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 - Extra: Confession Event

Extra: Confession Event

It was only pretty recently that I found out how popular the game research club president, Amane-senpai, actually is.

I’d left something in the clubroom and was wandering all over school looking for Amane-senpai, who had the key. That’s when I accidentally peeked behind the gym and caught her alone with a male student.

We were pretty close, but I ducked out of sight without making a sound, so they never noticed me.

Still, when a guy and a girl are alone behind the gym after school, there’s only one thing it usually means.

A confession.

I got curious about who was confessing, so I held my breath and kept watching without letting them spot me. Plus, I still needed to talk to Amane-senpai anyway.

“Amane! I like you! Please go out with me!”

The guy was the one confessing. He bowed deeply and held out a trembling hand.

Whoa… man, the scene hit way too close to my own old trauma…

Even though I felt a little sick, my nosy side won out and I kept watching to see how it ended.

“Alright then, shake my hand. C’mon, handshake!”

“Huh?”

The guy let out a weird squeak. I almost did too.

Normally you’d expect a yes or no, but Amane-senpai suddenly asked for a handshake instead.

(Wait, but asking for a handshake… does that mean she’s accepting…?)

While I was thinking that, the guy looked suspicious but still nervously reached out to take her hand.

The club president who only cares about games and ice-cold soda was finally about to date a guy…

“Gyaaaaaaaahhh!?”

Suddenly the guy screamed.

He let out a high-pitched shriek that could rival any girl’s and bolted, face pale like he’d seen a ghost. He didn’t even glance at my hiding spot, just sprinted flat-out toward the school gate like a relay runner.

What the heck scared him that badly?

I turned my eyes back to Amane-senpai, but she was gone. She’d vanished while I was looking the other way.

I scanned around, but she wasn’t there. Maybe she’d left in the opposite direction from where I was hiding. That’s what I thought, until—

“Hehe~ Spying on senpai’s confession scene? What a naughty kouhai you are, Amami-kun…”

“Hyah!?”

A voice came from right by my feet and I jumped like a cat that just spotted a cucumber. I hadn’t noticed because she’s so short, but she was standing right in front of me.

Amane-senpai was looking up at me with those big eyes and grinning mischievously.

“B-Buchou… um, sorry for watching without permission!”

“You’re at that age, so it’s normal to be curious. I’ll specially forgive you☆”

“Thanks!”

I knew she wasn’t the type to get seriously mad over something like peeking.

She’s the kind of person who barges into the boys’ bathroom without hesitation just to tell me what we’re doing in club that day. Compared to her usual weird behavior, what I did was still pretty tame.

“By the way, why was that guy so terrified…? He was screaming really loud.”

“There’s a super simple reason for that.”

“No way, it can’t be that simple if he screamed and ran like that…”

“It’s seriously the dumbest reason ever☆”

Amane-senpai stuck her tongue out cutely and winked, then raised her hand high. When I looked closer, she was holding something.

She suddenly opened her palm to show me.

“Ribbit ribbit~”

“It’s a frog… and a tiny one.”

A super small tree frog, about the size of a thumb, was moving around in Amane-senpai’s hand. It wasn’t a toy—it was a real, living one.

“See? Cute, right?! It’s tiny and cute just like me, right!?”

She pushed it closer like an excited kid, begging for agreement. Somehow it felt like the little frog was staring at me with its round eyes too.

“Sorry… I’m kinda bad with reptiles and stuff.”

“Hey, hey, listen up! Frogs are amphibians! Don’t mix it up!”

“Oh, right! Sorry about that!”

I bowed and apologized to the dramatically angry Amane-senpai. When I lowered my head, I accidentally made eye contact with the tree frog desperately clinging to her index finger.

It seemed really attached to her. I don’t know if frogs usually get attached to people, but it was kinda heartwarming.

“Earlier I showed this little guy to the kid who confessed, and his face went white before he ran off. I was just trying to introduce my friend, but what a rude guy~! Hmph!”

“Any normal person would react the same way… Wait, so you did realize you were being confessed to. You didn’t seem to take it seriously, so I thought you were just messing around.”

