Volume 1 - CH 7

Kominato Namito is shy

I asked everyone to write their proposed agenda on a piece of paper and put it in a box that was conveniently placed in the corner of the classroom.

Fifteen minutes later.

After making sure everyone has finished writing their topics and put their notes in the box, I stand in front of the teaching table again with the box in hand and open my mouth to everyone.

“Okay, then, it looks like we’re all done, so I’m going to read them out one by one.”

In front of me is a smiling Arai-san, Harusame-san with a pouty face, and Kamiyama-san, soaked in a damp paper bag and tense from her first club activity.

As everyone watched, I reached into the box, took out the first note that touched my fingertips, unfolded it in front of my face, and read it out loud.

“Well, let’s see. It’s… about Kominato-kun’s bad side and his…“

It’s her, isn’t it?

I spoke to Harusame-san with a big smile on my face.

“Harusame-san, what does this mean?”

“Oh, it’s not me, how rude! But it’s a good topic for sure, isn’t it? Why don’t you decide on it? But it’s not me who submitted it.”

Harusame hurriedly mended her situation and took her eyes off me.

“Rejected.”

I said and tore the paper with “Kominato-kun’s bad side” written on it into pieces. Harusame-san saw this and stood up vigorously.

“Hey, What are you doing?! People thought seriously about it!”

“I knew it was you.”

“It wasn’t my fault, it was A-chan’s”

A-chan is just a panel.

I gave Harusame-san a superior smile and ignored her, pulling out the next piece of paper.

“I’ll just ignore that and pull out the next one. Let’s see… about APEC?”

“Oh, that’s me.”

Arai-san opened her mouth happily.

“What’s APEC? I think it’s Asia Pacific something…?”

Arai-san answered my question smoothly.

“APEC stands for Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation, Kominato-kun. The member countries of APEC are-“

I said to Arai-san as I restrained her from speaking with joy.

“Wait, wait, wait, isn’t that a little too difficult? I think a more casual topic would be better for us to start with.”

“I thought it would be better to start with something a little more informal. I’m sorry, I think I was thinking a little too hard.”

Arai-san shudders.

“Yes, let’s move on then…”

When I put my hand inside the box, I felt a sticky… feeling on my fingertips. I fumbled with my fingertips and found that there was something very wet inside the box.

Oh… this is the thing, that thing.

I picked up the wet paper, took it out of the box, and tried to open it. But the paper was so wet that I couldn’t open it properly. I struggled to find the folds and tried again and again to open it, but finally, it was torn.

When I looked at Kamiyama-san, she was sweating like a waterfall while shrinking her large body.

“No… yeah… it’s okay.”

Then I repeated the process of taking out the sheets one by one, unfolding them, and reading them out loud.

The agendas we gathered were as follows.

・About the bad side of Kominato-kun

・About APEC

・Victims of Kominato-kun’s Stalking

・Postwar Reconstruction of Japan and Economic Policies

・On how to erase that man (Kominato) from the world

・About Capitalist Society

And a few papers that were wet and unreadable.

I checked the empty box and said with a big sigh.

“Uh… can I go home…?”

Harusame-san was the one who responded to this.

“I’ve been complaining about it for a while now, but why don’t you come up with a new topic of discussion? If you can come up with a decent idea, go ahead and do it! It’s surprisingly difficult to come up with a topic!”

Harusame-san has a valid point. But it’s not that I didn’t put a note for the agenda in the box because I didn’t have any idea.

I took out a note from my pocket and unfolded it.

“Nope, I just thought it would be better to hear everyone’s opinions before making a decision… I could only come up with the usual ideas.”

“Look at this! I knew it at first glance, but you’re useless after all… you’re useless Kominato-kun… you’re useless Tsukaenaminato.”

“Don’t forcefully abbreviate my name“

Harusame-san is elated and proud even though she is a part of that group. Then, with Harusame-san next to me, Kamiyama-san asks me a question with interest.

“So… so… Kominato-kun, what agenda did you write?”

Arai-san also looked interested. I read out the paper I had written, a little embarrassed.

“Well, it’s… quite normal and embarrassing, but… it’s like, Introduce yourself, Favorite food, Favorite subject, something like that.”

It’s so common and ordinary it’s embarrassing. Maybe I should have come up with other ideas, but nothing occurred to me.

When I finished, the three of us fell silent.

I guess I was still unpopular.

I turned my gaze away from everyone else and was embarrassed. I looked back at the two girls and one paper bag who had a look of “I didn’t know you had it in you!”

Did you guys not think of that…?

I held back the urge to ask. I swallowed hard and thought, for the first time, I won’t be called “tsukaenaminato”.