Chapter 118
After lunchtime, Connor Lint immediately sprang into action. While preparing for the next class, Connor Lint approached someone in the classroom right away.
“Hey, Granz.”
“Oh. Hey.”
Connor Lint’s target was Riana de Granz.
‘Did he have Riana in mind this whole time?’
But the question was... why? It didn’t seem like a wise choice... She was basically a female version of me.
“Um, do you want to have a meal together after classes today? A new place opened on Main Street and I heard the food’s tasty.”
‘Whoa there buddy...’
His lines felt ominously weird.
‘You’re being way too obvious, aren’t you?’
“... Why should I?”
As expected, Riana tilted her head, exuding a vibe that screamed, “Why should I have a meal with you?”
Even though it wasn’t any of my business, hearing her reply made me feel so embarrassed that I felt a shiver down my spine. Erhi and Kaier, sharing my sentiments, couldn’t even bear to watch the scene.
“H-Huh?”
“We have physical education class soon. After that, I’ll be too tired to go anywhere.”
“Ah... okay. Yeah, now that you’ve mentioned it, you’re right!”
Connor Lint, like a wooden puppet, creaked as he turned his body around and went back to his place and took a seat.
‘Oh boy...’
I had an inkling that it was not going to turn out well, but seeing him being rejected so directly was almost too much for me to bear.
***
A short while later...
“... It didn’t work,” Connor Lint whispered to me in the changing room before the start of physical education class. I could sense Erhi and Kaier pricking up their ears to hear what I was about to say.
“Well, first off, it wasn’t even natural. You shouldn’t just suddenly ask someone to go out and have a meal with you like that without any pretext or build-up... It was only natural that she would reject you... It must have been a bit... overwhelming.”
‘Be more... more... natural! Although I don’t necessarily know how to, or what being natural even means... What does it really mean to ask someone to eat or go out in a truly natural manner? How do you do that? Is that even possible? Now I’m getting confused too.’
Of course, when it came to Ellen, she seemed like someone who would follow along if I suggested going out to eat first, and if I asked her to hang out, she’d probably just go along with a casual agreement.
With Harriet, though, she’d probably question why she should do such a thing with me. However, if I dragged her along despite her complaints, she’d reluctantly follow me.
This was only possible because I’d built up a certain level of friendship with the two of them. At the moment, though, Connor Lint didn’t have that kind of rapport with the female students.
You would have to start from zero. But what exactly does it mean to naturally start from zero? I really had no idea.
‘I just got lucky; if you ask me how to actually make a move, I wouldn’t know!’
“What kind of secret conversation are you guys having here?” Vertus approached us, already changed into his gym clothes, grinning mischievously.
“It’s nothing. It’s just that this guy wants to get closer to the girls—”
Just as I was about to continue my calm explanation, Connor Lint covered my mouth.
“B-Be quiet!”
But Vertus had already heard everything.
“Ah... So you were like... consulting him on this?” Vertus’s gaze flicked back and forth between me and Connor Lint, an ambiguous expression on his face. “If I have to say so myself, I think there’s a bigger issue at hand than your ‘communication skills’... No, never mind. Good luck.”
Tap, tap.
Vertus tapped Connor Lint’s shoulder ambiguously a couple of times before leaving the changing room.
“... Honestly, I don’t know what to say to you, but I think you’ve targeted the wrong person.”
Harriet and Riana, who had prickly sides to them, would immediately respond with “Why should I?” when faced with this kind of approach. If we considered those in Class A, someone like Ellen might respond positively to a dinner invitation, and someone timid like Adelia might wonder what to do, but eventually follow along.
After I suggested he should try changing his target, Connor Lint nodded. Perhaps he didn’t necessarily have feelings for Riana, as he seemed willing to give it a try.
***
During physical education class, Connor Lint was busily moving around during breaks.
How many people was he planning to pester in one day? Shouldn’t he spread it out over time? It was as if he was asking to be disliked.
“No.”
“Oh, okay.”
Ellen flatly rejected Connor Lint when he asked her if she had time after class. He skipped past Harriet, knowing that the outcome was obvious, then approached Adelia, who was lying down, exhausted from the continuous physical training.
This time it was the timid Adelia. Would she easily give in after hesitating?
This time, instead of blurting out his request, Connor Lint started by handing her a bottle of water.
“Oh, uh... thanks...?”
Adelia tilted her head slightly in confusion at Connor Lint’s sudden gesture of kindness.
“Tired?”
“Yeah... I guess so.”
“Do you want to go drink something refreshing after physical education class?”
“... Huh?” Adelia tilted her head at Connor Lint’s sudden suggestion. “Oh... sorry, I promised to go shopping for magical items with Harriet. Let’s definitely grab something together next time, though.”
“Oh, i-is that so? Well, it can’t be helped then I guess! Ahaha!”
At least Adelia rejected him in a nice way...
Having set a remarkable record of being rejected by nearly all the female students in Class A in just one day, excluding Harriet, Connor Lint listlessly made his way back to the male students.
