Chapter 21: Volume 1 - CH 3.1

“Mmmm…..this pink girl is so cute. Hey, can I make her my control character?”

After school as usual.

After Trespassing the literary club’s clubroom, which we had grown accustomed to, we continued to work on the RPG (Role Playing Game) as usual.

“Okay, but that’s going to change the balance of the party. I should change my character as well.”

Seeing Yuzu using a pink-haired loli lumberjack as her control character, I switched my control character to a female elf wizard.

I used to think about the balance of the party and the characters to be controlled mainly by myself, but since I started playing with Yuzu, I’ve gotten into the habit of adapting to her way of doing things.

Yuzu seemed to have gotten used to the controls and had reached an intermediate level in both combat and exploration.

“We’ve come a long way. How much further?”

“We’re on our second disc, so at the latest, next weekend?” For some reason, Yuzu looked troubled when I gave her an idea based on the volumes of other works in this series.

“Next weekend…”

“What, is there a problem?”

When I asked her about it, she shook her head lightly, but still kept her troubled expression on her face.

“No, not with this game. It’s just that I’m having some problems about something else… You know, about that thing…”

Even though Yuzu’s words were vague and ambiguous, the meaning came through.

“Kotani and Sakuraba?”

At the confirmation, Yushu nodded as if she was nodding off, “Yes. Actually, Aki, she hasn’t been able to ask Sota out yet.”

“…… Eh, it’s been a week since then.”

It was last Monday when Yuzu gave Kotani the tickets.

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And it was already Tuesday of the following week. It’s been more than a week already—eight days. So what did it mean that she had not been able to give it to him?

“It’s partly because I underestimated her inexperience… but Sota is hardly alone. He’s basically busy with club activities and even when he’s not, he’s surrounded by people.”

I see. Given Kotani’s inexperience, it seemed that it would be difficult for her to go out of her way to call Sakuraba, so she was looking for a natural time to be alone with him, but that time had never come.

“Sota’s days off are limited because of his club activities. If she can’t ask him out, their relationship will remain the same with no progress.”

The longer that happened, the longer the relationship between me and Yuzu would drag on, and the more distant the day when I could get my hands on the Robobus would be.

‘No no……This is a situation that I want to avoid at all costs.’

“Since she is so beautiful, why doesn’t she take the plunge and ask him out? There’s no way he’d say no.”

Kotani is a good-looking girl and has a lot of influence in the class, if only she had as much confidence as Yuzu… That’s an exaggeration. I wish she at least had a tenth of the confidence of Yuzu.

“If she could do that, I wouldn’t have any trouble. Yamato-kun, you really don’t understand the heart of a woman, do you?”

Perhaps my dialogue sounded irresponsible, Yuzu instantly became unhappy.

“In RPGs, it takes a lot of preparation to take on an opponent of a higher level than you, right? It’s the same thing.  Sota is not just some boy. He’s the most popular guy in this class, and he has a lot of say and influence.”

Even though I felt a little annoyed by Yuzu’s praise of Sakuraba, I listened to her quietly.

“I can understand why Aki would be cautious.”

“…I see.”

It seemed that love between two Riajus was riskier than I had thought.

If she lost her place in that group, Kotani would probably join the group of girls who stood out next to Yuzu and the others, but one step lower.

But that was tantamount to falling out of the city. For some people, it would be more humiliating than having their love rejected. Or it was also possible that she might not be accepted anywhere because of the other girls’ jealousy and sense of inferiority priorly..

If that happened, she, who had been the most Riaju girl in the class, would quickly fall to the bottom of the caste just like me.

“Yuzu, you…”

“What?”

“…No, it’s nothing.” I swallowed my words in mid-sentence.

‘What will you do then, Yuzu?’

‘When Kotani falls, will he follow her, or will she sit on the throne where Kotani has been?’ I was going to ask her that question, but I could predict the answer.

Yuzu was lowering the level of her Riaju by going out with me. By doing so, she was able to escape the jealousy of those around her, and even after being driven out of Sakuraba’s group, she was still able to blend in with the group a little lower in rank.

It would be easier for Kotani to fit in if Yuzu had joined the other group first and acted as a go-between. There was no way that Yuzu, who had an acute sense regarding human relationships, would be unaware of that backup plan.

“Anyway, if we don’t get her to ask him out on a date, we’ll have to think what to do about it.” I sank my realization deep into my chest and forced myself to change the subject.

“That’s right. Only Yamato-kun could be so lucky as to have the most wonderful opposite sex come up to him without him having to do anything.”

As for Yuzu, he probably thought it would not be productive to talk further, so he got on board easily.

“I’ve never thought my situation to be in any way lucky..”

“Are you out of your mind, Yamato-kun? Being able to spend every day alone with me is as lucky as winning the first prize in a lottery.”

“I’ve spent my fortune on something very subtle. I wish I’d won the lottery instead. I wonder how many games I could have bought if I had done that.”

When I started to calculate the cost of a lottery ticket that I hadn’t won, Yuzu puffed up her cheeks and stared at me.

“Mmm, what’s wrong with you? ……Oh, I understand. So, Yamato-kun, you must be feeling the need to develop a relationship with me soon.”

“You understand nothing.”

“No, no, no, you don’t have to fool me. If you’re with a beautiful girl like me and you’re not making any progress, surely you’re going to get frustrated. But well, what you have can already be considered a luxury, you know~.”

“Indeed. I’ve been wanting to develop our relationship to the point where we can at least communicate.”

I didn’t expect  we were still unable to hold a proper conversation.

“Don’t worry. I’m a very capable girlfriend, and I’ll take notice of your unspoken feelings.

“I’m begging you, can’t you at least take notice of my spoken feelings?”

I was stunned, and Yuzu for some inexplicable reason patted her own thighs.