I'm in Love with the Gorilla Sitting Next to Me - Volume 1 Chapter 2.2

From my first encounter with Gorilla-san to the present 2

It was just my ancestor who was unjustly resented, and it was the sorcerer with the strange name who cursed everything. Besides, the curse doesn’t manifest until at least a decade later, by which time the caster would probably have long forgotten about it.

Moreover, the sorcerer never appeared again after uttering the curse. There wasn’t even a development like, ‘If you want the curse lifted, then you should…〜’

It was just left unresolved, with no confirmation of the outcome.

What’s up with that Manjuuta?

Nobody benefits from this, including you, Manjuuta.

Keep the weirdness to your name only, Manjuuta.

…So, while my overwhelming hatred for Manjuuta, whom I’ve never met, grew, the fact remains that the cursed sorcerer is long dead. Yet the curse has not disappeared. That’s the real problem.

It’s unclear if simply abandoning the family name would solve the issue, or if the curse affects the eldest son who inherits the family, or if it affects the first male child born in the next generation. After all, the curse doesn’t manifest until one has grown up to adolescence, and waiting for the results before taking action takes too much time.

The eldest sons who have been cursed for generations have no children due to the effects of the curse being lifted when they were quite old. My uncle is still single as well.

And another important thing… in my case, I had a sister before my younger brother was born. The long-awaited second son of the Saiki family, Masaharu-kun, will start elementary school next year, and he’s growing up healthily.

Even if he marries early and has children… how old will I be by the time his child grows up?

It seems lucky if I’m still in my forties.

If I have to live with this animal transformation of the opposite sex until that age, I might end up leading a life of perpetual singlehood like my uncles.

But then again, it’s impossible to have a romantic relationship with human-sized animals.

——By the way, as for what happened with the girl I went to the festival with, there was no progress; her identity remains uncertain. I knew from her that she was a student at another school, but nothing more. I could have found out her name and who she was from the friends I was supposed to go with, but I never did.

Because unlike the girl in my memory, if we met again, she’d be an animal. Even if we met, I wouldn’t know if she was the same girl.

Nowadays, I can interact normally with animals, but they feel more like a different species of humans rather than the opposite sex. At least, it’s impossible for me to harbor the sweet and sour feelings of puppy love.

For a while, I was even confused about talking to animals.

With all that, while the guys around me were getting excited about love and lust, I spent my middle school days having fun but completely devoid of female presence. I wish I could find a way to break the curse——but without any leads, I became a high school student…

And on the first day of high school, I immediately messed up.

◇ ◆

I managed to pass the entrance exam to a high school within cycling distance from my home, with my not-so-high academic ability. The school I chose was Senbazuru Academy, a private school with a name that seemed to suggest an excessive use of origami paper. (TLN: Senbazuru means 1000 paper cranes). Dressed in a brand-new school uniform, I walked through the school building.

The entrance ceremony involved gathering in the classroom first and then moving with our classes. So, with a nervous posture, I passed by students trying to make a high school debut with overly bleached hair and animal girls who were already chatting loudly in the hallway and made my way to my classroom.

The first-year classrooms of the general course were on the third floor of the main building, and I belonged to Class B out of the eight classes. The classroom was the second one from the staircase, which I thought would be advantageous on mornings when I might be late. However, I was soon disheartened to learn that the classrooms were arranged in the order of A, B, C from the back. But it seemed to be closer to the school store, so it was a disadvantage in the morning but an advantage at lunchtime. Frankly, the lunchtime rush is more important than being late, so maybe it’s something to be happy about.

While thinking such things, I entered the classroom through the open door and saw that it was already half full, even though it was still early before the assembly time. The blackboard was decorated with flowers and a big 『Congratulations on your admission!』 written by the current students. Surprisingly, it made me happy to see something like this.

There was also another piece of paper on the blackboard. Upon closer inspection, it was a diagram of the classroom with squares representing desks, and numbers were written inside them. Those numbers must be the attendance numbers.

My attendance number, which I had been informed of beforehand, was six. There were thirty-five students in the class, almost evenly split between boys and girls, with eighteen boys. The seats were arranged in six rows of six for each gender.

…In other words, the window-side seat at the very back! What a jackpot!

I was actually worried about being placed in the front row if it was a five-seat, seven-row arrangement, so this was a pleasant surprise. I was genuinely excited.

I happily made my way to my seat and arrived at the window-side seat at the back of the room, where a tape with 『6 Saiki』 was neatly affixed to the desk. Yes, it was definitely a special seat.

The seat in the row of girls to my right was still vacant. On the desk was… 『強羅』… Hmm… Kyoura, maybe? It’s quite a rare surname with a strong visual impact. It’s cool.

I didn’t know what kind of girl she was, but whether she was beautiful or not didn’t matter to me. She would appear as an animal to me anyway. So I hoped she would be the type of girl who was easy to talk to.

Looking around the classroom from the best seat, I didn’t recognize any of the boys. As for the girls, I couldn’t tell at all. There are plenty of the same species of animals, and it’s not easy to distinguish them by their fur or facial features.

Moreover, animals don’t reflect hairstyles or makeup, which makes it even more difficult. Accessories and small items are visible, and fake nails are immediately noticeable. In middle school, the girl who was rumored to be ‘the girl with the longest hair in the grade and a model with an outstanding style’ appeared to me as a dachshund.

It’s supposed to be the hair or limbs that are long, not the torso.

It has nothing to do with the truth.