COTE: Koenji What if

Vol. 1 Chapter 3.2 - Cafeteria trip

It was the start of the second day of school. Admittedly I was looking forward to it, a lot.

Sudou made quite a spectacle spending most of the time at school asleep.

"Well, I was thinking of heading to the cafeteria, does anyone want to come with me?" announced Hirata as he stood. He looked towards my direction for a brief second. I chose to raise my hand up rather quickly. If there was anyone I could be friends with, Hirata would be a great choice. I made sure to build up my resolve before this.

"Ayanokouji-!"

"I'll go too!"

"Me too! Me too!"

Girls gathered around Hirata one after another. But I didn't falter because it appeared as if Hirata wanted to me come.

"Hey Ayanokouji!" Before the girls could fully surround him, Hirata managed to escape the quickly building harem around him.

"Do you want to come as well?" He asked

"Yes, I would appreciate it a lot."

"Alright then, does anyone else want to come with me?"

"Come on, Hirata-kun, let's go already!" A fashionable girl latched onto Hirata's arm. Ah... admittedly I am feeling jealous about Hirata. If I had been any bit slower, Hirata would have probably already been taken away.

For some reason I felt someone looking at me, but I chose to ignore that.

As we left the classroom, a lot of the girls hounded on him. Some of the girls around him were pretty intimidating. It didn't feel like I was a part of this group. It looked like Hirata noticed this.

"Hey Ayanokouji-kun, how are you finding this school so far?"

"Oh, uh, yeah, it has been quite a nice experience.

As we made our way to the cafeteria, Hirata welcomed me to sit next to him. The same girl who flung herself at Hirata chose to sit next to him. Unfortunately this lead to some of the girls looking at both her and me with jealousy. Hey, hey, I am not trying to stir up trouble or anything. Although a few girls looked at me with interest, surprisingly.

Also, was that Koenji surrounded by multiple girls? And they look like seniors as well. It looks like our group hasn't noticed though. One of the girls was feeding him a dessert.

"Ayanokouji-kun, you said you played sports right? What kind of sports do you play?" A rather fashionable girl asked me. Her name was Satou.

"Oh, I do swimming and running. Although admittedly not much else" 

Being committal like this is admittedly tiring, but I chose to go to this school to enjoy things like this. Going outside of my shell with this fresh new start had been quite fulfilling. Turns out doing the opposite to what Horikita and Koenji does help out quite a lot.

"By the way, why did Koenji approach you before his, ahem, questions?"

"Well apparently he knows about me, although I have never met him before. I guess it is like a one-sided relationship."

"Ehhh~, so like, is your family rich as well?"

"I guess so."

"Well at least you don't seem to be like that weirdo. Speaking of which, that guy is like a complete egotist. Compared to the likes of Hirata-kun, he is in no way modest. I hate guys like him." The girl sitting next to Hirata said. Her name was Karuizawa. Hirata laughed nervously. The girls then ended up gossiping with each other.

After a while, the girls asked Hirata for his contact information. A few of the girls also asked for my contact information. Looks like I have had my first number, and from girls as well. I felt quite happy about this, being included like this.

After we left, Hirata approached me alone.

"Ayanokouji-kun, do you happen to be friends with Koenji?"

"I don't think so?"

"Well, whatever your relationship is with him, it does appear more favorable then what the rest of the class has. I would appreciate it if you were to help him out at school. Although he seems like he can handle himself pretty well, still, look out for him, alright? I don't want to see him get subjected to bullying."

"Ah, yeah, I could try to do that."

"Thank you, Ayanokouji-kun" Hirata responded with a gentle smile.  If I was a girl, I would have already fallen for him.

"Also, here is my contact information."

I thought to myself, this really isn't bad at all. At first I wanted to avoid trouble by not being aggressive when pursuing friendships, but I would have probably been a complete loner, which would have also been troublesome, and sad. Hirata was an example of this. Had I not been quicker, he would have most likely been washed away by the girls before I could join the group.