35 I Become a School Rumor

Author: Bishamon Mine
Raw: https://ncode.syosetu.com/n0664js/38/
Translator: Lilia v4
Editor: Yuriko AYA

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Before I notice it’s past 7:30, and I hurry back to the apartment.

While getting a little sarcasm from my stepmom and stepsister I change into uniform, thinking (oh no, late late~★) I run out of the apartment with bread in my mouth.
Thinking there’s no way I’ll have an anime-like meeting, I really collide with a boy.
Eh, I really bump? I think, but after all I’m comms-disordered. The words that come out are “ah, sorry,” “I-I’m sorry,” “yes, I’ll be careful from now on” and such. There is no way love happens. After apologizing thoroughly I get on the monorail.

In the end at the usual time, swaying on the Shonan Monorail.

“Huh?”

Alice is there.
Alice finds me too and talks to me.

“Suzuhi, good morning!”
“Morning, Alice. Isn’t the monorail scary?”
“If I’m with Suzuhi, I’ve been getting okay.”
“Is that so……?”

At this rate she’ll overcome her acrophobia soon, won’t she?

“More than that, please look at this!”

Alice beckons me next to her so I timidly sit beside her, and she points at her phone screen and shows me.
(What is it?) I think, peeking——

“800,000 subscribers!?”
“Yes!”

When I lift my gaze from the phone, Alice’s face is full of joy.

“I think it’s because we saved Otoko-san. Otoko-san is a major streamer with over 2,000,000 subscribers.”
“So they came from over there, huh.”
“Otoko-san herself is a Suu-oshi, and we’re women too so the other side’s viewers can come without hesitation, I guess.”
“I’m happy…… think we can collab with Otoko-san? I’m looking forward to going on a trip too.”
“Indeed. Ah——and also. As Isshiki Alice, I got permission from the office to appear on Suu-san’s stream, if it’s 800,000 subscribers then by all means, they said.”
“Really!?”
“Yes!”

Alice and I clap our hands together and celebrate.
But then a sharp pain in my shoulder.

“Ow vou.”

The cause of the pain is of course the wound the goblin shot.
When I curl up on the seat holding my shoulder, Alice apologizes looking worried.

“I-I’m sorry! Are you okay!?”
“No, that just now was me being too stupid——I messed up earlier too and forgot again. But it’s already almost closed.”

“Next stop, last stop, Shonan-Enoshima.”

We arrive at the last stop and head for the Enoden.

Then somehow the atmosphere gets weird.
Even on the monorail there were people glancing at us, but.
When we get on the Enoden, students from the same school increase, and people start making a fuss.

“Look, isn’t that Suu-san?”
“———Seriously? Ah, it’s true!!”
“No way, Suu was our student!?”

“Oi, look, it’s Suu.”
“Suu’s here!”

Somehow gazes stretch from everywhere.
My player name is being whispered.
Is the stream thing outed……?

The problem is that I’m extremely comms-disordered, that I’m far too weak to other people’s gazes.
Y-yikes, weird sweat is coming out.

And terrifyingly, even people from other schools are looking this way. There are even boys.
Akan, I feel like my heartbeat is weird. I’m holding a strap, but I’ve started wanting to sit down.

“Even people from the neighboring Shonan High know——te, Suzuhi, your face is paper-white!?”
“I have nice skin.”

I say it so as not to worry her, but Alice moves to a position that shields me from the surrounding gazes.
But Alice may have forgotten, Alice herself is a famous model who even appears on TV.

“Wait wait, isn’t that Isshiki Alice?”
“Suu and Isshiki Alice going to school together? Wait——then, Isshiki Alice is——Crimson Flash Alice, isn’t she!?”
“No, the face is different.”
“FateLege has items that change your face, you know, that splendid model figure isn’t that common!?”
“Uwa——seriously, I’ll take a pic and tweet on SNS———” “Yes yes, I’m Isshiki Alice.”

Alice takes off her disguise glasses and mask.

“I’ll do autographs and handshakes~. But if you sneak photos or tweet on SNS without permission, my advising lawyer will get angry~.”

Hearing advising lawyer, the boy student who was about to take a photo stops moving. He apparently doesn’t want it to become a big deal. He must have cooled down.
The boy next to Photo Boy pokes Photo Boy.

