Chuunibyou Demo Koi ga Shitai! Novel 1

by Torako

  …….I know. No mistake I know. There’s a huge difference between saying Rikka has a boyfriend and Kannagi-san having a boyfriend. Still, I couldn’t help but be surprised. I would’ve never expected to feel that different.

  “As a representative of the disciplinary committee, I’m supposed to show leadership on inter-gender relationships. Could you have schadenfreude? If you don’t, then why did you feel relieved?”

  “I don’t know what that emotion is!”

  “You don’t know what schadenfreude is? It’s where you drink the sweet nectar of tears from someone’s sorrows.”

  “Nah, I don’t like feeling happy for someone’s misfortune nor have I felt a tinge of that before man!”

  “Well, this would be like you thinking ‘Takanashi-san is mine! Hahaha! Sucks to be you guys.’ That’s schadenfreude. Quite the scary thing huh? Hmm, I suppose you could say that liking someone could be similar to it in some respects.”

  “I’m not sure I catch what you’re saying, but I get what you mean. I know that I really like Rikka. Thanks man.”

  That’s good to know. As Isshiki was finishing his lines, he was also finishing his boiled soba. This time we had zaru soba. It’s one of the new items on the summer menu at our cafeteria.

  But while I thought this hazy feeling would come off and I’d feel a bit lighter after our talk, northing of the sort happened. I was still quite hazy. I definitely liked Rikka. Well, I like her. You know, I didn’t think this would happen this way when I first thought of her as a little sister or when I couldn’t look away from her chuunibyou problems, but somehow it just ended up that I really like her.

  But it’s not even been two weeks. I don’t mean to sound ignorant, but can this feeling suddenly rise in me? Even if I had no idea what it really was? Well, have I actually fallen for her?

  Unconsciously, I grew to like her as we were together. It’s like one of those TV dramas. Somehow I’ve fallen without a clear reason why.

  Putting that aside, how should I talk with Rikka now? If I do like her like that, then it might be difficult to talk to her knowing how I feel. If any of you have experience falling in love, please give me some advice.

  So that’s why I’ll ask my sensei over here.

  “Isn’t the way you usually talk to her alright? You like her, you want to be with her, you want to hold her… hold on, I’m not going to tell you how to violate any laws.”

  “That so? I got it. Well, I won’t hold her; I’ll just talk normally man.”

  Normal, normal, normal, huh? Well, I can’t really say the way we’ve been is normal, but I guess acting as her contractee is fine.

  “Well, you can talk about anything with me man.”

  And Isshiki-sensei had a huge mysterious smile on his face. Yes, it was that self-satisfied look which was only rumored to exist. Got it. I definitely get the sense I should talk with you when these things pop up.

  “One more thing. I told you before you were building those steps of love, so how is this different? Sorry to break it to you, but you’re not the person here who’s incredibly popular. Don’t worry, this master of all women will give you some advice. Take great caution with Takanashi-san.”

  As he said that, his determined look re-appeared. I’m happy you said that.

  “Thanks man. I’ll keep that in mind.”

  And as we were smiling from the hot-blooded male bonding, my favorite ringtone started to play from my pocket.

  “Togashi, you’re ringing. Don’t you want to answer it?”

  “Ah, sorry. Forgive me this time.”

  Of course the caller had to be Rikka.

  I took a deep breath before picking up the phone. No surprise, I was nervous. I told myself to act normal about five times, gestured “sorry” to Isshiki and then connected to Rikka.

  “Hello, what’s up?”

  “It’s me. We’ve finished now. Our teacher is scary. She summoned me during my valuable lunch time.”

  “Well, Nana-chan was worrying after what you’ve been through.”

  Nana-chan was summoning her after school too. Since there wasn’t much time before the re-test, she was having a special lesson today with Rikka. She came to me earlier and asked “Is it alright if I teach her after school today?” I was curious why she came to clear it by me first.

  “Where are you right now, Yuuta? Alas, my phone does not have a tracking device, so I do not know your current location. I need to speak with you about something today.”

