Our group is heading to school while chatting about this and that.
"Ugh... it’s already getting close to December, huh. It’s pretty cold."
As Itsuka-kun rubbed his arms and made a big show of how cold he was, a white-haired girl clung to him.
"Wah!?"
"Here, Shido. If we do this, the warmth will transfer over and you won’t be cold."
Of course, that person was Tobiichi Origami, who had "coincidentally" met up with us along the way and was now walking to school with us.
She may think it’s a genuine coincidence, but from where I’m standing, there’s no way it is.
Now that her personality has fully returned and split into the girl Tobiichi and Devil Tobiichi, that way of speaking is definitely Devil Tobiichi’s, so this is clearly a premeditated crime.
Otherwise, how could she possibly show up at exactly the time Itsuka-kun is heading to school?
I even saw Tobiichi’s white hair fluttering from far away.
"Hup! Shido, take my warmth too!"
"J-just back off a little!"
In the end, Tohka refused to lose and clung on too, leaving only Itsuka-kun suffering in the middle.
That’s really just what he gets, so everyone else just laughs it off.
Especially Rinne. She already has a child who’s basically a crystallized lump of love named Rio, so she’s got plenty of room in her heart. Even if something like this happens right in front of her, she doesn’t seem to think much of it.
They really are amazing people in all kinds of ways.
"...Hero. Aren’t you cold?"
"No, I’m... fine."
The Fire Keeper looked like she wanted to come over beside me under the pretense of sharing warmth, but I wasn’t really cold.
Part of it was probably because my Ashen body, which had once burned brightly before failing and turning to ash, didn’t have much in the way of physical sensation anymore.
More than that, I’d already gone through plenty of cold in Ariandel’s painted world, so this level didn’t really bother me.
When I said I wasn’t especially cold, the Fire Keeper looked visibly disappointed.
Honestly, I wouldn’t have minded if she just came over anyway.
If she’s that disappointed, then I guess this time I should make the first move.
"Kyah!"
I grabbed the Fire Keeper by the shoulder and pulled her close to me.
Then I gave the flustered Fire Keeper a sly smile and asked, "Well then, does this feel warm enough?"
"......"
At my question, the Fire Keeper blushed and just nodded.
She’d been the one trying to cling to me a moment ago, but now that I’d done it first, she looked embarrassed, and it was ridiculously cute.
"Wow..."
"Wow..."
"...Yuzuru, is what this body sees truly reality?"
"Regret. I really want to deny it, but yes, it is."
"...Hai is favoring Sachi this much?"
"Affirmative. Yes."
The murmuring from the phone and from behind us.
They were going on about how I was favoring the Fire Keeper and all that, but I never did anything of the sort.
This is only happening because the Fire Keeper said she wanted to do it first. If she hadn’t just said that, I wouldn’t be doing this either.
Of course, to everyone else it might look like I’m favoring only the Fire Keeper, but I’m trying my best in my own way to repay everyone who loves me.
"...Everyone, come here."
The moment I said that, three people pressed right up against me.
On my left and right were the Fire Keeper and Mayuri, and in front and behind me were the Yamai sisters, creating a bizarre formation.
"No, are you guys some kind of combining robot...?"
Marina, watching the scene, said that with complete disbelief, and yeah, it was a little, no, a lot weird-looking. But if they’re happy, what am I supposed to do about it?
"What a shame. I wish I had a body too."
"Ah, about that, I’ve been thinking a little about it too."
Making a body for Maria and Marina was something I’d been thinking about ever since they were sealed.
While I was looking for a way to make them, who were nothing but data, exist in reality, Rio appeared and directly made that happen, and that gave me a bit of a direction to work with.
The way they gained bodies then was possible thanks to Rio’s incomplete Eden ability and spiritual power.
I don’t have that kind of ability, but I do have something ridiculously broken called souls.
In the world of Dark Souls, souls are the foundation of everything. If you think about it that way, making a body with souls would be difficult, but not impossible.
Rinne, Rio, and Mayuri are living proof of that.
So the body itself is basically complete. The real issue is whether I can put a consciousness into it.
I just haven’t found a way yet.
"Really? Then I can look forward to it?"
"Don’t get your hopes up too much. It’s not certain yet."
Since it really wasn’t certain, I said that to lower Marina’s expectations.
After all, the bigger the hope, the bigger the disappointment, right?
Anyway, while we were talking like that, we reached the school gate, where Tonomachi-kun greeted us.
"Yo, you’re early. My heart of friend, Itsuka, Hieta! Bringing not one but two girls with you, and then showing them off first thing in the morning! But is the Hieta side a combining robot?"
