Wicked Girl 5

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Chapter 5

The class fell silent. Until a second ago I could hear lively voices as I stood in the corridor. Did I surprise everyone? I felt their gazes on me. Uwa, this is making me tense.

I didn’t know where my seat was but there was only one seat open right in the center of the class. Lucky! When I arrived at my seat,

“Eh– are you serious!”

“Impossible!”

“Did she resort to plastic surgery? This is creeping me out.”

“Return my pure heart you made flutter for a second.”

All of the sudden I received bashing. There’s no way I would do plastic surgery, I’m all natural. But it seems like I’m pretty disliked. It must have been hard for Aika-chan to endure this classroom full of malice. I’m even glared at by people I don’t even know, why? That was the only thing I was worried about so I’m fine.

“Good morning.”

“…Morning.”

I greeted the guy sitting next to me. When I sat down and tried to put the contents of my bag into the desk my textbook wouldn’t fit. When I peeked into my desk, I saw it was filled with trash and things like hair and strange bags. Aika-chan, you should clean.

There were girls giggling nearby and made me feel embarrassed. Thats right, you shouldn’t put things like garbage in your desk. I took out all the trash and threw it away. As soon as I finished cleaning my teacher walked in. Wait, what? The teacher that just came in was the one I saw earlier with the fluffy hair and unshaven face.

“Everyone, return to your seats. I’m taking attendance.”

It turned out that he was my homeroom teacher. The names were listed off until it was finally my turn.

“Shinozuka.”

“Here!”

“… You don’t have to raise your hand.”

The reality really hit in when my name was called. It’s okay for me to be here.

Since it’s impossible to memorize all my classmates names so suddenly, I decided to try to learn the name of the person next to me and in front of me. The guy next to me is Tanaka-kun and the girl in front of me is Yamamoto-san. There, my number of acquaintances has increased.

I looked at the guidebook that was passed to me by Yamamoto-san and it made me want to to squeal in excitement but I suppressed that urge. It was because this was written on the front of it,

“The 21st Athletic Festival”

Athletic festival. Athletic festival!? It’s coming up-!! This huge event suddenly sprung up on me. For students, the athletic festival is a large event where you build memories that last a lifetime. Suddenly I really want to participate. Now that I’m healthy I wonder which event I’ll do.

“The athletic committee helps out with the festival committee, we respectively need to choose two people for behind the scenes from our class. Is there anyone who would like to do it?”

“Yes!”

In order to create good memories, I might as well get involved deeply as a staff member. The behind the scenes people usually get the random jobs. Since I can help out, there’s no way I won’t overlook this opportunity.

“You’re in the student council so of course you’re in the committee.”

What, what did you say!?

So Aika-chan must have been in the student council. Socially speaking it’s a great position. Aika-chan is amazing. She’s cute and represents the students in the student council, how respectable.

So that means I can get involved in the cultural festival. My high school life seems exciting. Does everyone else want to help out too? I totally understand, I understand!

“When the student council gets involved the girls eyes seem to change.”

“If they go that far its kinda scary.”

I heard people talking behind me so I looked around. It’s true that the girls seem to have a certain gleam in their eyes. They’re like animals hunting for prey on the savannah. On the other hand, the boys seemed to cool down. I wonder if there’s something about the student council that stirs up the girls?

In the end we used rock paper scissors to choose one boy and one girl, and the morning homeroom ended. The girl who won exclaimed, “I get to talk to Ichinose senpai!,” happily.. Wait? I feel like I’ve heard that name somewhere.

The boy who won was Tanaka-kun who sits next to me so it seems like we’ll talk more in the future. Gufufu, it seems like it won’t be long until I make friends.

During break time, I thought about trying to talk to someone but all the girls were stuck to their groups and it feels like an invisible wall is there. It almost seems like they don’t want me to talk to them. I thought that I would easily be able to make friends but recently I’ve learned that the world isn’t as simple as I thought. Although I say that, it’s still the first day so I can’t get discouraged already.

Now I’ve finally arrived, at the other pleasure of school. The cafeteria’s lunch meal! I wondered what I should eat after checking the map by the school gate again and skipped towards the cafeteria.

