A Boy's Journey Beyond the Panels

Memories of Snow Part-II

"The thing is... I don't have friends."

"Oh-"

As they walked towards Yukino's classroom, she explained everything to Towa in a brief manner. Upon reaching her class, Yukino sat at her usual seat. Towa, looking for a seat, placed a chair in front of Yukino's desk and sat down.

To sum it up, Yukino was tasked with introducing her friend to her big sister and inviting them to her birthday celebration, an occasion she had been particularly keen on. Haruno, her elder sister, teased her relentlessly, leveraging Yukino's admiration for her esteemed big sister to coerce her into orchestrating the introduction. The deal: if Yukino successfully introduced her friend, Haruno would ensure a private celebration, separate from a larger, more formal event.

It was not that Yukino wasn't fond of such gatherings, primarily due to the grand scale and the prospect of dealing with numerous unfamiliar faces, who tended to get too close to her due to the Yukinoshita family name. She could act like her sister to help her family make connections.

But there were people hard to deal with. Although her sister typically handled these situations, there were exceptions—people like Hayama Hayato, whom Yukino found nosy. She didn't like how her parents, close to the Hayama family, often grouped them together. The situation reached a point where Haruno would watch over both Hayama and Yukino during their parents' business trips.

To not miss the chance to celebrate with her sister and parents in private, Yukino was supposed to introduce her friend who doesn't exist; Now how would she introduce 'a friend' to her sister and then invite them for her birthday as she doesn't seem to have any.

In other words, Haruno, astutely aware of Yukino's social awkwardness stemming from her self-reliant nature, assumed the role of a high-esteem sister to nudge her sibling towards forging connections. For Yukino, who often found solace in her studies, Haruno's intervention took the form of calculated bullying designed to coax her into making friends.

"—I'm starting to get the picture. You're always alone, so everyone had the impression that you lived up in a world apart from everyone else. Like a lone wolf."

"You don't actually think I'm that cool, do you?"

"Well, even you, the famous Yukinoshita Yukino, the ojou-sama of a rich household doesn't have any friends. Which makes you rarer than me pulling a legendary item in a 500 yen gacha capsule; Of course, it's cool."

"Oh, stop it." Yukino sounded a little bothered by this.

"I don't like jokes like that. Please don't make fun of me."

"...Oh."

Towa decided to just nod, as objecting seemed likely to launch a full-on argument even though he was right. God knows how much of his allowance has been spent to find an SSR.

Sheesh, the grind he did for his system WC.

[ World Coin Balance = 150,000 WC ]

Towa suffering from success.

"But...it's not really a big problem isn't it?"

"Huh?"

"You know, Yukinoshita-san, you're surprisingly easy to talk to. Maybe it's your honesty and straightforwardness."

"Thank you?"

"It's strange that a nice person like you doesn't have any friends when you're this easy to talk to." Towa stood up and walked near to where Yukino was sitting.

"Y-Yeah. Well, you don't need to worry about it."

"So I have an idea, why don't I become your friend..."