Chapter 21: I Finally Made Contact, But It's Unclear

Author Note:

Remember Kagari's profile: A slight compulsive liar

I Finally Made Contact, But It's Unclear

"What? Seriously?"

After my bath, I returned to my room and checked my phone, which I'd left on my desk. I'd left my contact details there earlier, so I was hoping—well, I wasn't really expecting much—but when I checked, there it was, a message from Hanabi Kagari.

Following the notification that "KAGARI has added you," she sent me a proper message saying, "Are you Tachibana?" and "This is Hanabi Kagari."

Considering how everything I've done for the past month has been a complete failure, this seems strangely honest, or perhaps too matter-of-fact.

Well, I guess this is a step forward.  Thinking that, I opened Kagari's chat.

"Oh..."

[You might be mistaken, but I'm not being bullied.]

[My mother loves me, too.]

[I'm loved more than you, though.]

[Besides, I actually have the best grades in my class. I don't even need to take tests.]

[Don't you know the word 'nuisance' when you come over to people's houses every day and cause trouble?]

To sum it up, I've received about 100 messages that seem to be centered around this guy. The connections between the sentences are hard to follow, and the content itself is barely understandable.

I wouldn't have been able to read this if I hadn't practiced with Suiren.

But the content is pretty bad, or should I say poor. Is this Kagari's tendency to lie that Karen was talking about? It's one of the factors that led to her bullying.

First of all, there's no way Kagari isn't being bullied. Karen was the one bullying her, so there's no way I wouldn't know.

How could I not know how many of your notebooks were wasted and how many of your erasers were hidden?

Next, about the mother part, Kasumi.

I mean, I think familial love is different for each person, right? Really, really. But she definitely doesn't love you. In fact, she's never even loved you. There's no way that psychopath would have any affection for her own daughter. That's why I'm so scared of her and don't like her.

Also, it's pretty strange to say that Kasumi loves Kagari more than she loves me...

As for grades, our school doesn't post grades, so maybe she thought it wouldn't be obvious? But I know I'm probably the best in our class. And Kikka is second. Sumire said Kagari's grades weren't bad either, but I don't think they were on our level yet.

And one last message.

You should get out of the room and go to your mother yourself. It's that person who won't let me escape. Kagari herself said that Kasumi loves her more than she loves her, right? If that's the case, then you should just get out of the room and convince her. If you do that, you don't have to come to school.

Wow, this is pretty cruel.

Of course, Karen would bully a kid who keeps saying things like this. I guarantee it. She is my own child I nurtured since baby, after all.

But how should I reply to this? I have a feeling that whatever I send will have the opposite effect.

Hmm. Well, I guess I'll send something safe for now.

"Um, so... it's something like, 'Sorry for the trouble. Kagari-san, your grades were so good! I'm surprised!' I guess? Sounds nonchalant, huh?... Oh well, here we go."

Sent it with a whoosh. In an instant,

"Wasn't the read receipt too fast!?"

The word "read" appeared next to the message as soon as it was sent. She's really been keeping an eye with this speed for a while. It's been about ten minutes since the last message was sent, so maybe she'd been watching it all this time. It's so boring being a shut-in.

Um, what's this...?

[Yeah, that's right. It's true. I'm amazing. You know that so well.]

Ah... I see. So you're that type of guy, huh? I see.

.....

This is such a pain in the ass.

This kid always runs away if I deny it, but gets cocky if I affirm it. Seriously, how am I supposed to communicate with her?

Of course a girl like that is going to get bullied. I know I shouldn't say this these days, but the bullied kid got bullied because their own problems too.

I think her personality and tendency to lie probably stem from her wanting her mother to notice her. But is she really that desperate to be noticed by her? It seems like a greater tragedy to be noticed by that person than the tragedy of not being noticed by your own mother.

But I guess I can get a sense of her personality, so I think I can manage.

[Kagari-san's so amazing! I really respect you!]

[Maybe that's true, because I'm actually a great guy!]

The key is to flatter her and keep the conversation going, so just keep praising and praising and praising. I feel like a hostess, but my partner is a proud older man.

It's time for the ABCD of the nightlife industry to shine after a long time.

[I thought Yuri-chan was a bad person, but you're actually a good girl! You should have said something! If that were the case, I would have let you into my room sooner!]

[I'm sorry! It's all because I didn't think of it!]

[It's okay, I'll forgive you! I'm a kind person!]

[Thank you! I'm happy!]

[Yeah, it's okay! So, when can we meet? How about tomorrow?]

.....

That's a bit much.

No, I don't know. I wonder.

After a month of things not going well, we've made progress so far, so it should be something to be happy about, right? But this is how it all ended...

I don't know.

I mean, isn't this just like dealing with a dating app or something?

So, what is it?  Maybe if I'd just thrown away my pride and complimented her in front of that door, she'd have opened it for me?

...Huh?!

I barely managed to reply, "I'm looking forward to it!!" and then sulked.