I’m a Loner, Gloomy Guy Who Accidentally Witnessed the Moment the Top Girl in the Class Got Dumped. I Didn’t Know What to Say to Comfort Her, So I Just Gave Her a Cola and Somehow We Started Having Lunch Together~ - 1

Chapter 1: Giving a Cola to a Girl Who Got Dumped

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It was, without exaggeration, the worst possible situation.

“I’m sorry. I can’t go out with you.”

The moment I opened the classroom door, those words reached my ears. I had come back to grab something I’d forgotten at my desk, only to end up witnessing the exact moment a female classmate got dumped.

“But hey, thanks! I was really happy!”

After cheerfully saying his thanks, the boy who had rejected her started walking. He exited into the hallway through the door opposite the one I had come in through. It seemed he hadn’t noticed me entering at all. There was no one else left in the classroom. Only me and the girl who had just been dumped were left behind.

What is this situation…?

This wasn’t just awkward. It was way beyond that. At this point, there was only one thing to do.

Quickly grab what I forgot and get the hell out of here as fast as possible.

Quietly closing the door, I avoided looking at the girl and hurried over to my desk. I pulled out the forgotten item, a textbook, from inside the desk and shoved it into my school bag.

That took care of my objective. Now all I had to do was leave as quickly as possible, and the mission would be complete. I headed for the exit at a brisk pace. But halfway there…

I stopped.

“U… uu… hic…”

What I heard was the girl’s sobbing. Her voice sounded so painful and her tears were spilling out from her eyes.  Ignoring her was probably the correct answer, but I just couldn’t do that. I wasn’t that heartless of a person.

But… What should I do? I couldn’t find any words of comfort in situations like this. And besides, she was that Amamiya-san…

The girl who was crying, Noa Amamiya, was a student in Class 1–3 at Sakuradai High School.

She was my classmate, and the girl who sat at the very top of the class caste. As for me, on the other hand, I was a loner gloomy nobody with zero presence. Even now, in early June—two months after entering high school—I still had zero friends and sat at the absolute bottom of the class caste.

Technically, we were classmates, but the worlds Amamiya-san and I lived in were completely different. If I said something careless, she’d probably think, “Don’t get full of yourself, you loner.”

Alright. Talking to her is a no-go.

So I decided to take a different approach. I pulled an unopened plastic bottle out of my school bag. Inside was an ice-cold cola I had just bought from the vending machine earlier. I had planned to drink it on the way home, but given the situation, it couldn’t be helped.

“Here.”

I quietly approached the crying Amamiya-san and gently held out the cola. I couldn’t bring myself to talk to her, but I couldn’t do nothing either. This was the only thing I could do for her.

“…You’re giving this to me?”

Amamiya-san’s light-blue eyes, red and bloodshot from crying, turned toward me. Her blue hair, which reached her shoulders, swayed slightly. I looked at Amamiya-san. Her well-shaped face was wet with tears and I gave her a small nod.

“Thank you. Um… Uh……”

“It’s Murase. Masaki Murase, your classmate.”

It seemed she hadn’t remembered my name, but I wasn’t particularly shocked. I’d never spoken to Amamiya-san before, and from the perspective of someone at the top of the caste, a loner gloomy guy like me was no different from a pebble on the roadside.

Nobody gives names to roadside pebbles, right? So her reaction is understandable. 

“Thank you, Murase-kun.”

After receiving the bottle, Amamiya-san immediately opened the cap. With a crisp pssh sound, the smell of artificial sweetener spread through the air. She placed her free hand on her hip and brought the bottle to her lips. Tilting the bottle in her other hand, she poured the cola into her stomach at an incredible speed.

Gulp gulp gulp gulp gulp gulp…!

She showed no sign of taking the bottle away from her mouth.

Amazing…! The contents are disappearing fast!

By the time I was completely captivated by her bold drinking style, the bottle was already empty. She had downed the entire 500 milliliters of cola in one go.

Whoa! That’s incredible!!

Amamiya-san’s drinking was impressive. It was seriously nothing short of amazing. I almost felt like applauding, but then I realized this wasn’t the time for that. Once I handed her the cola, there was nothing more I could do. My role was over. There was no reason for me to stay here any longer. I should go home.

“Um… Well then, I’ll be heading out—”

“Why, I wonder? Why did I fail?”

“…Huh?”

Was she talking to me? No, that couldn’t be right. Someone like me being talked to by the top of the class caste… That was practically an urban legend. It was something that simply didn’t happen.

But when I looked around, the number of people in the classroom hadn’t changed. It was just me and Amamiya-san. Which meant, yes—an urban legend was happening right now.  Amamiya-san was talking to me.

“I mean, I also didn’t think it was guaranteed to work… But I honestly thought… I was like, 119% certain……”

Not 99%, but 119%, huh… Somehow… She was a unique person. That aside, it wasn’t unreasonable for Amamiya-san to think that way. The boy who had rejected her was Touma Kenzaki. He was also a Class 1–3 student—a sporty, refreshing, handsome guy. A top-tier extrovert sitting at the top of the caste.

Amamiya-san and Kenzaki were close and always together. During breaks, during lunch… They were constantly together. So everyone thought they were already dating. And it wasn’t just me. Most of Class 1–3 probably thought the same.

That was why it was shocking to learn they weren’t dating and even more shocking that Kenzaki had turned her down.

“Touma and I are childhood friends. I first met him when we were three years old—”

Amamiya-san began talking about her memories with Kenzaki. Her eyes, slightly raised, were gazing off into the distance.

Wait… Is this something I’m supposed to listen to?

Sorry, but I had zero interest in hearing about the two of them. I wanted to go home already. But if I actually acted on that, Amamiya-san would probably get hurt. Adding more pain to someone who’d just been dumped felt wrong.

…She’ll probably finish soon.

With no other choice left, I decided to listen while giving vague responses. But that expectation was naïve.

Two hours later.

“Okay, next is the story about the sports day when we were in third grade.”

Amamiya-san was still talking about her memories with Kenzaki. And she was going into extreme detail without being asked. There was no sign of it ending.

How long is this going to go on…?

Being forced to listen to an uninteresting story for so long was exhausting. This was way too much. I was at my limit.

Someone… Anyone, please help me!

I screamed an SOS in my heart. At that moment… The entrance door opened.

The person who came in was a woman in her early twenties—the homeroom teacher.

“I heard voices, so I came to check… What are you two doing? Dismissal time passed ages ago. Go home already.”

Those were the exact words I wanted to hear the most right now. My SOS had been received loud and clear.

Thank you so much, Sensei!

I’d never liked our homeroom teacher much. She had a somewhat unapproachable air about her. But at this moment, my opinion of her skyrocketed. I felt overwhelming gratitude for her. 

Thanks to her, I was finally freed from Amamiya-san. At last, I was able to leave the classroom.

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