Jaku chara tomozaki kun chapter 2

2
When there’s only one low-level character in the party, his level is gonna skyrocket
Hinami and I were the first to arrive at our meeting place, the Bean Tree sculpture in Omiya Station.

Which is to say, she’d told me to come early.

“Oh man, here we go…”

“What, you’re going to start whining already? Pull yourself together!”

“Come on! Two guys and two girls are about to go shopping, and on top of that, everyone aside from me knows how to do this stuff. If anything, you’re the weird one for telling me not to be nervous…”

“We were supposed to go out to eat. Who’s the one who made this harder on himself, again?”

“Uh…”

I couldn’t say much to that. Hinami grinned triumphantly.

I looked around. People of all ages, including lots of young people, were waiting by the Bean Tree. Unlike me, all of them looked full of energy. They probably all had friends or dates like normal people do, and I bet none of them was nervous about waiting to meet someone… Man, Saitama Prefecture has its fair share of fashion-forward normies…

“For now, just focus on staying calm enough to work on your assignment.”

Apparently, Hinami could see straight into my mind. As usual, she’d given me an assignment to complete while we were out shopping. Pretty tough.

“Damn, you guys are early.”

As I stared off into the distance, Mizusawa arrived. I’m sure I was the only one who noticed Hinami’s facial muscles suddenly activating.

“Ooh, Takahiro’s late!”

“It’s not even time yet!”

“Are you suuuure?”

Hinami was getting playful with Mizusawa. They were being tongue-in-cheek, but since they trusted each other, it was still fun, and fun to watch.

Mizusawa was wearing a white branded hoodie, dark jeans, and red shoes. His expression, the silhouette of his brown hair, the slimness of his torso, and the red shoes all added to the strength of his aura as a normie. Nope, I’m not gonna win this one.

Meanwhile, Hinami—who was chatting pleasantly by his side—was also dressed stylishly. Or maybe it wasn’t her clothes so much as her aura. Anyway, she looked like a celebrity, as she always did. She was wearing dark green wide-leg pants (I think they’re called?) rolled up just to the ankle, white sandals, and on top, a white airy…T-shirt, I guess? Actually, I don’t know what it was, but something airy. I’m not that good at identifying different types of clothes.

I’m wearing the mannequin outfit I bought the other day. At least I know what to say about my own clothes now.

“Hey, I don’t wanna hear about being late from you, Hinami! You were late the other day!”

“I was? Really? I forgot!”

“Well, I didn’t.”

They laughed in unison. Their conversation was totally casual, but I couldn’t believe what I’d just heard. Aoi Hinami was late? In what parallel universe?

“S-sorry!!”

Sinking into my own thoughts, I’d completely logged out of the conversation when Izumi approached. I checked the clock. She was about two minutes late. She was running at full speed.

“Yuzu, watch out! You’re going to trip!” Hinami said, laughing happily.

I looked at her feet. I guess those are heels? They were black and fairly high. She had on a pair of torn jean shorts, and her long, slender legs in them were incredibly sexy. Since the shorts were really short, they offered a generous view of her toned, silky smooth (as far as I could tell) thighs. On top, she had on something black and rather low cut that closer inspection revealed to be see-through at the midriff. Under that, I could make out a similarly low-cut white…something. She had on a necklace, too. She looked surprisingly grown-up, like a sexy woman who likes loud fashion choices. Ironic, given she acts like a kid.

But huh. I guess if you’re running, people will forgive you for being late or even think it’s cute and silly. It made her seem innocent or something… Oh.

I suddenly realized something. That was probably…

“You’re late, missy! I was gonna treat you, but not anymore!”

“What?! …O-okay, I get it!”

“No, no, no, don’t worry about it! Anyway, let’s go!”

Mizusawa seemed to find Izumi incredibly cute right then. It was like she needed protection, like you couldn’t just leave her to her own devices. In other words…Hinami had been late on purpose the other day in order to produce the same effect.

Seriously? Yeah. I can say that for sure because I’ve seen parts of who she really is that I’d rather forget. She’d never be late by mistake, and if it was on purpose, that’s gotta be why.

“I’m ready!”

As the true terror of Aoi Hinami sent a chill down my spine, our shopping expedition began. Wait a second… Had I said a single word since Mizusawa and Izumi arrived?

The first place we headed was the Lumine mall near the Bean Tree.

I had no idea why we were going there—Mizusawa had just said, “So Tomozaki and Izumi are buying presents, right? How about Lumine to start with?” Must be because they have a lot of different stuff.

Right inside the building—which apparently was called Lumine 2—there was a stylish clothing store called Beams, and that was where we went. I have no idea why we chose Beams. Maybe because they have a lot of stuff? I know nothing.

“Hmmmmm…”

As soon as we went into the store, Izumi started eyeing the various bags and wallets and other accessories disdainfully, hmming very pointedly as she did. Hinami followed alongside, looking over the displays, until she gave a soft yelp.

“Ooh, this is cute!”

“Ooh, you’re right! But do you think Shuji would like it?”

Picking up the tan coin pouch, Izumi looked uncertainly at Hinami.

Hinami tilted her head. “Yeah, I dunno.”

“Hey, Hiro,” Izumi called, “what do you think?” Apparently, she calls Mizusawa “Hiro.”

“Not really his style.”

“Yeah, you’re right.”

Izumi dejectedly returned the pouch to its shelf. She looked genuinely disappointed, but she started scanning the displays again with renewed determination. I could tell she was thinking very seriously about Nakamura as she tried to find something. She was frowning intently, but somehow, she still looked silly and fickle. Yet at the same time incredibly focused. Who was this girl in front of me?

But what about me? Just staring at everyone else wouldn’t get me anywhere, and Hinami would yell at me for it later, so I knew I had to take action soon. I timidly crept up to Izumi.

She turned her head and looked me in the eye, dead serious. What?

She parted her lips. “I just don’t know…”

“Th-that’s it?” It was anticlimactic to find that was all that lay behind her grave expression.

“What do you think he’d like…?” she asked.

“Uh, um…”

Izumi was asking for my opinion just like she had everyone else’s, and I appreciated that she didn’t discriminate. The only problem was that I had nothing whatsoever of use to say.

Still, I’d give it my best shot. Incidentally, I have no idea what Nakamura wears when he’s not in school, and almost no idea about his tastes or even his personality, really. All I know is that he’s into Atafami right now and that he kinda hates losing.

I concluded that I’d better start with what I knew about him, or else I wouldn’t be able to say anything at all. Yup, I was screwed. Time for the old fallback—saying what I was thinking.

