Chapter 46: With Friends

It was great that I’d decided to get closer to Satsuki-chan, but I didn’t know how to go about doing that. That was true with Azami-chan too, but since the game had become reality, there was a high possibility that I couldn’t count on the episodes in it and my knowledge. And the game had rarely discussed Lady Sakuya and her followers.

My relationship with Azami-chan was probably… already different from Lady Sakuya and Azami-chan’s relationship in “Blooming Flowers in Love”. Actually, thinking calmly, the in-game Lady Sakuya held the position that Azami-chan was now occupying.

I had been constantly thinking about that. Azami-chan’s current position was clearly different from the one she held in “Love Flowers”. What was different, how was it different, and why was it different; those were questions I had been thinking about. I wasn’t planning on zoning out forever. I actually thought about it. 

My guess was that… Lady Sakuya had originally held Azami-chan’s current position, but Azami-chan held it now.

Azami-chan was currently the center of the class, had followers accompanying her, and was acknowledged throughout the academy. People even said she was one of Ibuki’s marriage candidates at first. She wasn’t showing interest in Ibuki now, to the point where people were wondering where the talk that she was Ibuki’s marriage candidate went. But, when they first met, you heard that she was “Ibuki’s marriage candidate” all the time. But wasn’t that the role that Lady Sakuya had in the game?

Lady Sakuya was accompanied by her followers, was feared on the surface despite having many enemies, and was a central existence in both her class and the academy. The fact that she was Ibuki’s number one marriage candidate followed her around. That was who Azami-chan was in the beginning. No, it was the reverse. Azami-chan was like the in-game Lady Sakuya.

Then why was I a social outcast and Azami-chan held the position that Lady Sakuya had occupied in the game? That was probably my fault. I thought it was the other way around.

Upper-class kids went to various parties and had their debut in high society before they went to elementary school. That was why most kids knew each other. Azami-chan and her followers were also acquaintances before they’d entered Touka Academy Elementary. No, that was wrong; they were her followers from the beginning.

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Mbld, vbl iwlpvksd oyp obu eke Nyeu Fyjwuy byhl qszzsolap yde oyp qlyale yde alprlnvle cu lhlausdl, obkzl R eked’v byhl y pkdtzl qaklde yde lhlausdl oyvnble xl qasx yqya? Mbl ydpola oyp vbyv R eked’v byhl xu elcwv kd bktb psnklvu yde R alqwple vs yvvlde ydu ryavklp.&dcpr;

Mbl kd-tyxl Nyeu Fyjwuy rascyczu bye bla elcwv kd bktb psnklvu yv vbl pyxl ytl yp vbl svbla nbkzeald. Fbl yvvldele hyakswp ryavklp yde xlv ekqqlaldv rlsrzl. Fbl ydvytsdkple psxl, xyel pwcsaekdyvlp swv sq svblap, yde tasod. Jwv R byed’v esdl vbyv. R yhskele xu elcwv kd bktb psnklvu yde byed’v pbsod wr yv ryavklp.

Xq nswapl R byed’v xlv ydusdl. Mbyv oyp clnywpl R byed’v tsdl vs rzynlp zkjl vbyv… R pbswze’hl xyel qakldep, qszzsolap, yde pwcsaekdyvlp cu dso. Rdpvlye, R oypd’v nzspl vs y pkdtzl rlapsd. Mbyv oyp vbl lmrlnvle alpwzv. Gde…

“Fkdnl R eked’v snnwru Nyeu Fyjwuy’p rspkvksd, kv oyp zlqv lxrvu yde vblal olal psxl yefwpvxldvp”…

Mbl ynvksdp Nyeu Fyjwuy pbswze’hl vyjld yqvla bla elcwv kd bktb psnklvu, vbl rlsrzl pbl pbswze’hl tasod nzspla vs, vbl rspkvksd pbl pbswze’hl scvykdle, vbl oyu svblap pbswze’hl vbswtbv sq bla… yzz vbyv dlhla byrrldle. Ohldvp oswzed’v rastalpp ekqqlaldvzu clnywpl sq vbyv… Rdpvlye, psxlsdl lzpl bye vyjld bla rspkvksd…

