Volume 1 - CH 21

Posted on July 4, 2022by ynlucca

Translated and Edited by: ynlucca.

Common Honorifics:

-san: A polite suffix, but not excessively formal.

-kun: A common suffix among friends and younger people.

-chan: A common suffix among people you’re close with, mostly used for feminine nicknames and girls, since it’s cutesy and childlike.

-senpai: A common suffix and noun used to address or refer to one’s older or more senior colleagues in a school, workplace, dojo, or sports club.

-sensei: A suffix and noun that literally means teacher.

“So? What were you talking to Hiiragi-chan earlier?”

Tetsu leaned back on his chair and asked me about the conversation I had with the teacher yesterday. As he asked me, it reminded me of something I was thinking of a while back. This guy calls her ith a ‘chan’ honorific. If you’re not careful you’ll be killed, y’know?

“I just happened to meet her close to where the incident took place last night, and she asked me if I was okay after going home.”

“What, no sermon or anything? Bo~ring.”

“… Sorry about that?”

Does this guy think I’m being lectured for the fun of it? How rude. While I glared at him with sharp eyes, he gave me a smirk with not a drop of remorse.

“Don’t stab me with your eyes like that, it’s just a joke, just a joke! No offense man.”

“Stop lying. You look like you’re having the time of your life.”

“Ha-ha-ha! Got me there, dude!”

“Haah…”

Just exchanging a few words with this guy is tiring. Like my roommate, he seems to be going at his own pace: too damn fast. I wish you’d just put yourself into the shoes of those who have to deal with you for once.

While I had that silly back and forth with Tetsu, he glanced behind me and went, “Oh?”

Following his gaze, I turned around to see a guy and a girl approaching us. They were both seatmates and sat behind me. The boy had light blue hair and sleepy eyes, while the girl seemed a bit reserved and had her dark chestnut hair tied into a long ponytail.

The boy turned his sleepy eyes toward us and spoke in one of the most relaxed tones I’ve heard. “You two seem to be having fun. Could we join in?”

He sounded as if he could fall down and sleep at any second. It made me wonder if he really was awake or if he was sleepwalking around here.

While that happened, Tetsu looked as if he found a new toy… You a kid or something, dude?

The new girl came out from behind that boy and called out to him with a tinge of anxiety. “… Hey, Towa-kun, aren’t these two scary? Is this okay?”

“It’s fine, Suzume-chan. These two are fun for sure.”

“…”

Are these two okay in the head? They just came outta nowhere talking about us being fun or something…

As I was thinking about retorting to this situation a bit, the girl got scared and let out a yelp. Guess my feelings were very apparent on my face.

“Oi, oi, Tatsu, it ain’t cool to scare a girl man. It’s not manly!”

“You okay, Suzume-chan? You got scared.”

“Uweeeeh! Towa-kun, he scared me!”

“…”

What the hell is going on with this trio?

I watch that strange show unfold before my eyes. The girl looked actually frightened, while the other two smiled at the situation. I could see in their faces they were amused.

Then, the boy named Towa turned to me and smiled, perhaps noticing my gaze. “Ha ha ha, sorry. Don’t worry, it’s almost like her greeting at this point.”

“That’s one different greeting. Well, you guys seem much funnier than I am,” I answer.

“Well, well, don’t be mean to them. They don’t seem so bad, Tatsu.”

You’re in the bunch too, don’t mix it… Well, that’s what I thought, but telling him that would be useless. This guy’s skin was thick. Moreover, they didn’t seem like bad people, just some oddballs.

Though I can’t take the risk of getting involved with any more weirdos, I’ll just brush over this and ask them to leave me alone.

“Name’s Toratetsu Ooga, feel free to call me Tetsu.”

“That’s fine, Tetsu-kun. I’m Towa Takanashi, and you can just call me Towa.”

“Yup! Nice to meet you, Towa!”

“—Oi!” I yelled, the three of them turning to look at me.

“Ah…?”, “Hm?”, “Hyah!” These three said at the same time.

What’s up with this corny vibe while I’m trying to seriously figure out what I was gonna do?

“What’s wrong, Tatsu? You just screamed out of the blue, you crazy or something?”

“… Whatever, I give up.”