  A Nana-chan counter-plan huh? You know, I have to praise her somewhat for thinking how to interact normally….

  “Oh, I’m in the cafeteria with Isshiki right now.”

  “……..Ishiki? Your Four Horsemen’s no.1?”

  That’s right. Rikka entered shy mode when they last met, didn’t she? What should I do? Well, maybe if she’s used to him, she won’t enter shy mode anymore. I’ll just hand the phone over to Isshiki and let him talk to her. They’ve not really spoken before. It’s natural to be afraid of strangers.

  “Yeah yeah. Hey, would it be alright if you chat with him for a moment or two?”

  “…….Understood. Since the danger level has lowered, dialogue between us is possible.”

  For some reason Isshiki was surprised at this change. He said softly, “Does she not want to?” It’s like his character changed as well.

  I handed over my phone to him. Normally he’d say “Ororo” in his loud voice, but this time he dropped my phone from his hand. I heard a clash when it hit. Hey now, your soba broth jumped a bit too!

  After giving me an apologetic gesture, Isshiki picked up my phone.

  “Yesyesyesyesyesyesyes, hellohellohellohellohellohello, th-this is Isshiki.”

  Quite a humorous way to answer the phone. How many times did he plan on saying “hello?” He looked like he was about to break down. I didn’t have a single clue why he was acting this way.

  “What was that noise that sounded like the world was breaking.”

  “Ah, Ahahaha, so… sorry about that. This fool dropped it.”

  He’s really changed his character! What is he saying?!

  “Understood. It is a pleasure to meet you, Four Horsemen number 1.”

  “Fo, Four Horsemen no.1?”

  Rikka has continued to make Isshiki into my underling. Or perhaps she can’t break that habit of saying it since she first thought about it couple days ago. Hail Isshiki, the first of the Four Horsemen!

  “What are you doing with my Devil King?”

  “Huh? Oh, your highness’s Devil King is in a good mood today. An awfully good mood. We were just talking about schadenfreude.”

  What the hell is this Four Horseman talking about? I have no idea what this conversation is going towards. Why did that topic come out……

  “You should expect that from Yuuta. He has the power to alter others’ unhappiness. The day of his awakening is near. Number 1-san, you will have a lot of work to do as his underling. Is that clear?”

  “Ye, Yesssssssss!”

  That was quite a strange voice Isshiki made as he handed back my phone.

  “So you both talked about you drinking the nectar of other people’s unhappiness, Yuuta?”

  How does everyone know about that emotion? I had no idea about it…..Am I an idiot…..? Well, if I am, I’m not going to say it!

  “You deserve this praise. After all, you have gotten Number 1 to submit to you already. Such a cool act of power should be expected from you.”

  “Huh? Oh, thanks.”

  Submit? Isshiki did? Well, I guess you could get that impression from how he talked. Well, at least it looks like this strategy worked. She shouldn’t enter shy mode now.

  “So are you going to come to meet us?”

  “I’m on my way. Yuuta, use your summoning magic.”

  “I don’t have such a power!”

  “In that case, I’ll be there soon.”

  After she said that, I head the clicks that indicate our conversation was o
ver. Oh well. I put my phone back in my pocket and looked over to Isshiki, who was crying.

  “That…that was my first real conversation with a girl…”

  “What?!”

  “She’s amazing. She was only talking over the phone, but even through electronic methods, I could feel stimulated by her sighs. It was amazing. Girls really are amazing, aren’t they?”

  I was still digesting what he had said. Didn’t he say earlier he was the so-called “master of women?” I smell a fraud. Someone over here has been trapped..

  What has he been doing up until now? Surely there’s girls on the moral committee.

  “That conversation with Takanashi-san was amazing! Don’t get me wrong, she still has chuunibyou, but her cuteness just increased a hundred-fold!”

  “Was she a bad influence on you?!”

  Perhaps it was Rikka’s electromagnetic powers. Well, I’m not 100% sure she has them, she is just a normal chuunibyou patient after all.