Rv oypd’v pwarakpkdt vbyv Ggyxk-nbyd’p qszzsolap bye valyvle bla zkjl bso Nyeu Fyjwuy oyp valyvle kd-tyxl. Mbyv oyp clnywpl pbl bye alrzynle Nyeu Fyjwuy… Fbl oyp psxlobyv yrralnkyvle cu svblap, psxlobyv qlyale, psxlobyv alprlnvle, yde oyp Rcwjk’p xyaakytl nydekeyvl. Mbspl olal yzz vbkdtp vbyv Nyeu Fyjwuy oyp…

Jlnywpl R’e yhskele kv yzz, lhlauvbkdt bye clld pbkqvle sdvs Ggyxk-nbyd. Fbl oyp cwaeldle okvb yzz vbl vbkdtp vbyv R pbswze’hl clld cwaeldle okvb…

Azami-chan wouldn’t get mad if I told her that; rather, she wouldn’t understand. Azami-chan had done her best and become like that. She wasn’t aware that she was my replacement; she’d probably get mad if I said that…

The Azami-chan of this world had lived by making her own choices. She had chosen to become closer to others and to create those relationships. Telling her that she was my replacement would be negating her friendships and her relationships with her followers. She’d certainly get mad if I said that.

But since I knew about the game “Blooming Flowers in Love”, I knew that Azami-chan was burdened by all of that because I ran away.

I wasn’t saying that I regretted it. I didn’t feel responsible or that I had to do something about it. That was just how the world was. I wasn’t planning to talk about whether it was good or bad and how I was responsible.

But because of that, I wasn’t the Lady Sakuya who went to various parties after her debut in high society, made subordinates and followers, and became someone acknowledged. That was the reason why I had a strange relationship with Azami-chan and her followers. 

Then… what about my relationship with Satsuki-chan?

Azami-chan and Satsuki-chan weren’t on good terms at first. I didn’t know the state of their relationship when they first met in the game “Love Flowers”. But when the game started—when they entered high school—they were best friends.

If Lady Sakuya had debuted in high society like normal, what would her relationship with Azami-chan and Satsuki-chan be like? Would the Azami-chan and Satsuki-chan of this world be on bad terms when they entered school if I acted the same as Lady Sakuya? Or would Lady Sakuya have made both of them her close aides from the beginning?

No… there was no point in thinking any further… It wasn’t helpful at all, and I didn’t come to understand anything. There was also no point in knowing. It was just my useless curiosity. I had to focus on my acquaintanceship with Satsuki-chan first. 

I had become good friends with Azami-chan. Our relationship was probably different than how it was in-game, but you could say that I succeeded in becoming close friends with her. I could still feel some distance between her followers and I, but we were growing closer. I already saw the signs of that.

How would I become good friends with Satsuki-chan? Speaking of, how did you become friends with a first grader? 

Since I was bad with relationships and an otaku on top of that, there was no way I’d know how to become friends with an elementary schoolgirl. Rather, if I did know that, it might be a problem…

What should I do?

It was pointless… I was making no progress thinking alone… This was…

　　～～～～～～～

“If I want to become friends with someone, what should I do?”

“Hmm…? I wouldn’t really know even if you asked, but…”

I didn’t have many friends, so I consulted with the reliable older sister Kaya-san. Speaking of, Kaya-san now sat near me every time I went to the salon. Since she was there anyway, I decided to consult her.

Summer break was in one month. This was really bad. An upper-class student attending Touka Academy couldn’t promise to go out on one day and actually head out on that same day. It was common knowledge to make an appointment in advance to give enough preparation time.

