Ranobe Mo Ore Mo Sukina Gyaru - Volume 1 Chapter 6.1

Gal and LINE 1

…Perhaps I shouldn’t have exchanged LINE contacts with Tsumakawa.

That was my honest impression after about a week had passed since exchanging LINE with her.

Why did I come to think that? It’s actually a rather simple story—because the frequency of LINE messages I was receiving from Tsumakawa was just too high.

Seriously, is she really that idle?

Please stop sending messages like ‘What are you doing?’ at 2 in the morning. I’m sleeping at that time!

To be honest, I wondered if she had an extraordinary amount of free time.

The day after we exchanged LINE contacts, it seemed pretty normal.

We were just exchanging messages like we used to do on Twitter, and the frequency of our communication didn’t seem to change all that much from before.

However, the moment Tsumakawa realized I was responding normally… She gradually began to reveal her true self as a chat app-loving girl, showing hints of her character through LINE and Instagram messages—.

『Hey.』『Do you have someone you like, Yoda?』

『Someone I like? Of course, I do.』

『Hmm?』 『I see…』『Yaba…』『I mean, really?』

『Yeah, maybe it’s a little bit shocking…』『Right now, I really like ‘Yume Irido’ from Tsurekano.』

『It’s a two-dimensional character!』『Don’t give me an answer about a 2D girl!』『Putting that aside, I really love Yume-chan too!』『Anyway, you don’t have anyone you like in 3D world?』

『Right now, my lover is in the 2D world…』

『Don’t talk like your hobby is your lover!』

『Speaking of which, aren’t you getting a lot of attention from that super cute gal lately?』『You still haven’t fallen for her?』

『Why does it sound like you’re assuming I’ll eventually like her… Also, what’s with calling yourself a super cute gal?』

『I don’t want to become the kind of girl who knows she’s cute but says ‘I’m not cute at all’—』『That’s why I say I’m cute!』『Repeat after me?』

『 … 』

『Say it, wwWW.』『Don’t reply with ellipses. (Three dots)』『In fact, I’m cute, right?』

『 … 』

『Hey.』『In this situation, it’s about pride.』『Until Yoda says I’m cute, I’m going to keep asking you if you think I’m cute, okay?』『Hey, am I cute?』

『Your actions are kinda like the ‘Kuchisake Onna (Slit-Mouthed Woman)’…』

Nowadays, my interactions with Tsumakawa have turned into exchanges like this——happening every day for about two hours without fail.

Wait, two hours! With that much time, I could watch five late-night anime episodes!

By the way, when I thought like that and ignored her LINE messages for a while, there was a point where I had accumulated 109 messages from Tsumakawa.

—That’s right! 109 messages: Is she a fashion building in Shibuya or something?

At that moment, even I was taken aback…

However, the content of the messages wasn’t about being angry or not getting replies… It was just flat messages like

『Hey Yoda—』 being sent repeatedly, and that was kind of scary!

It’s not spam, so don’t keep sending messages to someone who’s not responding!

***

With all that being said, it’s currently a week after exchanging LINE messages with Tsumakawa, it was Monday morning after 8 o’clock.

I usually commute by bicycle, but today I took the train to school after getting off at Omiya Station for a transfer because it had been raining since this morning.

In the crowded train, I spotted a few students from my school—Private High School—heading to school.

So, while absentmindedly observing that, I spotted her in a slightly distant place.

“Yawn~…”

Without covering her mouth with her hand, Tsumakawa, on the train, let out a big yawn and sat quietly on the edge of a green seat, rubbing her eyes that looked visibly sleepy.

“I wish she’d end our LINE conversation earlier if she’s going to end up sleep-deprived…”

As I was saying that while squinting, an elderly woman entered the train car.

She looked around and, realizing there were no available seats, reluctantly stood near the door.

Seeing that, I couldn’t help but give a slight wry smile.

I briefly thought it was fortunate that I wasn’t sitting down right now.

Because if I were, I would have thought a lot about whether I should give my seat to the old lady or not.

Perhaps that lady is someone who doesn’t want a seat offered—someone who doesn’t want to be treated like an old person.

But if I didn’t offer the seat, a feeling of self-condemnation like ‘I didn’t give up my seat for the elderly lady’ would slowly, but surely, build up within me.

For me, ‘giving up a seat’ isn’t an act of kindness. It’s merely a hypocritical act meant to avoid the wrongdoing of ignoring a struggling elderly lady.

Maybe I might give up my seat to the elderly lady just because I don’t want to commit the ‘wrongdoing of not doing a good deed.’

But that feels like such a warped sense of kindness…

Thinking about things like that, I sometimes get downcast, unsure if I can be a good person. And I’ve pondered if I’m definitely not fundamentally a good person.

As a sudden sense of emptiness rise within me——

Suddenly, a flashy-looking gyaru got up from her seat and spoke to the elderly lady.

“Hey, Granny. Sit here.”

…It was an astonishingly natural gesture.

There was something about her goodwill that wasn’t imposing.

It wasn’t meant to show off to herself or anyone else, just a natural consideration.

There’s an urban legend that gals are kind to otakus, but maybe it’s not that—maybe gals are just kind to everyone around them, not just otakus.

While pondering such things, I was feeling a little warm… On the other hand, the elderly lady who was offered the seat, after directing a somewhat awkward expression at Tsumakawa, said the following.

“You don’t have to, thank you.”

“Huh? Standing seems tough, so how about sitting?”

“No! I’m perfectly fine on my feet! I can manage without a seat being offered!”

“I see… But I’ll be getting off in two stops, so I don’t really need to sit much. I’ll just stand for now, and you can do as you please.”

With those words, Tsumakawa started walking and moved towards the closed door.

As she did so, an empty seat was left behind where she had been.

For a few minutes after that, no one sat in that seat, and suddenly—still wearing a somewhat awkward expression—the elderly lady plopped down on it.

On the other hand, Tsumakawa, who had offered her seat, didn’t seem to pay any attention to this and was smiling while playing with her phone.