Translator: Haruto.

It didn’t take me long to regret listening to my little whim.

“Hmm! ♪”

The microphone has been passed all around since we arrived at the karaoke place. As for who’s singing right now, well, I think his name is Yamanaka. Momoki and her friends also had a go at the microphone, but all they’re doing now is chatting among themselves and staring at their phones. It’s obvious they’ve grown tired of being here.

Some of our classmates chose their songs carefully to impress Momoki’s group and hopefully be accepted as one of them, but no one has succeeded thus far. The ones who’ve already given up have formed their own little groups. It may sound dumb coming from me since I haven’t even tried blending in, but I think that was the best decision they could have made. Fly too close to the sun and you will burn, as they say. Sometimes you just have to be content with what you can get.  

Now that I think about it… Yukikawa hasn’t sung yet…

I glance at her. She’s staring at her phone like the rest of her friends. For an instant, I feel my eyes being lured to her legs, but I manage to keep them in check. That aside, though, it doesn’t look like she’s having a blast either. Perhaps the real reason she talked to me earlier was that she also didn’t want to come?

Nah, no way.

Yukikawa is the leader of their group; there was no reason for her to come if she didn’t feel like it. All she had to say was, “What a drag, I don’t wanna,” and she’d have steered the entire group away from the idea.

“…Hey, Nagai! You’re next!”

“Whah?”

A voice snaps me out of my thoughts and draws my attention away from Yukikawa. Momoki has appeared in front of me out of nowhere, and she’s showing me the tablet that’s used to select the next song.

“Again with the ‘whah.’ Hehe, your reactions really are funny.”

“Funny? Why?”

“No idea. Some things are just funny, you know? But anyway, it’s your turn. You need to choose a song.”

“…” I take the tablet in my hands.             

I find it strange that Momoki took the trouble of bringing me the tablet herself, but whatever, what matters right now is that’s my turn to sing.

What should I do?

I’d prefer not to sing in front of other people, but since Momoki was the one who brought me the tablet, the eyes of her entire group are focused on me, and it doesn’t seem like they’ll allow me to bail out at this point. It’s like they want me to put up a little show for them or something.

“Hurry, hurry!” Momoki says, and so, I begin looking for a song.

Why’s she staring at me, though? I get that she’s bored, but there’s no way watching a loner type stuff on a tablet can be much fun.

…Alright, let’s go with this one.

I tap on the screen again as soon as I find the song I was looking for.

“Ohh! A song by Abso!” Momoki remarks.  

“Huh? You know this song?”

“I know Abso since they’re like super famous, but I had no idea that song even existed.”

Absolute, or Abso for short, is an extremely popular Japanese rock band. They’ve been invited to various New Year’s Eve specials, and one of their songs was featured as the theme song of a recent blockbuster, further increasing their fame.

With that being said, I’m almost certain that no one here has heard of the song I’ve just selected, seeing how that song was basically condemned to obscurity after it was featured on an anime titled “Twenty Knights.” It was supposed to be a serious anime in which twenty knights fought each other until only one remained, but it just ended up being a trashy show with a bunch of shallow characters who died weird, pointless deaths. As it didn’t receive any recognition, you’ve gotta be a huge nerd like me to know about it. Even Absolute regard the song as a massive failure, which is why they never perform it on stage and haven’t added it to any of their albums. That’s what makes that song so rare.

And yet, funny enough, that’s also the only song I’ve heard from them…

My personal playlist consists of nothing but anime songs, some of which are fairly popular, and since I reckon that most people here won’t be too happy hearing me sing an anime song, I went with one that I knew they wouldn’t recognize.

Okay, I’ll just sing the best I can and get it over with…

I clear my mind and begin singing.

I’ve never considered myself a good singer, but for some reason, Yukikawa and Momoki listened to me sing to the end without ever glancing at their phones.

“Hmm, it was a nice song! I’ll make sure to remember it,” Momoki tells me as she takes the tablet from me and returns to her seat.

I somehow managed to get through my turn just fine, but now I feel even more uncomfortable here. Some of the people who haven’t given up on joining Momoki’s group are staring daggers at me. They must be mad that someone as popular as Momoki decided to chat with a loner like me instead of them.  

Well, I already sang, so it should be okay if I leave now…

Having made up my mind, I get up and walk over to Momoki and her friends.

“Sorry, I’ve got somewhere to be, so I’ll be leaving now.”

“Ah, really?”

After I let Momoki know I’m leaving, she turns to Kijima and asks, “Kijima! How much do we all have to pay?”

“Um, 1200 yen each.”

“Okay! Sorry, Nagai, but do you mind chipping in?”

I take out 1200 yen from my wallet and put the money on the table.

“Thank you! See you at school!”

“Yeah, bye,” I reply and leave the room.

It takes me no time to reach the station where I have to wait for my train to arrive…

I decided to come on a whim and look where it got me. I ended up making some of my classmates mad in a completely unexpected way. Honestly, why in the world did Momoki even choose to talk to me? Maybe she just wanted to toy with a loner like me, but I don’t know…

…It looks like I’ll remain the same, huh...

I figured this was as good a chance as any to try something new, but in the end, I once again ran away from a place where I didn’t feel comfortable, and left by myself just like I always do. I’m pathetic. I know that, but it’s not like I want to force myself to change in order to make friends.

“Haa…”

I sit on a nearby bench and look up at the ceiling.             

Things would be much easier if I could live out my life without ever relying on other people, and yet, I also feel disgusted at myself for thinking that way.

As my head begins to fill with such depressing thoughts, I remember one line I heard in Twenty Knights.

“’I wish tomorrow would never come.’”

“…That’s a great line.”

“I know, right? It’s like the only redeeming—”

Hearing a voice that’s not mine makes me jump out of the bench in surprise. Yukikawa Tsukino is standing right in front of me, gasping for air and with her cheeks slightly flushed.

“Haahh… I finally managed to catch up to you. You walk too fast.”

“Y-You ran after me? Did I forget something back at the karaoke place?”

“No, I just ran after you because I wanted to chat.”

“With me?”

“Why do you look so surprised?”

“I mean, we don’t have anything in common.”  

“We do.”

“…?”

“You know Twenty Knights, don’t you?”

My eyes widen at those words.

I’d never expected to hear that title come out of Yukikawa’s mouth. As I’ve mentioned before, Twenty Knights is an extremely niche anime. Not only that, it’s pretty old as well, so the chances of a high school student having heard of it are quite low. That’s why never in my wildest dreams did I imagine that a gyaru like Yukikawa would know about it.

“I like Twenty Knights… and since you seemed to know about it, I wanted to have a chat with you.”

“…Are you serious?”  

“It doesn’t have to be long. Would you hang out with me for a bit?”  

I nod affirmatively without thinking. My mind is still trying to process what’s happening.  

Unbeknownst to me, this would be the day my life would take a rather unexpected turn…

Previous Chapter – Contents – Next Chapter