Two outcasts who look down on each other share an innocent first kiss. - Chapter 9

“Excuse me for intruding!”

While I was in my room on my day off, a cheerful girl’s voice rang out from downstairs.

W-What?

Startled, I froze mid-game, my hands halting on the controller. Soon after, I could hear a conversation happening just outside my door.

“Your house is huge! How many people live here?”

“Four. My parents, my brother, and me.”

“Sumino, you have an older brother…?”

“I wanna see him!”

“No. He’s holed up in his room.”

“Ehh—?”

“My room’s upstairs.”

I could hear three different girls talking, one of them being my little sister, Sumino.

Wait… did she bring her friends over?

It’s been barely two months since she started middle school, and she’s already comfortable enough to invite friends home…? I can’t believe she’s my sister. She’s way too sociable.

I could hear their voices and footsteps climbing the stairs.

At the same time, my phone, propped up on a stand on the floor, crackled to life.

“Hayama? What’s up?”

I hurriedly grabbed my phone and lowered my voice.

“Hang on, I’m switching to earphones. Give me a sec.”

“Huh?”

“My sister brought her friends over.”

I quickly fetched my earphones and plugged them into my phone, which I had been using to chat with Sumino.

As the sound shifted from the speakers to my earphones, a chorus of noisy middle school girls passed right by my room.

“That was close…”

“What’s your problem? What are you so freaked out about?”

“I don’t know… I just had a bad feeling. Like, if my sister’s friends heard your voice, it would somehow lead to disaster.”

“Ohh, really~?”

Sumino’s voice took on a teasing tone.

“Too bad~! If I had known, I would’ve moaned into the mic.”

“Don’t even joke about that, you idiot! Just because you’re not here in person doesn’t mean you can say whatever you want!”

Ever since we exchanged contact info, we’d started gaming together while on voice chat.

That’s when I realized—Sumino gets at least three times more obnoxious over chat. She’s a loudmouth online and a total coward in person.

“Man, this takes me back. When I was in elementary school, my room used to be the neighborhood hangout spot…”

“Now that you mention it, I used to go over to classmates’ houses a lot, too.”

“And now? Here we are, enjoying these big empty houses all to ourselves, day in and day out…”

She chuckled darkly and resumed our match.

Hunkering down at the edge of the screen, I spammed Sonic Booms.

“I mean, do high schoolers even still hang out at each other’s houses to play games? No idea.”

“Girls probably don’t. No idea, though.”

Despite being high schoolers, neither of us had a clue how high schoolers actually behaved.

“What do they even do, then? If not games?”

“Dunno… watch movies on Netflix?”

“Oh, that sounds nice. Hey, hey, let’s do a watch party! There’s that one anime I still haven’t seen… um… what was it again?”

“Which one? …Wait, I don’t even have a PC in my room. Would we just stream on our phones while calling? My battery would die instantly.”

“Just charge while watching.”

“If I watch while charging, my phone overheats.”

It was an old model, after all—one I got back in middle school.

“Must be nice having a computer.”

“It’s just a hand-me-down from my parents. I mostly use it for Netflix and Amazon Prime… oh, and League.”

“I want a gaming PC so bad…”

“Like you wouldn’t just use it to hoard porn— huh?”

Just as Sumino’s tone turned suspicious, the game suddenly became choppy.

My inputs barely registered.

“Lag…!”

“Oh, you too? Maybe my internet sucks…”

This kind of thing happened occasionally when playing against Sumino.

Even though we were less than ten meters apart in real life, online gaming was still online gaming.

“It depends on the time, I think? Sometimes it’s fine, but then it gets really laggy.”

Sumino sounded slightly apologetic.

It could be my connection, too, but I did notice these issues happened more often when playing against her.

If that was the case…

There was one solution.

…But it was kind of weird.

I’d probably come off as creepy.

But then again, I’d already said plenty of things that could have been creepy, and we’d both just laughed it off as a shared outcast experience.

If it was Sumino, maybe… maybe it would be fine.

A tiny bit of confidence, born from our previous interactions, nudged me forward.

I swallowed and made the suggestion.

“S-So… u-uh… why don’t we play offline next time?”

If we played in the same room, we wouldn’t have to deal with lag.

Plus, we could watch anime together without draining our phone batteries.

That was all.

It was just that.

I had imagined she’d be taken aback but would ultimately agree.

That even if she called me a creep, it would just be an act—deep down, she’d be interested.

“…Ew, no way.”

But that was her response.

“I definitely felt some ulterior motives there… I got chills.”

