The Silent Me Who Talks on the Phone at Midnight with the Class’s Most Beautiful Honor Student - Chapter 1

Episode 5 – I Just Want to Talk!

Recently, I found this SNS app that’s apparently popular among some young people. It has a call feature, but no video calls or live streams—just posts and voice-only calls. And I use it often to look for people to talk with.

The way it works is simple: first, you make a post with the hashtag “#tsuwabo” (short for looking for a call partner) along with your profile and a short intro about what you’d like to talk about. Then you also search “#tsuwabo” yourself, look for someone interesting, and send them a DM.

If both of you follow each other, you can then use the call feature to talk. That’s all there is to it.

There’s even an optional region setting—so you can, for example, filter for “people in Kanto.” That way you’re less likely to end up with someone who lives too far away and has no shared topics.

Of course, if you enjoy talking with someone, you can just DM them directly next time and ask, “Wanna call again?”

That said, since strangers with completely different ages and hobbies are suddenly thrown together, it’s actually pretty rare to think, I definitely want to talk to this person again! Usually, people just move on to someone new.

When I first heard about the app, I thought, Yeah, it’s probably just full of dating scams and shady bots. And it’s true there are some sketchy people. That’s why I make sure to check profiles and posts, and only reach out to people who are clearly students or otherwise safe.

“That’s right, Mukk-san! About two months ago, I met a girl on here and we hit it off right away. But after a few calls, I started getting tired of it. She was two years older than me, and she kind of treated me like a kid. It really got on my nerves.”

“Ah, yeah, that happens. When someone’s older, they can’t help but give off that ‘life experience’ vibe. From your side, it just makes things awkward.”

“Exactly! That’s why I think talking girl-to-girl can be tricky.”

The conversation with Yukipi flowed easily. Apparently, some people do same-gender calls, but most of the time it ends up being guys and girls talking.

“Sometimes with girls, it turns into a competition. Like, last week I talked with a girl my age, and it suddenly shifted into a comparison about how many people we’d dated. It was such a pain. Has that ever happened to you, Mukk-san?”

“Oh, totally! Once, someone tried to one-up me based on their school’s academic ranking. Stuff like that is exhausting.”

When I said that, Yukipi let out a soft laugh.

“Mukk-san, you’re really easy to talk to! No wonder people say good things about you.”

“Wait—what do you mean? Who told you that?”

“The other day, a girl who had a call with you made a post recommending you as one of her favorite #tsuwabo partners! Plus, your account just looks harmless.”

“Ahh, yeah, that might be true.”

While plenty of guys and girls make sketchy dating-style accounts, mine is as plain as it gets:

Hello, I’m Mukk, a high school boy. I enjoy both talking and listening. I’d be happy if we could have fun conversations.

Totally ordinary, totally harmless. I even uploaded a sample voice clip so people could hear what I sound like. Since it’s clearly a guy’s voice, I don’t get any weird DMs from people mistaking me for a girl.

“Yeah, her post said you were super easy to talk to, and that you had an ikemen voice.”

“Really? Now I’m curious who it was.”

“Hehe, you can probably find more if you search. You’re kind of a mini-celebrity on here, Mukk-san.”

That’s right—within this tiny corner of the internet, the “#tsuwabo world,” I’ve gained some popularity as “the nice guy with the cool voice.” I never thought of myself as having a good voice, but even Shizuku once told me, “Your voice sounds cooler when it’s lower over the phone,” so maybe it’s not just flattery.

At school, I’m the quiet guy nobody notices—but here, I can be popular. More than that, I can talk to so many people!

Of course, maybe it’s not just the voice.

I’ve heard from several girls that lots of the other guys on here are just using “#tsuwabo” for hookups or pervy stuff. Some start off talking casually but then act arrogant and condescending.

But me? I’m different. I just want to talk!

It’s not that I dislike talking, or that I’m bad at it. It’s just… in class, even when I want to talk, I can’t. At home, I can’t really hold a proper conversation with Chitose either. And since my parents get home late, I barely talk to them.

So when I get the chance to call someone here? Forget dating or whatever. I just want pure conversation. That’s why I respect people’s privacy, never pry too much, and focus on enjoying the talk. Maybe that’s why the girls give me decent reviews.