I Was a Loner Who Tried Finding an Otaku Friend on a Matching App and Ended Up Matching with the Number-One Beauty Who Won the University Miss Contest - Chapter 1

Chapter 1: No Way a Lonely Guy Like Me Could Ever Match With a Beautiful Girl on a Dating App!

They often say university is “life’s summer vacation,” but I couldn’t help wondering whether I was actually enjoying that so-called summer break.

I, Akito Kayama, who started at a private Tokyo university called Southeast University this spring, quietly asked myself that question.

From morning until afternoon I attended lectures, and then in the evening I headed off to my part-time job at a rental DVD store that looked like it could go out of business any day.

Since it was still the first semester of freshman year, I thought it would be smart to register for as many classes as possible, but because of that, I felt like I had even less free time than I’d expected.

Still, there was something far more serious troubling me than that.

Yes — it was…

“I… can’t make any friends at all.”

After sitting in the very front row of a huge lecture hall and then heading to my part-time job, I muttered those words with my shoulders slumped.

This is just my personal impression, but the students who already have friends or groups tend to sit toward the back of the lecture hall, chatting together, while loner university students tend to go straight to the front row.

In other words, the university hierarchy seems to work like this: the farther back you sit in the lecture hall, the more you belong to the “popular crowd” or “A-team” (this is overwhelmingly biased, I know).

University turned out to be way harder for making friends than I thought…

There aren’t fixed classes, and everyone picks the lectures they want, so people are all scattered.

I figured joining a club would solve everything, but when I went to check out the subculture club I was interested in — the “Animation Appreciation Society” — the passion level was so intense it scared me, and I realized I wouldn’t be able to keep up, so I gave up on joining.

“I mean, sure I like anime and manga, but what I really love is light novels and books.”

Maybe I should just join a literature club instead?

It might actually suit me better… Yeah, let’s go check the club bulletin board.

With that thought in mind, before heading to work I went to look at the bulletin board covered with club posters. While searching for the literature club poster, my eyes caught one particular flyer.

“…Hm? This person…”

It was a poster celebrating last year’s Miss Contest winner.

Last year’s Southeast University Miss Contest first place: Yui Amane.

She wore a pure white dress, giving off a refined and elegant atmosphere.

Glossy long black hair, eyes that sparkled like jewels, and a beautifully straight nose.

Her face had sharp, clean lines, and her figure was impressive too — her chest was nicely full, yet her waist was slim and tightly cinched.

Overall she looked very mature, but because her bangs were neatly trimmed, she also had a slightly youthful, innocent look. That gap made her even cuter.

“Wow… so this is the top Miss Contest girl at our university. The level is seriously high.”

She seemed to be one year above me, but just being on the same campus as her made her feel unreal — like a model rather than an ordinary student.

Well, I’m sure someone like her is surrounded by popular guys and living the perfect “university summer vacation” life.

She’s definitely nothing like a loner student like me…

“Sigh… this is starting to feel kinda stupid. Time to head to work.”

☆☆

When I reached my part-time job, just a ten-minute walk from campus, I put on the navy-blue apron that served as the store uniform.

The place I worked was an extremely run-down rental DVD store that looked ready to collapse at any moment.

The hourly pay was decent, but since almost no customers came, the job was actually pretty relaxed.

Once I started my shift, I first processed the pile of returned DVDs, then began restocking the shelves together with my senior.

“Wow~ Kayama-kun, you’ve really gotten used to the job here, haven’t you!”

“…Well, that’s mostly because of how well Tamura-senpai taught me.”

“Really!? Yay!”

The person happily reacting to my polite compliment while working beside me was Tamura Sasami, my senior by two years.

She was so tiny and short that people could mistake her for a middle-schooler. Apparently she came to Tokyo from Shikoku after high school, attending voice acting school while working here part-time.

With her young appearance and voice, if she ever debuted she’d probably gain a solid fanbase…

“Kayama-kun is currently a student at Southeast University, right? So I bet you’re making tons of friends and getting all the girls, huh?”

“Wow, that wording… Just so you know, I don’t have any friends and I don’t have a girlfriend either.”

“Really? Well, yeah, somehow that fits you perfectly!”

As usual, what an outrageously rude loli (age 20).

I couldn’t exactly argue, though.

“How about you, Tamura-senpai? Do you have friends who are pro voice actors or something?”

“No way, absolutely not. Among pros — actually, even inside the training school, people are super competitive with each other, so…”

Oh… I think I just stepped on something dangerous.

I could feel an intense “don’t ask any more” aura radiating from Tamura-senpai.

“Ah, but I do make friends somewhere else, though?”

“Somewhere else?”

“Yes — on a matching app.”

Ma… matching… app?

“Huh? You’re aiming to be a voice actress and you’re using a matching app? Whoa.”

“Why are you so shocked?! I-It’s not like I’m using it for romance or anything!”

“There’s no such thing as a matching app that isn’t for romance. It’s full of people in their thirties looking for marriage and young guys looking for hookups.”

“Your bias is seriously intense, Kayama-kun…”

But that’s pretty much what I’ve heard it’s like.

“Do you know the app called ‘Pair♡ing’?”

“P-Pair♡ing?”

“It looks like a normal matching app at first glance, but this one has a special mode especially for finding friends who share the same hobbies — not just romantic partners.”

Tamura-senpai suddenly started talking like she was doing a suspicious sales pitch.

Is this person okay…? She looks like a loli — I hope she hasn’t been tricked by some shady adult.

Also, the fact that she’s suddenly explaining it like this… does she get paid referral money or some kind of incentive?

“You can match with people of the same gender who have the same hobbies! You have to register your ID, so no catfishing is possible — it’s really safe!”

“…I-I see.”

“How about you, Kayama-kun? Want to try it?”

“Huh? No, I’m good.”

“Why not! Please! If you sign up now through the friend referral campaign, you can get a few thousand yen!”

“I knew it — it’s about money after all!”

Just as I suspected.

Still… she did mention before that her living situation was pretty tough.

She can be annoying, but there’s no doubt she’s always been kind to me.

“Well… signing up probably won’t hurt, I guess.”

“Really?!”

“But… there’s one thing I’m curious about.”

“Yes?”

“Do guys have to pay?”

A lot of these matching apps have the system where women use it for free and men have to pay.

Just like those group dating pubs, they make women free to attract more of them since there are usually fewer.

“Yes! There’s a monthly fee!”

“That’s not a ‘yes’!!”

“The cheapest plan is only a few hundred yen, so please!”

“Sigh… a few hundred yen is whatever. Fine then, Senior, we’ll split it.”

“Eh!?”

And so, in the end, I ended up having to try this so-called matching app.

There’s no way I’m actually going to make friends through something like this…

That’s what I honestly thought at the time.