My Ex-Girlfriend Who Dumped Me, the Top Student, Is at Risk of Failing and Repeating a Year—but I’m Too Busy Tutoring a Former Shut-in Beauty To Get Back Together With Her - 34

Chapter 34: The Unusual Pair After School

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A few days had passed since the second semester began. It seemed that the classroom’s power map had been redrawn on its own in a place I didn’t know.

“Ah-ha, is Rina-chan in ‘grind mode’ today too? How boring.”

“Black hair really doesn’t suit her at all. What is she even aiming for? That character change is painful to watch.”

During break time, the girls who used to be my followers were bad-mouthing me within earshot near my seat. If it had been the old me, I would have panicked from the fear of being left out. I surely would have smiled desperately and tried to get on their good side, saying, “That’s not true at all!”

But now, I was different.

“……You’re loud. I can’t get these words into my head.”

I spoke coldly and shoved my earphones into my ears. I no longer needed their approval. A relationship where people just flocked together, got excited bad-mouthing others, and felt secure—I had learned firsthand just how fragile such a thing was.

I felt a reserved tap-tap on my shoulder. When I took out my earphones and turned around, a petite girl wearing thick glasses—Yui Tachibana—was standing there.

“……Rina-chan. This is the copy of the chemistry notes I mentioned yesterday.”

“Ah, thanks. ……This helps.”

When I accepted the notebook, Yui gave a soft, gentle smile.

“No problem. In exchange, please teach me the tricks to English reading comprehension after school, okay? Your pronunciation is so beautiful, Rina-chan.”

“Yeah, leave it to me. ……Thanks.”

Opposite ends of the class: a flashy former gyaru and a plain, studious girl with glasses. The classmates were looking at us—two people who shouldn’t have any point of contact—as if they were seeing strange creatures. They probably thought, “Two people who fell from grace are licking each other’s wounds.”

Let them say whatever they want. Right now, I didn’t actually dislike this strange relationship.

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After school. After finishing our studies in the library as usual, I spoke to Yui.

“Hey, Yui. Do you have time after this?”

“Eh? Yes, I don’t have cram school today, so I’m fine, but……”

“Then, come with me for a bit. …Studying all the time is suffocating, and I want to thank you, too.”

I pulled Yui by the hand and forced her out of the school. The place we headed to was the game center in front of the station.

“E-Eh!? A-A game center!?”

At the noisy electronic sounds and the brilliant lighting of the entrance, Yui shrunk back with a start. She looked just like a small animal thrown into a wild beast’s cage.

“W-Wait, Rina-chan! I’m not really good with places like this…… or rather, it’s my first time here!”

“First time? You’re lying, right? You’ve never taken a Purikura or anything?”

“Never! Because my mom told me, ‘Don’t go near them because they’re a hangout for delinquents’……”

“What era is she from? ……Come on, let’s go.”

I pushed the back of the frightened Yui and proceeded into the shop.

To the former me, this was my home ground. But now that I had black hair and was dressed plainly, I felt a little out of place coming here. Even so, thanks to having a timid girl with glasses beside me, I somehow felt a strange sense of courage welling up.

“First, the basics. ……Try doing this.”

I pointed to an air hockey table. The rules were simple: just hit the puck back and forth and get it into the opponent’s goal.

“U-Um…… Calculating the angle of incidence and the angle of reflection……”

“This isn’t studying, so you don’t need to calculate! Just hit back what comes your way! That’s it!”

“Y-Yes!”

Clack, clack, the puck went back and forth. Yui’s stance was awkward at first, but perhaps because her dynamic vision was surprisingly good, she gradually became able to keep a rally going.

“That’s it! Go for it!”

“Wah, it’s fast…… Take that!”

Clang! A sharp sound echoed, and the puck Yui hit was sucked into my goal.

“I did it……! It went in! Rina-chan, it went in!”

“Not bad. ……Fufu, are you surprisingly competitive?”

“Muu, please don’t hold back!”

With her glasses slipping, Yui was being seriously frustrated and seriously happy. Looking at that face made me start to have fun too. I had come here back when I was dating Kashiwagi. But back then, I felt like I only cared about “looking cute to my boyfriend” and didn’t enjoy the game itself.

But now, it was just pure fun. We were sweating, raising our voices, and laughing together.

After that, we played our hearts out, doing things like getting matching keychains from a UFO catcher (I spent three thousand yen and got it out of pure pettiness) and competing in Mario Kart.

“Ha, ha…… t-that was fun……!”

By the time we stepped outside the shop, the sun had completely set. Yui’s cheeks were flushed as she fixed her messy braids.

“This is the first time I’ve played like this. ……A game center isn’t a scary place, is it?”

“Right? You just hated it without trying it first. It’s not bad at all.”

“Yes! It’s thanks to you, Rina-chan. ……Rina-chan, you’re a genius at playing!”

Yui looked at me with a gaze of respect in her sparkling eyes. I inadvertently turned my face away.

“……Not really. It’s just an old skill. Now I’m just a nerd”

“Fufu, but I like the current Rina-chan better.”

Yui gave me a bright smile as she said so.

“Because the current Rina-chan properly faces even a plain girl like me.”

I felt a jolt. Those words pried open the lid of an old wound deep in my chest.

“……Yui.”

“Yes?”

“You know…… I was wrong about you.”

I muttered as I looked up at the sunset sky.

“If it were the me of a month ago, I would have looked down on you as a ‘nerdy loner’ and wouldn’t have even tried to talk to you. ……I built a wall on my own, thinking we lived in different worlds.”

“……”

“I wasn’t looking at the inside at all. Clothes, rankings, my boyfriend’s specs…… I only looked at ‘the outside’ like that. That’s why I lost everything.”

268th place. No boyfriend. No friends. Precisely because I had fallen to that rock bottom, I was able to look at a “person’s essence” for the first time in my life. I was able to learn that Yui, whom I thought was plain and quiet, was actually competitive, kind, and a fun person to be with.

If I had remained at the top of the caste and continued dating Kashiwagi, I probably would have never become friends with Yui in my life. I would have just continued hollow conversations with superficial followers.

“……Was it a catalyst, I wonder.”

The face of that boy flickered in my mind. Minato Kashiwagi. The ex-boyfriend who spoiled me and then cruelly pushed me away.

(I won’t thank you, Kashiwagi.)

I cursed at him in my heart.

(Because of you, I was shamed, and my pride was torn to shreds. I’ll hate you for the rest of my life.)

But…

(However…… If you hadn’t dumped me at that time, I would have remained an empty doll forever, unable to make real friends and unable to stand on my own feet.)

Beside me, Yui was laughing innocently, saying, “Let’s come again, Rina-chan!”

As I looked at that smile, I felt my lingering affection and obsession for Kashiwagi strangely fade away.

“……Hmph. Well, maybe thanks to him, I’ve become a slightly better person.”

“Eh? Did you say something?”

“Nothing at all! Come on, let’s go home, Yui. You haven’t memorized the range for tomorrow’s quiz yet, right?”

“Ah, that’s right! Let’s quiz each other on the way back!”

We began to walk side-by-side. Our hands weren’t joined, but there was a certain bond there. I was no longer anyone’s “decoration.” As a single person named Rina Aikawa, I would live through the coming seasons.

(Just you watch, Kashiwagi, Kisaragi. In the upcoming test after summer vacation, I’m going to hit a ranking that will blow your minds.)

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