This is gonna happen whether I like it or not, so might as well get it over with. Tetsu’s very clingy and stubborn, so it’s best to just go with the flow.

Reluctantly, I introduced myself too. “I’m Tatsumi Aizawa… Nice to meet you.”

“Mhm, nice to meet you too. Well, I’ll call you Ryu-kun from now.”

“I’m pretty sure my name has nothing to do with ‘Ryu’.”

“Tetsu-kun already calls you Tatsu, so I’ll call you Ryu-kun.”

What’s up with the ‘so’? Are nicknames used one per person or something?

… Well, it’s better than being called Takkun.

I couldn’t help but think of Sakurai when someone called me that. Honestly, if it’s not that, you could call me anything and I wouldn’t mind.

“Gotcha… Well then, what should I call you?”

“Towa’s fine.”

Then why don’t you just call me Tatsu?! Ugh, he’s another one of those guys who run at their own pace… Why is it that only strange people flock around me, huh?

While I wanted to just bang my head onto the desk, Towa looked at the girl next to him and said, “Ah, this girl’s called Suzume. C’mon, Suzume-chan, say hi.”

I could feel she was still wary of me, but she started to introduce herself with her small voice. “Um, I’m… S–Suzume… T–Takanashi. N, nice to meet you…”

As soon as she said that, she went back to Towa’s back. Are you that scared? —Oh, wait, Takanashi…?

Looking at Towa, he probably knows what I’m thinking. He then started talking with a cheerful look on his face. “Ha-ha-ha, you’re curious, aren’t you? I’m an orphan, so I grew up in an orphanage run by her parents.”

“… I see.”

It’s not something to talk about while smiling though, but I guess he was just trying not to make us feel uncomfortable. Well, now that I know, I better not be careless with it.

“You’re not gonna ask more about it?”

“If you wanna tell me, go ahead, but… Don’t you care about it?”

“It’s been like this ever since I was born, so I’m used to it.”

“I see… Well, if you wanna talk about it, go ahead.”

“Mhm, thanks.”

No matter what circumstances he grew up in, he was still himself. It really didn’t weigh influence on how I thought of him. Tetsu must’ve felt the same way since he started talking without caring much about it.

“Since you were born, huh… Wait, so you two are childhood friends, huh?”

“…”

I was a bit reluctant to hear the word ‘childhood friend’ since it bore a special weight on me. With that said, I glanced at Sakurai. She was talking with a friend a short distance away, but she heard our conversation and glanced over at me too.

Our gazes met, but we both felt awkward and looked away from each other.

“Tatsu, what are you doing?”

“Nothing…”

“Well, whatever! They’ve known each other since childhood, and lived under the same roof, right! That’s sooo cool! Yo, that’s some development, ain’t it? I’m feeling the fire!”

“Hmm… I think we’re more like siblings than anything,” Suzume looked at Towa with a delicate face when he said that.

Tetsu looked back and forth at the two and said, “Oh~ so that’s the kind of relationship you have…” He had a subtle expression on his face.

… What “kind of relationship” are you talking about?

Towa and I looked at each other not understanding a bit of what was happening.

“Well, whatever… Anyhow, let’s make a pledge of friendship! Right here, let’s do it the four of us!” As if to break the atmosphere, Tetsu blurts that out of nowhere.

To that, Towa clapped his hands and said, “Wow!”

“Eh?! Me too?” Suzume exclaimed.

I’m taken aback by the sudden turn of events, but eventually, give up. tetsu then put his hand forward, Towa and Suzume following suit, though she was puzzled by all of this.

“C’mon Tatsu, get your hand over here.”

“… Fuuh, what a pain.”

“Ah, you just laughed a bit, didn’t you, Ryu?”

“… Nope.”

“Um… You guys sure it’s okay for me to participate?”

“It’s fine, it’s fine. We may be born on different days, but… Eh, how did it go again?”

“If you don’t know, don’t ask me,” I retorted.

“Ah, whatever. Here, I pledge the friendship of us four! Yaaay!”

“Yaaay!”

“Eh? Y–Yaay…”

“… Yay.”

And thus the four horsemen that would annoy the hell out of the teachers, mainly Ms. Hiiragi, came together. However, at that time, no one knew that yet.