When I Picked Up A Stunningly Gorgeous Downer-Type Beauty In Front Of The Entrance. - Chapter 62 and 63: The Negation Game, The Stock Phrase of A Spineless Cohabitating Guy. & You Can't Escape From The Demon King (Fashion Club)!

The Negation Game, The Stock Phrase of A Spineless Cohabitating Guy.

Words fail me.

I can’t come up with a response.

Opening my mouth and closing it again. Repeat.

Somewhere in my heart, it feels like carp swimming calmly, my rational self mutters.

Sharp eyes narrowed like a keen blade piercing right in front of me, making me feel as if a dagger is being thrust at me.

What should I say? What… should I say?

I try to move my painted white head somehow. My thoughts feel as rough as plaster walls.

My tongue, drowning in saliva, struggles against the questioning gaze, unable to endure, I turn my face away as if to flee.

And then, with great effort, I manage to squeeze out my words.

“…………I-I don’t… dislike her.”

“There it is!”

My classmate looks at me with a mix of exasperation.

“The guy who dodges with negatives. Pathetic man’s stock phrase. They all think they can dodge everything with ‘not.'”

I know I’m running away, but did she have to put it like that?

Her blunt insults cut deep into me.

But even so, I can’t explain that it’s different.

“What’s different?” she casually asks, and I have no prepared answer.

“There are various reasons. Various.”

In the end, all I could do was muddy the waters with vague answers.

No, that’s not right either. If asked “various what?” I’d be in trouble.

“Various… huh?”

As if trying to see through my true feelings, her eyes soften and the sharpness fades, becoming round like the lens of a telescope.

Could she really see through me?

No way. Even though I think that, I keep my face turned away and shift my gaze to the side.

And then, at that moment,

Ding dong ding dong.

The chime echoes through the entire school building, shaking it.

It rings once more, the chime looping.

She had been staring at me this whole time, but as soon as the chime finishes, she closes her large eyes.

“Well, forget it. Let’s just hope for some progress in the future.”

She casually steps back as if nothing happened.

Don’t expect anything like a spectacle.

That’s what I thought, but finally reaching a calm distance, the first thing that escapes my lips is a sigh of relief.

Why are girls always so close?

Take Sajou-san, her mother, and even my sister—wait, is it even okay to count my sister as a girl? Emotionally, I didn’t want to think of her that way.

She’s more like a younger sister type or a different category altogether. Ecologically speaking, a girl? I can’t help but tilt my head in confusion.

I never really had a cute image of girls.

Bold, lively, challenging… maybe more like an adventurer? Or perhaps a pirate.

Either way, girls seemed far from that image.

Was it wrong to think like that?

Trying to evade the questioning from my classmate, I shifted to the edge of my chair, reducing the contact area between the seat and my buttocks.

Maybe that’s why, when I moved to lean my elbows on the backrest, my butt slipped down with a thud.

Feeling nauseous and chilled from the sensation, I rubbed my butt on the floor.

“What are you doing?” My classmate asked incredulously, reaching out her hand to help.

It’s a bit embarrassing.

Somewhere, I feel like my sister is giggling, and a mix of embarrassment and irritation furrows my brow.

I hesitated for a moment to take her outstretched hand.

Even though it’s to help me up, is it okay to touch a girl’s hand?

I thought about it, realizing this kind of hesitation is what people call “virgin vibes,” and decisively took her hand.

My classmate’s hand was delicate and slender yet paradoxically soft when grasped.

Like a cat scratching the surface of my heart, it felt rough or restless.

She squeezed my hand tightly in return, forcing me to look up.

As I lifted my head, I saw a girl with an innocent, full-faced smile—

“So, what were you worried about?”

She giggled cutely.

Her smile was girlishly adorable, but her firm grip on my hand felt strong, like the jaw of a snapping turtle, telling me she wouldn’t let go until I opened up.

“Eehehehe?”

“…………”

Smiles and silence.

Emotions clashing head-on.

You Can’t Escape From The Demon King (Fashion Club)!

I felt like running away.

But it was too late for that. Perhaps this was the punishment for lingering in the classroom after school, imagining something like a girl waiting in front of her boyfriend’s house, hoping for a date.

She gently stroked my wrist with her fingers, which were holding my hand. The sensation made my body shiver slightly, spreading from my wrist. It was a subtle attack, but it was highly effective on me. My lips quivered and parted as I bit my lower lip to keep quiet.

“…It’s nothing,” I said, trying to escape, sounding like Sajou-san.

“But it’s probably about Sajou-san’s part-time job, right?”

She hit the mark so easily that I fell silent. So, she heard it, huh?

Feeling as if I’d exposed my deepest secrets, my cheeks flushed with heat. To hide my embarrassment, I pouted my lips.

