A Beautiful Girl Who Leaves-On-Read

Tamari hugged my right arm and rubbed her cheek against it.

“Oi, get away from me, Tamari”

Of course, I’m……not a Tamari devotee, for a long time now, she has been meddling in my affairs one-sidedly, and in the first place, I don’t have any friends. 

Tamari is just a childhood friend, whose parents are close to mine. With other classmates too, I only talk the bare minimum. 

I don’t really want friends, and I’m more comfortable being alone because I don’t have to fit in with others.

It is precisely because I have this mindset that I can sympathize with the [Solitary Beauty] Yukine Saeki.

The people around me are just annoying…

I peeled off Tamari and took out a paperback book from my desk.

There’s still time for a lunch break, so I’ll spend it reading a book.

“Anyhow, the boys in our class are too excited. Aren’t they just sending a message on lime selfishly?”

I was just about to forget about them and read a book, but Tamari’s unwanted comment reminded me of them.

“By the way, have you ever sent LIME to Saeki?”

“I have.  When we were in the same group at a gymnastic dance, I sent her a message saying, “Would you like to practice after school?”

“Did you get a reply?”

“I did! Just one letter.”

“So a short reply to girls as well huh….”

If you don’t care enough to respond, you shouldn’t be on social media in the first place.

While I was talking with Tamari, Saeki, who was reading a book earlier, got up from her seat and left the classroom.

Cool and impassive, Saeki walked down the hallway, her glossy black hair swaying.

And every time, the look in the eyes of the boys would change, and they would become more boisterous. 

“Saeki is always in trouble. She’s like that in real life. But on lime, she plays with them like they’re playthings.” 

“It’s a problem only a beauty can have. Oh, by the way, I’m the only one who has received a reply from Saeki-chan, the only one, you know? All the other girls were left-on-read. Isn’t that amazing?” 

“Is that something to be proud of?”

I said with a look of dismay and tried to read the paperback book I took out from my desk. 

“It is! For the sake of it, why don’t you too send a lime to Saeki-chan?”

“Ha….You’re also saying the same thing as those popular boys? Don’t you think that’s disrespectful to Saeki?”

“It’s alright, it’ll end up being marked as read anyway.” 

“It’s definitely not alright. It’ll bother Saeki, plus I don’t know her ID to begin with.”

“Oh, right. You don’t know because you weren’t invited to join the class lime group.”

“What?…..There’s a class group?”

“How pitiful” 

“Shut it” 

In high school, the only person I talk to is my childhood friend Tamari, so naturally, there is no way I would be invited to join the friendly lime group of the class.

I clicked my tongue and looked out the window, and the phone in my pocket vibrated.

I checked and the lime from Tamari had a code for Saeki’s lime account.

“Tamari, this”

“You are free to do as you will from here, Kotoku-kun, okay?”

“What?”

“Are you going to do the Saeki Challenge or not?! Which will it be!” 

Tamari was trying to fire me up like a musclehead comedian. 

A challenge to see if I can get a response from Saeki, Saeki Challenge……

Including Saeki, who repeatedly leaves people on read, there are only rude people in my class.

“If you get a reply, you’ll be above those boys, you know?” 

“I’m not happy about that in the slightest.” 

“Come on now~ even a “ah” is alright~” 

Tamari said as she placed her own palm on the page of the paperback book I opened and interrupted my reading.

…….I don’t want to do this in the first place. 

I created a chat with Saeki on Lime and wrote a sentence. 

Okami: Sorry for the suddenness, Saeki. I’m your classmate, Okami. I heard that you’re repeatedly leaving messages on read, and if you don’t want to respond or whatever, maybe you should recreate your account or something.

…that’s what I wrote. 

This was just a reminder and a bit of advice. I’m not interested in Saeki, I’m not picking on him, and if Saeki takes this opportunity to delete her account, it will end the sterile conflict between the boys in class.

“All done….now to send it.” 

I sent the message and showed Tamari my phone to prove that I really sent it.

“This is fine right? I sent it, now take your hands off my book.” 

“Oh my, aren’t you being meddlesome?…..Well it’s written just like you, after all it’s you.” 

Tamari’s hand retreated and took my phone to check what I wrote.

Finally, I can read a book in peace───

“Huh? Kotoku-kun!!”

“If you keep interrupting me, I’ll lose it you know”

“Look! Just look at this.” 

Tamari turned the screen of my phone she took from me to me and frantically pointed at the screen.

“It’s marked as read…..there’s a reply too.”

“What?”