Published at 25th of January 2023 9:04 pm

Chapter 251: Ichijouji Reina’s Daily Life – twelve

This chapter is updated by NovelFree.ml

“Then, I’d like to start the first meeting to pursue Reina.” Yuuki said.

Yuuki was wearing a glass with a swirl pattern imprinted on its lens. He put his elbows on top of the long table and his hands in front of his face. While making this executive-like post, he made such a declaration.

Next to Yuuki, Mai, who also wore the same strange glasses, said, “Alright! Applause, everyone!” then started clapping her hands.

Those two really do get along well, don’t they?

“Why with us…?” Masaki asked.

“Well, it looks interesting, so why not?” One of Masaki’s male friends replied.

“You’re the one that cares the most about it, you know?” One of Masaki’s female friends said.

Masaki looked back and forth between the two people sitting next to him, and he seemed to sigh out of frustration.

And those two were… Kenji, the spearman, and Nozomi, the mage, right?

At the end of the long table, Yuuki and Mai are sitting side by side. I am sitting to their left, while Masaki and his party members are in front of me.

At first I thought this sitting arrangement was too unbalanced and that it would be better to have some people sitting next to me, but apparently this is a meeting to pursue me? So there seems to be a reason behind this arrangement.

“Shut up! Shut up! Raise your hand when you wish to speak!” Yuuki hit the table with a toy hammer.

“Whoa… This guy is nuts.” Kurumi commented.

“These two are the ones who are often with Ichijouji in-game, right…?” Sakura muttered.

“Maybe…?” Miki replied.

“… I think they were both Order players too.” Masaki murmured.

Yuuki started hitting the table harder with his toy hammer, while Mai started writing something on a notebook titled ‘Hannes’ Secret Talk’.

Seems like the two of them are serious about this? They seem to be at least.

“So? Little Hannes, you are going to scold Rena again, right?” Mai suddenly stated.

“’I’ll scold you again next time’, wasn’t it, Little Hannes?” Yuuki said.

For some reason, he seemed to be trying to mimic Masaki’s voice when he copied Masaki’s previous statement.

“Don’t call me ‘Little Hannes’! And don’t suddenly bring that up again either!” Masaki exclaimed.

Both Mai and Yuuki seem a bit different from usual today…

And Masaki’s shout was pretty loud, so… Is he angry perchance?

However, I’m not sure what this exchange means. Could it be a dialogue between close friends who are trying to deepen their friendship? Or is he just angry at a rude behavior?

I mean, even if one sounds angry, I remember hearing that there are times that they actually aren’t that angry even if they’re shouting.

“Well, there are recordings of that statement of yours all over the place. Your words went pretty viral, you know?” Yuuki stated.

Masaki seemed to be stunned at those words.

“Some comments on the video are like… ‘Hannes is too cool’ or ‘I would never be able to say such a line with a straight face’ or ‘I’m so jealous! I want Hannes to scold me, kyaaa!’ and so on forth.” Mai giggled as she said that.

“Damn you…” Masaki muttered.

I guess they’re talking about our conversation on the temple after we played together with Kujou on the Empire’s capital?

After Yuuki and Mai started talking about it, Masaki’s friends also joined in on the conversation and mentioned other things from that moment.

… I think Masaki’s remarks from that time made me a bit happy.

“Masaki, Masaki.” I called his attention.

“Aah!?” He seemed to be surprised by my words.

Is it because he was too involved with talking to everyone else?

Well, I will face him head on again eventually, so… “You’ll scold me again, won’t you?” I asked.

“Damn it, Ichijouji! You… You don’t seem to understand it at all…” He replied.

I was a bit confused at that. He was loud at first, but the tone of his reply suddenly got weaker.

I thought I had done something wrong and was going to be scolded now, but that doesn’t seem to be case… I feel a bit disappointed.

Though not being scolded means I haven’t made any mistakes at the moment, so let’s look at it as a good thing.

“So, what is this pursuing me thing?” I decided to ask.

Did I do something that would make me need to be pursued? I left no trace of the ‘play’ I did on yesterday’s lunch break, and the foreign intelligence officer that was aiming at me has also been taken care of already.

Is there anything else that comes to mind…?

Not really. I can’t think of anything.

“Reina, you had a secret rendezvous with senior Kujou on yesterday’s lunch break, right?” Mai asked me.

