Chapter 3 Part 1 – Field Trip and Group Selection

Translator: Chaos

Editor: Riciel

During homeroom one morning, the homeroom teacher announced.

“Good morning, everyone. It’s been almost a month since the new school year started. We have an annual event coming up. It’s the spring field trip.”

As soon as the students heard the word “field trip”, it was very noisy in the classroom. About 40% of the students were happy and excited, 30% were wondering who they wanted to pair up with, 10% didn’t really care, and the remaining 20%, the lone students, were mostly in despair.

For me too, field trips are just too much.

Well, the partner I’ll be working with is Sawa, just like last year.

The problem is the girls…

Last year, Sawa approached all the girls who were similarly unremarkable to us and we managed to form a group.

Let’s hope Sawa can do his best again this year…

Or even better, the homeroom teacher should leave it up to the students to decide on the group for the field trip.

I hope they realize that this is a hell of a mission for those of us in the shadows.

I’m sure those of you who get along with men and women on a regular basis will enjoy this opportunity to get closer to someone you’re interested in, but…

Speaking of which, I wonder in which group Riko will be…

I thought absentmindedly as I stared at the back of Riko sitting in the front of the classroom, in a seat by the hallway.

Since the announcement of the field trip, all the boys in the class have been glancing at her. It was obvious that everyone wanted to be part of the group that Riko was in.

Riko usually was together with five of her female classmates. This time, however, our homeroom teacher had told her that she should be in a mixed group of four or five girls and boys, so Riko and her friends would have to split into two groups.

Maybe Riko would be paired with Asakura Reina. Asakura was often mentioned in Riko’s conversations, and I could tell from the outside that the two of them got along particularly well. Asakura was a very cheerful person, talked a lot, and had a loud voice like Sawa. On top of that, she seemed to have a romantic streak, and sometimes I could hear her talking in such a cringy way, making me mentally squirm in agony. She was the complete opposite of the calm and collected Riko. Maybe that’s why they got along so well, but from my point of view, I got the feeling that Asakura was more blatantly in love with Riko, while Riko just accepted Asakura’s strong personality.

Asakura had a lot of friends, both male and female, so I was sure that one of the handsome boys with amazing social skills would approach Asakura and win the right to be in the same group with Riko through her.

As I had predicted, a crowd immediately gathered around Asakura during the next break. Riko, on the other hand, was chatting with the rest of the girls as usual.

They all knew that even if they went directly to Riko, they would be shooed away.

… But it’s a little strange, isn’t it?

At home, Riko talks a lot, and she never seems to be difficult to talk to.

It’s a mystery to me why Riko at school exudes an aura of rejection towards all boys.

For me, it’s as if there are two Rikos, the one at home and the one at school.

And in my view, the Riko at school is as distant as ever.

Sometimes our eyes meet and Riko sends me that signal, but it’s very rare that I get to see such a cute prank. [EN: Referring to chapter 2 part 4.]

So, I didn’t think it was any of my business what the boys were doing behind the scenes to get into the same group with Riko.

And yet –

◇◇◇

“Minato-kun…”

Later during lunch break.

On my way back to the bathroom, I was walking down the hallway to get back to class when I heard a familiar voice calling my name and looked around.

What? Why…

Riko was hiding in the shadows of the stairs, beckoning frantically to me as she looked around.

I made sure there was no one else in the vicinity, and then ran over to Riko.

“This way, this way.”

“Uh-huh.”

Riko called me and we snuck into the space under the stairs. There was no need to worry about anyone seeing us here.

The only problem was that it made me very aware of the fact that I was meeting with Riko alone and in secret.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to talk to you at school…”

“That’s fine, but… what’s wrong?”

That… is about the grouping for the field trip… Minato-kun… If you don’t mind, would you like to be in the same group as me?”

“Huh?”

When I received an unexpected proposal, I couldn’t help but raise my voice in a bewildered manner.

“Why would you want to be with… me? … Oh, maybe it’s an excuse to turn down the other guys?”

I see.

It’s easy how you can bypass all the troublesome invitations by just teaming up with the harmless me.

I nodded my head, thinking to myself that this was a brilliant idea.

But you don’t want to work with the other guys…

“Well, all the guys seem to be blatantly targeting Riko… It’s hard to go on a field trip with a group of people who are only interested in you.”

I’m not popular, so it’s just my imagination. So I wanted to show my concern for Riko, who was troubled by this problem. However, when I told her that, she surprisingly seemed to be shocked for some unknown reason. [TN: screeching]

“…Yeah, I know… I’ve been selfish again… I’m sorry… Forget about that…”

“What?”

No, that’s not… true…

Even if it was a miracle, I would be in the same group as Riko then. And even though it was her who asked me.

There had to be a problem with something I just told her…

But what is it…!?

I can’t think of anything at all, and I’m getting impatient.

“So I’ll just go with…”

“Wait, Riko! I’m sorry if I misunderstood you in any way… If I can be of any help to you, I’d love to work with you…!”

“…But Minato-kun, you’d be troubled…”

…Why would I be troubled?

Uncertain, I shook my head and said, “It’s not troubling at all!” and Riko smiled a little.

“If you really don’t mind…, I’d like to go on the field trip with you…”

Why would you think that I wouldn’t like it…!?

“And anyway, that’s it…! – Oh, but isn’t it unnatural for us to suddenly be in the same group…?”

We’ve never had any contact with each other before, and she was the most beautiful girl in the school while I might be the plainest in the school.

“… Well, how about we’re actually childhood friends? We went to… kindergarten together.”

Riko fiddled with the skirt of her uniform and looked up at me. Due to her gesture, my mind was completely filled with the thought of Riko being cute, and I replied without properly thinking, “Okay. Let’s be childhood friends”. Because my eyes were glued to Riko’s cute gestures, I hadn’t thought about whether it was really fine or not, but I guess it was.

“Oh! And, is the girl that… Riko is working with, okay with that? I mean, is she okay with being in a group with people like us…?”

“Yes, Rei-chan said that anyone is fine.”

By that anyone, I think she meant any of the hot guys who are asking you out…

I’m sure Reina Asakura doesn’t think for a minute that Riko’s going to bring me or Sawa along.

But I couldn’t bring it up because I felt that if I did, it would put a damper on everything that was about to happen.

But even though Reina Asakura might blatantly dislike me and I might feel like dying… I still wanted to be in the same group as Riko.

I haven’t confirmed anything with Sawa, but he wouldn’t mind working with me, so there shouldn’t be any problem.