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 9: Tojo and Karina-san

Chapter 9: Tojo and Karina-san

The rooftop spread out under the sunset sky.

Waiting for the summoned Amamiya was the school’s number one beauty, Yukimichi Ayaka.

Beautiful in appearance, athletic in all sports, top-class grades, elegant speech and behavior like a young lady. She possessed all the elements that drew in every boy, making her the main heroine of this world.

The reason such a girl had summoned the utterly unremarkable Amamiya Takaaki was―――

“Takaaki-sama, I admire you. Though it is I who asks, would you become my lover…?”

Amamiya’s heart was struck by her bold confession of love, delivered with a blush on her cheeks.

Was there a man who could refuse this? No, there was not!

“Though it is I who is unworthy, please take care of me!”

“Takaaki-sama…”

Ah, a dream-like life was about to begin―――

“Please die.”

Thud!

A dry sound echoed.

He was shot.

Right through the center of his heart, with a gun.

His uniform chest stained bright red, and Amamiya collapsed on the spot.

“If you thought a confession like that would let you become my lover, you are greatly mistaken! Ohohoho!!”

Yukimichi blew away the smoke rising from the gun barrel with a puff and laughed loudly.

The expression on her face as she looked down at the cooling Amamiya was filled with madness.

She was a psychopath.

<GAME OVER>

Amamiya’s shoulders slumped at the blood-smeared game over screen.

He had played the second-hand romance game he bought for 680 yen from start to midnight after getting home, which left dark circles under his eyes.

Why did these romance games always take a suspicious turn the further into the latter half you got?

The early parts let you攻略 the heroines and clear them normally, but the added stories later felt like something entirely different.

A worldview where the heroines naturally brought firearms or weapons to school.

Choices that killed you on first playthrough.

Bad ends that left a sour taste in your stomach.

Amamiya forced the game to quit with the controller.

For a second-hand 680 yen item, the replay value was more than sufficient, but he had no motivation left to play any further.

He had bought it as a reference for getting along with beautiful girls, but in the end, he gained no results from it.

Real girls did not fall for the protagonist easily like game heroines, nor did they engage in excessive skinship.

It was not that easy mode.

“Getting along with Karina is great, but if I do something she hates… it could end up like a bad end with Chika…”

The trauma from the day he confessed to Tojo resurfaced, but he no longer felt like throwing up from the disgust.

It was proof that he was recovering better than before.

The biggest factor was that he had gotten along with the real girl Karina, who was overwhelmingly cuter than any game character.

Just talking with her let him forget all the bad things.

“But if girls like Takasaki get involved like last time, it’ll cause trouble for Karina…”

If asked whether he was a guy worthy of Karina, he could proudly say “No, I’m not,” and that summed up Amamiya’s current situation.

To put it bluntly, there were too many elements of insecurity in his looks and mentality, and he did not know where to start fixing them.

He had searched online and in videos for “how to become cool” or “how to become handsome,” but none of it clicked with him.

“I want to become a man worthy of Karina…”

Since his little sister was sleeping in the next room and it would bother the neighbors, Amamiya yelled in a suppressed voice.

He wanted to be reborn as a cool guy if he was Karina’s friend.

A “normie” surrounded by friends, living a fulfilling high school life.

The next morning.

To avoid bumping into Tojo on the way to school, Amamiya left home early and hurried toward school.

Anna had seen him off with a puzzled look on her face, but since she was quick on the uptake, she would figure it out eventually.

How long would this relationship continue?

Tojo had given him harsh feedback and rejected him utterly, but he recognized that his own sloppiness was the cause.

So, in a corner of his heart, he hoped to start over with Tojo as friends if possible.

“I…”

Even while changing into his indoor shoes at the shoe lockers, Amamiya kept worrying.

<Get along more with Karina>

<Become a friend worthy of Karina>

<Make up with Tojo>

They were all quests of high difficulty, and he had no confidence in clearing them all.

“Good morning, Takaaki-kun! Nice weather today, huh!”

Someone patted the back of the troubled-looking Amamiya.

When he turned around in a fluster, there was a silver-haired beauty waving her hand, so dazzling that even looking at her felt presumptuous.

“K-K-Karina-san!?”

“Argh, how many times do I have to say it? Use my name casually. Yo, bi, su, te!”

“K… Ka… rina.”

Amamiya corrected himself in a small voice, enchanted by the mischievous, little-devil-like Karina who pointed it out with her hands clasped behind her back.

