Student Council work?”
As we headed toward the printing room, we heard a cheerful voice calling out to Ike.
“Yep. I gotta hand these out to the freshmen.”
“Oh, really? Nice work!”
The girl who called him out smiled. Her name was Hasaki Kana, and she was one of the school's beauties. She was also one of Ike’s childhood friends, so you can already guess that good looks weren’t the only thing she had going for her.
There were a lot of guys who chased after her because of her celebrity-tier looks, but she was more than just a pretty face. She was also a great athlete. She was part of the tennis club at school, and apparently also pretty famous—known nationally, as a matter of fact.
“What about you? Going home and straight to the court?”
“Mhm. Sorry that I can’t help you while you're stuck doing all the Council work alone,” she replies in a light-hearted tone.
Heh, I would expect no less from one of Ike’s childhood friends. Your run-of-the-mill childhood friend would have probably been super awkward and embarrassed when talking to the protagonist—you know, blushing, stuttering, and all that. But she acted completely normal around him.
“Nah, don’t worry about it. Yuuji’s here helping me out.”
And the moment he mentioned my name…
“Wait. By Yuuji, you mean… Tomoki-kun?” She whispered to him, looking rather nervous.
She had been so focused on talking to Ike that she hadn't even noticed me. Not wanting to be the elephant in the room, I popped out from behind him so she could see me clearly.
“Eek! T-Tomoki-kun! S-Sorry! I couldn’t see you behind Haruma, and…!”
She looked seriously nervous. Well, when it came to interacting with girls, that was nothing new. I mean, I actually felt bad for scaring her because of my face. For real.
“Don’t sweat it.”
“O-Okayyy!” She shouted. Her face was beet red, and her teeth were chattering.
“...I’ll just go ahead to the printing room before you.”
“Don’t. I’m coming with you. Anyways, Kana, do your best at the tennis club today," he told her before running up to me.
“Oh, okay. Do your best with the Student Council stuff too, Haruma… and you too, Tomoki-kun!” She answered, trying to hold her fear back as much as possible.
Well, “A” for effort. Most of the students just ignored me and never talked to me ever again, so…
I nodded in reply, and she sighed in relief. She placed one hand over her chest, her face still bright red.
Was talking to me really that much of a nerve-wracking experience? I couldn’t stop thinking about her reaction and the way she spoke to me the moment she realised I was there. I might have looked scary on the outside, but I was actually very self-conscious.
☆
“Thanks, Yuuji. You seriously helped me out."
Ike thanked me after we finished carrying all the papers.
“Don’t sweat it. Like I said, I had nothing better to do anyway."
No, really—I had no plans after school. I’d never been able to join a club, so all I did when I got home from school was stuff like studying, playing sports, reading manga or light novels... that sort of thing.
Some people played games, but that wasn't really my thing. I'd tried them before, but most of them were multiplayer and required other players to join in on the fun. Now, they mostly just annoyed me.
“Anything else you need help with?”
“Nothing really springs to mind. I can finish this stuff pretty quickly on my own.”
“Okay, then I’m out.”
“Hey! Wait a sec, dude!”
I turned around and managed to catch the can of cold coffee that he threw at me. It was probably from the fridge in the room.
“Here's your payment for today.”
“Didn't you say earlier that you owed me one?” I said jokingly.
“Come on dude, how could I forget about that? Consider this a bonus.”
“I'll take it then, no complaints.”
“Nice. See you around.”
“See you.”
We both looked at each other and nodded. Just as I’d opened the door to step out, though, Another girl passed in front of me. She stopped and turned around—I assume because of the noise the door made when I opened it. Our eyes met.
“Eek!” She screamed and quickly backed away. She saw my face and started trembling. Even though something similar had just happened with Hasaki, I still found the reaction just as shocking.
She had a red ribbon on her uniform, so she must've been a first year.
I felt sorry that she had to look at my mug on her very first day of school.
“What’s wrong, Yuuji?”
Ike came out of the room, no doubt concerned by the scream he'd heard.
“Nah, it’s nothing.”
Nothing out of the norm, anyway. If this was how she'd reacted just from looking at me, imagine how she would've been if I'd actually said “hi” to her. She would’ve ran away screaming and crying for sure.