Unable to bear watching such a distressing scene, Kaier, Erhi, and I couldn’t even look in his direction properly.
“... All of my attempts failed, Reinhart... But, Adelia said we should definitely grab something together next time... Does that mean she’s interested?”
“No, it’s just something she said out of courtesy. Don’t take it seriously.”
“I knew it.”
Dejected, with his spirit seemingly drained from him, he plopped down next to me.
“Um... Well, those who already have plans... it can’t be helped...” I said.
Given how he had approached several people in one day, reprimanding him might only serve to plunge him into acute depression, so I was unusually cautious with my words.
This guy was definitely off-putting, but beyond that, he just seemed too pitiful.
“Is, is this really the right way to do it? Just asking someone to have a meal ‘normally’... Is this not it?”
Connor Lint looked at me with an accusing gaze, as if to say, “Did you give me a faulty solution? Is it the method that’s wrong, and not me?”
‘Yeah... Seeing it with my own eyes, it does seem like it was the wrong approach.’
The girls seemed taken aback by someone they weren’t close to suddenly asking them out for a meal.
‘Still, you should have waited for a better opportunity to say let’s eat together, rather than spring the question out of the blue like that! Can’t you have a better awareness of the situation?’
“Y-Yeah, seeing it play out... it does seem like a bit of a miss,” I admitted.
‘If I were to ask them, I think Ellen and Harriet would probably agree to a meal with me, and Adelia, who is timid, might accept only out of fear and anxiety, almost as though she’s being forced to. As for Riana, it doesn’t seem like it would work, even for me.’
“Hey, Reinhart...”
“... Yeah?”
Connor Lint seemed despondent, yet not ready to give up.
“Can’t you show me how it’s done?”
“Sh-show what? What do you mean by ‘show’, you fool?”
He was looking for an experienced coach to give a demonstration.
‘I’m not a Casanova! It just happened to look like that!’
“Please, just once. I’m begging you.”
Connor Lint, whose morale had been shattered by my flawed advice, seemed ready to cling to my legs for help.
‘Wait a minute, don’t the three of you hate me? Connor Lint, do you want to be marked as a traitor by the other two? Are you willing to trade two close friends for a girlfriend or something? Is that what it is?’
“No... It’s not like I have some great skill or anything.”
‘Oh. Now that I think about it, maybe if I showed him I could get rejected too, he’d be less of a nuisance? I dislike being treated as a Casanova anyway.’
I let out a sigh. “Fine. Look, I’m no different from you.”
If he saw me getting rejected right in front of his eyes, maybe he’d stop with the nonsensical talk about me being a womanizer who only mingled with girls.
Therefore, I stood up confidently and headed toward the person who was most likely to turn down my request.
I approached Riana de Granz, who seemed exhausted, sitting in the stands and absentmindedly drinking water.
“Hey.”
“... What do you want? I’m dead tired right now.”
Riana’s expression was intense, demanding to know why I was bothering her at all. She definitely seemed in a worse mood than before physical education class.
“Do you want to go grab something to eat after this?”
“...?”
It was a totally unexpected line, just like the one from Connor Lint.
Given her bad mood, it was only natural that I’d be rejected...
“... I’m not hungry. But I won’t mind getting something cold to drink.”
‘Huh. Wait a minute. This isn’t right. Why did it work?’
I expected her to be in an even worse mood, especially after physical education class. Yet, my out-of-the-blue suggestion had somehow gotten a positive response.
This was supposed to be the person who should have absolutely said no, since she was the one who’d said she’d be too tired to move after physical education class.
Riana said she’d meet me in the classroom after physical education class was over, and then seemed to ignore me afterward.
I turned back to Connor Lint, feeling as if I’d been bewitched by something.
“How did it go?”
“Huh? Oh... she didn’t want to eat... but said something about being down to get something cold to drink...”
“Wh-What did you say?”
It wasn’t just Connor Lint. The other guys who had been eavesdropping seemed taken aback as well. They must have expected that approaching Riana, who obviously seemed in a bad mood, would naturally result in rejection.
“What exactly did you do?”
“Well, I don’t know? I didn’t do anything different... I just asked if she wanted to go and eat... something.”
‘Look, I’m way more surprised than you are!’
I thought that a typically irritable person, who also seemed in a bad mood, would reject me outright, so I tossed out the invitation casually; it was no different from what Connor Lint had done. Moreover, it was even in more unfavorable circumstances.
Connor Lint began whining, asking me to reveal my “secret technique”, but truthfully, I had none to share.
***
In the end, while trying to elicit a rejection to prove my total lack of skill at attracting women, I had unwittingly amplified the misunderstanding significantly.
As a consequence, an unplanned, not-quite-a-date with Riana de Granz materialized. Of course, we were merely going out for a cold drink after school.
“I don’t want to go all the way to Main Street. Let’s head somewhere nearby.”
“Sure.”
After physical education class, instead of heading to the commercial district, Riana and I agreed to grab a cool drink nearby.
‘What’s going on? I thought she was completely uninterested in me. Does she like me?’
