I Confessed My Sexual Preferences to My Online Game Best Friend, and the Person Who Showed Up at the Offline Meetup Was the Cute Girl from My Class - 3

Chapter 3: A Monday Unlike Any Other

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Monday morning. The moment I opened the classroom door, I—Kazuma Sato—felt so awkward that I wanted to pull an immediate about-face and go home.

Rin Shinonome, my own classmate, was Haru, my partner from the online game. For three years, thinking she was a guy, I had blurted out things like “I want Shinonome-san to step on me” and “her thighs are the universe” directly to her face. That very person had called me “Kazu” and laughed so happily.

No, stay calm. I should still have the safety zone of “pretending to be strangers at school.”

As I sat down, telling myself this, a suffocatingly intense presence approached from beside me.

“Hey, Kazuma, did you see?! Shinonome-san is sparkling thirty percent more than usual this morning! She’s seriously a goddess… no, a gift from the heavens.”

The one who spoke to me was Kaito Kadokura. He was one of my few friends, a refreshing-looking guy from the basketball team who was actually a fanatical devotee of the “Rin Shinonome Fan Club.”

“……Yeah. Good for you, Kaito.”

“What’s up with you? Your energy is low as always. ……Oh, look, speak of the devil and the true ‘Radiance’ appears.”

Kaito straightened his back and turned toward the entrance. The classroom door opened, and the air in the room brightened instantly.

“Good morning, everyone!”

Appearing with a sparkling voice was Rin Shinonome. And beside her was another beautiful girl who reigned alongside Shinonome-san as one of the “Top Two” of the grade.

“Rin-rin, good morning! Rin-rin, you’re the cutest in the world again today!”

It was Saki Ichinose. If Shinonome-san was the “Dignified Object of Admiration,” Saki was the “Innocent Angel Everyone Wants to Protect.” Seeing her hug Shinonome-san while her wavy chestnut hair swayed was, in a word, a feast for the eyes. However, my heart began to throb violently for a different reason.

Wait a sec. I told Haru, didn’t I? Not just about Shinonome-san, but…

Cold sweat ran down my back. Saki Ichinose. Contrary to her petite and adorable features, she actually possessed an outstanding proportion where “it counts.” And I, in the late-night heat of voice chat, had passionately lectured my partner Haru on the following:

『Hey Haru, that Ichinose girl in our class is seriously a textbook case of “hidden stacked.” I’m so worried those uniform buttons are gonna fly off one day that I can’t even sleep at night lol』

『Shinonome-san’s legs are the best, but Ichinose-san’s soft-looking lines are hard to pass up too… Two beauties like that being best friends? That group is basically a paradise on earth lol』

………… ………………

It’s over. ……My life is completely over!!

Shinonome-san and Ichinose-san had supposedly been best friends since middle school. If the identity of “Haru,” to whom I had been venting my fetishes thinking he was a guy until yesterday, was Rin Shinonome… there was no way she hadn’t tatted me out to her best friend Saki, saying, “Sato-kun says these erotic things about your body behind your back.” ……That had to be it!!

Overcome with despair, I slumped onto my desk. Right now, the Saki Ichinose who was about to pass in front of me surely thought of me as “walking public indecency” or something. Shinonome-san and her group started walking toward their seats at the back of the classroom. While Kaito stood frozen at attention from nerves, I feigned death and looked down at my textbook. No greetings, no words. I would stick to “pretending to be strangers” through and through. That was the only survival strategy allowed to me.

Shinonome-san reached the side of my desk. The same sweet, floral nectar-like scent from yesterday tickled my nose. Just as I thought she would pass by, at that moment…

……

Shinonome-san suddenly turned toward me. Our eyes met for a fleeting second. For a duration so brief that neither Ichinose-san nor Kaito noticed, Shinonome-san curled the corners of her mouth into a “grin.” It wasn’t the graceful “Shinonome-san” smile she showed at school. It was the mischievous smirk of my partner “Haru,” who held my weaknesses completely in her grasp. And then, she passed by as if nothing had happened.

“……Hey, Kazuma. Didn’t you just make eye contact with Shinonome-san?! Plus, I feel like even Ichinose-san was looking at you… Whoa! You’re gonna get cursed, seriously!”

Kaito shook my shoulders violently. 

You’ve got it wrong, Kaito. That wasn’t fan service. That was a death sentence saying, ‘Hey, your textbook is upside down. Also, stop looking at my best friend with lewd eyes, you pervert’…!

I hurriedly checked my textbook. It was indeed upside down. 

Ugh, this is the worst. 

She saw right through the fact that I was shaken. Immediately after, my phone vibrated shortly in my pocket. A secret message before the start of class.

【Rin: Morning, Kazu (๑>◡<๑) Having your textbook upside down since morning… isn’t your condition a bit too poor before you even log in? (lol)】

【Rin: Also… you were looking at Saki’s chest just now, weren’t you? Should I go confirm that “exploding buttons” theory you sent Haru-kun with her directly?】

……Hieee. 

I desperately buried my face under my desk.

『Kazu: Please, anything but that. I’ll really die. I’ll die socially.』

I sent the message and immediately put my phone away. Feeling a gaze, I looked up to see Rin chatting with Saki at her seat. For just an instant, she looked over here, stuck out her tongue, and winked.

She’s doing this on purpose, that brat. She’s completely enjoying this.

Rin Shinonome, who reigned as the “Queen” of the classroom, and her best friend Saki Ichinose. My “Secret Hell” with the two beautiful girls everyone admired. Beside Kaito, who let out a carefree sigh saying, “Ah, Shinonome-san is so far away again today,” I could only pray to God with all my heart that I would survive my upcoming school life.

“……Kazuma, your face is seriously red. Do you have a fever?” 

“……Shut up. Leave me alone.”

The morning bell rang. I reopened my textbook (the right way this time) and stole a quiet glance at their backs in the distance, making sure no one noticed anything amiss.

My Monday had only just begun.

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