Chapter 38 – Library Committee Member

After being released from Sayaka after school, Shinta didn’t head straight home. Instead, he killed time in the school library. That being said, it wasn’t like he had suddenly awakened to a hobby of reading. He was merely killing time waiting for a certain someone’s club activities to end.

Shinta read through about half of a book he had chosen at random. He suddenly stopped and glanced up at the clock hanging on the library wall.

(It’s about the right time…)

At this hour, the practice for the Kendo Club that his target belonged to should be wrapping up.

“Um… I’d like to close the library soon…”

Hearing a voice suddenly call out from his side, he turned his gaze. Standing there was a female student. One of her eyes was hidden by green hair. Her name tag read “Honda Kotori”. On her arm, she wore an armband proving she was a library committee member. Before he realized it, the other students who had been scattered around when he first entered had vanished. It left only him and the girl in front of him.

“Ah, my bad for staying right up until closing time. I’ll head out right now.”

“No, it’s fine.”

Saying that, the girl named Kotori walked toward the door. She was probably getting ready to lock up the moment he stepped out. Shinta returned the book he had been holding to the shelf. He immediately made to leave the library.

“Well then, I’ll leave the rest to you.”

“Yes, please come again.”

Thinking it was a somewhat mechanical response, Shinta tried to leave. Suddenly, his senses sharply picked up on a certain presence.

(Hm… what’s with them?)

He noticed the source of his unease right as he was leaving the library. He felt several unpleasant gazes. It was as if they were monitoring him. He casually directed his eyes toward the source. Three female students were poking their heads out from behind a pillar. They were grinning and laughing as they watched. More accurately, they were looking at the library committee girl behind him and laughing.

“Hey, do you know them? They’re staring right at you…”

“Eh…”

Called out to, Kotori made a puzzled face for just a second. She followed Shinta’s gaze and caught sight of the girls watching them. Her face rapidly began to turn pale. Seeing this clearly sudden and abnormal reaction, Shinta tried to say something. Before he could speak, she pushed his back and forcefully tried to make him leave.

“It’s nothing. It’s already closing time, so please leave.”

“H-Hey…!”

“I have my own circumstances, too. So if you would excuse me…!”

Ignoring Shinta’s attempt to ask for a reason, Kotori completely cut off the conversation one-sidedly. She disappeared at a brisk pace as if running away from the spot. Looking back, the girls who had been peeking at them just moments ago were also gone. Left all alone, Shinta scratched his head with a hazy feeling lingering in his chest.

“What the hell was that about… Jeez.”

A murky and uncomfortable knot remained in his chest. He couldn’t just stand there forever, though. To begin with, the reason he had stayed this late was because he was waiting to talk to a certain someone. He needed to wait after Kendo club practice finished.

After Shinta left the area with a bad taste in his mouth, the trio of girls leaped out from behind the pillar. They had been hiding and observing the situation.

“Hey, that was that rumored delinquent, right?”

“Yeah, something about a legendary former delinquent called the ‘Demon God’ or something.”

“Pfft, ‘Demon God’? What kind of chuunibyou crap is that?”

This trio was actually a group of girls from the same class as the library committee member, Honda Kotori. However, their relationship with her was by no means a good one. Rather, it was the exact opposite. No, it was even uglier than that. The girls shared a laugh together with nasty giggles. Then the girl who seemed to be the leader, Oomori, spoke up.

“Ah, I just had a flash of genius! If we use that former delinquent right, couldn’t we have even more fun playing with that ‘gloomy loner’?”

“Eh, what’s that? Sounds fun.”

“How exactly are we gonna mess with her?”

The two lackeys asked their happily laughing leader what exactly they were going to do. At her followers’ reaction, the leader girl triumphantly declared her plan.

“We’re gonna order that gloomy loner around. Tell her to fake-confess to that former delinquent just now and date him.”

“Wow~ that’s wicked. If she gets a dangerous boyfriend like that, Kotori’s school life is guaranteed to get even more suffocating!”

“But hey, a gloomy chick like her looks like she’d never get a boyfriend in her entire life anyway, so in a way, aren’t we doing a good deed?”

Roaring with laughter, the three of them mocked Kotori, the library committee member from earlier. Yes, these three were carrying out bullying against their classmate.

“Man, I can’t wait for tomorrow. Normally school is a drag, but now I’m actually looking forward to it.”

“The birth of the gloomy loner and delinquent couple, huh?”

At those words, the trio laughed in an even more vulgar tone. Their faces oozed a wickedness just like evil demons.