In the end, the weekend was over. I’d gone to the mart to get dinner on my own, played games exclusive to this place on the computer, and investigated common knowledge about this world in my own way. That meaningful time had ended, and the morning sun greeted me in its place.
I tried to settle my blank mind on the bed and deeply savor that fact, but Inna—who had come at some unknown time—washed me up, and after eating the breakfast she’d prepared, I had to leave for school with her before I even had time to savor it.
“So what did you do over the weekend?”
We’d met yesterday too; was there any reason to ask that? It was a question without any reason to answer, so I didn’t. However, Inna exerted a force I found difficult to refuse and pressed my arm against her chest.
“You won’t tell me? Really?”
Yet Inna’s act of being “friendly”—greeting everyone around us—never stopped. The reason it was an act was simple. I’d already brought up this story in the morning and just roughly told her about it.
The reason she asked again even though she obviously knew I went grocery shopping, hung out, and then fell asleep. That too was easy to figure out if I focused on the sounds coming from around me.
“...Inna’s going to talk to her again. How long is she going to live while just being ignored...”
“They’re childhood friends, you know. Maybe those two have their own affection going on? There might be a charm we don’t know about.”
“What affection? If there were any, would she be snubbing Inna’s words for breakfast? And would that temper of hers hold back just because there’s charm? If it were me, I’d have smacked her on the head regardless of charm.”
“You, you tried to do that before too and got scolded by Inna. And you tried to hit her secretly, then whined that your own wrist felt like it was going to break.”
“Hey, that wasn’t something I could’ve known. How was I supposed to know she had an ability that always keeps a barrier around her?”
Those “friends” of hers talking over there right now.
Most likely, it was to plant a bad impression of me in those I’d dubbed the Yoo Inna Faction.
Perhaps because I’d once seen a capture guide for Yoo Inna, I could smoothly understand Inna’s train of thought, which would have been difficult for the me from before coming here to grasp.
With the Student Council President busy with work and unable to look after me, if I didn’t even tell Inna—who at least bothered to talk to me—that she was annoying, then in a class where many people viewed Inna favorably, I would inevitably be isolated.
Since I had no confidence in remembering every characteristic of the Extras, who only appeared as black silhouettes, I had chosen to obediently go along with Inna’s intentions from the start, even though I understood them.
If there was an image Erica had already established, then reacting only like this would ensure no one approached me.
“Really...? She looks oddly easier to approach than usual. It’s like she became more similar to Inna, but with a slightly different feeling. Hmm, wait a sec? I’m just gonna go over there for a moment.”
“Hey! You’re just going to end up getting cursed at like last time!”
However, it wasn’t as if there was no one stepping forward regardless of Yoo Inna’s plans or my thoughts. A girl who had been walking slightly off to our side thrust her face toward me.
“Hi~. Do you happen to know my name? I’m close with Inna, and I’ve been in the same class as you since first year. Hmm~. And I’ve even greeted you like this a few times; do you remember?”
As a black silhouette, I couldn’t accurately tell who she was or her true identity. But because that girl had thrust her face toward me, her name, role, and ability naturally entered my vision.
“I heard from Inna. It’s Kim Sora.”
[Kim Sora]
[Sub-Heroine’s Friend (Extra)]
[Ability: X]
Except for being the sub-heroine—that is, Yoo Inna’s—friend, she was an ordinary girl without a single ability.
Even her name tag had turned black, so I couldn’t see where her name was; one might wonder how I knew the name of a girl I was seeing for the first time, but since it was visible in my eyes anyway, I simply read it off for her.
“I knew it, I knew it~. You’ve finally opened your heart to us! Kyaaaaaaah~. My hard work paid off.”
Can’t. Can’t breathe. At the girl’s behavior of shrieking with joy and burying my face in her chest, I gripped my right hand tighter. An SOS signal to Yoo Inna beside me.
But she—implying, ‘Why do you remember this kid’s name? Didn’t you say you lost your memory?’—gently put strength into my right hand.
I’d thought she would understand if I said I lost my memory; I hadn’t expected her to harbor doubts about this.
Betrayed by Yoo Inna, whom I had believed would help me, I was momentarily bewildered, yet my breathing had stopped.
Could this really be how I die? As my vision went dark—
“Ah, for real!”
