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

Chapter 68 – Flat

“Hmph!”

“Juliet! I’m really sorry! I was going to have Momoi-san send you our location later. But our conversation went on a bit too long…”

“HMPH! I see. Romeo has more fun being with Momo than with me, right? HMPH!” pun pun!

(Oh boy~ Asakura-san is completely sulking… Not that I can blame her. By the time I finished talking with Momoi-san and realized—)

“Huh? Andou-kun, come to think of it, isn’t Sakura taking a long time to get here?”

“Ah! That’s right!”

“Eh!? Andou-kun! Where are you suddenly going!?”

(Asakura-san definitely wasn’t listening to me back then, so if she’s not here, she must still be searching for us on the third floor! I need to go get her quickly!)

(Andou-kun is fast! He’s sprinting all the way to the third floor!)

“I’m here! JULIEEEET!”

“Uuu, everyone… where—! That voice, it’s Romeo!”

“Juliet!”

“Romeo!”

(Asakura-san!)

(Andou-kun!)

“I’m sorry I’m late picking you up!”

“Geez! Where did you go, you IDIOOOT! Waaahhh! I wath… I wath sho schared! Waaahhh!”

“It’s because I took my eyes off you… I’m sorry, Juliet.”

“I-I’m shorry too… for not realizing I was alone…”

(From now on, I’ll never take my eyes off Asakura-san when she’s absorbed in shopping…)

(From now on, even if I get absorbed in shopping, I’ve decided never to wander off alone!)

“It’s okay now, Juliet… I’ll never let you go!”

“R-Romeo… I’ll never leave you either!”

Surrounding customers: ‘Awwww!’ applause

“……”

(Maybe it’s because they’re calling each other Romeo and Juliet? The surrounding customers are mistaking this for some kind of theatrical reunion scene and applauding… But this is just lost Sakura being safely recovered by Andou-kun… For now, I’ll just pretend to be a stranger until things calm down♪)

(—So after all that, now that we’re back at the first floor cafeteria space and things have calmed down…)

“I-It’s not like that… I was just panicked… I-I only hugged Romeo because I was lonely being by myself, there’s absolutely no other feelings or anything!”

“Yeah yeah, I get it, Juliet… You don’t have to emphasize it that much.”

(Uuu… In my loneliness, I hugged Andou-kun the moment I found him… but he didn’t notice my feelings, right?)

(Come to think of it, Asakura-san isn’t good with scary things. Being suddenly left alone must have been quite traumatic for her.)

“Um… I’m thinking those two are hopeless at this rate~”

(Haah, no wonder they’re not making progress~)

“Come on, Sakura, get over it already~ Besides, it’s originally your fault for not listening, right~? Also, why don’t you two know each other’s contact info?”

(If Andou-kun had gotten Sakura’s contact info beforehand, this wouldn’t have happened~)

“R-right! Romeo! Let’s exchange contact info! Like Momo said, the biggest problem this time was not knowing each other’s contact info! So if we exchange contacts now, we’ll be fine even if we get separated in the future!”

“No, Juliet… getting separated is not okay, you know? But contact info, huh. Hmm.”

(As expected of Momo! Now I can finally get Andou-kun’s contact info that I’ve wanted to ask for but gave up on so many times!)

“……”

(Andou-kun seems reluctant to give his contact info to Sakura. Is there some problem~?)

(If we exchange contacts… they won’t see how many contacts I have registered, right…?)

【Andou-kun’s Address Book Entries】(As of yesterday)

① “Me” ② “Sister” ③ “Home”

That’s all!

(I’d hate if they found out… but Asakura-san and Momoi-san have a point, and knowing Asakura-san, even if I try not to take my eyes off her, there’s a high possibility we’ll get separated in the future…)

“…Alright. Let’s exchange?”

“—!?”

(Finally… Andou-kun’s contact info—! YEEESSS! Asakura-chan’s great victory!)

“Wh-what’s wrong… Juliet? Standing up suddenly like that…?”

“Heh? Ah… no! This isn’t what it looks like! D-don’t mind me… right! There was a mosquito on the ceiling! So I just chased it away with my rising dragon punch!”

“I-I see…”

“Pfft… pfft…” trembling

(Wow… it’s been a while since I’ve seen Asakura-san’s mysterious behavior…)

(S-Sakura… you’re too obvious! A-and… why doesn’t Andou-kun notice this!?)

【Exchanging Contact Info】

“Okay, we’ve exchanged contacts now.”

“Yeah! Now I can contact Romeo anytime… wait! D-don’t misunderstand, I’m not the type of girl who just casually sends messages or anything!”

“It’s fine, Asakura-san. I’m bad at email anyway.”

“Eh…”

“Ah, come to think of it, that does seem like Andou-kun~”

“Yeah, since I’ve been a ‘loner’ until now, I’m not used to that kind of thing.”

(It’s over… I never knew Andou-kun wasn’t good with email… Then there’s no point in exchanging contacts!)

“Hmm, then how about practicing this opportunity~? You’ll use email not just in school but after entering society too, right~? In fact, you’ll probably use it more for work when you’re in society, so let’s try it, Andou-kun.”

(Nice one, Momo!)

“Hmm, practice, huh…”

“R-right! If Romeo really insists… I-I wouldn’t be completely against sending Romeo emails, or maybe I would, or maybe not… something like that!”

