Why Is the Prettiest Girl in School Trying to Talk to a Loner Like Me during Lunch Break? - Chapter 52 - Narration

Chapter 52 – Narration

Class Rep Role – Me

Yamada Role – Yamada

Principal Role – Yoshida-kun

Other Mob Characters – Sawatari-kun

“That’s about it for the non-main roles…

Now, let’s finally decide the main cast!”

“WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!”

(But somehow, the cast fell into place without any sense of incongruity… It feels like we’re being guided by fate.)

“So, for the ‘Juliet’ role that’s also in the title…

Is Asakura-san okay with everyone?”

“That’s fiiine!”

“We’re not doing nominations!?”

“What… Andou-kun? If you have an opinion, raise your hand properly, okay? Oh, maybe you want to play ‘Juliet’…? Sorry. Even if you wrote the script, I think the heroine role would be too difficult…”

“That’s not it! It’s not that… I mean, for the other roles, we took nominations and then voted, right? So why is Juliet suddenly being decided as Asakura-san?”

“Andou-kun, think about it… ‘Juliet’ is the most beautiful girl in school, right?”

“Yeah…”

“If I played that role instead of Asakura-san, who is the school’s most beautiful girl… what would happen?”

“It’d be fraud.”

“Fine… Andou-kun, step outside for a moment!”

“Why!?”

(Oh, but I mostly understand the situation. With this setting, certainly no other girl could nominate herself…)

“But we should ask Asakura-san’s opinion—”

“Asakura-san, do you want to play ‘Juliet’?”

“Hmm, well… I’m not really enthusiastic about it but—”

“If you do it, I’ll force ‘Andou-kun’ to play Romeo no matter what.” whisper

“I’ll do it!” determined

“That was fast!? Wait, you weren’t enthusiastic but now you’re nominating yourself so eagerly!”

“Now, lastly the ‘Romeo’ role. Does anyone want to play Romeo?”

(Heh, even if I ask, no one will raise their hand saying they want the lead role… Then if we make Romeo a recommendation vote, with the group votes from the ‘Other Girls Alliance’ and ‘Herbivore Boys Alliance,’ Andou-kun will automatically become Romeo!)

“Yes! I want to play Romeo!”

The Entire Class: “…!? (Y-Yamada!? Read the room!)”

(YAMADAAAAAAAA! You’re causing trouble again! With this, Andou-kun definitely isn’t the type to say he wants to play Romeo, so you’ll end up performing ‘Loner and Juliet’ with Asakura-san!)

“You already have another role!”

“I can easily handle two roles!”

“No, YOU can’t!?”

“E-eh? Y-Yamada-kun… you really want to play Romeo?”

“Yeah! I mean, it’s the lead! And the heroine is Asakura-san, right? Then I gotta do it!”

“E-eh? Yamada-kun is… playing Romeo? I-I see… nice to work with you, Yamada-kun.”

(Hah, I wanted it to be Andou-kun…)

“Yeah! Asakura-san! Let’s make this a fun play together!”

“Um, Yamada-kun? This is a sad play, you know?”

(Ah… that’s right. Yamada is hopelessly bad at reading the atmosphere at times like this… It’s over. My plan to bring Asakura-san and Andou-kun together using this play is ruined.)

“So, since there are no other nominations—”

“…Yes.”

“Eh?”

“—Huh? A-Andou… kun?”

“I-I also want to play Romeo.”

“I-I see… that’s fine but—”

(No way… Andou-kun nominated himself for Romeo? Why? For Asakura-san? No, that can’t be…)

“—! D-don’t misunderstand! I just can’t be satisfied unless I play ‘Romeo,’ the lead role, since this is a play from my own script! I just have a strong attachment to the script I wrote!”

(Andou-kun, could it be… Well, whatever reason Andou-kun nominated himself, for now the cast is—)

“I see, then… it can’t be helped. Yamada-kun, is it okay if Andou-kun plays ‘Romeo’?”

“Eh, no way.”

(That’s why, YAMADAAAAA! You really don’t read the atmosphere!)

“Y-Yamada-kun… since Andou-kun is saying this, maybe you could give in…”

“Huh? What are you saying, Class Rep! At times like this, we do elections democratically, right? So deciding Andou as Romeo without an election is invalid!

Invalid! Invalid! Invalid! Invalid! Invalid! Invalid! Invalid! Invalid! Invalid!”

(Tch… how cunning of Yamada!)

“It’s voting, not an election… Well, fine. Then shall we choose Romeo through a fair democratic election?”

“……”

(Why is it getting so heated just because I nominated myself for Romeo?)

Romeo Role

Andou – 28 votes

Yamada – 0 votes

“So, as a result of the fair election, Andou-kun has been decided as Romeo!”

“WAAAAAAAH!”

“Why!?”

“Ehehe, Andou-kun! Looking forward to working with you!”

“Y-yeah…”

(I’m really glad Andou-kun was decided as Romeo! But it’s rare for Andou-kun to nominate himself… He must have something he can’t compromise about his own script!)

