Interlude 1
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First person: Saitō Eisuke (Mob A)
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I’m really enjoying my school life these days.
I used to be the type of guy they call a 「wallflower」.
At my school, the students are relatively quiet. There’s only a handful of them in each grade who hang out in front of convenience stores or smoke cigarettes.
That being said, I was never good at conversing with anyone, no matter who they were. I had an extremely hard time fitting in with those around me. There were many times when I would think to myself, 『Ah! I’ve done it again!』 and then agonize over it, unable to move on.
But now it’s different.
It’s because I became friends with him───Ryūgūin Ouji, who is considered the top of the popular crowd at school.
He’s extremely good-looking, and he’s thoughtful enough to talk to inconspicuous types like me. He’s always the center of attention in class.
For example, even during the sports festival.
「Is there anyone here who doesn’t want to practice for the sports festival? I want to tell those people especially. The sports festival will be a once-in-a-lifetime memory. Are you really okay with ruining such an important event like this?」
Ryūgūin’s voice carried well. First, he glanced at the girls, and voices rose up saying things like 「That’s our Ryūgūin!」 and 「Ryūgūin is amazing.」
The boys shrank back at the girls’ momentum. When he went over to the boy who was the ringleader of the slackers, Ryūgūin whispered something in his ear.
I don’t know if that was the trigger, but the boy raised his voice, glancing at the girls, and said, 「I guess we have no choice! We’ll do the sports festival!」
Whenever he says something, everyone’s attention is drawn to him, perhaps because of the strength of his influence.
It may be because of his charisma, which we don’t have.
I remember my first encounter with Ryūgūin.
「What’s your name?」
The first time he spoke to me, I thought that this must be what they call a 「hot guy voice」 on the internet.
「Huh, me? I’m Saitō. Saitō Eisuke.」
「Hmm, Eisuke, huh? That’s perfect.」
「Perfect?」
When I asked him to clarify,
「Yeah, perfect. By the way, what’s your specialty?」
He fired off questions one after another.
「Games, huh! That’s great! Games! That’s awesome! They say it’s the era of subcultures now! You’re interesting!」
He patted me on the back and laughed out loud.
And then, turning to me,
「Yeah, I like you. Want to be friends with me?」
I was too surprised to speak, but he didn’t mind and continued,
「I’ll call you───let’s see, since your name is Eisuke, how about ‘A’?」
This was how I made my first friend in high school.
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Second person: Tabe Kōsuke (Mob B)
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I spent my middle school years playing baseball.
I plan to do the same in high school.
I’ve managed to do well enough in my studies, but I’m not good at them.
And because I was so focused on baseball, I was also clueless about fashion. Even as a high school student, I always wore the same shirt and jeans, looking pretty lame.
But I don’t really care. I can get into college through baseball, and I can learn about fashion in college. That’s how I’ve rationalized it.
One day, someone called out to me from the seat behind me.
I remember that his voice was very pleasant to the ears.
「What’s your name?」
When I looked back, I thought.
He must be the kind of person they call a 「pretty boy」.
In contrast, I had a buzzcut.
I had no sense of fashion whatsoever.
「Oh, uh. I’m Tabe Kōsuke.」
「Tabe? Hmm, I see, I see.」
He looked up, considering something. But only for a moment, and then,
「That’s perfect.」
He replied.
「Perfect for what?」
Nodding magnanimously,
「My apologies. I should have introduced myself first. I’m Ryūgūin Ouji.」
He put his arm around my shoulder and introduced himself.
「I think I’ll call you, hmm let’s see, since your name is 『Tabe』, how about I reverse it and call you 『Beta』?」
「Pfft! What the heck is that! Are you some kind of industry person who calls 『sushi』 ,『sī-sū』?」
After that, we continued our conversation,
「Oh, so you were the cleanup hitter and ace of ○○ Middle School! That’s amazing, are you going to become a professional baseball player in the future?」
Hmm! Nice! he exclaimed with a delighted voice.
With that momentum, he held out his hand to me,
「If you’d like, why don’t we go shopping together sometime? There are some clothes I want, so let’s go look at clothes together if you’re up for it.」
I took his hand.
This was my first encounter with Ryūgūin.
It’s embarrassing to say, but I now consider him my best friend.
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Third person: Suzuki Night (Mob C)
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I didn’t like my name.
I mean, what the hell is Night? And my first name is Suzuki.
Suzuki, and then, Night.
Didn’t they think it was weird when they named me?
No matter how much I thought about it, it was a full-fledged sparkly name.
In the first place, my parents were like that, so naturally, I was also educated that way.
Thanks to my old man’s upbringing, smoking is a given, and I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve drunk with my buddies until we passed out.
Fighting was also an everyday occurrence, and school was a boring place filled with only quiet kids.
「I’m Ryūgūin Ouji. What’s your name?」
The guy next to me spoke to me.
His voice was smooth and pleasant to the ears.
When I ignored him, he began to speak nonchalantly,
「You know, my name ‘Ouji’ is a total sparkly name. It’s so embarrassing, it’s not even funny.」
「It’s ‘Night’. It’s written as ‘Seiya’ but read as ‘Night’.」
Perhaps because I had found someone with a name on the same level as mine, I answered him.
「Huh! But that’s cool! …… Though, you don’t seem like you want to be called ‘Night’───」
I see, I see, he clapped his hands,
「That’s perfect! Can I call you ‘C’? It’s taken from the ‘Sei’ in your name.」
He raised his voice and proposed to me with a grand gesture.
Strangely, I didn’t feel uncomfortable with it, so I agreed.
Well, you know, Ryūgūin is my buddy now.
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<Explanation>
Eisuke → Ēsuke → A-kun → A
Tabe (田部)→ Tabe (タベ) → Bēta → β → B
Seiya → Sei-kun → C (C is pronounced 「sei」 in German)
The names of the guys he found useful just happened to be, conveniently, A, B, and C.
You know how they call mob characters Mob A, Mob B, Mob C, right?
A baseball player who might go pro, a good-looking delinquent boy who’s likely to be found in a quiet school, and a shy gamer boy who’s secretly cute.
See, each of these kids is actually someone who commands respect, and if you were to form a group, they seem to be just the right fit.
And in fact, the three of them, who are treated that way, feel an important friendship with Ryūgūin, but Ryūgūin himself doesn’t feel an ounce of friendship towards them.
This is how Ryūgūin is skilled at hiding his dark side.
Ryūgūin is a twisted guy who sees himself as the center of everything and everyone else as just mob characters. He judges people based on whether they’re useful to him or not.
It’s not just that he doesn’t feel any friendship at all, but in his mind, he categorizes them as useful mob characters.
Please forgive my lack of writing ability in explaining this.
I will strive to use clearer expressions in the future.
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