Only the princess of the school notices me, who almost does not exist - EP4. The princess is being bullied in the park

After some point, I woke up. Unlike before, this time I remembered everything. I looked at the time, and it wasn’t even noon yet. When I, Ebato Ren, got up, Shirakawa Sayo stood right before me.

“You woke up quite early. Please measure your temperature.” Sayo smiled and handed me the thermometer.

Well, it was probably mine, and it was the one you can tell the temperature by pushing a button and touching the forehead. I measured my temperature.

“36.7. It’s a little higher than normal, but we can’t do anything about it.”

“Ehh!? Wait a minute, isn’t your recovery a little too fast!?”

“I always get better after sleeping twice.”

Sayo looks bewildered… I wonder if I said something strange?

“I-is that’s so?… I made porridge, but do you want some?”

“Hmm, I’m grateful that you made it. Thank you, how much did it cost?”

“No, this is also for the favor…”

I really don’t care about the favor…

“Don’t worry. It’s okay. My cold has gone, and you’ve returned the favor. Thank you.”

As I was saying this, I put the porridge in my mouth with a spoon. And by the way, the taste was…

“…Shirakawa-san can you even cook.”

… To be honest, there was almost no flavor. No, I know I’m not being very thoughtful, but I’m sorry you had to make this…

“It’s not going to kill you…”

She said that and smiled at me. No, I can’t be fooled by such a smile.

“Well, that’s fine. It’s not like I can’t eat it.”

“Is that so? Then, I’ll excuse myself.”

“Ah… alright, thank you.”

Sayo took her things and left.

I went to the kitchen and put salt and ginger into the porridge. Then, I tried it again. Yeah, now it’s better.

———

Two days later.

Today again, I finished school without talking to anyone. Sigh… I’m used to it, but I’m still lonely.

Today’s weather was nice. While heading home and reading a book, I heard a loud voice from a park nearby.

“You, don’t get carried away!”

What? Bullying? That’s not cool…

It looked like Saya was being bullied by two schoolgirls.

I knew I was out of place, but I had no presence. I was grateful for the other day, so I was going to stand by just in case of an emergency.

So I entered the park. Maybe it was the first time that I was happy about my lacking presence. Well, for the time being, I took a picture and readied my phone for an emergency.

“Say something!!”

“…Well then, Todake, you have a lot of guts to continue bullying me while you’re being caught on camera.”

“HA?!”

After looking around, the two bullies glared at Sayo.

“There’s no one here!”

“Eh? Can’t you see a man holding a phone on a bench over there?”

How can Sayo find me…? I honestly don’t understand.

“…”

For some reason, they looked this way. Did they really notice me?

“There’s no one there!”

Oi-oi, that can’t be! I was amazed. Well, as expected, it seemed that Sayo would be in danger if I stayed still any longer, so I approached the bullying scene.

“Shirakawa! What happened?”

“Ebato-san. I was confessed to today, but there was nothing between us, so I politely declined… and so it seems that these people resent me because of that.”

Come to think about it, this is the “princess” of the school. Aren’t confessions an everyday occurrence for her? On the other hand, it’s really late to be surprised, but how does she know my name?

“It’s really pathetic to bully someone for such a worthless reason.”

“Thank you.”

When the two finally noticed me, their eyes shifted to my phone.

“Hmm… I took a picture. What if I handed this to the school?”

I grinned. It seemed that they suddenly became aware of my presence and ran away.

“Well, don’t worry about it.”

“I’m going home. Do you want to go together?”

For a moment, I thought it would be troublesome to go home with the “princess” of the school, but… I don’t have any presence, so let’s accept the invitation. 

“I don’t mind.”

“Thank you very much.”

Sayo smiled and bowed her head.

“Anyway, you notice me quite often.”

“On the contrary, am I the only one who thought it was strange not to notice?”

“The two from before didn’t even know I existed. Most people don’t even remember my name. By the way, why does Shirakawa know my name?”

To be honest, it was quite suspicious that the “princess” remembered my name.

“We are neighbors, and isn’t it natural for classmates to know each other’s names in the first place?”

That reminded me, we were classmates.

“Is that so? But even our homeroom teacher doesn’t remember my name.”

“That, I’m sorry to hear…”

“Well, I’m used to that.”

We headed towards the apartment building while having the conversation. Well, this time, it was different from the other day when I came out from a nearby park alone without anyone to talk to…