(I wonder why… I really had no motivation to play the lead, but when I thought about Asakura-san performing that play with Yamada, I naturally raised my hand… I really don’t want to give Asakura-san to anyone else. Come to think of it, when I was writing this script, I unconsciously wrote the heroine Juliet while picturing Asakura-san…

But do I really have the right to monopolize ‘Asakura-san’?)

“Now, all the roles have been decided. All that’s left is the backstage crew?”

(Hm, all roles decided…? Oh,)

“Class Rep, wait! We haven’t decided the ‘Narrator’ yet!”

“Eh, ah! That’s right… With this script, we definitely need a narrator to progress the play. Is there anyone who can narrate?”

(Hmm, normally I would do this kind of work, but this time for some reason, fate has led me to already have the ‘Class Rep’ role…)

“……” silence

“As expected, no one’s nominating themselves… It can’t be helped. Andou-kun, who in this class do you think would be suitable as the ‘Narrator’?”

“Eh, why are you asking me!?”

“Because you have a ‘strong attachment to your own script,’ right?”

“Ugh…”

(Damn! My hasty imitation of Asakura-san to deflect has backfired… In this case, I’ll cleanly sacrifice someone who seems capable of narration. Since I’m a ‘loner,’ classmates other than Asakura-san are like ‘strangers’ to me. My heart won’t ache if I sacrifice them.)

“Um… then ‘Momoi’-san.”

“Eh… EEEEEEEEEEH!? Me!?”

【Bonus SS】”List Price”

“Asakura-san, look at this. It’s a new light novel from MS Bunko coming out tomorrow…”

“Andou-kun, which one… wait, uwaaah! List price 800 yen + tax!? What is this! It says MS Bunko so it’s a bunko-sized light novel, right?”

“Yeah, total page count is 520 pages, isn’t that crazy?”

“What boundary line blunt weapon were they thinking of? That’s the level…”

“Occasionally these blunt weapon-sized light novels come out but… honestly, I think these just become harder to buy because of the high list price.”

“I understand that feeling. Certainly, I think new releases need buzz to sell, but this kind of buzz that directly hits our wallets has the opposite effect.”

“Right, right, it says 800 yen but with tax it’s almost 900 yen, right? That’s basically demanding the wallet damage of one Noguchi bill.”

“That’s right. Moreover, recent light novels are increasingly priced in the 600 yen range even for new releases, and buying 2 or 3 often makes two Noguchi-sans fly away immediately.”

“Considering that, one Noguchi per book is pretty harsh.”

“With tankobon-sized Narou books, one Noguchi-san doesn’t feel that harsh, but it’s strange how bunko-sized light novels feel expensive.”

“Now that you mention it, that’s true… But for us, ‘Narou’ is like a drug so we don’t think about our wallets when buying, but after buying, don’t you look in your wallet and panic when more Noguchis have disappeared than expected?”

“That happens! I thought I still had two or three Noguchi-sans—wait!? Why isn’t there even one! Oh… I bought ‘Reincarnated as a Plastic Model,’ abbreviated ‘TenPura,’ the other day…”

“You bought two volumes, the first and second… Those are tankobon size so the list price is about 1200 yen.”

“So, Andou-kun, does that new light novel coming tomorrow look interesting?”

“Hmm, from the introduction page, it’s a dark fantasy with a good atmosphere?”

“Let me see? Oh, looks good… but if it’s 520 pages, I wish they’d split it into two volumes.”

“Hmm, maybe the story breaks weren’t good? And new releases get cancelled immediately if the first volume doesn’t have good reviews…”

“Oh, right… With ‘Narou’ works, there are fixed readers so first volume cancellations aren’t that common, but for new releases…”

“Recently ‘Narou’ cancellations have been increasing too.”

“So, will you buy this light novel after all, Andou-kun?”

“Hmm… I’m interested but the price…”

“Th-then! I’m also interested in that light novel so… h-how about we each pay half and share it?”

“Eh…”

“N-no good?”

(Ugh… what should I do? Was that too bold? B-but in this conversation flow, it’s not unnatural, right? I-if Andou-kun agrees to this… Uhehe~ Tomorrow on the way home we’ll go to the bookstore together for a date… just kidding!

Kyaa!)

“I couldn’t have Asakura-san pay money like that! It’s fine, if Asakura-san is interested too, I’ll just buy it with my own money tomorrow.”

(Noooo!)

“Oh… I-I see?”

“Ah! Of course, I’ll properly lend it to Asakura-san after I buy it! Rather, if you’d like, Asakura-san can read it first!”

“N-no, I’m fine reading it later.”

(But… then we can’t have a bookstore date tomorrow!)

—

Translation Notes:
1. MS Bunko appears to be a light novel publisher (parody name)
2. Noguchi = 1000 yen bill (featuring Noguchi Hideyo)
3. 転プラ (TenPura) – Parody of TenSura aka Reincarnated as a Slime