“Sorry for not being manly enough.”

“Hmm?”

The girl made a throaty sound and slowly shook her head from side to side.

“Not at all. I think it’s good. Wonderful, even. Can show me more?”

She pulled me up by the hand she was holding, making me stand. I almost fell onto my female classmate in the process. She casually apologized with an “Oops, sorry?” without any sign of embarrassment. Feeling a mix of emotions, I let go of her hand and sat back down in my chair as if I were dropping.

Honestly, I was extremely anxious about confiding in this girl. I glanced at her face. She looked back at me with eyes sparkling with excitement like a curious onlooker.

Despite feeling exasperated, I gave up, thinking it was too late to turn back now. I decided it was better to reveal the truth than to let baseless rumors spread.

Also, the truth was, I wanted to talk to someone about it.

I hesitated to put it into words and mumbled, “Well, um,” but once I started talking, it felt like my lips were greased, and the anxiety and loneliness I’d been holding in started to slip out smoothly.

“…I’m worried about whether she’s doing okay. This is Sajou-san’s first time doing something like this, and she’s not great with people to begin with. I wonder if she can handle customer service properly, or if she’s getting harassed by weirdos. And, well, it feels like she’s drifting away…”

“Lonely?”

I nodded at her interjection.

What am I saying to a female classmate? Even as I thought that, I felt my heart lighten, like I was unloading the stones that had been weighing it down. It’s simple, really. Maybe that’s just how it is. The more you hold in your feelings, the heavier they become and the more they cloud your heart. But once you let them out, no matter who you’re talking to, it seems natural that you’d feel lighter.

Honestly, it irked me to thank this nosy classmate. But, well, yeah. Regardless of the reason, she helped me, so I tried to say “thank you.”

“She’s beautiful, so she probably gets hit on a lot, huh?”

Snap.

It felt like my body turned to stone, and I heard a crack sound in my ears.

Hit on…?

Even if I didn’t want to imagine it, the image forced its way into my mind. Some guy chatting up Sajou-san while she worked at the café. The moment I pictured some jerk saying, “Hey, cutie, wanna grab a drink with me?” something snapped deep inside me.

I didn’t know what it was, but my body reacted immediately, and I stood up. It was unconscious. I grabbed my bag without thinking and started heading for the classroom door. Somewhere deep in my mind, something was stirring.

“If you go like this, Sajou-san will find out, won’t she?”

It wasn’t “What’s wrong?” or “Where are you going?” The words of my female classmate, as if she knew everything, made my automatically moving body freeze like it had run out of batteries.

Suddenly, my joints felt rusty and my movements slowed.

Right. No matter why I was heading to Sajou-san’s part-time job, if I went like this, she would definitely see me. And that wouldn’t be good.

‘…What are you doing here?’

I could easily imagine her asking me with a cold look.

If I were to honestly say I was worried, I felt like she’d brush it off with, ‘I’m not a child.’ In fact, I was certain she would. Then she’d be in a bad mood, and dinner would be tense and heavy. I could already picture the living room filled with nothing but the clinking of utensils.

A scene like a couple on the brink of divorce.

I really didn’t want that. The strength drained from my hands, and my bag dropped to the floor with a thud.

To avoid that, I knew I shouldn’t go peeking into Sajou-san’s workplace. But…

‘She’s beautiful, so she probably gets hit on a lot, huh?’

My classmate’s casual words kept replaying in my head.

Huh… huh… huh… the echo was maddening.

I was curious. But if I went, she’d definitely get mad at me.

I tapped my heels against the floor in frustration. Like a cat, I paced around in circles. I couldn’t calm down without doing something.

“Fufufu.”

Suddenly, the girl laughed.

I glared at her irritably.

The reason I was even in this predicament was because of her careless remark, right? My strong gaze tried to convey this, but she just made a cat-like “nyufufu” sound and continued to laugh, unaffected.

Ignoring my stare, she puffed out her modest chest with pride.

“Leave your worries to me, a member of the fashion club!”

She placed her hand on her chest and struck a confident pose.

I had a bad feeling about this, but by the time I thought that, it was already too late—like a demon king conquering the world.

She lifted both hands up to her face, wiggling her fingers mysteriously as she approached me.

“Well then, let’s get you changed, shall we?”

“Ah, hey, wait…!?”

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!

***

“Welcome!”

The café.

With the cheerful sound of the doorbell, I was greeted by the staff. I was dressed in a light pink blouse, a black skirt, and knee-high socks that showcased an alluring gap—otherwise known as exposed skin between top of knee-high socks and hemline of skirt​. And yes, that was me.

“…What am I even doing?” I muttered, in a high-pitched voice that hurt my throat, using feminine speech. Despite my cheerful smile, I was crying on the inside.

Sobbing, sobbing, sobbing.