Welcome, to the Bad End Route - V1C7

 

Volume 1, Chapter 7: The Girls I'm Interested In Aren't Interested In Me

 

　 Keep quiet

→ If you're curious about it, why not go?

 

 

"W-who are you...? Isn't that Ikuto's seat?"

 

Today was the first Monday ever since I had that drastic change in my appearance. In other words, this was the first time I stood in front everyone in my new look, and each of their reactions were quite interesting.

The girls were looking at me from a distance and were squealing, while the boys were wide-eyed in surprise. Only my few friends gathered around to talk to me.

 

"I keep telling you. I'm Ikuto, and this is my seat."

"Eh, Ikuto? I-it's a lie, right?"

"What's the point of me lying?"

"Ikuto had ruffled hair, glasses, and was gloomy, you know?"

""Yeah yeah, that's right!""

"...You guys, so you thought of me like that."

 

The hair and glasses were true...but did they see me as gloomy?

I was thankful that you enthusiastic guys still stayed with me despite that.

 

"S-so are you really Ikuto?!"

"Yeah."

"Could he be an alien impersonating a person?!"

"I'm not. I'm gonna get mad, idiot."

 

Riku, who spoke on behalf of the group, had a look of disbelief on his face. Several friends of mine next to him also had the same reactions.

 

"W-what's my name?"

"Nakajima Riku."

"What club am I in?"

"Basketball club."

"Do you know a secret about me?"

"You once confessed to a college student who came in to tutor you, and got rejected. Twice."

"To know how many times I got rejected...this guy, he really is Ikuto!"

 

Beginning with Riku, my other friends also asked me questions, and I was able to answer them all.

When they finally realized that I really was Jimichi Ikuto, my female classmates, who were initially watching from a distance, began to gather.

 

"What happened, Ikuto-kun? An image change?"

"Well, something like that."

"You look great! How cool!"

"Thanks."

"You have a girlfriend, by any chance?"

"Not ready yet, still looking."

 

I answered unenthusiastically, but the questions kept on coming.

Some of these girls were cute, and I would have been interested in them not too long ago, but... I didn't know why, but I feel like I didn't care much about them now.

 

"Can I submit an application. then?"

"Hey, that's too brazen."

"Ehh, let's exchange numbers, then."

"Ah, then me, too!"

 

I didn't really care about sharing my number, so I offered my phone to my classmates.

I turned around casually as they operated their phones while letting out excited yelps.

 

"Hey Susumu, why didn't you answer your phone?"

"I had some business to attend to."

"Couldn't you have called me back?"

"N-now now, Reika-chan."

 

Just like last week, Tendou, Hareyama, and Azumi were conversing about something.

The three of them didn't seem to show much interest in the strange crowd near them.

Personally, if one of my classmates had some interesting changes to them, it should be fine to show some kind of reaction.

Just when I was thinking about it, my eyes and Azumi's met for a moment.

She quickly looked away, but Azumi's expression did have a hint of curiosity in them.

 

"But you, why all of a sudden?"

"Well, just a change of pace, I guess?"

"It's definitely more than just a change of pace, isn't it? Everything about you had changed."

 

Like Riku said, I did change in many ways. Of course, my outward appearance was one thing, but my attitude also changed a lot.

However, even if I did get popular today, it should calm down in a few days.

I had no intentions of breaking my relationships with my friends, nor was I going to develop feelings for these girls who were since a while ago.

Eventually, once they found that I was a guy who they couldn't get comfortable with, these girls were bound to gradually distance themselves from me.

 

"―― That's fine, then! I don't care anymore."

"R-Reika-chan!"

 

At that moment, a particularly loud voice fell into my ears.

My classmates who were buzzing around me didn't seem to notice, but I, who was paying attention to what was going on behind me, heard it clearly.

When I turned around to see what was going on, I saw Azumi leaving the classroom after splitting off from Tendou, and I saw him and Hareyama arguing with each other.

One step forward. It seemed to be another wrong decision again...wait, it was this déjà vu all over again.

 

"Come to think of it, Ikuto! Where's your homework?! Let me see!"

"I'm okay with it but...look, you ran out of time."

"That...can't be..."

 

The crowd dispersed at the teacher's order who entered the classroom. Riku tried to resist, but finally gave up and returned to his seat.

I guess Riku wasn't expecting this situation, either. He originally came to my seat to ask for my homework, but then he found someone he didn't seem to know sitting there instead.

In any case, my image change seemed to have been successful.

 

――――

――

―

 

After school that day. Many girls came to invite me to hang out, but I turned them all down and got into the car driven by Koudzuki-san.

It wasn't that I particularly asked to be driven home, it was just that today was a rather special day. My mother called for me, and I agreed to meet her, so now I was on my way to Earth Road Pharmaceuticals.

 

"Was there something to do?"

"That shouldn’t be the case. But this was probably my fault."

 

I got in the back seat and asked Koudzuki-san as to why my mother suddenly asked for me. And what would you know, I got an unexpected answer.

 

"Koudzuki-san's fault..?"

"Yes. Ever since I talked about Ikuto-san's change the other day, she began to look at you differently."

 

According to Koudzuki-san, she told my mother that I cut and dyed my hair, and that I looked much better than before.

When my mother heard this, she couldn't sit still anymore and called me...or so that was what Koudzuki-san thought.

 

"I apologize. Although, I was happy about it, too."

"H-happy?"

"The boy I have known for a long time has finally realized his charm."

 

Since I was seated at the back, I couldn't see Koudzuki-san's expression, but I was sure she was smiling.

If they felt happy about my change, then I was glad I took the courage to do this.

How many years had I been with Koudzuki-san? Even during the time when my father died, I remembered that Koudzuki-san was taking great care of me.

Now that I think about it, since when did it begin actually? About Koudzuki-san’s ――

 

"―― Come to think of it, you haven't been calling me 'onee-chan' lately."

"G-guess there was a time I called you that..."

 

Akane-oneechan was what I used to call her. From what I could recall, I changed the way I called her as soon as I entered high school.

Maybe because I thought it was embarrassing. The closest woman to me, apart from my mother, was Koudzuki-san.

 

"You can have your onee-chan spoil you like old times, you know?"

”P-please spare me that..."

 

She was definitely making fun of me. I could tell right away from her voice that Koudzuki-san was grinning.

While being unable to bear this onee-chan that I knew for the longest time, I headed to where my mother was waiting.

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