“Uh, well, if I don’t know what to buy someone, I don’t usually get any ideas by just wandering around stores like this. It’s better to, like, think about what you know about Nakamura. After you come up with an idea of what kind of present to buy him, then you start looking at a bunch of stuff. That’s the only way to do it, at least I think it is…”

My voice trailed off as my confidence ran out, but Izumi murmured encouragingly and looked earnestly at me all the same, and when I was done, she was kind enough to say, “You’re right!” very enthusiastically. You’re okay now, Izumi? You’re not going to buy any of this crap?

“Thanks! I think I’ll ask some questions about him!”

With that, she started to peer around. She was probably searching for Mizusawa or Hinami. Have you ever noticed how weirdly smooth normie movements are? She was mysteriously still, even though she was scouring the store. Eventually, she spotted them at a distance. “Ah!”

For some reason, though, she tapped my cheek. When I turned toward her, she leaned in close to my ear. What is this about? Damn her face is close. How many times are you going to do this?

“Look over there!”

I looked where she was pointing. Mizusawa and Hinami were chatting like the best of friends as they took turns placing hats on each other’s head… And?

“You mean they’re getting along?”

I wasn’t sure why Izumi was looking at me with an extremely excited, scheming look in her eye.

“Well…actually—oh, this is a secret, okay?”

“Oh, yeah, okay.” I hunched over, and her mouth approached my ear.

“I heard they’re dating,” she whispered.

“What?!” I shouted.

“Quiet, stupid!” Izumi hissed.

Apparently, my practice in quick responses had borne fruit; it was a perfect dramatic reaction. Great! Now the salespeople and Mizusawa and Hinami were all staring at me. Less great.

Izumi waved her hands back and forth as if to say nothing fishy was going on, but the two of them were still suspicious, and they started walking toward us with little half-smiles on their faces.

“I’ll tell you the rest later!”

“Uh, okay…,” I whispered.

“It’s nothing!” Izumi said, going up to Hinami and Mizusawa. And me? I was standing rooted to the ground with Izumi’s words echoing in my head.

I heard they’re dating.

So they’re dating. Makes sense. Aoi Hinami’s the perfect heroine; of course she has a boyfriend. Yeah, it would be weird if she was up on her high horse making me get a girlfriend when she wasn’t seeing anyone herself. It’s obvious now.

But something doesn’t sit right. I’m kinda…angry. Maybe because Izumi was being so vague, like she just heard a rumor somewhere. Izumi and Hinami are close, so Izumi could just ask her straight out. Why hasn’t she? I guess that’s it.

Anyway, it didn’t have anything to do with me directly, so I didn’t mind, but something seemed off about this. I don’t like not having the full story. It’s like if someone says, “Hey, I’ve got a secret… No, never mind!” That’s annoying, right? This wasn’t because it was Hinami; it was just annoying in general.

“Tomozaki-kun! We’re leaving!”

“Oh right!!”

Hinami was calling me. Once again, I reacted exaggeratedly. She walked a little closer to me and spoke in a low voice so only I could hear. “You’re acting weird. What were you and Yuzu talking about?”

A shiver went down my spine.

“Uhhh, n-n-nothing,” I replied softly, but I was a quivering mess.

“…Nothing, huh? I hope that’s true.” Even Hinami looked surprised by my stuttering, scratched record routine.

“R-right.”

“More importantly, I haven’t seen any signs that you’re trying to complete your assignment.”

“Oh, uh, right. I’ll do it, don’t worry.”

“I see… Okay, then.”

She must have decided any more conversation would either be pointless or make the others wonder, because she walked back to Mizusawa’s side. A second later, she was chatting happily again. Both of them seemed to be having a good time.

Come on, Tomozaki, snap out of it! I wasn’t here to observe Hinami’s chameleon act. I had an assignment to complete. I was here for the EXP.

Forcing myself to concentrate, I thought back over our meeting the previous day to remind myself of my tasks.

* * *

“Your assignment for our outing is to make at least two successful suggestions.”

“…Meaning?”

Having received my assignment from Hinami, I asked for the details.

“What I said. Listen, when you’re out with a group, you’ve got to make decisions involving everyone, like where to go, what to eat, and when to go home.”

“Yeah, I guess so.”

True, assuming everyone didn’t just go wherever they wanted to eat.

“Which means one person has to make a suggestion, and everyone else has to go along with it. Even if the other people wanted to go there to start with, someone has to say it, right?”

“Right.” True enough—someone had to break the ice.

“So a successful suggestion is when you propose an idea for where to go or what to eat and get the rest of us to accept it. And your job is to do that two or more times.”

So that’s what she meant. Got it.

“I see…but I have a question,” I said, raising my hand.

“Yes, Tomozaki-kun?”

She pointed at me like some sexy schoolteacher. Even though I was the one who started it, I was a little embarrassed. The teacher act really worked for her.

“Um, why am I getting this assignment?”

“Great question, Tomozaki-kun. There are two main reasons.”

Hinami raised two fingers next to her face. She was still talking in that grown-up way. It was hard not to listen when she sounded so sexy.

“T-two?”

“First, it’ll give you practice in taking the initiative in a group setting.”

“Taking the initiative?” I didn’t quite get it.

“Bottom line, making a successful suggestion means you’re temporarily controlling the mood of the group.”

“Um…?” I thought that over.

Making a successful suggestion was controlling the mood?

“We talked about mood before, right? And I told you that mood provides the standard for judging good and bad in a given group, remember?”

“Oh yeah, you did say that.”

I’d experienced it myself during the Erika Konno incident.

Basically, mood was the standard for the value judgments of a group.

So her point was…? I tried my best to put together the two clues she’d given me.

I think I get it? Maybe?

“By getting everyone to think my suggestion is good…I’m controlling the mood?”

Hinami grinned. “Hexactly.”

“There it is.”

“In other words,” Hinami said, touching my chest with her fingertip. “Advancing your suggestions gives you practice in manipulating the mood of the group.”

Although my heart was pounding at the unexpected touch, I put on a mask of calm. “Um, it’s so I can learn to control the mood?”

“Right. That’s why you’re going to advance your suggestions,” Hinami said, removing her finger from my chest. “And do you know why you should learn to control mood?”

Trying to ignore the lingering sensation of her lifting her finger, I answered her question.

“…Because it’s part of being a normie?”

“Hexactly.”

“You’re really letting them fly today, huh?”

“Basically, normies are the ones who control the mood, right?” Hinami continued, ignoring my comment.

Whatever. I thought of a couple of people who tended to control the mood. She was right—they were all normies.

“True…they’re usually the ones running the show, like the leader or the boss. Seems to me they’re usually top-tier normies.”

“Right. People like Nakamura or Erika Konno or me.”

“Yep, you’re amazing.”

I’m used to her tooting her own horn. At this point, I’m just like, Suit yourself.

“That’s why this assignment is the best way of becoming a boss normie.”

“Makes sense,” I said before suddenly coming to my senses. “…Uh, are you telling me to become a boss?”

Nope, no way, no can do. Obviously.