At that shout, the girl with the large chest was soon pulled away from in front of me.
A height that seemed much taller than an average man. Even though her face wasn’t visible properly, I could tell her eyes were glaring at me.
“What are you going to do if you get hit by her again?!”
“But if she were going to hit me, wouldn’t she have done so already? Right? Right?”
Though held back by the tall woman and retreating, she acted as if she would hug me again, so I let go of Inna’s hand and stuck behind her.
The so-called Inna Shield Operation. Whether it had worked, the heat coming from the tall woman and the girl who seemed like she would approach me again both died down.
“Don’t come near her!”
Whether she liked being treated as a shield, Inna’s mood actually brightened. Inna’s voice telling her friends not to approach sounded extremely happy.
Hadn’t she been spreading bad rumors about me to her friends to ostracize me? I had thought Inna would try by any means to prevent me from being accepted by her friends.
Unlike Inna’s friends ahead of us, whose faces I could clearly make out, I calmly appreciated the sight of Inna’s happily smiling face as we walked to school.
“Last time you said it was okay to get close... You’re so mean!”
“Calm down. Calm down. She might bite you.”
“Erica isn’t a dog... to you guys!”
...Because if I truly kept appreciating the sight calmly, I might be seen as Inna’s dog, so I had no choice but to throw in a remark.
“I’m not just a dog.”
“Right, it means she’s cute like a puppy! I bet she’d be cute even if she bit someone.”
“Of course. Erica is cute even if she bites.”
At Sora and Inna’s voices absurdly defending my words, I was at a loss for words.
A reasonable doubt surfaced: maybe these girls hadn’t treated Erica as a person from the very beginning, which was why Erica had ignored them.
“Erica! Bite!”
“What nonsense...”
Surely that wasn’t really the case. We continued talking as we diligently moved our feet to get to school. ...With the hope that I’d rather move my feet quickly than say such strange things.
***
The woman and boy known as a couple to those around them walked calmly, keeping their distance from the laughing and chattering girls in the middle of the path to school.
Rather than watching the girls who passed for the mainstream at school, they were looking at the sullen face of their acquaintance being hugged like a doll by those girls.
“Is this okay?”
“As if it could be okay. It’s just that I know, for her right now, that side is the easiest one to protect her from, so I merely don’t wish to interfere.”
The Student Council President could insert herself between them at any time, just as when Erica had first gone outside after regaining her memory. The President approaching Erica, who had been branded a problem child, was only natural in a sense.
But if she approached simply because that sight was uncomfortable, Erica would only be isolated again. The woman was always busy carrying out her duties and promises to the boy, so she couldn’t stay by Erica’s side continuously.
Knowing that, the Student Council President suppressed her desire to wedge herself between them and make those clinging to Erica let go, and instead thought of what she needed to tell the boy beside her. Those things too would be of help to Erica.
“Right now, Erica needs Inna’s protection. In any case, I already spoke of that earlier, so let’s move to the next topic and I’ll tell you the results of yesterday’s investigation.”
“There was an incident the day before yesterday too; aren’t you overdoing it? Even if you have a superpower, you’re not superhuman.”
To endure the power of insight granted by Wisdom, one’s body naturally had to become stronger to a certain degree. This was why the Student Council President had grown stronger.
Of course, another reason the President was strong was that things like martial arts were automatically acquired through the power of Wisdom upon seeing them once.
But no matter how strong she was, the President’s heart was not that of a superhuman. Even now, while saying she didn’t want to interfere, the President’s eyes kept lingering around Erica’s side.
“Well. I simply want to finish quickly because I know that if I don’t, I’ll just have to keep watching that sight.”
“...Alright, tell me. I have things to tell you too.”
An exchange of information. Information known to the woman blessed by Wisdom, and information known because he was one of the protagonists of this world, were shared.
As they neared the school gate, they stopped talking in case someone overheard the information they were sharing; and as if she had been waiting for exactly that, a girl with dark green hair turned her head, swiftly curling up only one corner of her mouth.
—As if to say you cannot wedge yourself between us. After Inna had caused a major incident, the one who had been by Erica’s side was herself, while the one watching from behind had been that person.
Feeling that Erica’s side, which she had always clung to, was now so terribly far away, the Student Council President entered the school gates alongside her fake lover.