“Haha, I’m not cold enough to brush off a once-in-a-lifetime event for a student, you know? I properly listened to his confession☆”

“Once-in-a-lifetime might be a bit much, but what was your answer?”

“Of course it was no. I can’t date someone who gets scared just looking at my friend.”

She crossed her arms and let out a little “hmph,” clearly still holding a grudge. She glared resentfully in the direction the guy had run.

“By the way, this frog’s name is Melon! Not because it’s green, okay? It’s because my favorite thing is ice-cold melon soda! How’s that!?”

“Uh, that’s… really creative naming…”

“Right?! See?!”

Whoa, her energy was way too high. I couldn’t keep up.

Maybe I should just tell her what I needed, grab the clubroom key, and go.

Yeah, that’s the plan.

“Um, more importantly, about the clubroom… mgh!?”

“Shh! Two people coming from twelve o’clock! Hide!”

She clapped a hand over my mouth and dragged me forcefully toward the gym wall.

We ended up hiding behind a pillar. When I looked where Amane-senpai was staring, I saw a familiar face.

“Kenmochi-senpai! I like you! Please go out with me!”

It was the man among men.

He had a rugged face and build that didn’t seem like a normal student. If he wore casual clothes he’d look completely like an adult.

It was Kenmochi-senpai, the vice-president of the game research club.

“Oh, it’s Kenmochi. First-year? He’s getting confessed to~”

Even though she’d said to hide, Amane-senpai was giggling in a voice loud enough that they might hear, watching her friend’s confession like it was entertainment.

“Is this kind of coincidence even possible…? First Buchou gets confessed to, now Kenmochi-senpai…”

“You probably don’t know, Amami-kun, but Kenmochi is actually pretty popular. He looks scary, but he’s kind and really understanding. Like he has that mature charm? Apparently there are quite a few girls who fall for the gap between his face and his personality.”

“Surprising… I thought only guys would like him.”

Amane-senpai being popular because of her cute looks wasn’t surprising at all, but Kenmochi-senpai was so unexpected my mouth just hung open.

Still, I was curious about the outcome.

How would the confession go?

“Sorry, I can’t return your feelings.”

Kenmochi-senpai bowed apologetically. From how used to it he looked, he’d probably been confessed to and turned down plenty of times before.

The girl who confessed had tears in her eyes. She was really cute too—what a shame.

“I already have someone I like. I’m truly sorry.”

Kenmochi-senpai has someone he likes…?

So that’s why he rejected her.

I’d heard that real men are usually loyal, but seeing Kenmochi-senpai’s straightforward honesty almost brought tears to my eyes.

“I see… Sorry for taking up your time!”

The girl ran off toward the school gate like she was escaping.

Two more people whose confessions got crushed. When they get home they’ll probably curl up in bed and cry, just like I did once.

“Hmph. Kenmochi turned down a cute girl’s confession? Maybe he’s actually gay?”

Next to me, Amane-senpai rested her chin on her hand, thinking seriously.

No, he literally just said he has someone he likes.

Why does she always jump to the weirdest conclusions…? Must be because she’s a pro gamer and a total weirdo.

Or maybe it doesn’t matter.

“Hey, you two… You think I haven’t noticed?”

Kenmochi-senpai made his already scary face even scarier and turned those terrifying eyes toward our hiding spot.

It was way scarier than the contemptuous look he once gave his childhood friend. My legs gave out and I fell on my butt.

Meanwhile Amane-senpai jumped out boldly.

“Haha! As expected of the Sword Master! You found me even though I erased my presence—that’s exactly why I acknowledged you as my… ow!”

Before she could finish, she naturally got chopped on the head by Kenmochi-senpai.

While Amane-senpai held her head with teary eyes, Kenmochi-senpai reached out a hand to me, who was still sitting on the ground.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you. You got dragged into it by Amane again, right? She really is a handful…”

“H-Hey! Hand-chopping your best friend?! And the club president at that! I’m the president, you know!”