To my surprise, Hinami shook her head. “I wouldn’t tell you to suddenly become the boss of a normie group. I’m just saying you should gradually build up your skills so you can get there eventually.”

“Gradually…”

And we’re assuming that’s possible…?

“Yes. By getting people to accept your suggestions, you’ll get used to manipulating the mood. From there, you just gradually get better at doing it in more difficult situations.”

“Uh, really?” So… “That means there are more difficult moods to manipulate?”

“Obviously. It’s still too early for you to really see it, but you can have total control over the mood of a larger group, or you can maintain control for more than just one situation. There’s all sorts of things you can do.”

Big groups and longer periods? I tried to think of examples, but none came to mind.

“…For example?”

“Like the thing where uncool girls can’t wear the necktie at our school. No one goes around giving warnings, but a lot of people have accepted that rule for a long time.”

“Oh, that.”

Of course, as she explained, she herself was wearing a necktie. Anyway, I get the point. That totally is a thing—an invisible social rule that a large group takes for granted.

“By repeatedly manipulating the mood of a large group, you instill a certain norm. Once that happens, it solidifies so you don’t need to manipulate it anymore. If you fully develop your skills, you’ll be able to pull it off.” Hinami smiled theatrically.

“…I see.”

I thought it over, even though the implication behind her expression and explanation scared me. By controlling the mood over time, you changed the group’s basic norms until they were so taken for granted, you didn’t have to do anything anymore. Basically, it was brainwashing.

“And people don’t just manipulate the mood at schools. They do the same thing with companies, city governments, and even whole countries.”

“S-so…”

Making a small group do something one time, like while shopping with friends, was the easiest example of the phenomenon. Doing the same thing to create a widespread norm was the difficult version. As the scale got larger, so did the extent and strength and staying power of the manipulation.

“So…if you take it to its logical extreme, you can make something like a cult.” Hinami grinned.

“A cult? What are you talking about?”

“Huh?”

“It happens with religions, too, Tomozaki-kun.”

“Oh…”

That sounded dangerous.

“But that’s the general idea. It’s not just religion. No matter how big or small the group, you can find this mood manipulation everywhere. No group can exist without it. That’s true at school, in families, and even for the two of us right now. As a species, we’re unable to function without standards to judge our actions by.”

“I—I see.”

It made sense, even though I was getting overwhelmed. She was acting like she’d discovered the truth of all the mysteries of life.

“You understand now, right? If you practice manipulating the mood on the smallest scale, soon you’ll be able to do it on a slightly larger scale and then an even larger one. As you progress, you’ll be able to control the mood of the group more and more, which is to say, you’ll become the boss of the group—and a true normie.”

“So that’s the deal, huh?”

“If I told you right off the bat to take over the group, you wouldn’t know how, but if I tell you to advance your suggestions for where to go or what to eat, you have an idea of what to do, right?”

“That is true.”

“Once you get the hang of it, you start doing it more and more—changing norms in bigger groups—and then suddenly becoming a normie doesn’t seem so impossible. Got it?”

It sounded simple and difficult at the same time.

“Yeah. Hexactly.”

“That’s not how you use it.”

Hinami looked extremely displeased. Apparently, the intricacies of hexactly were perilous indeed.

“Um…what about the second reason?”

“We’ll come back to ‘hexactly’ later. The second reason has to do with responsibility.”

“Responsibility?” Yet another fancy word.

“It’s very simple. Look, you’re alone at school, right?”

“Ouch, geez.”

She’d just landed a surprise right hook.

“This is important. When you’re by yourself, you don’t need to take responsibility for other people. Basically, you’re the only one who experiences the consequences of your actions, right?”

“Huh? Well, I guess so.” If you’re alone, then yeah.

“If you go into a restaurant without looking it up first and the food’s lousy, you’re the only one who’ll be upset. If you go into a random store to go shopping and they don’t have what you want, you’ve only wasted your own time. You haven’t dragged down anyone else with you.”

“Very true.”

That was the good thing about being a loner. One coin, two sides.

“But if you join a group as a normie and start making decisions, that isn’t the case anymore.”

“…Huh? In other words?”

“If you suggest that everyone eat at a certain place and it’s not good, it’ll be your fault. If you suggest that everyone shop at a certain store and they don’t have good stuff, you take the fall.”

“Oh…” True enough.

“Of course, everyone agreed to your suggestion, so logically everyone should share the blame, but all the same, the general feeling tends to be that the person who suggested it is the one who messed up, right?”

“I can see that.”

“And you’re a loner, right?”

“That again?”

“I want you to directly experience the responsibility that comes with decision-making because you haven’t dealt with that. And I want you to get used to it. To take it a little further, I want you to be able to work comfortably with it. This assignment is the first step toward that goal.”

“…I understand.” I nodded, satisfied with her explanation.

“Basically, the goal is to drag the loneliest loner out of the warm bath of loneliness you’ve been soaking in all this time. Because it’s actually a putrid swamp.”

“Was that really necessary?”

Hinami can never stop at a simple explanation.

* * *

So now I had to convince everyone to accept at least two of my own suggestions. This was no time to be observing Hinami and Mizusawa and speculating.

We’d left Beams and were now walking around trying to decide where to head next. Ahead of me from left to right were Mizusawa, Hinami, and Izumi. Izumi was walking the tiniest bit behind Mizusawa and Hinami, who were chatting happily as before. Izumi was alternately joining in their conversation and glancing back at me.

Huh? Wait a second… Is someone worrying about me?

Uh-oh, this was bad. Wandering off in thought was fine and dandy, but not if it made other people worry about me or spoiled their fun. Up till this point, keeping to myself hadn’t caused any problems, but now I was feeling responsible… Hey, was this what Hinami meant about responsibility?! She was right! I never felt this way as a loner…!

I had to do something so Izumi would stop worrying about me. I picked up my pace until I was walking next to her.

“…This really is tough,” I commented, with a carefully composed expression of natural calm.

“Sure is!” Izumi chirped. “Did you decide on something yet?”

Oh yeah, I was supposed to buy something, too. Assignments, presents…I was drowning in things to do.

“Not yet. You?”

“Me neither. I asked Hiro earlier, but… Oh, I mean Mizusawa!”

“Oh right.”

She was worried I didn’t get that Hiro was Mizusawa. I did. Still a nice gesture.

“He said Shuji’s been worried about breaking out lately and I should give him acne cream. Man, he’d be so mad!”

“Ha-ha-ha.” Mostly I was laughing about the fact that Nakamura cared about breaking out. “But the general idea could work, right? Getting him something he already wants, I mean.”

“Yeah, but…I don’t know what that would be. Do you…? No, you wouldn’t.”

“Hey, don’t give up on me before you even ask!”

Hinami disses me so often, I’m getting better at comebacks. At least when I’m with friends.

