After I Confessed to My Childhood Friend and Got Rejected, I Threw a Game Offline Meetup to Cheer Myself Up, Only to Find Out My Long-Time Gaming Buddy Was Actually the Quiet, Silver-Haired Swedish Beauty Who's the Cutest Girl in School - Chapter 8: The Queen of the Classroom

Chapter 8: The Queen of the Classroom

Amamiya Takaaki disliked Takasaki Rinka.

Her personality was the typical queen bee type.

She put on a good face for people she liked, but she thoroughly looked down on those she disliked.

Amamiya, who did not stand out in the class, was no exception, and for Takasaki, he was nothing more than a creepy guy clinging to Karina.

“Hey, you’re bothering her, so could you stop talking to Karina? What if her image drops because of you? You get that, right?”

She called someone she had never even spoken to “you” and ranted on in a contemptuous tone.

Faced with someone he disliked, Amamiya could not find words to respond.

The terror that if he said something and it touched her sore spot, his school life from here on might become even worse flashed through Amamiya’s mind.

In this classroom, Amamiya had no allies.

No matter what cruel words Takasaki spat out, if she ordered it, all the classmates would turn against him.

He would become the target of bullying.

Takasaki held that much power and status.

Because defying her risked turning the spearhead toward oneself, everyone around had no choice but to obey.

“S-Sorry…”

“Then get lost already. Guys who can only communicate through their lame otaku hobbies are such a pain. Zero teamwork, can’t read the room at all, seriously just disappear?”

“Hahaha! You nailed it, Rinka-chan!”

“Takasaki-san, you’re too merciless! Poor guy~!”

Takasaki and her entourage ganged up to make Amamiya, who had stood up with his bento in hand, the butt of their laughter.

Even so, Amamiya endured it.

He desperately told himself that this was still on the better side.

If Takasaki got serious, it would not end at this level.

(A guy who deserves to be laughed at just gets laughed at and that’s it. That’s fine…)

“Karina is my best friend, so don’t get all buddy-buddy with her again, you gross otaku.”

As Amamiya tried to move away from his desk after receiving Takasaki’s prickly words, Karina, who had been quietly sitting next to him all along, grabbed his arm and held him back.

“Pathetic… It’s really pathetic, isn’t it?”

Karina let the words out in a voice utterly devoid of emotion, cold to the core.

Thinking she was siding with the teasing toward Amamiya, Takasaki tried to pile on further―――

“Rinka-chan’s inability to read the room, the way she gangs up like animals on people who don’t fit. It’s so pathetic that just watching makes me embarrassed. Why don’t you stop already?”

The one Karina sided with was not Takasaki, but Amamiya.

Caught off guard by the unexpected turn, Takasaki stood there stunned.

“What…?”

“More like, I was the one who called out to Takaaki-kun first, so who I choose to be friends with has nothing to do with you, right, Rinka-chan?”

Karina thrust the truth at her with a face full of composure.

But such truth did not resonate with the classist Takasaki.

“Of course it does! Karina eating with a loner? No way that’s happening. No matter how you think about it, there are way more benefits to eating with us, right?”

“Why?”

Karina tilted her head, as if she truly could not understand.

“Because we are cool, aren’t we? We don’t talk about boring game stuff, and we have tons of cool friends and connections. If you think about the future, it makes sense to hang with our side, doesn’t it?”

“Listen, if that’s how you do things, Rinka-chan, I won’t deny it. Wanting recognition from others, that approval-seeking urge, I think it’s totally fine. If that’s what you want, go ahead and do whatever. But forcing your values on others is out of the question. You want to surround yourself with popular people left and right. I want to chat with Takaaki-kun. That’s all there is to it, but you keep butting in without listening to the people involved; honestly, that’s annoying.”

Faced with a gaze like that of a cold-hearted witch, Takasaki involuntarily stepped back.

The word “annoying,” which had flown from Karina’s mouth for the first time, had more than enough power to strip away Takasaki’s facade.

“…Don’t get cocky and talk down to me, Karina. Who do you think kept you from getting bullied all this time in high school? Without that face of yours, you’d just be a gloomy bottom-tier loner! You always make that bored face and give nothing but boring replies!”

“Because all of Rinka-chan’s talk is so boring.”

“You little!”

“Ah, Rinka-chan, stop! Hold it, hold it!”

“Yeah, yeah, you don’t have to listen to a girl like that!”

Takasaki’s entourage hurriedly held her back as she moved to strike.

They soothed her in their usual fawning tone.

Nagase Karina, was she just too honest, or did she have no sense of danger?

Amamiya, watching from the side, broke out in a cold sweat.

She had angered that Takasaki this much, yet she showed no fear of the misfortune that might come her way after this.

“Tch, what a buzzkill. Let’s go, you guys…”

Soothed and somewhat calmed, Takasaki turned her back to Karina with a face that still seemed like she wanted to say more.

She seemed to have given up.

Just when it seemed the matter was settled―――

“Wait. There’s just one thing I need you to correct, or I won’t feel right.”

Karina ended up calling out to stop Takasaki.

Amamiya’s eyes nearly welled up with tears, and Kumagai Toshimitsu, who had been quietly drinking juice nearby, whistled.

Before he knew it, Kumagai had been spectating too.

“Huh? What?”

“Games aren’t pathetic at all. They entertain people, make them lonely, make them work hard… They bring people together, the greatest tool in human history.”

At the word “bring together,” Amamiya caught his breath with a start.

If there had been no offline meeting, he would never have learned that Dragon Head was Karina.

If he had not been playing “Arcadia Fantasy,” he might never have crossed paths with Dragon Head and could have kept spending his days alone in a dark room.

“So that’s why I’ll keep talking games a ton with Takaaki-kun from now on. I want to. But if he doesn’t like it, I won’t. What about you, Takaaki-kun?”

“Uh, um… Yeah, I want to.”

Caught off guard by the sudden shift to him, Amamiya answered honestly.

He wanted to talk games a ton with Nagase Karina.

Because they were partners.

“So correct what you said earlier, Rinka-chan.”

The words carried Karina’s firm resolve, full of force.

Would Takasaki correct herself, he wondered as he watched―――

“Tch, whatever…”

Without correcting or arguing back, Takasaki left the classroom.

The classmates, who had watched the whole thing, were left dumbfounded, but Kumagai Toshimitsu, who had finished his juice, said “Bravo” and clapped.

That sparked applause from various spots in the classroom.

Everyone had been moved by Karina’s courageous action.

Amamiya felt the same.

Karina had protected him, the one who had said nothing and just stood by watching.

“Seriously, Rinka-chan has such a stiff head. Sorry, Takaaki-kun. Because of me…”

“No, it’s not like that. Actually, because you spoke up, Karina, I’m the one who’s saved…”

The two started flirting like a fresh couple.

The applause died down, and the classroom returned to its usual noisy bustle.

Amazed at how quickly the classmates switched gears, Amamiya sat back at his seat.

Then Karina hurriedly sat next to him, as if refusing to yield to anyone.

The faint, girly sweet scent wafting over made Amamiya tense up all over again.

The idea that he was eating lunch with that Nagase Karina felt far too unreal.

But this was not a game; it was reality.

Life was always on hard mode, and no one knew how it would progress or end.

Including all that, Amamiya Takaaki’s life had begun moving in an unexpected direction.

In the corner of the classroom, Tojo Chika watched with distaste, biting her lower lip.

(Why… why did it turn out like this…)