The Story Of How I, A Gloomy Guy, Ended Up Surrounded By the Top-Tier Beautiful Girls In Class After A Seat Change - Chapter 179-180

Chapter 179: Walking Home Alone with Rui

After school, I, the lame introvert boy, got invited to karaoke by the three beautiful girls.

I thought I could just play the tambourine or something, but Airi, who was super hyped up, kept forcing me to sing duets over and over again—even made me sing songs I didn’t know.

In the end, after getting all hyped up for about two hours, we finally headed home.

“Hehe~ I had so much fun singing with you today, Ryota!”

“My throat’s completely wrecked though…”

“But you’re amazing, Ryota. Even songs you only heard once, you were able to sing them right away.”

“Right, right! That’s so Ryota!”

“R-Really?”

Getting praised by Yuria and Airi, I couldn’t help but smile a little.

“Well, maybe it’s because I always fall asleep listening to ear-licking ASMR streams. Maybe that’s why my ears are so sharp.”

“Ear-licking? What’s that, Ryota?”

“Huh? Oh, ear-licking is—”

“Wait, Ryota!”

Yuria gave me a cold look.

Whoops… I almost started explaining one of the otaku’s (socially) niche pleasures in detail.

“Yuria? What’s wrong all of a sudden?”

“M-More importantly, Airi! We need to turn right at this corner.”

“Oh, that’s right! Well, Ryota and Rui-chan, see you tomorrow!”

Airi said that while waving her hand and shaking her massive boobs.

Maybe because I was staring at them too hard, Yuria looked exasperated as she walked off with Airi.

“…Just the two of us now, Ryota-kun.”

“Yeah, guess so.”

“Shall we walk home together?”

“Uh, sure.”

So Rui and I, who live in the same direction, started walking home together.

I had walked home with Rui once before after unexpectedly running into her on the way back from a date with Yuria, but this was the first time I was walking home with her at night.

“You seemed like you really enjoyed karaoke, Ryota-kun.”

“Y-You think so? Honestly, I felt so out of place I just went along with Airi to survive.”

“You still looked like you were having fun. Oh, or maybe… it was fun because it was Airi?”

“W-What are you talking about? That has nothing to do with it.”

“But you sang with Airi so many times, and you didn’t do a duet with me at all.”

Rui narrowed her eyes and gave me a soft gaze.

(D-Don’t tell me… Rui actually wanted to sing with me?)

“You were so passionate when you confessed during the retirement ceremony… So that’s all your love for me was worth, huh?”

“T-That wasn’t a confession! I just said I wanted to support you!”

“Hehe, you’re getting all worked up over a tease, Ryota-kun.”

“O-Of course I am! That’s not what it was!”

I only said that because I genuinely wanted to support Rui if she became student council president.

“I mean, even if I had confessed, you’d probably just laugh it off, right?”

“Hmm, who knows? I might have to think about it… or not.”

“Not?”

“If possible, I’d like to right away… No, never mind. Ryota-kun seems like the type to cheat immediately, so maybe I’d just reject you without even thinking about it.”

“H-Hey! Cheating!? What do you even think of me!?”

“A pervert.”

She always calls me that, and with my track record, I can’t argue.

Especially when she’s the one always sending me pervy selfies.

“Anyway, Ryota-kun, there’s one more thing I want to ask you.”

“Ah, come on. What now?”

“Before we left school, weren’t you kind of standing still in front of your shoe locker?”

“…Huh?”

I had completely forgotten with all the karaoke, but now that she mentioned it—there was a letter in my shoe locker…

There’s no way someone would send me a love letter. It’s probably just a prank or some hate mail from a fan of Rui, Airi, or Yuria… But still, I can’t believe Rui remembered something I had already forgotten.

(Should I tell Rui? But… it might just make things more complicated.)

“N-No, it was nothing. I thought I saw a bug inside the locker, but when I looked closer, it was just dust.”

