Ranobe Mo Ore Mo Sukina Gyaru - Volume 1 Chapter 3.1

Gal and Manga Club 1

It was after school, a little past 3:40 PM, and the setting sun dazzled my eyes as it sank.

Carrying my school bag while walking through the second-floor corridor, I headed towards Building B, where the cultural club rooms were located.

Then, just ahead of me, in front of an empty classroom, I spotted a seemingly popular group of two boys and three girls, standing in a circle and engaged in conversation.

Trying to avoid them, I thought to myself, ‘Get out of the way, the great introvert-sama is passing through…’, but as I was about to walk past them—

“Oh, Nezumayo-kun! Hey—!”

“…ah.”

One of them, Tsumakawa-san, called out to me.

I, I didn’t expect she was here… Also, Tsumakawa always calls me ‘Nezumayo,’ but that’s technically my Twitter account name, so I’d prefer she didn’t use that name…?

As I kept walking down the corridor thinking like that, she excused herself to the group with ‘I’ll be right back’ and then came up to me.

“Where are you off to?”

“Just heading to club activities…”

“Club activities? Hey, Nezumayo-kun, you’re in a club. Which one?”

“Manga Research Club.”

“Manga Research Club!? Heck, that sounds like a blast! Count me in, you hear!”

“Why are you suddenly speaking in a rough Kansai dialect…? Also, are you coming along too—?”

“Alright, everyone! I’m going to sneak a peek at Nez——Yoda’s club activity, go ahead first!”

Tsumakawa declared loudly to the members of the popular group. The group responded in unison.

“Sure.”

“Miona, you really like Yoda, huh?”

“I’ll be at the usual McDonald’s, so come by when you’re done.”

“Well then, see you tomorrow.”

…When one of the boys casually mentioned my name, my body twitched, but let’s keep that to myself!

And so, after gaining everyone’s approval, Tsumakawa turned to me again.

“Alright, let’s go to the Manga Club together!”

“Ehh…I don’t want to.”

“What do you mean you don’t want to? It’s your ‘I don’t want to’ that I don’t want!

“Gal, are you trying to ruin the Japanese language? …Anyway, Tsumakawa-san, the Manga Club isn’t really that interesting. So, you’d better not come along…”

“Whether it’s interesting or not is for me to decide, so don’t worry! Besides, even if it’s not interesting, I’ll pretend it was interesting, so leave it to me!”

“I think Gal’s ability to see things positively is a bit too high…?”

“Ehehee, somehow? …but of course, even though I’m generally positive, there are times when I get negative if things don’t go well at work or something. At such times, I read light novels or call my friends! It’s the worst to hold onto negativity without letting it out!”

“It’s a good thing that you have the option to ‘rely on friends’ when you become negative…”

“If something happens to Yoda too, be sure to call me right away——Miona will come to your rescue!”

“Why did you suddenly say an ikemen line…?”

Speaking of which, we don’t even know each other’s phone numbers, so we can’t call each other in emergencies…

Internally pointing out the contradiction, I sighed inwardly.

Although I instinctively declined Tsumakawa’s invitation to visit the manga club, I eventually thought, well, maybe it’s okay to at least let her observe our club activities…

So, reluctantly, I said to her,

“Alright, well, let’s go…”

“Yeah! Let’s go, yay!”

“Why does someone with this kind of energy want to observe such a gloomy club activity?”

Or maybe this person is just too comfortable around acquaintances who aren’t all that positive like her?

I guess Gal types don’t mind hanging out with guys they don’t have any romantic interest in…

On her days off, she probably goes out to clubs with a snobby guy who drives a black wagon while blaring Sandaime J Soul Brothers music, goes clubbing, flaunts some provocative dance moves, occasionally smokes a slim cigarette at the smoking area, and when thirsty, orders a Cassis Orange at the counter…

Wait… what a terrible prejudice!

With these thoughts, Tsumakawa and I walked side by side in the corridor.

Eventually, as we reached Building B lined with cultural club rooms and climbed the stairs to the third floor, she asked me,

“Do you often go to the manga club?”

“No, not at all… I’m usually a ghost member, but today, I got a direct summons from the club president… So, I’m reluctantly going.”

“Really? Manga club seems fun, though.”

“Actually, in high school, I wanted to start a light novel club… But my popularity was too lacking, so I couldn’t gather enough members to make it happen.”

“A light novel club!? What’s that? I’m definitely joining! Seriously joining! Five times joining!”

“Even if I managed to create it, you can only join once…”

“But isn’t it okay if I keep joining and leaving?”

“That’s just being a nuisance. Once you join, please don’t leave!”

As we continued chatting like that, we arrived at the manga club room.

And so, I knocked on the door of the club room. Knock, knock.

From inside, I heard a voice saying, ‘Come in.’ I reached for the door handle and slid it open.

And then, there—

“It’s been a while, my cute junior (kawaii kohai-kun). I guess I should say ‘I’m glad to see you again after such a long time,’ because saying that would raise your favorability towards me. I’ll say it——I’m glad to see you again after such a long time, kyun♡”

——A girl with plain looks, sporting black hair in three braids and a pair of nerdy glasses… Yui Hinashiro, the senior and president of this manga club, was seated at the back of the room, striking a kyun pose.

“Long time no see, Hinashiro-senpai. For now, please stop the boring teasing.”

“Don’t say such a terrible thing to a senior who was trying to be nice to a socially awkward junior, kyun♡”

“Why is your ending sentence weird? Can’t you fix that?”

“Because I want to see Yoda’s ‘Hinashiro Senpai is being tiresome’ face more, so I won’t stop, kyun♡”

“Even though you know I dislike it, you still keep doing it…It’s so like you.”

In response to my comment, Hinashiro-senpai laughed cheerfully with a ‘Gahaha!’ and then, casting her gaze towards Tsumakawa, the sunny gal standing behind me.