CH 4.3

A few days later. I continued to play well at club practice, steadily gaining the trust of the club members. And soon enough, I was selected to start in a practice game just before a tournament.

I heard that my advisor had also been impressed with my performance in the past few days of practice.

On the other hand, I continued to try to talk to Ruri, who was still avoiding me.

I had more and more questions I wanted to ask her…

“Tanaka-kun, aren’t you too strong?”

Sasaki-kun said to me while looking at the TV screen.

Today was the day of the “Zomabrawl” tournament, which he had previously announced.

After I finished my club activities on our day off, I went to Sasaki-kun’s house, which was relatively close to the school. Because his parents had a lot of money, his house was as big as a mansion.

Of course, Sasaki-kun’s room was so spacious that it was hard to believe it was for one person, and about ten of our classmates were gathered there.

By the way, the first round had already started, and I won outright against Sasaki-kun.

As I had promised, I had taught Sasaki-kun how to play “Zomabrawl” the night before, but I guess he couldn’t beat a former stay-at-home gamer like me with just one night of soaking in the game.

“I was clapped. It’s so frustrating.”

“Well, it is my favorite game.”

“I still thought I could do a little better. It’s pathetic that the tournament organizer lost in the first round.”

Sasaki looked down in embarrassment.

Certainly, it might have been a bad idea to beat the tournament organizer.

But there was a situation here, too, where I had to show my good side in the game and get along with my classmates. I couldn’t lose so easily.

“Tanaka is too strong.”

Then, a boy who was watching the game between me and Sasaki-kun called out.

No, not just him.

“Teach me your favorite combo next time” “Teach me too!” “Teach me your favorite character.” “Do you have any tips on how to win a match?” Do you play any games other than Zomabrawl?”

My male classmates started talking to me more and more like that.

“Well, I recommend this combo—”

I answered one by one.

Then, one after another, including Sasaki-kun, started talking to me in the same way.

“You guys. You’re bothering Tanaka-kun if you ask so much of him.”

As I was being surrounded, Kudo-san appeared and warned the boys.

Immediately after that, the boys responded and began preparing for their next match.

I’ve learned over the past few days that Kudo-san seemed to be the big sister of the class.

I had just fought Sasaki-kun and my next match wouldn’t be for a little while, so I moved toward where the drinks were when Kudo-san approached me.

“By the way, Tanaka-kun is so strong!”

“No, there are people stronger than me all over the place.”

“No, there is no one stronger than you. Don’t be modest.”

Kudo-san said so, but I wasn’t being modest, and there were some really strong people around me who were much stronger than I was.

For example, my homeroom teacher.

“Thanks for taking down Shunsuke for me.”

“Eh… O-Oh.”

By Shunsuke, she meant Sasaki-kun?

Come to think of it, she joined the tournament to defeat Sasaki-kun… But I took him down instead.

Somehow, the two of them seem to be a good fit… it might have been better to lose on purpose after all.

“Maki-chan! I got some candy from Sasaki-kun’s mom!”

Suddenly, a lively voice rang out.

I looked and saw that Ruri had brought a bowl full of sweets.

“”Ah…””

When our eyes met each other’s, we both let out a squeal.

But it became awkward and we quickly looked away.

Ruri was not participating in the tournament, but she was visiting Sasaki-kun’s house.

Her friend Kudo-san was here, so she came to visit with her.

“Thanks, Ruri-chan! Let’s eat the snacks together!”

“Y-Yes. Sure.”

Ruri replied, and there was silence between the three of us.

It was probably because of me and Ruri.

“Hey, Ruri—”

“Ah, all the drinks are gone. I’ll go get some more.”

After saying that, Ruri left the room in a hurry.

I’ve tried to approach her several times today, but she continued to avoid me as usual.

…Haaa. When will I be able to talk to her?

“Ruri-chan and Tanaka-kun are childhood friends, right?”

“Eh, yes… how do you know?”

“I heard it from Ruri-chan.”

“I-I see…”

What did Ruri say to Kudo-san?

It would be tough if she said something like — I have a childhood friend I hate.

“But there is a strange distance between Ruri-chan and you.”

“That’s because, umm… there were a lot of things that happened in the past, so Ruri might hate me.”

However, she even tried to get me to participate in practice matches. Sometimes I think she doesn’t hate me, but when she keeps running away from me when I try to talk to her like this, I think she hates me after all.

However—

“Well, I don’t think that’s true.”

Kudo-san said.

“Why do you think so?”

“Because the other day, she told Shunsuke that Tanaka-kun was good at Zomabrawl.”

“Ngh! I-I see…”

After Sasaki-kun talked to me at that time, I had a vague idea that was the case.

The only classmate who knew that I was good at Zomabrawl was Ruri. I thought it couldn’t be true, since she usually avoided me.

“…Oops.”

“? What’s wrong, Kudo-san?”

“No, I forgot that Ruri-chan told me not to tell you what I just said.”

Kudo-san has a look on her face like she made a mistake. Siblings act the same I guess…

“I can’t help it if I’ve done it already. I’ll tell you one more thing, Tanaka-kun.”

“By the way, that’s probably a definite no-no.”

I pointed out, but Kudo-san continued to talk without stopping.

“You know, Ruri-chan has been talking about Tanaka-kun quite a bit.”

“…Is that so?”

“Yeah, especially since Tanaka-kun came to school.”

Whenever I had a good play at club practice, she always told Kudo-san about it the next day at school.

In addition, if Kudo-san asked a question about me out of curiosity, Ruri seemed to happily talk about things from when we were little that even I normally wouldn’t remember.

“So I don’t think it’s possible that Ruri-chan doesn’t like Tanaka-kun!”

“O-Oh. Thank you.”

I was quite encouraged by what Kudo-san said.

I still wasn’t completely sure, but maybe Ruri really doesn’t hate me.

…Okay, I’ll try to get her to talk to me.

I haven’t come up with any particular plan or anything, though…

“Tanaka-kun! It’s your second round next!”

Sasaki-kun said, and I moved toward the TV screen.

I don’t think I can play “Zomabrawl” properly in my current state…

“Go for it!”

Kudo-san gave me a light yell from behind.

But this probably wasn’t about Zomabrawl.

And so began the second round of the Zomabrawl tournament, which I again won outright.