I’m an Introvert, but After Taking Care of the School’s Most Beautiful Girl Who Lives in an Apartment When She Was Sick, She Became Attached to Me and Started Inviting Me Over to Her Place! - Chapter 23

Chapter 23

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Ding dong ding dong~

“Alright then, that wraps up the homeroom. Do your best today, everyone~.”

After finishing the day’s main announcements in his low voice, the homeroom teacher of Suzuya and the others’ class quickly ended the homeroom. He gathered up his various documents, and briskly left the classroom. Since he was wearing a neat suit instead of his usual “casual dad-on-a-day-off outfit,” he probably had a business trip or a meeting to attend.

The moment the teacher disappeared, the students sprang to their feet and gathered around their respective friends. Blending into that flow of students, Kohaku came over to where Tenma and I were sitting.

“Hey, what’s the first period again~?”

“First period is P.E.”

“Hell yeah, that’s a winning subject!”

When Kohaku asked about the first class of the day, Tenma answered while pointing at the lesson card posted on the blackboard behind us. At their school, P.E. was done in an elective format, where students could choose freely as long as they included at least one outdoor sport.

“What were the electives again? Table tennis, soccer, and…?”

“—Volleyball. That’s mine. What about you two, Tenma and Kohaku?”

“I’m in soccer~.”

“I’m in table tennis.”

“So we all ended up split up, huh…”

All three of us had neatly ended up in different sports. Sorato had been relaxed, assuming at least one of the two would match his choice, but apparently he hadn’t expected to end up with neither. After hearing their answers, he started worrying even before it began, muttering to himself.

“Will I be able to survive…?”

—Murmur, murmur, murmur.

“…It feels like the classroom is unusually noisy today.”

“I was thinking the same thing. It’s like everyone’s kind of restless, right?”

“Well? Maybe this is the Natsuki-san effect! Hehehe.”

“Why are you looking so proud about it…?”

As Kohaku puffed out his chest smugly, I glanced slightly to the side and saw Natsuki-san, Kaede-san, and several other girls forming a group near the teacher’s desk at the front of the classroom. The girls’ changing room was the empty classroom next door, but it seemed the door still wasn’t unlocked, so they were chatting idly.

And today in particular, the topics of conversation drifting through the classroom were remarkably consistent, so much so that even the boys’ chatter occasionally overlapped with it.

“Natsuki-san is—“

“Natsuki-chan is—“

“Kaon-chan is—“

“Kaon-san—“

“Natsuki-san is seriously cute…”

Everyone kept saying her name, spreading talk about Natsuki for better or worse. In no time at all, the classroom’s conversations were swallowed up by the beauty of a single girl, Kaon Natsuki.

“Kohaku, that’s like the fifth time today.”

“I can’t help it! She’s just too cute!”

Seeing Kohaku get swept up in Natsuki talk just like the rest of our classmates really drove it home for me. It had only been two weeks since the new school year started, and only one week since Natsuki-san stopped coming to school and yet not only students from our class, but even students from other classes, regardless of gender, kept flocking to her nonstop.

Just how many people had that beauty, which drew all that attention, captivated?

Natsuki-san is insanely popular, huh?

Once again, I was impressed by the sheer influence Kaon Natsuki held at school, and by the perfection of her beauty paired with talent. She was truly a paragon of brains and looks.

“…It’s completely different from yesterday…”

“Hm? What is it?”

“No, nothing.”

She’s like a completely different person from yesterday.

Sorato gave a wry smile in his heart.

Where had the cute, clingy beauty with those upturned, pleading eyes gone—the one I’d seen at her house? Now she looked like a graceful rose of a woman: dignified, yet somehow still innocent with a smile that drew people in. It was hard to believe that until yesterday, she’d been clinging tightly to this very right hand of mine out of loneliness. That hazy, fever-dazed expression floated back into my mind again.

“Oh? Looks like the changing room’s open, yeah?”

“Yeah.”

As Sorato averted his gaze from the group of girls and absentmindedly replayed yesterday’s events at her house, Kohaku said that. Sure enough, the girls filed out of the classroom in an instant, leaving only the boys behind. With Kohaku kicking things off by stripping down with a loud “Alright!”, the boys around us started changing clothes one after another.

“—Man, without you two, I’ve got no one to talk to…”

“Come on, do your best. You were on the volleyball team, right?”

“I was a permanent benchwarmer, though.”

“Even so, you’re better than someone with no experience.”

“Well… Yeah, I guess?”

“Then make a splash here and expand your friendships repertoire.”

“You say that like it’s easy to do…”

I almost said, “I’m not like you two handsome guys,” but stopped. I figured there was no point saying anything to someone this annoyingly good-looking. It would just be wasted effort. My bangs were long, I wasn’t particularly tall, and I didn’t have a good build. I lacked attractive qualities to such an extent that it made me dislike myself.

Maybe I really should cut it, like Natsuki-san said…

At the time, I’d gone along with the flow and impulsively said I was planning to cut my hair, but in reality I hadn’t even the slightest concrete plan to do so. I hadn’t thought about cutting it for a while, but maybe this was the perfect opportunity.

I’ll go after school today.

And with that, another small change was about to begin.

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