The situation was reversed, and now I was the one feeling bewildered for having asked her out. Of course, it wasn’t like we were having much of a conversation anyway.
Despite there being a snack bar inside the school building, we decided to head out to a nearby street lined with cafes, and settled at the outdoor terrace of one of the stores.
I could sense the idiot trio stealthily tailing me from behind.
“Why are they following us?”
“... Who knows?”
Their tailing was so clumsy and obvious that even Riana noticed.
‘I guess you’re not called ‘the idiot trio’ for no reason...’
Riana ordered a yogurt smoothie, and I opted for an iced lemon tea.
Those guys also sat down at the outdoor terrace of a cafe a distance away, sneaking glances at us. Riana seemed utterly uninterested in the trio shadowing us.
“Ugh... I’m so tired of physical education class.”
Riana slumped into her chair, complaining of a full-body ache. She casually sipped her yogurt, and didn’t seem particularly interested in me at all. It looked like she was just too exhausted to care much about anything else.
“I actually find it strange that you’re still struggling with it. Shouldn’t you be used to it by now?” I asked.
We had only been through a semester, but we did this kind of hard training twice a week, so it seemed more surprising to me that she’d still find it difficult. However, it was also true that those without close combat talents typically still struggled.
Riana narrowed her eyes.
“That’s because you work out every morning,” she shot back.
“... Is that it?”
‘Huh, so she’s aware that I exercise early in the morning? I thought only those who came out to exercise were aware of that.’
While the twice-weekly training sessions were indeed supposed to improve baseline fitness levels, it still seemed to be too much for her.
“Why do supernatural individuals even need physical strength? It’s the same with those who major in magic... Wait, aren’t you a superhuman as well? Why are you training so hard? Well, I guess your ability is physically-related, so that makes sense.”
Riana continued to grumble about why she shouldn’t need to enhance her physical capabilities.
“Isn’t having good physical fitness beneficial in its own right?”
“... You sound just like the teachers. Annoying.”
Sick of that kind of talk, Riana didn’t even look at me.
‘What’s the deal? She doesn’t seem interested in me at all, so why did she even accept my invitation? And yeah, I kind of ended up coming too, although it’s not like I’m particularly interested in her either. I mean, I still don’t mind it at all, though.’
“Hey, I’m just curious,” I began.
“About what?”
“Earlier on, when Connor Lint asked you to eat with him, you refused.”
“Yeah, I did.”
When she rejected him, she had said something along the lines of, “Why would I eat with you?” Yet, when I had asked, she’d accepted and went out with me.
It felt somewhat arrogant to ask, which made me dislike myself a little, but I really was curious. What was the difference between the two situations?
“Oh. You’re curious about why I declined?”
“Yeah.”
“... Do you seriously not know why?”
‘If I knew, why would I ask in the first place?’
Riana took a sip of her yogurt smoothie and then crossed her arms.
“Ah, so you really don’t know.” She seemed surprisingly taken aback that I didn’t already understand why. “Just forget about it.”
“What? What is it?”
“I said forget it.”
Riana refused to elaborate further.
***
Eventually, without finding out the reason, I returned to the Royal Class dormitory with Riana. Aside from talking about classes and how tiring they were, there was no other substantial topics of conversation.
“How did it go? What did you guys talk about?” Connor Lint asked me, all excited, glancing at Riana as she headed back to her room.
If he really liked Riana, he wouldn’t have reacted like this. It seemed he was just talking to girls out of sheer curiosity.
“What was there to talk about? Just the usual stuff about how tough physical education class is, and other trivial matters.”
“It’s weird... What’s the difference between you and me?”
Riana seemed to have a clear reason, but I had displayed my ignorance, and she hadn’t bothered explaining.
‘I’m more curious about it than you, damn it.’
“Also, why the heck were you following us?”
“Ah... well, I was just c-curious...”
“Being overly curious can make you seem even weirder, so be careful.”
Connor Lint kept pestering me, seemingly convinced that I possessed some unknown pickup skill, and just as I was about to lose my patience and tell him to buzz off...
“... You guys are still talking about this?” Vertus said. Vertus alternated his gaze between me and Connor Lint with a somewhat exasperated expression, then sighed. “It looks like this could go on forever. Both of you, come with me.”
As usual, Vertus led us to the tea-time terrace. Connor Lint seemed slightly nervous about being called over by Vertus just for this matter.
“Lint, you’re curious why female students are friendly with Reinhart, right?”
“Well... yeah.”
“You’re wondering if Reinhart has some special way of speaking or some technique, right?”
“Yes, yes.”
Connor Lint seemed ready to worship at Vertus’s feet if he could reveal that secret. Vertus covered his eyes with his right hand and sighed lightly.
‘What’s this? Does he know something about me that even I don’t? The reason why I seemingly have a good rapport with girls?’
“Lint, don’t take this the wrong way.”
“I won’t. I won’t get offended.”
Vertus lowered the hand that was covering his eyes and looked directly at Connor Lint. His gaze was apologetic.
“Reinhart is handsome. That’s all there is to it.”
There was no other reason. Vertus had put it bluntly.
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