“Idiot, put it away already.”
“O-ou——ah, but handshake and autograph is okay?”
“Of course.”

Alice handles it with a smile. In the crowded car she skillfully signs the boy student’s handkerchief and shakes hands.
Photo Boy asks me too.

“Suu too?”
“Wa゛, wa゛daji, zain toga, nai de no゛u゛e”
“Then just a handshake.”

Photo Boy holds out his hand. A boy who seems to be his friend is going “you really do force a handshake on someone who clearly looks unwell” looking fed up.
But the fed-up him is also asking Alice, “Alice-san, handshake please.”

I, somehow, absolutely have to shake hands with Photo Boy, it seems, so.

But I nail in ““Suzusa-germs”.”

“Suzusakin? What’s that,” Photo Boy laughs.

“Lo゛ne゛li゛ne゛ss disease……”
“Eh, Suzusa-germs? Then is your name Suzusa? Cute name.”
“Wro゛ng゛”

I let out a groan like a dog gagging and dare a handshake with just my fingertips.
Alice is trying to overcome acrophobia, and then there’s me.
After that we somehow make it to school.

“Hey Alice, why did I try to get famous when I’m comms-disordered……”
“You’re wondering that now!?”
“I see, I——probably because I can be normal on the net, I thought I could get people who look at me over there. But I didn’t think if I get famous over there I’d get famous over here too.”
“I’m the one who made you show your face so——sorry.”

Ikan, Alice is feeling responsible.

“It’s okay, it’s already okay.”

When I hurriedly try to appeal that it’s okay to a dejected Alice by showing double biceps, a voice comes from behind.

“Ah, look.——That one, apparently a famous streamer.”
“Seriously? What streamer name?”
“Kyo-in Suu.”
“Aah, the one who saved Otoko that was in SNS trends?”

Called Kyo-in, I freeze still in double biceps.
Seriously, stop calling me Kyo-in at school?

“Ah, Suu-san please shake hands!”
“Kyo-in Suu, give me an autograph!”

They don’t know the name Suzusaki, but only Suu is famous!?

“You guys, you don’t come near Yachimata-san ‘cause you’re scared. Ah——Kyo-in-san, can I have an autograph too?”
“Because Yachimata-san is too pretty…… she does kendo too and her first-string aura is amazing——she’s scary, right. Kyo-in Suu-san, autograph okay?”
“Suu, I’m a player too and I stream, won’t you collab?”

People rush in like a landslide.
Yikes, I might drown in the human wave.
By the way you people. Alice is too pretty so you can’t come near, but you ask me for autographs, what does that mean.

The ones who even ask for handshakes are basically girls. I think boys have a brake of “after all, shaking a girl from the same school’s hand is embarrassing.”
Or so I think, then I shake hands with one boy, and other boys come “me too” “me too.”
Hiin, tossed by the rough waves of life~!

But I properly go around shaking hands. Because I don’t want Alice to feel responsible.

“Autographs sorry, I’ll think about it next time.”
“Then just write Suu.”
“A sign from before the design would be premium.”
“You couldn’t authenticate that, waro.”

And right nearby Alice is brushing off a boy who came with a collab request.
The boy is someone with the impression that his whole face is gathered toward the middle.

“So that’s why Saruori-san, I’ll be appearing too so I don’t think the office will okay it.”
“What, a little is fine, right~?”
“If at least the subscriber counts were close it’d be fine, but.”
“I’m asking because the subscribers are far.”

Akan, this boy is combative…… if Alice gets punched that’d be a problem.

“Ah, um, I’ll think about it so———”

When I say that, the boy student turns this way.

“It’s fine, right, why are you being so reluctant.”
“I don’t know you, so……”
“Stingy!!”

Saying that the boy grabs my shoulder.
Intense pain runs.

“I———!!”

I groan and squat. Today, stop with the shoulder……
Blood has seeped. The wound seems to have opened (ororon, it huuurts. I might seriously cry).
Then the surrounding students start making a fuss.

“Saruori——what are you doing!!”
“Didn’t you watch yesterday’s stream!? Suu-san has a huge injury there!!”
“Eh, no——I only knew she has a lot of subscribers——”
“Don’t say collab when you haven’t even watched the stream!!”