  “I feel born anew. The me of a moment ago was spouting his stupidity over and over towards you man. Chuunibyou….may not be that bad. I’ll have to write this in my memo pad!”

  And just as he pulled out his memo pad from God knows where, Rikka had arrived.

  “I have arrived.”

  She sat in the seat beside me…scary….….Just be normal…..

  “Have you already eaten?”

  “Our teacher called me before I could eat.” As she said that, she nodded in approval of my zaru soba. Looks like she wanted some too.

  “Is this alright?”

  I handed over one of my onigiri from my set to her.

  “This cafeteria’s meals are good. Incidentally, Yuuta, did this come with your meal?”

  “Why wouldn’t it?! What did you think came with it?”

  “This is such an amazing meal!”

  It was just the two of us talking now. I thought Isshiki would cut in somewhere, but he was looking at me with his face blushing and back straightened.

  Huh…..? Did he enter shy mode……?

  “What is Number 1 doing? Is he submitting?”

  “…..I don’t know….”

  The mental strain was probably too much for him. Ah, now that I think about it, he was the one that was telling me about schadenfreude. I can’t say that it serves him right.

  In the end, lunch time ended with Isshiki never exiting shy mode and making our conversation three-sided.

  Chapter 10: “Don’t call me Mori-sama!”

  Wednesday marked the middle of the week. Nana-chan was giving Rikka another lesson today, so I had some spare time. Since I wasn’t in any clubs, and we didn’t have our study group, I suppose it felt weird staying after school but I got a feeling I shouldn’t head home yet.

  Yesterday I waited for Rikka, but she told me prior to going in today to leave before she finished. As I thought about her studying diligently in the classroom beside me, I couldn’t think of leaving while she was putting in hard work.

  Thus, I was reluctantly studying at my desk in the classroom waiting for Rikka to finish. I didn’t think it would take a while, so I tentatively scheduled something to do with Rikka as she heads back to her apartment. While I was planning it out, I heard someone come in.

  “Thank goodness that’s over!” A loud voice entered the classroom as the door opened. Alas, it wasn’t Rikka; it was Nibutani.

  “Oh, it’s you Nibutani. What’s going on? Don’t you have club activities?”

  Not thinking that someone would be in there, she was probably taken aback by someone calling out to her. She had a “Wha-Wha” overreaction to hearing me, but she wasn’t actually hurt. Hopefully.

  “You surprised me! I didn’t sense that anyone was in here.”

  “Am I that faint?! Do I exist to you at all?!”

  “You don’t need to snap at me, but yeah, you don’t really have much of an existence. Does that bother you? Oh well, don’t worry about it.”

  I will worry about it! It’s been on my mind a lot lately. When one of my classmates wonders who would call out to them, it would naturally hurt my feelings.

  “Well, that’s alright.... But it’s unusual for you to return to the classroom at this time. What’s going on?”

  “.....I had a remedial lesson too.”

  Ah, I could sense that sadistic impression starting to rise within her. Damn. I forgot about that.

  “Oh, Nana-chan’s personal lesson, eh? I forgot that you might be in there too. So um.... how did it go?”

  “I got the impression that only Takanashi-san and I failed. No one else was there.”

  No one else huh? Only them? Wow, I imagine that must have been quite the scene. I wonder what they talked about.

  Although the two of them have chatted before, I can’t think of anything interesting that they could say to one another. But you never know: somehow the number 1 girl in the class could have something bursting inside to talk about. That could be why she’s so easy to chat with!

  “I see. Just the two of you then.... Did you chat with Rikka any?”

  “Hmm... just a bit. Curious?”

  Nibutani continued to pack her bags and acted like she was heading to her club with little interest in continuing our conversation after that.

  “I wasn’t interested that much, but I thought that would be surprising if you did.”

  I said mostly what I was thinking. Surprising wasn’t exactly the phrase I wanted to say.

  “Oh? I wouldn’t have minded talking more, but it looks that Takanashi-san doesn’t really talk to anyone besides you.”

  “That is surprising! Did you two even speak to another?!”

  “We simply had an ordinary conversation. I didn’t want to hear her make up stories.”