“Ah-ha-ha! But you really don’t know, do you?”

“Um…” As I thought about it, I glanced at Hinami and Mizusawa. They looked as happy as ever. “I know he likes Atafami… He’s strong, he’s handsome, he’s got a normie hairdo…”

“Hey, wait a minute…” Izumi had latched onto something.

“Huh? What? Normie hair… Oh!”

A light bulb went on. Speaking of hair…that could work.

Izumi and I looked at each other and spoke at the same time.

“Hair wax!”

“Those clip things for your bangs!”

“…What?”

Izumi looked at me again. “No…nothing,” I mumbled incoherently.

“Tomozaki, what did you just say?”

I’m not sure why, but I knew she would think I was weird if I told the truth. Um, please stop staring! “Nothing…”

“You said those clip things for your bangs, didn’t you?”

Guess she heard me. She was trying not to laugh.

“No, I mean, I’ve got this picture in my head of popular guys pinning their bangs out of the way or something…”

“But Shuji’s hair is short!”

“Very true.”

The strength of her argument was obvious. Still, there was something about the way we’d spoken at the same time, something about the rhythm of it, that made me feel like I might be getting a little better at conversation. Me, of all people.

“…Ah-ha-ha! But seriously, wouldn’t wax be a good present?!”

“Y-yeah, I think so!”

I mean, if I had to choose between good and bad, I’d say good. If I had to choose between good and I don’t know, though, I’d go with I don’t know.

“Hey, Hiro! What about hair wax?”

“Ooh, good idea! He’s got a pretty good collection!”

“Oh…then he might already have the one I get.”

“Nah, I probably have an idea of which ones he doesn’t have yet.”

“Really?! Wow, Hiro!”

“I’m the one who taught him about it in the first place.”

“No way! Oh right, you want to be a beautician!”

“Yup. There’s a kind of pricey brand that I don’t think he has. He likes to buy a bunch of cheap ones and try them all out.”

“Really! You’d think with how important he acts, he’d be less of a cheapskate.”

“Not really, Yuzu. With wax, more expensive doesn’t always mean better quality. It’s more important to find the one that’s right for you. Just like girlfriends.”

“Shut up, playboy! Guys like you don’t know anything.”

“I’m not a playboy! You’d never guess it, of course.”

“Why’s that?”

“Well, my hair, for one thing.”

“You think you have playboy hair?”

“I mean, when I go to the salon and they ask me what style I want, I tell them to give me the player style.”

“Ah-ha-ha! I don’t believe you!”

“It’s true!”

Yuzu and Mizusawa broke out laughing. Watching their exchange made me think about a few things. Getting good at conversation? Who am I kidding? I just survived because Yuzu was so good herself. You’re still a noob, Tomozaki.

* * *

From there, we went to the Tokyu Hands store on the west side of Omiya Station, which according to Mizusawa was the place to go for hair wax. Actually, I realized, this was the second time he’d pushed through a suggestion, the first being Beams. Both very naturally, too. Witness the power of the normie.

The four of us took the elevator up to the men’s hair product section on the fourth floor. A whole lot of waxes in fancy boxes were lined up on the shelves.

“Wonder which one of these you should get,” Hinami said to Izumi.

“No idea. Hiro?”

“I don’t think he has any of these.” Mizusawa pointed to a line of wax in tubes.

“What do those numbers mean? How stiff it is?”

“Yeah. Two is soft, and ten is stiff.”

“Which one is the best?”

“Depends on your hair type and length. Like, here…” Mizusawa squeezed some number 8 wax out of a sample tube. “Tomozaki, help me out.”

“Huh?”

Mizusawa gestured for me to come closer. I obeyed.

“Ooh, time for the Takahiro hair show!” Hinami smiled as she urged him on. What? Hair show?

“For example, Tomozaki’s hair is on the longer side, but it’s soft, so I’ll use number eight, the second stiffest one. Of course, it’s better to try them all. Your best bet is to get them to do some tests at the salon and use whatever they recommend. The person who cut Tomozaki’s hair is hella good, too.”

“Uh, um…?”

“Just listen. For this amount of hair, you need a dollop the size of your pinkie fingernail. Put it on your palm and rub it around like this. And by the way, you really should start with wet hair and use a blow-dryer. How you dry it determines much of the result. What I’m doing now is an emergency intervention.”

“Wow, really?!” Hinami was acting impressed, but I knew it was fake. She knew all of this already, I was sure.

“You take this and apply it evenly to all the hair except the bangs. I’ve heard some people think they only need to put it on the part they want to set, like the top or the sides, but that’s wrong. You put it all over. You just gotta be careful not to put too much on your bangs, ’cause they’ll look greasy.”

“Oh…”

I stood in shock, listening passively to Mizusawa’s spiel.

“With hair this length, I think a bit of wave would look good. So I’m gonna apply the wax all over and then scrunch like this to separate it into sections.”

I heard a few well-timed scrunches from my hair.

“Ooh!” Izumi seemed to be enjoying herself. What the hell was going on?

“Uh, what do I look like right now?”

“Just wait. This is the second crucial point. People tend to forget this when they’re doing their own hair, or they might not have ever learned it, but it’s really important to pay attention to the back of your head. ’Course, you can’t see it in a mirror.”

“Really?” Hinami exclaimed, nodding attentively. I took it as a signal that she wanted me to pay attention to this information.

“The back of your head affects how you look from the side and the back. As they say, the side profile is especially important for guys, so you want to make sure you look good from that angle when you’re doing your hair. To be more specific…” Mizusawa drew a semicircle in the air with his palm. “You want to puff out the back a little!”

“Puff out?”

Even I was getting more and more fascinated by Mizusawa’s lecture. Yeah, he was a good talker.

“You’ll see it if you look at the profile of a foreigner or a manga character, but heads look more attractive when the back is rounded. You can even just Google it. Problem is, a lot of Japanese people have flat heads in back, so you’ve got to create the shape with hairstyling.”

“Oh…”

“Hiro, you sound like a door-to-door salesman!” Izumi interrupted teasingly.

“Shut up! Anyway, you lift this part up… I’d really like to use hairspray at this point to set it, but since we’re inside, it should be fine for a little bit. Okay, done.”

“Oh wow! Tomozaki, that style looks surprisingly good on you!” Izumi’s eyes were sparkling.

“I didn’t need the ‘surprisingly.’” I’ve got comebacks to insults, if nothing else. Just throw me under the bus, and you’ll never have to worry about an awkward silence afterward.

Hinami looked at me with a bright smile. “That’s so cool! Looks like you have a special skill, too, Takahiro!”

“And you’ve got a big mouth, Aoi.”

Yeah, they’re definitely close.

Anyway, the aspiring beautician had just done my hair.

“Uh, what does my head look like right now?”

