Why Is the Prettiest Girl in School Trying to Talk to a Loner Like Me during Lunch Break? - Chapter 34 - Bookshelf

Chapter 34: Bookshelf

“So this is Andou-kun’s room.”

“Even if you said you wanted to see it, there’s not much here besides light novels, you know?”

“You’re right. Wow, what a huge bookshelf… Hey, Andou-kun, about how many books are here?”

“Hmm, I buy them pretty regularly and sell them in Akiba when I run out of space, so I don’t know exactly… but I think there’s probably at least 200 books just on this bookshelf.”

“200 books!? No way, I don’t even have a third of that!”

“Come on, you still have plenty, Asakura-san. Besides, you mainly read on Narou, right? That’s why you just don’t have many physical copies.”

“Oh, now that you mention it, that’s true. But you read Narou too, don’t you, Andou-kun?”

“Well, yeah. But when they get published, I read the book versions instead. Look, this whole shelf here is mainly Narou works.”

“It’s true! This is ‘Isekai Intestinal Tract’ where a competitive eater with the ability to transport all food to another world is the protagonist! And here’s ‘Isekai Tavern “Wata”‘ where they escape Japan’s labor laws to expand into another world and make the locals work for practically nothing! Oh, and this is ‘Isekai Drug Store Matsumoto!’ where a pharmacist gets reincarnated in another world and uses modern knowledge to start a pharmacy, monopolize the market, and rise to success!”

“Haha, you really do know your Narou, Asakura-san.”

“You know quite a bit yourself, Andou-kun.”

“Well, I mainly just read stuff that’s on the rankings or has been published. Plus lately I’ve been reading other light novels besides just Narou stuff.”

(Now that he mentions it, Andou-kun’s bookshelf does seem organized by type on each shelf… The top shelf is Narou works? The middle shelf has ‘The Familiar of Ero,’ ‘Nekokami,’ ‘My Little Brother Can’t Be This Cute’… I see, these are the big titles from a little while back? Just below the middle shelf are more recent works. Hm? Only the bottom shelf is packed with Japanese dictionaries… This is—oh, I get it! Andou-kun used to use these dictionaries to look up kanji he couldn’t read in light novels!)

“Andou-kun, these Japanese dictionaries on the bottom shelf—”

“Th-th-th-those are just regular dictionaries! I just used them to look up kanji I couldn’t read a long time ago, they’re perfectly ordinary dictionaries with nothing interesting about them at all!”

“Oh, so that’s what I thought. But you have so many different kinds.”

“Th-th-that’s because! Light novels use weirdly difficult kanji differently from regular novels, so I collected various dictionaries to be able to look things up!”

(Oh, that’s right! Even in Narou works, they’ll write ‘漆黒’ and have it read as ‘darkness,’ or write ‘炎’ as ‘焔’ instead.)

“But they’re in pretty good condition for how much you’ve used them. Mind if I take a look?”

(I wonder what kind of dictionary Andou-kun uses?)

(This is bad! Asakura-san, you can’t look at those!)

“Asakura-san, wait a—ah!”

(Ah, my foot slipped…)

(Huh? Why is Andou-kun diving toward—)

“Eep… kyaa!”

“Gwah!”

(Ow ow ow… I moved on instinct and slipped, pushing Asakura-san down onto the floor… B-but this time I managed to get my hands on the floor, so I didn’t touch Asakura-san’s body… much less her chest! That’s a little disappointing…)

“Asakura-san, sorry for suddenly knocking you down… Are you okay?”

“Awawawa…”

“Asakura-san?”

(Huh? Why am I… why is Andou-kun pushing me down? Could this situation be what they call a ‘floor don’!? I-I-I’m being ‘floor donned’ by Andou-kun right now! What’s going to happen next!? Could it be—No! It’s still too soon for that! I mean, he only just touched my chest… At least—)

(…? Why is Asakura-san closing her eyes and puckering her lips? Did she hit her head? If so, I need to get off quickly!)

“Mmm—!”

“Asakura-san, sorry! I’ll get off now—”

“Asakura-senpai! I brought drinks—WHAAAT!? Onii-chan, what are you doing!?”

(Whaaaat!? My little sister barging in at this timing! This situation is bad!)

“No, wait! This is—!”

“Y-you pervert, Onii-chan! You lecher! You ero-gappa! You light novel otaku!”

“I told you, being a light novel otaku has nothing to do with thiiiiiis!”

(A-Andou-kun… not yet?)

[Bonus Story] “Napping”

“Zzz…” soft breathing sounds

“…” trembling

(A-Andou-kun is sleeping!?)

“~zzZZ” soft breathing

“…” trembling

(Wh-what should I do… It’s pretty rare for Andou-kun to still be asleep even after class ended… Did he stay up all night reading light novels or something…)

“zzZZ~” soft breathing

“…” trembling

(Kyuuu! Sleeping Andou-kun’s sleeping face is so defenseless and cute! I-is it okay if I touch him?)

“zz~…” soft breathing

“…” trembling

(N-no! If I touch him now, Andou-kun will wake up! Uuuh… Sleeping Andou-kun is like a super ultra rare SSR to me, so I wanted to poke his cheek… Ah, I know!)

“zz~…” soft breathing

“…” Click!

(Fufufu~ I got Andou-kun’s sleeping profile ♪ Starting today, this photo will be my wallpaper!)

(…Huh? Did Asakura-san just take a picture of me sleeping? Why!?) ← Actually woke up partway through

“Fufun~ ♪”

“…zzZ” ← Pretending to sleep

Translation Notes:

• “Isekai Intestinal Tract” – parody of “Restaurant to Another World”
• “Isekai Tavern ‘Wata'” – parody referencing Watami chain’s labor practices
• “The Familiar of Ero” – parody of “The Familiar of Zero”
• “My Little Brother Can’t Be This Cute” – gender-swapped parody of “OreImo”
• “Floor don” (床ドン) – variation of “kabedon” but on the floor
• “Ero-gappa” – creative insult combining “pervert” with “kappa” (mythological water demon)