A loud noise echoed on the room.

“O-ouch…” Masaki muttered.

“What?” Mai glared at Masaki.

I glanced towards Masaki and saw that he seemed to have hit his knee hard against the table… Right now, he seemed to be averting his eyes and not meeting my gaze.

Well, putting him aside from now, I certainly met senior Kujou… Though a secret rendezvous? I guess we were both a man and a woman meeting up in a secluded place, so I suppose it counts?

“Yes, I met him.” I replied.

Another loud sound.

“O-ouch…” Masaki seemed to have hit his knee against the table again.

On the other hand, Mai put her hands in front of her mouth and muttered, ‘I-it can’t be…”

Other people seemed to be quite surprised too, though nobody else hit their knees against the table.

I’m confused because I can’t understand everyone’s reaction at all… And I also don’t get what is distracting Masaki so much to the point he’d hit his knee twice.

“I, I see… So that’s how it is…?” Yuuki muttered.

“You’re together with senior… Is that it?” Mai asked.

“Yes? I promised to ‘play’ with him next time.” I replied.

Once I said those words, everyone had a bit of a strange reaction. Something that seemed to mean that their suspicions were correct.

Even if our meeting was seen, I don’t think there was any problem with it though? Why is everyone showing strange reactions?

“Where are you going to play? At a movie theater or at an amusement park?” Nozomi asked.

“Were there any movie theaters or amusement parks though?” I asked back.

Maybe another player made it? I suppose it might be possible. There were people who were able to replicate modern cuisine, after all.

“Ah, Reina isn’t familiar with this kind of thing…” Mai muttered.

“To begin with, we didn’t decide where to ‘play’ yet. It was just a one-sided declaration from him, and we didn’t make any detailed arrangements.” I told them.

“I see, Ichijouji is the type to go to wherever the other party wants to go to.” Miki said.

There just wasn’t much time left on the lunch break, and we didn’t really need to arrange anything particularly detailed.

What’s going on with everyone? Not understanding what is ‘normal’ at these times is troubling.

“Hey, how did the two of you start being a thing?” Sakura curiously asked.

“A thing? Well, we first met when he fell from above and declared war on me.” I replied.

“Huh…?” Sakura replied.

It was on that time at the Empire’s capital, when Masaki said he’d scold me.

He suddenly broke through the castle’s ceiling and came down. We then exchanged a few happy words and started ‘playing’.

But now Miki seemed to be curiously glaring at me… What is this about? She was in the surroundings at that time too, wasn’t she?

“… Wait, hold on, what are you talking about? Aren’t you in a lovers relationship with senior Kujou? Didn’t you two decide to go on a date?” Masaki suddenly asked me.

“Uhn… What are you talking about?” I asked back.

Masaki said something really outrageous just now, and a small while back he was hitting his knees on the table, so… Could he be sick?

“Are you alright? If you’re not feeling well, you should go to the infirmary, you know?” I told him.

“Y-you…” Masaki muttered.

Kenji started laughing out loud.

“H-hey, Kenji! Don’t laugh!” Masaki exclaimed.

Hmm… When taking those reactions into account, I guess I’m wrong in my assessment of Masaki’s state.

“U-uhn… Reina, just what kind of relationship do you have with senior Kujou then?” Mai asked me.

“What kind of relationship?

“I guess… He is someone I absolutely want to break?” I replied.

Strange, I answered seriously, but everyone suddenly went silent? Could I have said something unusual here?

“H-huh…? W-wait, who is senior Kujou?” Masaki asked me.

“Oh, you’ve him before, Masaki. It’s Jeru, the Absolutely Inviolable Area.” I replied.

Masaki put his arms on the table, the pressed his head against then.

He sighed heavily and muttered, “… He is that guy?”

Masaki’s party members seem to be looked at him with a pained gaze, so I guess something is troubling him right now.

“First you and then senior too… Are there only weirdos among the nobles?” Masaki muttered.

“… Am I weird?” I tilted my head as I asked that.

Masaki took a deep breath, then heaved another sigh.

Then, he firmly stared at my eyes and opened his mouth to speak, but… He averted his eyes on the last second, “… It’s not like being weird is bad.” he said.

“Is that so?” I replied.

As I stared at Masaki, who had gone completely silent, the bell rang, signaling the end of the lunch break.

Share