“Oh, Touka, it’s you. What are you doing here?”
Ike seemed to know her, given how casually he was speaking to her and calling her by name. She regained her composure after seeing him, and that small window of time gave me the opportunity to see what she actually looked like.
She had light brown hair that reached her shoulders. She wore a little makeup, but it looked pretty natural. My initial opinion of her was a normal fashionable girl, if you know what I mean.
“Didn’t I tell you to not talk to me while we’re at school?” She whispered, not even looking at him.
Wait, what the hell?! Ike talked to her, and she wasn't happy about it?
Ike interrupted my thoughts by answering, “Yeah, yeah. Whatever. By the way, I’ll introduce you two. He’s Tomoki Yuuji, the guy I’m always talking to you about. Be sure to treat him nicely.”
He completely ignored the fact that she said not to talk to her.
“Do I need to repeat myself? I said… wait, he’s the Tomoki Yuuji?”
She looked at me again, clearly puzzled.
What had he meant by "the guy I’m always talking to you about"? And what was up with that look on her face? As for me, I was just as clueless about the expression on my face, or even what I should have been feeling.
“‘Sup.”
I attempted to be as expressionless as possible when I whispered to her; I couldn’t even muster a smile.
She stared straight at me.
“Hmmm… Hi there. I’m Ike Touka—Ike Haruma’s little sister. He’s always talking about you, Tomoki-senpai. He says you’re a reliable person.”
He did? I mean, I’d take her word for it. Damn, did I ever feel lucky. I was honored to be his side character.
…Wait a sec, that wasn't what I should've been surprised about!
“Wait, you’re his little sister?”
My head was still a little clouded by what she said. When I took a better look at her, though, I could see the resemblance. I mean, she was beautiful, so I guess they'd both gotten their equal share of the beauty gene.
“Yep, that’s me.”
Judging by how she had treated him earlier, I assumed she was a tsundere. She had to be the type that really cared for her brother deep down, even if she didn’t show it on the outside. Or maybe she lied to herself too, pretending that she didn't care when she really did. Whatever the case, I was sure she was one or the other.
“I’ll get back to my job. Could you spend some time with her, Yuuji?”
“Uh, sure. Break a leg, dude.”
Ike returned to the Council room. I could see his sister glare at his retreating figure.
I bet she was annoyed because she'd wanted to spend more time with him, but he left early… or something like that.
“I’m honestly surprised. I never figured I'd be able to meet you of all people.”
“I’m also quite surprised, Tomoki-senpai. You look super menacing!”
She'd changed her attitude and was smiling. This was a total 180 from the way she first looked at me; maybe she was playing coy? I didn't really have any experience speaking to girls like this, though, so my answer wasn't as smooth as I'd hoped.
“R-Right?” I managed to stutter, not really knowing what else to say. I wasn't the most sociable person, and it showed.
“The hell? What do you mean, 'right'? I’m starting to like you."
She flashed me a bright smile.
It seemed like my fumbling ass was accidentally funny. Nice, I guess?
“Gotta say, though, Senpai—you really are menacing. And funny.”
“I am?”
It was the first time a girl had ever called me funny. Actually, I don't think a guy had ever called me that, either... So it was more like the first time anyone had ever called me funny. Period.
“Yeah! Actually, let’s exchange phone numbers! Pretty please?”
“Huh? I mean, sure?”
“Yaaay!”
Judging by her reaction, not to mention the look on her face, she was happy about receiving my number.
I opened my phone and managed to add her to my contacts after a bit of struggling. Hey, prior to this, I'd only ever used it to talk with Ike. I didn't really know how it worked.
Now I’d be able to talk to his sister, as well. I guess it was one more excuse to use my phone.
The moment I added her number, I received a message. It wasn't even a normal message. It was some kinda sticker of… whatever the hell that thing was supposed to be, accompanied by a speech bubble that read, ‘Let’s get along!’
I’d never received a message like this from a girl before, so I’d be lying if I said that I hadn't been happy about it.
“Yeah, sure. Let’s get along,” I answered.
“Mhm! Let’s get along from now on, Seeenpai!♡”
Ike Touka, in a move that filled the role of the protagonist's little sister perfectly, gave me a brilliant smile while clutching her phone with both hands.
☆