She was supposed to be the person he talked to the most lately, yet he still could not get used to it.

“Then, shall we head to the classroom together? It’s still early, so we can take it slow.”

“Y-Yeah. Let’s do that…”

“Hehe, Takaaki-kun, your voice is shaking too much. You’re not going to say you’re still nervous even after all the good stuff we did a ton of, right~?”

Nearby students all turned their attention at once to Karina’s suggestive remark.

The “good stuff” she meant was running dungeons, gathering materials, and攻略ing.

It was absolutely not something shady.

(There it is… Karina’s natural remarks!)

She had no such intention. She was just a natural airhead.

But it had more than enough destructive power to embarrass Amamiya to death.

Since he had communication issues, he could not explain that it was a misunderstanding, so with his face flushed bright red, Amamiya headed to the classroom with Karina.

“Hey, Takaaki-kun, are you in any clubs? I’m in the go-home club, so I head straight home.”

It was obvious without thinking that Karina, who always logged into “Arcadia Fantasy” before him, was not in any club.

Though the go-home club was not an actual club.

“I’m not in any either, but is something up?”

“Actually, it’s like this and that…”

“No, I don’t get it!?”

Amamiya was shocked that in reality, there was actually someone who tried to explain with “kakukakushikajika.”

“Actually, there’s this club I’ve been interested in for a while. I thought it would be fun if Takaaki-kun and I joined together~”

“A club, huh…”

In Amamiya’s dictionary, who was bad at interacting with people, the words “let’s join a club” did not exist.

It was not that he hated people. He was just bad at it.

That was why he had avoided clubs with group activities, but…

(To get along more with Karina, turning down the invitation is a no-go. Steel yourself, Amamiya Takaaki!)

“I-It should be fine, I guess…”

“Yay! I figured Takaaki-kun would say that.”

“So, by the way, what does that club do…?”

“Hehe, it’s the ‘Game Research Club,’ our specialty field!”

“Game Research Club… Ah, right, come to think of it.”

Amamiya recalled the club introduction held in the gym at the start of high school.

It had been quite memorable, so the memory came back vividly.

(They were there, yeah. The seniors who took over the whole gym with flashy performances and got yelled at big time by the teachers…)

On stage, an anime-like song played, and from the smoke of dry ice, the club president senior appeared.

Holding the mic, he rapped his passionate feelings about games and danced.

All the freshmen had been totally put off, though.

“Th-That one, huh… I remember it… It was intense, right.”

“Yeah, yeah. I’ve always wanted to join, but alone it felt embarrassing… I didn’t have friends around to join with. So, I thought getting along with Takaaki-kun was my chance.”

Amamiya nodded in understanding.

He liked games, and given his personality that could not turn down people’s requests, he had no reason to refuse.

“Then, how about we go check it out this afternoon?”

“Hehe, I was thinking the same thing. That’s my partner for you. Surely Takaaki-kun and I are tied by the red string of fate…”

“Eh…!?”

Even Amamiya, who had been careful not to misunderstand, could not help but feel expectant at that remark.

“Just kidding~ It was a joke. You’re so cute when you get embarrassed.”

But Karina stuck out her tongue, winked, and revealed it was a joke.

What a sinful woman she was.

Amamiya truly felt his life was in danger from this.

If he kept getting teased like this by the school’s top beauty, he doubted his heart would hold out until afternoon.

“…You two over there, a moment of your time?”

A familiar voice came from behind, and Amamiya stopped in his tracks.

Karina, who had been walking cheerfully beside him, also halted and turned back with a puzzled look on her face.

“Huh, Tojo-san? Do you need something from us?”

It was his childhood friend Tojo Chika.

She stood there with her arms crossed, her face looking extremely awkward.

Amamiya felt queasy from that sharp gaze he had tried to forget and wanted to bolt, but

“I need something from Takaaki only. It has nothing to do with you.”

Tojo approached and grabbed his arm, making escape impossible.

Perhaps because they had known each other since elementary school, Tojo could predict Amamiya’s actions.

“Um, Tojo-san. Could you stop since Takaaki-kun looks uncomfortable?”

“So I said, don’t make me say it twice. I need something from Takaaki, not Nagase-san. You’re in the way, so could you go somewhere else?”

The surrounding air grew heavy.

Because Tojo and Karina were glaring at each other with Amamiya in between.