ch241-ch260 · 260-ch260

Chapter 260: The School's Number One Beauty Has a Guaranteed-Win Flag 【Mizuki Saori】 Part 1

SIDE: Mizuki Saori (the school's number one beauty)

"......I'm off."

I say it to an empty house on my way to school.

My parents are off doing some TV work or other—they haven't been home since yesterday.

It's been like this constantly lately.

In a sense it's the perfect environment for studying, so as an exam student I should be grateful......

Parents are just noisy, is what I thought back in middle school—but when they actually turn indifferent, it stings.

"Oh-ha~. What's with the gloomy face?"

I meet up with Eko at the neighborhood station.

We've been friends since elementary school, but from first year of high school through second we were in different classes.

And somewhere in that time, she went pitch-black, her hair went every color, and she turned fully, completely gyaru......

Up through middle school she was a black-haired girl who looked so serious, and even her way of talking changed......

Shi—what even is "shi"?

When I visited Eko's house for the first time in ages recently, her mom was crying, you know? Asking how it came to this.

"What are you talking about? Today I'm still the flawless beauty, no?"

Right. I'm the girl with her own fan club at school—the beauty of the school.

One step out the front door, and the outside world is nothing but fun.

Surely today will have something fun in it too.

"Don't say it yourself."

I board the train with Eko, who makes a face.

Fun things, huh......

'Fun, huh...... Well, I guess it IS enjoyable?'

Ah......

I remember the classmate who said that.

Is being an adventurer fun......

But I couldn't do it.

My parents absolutely DESPISE dungeons......

Just getting an adventurer's license would make me a disowned child.

......Which is why I couldn't go to the sea with everyone this year.

Ahhh, the Saitama Dungeon. I wanted to go so badly.

My last summer of high school ended without even a single fling.

"Hahh."

"Eh?"

Getting off the train, Eko and I sigh in unison and our eyes meet.

Eko has worries too?

For the airheaded gyaru Eko has become, there's only one possible worry.

"What's with you two? Something happen on the train?"

"Morning, Shiro-san. Eko's got the lovesickness, maybe? Hear her out?"

Shiro-san—that is, Shirai-san—joins us on the platform.

Black hair and not especially gyaru-looking, but the boys call her "the white gal" because her name is Shirai.

Her skirt IS just a teensy bit short, and she has this odd allure to her.

Personality-wise, she's the blunt, no-nonsense type?

She's always hearing everyone out on their romance problems, but I've never once heard about her own.

"Don't go deciding that for me, shii! It's my future path, my future path! I was worrying about my future path, shii!"

Our future paths, huh......

A dream for the future, something I want to do—haven't found either.

Float into university like this, then float into a job?

He's going to university, right?

But Natsuki said he's working SO hard at adventuring......

I'm planning to apply to the same university as him, for what it's worth......

With my grades, is that even possible?

"Hahh."

Huh?

Did that multiply?

︙

︙

"Ehhh? So you're living alone right now? And in a dungeon!?"

Lunch break.

The four of us—Natsuki included—are having lunch together.

For the record, I invited him again today too, but was turned down.

The way the boys of the class erupt every single time is beyond me, but I'll keep asking tomorrow, undeterred.

"Shh. You're loud. Dungeons have no signal, so I can't pick up. I do pop outside once at nine, so if you need me, message me before then and I'll check and call back."

Yesterday I had something I wanted to talk about, so I called late at night—only to get the usual message about the phone being off, or rather out of signal range.

When I brought that up: living alone, of all things!

She got a lover over the summer and moved out?

How very youthful of you.

"I'm baaack~. Got juice for everyone. And one for Natsuki-chi."

"Ehh? No no, I'll pay you back."

"It's fine, it's fine. This one's a gift from the President."

Shiro-san says in a small voice.

That's right.

I was shocked when I found out too, but apparently this is from him—to me.

Good grief, what a trouble popular girls are.

More importantly, so he really does......

But at the same time, I learned something.

It seems Eko is......

"Ehh!? What are you drinking? Isn't that BAD for you!?"

"You're loud!"

That startled me.

Bad for me?

"It's tasty, though?"

First one in a month, and this juice-box juice tastes amazing.

Did they change the recipe?

Natsuki's face has gone pale.

Maybe she gave me a flavor she doesn't like herself.

I should have let her pick first, huh.

"Hmm. Personally, I'd like to demand one from the pharmaceutical company's vending machine. Kindly inform the President that I would be more than willing to side with her in exchange."

Shiro-san murmurs to Natsuki in a small voice again.

She says that, but I get the feeling Shiro-san is secretly on Eko's side.

Well, Eko and Shiro-san were in the same class for three years, so they go back longer than Eko and I do.

Then maybe I'll make Natsuki my ally?

No, I don't seriously......

'Pip-pip. Pip-pip......'

An electronic chime goes off, and everyone checks their phones.

Not mine.

"Ughhh."

Looks like it was Natsuki.

She just hung right up.

"What's that, shii? Natsukawa, shii?"

"Nope. K○ Ossan."

We're in the middle of eating, you know?

"Huh? Did you fight with your dad? Come to think of it, how did you even get him to allow the living alone?"

"Eh? I'm living alone, shii? Wanna come hang out, shii?"

"No, you ran away from home. And it's a dungeon—you need a license just to get in."

A runaway, of all things......

Natsuki, you're incredible!

Looks like she turned into a proper delinquent over the summer.

"A dungeon? You're sleeping in a tent and stuff, shii? That's dangerous, shii! But I do wanna camp, shii!"

Ah. So she's the kind I couldn't ever be......

But sleeping in a tent isn't good, though.

I want to say she can come stay at my place, but my parents don't think well of Natsuki.

Natsuki—or rather, Natsuki's father......

I wonder if I can do something about that?

"As if. I'm staying on the second floor of an acquaintance's shop, okay? I've been helping out at the shop lately, too."

"A shop? Isn't that some shady shop?"

Shiro-san says it half in jest.

A check, probably.

"Well, shady is shady, but I only really do odds and ends. Kids from other schools work the front of the shop too. Oh, a famous person came by recently and I got their autograph——"

A shady shop letting high school girls board and work for free......

Isn't this pretty seriously bad?

Maybe dungeons really aren't good places after all.

But we promised we wouldn't butt in anymore, and made up, and......

I send Shiro-san a glance.

Shiro-san nods.

"I've got a license, so can I come hang out after school?"

That's right.

This girl betrayed us and went off to play in the Saitama Dungeon.

But this is exactly when Shiro-san is the one you can count on.

"No fair, shii! I wanna go too, shii!"

"Eko, your birthday hasn't come yet, so no dice."

Will Shiro-san be okay on her own, though?

"Hmm. I've got something in the dungeon today I absolutely can't miss. After seven, once Haru-kun's gone home, that'd be fine......"

Haru-kun......

When did Natsuki start calling him that?

Maybe I should try calling him that too?