While I had planned on doing something with Satsuki-chan, it was possible that it’d already be summer break by the time we could go out as promised. She probably already had various plans during summer break. Maybe she’d go traveling or attend parties and events. Meeting her during that time would trouble and burden her. I didn’t have any more days to become friendly with her during the first semester.

Of course, I didn’t absolutely have to be friends with her in the first semester. I could slowly get closer with her during the second semester too rather than overworking myself and burdening us. But, since we were entering summer break in a short while, I wanted to shorten the distance between us a little before then.

Even close friends may act a little distant or hesitant if they haven’t met in a while. This was especially true for people you weren’t even close with. You’d then be feeling an even greater distance.

“Honestly, you shouldn’t say something fake like “Please be my friend”… I think it’s pretty normal to introduce yourself, talk, then become friends before you know it…”

“I… see…”

I knew that. I hadn’t said “Let’s be friends” to anyone I’d met in my past life. First-grade kids especially would instantly become friends with the kids they shared a class with and who they talked to every day. No one actually said the words “Let’s become friends” or “We’re friends, right?”.

But I couldn’t do that with Satsuki-chan. I’d been doing that since the beginning, but  my relationship with Satsuki-chan hadn’t developed at all. We were just acquaintances who exchanged greetings… that was our current relationship.

How could I get closer to her? What did you normally do when making friends?

But… a friendship couldn’t happen if only one side wanted to be friends. All parties had to be interested in friendship. So, just thinking that I wanted to become friends with Satsuki-chan didn’t mean that our friendship would continue on into eternity. If Satsuki-chan didn’t want to be friends with me…

“As expected… perhaps you should do something together?”

“…huh?”

When I looked over at Kaya-san after she said those words, she looked serious and continued.

“If you want to become closer… do something with that person. Anything that you can do with two people is fine; you could even just play together. Anyhow, I think that doing something with that person will make you grow a little closer.”

“Do something… together…”

I thought about what Kaya-san said. That was definitely true. I was pretty close to Tsubaki-chan now. That was because of the tea party. I had of course become rather friendly with the other girls after that party too. The main reason that Azami-chan had opened up to me was that we had worked together on various things to clear up the rumours.

Right. It was alright if we just played with each other. It was only a good thing if I did something that someone else was interested in. Tsubaki-chan found tea ceremonies really interesting. That was why I instantly became friends with her. I had become pretty friendly with everyone else too.

I had thought the most efficient and effective method was to do something that the other person liked. But I didn’t need to think that hard; just playing together should yield pretty good results. Right! Basically, becoming friends was just about getting to know each other! If we were together and played together, we’d understand and be understood by each other just a little.

It was probably impossible to become perfectly friendly immediately. If we gradually played together multiple times, did different things together and overcame other things, we’d finally become friends. 

“I feel as if I have understood. Thank you, Kaya-san!”

“Yes, yes. It’s alright. Just play with big sister this time, okay?”

“…huh?”

I was confused with what Kaya-san said, but she just kept grinning at me. Was she kidding?

“When are you free?”

“…huh?”

Kaya-san then took out her planner and started checking it. What? She was serious? This was… did I have to play with Kaya-san?

“Sakuya-chan, tell me your schedule, alright? When are you available? Yes?”

“Aah!”

Scary! Kaya-san’s grin had grown more forceful as I didn’t answer. It seemed like she wasn’t joking; she really planned to play with me.

Strange… I was thinking of methods to become closer to Satsuki-chan and was supposed to play with her, but I somehow came to play with Kaya-san. Did a sixth-grader find playing with a first-grader fun? What should we do? Otedama¹ A traditional Japanese game where you juggle and throw small beanbags. It’s generally played with others. ? Cat’s cradle? What did sixth grade girls play?

When I had asked her previously, she said something like go to the movies, eat, and shop… I didn’t think another tea ceremony would happen, but I had no experience on what sixth grade girls played. What should I do…