Kyoto: I just want to be a gentleman

"Did you, were you threatened by those three? Were you forced to treat us, were your things stolen, or received strange things?"

She mistakenly thought that we became close because of something bad... In fact, Kaisan did ask me to buy him a curry meal, Ichinose also took away the UFO prize I caught (actually it was given by me), and Kuroki did send me some strange things...

"A-Anyway! I won't go into the details, but I really became close with them! We are friends, you have to believe me!"

Tanaka nodded doubtfully. After all, she was the one who strayed from the topic.

"There's a girl in the trio called Kuroki who goes to the same middle school as us, right? She said that all the boys in middle school confessed to her."

"Oh, is that the case? I remember there was a rumor at that time that you were the only one who hadn't confessed."

"Rumors!?"

This is the first time I've heard of it.

"How would anyone know that I'm the only one who didn't confess? Did they ask every boy one by one?"

"You don't know, boy."

"what do you not know?"

"Actually, in middle school, there was a 'rule' among girls."

"R-Rules?"

"At that time, among the girls of the same age as Kuroki Rui, there was a 'list of boys who confessed to Kuroki Rui'."

A list of boys who confessed to Kuroki?

Could this be related to "that day" that Kuroki mentioned...?"

Watanabe Hideyuki turned another page.

"This is insider information - there is a custom among girls to make a list of boys who confessed to Kuroki Rui."

"W-what the hell is this..."

"When I was in middle school, all the boys in my grade were obsessed with Kuroki, which caused a lot of inconvenience to other girls. It was really unusual that all the boys liked Kuroki."

"Indeed it is……"

As a boy, I also deeply understand this abnormality.

"What do you mean by inconvenience?"

"Kuroki being popular means that other boys that girls like won't notice them, right?"

"That's right."

"So in order to know whether the boy they like has been rejected by Kuroki, the girls will write the information they heard in a Lime group to form a list. Basically, the girls will confess to the boys they like after confirming the list."

“Is this true or not…?”

I was too shocked to hide this bizarre middle school student behavior.

(Girls actually go this far!? This is too scary...)

However, as a being, Rui Kuroki is a very rare and irrational existence in itself, so it might be understandable that the other girls used their brains to do such a thing.

"Well, I'm a loner, and I just happened to hear about the rumor about the list during physical education class. I also heard the rumor about Ryota-kun not confessing his love by chance... Because Ryota-kun is a gloomy otaku, this rumor didn't attract the interest of others and quickly disappeared."

"Uh……"

Although it is unpleasant to have my dignity as a boy hurt, I cannot deny it.

When I was in middle school, I was in the darkest period of my life.

I once wrote a 10,000-word love letter to the author of a character with big breasts, big butt and big legs in a work I liked. I greeted the figurines of my favorite characters every morning and said "good night" to them before going to bed. It's a dark history.

(To be honest, I was too into the ACG world at that time and had no interest in real girls.)

"But you said it was just a rumor. Didn't Tanaka himself see the confession list?"

"Hmm? Me, me?"

"As a gloomy otaku, you must have been in puberty in middle school, right? You must have had a crush on a boy, don't you want to know about them?"

"No, no...I...that..."

Tanaka took off her glasses, wiped them, and stared at me again. Tanaka always wiped her glasses when she was startled, and she seemed to be hiding something.

(What's going on? Tanaka is actually pretending to be a nerd and has a crush on a handsome guy in her class. Is she the heroine in a shojo manga?)

"I, I am... There's no need to ask because I already know it."

"what?"

"That's right - that's right! I'm loyal! I used to like characters from otome games, but now I like characters from virtual idols! Ryota-kun is the same, right?"

"Ah, yeah. Yes."

It turns out that Tanaka has always been a fan of the 2D world. I thought she had a crush on the sunny boy in her class, but it seems that she is also devoted to the 2D world.

(Although I sometimes wonder if Tanaka will like the sunny boy in the class, but if she looks at handsome guys in the second dimension every day, it will be difficult for her to be attracted by boys in real life.)

“We haven’t really changed, have we?”

"..."

"Hmm? Tanaka?"

"……snort."

"Are you angry? Did I say something to make you angry?"

