CH 9

The silent Girl uses her expressions to speak



Unfortunately for the talkative Shimotsuki, she seemed to be shy and reserved and rarely spoke to me in public.



Even when class started and break time came around, she didn’t come over to me. I guess the reason she came to me in the morning was to return my handkerchief. She doesn’t talk to me unless she has something to say.



My seat was at the back of the class on the hallway side, and Shimotsuki’s seat was at the back by the window. Right in front of her was Ryuzaki, with Azusa and Yuuki sitting around him.



The so-called protagonist’s seat was occupied by Shimotsuki. Well, I think Ryuzaki is more of a protagonist than Shimotsuki, but it seems the rule was not triggered by the seat change.



Anyway, I guess Shimotsuki and Ryuzaki really do have a rotten relationship. It’s strange that their seats are so close to each other.



However, Shimotsuki is not very good at talking to Ryuzaki, so she sleeps face down all the time to prevent him from talking to her too much.



That’s why Shimotsuki didn’t have a chance to talk to me in class this morning.



However, I am concerned about the fact that she keeps glancing at me …… like she wants to say something, but she doesn’t come to me, so I don’t really understand.



As I was tilting my head, I was unexpectedly spoken to by a boy sitting next to me. His name was Souma Hanagishi. He was a classmate and an acquaintance that I only talked to once in a while. With a curious look on his face, he handed me a piece of paper.



“Nakayama, it came from someone nearby. …… It’s rather refreshing to get a letter in high school, isn’t it?”



During math class, Hanagishi speaks to me in a whisper so that the teacher standing at the lectern won’t notice. What is the letter? I had no idea, so I accepted the letter, expressing my gratitude.



I took out the paper contained in a cute letterhead.



On it, “Dear Nakayama-kun” was written in cute round characters like an elementary school student.



Or rather, I’m curious about the hiragana. …… Since it is a name that uses only kanji learned in elementary school, I don’t think it’s difficult.



While thinking about this, I read through the words inside.



There was something like this written on it.



“Good Morning, Lunch, let’s eat. From “Your Friend”.”



…… I see. The sender is Shimotsuki. She was the only friend I had in this class, so I knew right away.



But it was hmmm …… strange that she was a high school student but her writing was poor or …… strange. She doesn’t use kanji robustly, and her sentence structure is just weird. The round characters are cute, but unfortunately I didn’t feel any intelligence.



But I understood what she was trying to say.



She asked me to have lunch with her.



Of course I agreed. I usually just eat the pastries I bought, at my seat during my lunch break, so it was no problem.



The only problem is how to reply. …… Should I send a letter to her as well?



But, as I thought, exchanging letters at this age is embarrassing.



I wondered if there was any way I could tell her. I looked at Shimotsuki. Then I saw her glancing at me.



She had her head on her hands, making it look like she was concentrating on the class, but her eyes were looking at me every few seconds. Because of this, I was also making eye contact with the students seated between me and Shimotsuki, but every time I did, they immediately looked away, which made me very suspicious of their behavior.



…… Shimotsuki may look perfect, but she’ s pretty clumsy in some ways. I feel that there are a lot of things that are quite wrong with her, in terms of human interaction at least.



Well, it is convenient, if she is looking at me.



(Okay)



I made a sign with my index finger and thumb and gave the “OK” sign.



A few seconds later, Shimotsuki looked at me, so I guess she got the message.



As proof, Shimotsuki’s expression clearly brightened, so I was sure she got the message. She usually doesn’t talk much, but I think she easily shows her emotions in her expressions.



She was obviously happy to be eating lunch with me. …… She was cute, after all and I was happy to see her.