“You can take a look later in the bathroom, dude.” Mizusawa had a big grin on his face.

“It really does look good! You should do it like that for school!” Izumi gazed intently at my hair. She seemed to mean it.

“Oh yeah, maybe.” The surprise compliment embarrassed me. I don’t know how to respond when people aren’t ragging on me. “Um, uh, weren’t you getting a present…?”

I changed the subject to something less embarrassing as quickly as possible. Izumi’s present!

“Oh right! So which one would be good for Shuji?”

“Hmm… Well, his hair is short, so probably this one.” Mizusawa picked up a tube of number 10 and handed it to Izumi.

“Okay, I’ll get this! I’m going to pay. Wait for me, okay?”

She rushed over to the register. I could tell she was trying to avoid making the rest of us wait for her even a second more than necessary. If it had been Erika Konno, I bet she’d walk to the register as regally and slowly as a queen.

“Dude, your hair was so easy to do. Did you just get it cut?”

“Uh, about two weeks ago, I guess?”

“No way! Where’d you get it done?”

“I think the place was called—”

Hinami’s shoe tapped my shoe ever so lightly. A second after I said the name of the salon, I realized she had been telling me not to say it.

“Yeah! I told him about that place!” Hinami broke in, immediately after I answered and before Mizusawa could react. She did it so naturally, too.

“Okay, makes sense. I was just thinking it was the same place you go. So you told him about it?”

“Yeah! He said he was looking for a good place, so I gave him their name. You get points for recommending people, too!”

“Ooh, devious!”

They laughed together. I laughed, too, a few seconds too late.

Uh, okay. I just screwed up, didn’t I?

It’s weird that Aoi and I go to the same salon, and I’d have a hard time passing it off as a coincidence. So I couldn’t just say the name of the salon without mentioning Hinami had told me about it. That’s why she’d said it herself the instant I said the name, to avoid suspicion.

Once Mizusawa had already said “Hey, isn’t that the place you go, Aoi?” it would have been too late; I should have been the one to mention the connection in the first place. Plus, Mizusawa is sharp. As I rebuked myself for the slip, I was again reminded how impressive Hinami’s skills really were. That was a split-second decision.

“Got it!” Izumi returned, beaming.

“Should we get going?” Probably to avoid further questioning, Hinami took the lead in getting us moving. There was an escalator nearby, so we took that down.

That’s when it happened.

I got on the escalator, not noticing the mirror on the wall alongside it. I glanced nonchalantly in that direction and saw myself from head to foot.

I’m fairly hard on myself; that’s how I got so good at Atafami. I’m very careful not to be proud of myself when I don’t deserve it, especially when it comes to my looks, and I always try to judge myself based on objective standards. So I don’t think this was a misjudgment.

That guy in the mirror wasn’t a normie.

But he was walking alongside two cool-looking girls and one cool guy; he had good posture thanks to tensing his butt muscles; his chest was pushed out; his mouth was turned up; he was wearing stylish clothes he’d bought off a mannequin; he had well-shaped eyebrows; and the hair on his head had been styled by a classmate who was an aspiring beautician.

He didn’t look like a pathetic geek. At least not to me.

* * *

The four of us took the escalator all the way to the first floor. They were all saying things like “You really found something good” and “Where to next?” and “What’re you gonna buy, Tomozaki?”

I couldn’t do any better than vague answers like “Oh, uh-huh.” I was off in space.

My excitement from a minute earlier hadn’t quite faded yet.

Hinami must have noticed something was off. “It’s a tough choice, huh?” she said playfully. “Wanna stop by Starbucks or somewhere and rest for a couple minutes? I’m exhausted!”

“Ooh, good idea! I want a matcha Frappuccino!” Izumi responded, but I barely heard her.

I didn’t look like a geek.

For a second, I hadn’t even recognized myself. I was thinking, Oh, there goes another normal-looking high school kid; go to hell, normies, when I realized it was me. I know; it’s kinda silly to me, too. After all, I’m doing exactly what Hinami taught me with regard to my posture and expression, so of course it works, and as for my eyebrows and hair, they were done by a pro and a pro-hopeful, so naturally, the results are good. And the clothes, well, I just borrowed them from a well-dressed mannequin in a stylish store.

Put all that together, and it doesn’t matter what state the original was in—the end result won’t be horrible. I understood that.

But I was still happy.

My sister asked me if I’d been reading books on how to not be a geek, and Mizusawa said the way I talked was more upbeat now. I’d been getting comments already, and every one of them made me happy. But this was different.

The change was totally obvious to me. I felt like I’d accomplished something. Even I was surprised by how much that little realization reverberated in my heart.

“Tomozaki-kun, what’s wrong?”

“Hinami…”

Hinami had dropped back to my side to talk to me. Given the circumstances, I couldn’t tell her what I was thinking, so I just shook my head. That clearly wasn’t enough for her, but she quickly hid it behind another expression.

“Come on!” she said with her usual deliberate cheeriness.

“Sorry, I’m coming.”

I imitated her and answered as brightly as I could manage. I started walking until I was right beside her again.

“I’m going to keep at it.”

“Huh?”

I’d whispered so quietly, only she could hear me. She seemed a little confused, but I didn’t mind.

* * *

“Uh, I’ll have a Caramel Macchiato, in a—a Tall?”

“One Tall Caramel Macchiato?”

“Uh, yeah!”

Everyone knows it’s easy to screw up a Starbucks order, but the truly terrifying thing is that even if you try to take charge of the situation, the subtleties of your response when you have to make a split-second decision reveal your Starbucks virginity. In my case, even though I’d never ordered a Tall before, I said it like I knew all about it, so when the barista detected my inexperience, they also saw I was trying to pretend I knew the lingo. Okay, what am I talking about? I’m worrying about this too much.

But honestly, I felt so out of place in there, even the little things started to bother me. The other customers weren’t as elitist as I’d expected, but that wasn’t the problem. It was the part-time workers with their “Look at me! Everything is awesome!” attitude. The sunny mood was so extreme, I felt like they were explicitly rejecting me for being gloomy. If it weren’t for the sense of accomplishment I’d experienced a few minutes earlier, I think I would have run out the door.

I moved over to the drink pickup counter, got my macchiato, and headed to the table Mizusawa had saved for us. Izumi and Hinami were behind me. Both of them were scrutinizing the menu with great seriousness. That was typical for Hinami, but didn’t Izumi already say she wanted the matcha something-or-other?

“Good work.”

“Oh, right.”

Mizusawa was already sitting down. There was a sofa with two chairs facing it—just enough room for four people. Mizusawa was sitting in one of the chairs sipping something brown with cream on top.

I faced a difficult decision.

Where should I sit?

I didn’t have much time to decide. If I stood here hesitating, Mizusawa would inevitably ask me what was wrong, and Hinami would yell at me for that. I kept walking toward him, giving myself a window of only a few seconds between seeing the table and reaching my seat. My only option was to choose a seat based on raw instinct.