“…Hmm.”

“Hey, isn’t this where your mansion is, Rui?”

“Yeah, it is. Well then… see you, Ryota-kun.”

Rui frowned a little suspiciously but still said goodbye.

Knowing how sharp Rui is, she’s probably still doubting me… But anyway, putting Rui aside for now, I should probably open that letter when I get home.

—

Chapter 180: What’s Inside the Letter♡

I hurry home to check what’s inside the letter.

“Oh hooo, Ryota-kun, you finally came back!”

I walk into the room and place my bag on the desk.

I avoided telling Rui about the letter, but… I really need to find out what it is.

“Ah, just to be clear, I didn’t break in or anything! I came because your sister said she’d give me some of her old clothes she doesn’t wear anymore.”

It’s true that Rui, Yuria, and Airi all have fans around school, and it’s only natural that some haters would pop up against me for getting along with the three of them.

(Am I going to get challenged to a duel or something?)

“Hey, Ryota-kun, why do you look so serious?”

But for a hate letter, it’s got cute little music note stickers on it…

“Geez! What’s going on! Don’t ignore me!”

“…Huh? Tanaka? Since when were you—”

“I was here from the beginning! I even greeted you with my usual oho voice, so pay attention!”

“That oho voice thing is something you do on your own, you know.”

When I ignored Tanaka, she puffed up her cheeks and got mad.

“Anyway, why are you staring at your bag like that since you came home? Don’t tell me, Ryota-kun, you’re such a pervert that you’ve started getting turned on by your bag?”

“I’m not! I don’t have any weird fetishes like that!”

“Then what’s going on?”

Now, what should I do… Should I tell Tanaka about it?

I mean, I didn’t tell Rui because it would’ve become a whole mess… but Tanaka, huh.

Well, she doesn’t have many friends, so it probably won’t be a big deal if I tell her.

“Actually, I found this in my shoe locker.”

I take a letter out of my bag and hand it to Tanaka.

“What! No way, is this a love le— Nah, no way someone would send a love letter to a gross, pervy, forever-virgin loner like you, Ryota-kun! Sorry, sorry.”

“Don’t insult me and then act sorry about it! You’re basically the same!”

“D-Don’t lump me in with you! I’m super popular! Just the other day, one of my BL fanfics about brothers got over 20,000 bookmarks—”

“Nobody cares about your embarrassing past. I was just about to check what’s inside the letter.”

I snatched the letter back from Tanaka.

“C-Check? Wait, isn’t it normal to just read a letter right there at the shoe locker when you find one?”

“Yeah, but Airi and the others were rushing me, like, ‘Let’s go to karaoke already.'”

“…Huh? Karaoke?”

When Tanaka hears the word “karaoke,” she looks like she just bit into something sour.

“Ryota-kun, don’t tell me you were just out having fun at karaoke with those three pretty girls?”

“Uh, yeah. I mean, we did go to karaoke.”

“What the heck! Why didn’t you invite me too! I’m part of that group too, aren’t I!”

Tanaka starts hitting me in the stomach while on the verge of tears.

Ugh, so annoying… I do feel kind of bad for forgetting about her, though.

“T-Today was a celebration for Rui’s victory.”

“Then that’s even more reason to invite me! I spent the whole time alone rummaging through every corner of your room like an idiot!”

“You— Well, I’ll ask about that in detail later, but right now let’s focus on the letter.”

Setting Tanaka’s weird behavior aside, I slowly peel off the music note sticker.

“Um, is it okay if I look too? I mean, if this has even a 0.00000000000000001% chance of being a love letter, I’d feel kind of bad.”

“Hm? Wait, Tanaka, this is…”

“Yeah?”

The letter had one single sentence written in round, girly handwriting.

“I’ll be waiting on the rooftop tomorrow morning♡ Ryota-senpai♡”

S-Senpai? That means… the sender of the letter is…!