The boy gets shoved.
Akan, fighting is akan.

“I wasn’t subjected to violence! I was just touched!”

Alice, who supports me looking worried, looks down at the fallen boy.
Alice is tall and has good posture, so the intensity is incredible. She pronounces as is.

“I will absolutely not collab with you.”
“……U……”

Alice turns on her heel and makes me stand.

“Let’s go to the nurse’s office.”
“It’s okay. I put That-side medicine in the convenient bag I obtained, if I apply that.”
“Then let’s wrap a bandage in the nurse’s office too. I’ll accompany you.”
“Alice will be late for first period too.”

Alice smiles kindly at me and says.

“Please don’t worry. If you really mind, Suzuhi can just teach me studying.”
“I-I see. A study session, huh.”
“It’s a study date.”
“A word the world’s students would recoil from.”
“I thought it was a wonder drug for the falling birthrate.”

Supported by Alice who made a scary word, I head for the nurse’s office.
As expected, no one asks the me who has made my blouse bright red for handshakes or autographs anymore.

The blouse dyed bright red is stolen by the school nurse with “I’ll get the blood out.” This day I spend in gym tracksuit.
The tracksuit is the one I rolled around in at the park so it’s a bit sandy, so I brush it off neatly.

When I return to the classroom, a sleepy male math teacher with messy hair glances this way and just says “Suzuhama sit down,” with no further blame.

Hello teacher, it’s Suzusaki.

Because the injury on my dominant right arm opened again, I’m writing notes nota nota with my non-dominant left arm, and it slips into break.
I’m not good at math so I have to try.
But the day-duty erases the blackboard and I’m teary-eyed, when,

The girl in the seat in front turns her neck, looks at my notebook, turns around and sits, and opens her math notebook.

“Here.”

Apparently meaning copy it.

“Ah, thank you!”

I thought this before too, but the girl in front’s previous life was a mother-goddess——no mistake.

She stays for a while with her cheek on her hand on my desk, gazing at my face.
Because the girl in front is sitting with the backrest pinched between her thighs, I’m thinking “the wide-open legs are stimulating, huh” and such.
While having indecent thoughts and looking like I have trouble writing from the arm injury, the girl in front says “lend me” and starts copying her notebook contents into my notebook.

“S-sorry. Really thank you——this favor I shall surely repay.”
“Hey hey, Suzucchi.”

I look around the classroom.——No one is reacting.

“Suzucchi? Me?”
“Yes, Suzucchi.”
“In high school, I got a nickname for the first time……?”

And she remembered my name? Before she said my family name was Kanesaki, and it became Suzusaki?
No, it might be the Suzuhi side. But being called by first name is happy, and also happy.

“That so? What does Yachimata-san call Suzucchi?”
“Suzuhi.”
“True, not a nickname. You hate Suzucchi?——What nicknames have you had until now?”
“Germs, and natural perm, and shade-type.”
“Those are probably not nicknames…… then Suzucchi is fine, right. I’m Nijisaka Chigusa——call me Chigu.”
“Yeah——Chigu.”

Eh, I wonder, she started saying something like a ritual for becoming friends? This person.
Even so I won’t ask a “are we friends?”-ish thing to try to become friends. Like when I asked “are we friends?” long ago and got “ha? (laugh)” back——uu, my head——.

But think about it, I think confessing “please be friends” takes more courage than a love confession. I say that well for someone who’s never even done a love confession (laugh).

If a special confession like a lover’s is rejected, you can make the excuse “the difficulty was high.”
Flipping it, what about a confession of “please be friends.”
The difficulty is not that high, everyone makes friends——I have almost never, but. And if you’re rejected…… please imagine.

“Please be friends!” “Eh, friends with you is impossible so.”

The day I’m told something like that——remembering it my chest hurts.

“U……u……”
“What’s wrong Suzucchi, why are you crying…… are you okay?”
“I’m okay, just emotionally unstable.”
“I don’t think anywhere is okay, but——”

Chigu, still with a confused expression, asks me.

“Hey, I asked the class girls, Suzucchi, you’re an amazing fighter-craft rider in FateLege?”
“Amazing? ……Saying I’m amazing myself is embarrassing but……. I have cleared 〈Insanity〉 Death Road, for now.”
“I don’t get it but it sounds amazing.”
“So far it seems only two people in the world have cleared 〈Insanity〉 Death Road.”
“That’s amazing!”
“Dehehe.”

