Poor thing.

“Still, what a pity.”

Crossing my arms, I continued.

“With so few girls in the engineering department, you’d think they’d form a tight-knit group and include you, right?”

“Yamamoto-kun, do you know how our department assigns student IDs?”

“Nope.”

Not interested, anyway.

“…It’s in alphabetical order.”

“Huh.”

“All the other girls had student IDs close to each other…”

Takeshita, or whatever her name was, was trembling.

“By the time orientation rolled around, they’d already formed their little clique!”

“…”

“It’s hopeless, isn’t it?! That kind of thing!!”

As if to say, Do you even get how I feel?, Takeshita glared at me for some reason.

It’s almost like I’m the one who kept her from making friends in the department. Of course, I had nothing to do with it.

Well, I do feel a bit sorry for her.

University life lasts four years. Longer than the three years of middle or high school, and after this, it’s straight to the workforce.

The final stretch of student life.

The last chance to let loose and have fun.

You’d want to make tons of friends and have a blast.

That’s the kind of dream you have when you first start university, isn’t it?

…Still, even so.

“Waaah! What did I even do?!”

This girl’s emotions are all over the place, huh.

“Is it my fault? Is it my fault…?”

Ugh, what a hassle…

“Say something!”

“Ugh, what a hassle…”

Crap. I said that out loud.

“Wha?!”

“I just said what I was thinking. From my perspective, it’s like you’re pestering me for no reason. Of course I’d feel that way, right?”

“E-even so, you don’t say that to a girl!”

Her face flushed red as she snapped at me.

“Hmph. Yamamoto-kun, with that attitude, you’ll stay a lonely try-hard (lol) for the rest of your life.”

“You’re just as much of a loner as I am.”

“Oof!”

Looks like that was a critical hit.

But, like, if she’d thought about it for a second, she could’ve seen that comeback coming.

Careless girl.

“Anyway, there’s no point in us just digging at each other’s wounds like this. How about we get to the main issue?”

“…Yeah.”

“So… uh, your request was for me to tutor you, right?”

“Y-yeah.”

“But I turned you down. And I still feel the same way.”

“Why…? That’s so mean…”

Seeing Takeshita on the verge of tears made my conscience twinge, just a little.

But there’s no helping it.

After all, it’s about my promise with Kasahara. Breaking a promise with her… well, it feels like it’d be scarier than breaking one with Hayashi.

“Sorry. It’s just how it is.”

“…Ugh.”

“But I’m not so heartless as to leave someone struggling on their own. I’ve got an alternative idea, though.”

“An alternative?”

“Yeah. …This is a university, right? If you put in a bit of effort, making friends should be easy enough.”

Takeshita’s face practically screamed, You’re one to talk, loner. Noisy expression.

“Here’s the thing. Why don’t you try joining a club or a circle?”

“…”

“Clubs, activities, you know. You could make friends with people in your year, and if you try hard enough, even with upperclassmen. Having connections with seniors can only be a good thing, right? If they’re in the same department, you might even score some old exam papers.”

“…I was in one.”

“Huh?”

“I was in the Motorcycle Research Circle.”

“…Motorcycles, huh.”

That’s a pretty intense activity for a girl.

…Wait.

Was in?

Why past tense?

“I quit.”

“What? Why?”

“Stuff happened.”

“What kind of stuff?”

“Just… stuff.”

“No, ‘stuff’ doesn’t explain anything.”

“…I became a princess.”

“Huh?”

“I became the princess of the otaku circle!!!”

Takeshita shouted.

I’ve heard that term before.

The princess of an otaku circle.

If I remember right, it’s a phenomenon that happens when a girl joins a club or circle with a high male-to-female ratio. The guys in the group fawn over her, treating her like an idol or something.

“What’s so bad about that? In a place full of guys, they’re treating you with respect, right? That doesn’t sound like a bad deal.”

“It was nothing but bad!”

“…Why?”

“…Everyone treated me like a princess. And two guys, in particular, went overboard with it. Before I knew it, I was caught up in some kind of love triangle.”

“…That’s…”

“Do you get it, Yamamoto-kun?! I joined the circle to research motorcycles, my hobby, and somehow I got thrown into the middle of a love triangle! The pain of being aggressively pursued by two guys I don’t even like!”

“Ugh…”

…I don’t get it.

But when I imagined myself in her shoes, a pained sound slipped out of my mouth.

…That’s, well, yeah.

“I’m sorry.”

I apologized sincerely.

“It’s fine. It’s fine. That’s just the kind of person I am. Honestly, the way things are now is easier to deal with. Ugh, I just want to become the wind.”

Takeshita sulked.

Somehow…

Getting her precious handkerchief blown away by the wind.

Getting caught up in a messy situation as the princess of an otaku circle.

Getting completely ignored by me…

Right now, I couldn’t help but see her as an incredibly pitiful person.

I might even feel more sympathy for her than I did when I hid Hayashi in my room.

I was rereading this work the other day, wondering what kind of story I’d written…

The afterword—isn’t it a bit too silly?

I thought, This author seems kinda dumb.

Looks like my lack of smarts got exposed again.

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