I went for the sofa seat kitty-corner from Mizusawa in order to put a little distance between myself and his normie aura. Diagonal lines are the longest.

“Whew, I’m beat.”

I wasn’t especially tired, but I wanted to try saying it anyway. In my mind, normies say stuff like that all the time, so I would start by copying that.

“Ha-ha-ha. We haven’t even walked that much yet.”

“Yeah, guess not.”

Well, that was a quick parry on his part. Patting myself on the back for failing at a conversation about being tired, I began to review my situation. Calmly.

Given our arrangement, wasn’t Izumi likely to sit next to me?

Even if we sat beside each other every day at school, sitting next to each other on a sofa meant something different. There was the issue of how close she’d be, and on top of that, she was wearing…what she was wearing today. Especially with the chest part. I’d be in serious trouble if I got…you know.

“Did you decide what you’re getting Nakamura?”

“Uh, yeah…kind of.”

“Really?”

Actually, I’d decided a couple minutes earlier. But right then, I was more worried about who would get to the table next. I glanced at the register. Someone was walking toward us. It was Hinami. Hey, over here! I’m not ready for Izumi to sit next to me yet!

“So what are you getting?”

“Uh, well…”

Just as I was about to answer, Hinami arrived at the table and plopped right down next to Mizusawa. Yeah, that’s what I expected. She wanted to put me through a test. That decided it: Izumi was sitting next to me. I was nervous.

“Ooh, Takahiro, that looks good!” Hinami was looking at Mizusawa’s drink.

“Don’t think I’m giving you any.”

“I didn’t ask you for any!”

Still as chummy as ever. She touched his shoulder, too. Maybe she sat over there because she’s so close with him? Or maybe not? Doesn’t matter anyway.

“Actually, yours looks amazing. What’d you get?”

Mizusawa peered at her drink with interest. The cup she placed on the table was topped with whipped cream flecked with black powder and drizzled with chocolate syrup, and underneath that was a slushy white liquid with cookies mixed in.

She raised it smugly to face level. “A tiramisu Frappuccino.”

“Tiramisu? They have those?”

“There’s that baked cheesecake frap on the summer menu, right? I asked for a shot of espresso and some chocolate sauce, and then I put some cocoa powder on myself. My own secret menu item!”

“No way. Looks so good…”

“Right?”

“But what about the calories?”

“C’mon, you can’t count calories at Starbucks! …Awww. Guess I better go running later.”

“Ha-ha-ha! Props to you for running at all.”

Who was this girl? I almost burst out laughing as I glanced at Hinami. Her and her cheese… Better not smile too much, though, or else she’ll kick me again.

“And don’t think I didn’t notice you getting cheese again.”

“Shut up, Takahiro! It’s none of your business!”

“What?” Before I could stop myself, I’d reacted.

“Huh? What, Tomozaki?”

“Oh…nothing.”

Brushing over Mizusawa’s question, I focused on the sweetness of my Caramel Macchiato to center myself again. Damn, it was good. It slid down easy once my tongue was numbed by the sugar overload. Wait, that’s not the point here. Uh…oh right. What Mizusawa just said.

That caught me off guard.

I thought I was the only one who knew about Hinami’s weakness for cheese. Guess not.

There’s no reason she’d hide it from other people, so anyone she’d gone out to eat with multiple times would know about it. Including Mizusawa.

Actually, Mizusawa had probably been out to eat with her a lot more than I had, which meant he probably knew about her cheese addiction better than I did. After all, they hung out so much, people thought they were dating. I’d clearly misinterpreted my position.

Whatever. I’d reacted, but I was just a little surprised. That’s all. That’s all.

“Oh, I almost got the Caramel Macchiato, too!”

With that, Izumi sat down next to me without a moment’s hesitation. Don’t normies worry about where they sit? Or are they just good at hiding it? Or do I just not notice the signs of their concern?

Oh right!

“So you got the matcha one in the end?” I asked.

“What can I say?”

She smiled smugly at me, and I couldn’t figure out why. Did she think I was giving her a compliment?

“Did you decide what to buy?” she asked, setting her drink on the table and leaning forward to sip it. Every time she did, I could obviously see down her shirt. I tried not to pay attention, but her clothes were even tighter than her school uniform, which made her boobs look even bigger. I found something else to look at as I answered.

“Uh…pretty much.”

“Really?! Tell me, tell me!”

“Oh yeah, what did you decide on?”

“I’m so curious!”

My head was spinning from the barrage of questions from three normies, so I bucked the pressure by earnestly explaining my thought process. Hey, if I’m explaining something I’ve already thought through, I can even do it around normies!

After I was finished…

“That’s, uh…” Mizusawa was struggling to find a response.

“I don’t know what to say,” Izumi said, shifting her eyes away.

“…Only you, Tomozaki-kun!” Hinami said, kindly tying everyone’s comments together with her own indirect remark. Very impressive display of skill. Thank you very much for not hurting me.

Still, it’s just about the only thing I can give him. Hinami hadn’t sent me any signals slapping down my idea, so all was well, right?

Well, this is my version of fair play.

We finished up our break and headed to the electronics store, and I bought my present.

When the four of us left the store, Izumi and I had both bought our presents, so the day’s goal had been accomplished.

Speaking of goals, I had naturally advanced my suggestion of going to the electronics store, leaving me with one more hurdle to meet my minimum target. The whole thing hadn’t made much of a wave. Was this easier than I thought? Could I just keep going along these lines?

Okay, I got this. I’ll just think of what to do next and suggest it to everyone.

Problem was…I couldn’t think of any good ideas.

Oh. Before, I was able to suggest something because I had the goal of buying a present in mind, but when no such goal existed, it was hard to say what I wanted to do.

For example, I go to the arcade a lot, but I wasn’t sure if that was a good place for these three. Okay, how about getting some food? We just went to Starbucks, so some people might not be hungry. Who was I to suggest eating out anyway?

I was having trouble even finding something to suggest, let alone making everyone go along with it.

“Okay, what next? Is everyone hungry?” It was Mizusawa. So that’s how you do it. If you don’t know if everyone is hungry, you ask. So obvious.

“Not really,” Hinami said.

“I’m getting there!” Izumi said.

“I’m fairly hungry,” I added.

“Okay…” Mizusawa hesitated for a few seconds. “I know a pizza place with killer cheese. Wanna go?”

“For sure,” Hinami said right away, even though she was the only one who said she wasn’t hungry.

“What about you guys?”

“Pizza sounds great!”

“Fine by me.”

“Okay, it’s decided!”

As I watched Mizusawa succeed with yet another of his suggestions, I wondered what the hell the difference between him and me was.

