Chapter 1: There’s no way a Side Character like me could be popular, right?
My time in middle school wasn’t the greatest. Actually, scratch that—I’d say my past 15 years on this earth have been pretty shitty.
People have always avoided me. I don’t know whether it’s out of fear, hatred, or something else. If I had to hazard a guess, I’d say it’s because of my looks. Apparently, I look like I’m constantly out for blood. Well, that’s the story of my life summed up: people stay well out of my way, so I never had much chance for social interaction.
Ever since entering high school, though, things have definitely started to look up. Yeah, I’d say my life is pretty decent right now. Don’t get me wrong—there are still swarms of people who basically shit their pants at the mere sight of me or immediately want to bash my face in. But at least now I can say there are also people who understand my situation.
Take one of my classmates, Asakura Yoshito, for example. We got to know each other at a school event. Although he was scared of me at first, we’ve ended up becoming buds. There’s also Kai Rekka. Sure, I had to beat the shit out of him first, but he’s been a good friend ever since. Next, we have Chiaki Makiri-Sensei. She’s one of the few people who took a shine to me, and she’s been on my side from the beginning. She’s never really cared about how I looked. And let’s not forget about Touka. We’re faking a relationship right now, but she’s really been a big help overall. Last, but not least, there’s the real protagonist of this story—Ike Haruma, my best friend.
Thanks to them, I’ve been able to experience a fairly normal high school life and live out my youth.
Well, there are still a fair amount of hurdles. I guess I should mention that there are a lot of people who doubt my innocence, as well as others who question the validity of my relationship with Touka.
One of those people happens to be Haruma’s childhood friend, Hasaki Kana. She’s basically the school’s idol, and she’s got a lot going for herself. She treats everyone equally and always talks to them with a smile on her face—everyone, of course, except for me. Let’s not forget that she’s a national contender in tennis and entered this prestigious school with the highest marks in the entire prefecture. Add her beauty, friendly personality, athleticism, and brains together, and you get a formula for one of the school’s most popular girls. She constantly has guys chasing after her. Even I have to admit that she’s pretty cute.
Everyone knows that she has a thing for Haruma, but that doesn’t deter heaps of guys from confessing to her every week. Like, heaps and heaps. Tons.
Anyway, back on topic—she’s someone who basically likes everybody, and everybody likes her in return. So knowing that she’s not only so against my “relationship” with Touka, but also against me as a person makes me feel awful. She must really hate my guts.
Now just compare her, one of the school’s idols, to me, the school’s outcast. That’s why I’m really optimistic about how things have turned out in the last few days and how they’ll develop from here. I think it could be a great chance to overturn the status quo.
☆
A few days ago, I found a letter inside my locker. It told me to meet them behind the gym building later that day, so I did. At first, I figured it was either some stupid punk trying to pick a fight, or someone ballsy enough to try and pull a prank on me. Still, in the back of my mind,
I couldn’t shake the feeling that something was off about the whole thing. But it wasn’t until I saw the author of the letter that I was truly shocked.
“I’m really sorry to have you come all the way out here out of the blue.”
It was Hasaki Kana who left the letter in my locker. What the hell was going on?
The scene totally looked like a love confession. As if that would ever happen, though, right? I reminded myself that I was the side character, so I needed to think rationally. Someone like me would never get a sudden confession.
We looked at each other silently. The only sounds around us were made by the whispering wind as it played with her hair. Her hair was tied into a cute side ponytail, and it fluttered in the breeze.
After what felt like an eternity of silence, she took a deep breath, steeled herself for what she wanted to say, and faced me head-on.
“I’m so sorry, but could we start as friends and see how things go from there?!”
...Wait, what? What the hell did she just say?
I completely forgot about the whole side character thing for a moment. Had I just been friendzoned without a proper confession first? Huh?
