The Story Of How I, A Gloomy Guy, Ended Up Surrounded By the Top-Tier Beautiful Girls In Class After A Seat Change - Chapter 23

“Here’s something just between us girls—there was a trend among us girls to make a list of boys who confessed to Rui Kuroki.”

“W-what…?”

“Back in middle school, all the boys in our class were head over heels for Kuroki-san, which caused a lot of inconvenience for us other girls. It was abnormal how every boy in our class seemed to fall for Kuroki-san.”

“Yeah, that’s true… “

Even as a guy, I can get how unusual that must’ve been.

“What do you mean by inconvenience?”

“Well, when Kuroki-san is popular, it means the boys we’re interested in don’t pay attention to us, right?”

“I see…”

“So, to find out if Kuroki-san had already turned down our crushes, each girl would write down what they heard or saw in the Lime group to compile a list. Girls would check that list before making a move on their crush.”

“Seriously…!”

“I couldn’t believe it either. It was such a shocking thing for middle schoolers to do.”

(Wow, girls go that far!? That’s quite scary…)

But considering Rui Kuroki’s uniqueness as a person, being such an irregular presence, maybe that’s why the other girls had to resort to such tactics.

“Well, being a loner, I overhear the list during PE class. I heard a rumor that Ryota-kun was the only one who hadn’t confessed. Ryota-kun was an introverted otaku, so that rumor quickly faded without much interest.

“Ugh…”

It hurt my pride as a guy, but I couldn’t deny it…

To begin with, my middle school days were the darkest period of my life as a puberty-stricken otaku.

I wrote a 10,000-word letter to the author expressing my love for the busty, big-bottomed, thick-thighed characters I admired, greeted my favorite character’s figure every morning, and said “good night” before going to bed. I have such an embarrassing history.

(I was so into 2D that I had zero interest in real-life girls then.)

“By the way, if you heard the rumor, does that mean you never actually saw the confession list?”

“Huh? M-me?”

“Even though you were a bit of an introverted otaku back then, you were right in the middle of puberty, right? Didn’t you have a crush on at least one or two boys? Weren’t you curious about their information?”

“W-well… I, um…”

Tanaka took off her glasses and wiped them while looking at me.

Tanaka has a habit of wiping her glasses when she’s surprised or flustered, so it seemed she was hiding something from me.

(Huh? Was Tanaka secretly a heroine from a shoujo manga who pretended to be an otaku? Like, she secretly had a crush on the class hottie?)

“W-well, I… didn’t need to ask. Or rather, I knew without asking.”

“Huh?”

“I mean, um, that’s right! I’m a big fan of my favorite idol! I used to be into characters from otome games, but now I support Vtuber characters! And, of course, the same goes for Ryota-kun!”

“Ah, I see. That makes sense.”

So Tanaka was also a die-hard 2D fan all this time.

This might be the first time I’ve had a conversation like this with Tanaka, like some love talk.

(I always thought she might secretly like the popular boys in class… But if she’s been watching handsome 2D guys, maybe she can’t return to real-life guys.)

“I guess you and I haven’t changed, huh?”

“……”

“Hm? Tanaka?”

“……Hmph.”

“W-what’s with the puffed-up cheeks? Did I say something to upset you?”

“I-it’s nothing! Anyway, let’s get back to our conversation. Did you have something you wanted to ask me about Kuroki-san?”

“Oh, right…”

There is a better time for reminiscing. I need to ask Tanaka if she knows anything about what Kuroki mentioned regarding ‘that day’.

“Well, it seems Kuroki has been watching me since middle school because I never confessed to her.”

“Keeping an eye because you didn’t confess? What does that mean?”

“Apparently, Kuroki is such a perfectionist that she didn’t like the fact that I was the only one that never confessed to her. And when she told me, she also mentioned ‘since that day’ to me. I was curious about what ‘that day’ refers to… Do you have any idea?”

“I wouldn’t know! Besides topping the class rankings or passing each other during announcements on the broadcast committee, I hardly interacted with Kuroki!”

Huh? Tanaka had more contact with Kuroki than I did. I never even spoke to her once, let alone brushed against her.

“So Ryota, you’re curious about this ‘that day’ when you had some kind of connection with Kuroki?”

“Yeah. It bothers me that Kuroki knows about it, but I don’t.”

“I understand how you feel. But did Ryota ever do something that involved Kuroki? Like rescuing her from trouble with delinquents or saving her from a groper?”

“What? That sounds like something out of a light novel protagonist’s story.”

“Surrounded by a group of beauties, you have all the potential to be a light novel protagonist, you know!?”

Tanaka unusually retorts with great vigour.

“Let me clarify: there was no romantic comedy event involving Kuroki in middle school. Besides, I’ve never saved a beauty in my life.”

“That’s what I thought… Ryota rescuing Kuroki, huh? …Hmm?”

“What’s wrong, Tanaka?”

“Oh, it’s nothing… I might be remembering something. Yes… I think it was… yes…”

Tanaka mutters to herself, trying to remember something.

Could Tanaka know something?

I have no clue whatsoever…

“Ryota-kun, I might have one idea.”

“Huh? Seriously?”

“I just remembered! I might know about a connection between Ryota-kun and Kuroki that Ryota-kun doesn’t know about!”