  Having finished her preparations to leave, Nibutani came over and sat on my desk, giving me a good look at her long legs. I was a bit surprised as her actions, but she just lightly sighed.

  “It’ll be harsh with just the two of them there. I don’t know if she could keep her composure with that evil eye chuunibyou flowing through her veins. Wouldn’t you think she’d have difficulties understanding what Ms. Nana-chan is teaching?”

  Ah, probably. I’m not sure that Nana-chan would be able to filter through the terminology Rikka uses to find out what she’s actually saying.

  “By the way, what would she say to Nana-chan?”

  “’Devilish Truth Stare invoked! Put the entire world to sleep! Release my power! Spirits of the Escaped World, Angels of the Four Heavenly Equations come here!’ You know, things like that, right? I’m not sure that Nana-chan could give any help after hearing that.”

  Yeah, that’s what she would say. I’m not sure even I could say anything to help her after hearing that....

  “Well, I’m sure that Nana-chan will get her to understand somehow.... Oh, are you already leaving Nibutani?”

  “You’re still calling me Nibutani?” She commented back with one of her rare smiles.

  “Huh, well, aren’t you Nibutani?”

  “Look, Mo.....Mo... ‘Mori-sama’.....”

  Huh? She’s turned meek. That cuts right into her sadistic persona.

  “No, that‘s something you don’t want to be called. If you don’t like me saying it, I don’t have to keep saying your family name.....”

  “That’s fine. Everyone else has been calling me that since that trip. I don’t know if they mean to hurt me, but I can’t tell them ‘Don’t call me Mori-sama!’ or something like that.”

  “I don’t know why you can’t say that to the class, but I get you. I too can’t tell someone not to call me something like Geruzoniansasu.”

  “Geruzoniansasu.”

  A bold smile crossed her face as she started to feel like she beat me. Yeah, that’s Nibutani all right. The meek version just doesn’t feel right.

  “......I could call you Mori-sama now, but you’re Nibutani. Like I said before, you really give off that impression. It’s calming to call you that. I�
��m not sure about other nicknames like Class Rep or Class King.”

  “I’m already used to being called different things, so any of those would be fine. I am aware of why you call me the way you do. But, you know, Class King has a good sound to it. I really like it, so you should call me that instead, alright?”

  Why she’s pleased with that nickname, I have no idea. I can’t come up with a good reply to that, so I’ll just ask something else that’s been on my mind.

  “Hey, according to that story, you told people to ‘Call me Mori-sama!’ but now you’ve changed. Could that be because of Shichimiya....?”

  “Shichimiya never called me that!....Well, don’t you have something small that you want to change? Like your dark history?”

  Nibutani spoke like she was almost grumbling, but I know that feeling.

  Thinking back on it, Shichimiya was that type of girl.... Even knowing I was suffering from evil eye chuunibyou, she would have fun with me. She’s such an amazing girl. She’d include things in my creations, and of course they’d be cool. She knew just how to tickle my chuuni spirit. But the most important thing I remember is how she was infected with it just like I was. Originally I thought it was due to my influences, but I suppose you could say it was also due to her parents.

  “Well, I think it’s apparent that Shichimiya became that way because of you. I wonder if you were a bad influence on her.”

  “A bad influence eh? And then you tried to help her recover?”

  “That’s about it. It’s why I believe in what I do now.” Nibutani added. Her comments thickened the mood.

  Usually my expressions are quite vivid, so I guess she could tell I was perplexed. Reading my mind, Nibutani continued on,

  “I don’t think anyone desires to have no history, but I think everyone, myself included, desires a proper white history. Well, I guess Mori-sama is part of mine.”

  I see now. It’s really hard to imagine the Nibutani I know now wanting to be called Mori-sama instead of Nibutani. Perhaps at that time she did, but perhaps now Nibutani considers that dark history.

  “It’s just like you’ve said before, I think it would be better if the me from then died. That’s why I thought you would be appreciative of my desire to cure chuunibyou. But instead, you’ve fallen for Takanashi-san, haven’t you?”