"Nothing. Let's get back to the point. You're looking for me because of Kuroki, right?"

"Oh no, yes, that's right."

Now is not the time for nostalgia, I have to ask Tanaka what exactly happened with "that day" that Kuroki mentioned.

"Actually, Kuroki said that she's been eyeing me since middle school because I didn't confess to her."

"I'm staring at you because you didn't confess? What do you mean?"

"Kuroki is too much of a perfectionist. She's not satisfied that I'm the only one who hasn't confessed to her. Then she mentioned 'that day'. I'm very concerned about what 'that day' is. Any clues?"

"How would I know? The only thing I have with Kuroki is that I tied for first or second on the test, or that I bumped into the student council president when I was an announcer."

Huh? Tanaka interacted with Kuroki more than I did. I never talked to her or touched her once.

"So Ryota-kun is particularly concerned about 'that day' when he met Kuroki?"

"Yeah. Kuroki knew, but I didn't, and that makes me feel uneasy."

"I understand that feeling. But have you done anything that Kuroki would remember? Like helping her get rid of bad boys, or saving her from a pervert."

"Is this some kind of novel plot?"

"You are surrounded by beautiful girls. You have the potential to be the protagonist of a novel!"

Tanaka complained excitedly in a rare moment.

"What I will say is that I never had any romantic feelings towards Kuroki in middle school. I have never saved a beautiful girl in my life."

"So it is...Ryota-kun saved Kuroki... huh?"

"What's wrong, Tanaka?"

"Ah, nothing... I just suddenly remembered something, it was... it seemed..."

Tanaka mumbled to herself, as if trying to remember something. Did she know something? I had no idea.

"Ryota-kun. I think I do have a clue."

"What? Really?"

"I remember now! You and Kuroki have a connection that Ryota-kun definitely doesn't know about!"

Chapter 207 Extra: Novels Read by Watanabe Hideyuki (8)

Watanabe Hideyuki turned the page.

"Do you really know something, Tanaka?"

"Well, that's about right." Tanaka nodded and said.

“I was on the broadcasting committee when I was in junior high school.”

"Oh, yes, that's right."

"The Broadcasting Committee was responsible for hosting and preparing the backstage equipment for each event. So during the school assembly, I always stayed behind the stage... During our sophomore year, there were some minor incidents during the graduation ceremony."

"episode?"

"Yes. Before the resignation, Kuroki-san, who was the representative of the students, forgot to bring her written resignation letter."

"what?"

"Even Kuroki, as a sophomore at the time, was also the head of the track and field club and the president of the student council. She was very busy and it would be difficult for her to complete her speech without a speech. So the backstage of the stage suddenly became chaotic."

Such a thing actually happened... Indeed, as a second-year junior high school student, Kuroki Rui is always very busy as the president of the student council and the director of the track and field club, but such a small mistake is really surprising.

"By the way, there was another incident during our graduation ceremony in our second year of junior high school, right? Ryota."

"Ah, well... of course I remember that."

That was an incident that happened during our second year of junior high school at the graduation ceremony when we were bidding farewell to our seniors.

As a supporting role, we second-grade students didn’t have to do anything except sit in our seats, so I fell asleep on the folding chair without realizing it.

If I had just fallen asleep it wouldn't be a big deal, but just as I was dozing off - I don't know why, I felt my body suddenly flip over, and when I opened my eyes, I found myself falling off my seat to the ground.

This happened just as the roll call of graduates ended and the entire venue was silent. I suddenly became the focus of everyone.

I realized that I was the center of attention, but my homeroom teacher who arrived next thought I was unwell and immediately arranged for an ambulance to take me to the hospital. Although the test results showed that everything was normal, they still thought I was slightly dehydrated.

I only told Tanaka about this incident, and no one else knew that I had just taken a nap.

(Since then, I have tried not to attract attention and hope to live a quiet student life...)

"But what does my incident have to do with Kuroki's?"

"The incident of Ryota-kun sleeping and the incident of Kuroki-san sending his resignation letter. At first glance, these two things seem unrelated, but in fact they are connected. The moment Ryota-kun fell, the incident of Kuroki-san was resolved."

"……What's the meaning?"