I Chose the Plain Girl Instead of the Class’s Top Three Beauties, and Somehow She Became the Heroine - 10

Chapter 10: The Change in Her Lips

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《Sora Mukei’s POV》

The classroom that morning was unsettled. It wasn’t the usual chatter. Voices were one level louder, the air felt dry.

“That’s the worst!”

“Yua-chan, are you okay?”

“I seriously can’t forgive gropers!”

The sound of someone slapping a desk. A chair scraping. Layers of anger piling up until they almost became a scream. Apparently, Yua Miura-san had been groped on a packed train this morning. It seemed the news had spread all at once. Some said the station staff had responded and the perpetrator had escaped, others said he’d been apprehended—information was all over the place.

“It’s unforgivable! If I were nearby, I’d totally smash the guy!”

Akira clenched his fist, his eyes dead serious.

“Before you punch him, you should stop him first.”

“I’ll stop him and then punch him!”

“No, don’t punch him, just detain him.”

Akira sucked in another breath, blending into the heat filling the classroom.

“Yua-chan, I feel so bad for her. I heard she was crying on the platform.”

“Who said she was crying?”

The more voices and information there were, the blurrier the truth became. I traced the morning light crossing above the blackboard just once with my eyes, then shifted my gaze toward the windows. I felt bad for Miura-san, who looked like the gyaru type. Maybe it was prejudice, but I’d thought she was someone who could handle things on her own. Not that I was like Akira, but if I ever happened to see it happen, I wanted to help her.

As I thought about that, my eyes suddenly landed on Hiroko Anno-san. Was she okay? She didn’t look like someone who could say anything defiant. She was in her usual seat. Quiet as always, reading a book. But lately, she had started to pay attention to her appearance. Maybe she had someone she liked?

She brushed her hair, wiped the fog from her glasses, and her uniform had no wrinkles. She had started wearing a hair clip as a small charm to her look. She was still plain, but to me, the change looked nice. And today, there was one more thing. Her lips had a faint shine to it. They caught and reflected just a fingertip’s worth of the classroom’s white light. There was no color, but they weren’t dry. In fact, they looked soft and plump.

Did she change her lip balm? I didn’t stare at girls’ lips often, so I couldn’t be sure. But she had used to hide her face so much that I might have simply never noticed. Behind the loud cries of “Unforgivable!” her lips moved slightly.

“…That’s awful.”

She probably said that. Her voice had been swallowed by the commotion, but maybe Anno-san had experience with something like that too? If Anno-san were being groped, I knew I’d want to help her.

“Hey, Sora, isn’t there something we can do?”

Akira bumped his shoulder against mine.

“Hmm… Maybe just help if we happen to see it?”

“Yeah, but still—”

“Besides, having guys stand too close might make things even scarier for the girl, right?”

“Oh, that’s true!”

Akira wasn’t a bad guy. I didn’t know why he wasn’t popular. A big voice approached from down the aisle—Okabe had arrived, apparently after hearing the story.

“Hey, hey, just yelling isn’t gonna solve anything.”

Okabe stood tall before our classmates, a towel slung over his shoulder.

“Yua, it must’ve been scary, right? But don’t worry. I’ve got you. Starting tomorrow, I’ll walk you home!”

A stir ran through the room. Soft laughs and whispers leaked from the girls.

“Eh… It’s fine, I can go home with my friends anyway.”

Miura-san expressed her refusal, sounding confused.

“Ugh, there he goes again, Okabe.”

“Okabe always says ‘I’ll take care of it’ at times like this.”

The girls surrounding Miura-san also murmured awkwardly. Miura-san gave a troubled smile and scooted her chair back a little. But Okabe didn’t notice. Or maybe he noticed but didn’t care.

“It’s fine! I’m good at being a bodyguard and stuff. You know, I’ve always been knowledgeable about trains.”

Knowledgeable about what exactly?

I retorted in my mind. But with his build and athletic ability, a groper might actually hesitate to make a move.

“Hey, Yua. Are you listening? At times like this, what matters is a man taking action. I’ll protect all the girls here!”

Okabe wore such a smug face that the boys exchanged glances and chuckled wryly.

“…Who does he think he is?”

“No idea. Well… I guess wanting to protect people isn’t bad.”

“Yeah, but he always makes it sound like he’s doing them a favor.”

Akira wasn’t even chuckling. He just looked downright stunned. If Akira had even a bit of Okabe’s assertiveness, he might act the same way. But with that assertiveness came annoyance, and he might end up failing because of it. I wanted Akira to stay the way he was.

I glanced toward the window. Anno-san kept her eyes on her book, touching her lips gently with her fingertip. The shine I’d seen earlier caught the light again. For some reason, that gesture made my heart skip a beat. What was she thinking? I couldn’t help but wonder about the changes in Anno-san. But surely it was all happening in a world that had nothing to do with me.

While Okabe’s loud voice drowned out the classroom noise, my attention stayed fixed on Anno-san’s lip gloss.

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