Chapter 18: Kirisaki Wishes to Make Friends (1)
"They were punished accordingly, right?" I inquired.
Tsugumi nodded. "I don't know in detail what punishment they got… but I will no longer be disturbed by them at least."
She quickly added under her breath. "Well, only them..."
"Does that mean someone else will seek out trouble from you?"
Of course, I won't let that opportunity go by.
"Huh? A-Ah, I slipped up—" she trailed off in regret, then taking a look at Kirisaki.
The girl in question shrugged her shoulders nonchalantly.
"You don't have to worry. It's a pretty normal occurrence. In fact, I'm more confused why he wouldn't pick up on it..."
[So her family is famous around here as well, eh?]
Speaking of which, she has no friends other than Tsugumi because her contemporaries are afraid of her background. At that thought, I came up with an idea.
"To the point of being chased around that badly… are you from a Yakuza family or something?" I said in a joking tone. "Now that makes me recall, I have some experience with it as well."
"What?"
Kirisaki widened her eyes.
"Yoshikawa-kun is from a Yakuza family?" Tsugumi blurted out in surprise.
"Not exactly Yakuza," I chuckled. "But close to. They even have this—"
I motioned a pistol with my hand.
"That's shocking," Tsugumi mumbled.
Kirisaki's eyes lit up a bit. It was quickly changed with a vague frown.
"You don't know my family?"
"I just moved in a few days ago. Or maybe a week or so…? I don't remember going out much in those days, so I might have missed the thing about your seemingly famous family. Are you actually from a Yakuza family?"
Even though she had confirmed it early, she seemed hesitant to answer.
Eventually, however, she gave a small nod with a grim look.
"That's right. Tsugumi is my personal guard, in fact. And Claude, the guy from yesterday, is my watchman or something."
"That must be hard," I noted casually. "If you thought I ought to know your family because of studying here, it must be a notorious one. The Yakuza are known for their violence, so you would've had a hard time connecting with other people, huh?"
"Of course!"
I flinched at her sudden cry.
She ignored it and clenched her fists hard, her teeth chattering in frustration.
"What Yakuza? I just want to interact normally with other people. Screw with all this Yakuza stuff…!"
"O-Ojou, calm down," Tsugumi immediately soothed her.
Fortunately, there weren't many people around. There were a few people who turned to look at us with interest, but they quickly continued their activities as usual.
Kirisaki obeyed Tsugumi quietly.
"...Right, sorry," then, she eyed me in curiosity. "You said you came from a Yakuza-like family, but you don't seem that troubled, Yoshikawa-kun."
I shrugged my shoulders. "My family won't interfere with my affairs unless they have to. I'm just working a little hard to make a good impression among my classmates and school in order to make friends."
"Working hard, huh?" Kirisaki wrinkled her brows. "How?"
"No need to think hard about it," I laughed. [—this could be used as a nice opportunity to get to know her better.]
"Please show me the way," Kirisaki looked at me expectantly.
"Alright," I concurred, chuckling. "Let's see, then… Just saying 'be my friend' is too simple, though I have one or two candidates if choosing that option. For the second way, you could do a favor for them, but "do a favor" would be too ambiguous to be used as a benchmark. I think a quick conversation with your seatmate would suffice as a start."
Kirisaki frowned. "I can't think of any short conversations..."
Tsugumi was looking on silently from the side.
I gave my answer calmly. "That's easy. Something like "how are you?" or "what are your hobbies?" that hit them would be enough. Or a past topic like "what club were you in yesterday?" and stuff like that. Your seatmates are Hayasaka and Ichika the quintuplets, right? Judging from their introduction yesterday, they'll be a great pair for you to start with."
"That's worth a try..." Kirisaki muttered in wonder. Then, she cast a delighted look at me. "Thank you, Yoshikawa-kun! I'll try it as soon as possible. Do you have any other suggestions?"
"When you do all that, try to smile as best you can. That's basic courtesy... Actually, while you can still not come off as rude, anything will do. Just don't be too stiff, and do it as naturally as possible."
"I don't know how to be natural..."
"Ojou..."
Tsugumi looked at her with pity, then gave me a pleading look.
I smiled dryly. "I'll still help. Why don't you practice?"
"Practice? Uh, with who? If it's with you... it's not going to work, right? That'll be too easy since— wait, are friends now?" she stopped midway, widening her eyes in realization.
"Are we not?" I asked back, confused.
She stiffened, then brushed her cheek awkwardly. "Well, I guess we are."
I laughed. "In any case, I think I have a candidate for your partner. I'd say that person would be more than willing. I'll ask her soon, and let you know the time."
Her eyes literally sparkled upon hearing that. "You're really thoughtful, Yoshikawa-kun…!"
I didn't try to dismiss it.
"You're nicer than I expected, Yoshikawa-kun…" Tsugumi was happy for her boss. "But why would you want to help us to that extent?"
[Fortunately, I had expected that question.]
"Aside from the natural desire to help those in trouble, let's just say I was looking for inspiration," I answered naturally.
"Inspiration?" Tsugumi raised her eyebrows in confusion.
I nodded. "Yes. I like writing, see? And I'm bad at character building, so I just thought; why not expand my relationships with other people to fix it? Though it's just some simple plan without any deeper thought, all in all."
Kirisaki nodded in agreement as if understanding it.
"Um, then, how should I communicate with you when you have gotten the okay for my practice to that person? Before that, is that person in the same class or a different one?"
"She was in the same class."
"Oh, a girl?"
"Yep."
She nodded gently, a contented look on her face. She smiled brightly. "Regardless, let's exchange our Lines!"
***
In the class, the table on my right belonged to Ichinose, while the left was Komi.
It's no exaggeration to say that the two of them were sort of the pillars of beauty in the class, with their contrasting traits only making it all better.
When the break came, I went over to the girl on my left.
"Komi-san, can we talk for a moment?"
She moved her head to me gently. Her face was as graceful as always. From her posture alone, she already gave off an aura of princessiness. In hearing my proposal, she subtly tilted her head.
I kept my expression calm.
I noticed Kirisaki and Tsugumi directing their gazes at me as soon as the first break was held. [—I'll take any attention other than theirs as a sideline.]
It took almost ten seconds for Komi to give a nod.
"Great."
I broke into a smile.
I was about to say something more, but she beat me to it. No, she didn't say anything, instead took out her cell phone—pointed at it, then to me.
I understood immediately, taking out my phone.
"You want to exchange lines?"
She nodded.
Ignoring the annoying attention from the surrounding students, I did so right away. [You know what? I better not mention this "attention I got" again in the future. It will get stale quickly, I'm sure.]
As I tried to tell her what, a message not from her came.
{Kirisaki: Is she the person you're referring to [0-0]?}
If it's only her, you'll just get a mental breakdown…
I quickly replied.
{Me: Yes, do you have any reservations?}
The answer came quickly.
{Kirisaki: I'm unconfident facing her, but heading for the hardest is something exciting, so no prob! ;)}
I nearly broke into a faint smile.
{Me: That's great to hear.}
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