The cafeteria was very stylish with it’s terrace shape and breeziness. I had imagined the dining area I had seen long ago in the lower parts of town so I opened my mouth wide as I looked up at the ceiling. There’s a propeller spinning. The glass cafeteria had the sun coming through and sparkle with radiance. It was then that I came to the conclusion that this school is for rich people.

Following the other students, I got in line for a meal ticket and once again felt gazes on me. I’ve already gotten used to it. The more I worry about it the more stressed I get so for now I’ll think about the wonderful menu. What should I eat? I had a Japanese style meal this morning so a western style meal sounds good. Alright, for now I’ll have the most standard meal out of all, the king of western style meals, omelette rice!

I brought the meal I ordered to an open seat and with a huge smile I stuffed my cheeks with a mouthful.

“Delicious!”

A syrupy egg with a rich demi-glace(type of brown sauce). What a superb dish. I’m super happy. This is cheap at only 300 yen. I’ll have it again sometime.

“Hey Shinozuka-san. You aren’t eating on the second floor?”

“What?”

I got called out by someone in front of me while I was happily eating my meal. This is the first person who’s called me out knowing I was Shinozuka Aika. When I looked up I realized it was Tanaka-kun who sits next to me in class.

“It’s about student council members are coming right?”

“Do student council members have to eat on the second floor?”

“You don’t have to but I thought it was unusual for you to be here since you usually eat up there.”

“Oh so that’s how it was. Do you eat on the second floor Tanaka-kun?”

“? Only the student council members can eat on the second floor. Other students are banned from coming up there I think.”

“Oh…”

When I peered up at the second floor, I saw many students eating there. For some reason the second floor seems more extravagant than the first but I prefer the first floor since it’s so lively. I had always eaten meals by myself so such a lively atmosphere feels fresh to me.

“I’ll still eat here. I think it’s more fun since it’s lively.”

“…For some reason today Shinozuka-san seems somewhat,”

“Thanks for waiting. Who is this cute girl!”

“Satoshi, could this possibly be your girlfriend?…. You traitor!”

As Tanaka-kun tried to say something, two guys came in from behind him. How nice, to have friends…

“No, you’re wrong! This is Shinozuka-san, you know. The one who sits next to me.”

“What!? You’re talking about that Shinozuka?”

“Wait so this girl is that loose bitch with the insane eyelashes?”

It’s that look again. As soon as people know that I’m Shinozuka Aika, peoples eyes give off blatant feelings of hatred. Why is she hated so much? What in the world did Aika-chan do? It really bothers me.

Tanaka-kun’s friends stared at me and furrowed their eyebrows. I felt like running away so I gave an insincere smile which made them wrinkle their brows further. What should I do? Someone rescue me, my delicious omelette is getting cold!

“Sorry for bothering you while you were eating.”

Sensing the unpleasant atmosphere, Tanaka-kun apologized to me in a sorry tone.

This person’s definitely a good person! Let’s become friends!

“If you would like you can sit with me….”

“Kya! It’s Sakaki senpai!”

“Mikoshiba-kun is so cool!”

“Akira-kun is so cute! He makes me want to protect him.”

I wanted to invite Tanaka-kun to sit with me so we could talk more but as I tried to ask the high pitched squeals of the girls made me lose my chance.

Eh, what is this. Suddenly the cafeteria is filled with the sound of girls cheering, just like the fans of idols I’ve seen online.

“Day after day it’s insane. It seems like student council has it tough.”

“Really? I’m jealous of them. I want to be chased after, but only by cute girls.”

“Stupid.”

Just because the student council members are here it became this loud? Since I’m in the student council I need to know who they are or else I’ll be in trouble.

I tried to stand up to see but the other girls did the same thing and created a wall so I could only see their heads. Son of a bitch.

“Oh I see. Even if you change your face to look more innocent, inside you’re still a bitch. You want to get closer with the guys in the student council.”

“Well, I’m not even interested at you in all. You’re overshadowed by the actual innocent girl, Sakurako-chan.”