I scratch the back of my head and melt my face.

“You really are amazing~. Hey, everyone’s looking at their phones right now, right.”
“Yeah.”

Indeed. People looking at phones alone, groups surrounding phones, here and there.
But everyone keeps looking this way. Ah——I meet eyes with a girl, she looks away…… sorry, creepy me staring.

“That, everyone’s watching Suzucchi’s stream archives.”
“———?”

Told that I turn back to Chigu, and with that momentum I tilt my head.

“What do you mean?”
“This morning it was a huge fuss that there was an amazing streamer in class. Suzucchi went to the nurse’s office so I think you don’t know.”

I look again at the girl I met eyes with just now.
She’s looking this way again, her cheeks red. And she waves small.
What’s that, cute.

“That girl, you know, she’s the one who spread ‘Suzucchi is cool!’”
“Sessha is cool?”
“Don’t become a samurai from time to time. ‘Pretty Yachimata-san’s friend,’ ‘cool Suzusaki-san,’ most opinions agree.”
“Cool——?? Me……?”
“You don’t have self-awareness? I watched too——the part where you don’t consider your own danger, and with no hesitation at all you run to save another streamer, honestly if a girl sees that she’ll think it’s cool.”

I look around the class——somehow I feel hot gazes from the girls.
And the boys are turning hot gazes too.

I don’t understand the girls’ feelings, but I understand the boys’ feelings even less.
Looking at me isn’t eye candy, right, it’s Suzusaki Suzuhi, you know? Looks “natural perm despite monolids, vertical lines on the face, smashed-flat, extremely Japanese build” Suzusaki Suzuhi, you know?

“What does this mean……”

I’m scared of everyone looking at me, so I desperately stroke my hair with my fingers, chanting “become straight, become straight.”
Of course the wish is not granted.
Chigu pushes the finished notebook at me and says as if she guessed something.

“Suzucchi isn’t a beauty, but you’re cute.”
“I saw on the net that a girl’s ‘cute’ isn’t a compliment.”
“You’re saying it like it’s someone else’s business, but Suzucchi is a girl too.”

While receiving the notebook laughing Chigu wrote for me, with a dark expression,

“I have no girl talent……”

For now I suddenly throw a serious consultation.

“Aah, I get that feeling.”

What comes back is a blunt reply.

“……I want you to deny it a little.”
“I have no lying talent, you know.”
“Everyone lives missing something, huh……”

I turn empty eyes at the fluorescent light right above (it’s out).
Then Chigu, putting away her writing utensils, murmurs.

“If you were perfect you wouldn’t want anything, and there’d be no meaning to living, you know. Isn’t having no goal hard?”

Eh…… Chigu, what’s with those blessed words. Are you a monk, or an ascetic or something?

“Cool…… Chigu-san, seriously, respect.”
“Your vocab is a boy’s, Suzucchi.”
“Chigu too, you know, you have a girly look but you’re sharp and look like you’d be popular with girls. I wanted to be born with that look.”

Is the hairstyle called a hime cut? She has that in a side tail with a scrunchie.
But her face is sharp, the cool type.
Pretty and cute and cool are mixed into one, creating a single universe inside her looks.

“Nn? Thanks?——No, what’s the point of being popular with girls.”
“Eh, you don’t want to be popular? With girls.”
“Nnn, not that much?”
“People want what they’re missing, huh.——I see, because I have no girl talent I seek girls——or rather I have no high-school-girl talent but——huh? High school girls are scary.”
“Suzucchi, you were a weird one, huh.”
“There is no room for excuse.”
“Today’s bento, eat with us?”
“Eh, an eat-bento-together event!?”
“Ah, but Suzucchi has Yachimata-san——shall I invite Yachimata-san too.”
“3P!?”
“That’s the part, why you can’t become a high school girl. And my friends will be there too.”
“I’ll do my best!!”
“Ou, do your best.”

Eating bento together, isn’t that kinda girly?

After that, Chigu copies notes for me every break.
This person, not just her previous life was a mother-goddess. This life she’s a mother-goddess too.