“Huh? What? No?”

“That fake clueless act makes it worse! You totally think you can get away with being a little perv just because it’s me! You absolutely do!”

“N-No, I don’t! I really don’t!”

“Oh? And what exactly don’t you do? Because you sure as hell didn’t deny having ulterior motives!”

“Th-That’s—!!”

The way she bluntly tore into me made my head overheat, and before I could stop myself, the words that should’ve been swallowed back into my throat came spilling out.

“…Of course I do! You are a girl, after all…!”

Even if her personality wasn’t cute.

Even if her appearance wasn’t cute.

She was still a girl.

And if we talked for long enough… it was only natural that I’d start to notice.

“…………………”

Sumino suddenly went silent.

It wasn’t unusual, so I waited about ten seconds.

But she still didn’t say anything.

“…Sumino?”

I called out hesitantly—

And then.

Click.

The call disconnected.

Neither of us had been moving in-game, so the match timer ran out.

As I watched Sumino’s username disappear from the custom room, I slumped forward onto my desk.

“Ughhhhhh…”

I messed up.

Despite everything, we’d actually been getting along pretty well until now.

Why did I think she’d let that slide?

Did I think I had a chance?

I went around acting like I had given up on romance, but deep down, I thought someone like Sumino was within my reach?

Was I really that much of a slave to my instincts?

“Ughhhhhh!!”

I spent the rest of the night groaning into the floor until my sister barged in and told me to “stop making zombie noises.”

◆◆◆

“…Sumino?”

The moment I heard Hayama’s hesitant voice, my brain short-circuited.

I couldn’t think of anything to say.

I couldn’t keep sitting in awkward silence either.

So I ran. I hung up.

“…………………”

Like a zombie, I paced aimlessly around my room.

Ulterior motives.

He had them.

Those words flashed across my brain in giant, bold font.

Ulterior motives.

He had them…

I mean, of course I knew.

I knew he was so hopeless with girls that even I started to look like a romantic option.

But outwardly, he always played it cool.

He always wore that I totally don’t see you as a girl face.

I had never actually heard him say it outright before.

“…Ughhh!!”

My heart was pounding.

My face was burning.

Desperate to cool down, I dove onto my bed and smothered my face in my pillow.

Me?

He had ulterior motives toward me?

I barely spoke to any guys outside of my dad.

I had never even experienced the concept of being catcalled.

When girls gossiped about boys staring at their chests, I couldn’t relate at all.

My brain was a mess.

The idea that I could even be a target for that kind of thing didn’t make sense.

I mean, it was gross, right? Obviously it was gross. But…!

If I had agreed to go to his room… what was he planning to do?

Wait for an opening and push me down?

Cover my mouth? Strip my clothes?

And then…

Rustle, rustle.

“…Nn, …nn, …nn, …nn! …Haaah.”

I finally poked my face out of the blanket and took a deep breath.

Okay.

Calm down.

…Was I too harsh?

I wasn’t used to getting that kind of attention, so I probably overreacted…

If I thought about it from a friend’s perspective, it wasn’t actually that weird of a request…

Wait.

Are we… friends?

Hayama and I… are friends?

We talk every day.

We eat lunch together most of the time.

By all definitions, that’s what we are… right?

I don’t know.

I don’t understand anything.

“…Haaaah.”

People are such a pain.

…How am I supposed to face him tomorrow?

◆◆◆

I stifled a yawn as I stepped into the morning sunlight.

Mondays were already the worst day of the week.

But today, this wasn’t just the worst Monday—

It might have been the most miserable morning of my entire life.

Sumino… what’s she going to do today?

Stepping out of my house, I glanced toward the front door of the house next door.

We usually left at the same time.

Both of us were the type to sleep in until the last possible second before being late.

It wasn’t like we had a set arrangement.

So if she decided to leave early without telling me, it wouldn’t be strange.

Somehow, I had a feeling that’s what would happen today.

But—

Sumino’s door opened.

She peeked outside, spotted me, and made a face like she’d just swallowed something bitter.

Then, without a word, she stepped out onto the street.

Without even acknowledging me, she started walking at a brisk pace.

I followed behind her.

Like some kind of stalker.

I couldn’t help it.

I was the one who had said something gross.

Avoiding me was natural.

At the very least, I just hoped she’d tolerate the fact that our paths overlapped, that we were simply walking to school on the same route.

But well—

Eventually, things would work out.

If I found the right moment to apologize, maybe she’d let it go.

Yeah.

Eventually.

When the timing was right—

—And just like that, the first semester ended.