Chapter 4: Im Not Sure I Can Accept That

About ten days had passed since I’d been hospitalized, and I was finally able to get discharged.

Now I was heading back to school for the first time in a while. Even though I hadn’t been absent for almost two full weeks, it felt like an incredibly long time since I’d last been there.

“I wonder if I’ll be able to keep up with the classes…”

The school I attended, Amaki High School, was a fairly competitive academic school, and the lessons moved at a pretty fast pace. That was what had me seriously worried.

Considering my grades had already been below average to begin with, missing nearly two weeks of school was pretty dangerous. At this rate, I might even end up failing some subjects.

I was thinking about all this as I walked along my usual route to school when I spotted two familiar girls coming out of a nearby café. They were each holding a plastic cup filled with a drink, so they’d probably stopped by on their way to school.

“Oh! It’s you, Ryoya-kun. Good morning!”

“Morning, Ryoya.”

“Good morning, Tsurugi-san.”

After I greeted them, both girls wore noticeably dissatisfied expressions.

“I told you that you could just call Riona and me by our first names, remember?”

“I demand a do-over of your greeting, Ryoya.”

“Sorry, sorry. Good morning, Reona and Riona. Happy now?”

“Yep! I’ll forgive you.”

“Both my sister and I are satisfied.”

Reona and Riona answered cheerfully.

They’d continued visiting me every day after their first visit, so by now, we’d become fairly close.

As a result, Reona had started calling me “Ryoya-kun,” while Riona simply called me “Ryoya.”

They’d also asked me to call them by their first names without any honorifics. However, I still wasn’t used to it, and I couldn’t help feeling embarrassed, so I was having a hard time getting over that hurdle.

To be honest, I was pretty uncomfortable with calling girls by their first names, especially without any honorifics. But the two of them had insisted so strongly that I hadn’t been able to refuse.

“By the way, I don’t think I’ve ever run into you two on the way to school this early before. What’s the occasion today?”

“Oh, Riona and I felt like trying the new drink at Stellerbucks this morning, so we stopped by.”

“That’s why we’re still around here at this time, which is unusual for us.”

I see. Unlike me, who usually arrived at school at the very last minute, Reona and Riona probably left themselves plenty of time to get there.

That would explain why I’d never run into them on my way to school before.

“Speaking of which, you were returning to school today, weren’t you, Ryoya-kun? Congratulations on getting discharged!”

“Thanks. I’ve been away for so long that I have a feeling things are going to be pretty rough from here on out. Honestly, I’m already feeling depressed.”

“Quite a bit of material has been covered while you were away, Ryoya.”

“Exactly. That’s why I’m absolutely terrified of the final exams in July.”

The three of us had stopped to chat, but then I remembered that my homeroom teacher had summoned me to the staff room that morning.

If we kept talking for too long, I might end up missing the time I’d been asked to come in, so I needed to wrap things up soon.

“…Anyway, my homeroom teacher wants to see me first thing this morning, so I’ll head on ahead.”

I said that to Reona and Riona and started to take my leave.

Truthfully, I would’ve liked to walk to school with them, but it wouldn’t do for someone like me, Mob Character B, to show up alongside two girls who were at the very top of the school hierarchy and were practically the main characters of this world.

“Oh, I see. Then we’d better hurry.”

“Let’s go.”

Apparently, Reona and Riona fully intended to walk to school with me.

Realizing that my explanation hadn’t been clear enough, I reflected on that and spoke up again.

“If we walk to school together, people might get the wrong idea about us, right? So I think it’d be better if we went separately.”

“I don’t mind if people get the wrong idea.”

“We don’t care at all. Or… does it bother you, Ryoya?”

“N-No, it’s not that…”

“Then there’s no problem, right?”

I’d tried to resist, but I couldn’t win against the two of them. In the end, all I could do was nod.

And so, the three of us started walking toward school together.

However, the number of stares we were getting from people around us was incredible, and I couldn’t relax at all.

Meanwhile, Reona and Riona seemed completely unfazed.

Well, considering how beautiful they were, they were probably used to having people stare at them.

“Ryoya, I know it’s been a while since you’ve been to school, but are you happy to be back?”

“Hmm… Not particularly. I’m pretty sure the lessons have moved way ahead, so honestly, I’m more worried than happy. Besides, I’m a loner, so there’s nobody waiting for me or worrying about whether I’ll come back.”

If Reona or Riona had been absent for a week and then finally returned to school, everyone would probably have welcomed them back enthusiastically.

But in my case, since I didn’t have any friends in class, the most I’d probably get was a reaction along the lines of, “Oh, right, he was absent, wasn’t he?”

“Riona and I will help you out with all that, so you don’t need to worry.”

“No, no, I’m fine. I’ve got that covered.”

If Reona and Riona, who’d had practically no connection with me before all this, suddenly started hanging around me at school or in class, I’d definitely end up attracting unwanted attention.

As I was thinking about that, I noticed that something about the two girls had changed.

“What do you mean, you’ve got that covered? Are you planning to let some other girl take care of you instead of us?”

“I’m not sure I can accept that.”

“W-Why are you suddenly bringing up girls?! Besides, I don’t even have any male friends, so there’s no way I’d have a close female friend!”

As I said that, feeling a pressure from the two of them that I couldn’t quite put into words, the ominous aura surrounding their bodies suddenly vanished.

“That’s right. Ryoya-kun didn’t even have anyone outside his family registered in his contacts until recently. There’s no way he has a girl like that.”

“That’s true. Ryoya’s a loner, so there’s no reason for us to worry about something like that.”

“…Could you two please stop casually dealing massive damage to my mental health?”

Having them say it out loud forced me to confront reality, leaving me feeling incredibly miserable.

After chatting for a little while longer as we walked, we eventually arrived at school.