Harem of Side Characters [Rewrite]

Nene Mori - Let Them Drown

Today, I find myself coming to class early. I usually prefer coming directly before the bell rings in order to not attract attention, but I felt like spicing things up.

"Huh? Ayanokouji? What are you doing here so early?" Apparently someone beat me to the class.

"...I could ask you the same question." The girl sitting in the classroom is Nene Mori. I wasn't that familiar with her, but we briefly met when I went out with Hirata, Matsushita, Karuizawa, and Kushida at the start of the semester.

"I'm just here to catch up on some stuff. You can just ignore me if you've got something important to do." An open notebook lays on the desk, filled with her handwriting. She's doing some math exercises it seems. However, there's something odd about the numbers.

"...Aren't these the prices for food and necessities from the convenience store?" I point out.

"I'm surprised you noticed. Since we don't really get a lot of points every month, I've started to handle my finances better. I'm just calculating how much I can buy using my remaining points."

"You're surprisingly good at this."

"Hehehe, never judge a book by its cover! I'm kind of interested in finance, so I know a lot about it. When I'm interested in something, I pretty much dedicate my entire life to find out more about it. One time, I got into one of those idol groups, and I spent three days just researching the history of each member. I'm pretty sure I forgot to eat during that time, how crazy is that?"

"That's a bit unexpected." Mori tilts her head slightly in confusion.

"Why is that?"

"You look really mature, is what I mean. You carry yourself very well, so seeing a more immature side of you is a bit refreshing. Although not eating for three days is very detrimental to your health, and you should be more careful."

"Awww, are you worried about me? That's so sweet! Thank you, though. Not a lot of people think that way about me."

"They don't?"

"Nah, a lot of people think I'm some sort of slut because of the way I act. Seriously though, that assumption is totally off." She brushes it off like its nothing, but something shifts in her eyes. It must affect her more than she's letting on.

"That's a bit...extreme. I don't see how people can just label you like that. The thought would never even cross my mind."

"You really think so?"

"Of course. I have no reason to lie to you."

"Huh... that's really nice of you." She gives me a relieved smile.

"How did you even find out about the things people say about you? Did your group of friends overhear someone or something?"

"Uhh... they're...kind of the ones who say those things about me..." Mori shifts uncomfortably in her seat.

"Is that so? If that's the case, why do you still hang around them?" I question.

"Well, I don't really have a choice. We're in the same class, and to be able to work together we need to bond together. If they say some unsavory things every now and then, I'll just smile and brush it off. Besides, its only one or two people that say those things, and they don't say it directly to me either." That doesn't really sound better. They're just talking behind your back as opposed to confronting you, which might even be worse.

"I can relate a bit, though I don't think I have it as bad as you because I'm a loner. I'm sure some people say bad things about me, but at the very least I'm not forced to hang out with those very same people."

"You're right about that, even the people in my group say bad things about you." They do? I am hurt.

"...I did not need to know that information." Mori gives me a playful smirk.

"Sorry, sorry. Just pointing it out. If it makes you feel any better, it was mostly just Karuizawa. The others didn't really comment, and Kayano tried to defend you. Actually, even the shy Kokoro argued that you weren't bad, what's up with that?"

"I'm not sure. I've talked with both of them before, so that's probably it." So both Onodera and Inogashira like me enough to argue against the leader of the girls. Is it wrong for me to feel a bit proud of that fact?

"Ho, really? Are you sure Horikita is okay with that?"

"...Why did you bring her up?"

"Aren't you two dating?" I tilt my head slightly.

"What gave you that idea?"

"Well, you're the only one that can talk to her. Before I knew you talked with Kayano and Kokoro, I actually thought you only spoke to Horikita. I see that I was wrong, sorry about that." She bows her head a bit.

"No harm done. I'm not dating Horikita. I mean, do you really think she would date someone as ugly as me?"

"Oh, don't say that. You ranked quite high on the most attractive guys poll, and for good reason. I think you're plenty attractive."

"Mori, are you flirting with me right now?"

"N-no, of course not! I j-just said what I think, is all." She blushes while shaking her head rapidly. At that moment, a few girls entered the class.

"...Ugh, is she really going after him now? How low can that girl get..." Karuizawa mumbles. While it wasn't loud, I could still hear it, and from Mori's expression she could hear it as well.

"Karuizawa, I told you. He's not as bad as you make him out to be. Besides, if she wants to talk to Ayanokouji, let her. There's nothing wrong with that." Onodera reprimands. Inogashira simply nods at her statement.

"I mean, he's a bit quiet and shy. I wouldn't really say that makes him a bad person. Nor does it make Nene a bad person for communicating with him." Another girl surprisingly pipes up to defend me as well. I don't really know her, but I believe her name was Ruri Ichihashi. At those words, Karuizawa scoffs before pulling out her phone.

"...Sorry about that." Mori turns to me and gives me an apologetic smile.

"No, it's fine. I should be the one apologizing, this wouldn't have happened if I had a better reputation."

"Don't worry about that stuff. Like I said before, I don't care about what they say." A blatant lie.

"It was nice talking to you though, if you don't mind we can talk more in the future." Mori says with a smile.

"I would like that." I say before walking over to my seat. I return to quietly staring out the window, like I usually do. Mori returns to her notebook, doing what she does best.

Distracting herself to drown out the voices while forcing a smile on her face.