I can’t even tell what he’s talking about anymore. My brain can’t keep up.

To put it simply,

“I’m in the student council, and I’m hated by everyone and am really a bitch. The only reason I joined the student council was to chase after the guys, and I am overshadowed by the real girl right?”

“…You’re wrong at the end.”

“Weren’t you a girl?”

Yup, from listening to the people around me Aika-chan has a pretty bad reputation. But in reality she was so driven to a corner that she committed suicide so I think that everything’s not entirely Aika-chan’s fault.

“Ichinose senpai!!”

“Lucky, I get to see Ichinose senpai who rarely goes to the cafeteria!”

Ichinose senpai? It’s that name again that I feel like I’ve heard of.

When the cheering became even more loud I looked down while plugging my ears and saw my slippers in my field of view. Ah, it’s this!

The phrase written on the slipper, “Don’t come near Ichinose senpai.” I felt relieved knowing what it was but now there’s a new problem. The ones being cheered for right now are in the student council right? So that means….

“Ah, it’s the president. It’s quite rare to see you come to the cafeteria.”

“You’re were always eating with Sakurako-chan.”

It was as I thought!

Furthermore, he’s the president. It’s impossible for me to avoid him since I’m in the same student council!

This is making me tired. There’s no point in overthinking it, let’s just eat the omelette rice that’s in front of me now.

“You guys if you don’t eat isn’t your food going to get cold? Why don’t you eat with me?”

I didn’t forget to invite them.

“Yeah, you’re right. Why don’t we eat here?”

“What, we’re eating with the bitch? My foods going to go bad.”

Tanaka-kun confidently sat down but the two guys behind him looked reluctant and sighed. The meal is delicious so it’s not going bad you know.

They sat next to Tanaka-kun as if they were lining up and began to eat the things that guys like such as curry and fried foods. I’ll try the curry tomorrow.

Deciding this, I stuffed my cheeks with my omelette rice. The yellow blob on Tanaka-kun’s tray had remained there untouched.

“Hm? Shinozuka, you like pudding?”

So it was pudding!! The king of egg sweets, pudding!

Oh no, I was so focused on my meal that I forgot about dessert! How regrettable. I’ve decided that tomorrow I’ll get both curry and pudding.

“Do you want it?”

He smiled while putting the pudding I was staring at onto my tray. Are you god!?

“….Is it okay?”

“Yup. I had more food than I thought so it would help if you ate that.”

That’s definitely a lie. There’s no way that a boy with growing appetite wouldn’t eat something. He must have seen that I wanted it and gave it to me out of kindness. He’s so nice.

“…Is it really okay?”

“Yup.”

“Thank you. Itadakimasu.”

I smiled widely and took a bite of the pudding. The second the pudding hit my tongue, I felt the pleasantly cool sweetness of the egg. What a familiar taste.

“It’s so good! Thank you Tanaka-kun.”

“Oh, really? I’m glad you’re happy.”

What is this feeling? Tanaka-kun’s face has become slightly red. I tilted my neck and was feeling satisfied by the pudding so I forgot about the worry I had earlier.

“I think it’s over for me. I’m starting to think that Shinozuka is cute.”

“Me too.”

The friends next to me started to look at my pudding. They probably wanted to eat it. When you see someone eating something, it makes you want to have it too. But I’m not going to give it to them though.

I finished eating my meal and pressed my hands together in thanks for those who made the food. I’m truly happy right now.

“Thank you Tanaka-kun.”

“Was the pudding really that good? You must really like pudding Shinozuka-san.”

“Yeah I like pudding. But I’m also happy because you guys ate with me.”

No one was talking to me today so I didn’t think I would be able to meet anyone today and ate by myself. It wasn’t that hard but when I saw other girls eating together cheerfully I actually felt jealous.

“So I had a lot of fun eating with you Tanaka-kun and your friends. Thank you very much.”

“Shinozuka-san.. I had a lot of fun too. Let’s eat together again.”

“Is that alright!? I’ll happily join you guys!”

I did it! I made lunchtime friends!

“Damn it, she’s cute.”

“This is what you call a technique isn’t it. Women are terrifying.”

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