* * *

After we finished eating pizza, we genuinely had nothing left to do, so the mood drifted toward splitting up. Incidentally, when Hinami was eating the pizza, she didn’t have that incredibly adorable smile on her face, which makes me think she didn’t like it all that much. Guess not all cheeses are created equal. To me, it was your basic pizza.

We made our way back to Omiya Station and went through the ticket gates. Izumi was taking the Takasaki Line, while the rest of us were taking the Saikyo Line.

“That was fun! See you later!”

Izumi waved good-bye to the three of us. We waved back. Since it was Izumi, I imagined she included me in the “fun” part, too. I swallowed back tears, wanting to soothe her and reassure her that she didn’t have to make such an effort. Oh geez.

Mizusawa, Hinami, and I headed for the Saikyo Line and chatted about random stuff while we waited for the train. The conversation was around 40 percent Mizusawa, 40 percent Hinami, 10 percent me, and 10 percent the station announcer. Not bad numbers.

After a couple minutes, the train came. We got on, and after a couple more minutes, we got to my stop, Kitayono.

“Well, see you later.”

“Later, dude.”

“Bye, Tomozaki-kun.”

They watched me get off, and the door shut behind me. I glanced back casually. Through the window, I could see Hinami’s happy smile as she talked to Mizusawa, pulling away from me with ever greater speed.

…Come on. What is that about?!

But anyway, the shopping trip was finally over.

Ultimately, I had only made one successful suggestion—going to the electronics store—meaning I hadn’t reached my assigned goal. I knew I should be thinking about why I’d failed, but something else was bothering me just the tiniest bit.

I agonized over it for a while and eventually decided there was nothing unusual in asking a question, so I arrived at a course of action I probably wouldn’t have taken before. I opened LINE.

Fumiya Tomozaki: Who’d you hear the rumor about Hinami and Mizusawa from?

Yuzu-san: Thought you might be wondering!

After a bunch more texts, she finally told me she’d heard it from someone in Erika Konno’s group. She didn’t know if it was true. Pfft. Well, whatever.

Nakamura’s birthday was on Wednesday, July 27. I was already getting nervous.

* * *

“I’m sure you’ve been considering why you were unable to complete your assignment, yes?”

It was Monday morning, two days after I’d bought Nakamura’s present. We were in Sewing Room #2. The morning meeting began with Hinami’s question, and her voice was a little scarier than usual.

“Um, it was easier than I expected to get us to go to the electronics store, so I guess I got overly confident…”

“And before that?”

“Huh?”

“Before we went to the electronics store. That was the middle of the day, right? As far as I could tell, you didn’t even try to suggest anything before that.”

“Uh, um…” I shifted my gaze away from her. “Mizusawa just kept coming up with stuff…”

“And you didn’t foresee that?”

“Foresee what?”

“That if Mizusawa was there, that would happen. You didn’t even consider it?”

“Uh, no, it’s just that…”

She’s right; I could have predicted that…but I’m so new to all of this! I got overwhelmed!

“I see. Well, anyway. You of all people should know you won’t gain any of the EXP right there in front of you if you hang back and don’t participate in the battle.”

“I-I’m sorry.”

“…Honestly, I do sometimes give you assignments that I expect you to fail at purely so you can learn from that failure, but I didn’t expect you to have trouble clearing this one… I was going by your current ability and attitude, but I may need to revise my assessment.”

The flicker of disappointment in her words hit hard.

“I understand. I’ll give it my all from now on.”

Actually, I’d been making an effort to go out and grind for EXP recently, and I sensed that Hinami had given me some credit for that. Now I’d gone and betrayed her expectations.

I knew I hadn’t taken proactive measures this time. Why not? Part of it was the nervousness of being around three normies, but what was I thinking about while we were shopping? Oh right. What Izumi said about Hinami and Mizusawa…

“Hey, Hinami…”

“What? You aren’t going to make me lose even more faith in you, are you?”

Hinami’s sharp gaze was discouraging.

“…Never mind.” Yeah, it was dumb to worry about that. Not worth asking about. Forget it.

“What?”

“Nothing…” It wasn’t important.

“…Okay. Anyway, did you notice or learn or wonder about anything while we were shopping? That’s what matters.”

I refocused my attention and thought back to the shopping trip. The first thing that came to mind was my reflection in the mirror.

“I think what struck me most was that my appearance…is improving a little,” I offered somewhat hesitantly.

“Huh,” Hinami said, smiling kindly. “That’s progress.”

“But…it’s just my own impression.”

“That’s important, too. Visible changes improve your motivation and assertiveness. It’s exciting when you finally start doing three-digit damage, right? Those obvious turning points are important for inspiring you to continue.”

As usual, she only looked happy when she was talking about games.

“Ha-ha, yeah. Same when you master a new skill.”

“Yeah! ’Specially a big AOE spell!” Hinami was getting as excited as a little kid, then she coughed. “Of course, as long as I’m watching, I won’t let you slack off whether you’re motivated or not.”

And the coach from hell was back.

“I’m not gonna slack off! I want to do this!”

“Really? Well, in the end, your own motivation is what matters most. When it comes to changing yourself, your actions are less important than how you feel about the little things that happen around you—your frame of mind.”

“Huh. You really think so?”

“I do. Especially at first. Like how in the tutorial you sometimes start out with crazy equipment that gives you EXP just for walking around or something. Right now, you’re in the tutorial. Where you are, getting minor EXP in everyday situations is effective.”

“H-huh.”

There was the happy face again. She really is a gaming freak.

“So you didn’t have any observations related to the assignment? Any thoughts?”

“Let me think…,” I said, pausing for a minute before continuing. “Since I wasn’t able to make any solid suggestions, I thought a lot about the difference between Mizusawa and me. I noticed that most of his suggestions had substance.”

“Substance?”

“Like, he suggested we go to Beams, and when we went in there, it really was a stylish store with lots of fancy stuff. And when he suggested the pizza place, he was considering how much you like cheese…”

Hinami looked at me blankly. “Hey, Tomozaki-kun. Are you feeling sick today?”

“Huh?”

“You’re being less objective than usual. Think a little harder.”

“About what?”

“I’d say it’s the opposite.”

“The opposite?”

As I tried to figure out what she meant, she put her finger to her lips and frowned.

“Or maybe shopping was just too much for you…”

“What are you saying?”

“Let’s take Mizusawa’s first suggestion, Beams. How was that place, really?”

“Um, I think it was a nice store… Of course, it was too expensive and fancy for me, ha-ha—”

Hinami suddenly reached out and pinched my lips shut, cutting off my pathetic laugh.

“Mmph?!”

Don’t touch my mouth like that! It was my first time! Be gentle!

“That’s not what I meant. How was it as a place to buy a present for Nakamura?”

Hinami’s face was still blank. She released my lips, but they still felt weird.

