Published at 25th of January 2023 9:04 pm

Chapter 250: Odawara Kenji’s Inner Thoughts

This chapter is updated by NovelFree.ml

Reminder of names:

Hannes – Sugo Masaki

Ryne – Kokonoe Kurumi

Cherry – Shinonome Sakura

Eleanor – Konno Nozomi

Kellin – Odawara Kenji

Myra – Kamiya Miki

Yuu – Oda Yuuki

Maria – Hagiwara Mai

—–

(Odawara Kenji’s PoV)

“How about it, Myra, why don’t you eat lunch with just me today?” I asked her.

I was kabedoning my own party member, who has foreign parents but was born here in Japan.

Her name is Japanese though. Her parents gave her a Japanese name to make it easier for her to mingle here.

And right now, she was browsing her phone without even bothering to look at me. She doesn’t seem to be afraid at all, even if she was driven to a wall by a boy who is much taller than her.

“Don’t call me by my username in real life.” Was her reply.

“Oops, sorry, my bad, Miki.” I apologized.

I was a bit curious about what she was doing on her phone, so I tried peeking at her screen.

At that moment, she glared at me and covered her phone’s screen.

I raised my hands and took a step back in surrender.

She sighed, then started walking away without even bothering to look my way, “Let’s go join up with Masaki.”

“Sure.” I replied.

I wish she had taken my invitation a bit more seriously, but I suppose this is my fault for acting like a womanizer… I’m reaping what I sowed.

In any case, it’s fun to eat with everyone, so I’m not that bothered by it.

And well, we’ve been playing together almost every day, so it would be really bad if the mood started becoming uncomfortable between the members of our party.

“Is Masaki here?” Miki asked as she entered Masaki’s classroom.

The classmates just looked towards Masaki’s direction, so the two of us moved towards him.

Masaki seemed to be thinking about something serious right now. He was silent while holding his hands in front of his face.

Kurumi, Nozomi and Sakura were right next to him and they all looked to be troubled about something… What even is this?

“Huh!? What’s up with all this!?” I moved forward and asked.

“Well… You see…” Sakura started answering, but she went silent right after.

After a small while with no one speaking, Kurumi intervened, “Lunch break isn’t infinite! Let me explain it!”

He then told us that there are some rumors about how Ichijouji met up with a handsome senior on the lunch break yesterday, and Masaki has been like that ever since he heard of it.

… This guy is way too pure. He gets affected by this kind of thing way too easily.

“Too pure. Childish.” Miki told Masaki the exact same things I was thinking about…

“Mi-Miki!” Sakura exclaimed.

Differently from me who decided to stay silent, Miki was pretty direct with her feelings. She didn’t even react to Sakura’s attempt of admonishing her.

Though Miki is right that Masaki shouldn’t be this affected by his middle school crush falling in love… Or rather, we don’t even know if she’s really dating that senior.

… Though it’s not like I’m any better than Masaki here.

“So? Who is the other person anyways?” I asked.

“It’s a third-year student. Kujou.” Nozomi replied.

“Oh dear…” I muttered.

No wonder Masaki reacted like that. Kujou, just like Ichijouji, is part of one of the few remaining noble families in Japan, after all.

It’s no wonder that rumors started spawning when those two met up in a place that doesn’t have many people around… Even if they don’t like one another, this could easily be something related to an arranged marriage decided by their parents at the very least, so it’s understandable that Masaki is troubled.

“Oh! If it isn’t the pushover Kellin!” Suddenly, while I was trying to think of how to cheer Masaki up, a classmate exclaimed that.

I think he is a classmate of Masaki, and he was grinning and waving his hand at me.

“… What’s up with pushover Kellin?” I asked.

“You didn’t see the promotional images?” That guy asked.

“Oh… Right, there was that.” Kurumi suddenly muttered.

Kurumi’s words made me recall it, “Ah, so that’s what this is about…” I muttered.

The development team of KSO looked at player-recorded footage of the game and used some screenshots of those videos as promotional material for the game.

It’s a nice way of getting some interesting images of what is happening on the game while also giving some extra visibility to the people involved in recording to the game, so it’s not a bad thing in itself, but…

When the promotional image shows me being killed by Ichijouji, I guess it hampers my reputation a bit.

“What did you do to get so spectacularly murdered by that girl?” That guy asked.

“Well, I guess he deserved it?” Kurumi commented.

“The hell you’re saying!?” I exclaimed.

“Come on, tell us more about it, Kellin!” That guy exclaimed.

What’s up with this guy? Is this a desperate attempt of being funny? This doesn’t work out if you don’t know how far you can go with the jokes. You just make others uncomfortable by pressuring them like this.

I don’t even talk to this guy in the first place, but… If I start showing discomfort now, then the mood will only get worse. I’m the guy that makes things lighter, so it would be no good to-

“Shut up.” Masaki glared at the annoying guy and didn’t hold back the anger in his own voice, “You’re being too noisy. Get away from here if you’re just gonna be a bother. I’m thinking here.”

“M-my bad…” The annoying guy scrammed after hearing that.

… This is not the kind of thing I can do. I can’t simply say when I’m bothered, because I would end up making enemies over trivialities like that.

But then, Masaki is also the kind of person who doesn’t hold back in helping others, no matter what they’re troubled with.

Like how, on the day before yesterday, Masaki started running all of a sudden. We had no idea what he was doing at first, but he actually saved a girl that was about to be ran over.

Me and the other four all turned pale when seeing how close he was to being ran over himself, so all five of us scolded him after that… Though well, he did a good thing in the end.

“Well, if I’m too noisy, then I guess I’ll eat elsewhere-” As I started saying that.

Masaki slapped my back, “I was waiting for you.”

“Keh.” I groaned after that strong slap.

“Stop worrying so much about your reputation and just say what you want. I’ll support you.” Masaki told me.

… This kind of thing won’t really get me close to people though.

Well, that’s just how he is, I guess. Let’s just get back at him a bit to change topics and leave it at that, “Eh? You feel like that towards me, Masaki!? I’m sorry, but I’m Miki’s already.”

“What!? You crazy!?” Masaki exclaimed.

“And they suddenly started arguing…” Kurumi sighed.

“I see, I see! So those are your preferences! Don’t worry, I have no prejudice, but you’re not for me!” I exclaimed.

Kurumi sighed again, Nozomi just smiled and watched, Miki seemed troubled and Sakura seemed to be cheering her up… Well, I guess that’s the kind of mood we need to get Masaki on good spirits.

“Don’t make too much fun of him, alright?” Nozomi said.

“I know, I know.” I replied.

I wish I could be a bit more honest about how I feel… Then, I could thank Masaki and everyone else for their support.

And also… Then I think Miki would have been able to see that I am serious about her.

Though I guess it’s fine. Our group dynamics feel pretty comfortable right now, so it’s okay to leave things as is for the time being.

——

Translator’s Notes:

I accidentally translated Miki’s name as Nozomi in an earlier chapter. This was a mistake and has been fixed. Her name is Miki.

Also, on this chapter, the author shared some fanart that was sent to them. If you want to see it, go here: https://ncode.syosetu.com/n7796fc/262/

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