In class, there was a very strange girl; every time class ended, she would either be sleeping on her desk or reading with her head down, hardly ever interacting with her classmates...
How long had she been in the same class as her? It seemed like they had been classmates since elementary school, right? Looking back, it felt like a fated misfortune; if it were in a TV drama, she and she would probably become good friends and besties, right?
After all, it was truly rare to be classmates for such a long time until now.
However, she clearly remembered that from elementary school until now, she had probably not spoken more than ten sentences to her; after all, she and she were people from two different worlds.
It wasn't self-praise, but ever since she entered this school, she was quite popular in class, largely due to her parents giving her a beautiful face!
Although it didn't reach the point of being called extremely pretty, at least when she dressed up, she could be a topic of conversation among the boys in school, so she felt quite good about herself; she had many friends in class and at school with whom she could chat.
In contrast, her, her appearance wasn't bad, but she never bothered to dress up, and her clothes were always very casual; coupled with her reclusive personality, she hardly ever seemed to have any friends.
Originally, she and she were like two parallel lines; she didn't even pay attention to her, at most, when chatting with friends, someone would occasionally mention that there was such a gloomy girl in class.
However, after that incident... she began to notice her... That incident, to be ashamed to say... If it weren't for that incident, she wouldn't feel any guilt towards her now, nor would she feel so bad after her absence.
On the day that incident happened, due to the teacher extending class and her having an appointment, she quickly packed her things as soon as class ended, wanting to rush out of the classroom.
As she passed her desk, she also seemed to be in a hurry, standing up quickly, not noticing someone behind her, and then... they collided.
She was fine from the collision, but she fell flat on her face, and the things she was holding flew out, scattering everywhere... She noticed those scattered manga and novels; they were shoujo manga, and seeing them surprised her because she also followed that series, and the ones in her hand were all the latest releases.
Although manga could now be read online, she still preferred physical books, so... she planned to apologize to her and take the opportunity to strike up a conversation, to see if she could borrow them to read.
However, when the nosy classmates noticed that the things she had dropped were actually manga and novels, they started to jeer.
All sorts of very offensive words... all sorts of metaphors came out, otaku*** gloomy otaku... rotten otaku and so on.
Seeing such a reaction from her classmates, she immediately abandoned the idea of apologizing to her, let alone striking up a conversation to borrow books.
Because... she also didn't want to be like her, to be labeled with those unpleasant titles by her classmates; she had worked so hard to make so many friends, and she couldn't let herself become a laughingstock for the sake of reading a few manga.
But... she had to say something after bumping into her, right? So... she inexplicably joined the ranks of classmates making fun of her.
She understood... in the microcosm of society that was a classroom, being labeled as an outcast by the general public was very scary.
She, being ridiculed by her classmates, did not get angry; instead, she turned around and apologized to her, then quickly packed up the manga and hurried out of the classroom... She was the one who bumped into her and caused her to be ridiculed by her classmates, yet she apologized to her.
At that time... she felt quite guilty and annoyed.
It was after this incident that she got the nickname 'gloomy otaku' in class; she herself didn't seem to care, remaining her usual self; no matter how others ridiculed her, she would merely smile and let it pass.
However, her weak response only encouraged those busybodies to escalate; originally, they called her 'otaku,' but eventually, it became 'loser girl.'
Everyone would also make fun of her for fun, whether they had a reason or not; anyway, she wouldn't get angry or retort, and that was that.
The verbal ridicule eventually turned into physical bullying.
She saw those unruly girls in class more than once, picking various inexplicable excuses to bully her over some minor displeasure.
That was one thing, but what was even more excessive was! Once, over a trivial matter, they directly injured her finger.
Yet she, the culprit, could only watch her being bullied from the side, unable to help at all, because she was very afraid that if she stood up for her, those people would think she was with her.
Would those bullying incidents also transfer to her? The thought made her cower... But every time she saw her being bullied, her guilt grew stronger; at least... she had to apologize to her.
But when it came to apologizing, now, because of this guilt, she didn't know how to talk to her; every time she encountered her on the way to or from school, the words of apology would get stuck in her throat.
However, she would always greet her with a smile; she seemed to have not taken that incident to heart at all.
Over time, she realized that this wouldn't work, so she came up with another idea: since she liked manga and novels, she would use that as a breakthrough!
So she began to deliberately observe her and noticed that she seemed to really like a novel called "Overlord," because every time she saw her pick up this novel, she would read it over and over.
So she also planned to read this novel and use it as an opportunity to strike up a conversation with her.
The result was... she read the novel, and the feeling was quite subtle.
To be honest, she didn't particularly like this type of novel; mainly, many plot points were unclear, and she didn't quite understand why she would like this 'pretentious' type of novel.
Because she wasn't very interested, she only forced herself to read a few online, feeling that it should be enough for conversation fodder.
Then, that day... she seized the opportunity, seeing her holding the latest volume of "Overlord"; it was clear she was very happy, so she would wait until after school to use this opportunity to talk to her!
After school, she followed closely behind her, struggling to find an opportunity to go up and talk, as it wouldn't be good if someone she knew saw her talking to her.
However... that opportunity would never come.
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