I'm in Love with the Gorilla Sitting Next to Me - Volume 1 Chapter 2.4

From my first encounter with Gorilla-san to the present 4

At least with other animal girls, they don’t express their emotions through actions like real animals. A dog person doesn’t wag her tail when happy, and a cat person doesn’t hiss when angry. But then again, some do react the same way, which makes it even more complicated.

The gorilla in front of me seems to have a sterner expression than before, which I think is because she’s actually making that face… It’s hard to tell the subtle changes in an animal’s face…!

Oh well, I have no choice but to go for it.

Bracing myself, I clapped my hands together and bowed deeply to Gorilla-san,

“If I’ve caused you any discomfort, I’m sorry, there was no other intention! Please forgive me! If this isn’t enough… um… you can hit me once!”

Showing the best sincerity I could, Gorilla-san’s expression grew even sterner. I internally panicked, thinking I chose the wrong option, but then Gorilla-san let out something like a sigh.

“I wouldn’t do that. What kind of violent woman do you think I am? Shall I hit you?”

“Uh, isn’t that a contradictory statement?”

“It’s not a contradiction. I was just so offended that I wanted to protest. You forcefully awakened something hidden in me… um…”

Gorilla-san hesitated, then her gaze shifted to my desk, and I realized something basic that I hadn’t done yet. I hadn’t even done the first thing you’re supposed to do in communication.

“My name is Saiki. Saiki Kouta, from Asakawa Second Middle School.”

“…I see… a name I don’t recognize…”

After I introduced myself, I expected Gorilla-san to do the same, but instead, she seemed to ponder something. “The Wise Man of the Forest” is a nickname for orangutans, but this serious-faced gorilla looks wise too.

…And then, Gorilla-san pointed to the attendance number and surname paper on her desk.

“Do you know how to read this?”

“Huh? I’m not sure, but isn’t it ‘Kyoura’?”

“That’s incorrect. There is a place name with the same Kanji and pronunciation, but you don’t know it?”

It felt more like a confirmation than a question, so I nodded honestly, and the gorilla’s thick finger traced under the characters for “Goura,”

“It’s read as ‘Goura’.”

“…I see.”

I almost nailed it with the gorilla. Right, there’s also the reading 『gouriki』 for 『強力』 (strength).

If only I had known that, I could have made the excuse, “Ah, I meant to say ‘Goura,’ but I misspoke”…

“By the way, my first name is Riho.”

“Oh, so it’s Riho-san from the Goura family.”

“Yes. So when I was in elementary school, the boys would tease me by reversing the order of my name to ‘Uho Gorilla’ (Goura Riho).”

“…I see.”

To hear such a past from the mouth of a gorilla is surreal.

…And from that story… maybe, if I had associated the name with a gorilla in my answer, it would have been beyond the worst…?

…Phew, that was a close call…! I don’t feel like I’m on safe ground at all, but it’s still better. I was about to cross the deadline…!

Anyway, to call Goura Riho ‘Uho Gorilla’. What kind of things do elementary school kids say to a girl? And to have such a traumatic experience matched perfectly with a gorilla by a damn curse.

As I’m internally panicking, Gorilla-san next to me gazes at me intently.

“I thought maybe we had gone to the same elementary school or had overlapping lessons…No acquaintance, right?”

“Y-Yeah, I think it was bad to suddenly call you a gorilla, and I had no idea there was such a situation… Sorry for that.”

“No, if it wasn’t intentional and there was no malice, it can’t be helped. It’s not something to get worked up about as high school students.”

“It helps to hear you say that. I’m really sorry, let me treat you to a juice sometime.”

I bowed my head in thanks, and Gorilla-san’s mouth seemed to smile… I think?

Maybe she did smile.

Saved. This gorilla seems to be a good person. It’s great that I was able to avoid a tough school life by getting into a dispute with a girl right at the start of school. Maybe my good deeds paid off.

“By the way, you mentioned you were thinking about gorillas.”

“Hm? Oh, yeah, what about it?”

“Why would you be lost in thought about gorillas on the first day of school in the classroom?”

“…”

Crap. I hadn’t thought about anything. What does it mean to be lost in thought about gorillas?

Suddenly checkmated again, I managed to stave off becoming flustered.

For nearly five minutes until the chime rang and the homeroom teacher arrived, I had to endure the hellish time of talking non-stop about gorilla-related questions, images, and aspirations that I hadn’t even considered on the first day of school.

◇ ◆

—Looking back, it was a near-disastrous first encounter, but Gorilla-san, aka Goura Riho, and I managed to have a fairly good neighborly relationship despite the rough start. At least from my perspective.

In the class, it was decided to keep the seats in attendance number order for the first term to match faces with names, so I made an effort to remember my new classmates.

Fortunately, there were no animal girls in the class that were hard to distinguish, so I worked hard to grasp their names, animal names, and distinctive fur patterns. Although their heights remained the same, if a girl had a chubby face and limbs but wore a slender uniform, it meant she wasn’t actually overweight.

Only the exposed parts of bare skin appear to be animalized. Therefore, the way one wears their uniform and their original body shape are major clues to distinguish between girls of the same animal species.

In the first place, the animal state that appears to my eyes has almost no relation to their original form.

For example, the Gorilla-san next to me has a thick body, with a thick neck, arms, and fingers, due to being a gorilla, but looking at her in her tracksuit, she’s not fat at all. In fact, she has a good figure.

Her hair is as short as the hair on her arms and such. However, she often wears hair ornaments or ribbons, and from the conversations between girls that I overhear, it seems her hair is actually quite long. I don’t really want to see a gorilla with long hair since it would be too much of a presence, but it’s really troublesome that the reality and what I see are so different.

…Well, it’s already quite something that they appear as animals! I wonder if they think it’s fine as long as the number of eyes, mouths, and limbs is the same because the way they assign appearances is so haphazard. I really hate this casual aspect of the curse. I wish it would end soon.

Because of the curse that unilaterally entangles me, communication between the opposite sexes is particularly difficult, but I’ve come to terms with it to some extent. At the very least, I’ve memorized the names and characteristics of my classmates, and the rest is whatever!

If it’s someone I haven’t interacted with much, it’s acceptable to say, “Sorry, what was your name again?”

Fortunately, there were boys from the same junior high, so I made friends in class by using them and a few others who seemed easy to talk to as a starting point. I do talk to the girls a bit, but for now, I’m just observing the situation.