"...Now that we’re at school, could you all please back off a little?"
These people had stayed glued to me all the way to the school gate!
Thanks to them, I’d drawn a bunch of pointless attention too.
Itsuka-kun’s side peeled off the moment the school gate came into view, so I have no idea why mine didn’t.
Were they planning to socially bury me and then keep me all to themselves?
"No, that’s going way too far. Just how many novels do you read?"
"Is that so?"
At Marina’s sharp comment through my earphones, I nodded in agreement.
Come to think of it, I really have been reading a lot of novels lately.
"Tonomachi, what’s this heart of friend thing supposed to mean?"
When Itsuka-kun asked about the meaning of the phrase Tonomachi-kun had used to describe us, Tonomachi-kun put a hand to his forehead and lifted his chin in an absurdly arrogant pose before explaining.
"Hey, hey, what’s with you? You don’t even know this simple English...? I’ll teach you. It means 【heart friends】!"
"That’s wrong."
As Mayuri said, heart of friend doesn’t mean heart friends. It means friend’s heart.
It was definitely wrong, but since the one who was wrong was Tonomachi-kun, all I could do was go, "Well, that happens, sure."
Maybe it’s because he always acts like that.
Yeah, image really does matter.
"Ahem. Ah, right, it was friend of heart. Thanks for the correction, Amamiya. More importantly, you two, did you know this? If you’re good at English, you get popular with the opposite sex?"
"Well... I feel like if you mess it up like you just did, it doesn’t really matter."
When Itsuka-kun delivered that jab, Tonomachi-kun looked shocked, pointed at me and Itsuka-kun, and shouted like he was in agony.
"Gah! You guys, surrounded by girls as you are, wouldn’t understand! The feelings of a mob character who wants to get popular even like this!"
"...Mob character?"
What is a mob character?
Simply put, it’s a word for extras in manga, or characters with about that much presence.
And from where I’m standing, Tonomachi-kun’s character is way too strong to call him a mob character.
That slicked-back hair, and everything he says makes him sound like the protagonist’s friend type.
"Besides, women exist all over the world! I’m welcome to non-Japanese women too!"
"Ah, yes, I see."
Honestly, there’s nothing wrong with learning English for that kind of reason.
It’s good to learn English however you can.
You need it in society, after all.
Still, I do think there’s no need to state your reasons that bluntly.
But I couldn’t say that, so I decided to just support Tonomachi-kun instead.
"As expected of you, Tonomachi-kun. Your determination is admirable. You’ll master English in no time."
"That’s right. If it’s you, you’ll be popular with women in no time."
"Kuh! You understand me! Heart of friends! I’ll prove the others wrong! If you ever want to learn English from me, just say the word!"
He’d already gone back to being a friend of the heart.
"Then let’s study in class. If anything comes up, rely on me, ciao!"
Studying in English, but ending with an Italian goodbye... that was so Tonomachi-kun.
*******
After entering the school, we headed to our respective classrooms.
Actually, the only ones in different classes are the Yamai sisters, so the rest of us all went into the same room.
"Ah, there they are, there they are."
"Yeah. They came in with three girls first thing in the morning."
"Seriously, what a turnoff."
The Amami Trio were whispering as soon as we entered the classroom.
The good news is that they were talking about Itsuka-kun, not me.
Itsuka-kun had three girls with him—Tohka, Rinne, and Tobiichi—while I only had Mayuri and the Fire Keeper.
"......"
Well, the person in question, Itsuka-kun, looked like he was about to tear up a little.
"Hang in there."
"Comforting me won’t help..."
Itsuka-kun’s reputation at school is already in the gutter, so comforting him really won’t do anything.
It’s not like my words can restore his reputation, right?
Still, it’s kind of sad watching someone get used to that sort of thing.
Especially since Tohka was the main culprit who tanked his reputation with her weird way of talking, so there’s not even anything I can say to her. That makes Itsuka-kun even more pitiful.
"All right, everyone. Please take your seats. We’re starting morning homeroom."
Before long, homeroom began.
Teacher Tamae gave us various announcements.
Don’t catch a cold, study hard because finals are coming up, that sort of thing.
Being told to keep studying even before winter break and around Christmas was a little depressing, honestly.
"I don’t want my last Christmas at age twenty-nine to be spent in remedial classes!"
"Ah, ahh..."
Come to think of it, if you have remedial classes, the teacher has to come to school too.
Thinking about a teacher spending her last Christmas at twenty-nine in remedial classes made me tear up a little.
"Lastly, this is the season with lots of events, so people tend to let their guard down. But please act with the awareness of being students! That is all!"
With that, class finally began after what felt like a long time.
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