Amane-senpai, now with a bump on her head, kept weakly hitting Kenmochi-senpai’s leg with both hands. It had zero effect.

“Don’t go throwing around the game club’s authority elsewhere, Amane. If you’ve got time for this nonsense, just go home already.”

“Mukii!”

“Hm? Is that a tree frog in your hand? Cute.”

“Hehe, right? Right? See, Kenmochi has good taste after all!”

Her mood instantly recovered the second her pet frog got praised. She’s so easy. I wonder if Kenmochi-senpai knew that and praised it on purpose, or if he really meant it.

Anyway, the two who had been arguing were back to their usual good relationship as president and vice-president. They really suited each other.

(Hm, wait. Could the person Kenmochi-senpai likes be… the president…?)

That thought crossed my mind, and I looked back and forth between them awkwardly.

They’ve known each other a long time, and they’re both pro gamers. They spend a lot of time alone together in the clubroom too… so maybe it’s already set?

“By the way, who’s the girl Kenmochi likes?”

Amane-senpai asked as casually as if she were asking the time.

“Idol Takagi Yukari.”

Kenmochi-senpai answered instantly.

Looks like my guess was wrong, and I felt both relieved and strangely unsatisfied.

Well, stuff like that happens, I told myself.

“Shh! Marathon vibes coming from the 24-hour TV direction!”

“That’s not even a direction anymore!”

I ended up retorting at Amane-senpai, but someone really was coming, so the three of us quickly hid again. Things were way too lively.

We peeked out carefully to check on the two who’d arrived behind the gym. There was a nervous boy with a red face, and Karina who looked like she might yawn any second.

The moment they saw, Amane-senpai and Kenmochi-senpai both lost interest, made faces like “again?”, and casually sat down to wait for the confession to finish.

That’s because getting confessed to is just everyday life for her. It’s a normal part of school here—confessing to the school’s top beauty and getting rejected. Happens all the time.

But for me, who had started to seriously like Karina, I couldn’t stay calm. I watched the outcome even more nervously than the people involved.

“I love you! Please go out with me?”

“Who are you?”

The exchange student Thomas confessed in awkward Japanese, gathering all his courage.

Karina held both hands out in front of her, shook her head, and shot him down in seconds.

“But I love you!”

“I don’t love you~? Sorry~”

“Oh no…”

Their conversation, which I couldn’t even tell was English or Japanese, continued…

And Thomas ran off crying.

It was the usual scene, but I found myself genuinely clapping inside for Thomas, who had confessed more passionately and directly than any other student.

“Nn… This presence is Takaaki-kun!”

Her attitude flipped completely from the cold response she’d given Thomas. The second she spotted me, Karina’s face lit up with a bright smile and she came running over, waving.

How sensitive are her five senses that she can pinpoint my location just from my presence? But man, she really is cute.

“Oh, right. Since we’re all here anyway, wanna go grab some food for the first time in a while? I’m in the mood for meat, so let’s do yakiniku! Yakiniku!”

“I know a good place near the station. Let’s go there.”

“Ah, sounds good~ My stomach’s starting to growl too. You’re coming, right, Takaaki-kun?”

Amane-senpai decided everything on her own, and Kenmochi-senpai and Karina just went along with it.

We’d just gone out to eat the other day, and I still had homework to do when I got home…

(No, wait. Kumagai once told me, “If a friend invites you to eat, try not to turn it down.” If I wanna become more outgoing, I gotta go with the flow here!)

“I’m in, I’m in~!”

I raised my hand and answered as cheerfully as I could.

I really want to keep cherishing the connections I’ve finally built with the game research club. I want to know more about everyone, and I want them to know more about me too.

“Alright then, let’s go, Takaaki-kun.”

Karina took my hand and pulled me along.

I’m still nowhere near the outgoing type Kumagai was talking about, but I want to keep trying. So that one day I can become the kind of person I’m satisfied with—

“Ah.”

While Kenmochi-senpai was teaching me how to grill hormone, I suddenly remembered.

I’d left something in the clubroom… and then completely forgot to go pick it up.