“…Uh, um, well, now that you mention it…we didn’t buy anything there, but it wasn’t that bad, right?”

Hinami sighed at my noncommittal answer. “Listen. The stuff they have there, especially the accessories you could give someone as a present? It’s all great, but none of it fits Nakamura.”

“R-really?” I hadn’t realized that.

“…Well, it would have been hard for you to see that. After all, when it comes to clothes, you only know how to buy the whole mannequin. You’ll understand in time. But what about the pizza?”

“What do you mean?”

“What did you think of that place?” The question was a test. “You didn’t have any opinions after eating there?”

“Oh,” I said, realizing what she was getting at. “It…wasn’t very good.”

“Right? So you did notice. Meaning Mizusawa’s suggestions didn’t have substance.”

“And…? Are you saying that it’s easier to push through bad suggestions?”

“Close, but not quite.”

“Close?”

Hinami nodded. “Precisely speaking, how good a suggestion is has nothing to do with how easy it is to convince others to go along with it.”

I thought about that for a couple seconds, then decided it made sense. “Huh.”

“Do you get it now?”

“You’re saying what’s important is to be convincing?”

Even if the pizza wasn’t actually good, as long as you convinced people it was, the suggestion would be accepted.

“Right. More precisely, convincing people is everything. In the case of the pizza, its actual quality has no impact on the ease of advancing the suggestion. The only thing that matters is making the other people think it might be good.”

It seemed obvious, but man, she was being brutally honest.

“So to take that to the extreme,” I replied, “if you trick people with a suggestion that sounds good, it’ll be accepted, even if it’s not?”

“Exactly. The truth is, Mizusawa suggested a pizza place that wasn’t very good and a store with nothing Nakamura would like, but both suggestions went through very smoothly, right?”

Hinami sounded like she was explaining something totally obvious, ignoring the irony.

“Huh. The world is kinda messed up,” I said before realizing the essence of what she was saying. “…Wait a minute. Doesn’t that sound like bad game balance?”

What kind of rule was that? With shitty rules like that, how is life a good game?!

“Why?”

“Because you can’t get people to accept what’s best! That’s weird! It’s not elegant. It’s trash!”

Hinami sighed. “What are you talking about? I’m just explaining a simple rule: The persuasiveness of suggestions takes precedence over their quality. Don’t you get it?”

“Now you’re just twisting logic…”

“Okay, what if there was a negotiation game where you had to convince the audience in order to reach your goal? Would that be a bad game? You’d have to speak in a convincing way and survey the other characters’ tastes and adjust for their interests. Try to imagine a game with that kind of realism.”

I tried to imagine it. I guess it would be divided into a negotiation part and a survey part, and you’d have to be good at both. You’d build your negotiation skills and collect data and stuff. Yeah.

“…Sounds pretty good to me.”

“So then reality’s a fun game, too.”

“…Mm-hmm.” Once again, she’d won me over.

“What I said just now was very simple, but convincing everyone isn’t simple at all. There’s all kinds of rules. For example, you have to get everyone invested in the same thing. Also, it’s extra important to persuade the more vocal people.”

Hmm, make sure everyone wants it and persuade the more vocal people present. “…So after getting everyone on board, you convince the boss.”

“Right. Sometimes interests are more about responsibility than profit, and sometimes the vocal people aren’t bosses, but regardless, you still persuade the majority and then convince the people with high standing… For instance, do you remember Mizusawa’s suggestion?”

I thought back to that scene. Like she said, he’d won over the majority and then convinced the most vocal person.

“…Yeah. Pizza!”

“Hexactly.”

“And there it is.”

“He won over the hungry majority by suggesting a meal, and then he persuaded me—the most vocal person—with the phrase ‘killer cheese.’”

Once again, she’s tooting her own… Oh, never mind. We’ve been through this. Same with “hexactly.”

“I see… So that’s how you advance a suggestion.”

“Of course, if all your suggestions end up getting criticized afterward, people stop trusting you, so you can’t just throw out whatever.”

“This is getting complicated again.” It’s hard to balance everything.

“Anyway, that’s not the point of this conversation. We haven’t gotten to the bottom line.”

“The bottom line?”

Wasn’t it the thing about convincing the majority and persuading the most vocal people?

“You got all angry about how weird it is for people not to accept a suggestion that’s best, but that’s pointless. If you sit there with your arms crossed convinced that you’re right and don’t change your approach one bit, you still can’t convince anyone, so that’s totally useless.”

“Uh…?”

“If you don’t adjust, you’ll never in your whole life get anyone to accept your ideas no matter how right they are, and you’ll die without accomplishing anything. If you’re not getting what you want, you need to change.”

Her voice was sharp, like she was coldly ripping something to pieces. She was coming on so strong she almost had me, but I thought again. After all…

“Really? You’re saying that just because my suggestions aren’t being accepted, I should stop saying what I think is right and prioritize what’s most convincing? Something about that seems wrong.”

Now we were putting the cart before the horse. Once you stop saying what you believe is right, what’s the point? That should be more important. Convincing people isn’t the goal.

Hinami shook her head. “That’s not what I’m trying to say.”

“Then what are you saying?”

“If you’re confident your suggestion is right, and you’ve learned about a ‘bad rule’ that says suggestions won’t be accepted just because they’re right…”

“…Yes?”

“If you want to make an impact, you have to make use of the bad rule.”

“…Oh.” I saw what she was getting at.

“If you think you’re right, you just dress it up in a convincing coat of paint. Like camouflage. By doing that, you advance the same basic idea you always thought was right. Isn’t that a healthy way to compete?”

I’d never thought of that strategy before—camouflage yourself to get what you want.

“Are you convinced?”

“…Yeah.”

You don’t insist you’re right and fight according to your own rules. You climb into the ring governed by the rules of others, and you win. It sounded messed up, and it was scarily honest, but as far as I could tell, it was how NO NAME played.

That was somewhat different from my approach.

“It does seem like that would be effective in a group. Maybe even unavoidable.”

The battle tactics I’d learned through playing games were different. Guess they didn’t work too well in real life. That must be why I’d been floundering all this time as an outcast, while Hinami shot to the top of the normie world. I wanted to think more about that—but still, she’d convinced me.

“Sounds like you get it. Based on that, to persuade people and succeed in your suggestions, you’ve got to think about the stakes everyone else has in the decision and convincing those whose opinions carry extra weight, rather than whether your idea is really right. Mizusawa is good at that. For instance, he convinced me by using the fact that I’m enticed by the word cheese. If you understand that, you’ve passed this assignment. Think about what Mizusawa did and learn from him.”

“Okay, got it…”

But why did I feel so…I don’t know, odd when Hinami told me to learn from Mizusawa? No, what am I saying? I’d been weird since the day before. Sober up. So Hinami could always be persuaded with cheese? Interesting.