Chapter 57: After Oosaka Taiga, another person became famous
"Something interesting?"
The three of them all looked at their classmate who had run back, excited.
Pulling up a few chairs and sitting down, the leading boy smiled and said, "Hehehe, we heard this from others. It just happened in the teachers' office."
Kitamura Yusaku thought for a moment and asked, "The teachers' office? It's not another student causing trouble, is it?"
"Exactly, exactly."
The boy immediately began to recount: "The troublemaker is from Class D next door, named Aki Tomoya."
Aki Tomoya?
Kaede was startled; if the topic hadn't been brought up today, he would have almost forgotten about that person.
In the month since arriving at Toyosaki, Kaede hadn't met many people. Besides his classmates, the only others he knew were the members of the Art Club, Utaha, the Student Council President Kano Sumire, and a few classmates he met while playing ball during P.E.
Regarding Aki Tomoya, he truly hadn't seen him, leading him to initially think that the guy hadn't even enrolled at Toyosaki. However, it was also possible he simply hadn't paid attention, as there wouldn't likely be much interaction between them anyway.
Hearing a classmate mention him today, Kaede was curious about what kind of trouble the person had caused.
"That Aki Tomoya, actually, I heard from a few classmates I know next door that he's a serious otaku who loves recommending anime and novels to everyone around him. This time, it's even more exaggerated. I don't know what he was thinking, but he tried to use the school's broadcast system during this school festival and sports day to promote anime during tomorrow's festival."
"Uh..."
Kaede and the other two were speechless. What in the world was going on?
The classmate continued, "You don't even have to think to know the teachers wouldn't agree to something like that, but that Aki Tomoya kept arguing with the teachers in the faculty office. He ended up making a teacher so angry that he was immediately scolded and sent away. Since there were other students in the office at the time, the story naturally spread. Now, I bet everyone in the first year knows about it."
Rubbing his chin, Takasu Ryuji said, "It looks like that student, Aki Tomoya, is going to have a rough time from now on. He might even be worse off than me."
"Hahaha, well, that can't be helped; he brought it upon himself, didn't he? Besides, Takasu, your eyes are just a little intimidating; everyone in our class knows your true nature."
Putting his arm around Takasu Ryuji's shoulder, the classmate chuckled and said, "Originally, an otaku like him could still find some friends; after all, hardly anyone these days avoids anime or games completely. But after pulling a stunt like this today, I doubt anyone will truly want to associate with him."
After hearing this, Kaede wore a look of emotion. If you court death like that, you can only suffer the consequences alone.
Gossip was just gossip, and after the lunch break, classes resumed for the afternoon.
After the two afternoon classes finished, Kaede was delayed briefly by Kitamura Yusaku, but he ultimately bid farewell without mercy to Kitamura Yusaku, who had to serve as the daily duty student, and prepared to head to the Art Club.
He hadn't gone far after leaving the classroom. When he reached the staircase corner, Kaede heard Eriri's exasperated voice.
"After all these years, you really haven't changed at all! How could you pull a stunt like that?"
"Ahaha, I just suddenly got an inspiration, but I didn't expect it to cause such a commotion."
"Fine, I can't be bothered to talk to you anymore. Don't tell anyone at school that you know me; it's too embarrassing. I have club activities, so I need to go."
Hearing this, Kaede stepped forward at the right moment, appearing in the sight of the two people.
"Eriri?"
"Eh? Asakura?"
Seeing Kaede suddenly appear, Eriri felt her heart skip a beat, and she asked with inexplicable tension, "What are you doing here?"
"Because I'm heading to the Art Club. I was delayed by that guy Kitamura for a bit."
Shrugging, Kaede glanced at Aki Tomoya, who was looking at him curiously, nodded a greeting to him, and then turned to Eriri, saying, "Are you done talking? Why don't we go to the club together?"
"Mhm, mhm."
Eriri nodded repeatedly, then told Aki Tomoya, "Don't forget what I just said! You really need to change your personality!"
She then followed Kaede downstairs, completely ignoring Aki Tomoya, who looked like he wanted to speak up and try to keep her there a little longer.
On the way to the Art Club, Eriri looked at Kaede walking beside her and asked nervously, "Did you hear all that just now?"
Kaede didn't deny it. He nodded and said, "Yeah, I heard a bit. That was Aki Tomoya, the one who caused trouble this afternoon, right?"
"Mhm." Eriri began to explain, "I've known him since we were kids, and you could say he's the one who introduced me to the otaku world. But that guy never cared about what outsiders thought, always openly talking to me about anime and games, which led to classmates teasing us. I asked him to be more discreet, but he wouldn't listen, saying he didn't need to care about other people's opinions. But he might not need to, but I do! I'm still a girl, after all. Eventually, I got so angry that I just stopped interacting with him."
"I didn't expect us to end up at the same high school again. I just ran into him on the way to the Art Club, too. Luckily, no one else was around, or else, being called out by him like that, I bet some strange rumors would start circulating around school tomorrow."
So that was it.
After listening to Eriri's account, Kaede said, "It seems the reason is the same as the story I heard today. Although people nowadays aren't as resistant to otaku culture, being so reckless, especially here at school, shows he really hasn't matured at all."
As he spoke, Kaede observed Eriri's expression, realizing she was genuinely quite angry.
After thinking for a moment, Kaede asked, "Speaking of which, Uchimaki is also a serious otaku. How come I haven't seen you reject him, Eriri?"
"Those two people are completely different, okay?" Eriri said. "Although Uchimaki is also a serious otaku, he doesn't usually make a big display of it, nor does he ignore others' opinions to proselytize. We've known each other for a month now, and he hasn't tried to preach once, has he?"
That was true. Uchimaki Subaru was the type of otaku who enjoyed himself; he wouldn't try to force others to like the works he enjoyed. The fundamental difference was quite significant. Furthermore, Uchimaki Subaru handled interpersonal relationships well; he wasn't isolated or uncommunicative at all.
But then again, judging by Aki Tomoya's demeanor, it seemed he still wanted to reconcile with Eriri. What would he do?
While Kaede was thinking, the inexplicable tension in Eriri's heart persisted, and she carefully stole a few glances at Kaede.