Aim For The Sparkling Life Of A Normie

“…You know why, right? That fake confession back in middle school. When he laughed in front of everyone and said, ‘Nobody would ever get hard for an ugly girl like this.’ That’s why, when Takumi properly finishes like this, it lets me feel like… even I can actually do it…”

Kotori murmured with a tense expression, perhaps remembering that time.

In truth, although Kotori was currently hanging out with the A-tier girls, before entering high school she was just another background mob character quietly blending into the corner of the classroom, just like Takumi.

Her current appearance was the result of a so-called high school debut. However, even though her outward appearance had changed glamorously, her inner self couldn’t transform so suddenly.

Thus, whenever Kotori was about to do something significant, she needed that routine.

She had performed the exact same routine when she got her ear pierced, which had been the topic of conversation in class this morning.

Though she originally intended to pierce both ears, she ended up chickening out and only did one.

On other occasions—like the first time she went to buy cosmetics, when she switched from glasses to contacts, when she shortened her school uniform skirt, or even on the very first day of school when she was terrified of going in her polished look—she ended up hurriedly needing the routine right from the morning.What a strange relationship they had formed.

Takumi scoffed at himself, yet spoke in a intentionally cheerful tone.

“Sheesh, to have a routine like this, you really are a closet pervert, Kotori.”

“S-Shut up!”

“So, don’t you need to hurry up and head to Futaba? Aren’t they waiting for you? I’ll handle the cleanup here.”

“Oh, right. Sorry, and thanks… please.”

“Don’t worry about it. Come on, get going already.”

“With this, another achievement is unlocked, one step closer to conquering youth. Ah, the key’s in the usual spot.”

“…Got it.”

Conquering youth.

Hearing those words, Takumi’s face briefly distorted into a grimace.

Meanwhile, Kotori pulled her underwear back up over her knees, grabbed her bag, and rushed out of the room.

Left behind, Takumi let out a long, sluggish sigh and reflected on how their relationship had come to be.

Last year, at the beginning of winter during their third year of middle school, Kotori received a confession. The guy was famous in class for being a class clown, but he had fairly handsome features.

Naturally, Kotori was deeply shaken by this unprecedented event in her life.

Tossed around by unfamiliar emotions, she nevertheless pondered seriously and tried to look forward to a relationship with him—only for the confession to be a so-called fake confession.

He didn’t know the full details, but she had apparently been told something incredibly cruel. He had even heard rumors that harsh insults were hurled at her in front of everyone.

Watching from the side, Kotori was so deeply depressed it was unbearable to watch.

They were merely neighbors, and Takumi, who rarely got involved with others, unexpectedly ended up reaching out to her. That had been the catalyst for this relationship.

“W-Whatever, an introverted ugly girl like me isn’t someone anyone would want to touch or get hard for, and Takumi, you’re secretly looking down on me too, aren’t you!”

However, words couldn’t reach Kotori, who had become completely distrustful of people. On top of that, Takumi had been forced to retire from track and field due to an injury, leaving him frustrated as well. What followed was a heated argument where harsh words were traded back and forth. Both lost their tempers, unable to back down, and in the heat of the moment, they ended up losing their virginity to each other.

Even looking back on it now, he thought it was an absurd thing to have done.

In fact, he had fallen into a deep period of self-loathing at the time.

It was ironic how he had thrown himself into studying for entrance exams as a form of reality escape, raising his target school level by two tiers.

Then, right before starting high school, as they were growing distant due to the awkwardness between them.

Kotori, waiting outside his house one day, blushed up to her ears and begged him.

“H-Help me conquer youth!”

The specific method she requested was this routine.

Of course, he initially refused. Naturally so. It went far too much against public decency and moral standards.

Furthermore, Takumi held moral standards that such acts were not something a man and a woman who weren’t in a romantic relationship should indulge in. It was precisely because he had those standards that he regretted laying a hand on Kotori back then.

However, when pressed by Kotori claiming he had forcibly taken her virginity, coupled with his own guilt, he had no choice but to nod. Ever since, Takumi had been continuing this routine as an accomplice in Kotori’s goal to conquer youth.

After finishing the cleanup, Takumi left the Nabata household.

He locked the door, dropped the key into the mailbox, and casually glanced toward Goldfish Mall, murmuring to no one in particular.

“‘Become a normie, make great friends and a nice boyfriend, and live a sparkling high school life,’ huh…”

That was Kotori’s current goal, set in order to prove wrong the guy who had made the fake confession.

(She said she wanted to converse actively and be able to liven up the people around her, though.)

Even as she pushed forward toward the person she wanted to become, she was already struggling at the stage of making friends in high school with whom she could talk about anything.

He could easily picture Kotori right now at Futaba in Goldfish Mall, unable to say a word out of nervousness, silently sipping on the new drink through her straw.

Takumi wore a faintly ambiguous smile and directed his steps back to his own home.