“Y-yeah… then maybe I’ll try emailing from now on…”

“Really!?”

“Yeah yeah…”

“Then it’s decided~♪”

(YESSS! Now I can email with Andou-kun! Ahhhh! This is another great victo—)

“Then, Andou-kun, I’ll email you too, so reply, okay~?”

“Got it, Momoi-san.”

(—Huh?)

“Wait a minute! Wh-why… does Momo already know Romeo’s contact info?”

“Eh~? Why, you ask… because I exchanged contacts with Andou-kun before we went looking for Sakura♪”

“——!?” ← speechless

(WHAAAAT!? S-so… Momo got Andou-kun’s contact info before me…)

【Andou-kun’s Address Book Entries】(Before exchanging with Asakura-san)

① “Me (self)” ② “Sister (family)” ③ “Home (family)” ④ “Momoi-san (friend)” ← New

“Ehehe~ Sorry, Sakura~?”

“—!?”

(I got Andou-kun’s first… friend slot♪)

(Grrrr! Momo… you’ve made me angry!) rumble rumble…

“Ehehe~~”

“Aha, ahaha…”

“!?”

(Eh, what’s this atmosphere… Scary!)

“Hey, Andou-kun! Aren’t you getting hungry? Let’s go eat somewhere~?” pressing close

“Mo-mo-Momoi-san!”

(Momoi-san is hugging my arm! My arm! My arm is—sinking into Momoi-san’s boobs… what…!?)

(Grrrrr! Momo! How shameless! That’s cheating! If you’re going to play that way, then I’ll…!)

“Y-yeah, I’m hungry too~ Like Momo said, shall we eat somewhere?” whoosh!

“Eh, wait! Why! Even Juliet is……”

(Asakura-san too! She’s hugging… my arm… too?)

“……Yeah.” ding

“Eh, Romeo…?” grab grab

“Pfft!”

(Sakura… cheer up, okay?)

“—!?”

(Momo! What are you laughing at! Does Andou-kun really prefer big boobs that much!!) snap

“Oh my oh my… Hey, Romeo. Do you like big boobs that much…?”

“Heh!? Wh-what are you talking about? Juliet… -san.”

“Oh my… you don’t need to hide it, you know? You’re grinning so much~”

“C-come on~ Juliet… That’s not true?”

“Oh my oh my… Romeo really does like boobs… you know~ I’m getting a little… j-e-a-l-o-u-s♪”

(Eh… jealous? Asakura-san is? What—)

“GRAAAHHH!!!” applying joint lock

“OW OW OW OW OW! Joint! Joint! You’ve got me in a joint lock! Juliet, STOOOOOP!?”

(Ahaha~… I teased Sakura a bit too much~, tehe♪)

Bonus Story: “Email”

“I-I finally got it……”

【Asakura-san’s Address Book】

1st Entry “Me” 2nd Entry “Mama” 3rd Entry “Momo” 4th Entry “Papa” ・・・・・ 108th Entry “Andou-kun” ← New

“KYAHOOO! I finally got it! Ahh, Andou-kun’s contact info!”

(Fufufu… and I’ve already gotten approval to send him emails under the pretense of ‘Andou-kun’s email practice’! How wonderful! Not only did I get his contact info, but I even got a reason to contact him!)

“I-I can’t let this chance slip away…”

(Today I promised to send Andou-kun a light email to start with… Now, what should I write?)

“No, that’s not it… Hmm, this isn’t it either…” mumbling to herself

(Something more… a light message that even Andou-kun, who’s not used to email, can easily reply to…)

Two hours later

“I-It’s done!”

『Dear Andou-sama,

I apologize for sending this correspondence so late at night.

Now then, the nights have been getting quite cold recently. How have you been? Even on cold nights, when I think of you, my chest becomes so hot that I have difficulty sleeping.

Oh my, saying it this way might make it sound as if I have feelings for you, but there is no such meaning, so please do not misunderstand.

Now, thank you very much for taking time today to help improve my acting skills. The time I spent with you today will undoubtedly become a precious memory.

Oh my, writing such things again might make it seem as if I am in love with you, but this is merely my personal sense of gratitude and has absolutely nothing to do with romantic feelings, so please do not misunderstand.

Now then, I mentioned earlier that I often have trouble sleeping at night. How do you spend your evenings?

If you cannot think of anything particular to write in your reply, I think it would be quite good if you could describe your nighttime appearance.

This is not because I personally wish to know, but rather advice that when one is unsure what to write in a letter, it is good to write about one’s current situation. I truly do not have even the slightest personal interest in knowing, so please do not misunderstand.

So, returning to the topic, what exactly do you wear at night? Pajamas? Or perhaps a yukata? S-surely not in a state of undress… Incidentally, I—』← continues for three times this length

“Yeah yeah! I worried so much I don’t really know anymore… but I think I wrote it pretty well!” ← brain has short-circuited from overthinking the email

(N-now… I’ll send it!) tap

“……”

chime ← message notification

“Already a reply!”

(T-to reply so quickly… Geez, Andou-kun is actually good at email, isn’t he?)

“Let’s see~ What kind of reply did Andou-kun—”

『This message could not be sent due to exceeding the character limit』

“……”

Meanwhile, Andou-kun…

“Asakura-san’s email isn’t coming…”