Lately in my science and social science cram classes, I’ve spotted this girl I’ve really got my eye on.120Please respect copyright.PENANAykIvdR4pmR
She’s a tiny and docile looking girl, and she occasionally sits next to me you see, and so one day I spotted a certain keychain on her bag that I just couldn’t take my eyes off of.
A “Tarow the Taro” plush toy keychain!
“Tarow the Taro” is just as you’d expect, a taro yuruchara mascot character.120Please respect copyright.PENANA0DtWqQBolX
He’s a mascot created for a town that produces taros, but even if he’s a yuruchara (relaxed/lenient character), what’s really too yurui(relaxed/lenient) is the quality of his conception!120Please respect copyright.PENANAY49239TfSs
He looks exactly like a taro with eyes, a nose and a mouth stuck on. And what’s more, his face is pathetic looking. His eyebrows slant downwards pitifully, after all.120Please respect copyright.PENANA5Oc5Mnq93s
Perhaps the person(mascot?) himself is painfully aware of how pathetic his looks and popularity are, because during yuruchara events, he always stays in a small corner to avoid getting in the way of the stars.120Please respect copyright.PENANAHesNydOo7G
He’s a complete extra.
And as for me, I actually really love this weird little yuruchara!
He kinda makes you wonder if they couldn’t do a little more for him.120Please respect copyright.PENANAJ1C6LGcHgw
At festivals, he’s overwhelmed by the star yurucharas, and has really little presence.120Please respect copyright.PENANAHvGPDPA36G
But because of the occasion, he wears a little tie to make himself a bit more presentable, and you’re just left with this odd sense of melancholy.
The first time I saw him, I thought, ‘Whoa, definitely not popular. He’s so plain, and his face isn’t even cute.’ but after seeing him a few times I started feeling sorry for him, and before long I was starting to think that maybe his lazily created face was kind of cute too.120Please respect copyright.PENANABuWV3bRIoM
Even though he was a mascot character created to revitalise the town, he doesn’t have any self-assertion at all.120Please respect copyright.PENANArGN5oAbudQ
‘But that timidity and cowardliness, I totally get it too. I have a Tarow in me as well! If I don’t cheer for him, who will!’120Please respect copyright.PENANAQlFSRy3PmX
Or so I thought as maternal instincts started firing up inside me.
And that’s who Tarow the Taro is. And a girl with his goods hanging from her bag is sitting right besides me.120Please respect copyright.PENANAO2nOAdFReH
I wanna be friends!
It’s not often that you’d find a girl who likes such a plain and inconspicuous yuruchara.120Please respect copyright.PENANAau5nAN60YJ
I wanna talk to my heart’s content about Tarow.120Please respect copyright.PENANAID9GtVpbei
Or rather, I had no idea they even made Tarow merchandise!
But I haven’t been able to find a good way of becoming friends with her.120Please respect copyright.PENANAPBaJn3RS0k
If I suddenly went “Please become my friend.” I’d seem way too suspicious.120Please respect copyright.PENANAz5CLlFklBV
How are you supposed to break the ice again?120Please respect copyright.PENANATcqMftbjtR
At school, it’s always people around me that approach me first, so I’ve never had to make the first move.120Please respect copyright.PENANAjHoEeay4WP
Uwah~ Just how useless am I.120Please respect copyright.PENANAqgR0ep8t2l
Anyway, I’ll just speak to her casually.120Please respect copyright.PENANACYM7VVWPvK
Right! Think back to Akizawa-kun’s friendliness. First is the greeting…
But even if I had decided that I wanted to call out to her, Tiny-san didn’t show any signs of looking my way at all.120Please respect copyright.PENANATZ5lvLPCAL
It’s like the mood is some kind of wall around her.120Please respect copyright.PENANAYLaSVrIPTb
No, no, this is where you need courage!
“Umm, your bag…”
“Eh-!?”
The girl turned my way, looking at me tensely.
“Ah-, it was getting in your way, wasn’t it. Sorry, I’ll move it right now!”
“No, ummm…”
“I’m really sorry!”
She hastily moved the bag with the keychain to the other side of her desk, and distanced her body a little while she was at it.120Please respect copyright.PENANAwJRwc2Ju7f
Doesn’t she seem kinda, scared of me?120Please respect copyright.PENANAyu92Mvfcfd
Could it be that I’m actually scary?120Please respect copyright.PENANA858EZYMJrj
This time she really has created a total wall of rejection, so I couldn’t find the courage to speak to her anymore.120Please respect copyright.PENANA26eVgfZ0CX
Ehhhh~!? Why!?
But I won’t give up.120Please respect copyright.PENANAwSJ3yv9Upj
Each time, I sat next to her again, or sometimes even closer, and I desperately tried to give off an ‘I’m not scary at all, you know~?’ aura, and whenever our eyes met I gave my best smile.120Please respect copyright.PENANACmxio21W7o
Maybe she noticed that I was totally staring at her, but she almost never looked at me herself.
Aren’t I like, totally the same as Stalker Kaburagi right now?120Please respect copyright.PENANAYE9RAlfmZu
“Hmmm…”
I stared at myself in the mirror.
“Hmmmmm…”
“Reika, what are you moaning about in front of the mirror for?”
While I was thinking by myself in the living room, Oniisama came along.120Please respect copyright.PENANA4BxB80LqxA
Perfect timing. I’ll try asking Oniisama.
“Oniisama, do I have a scary face?”
“Hah?”
My face isn’t that mean looking, right?120Please respect copyright.PENANADktmbzLedu
It’s true that I don’t think I have a particularly approachable face either.120Please respect copyright.PENANAPf1xNMXjqz
Well, I think I look like I don’t have many openings.
Because of Okaasama’s taste, my hair is curled neatly, and everything I wear is brand-name clothing.120Please respect copyright.PENANAwwb8n964PB
Since it’s all children’s wear, the moment I grow a little all this clothing will just go to waste, but well, as the young lady of the Kisshouin family, I don’t suppose wearing fast fashion would do.120Please respect copyright.PENANAGtvOgAE85x
Since I have so many clothes, maybe I’ve never worn the same thing to cram school before.
So it was that after all, huh?120Please respect copyright.PENANAEFFMUetgFE
My lack of openings might be the reason people are scared of me.120Please respect copyright.PENANAksojBkWVY8
Or rather, is it because I have intensity?120Please respect copyright.PENANAoXEra0NIf0
It’d be nice if it wasn’t because I have a mean-looking face, wouldn’t it…120Please respect copyright.PENANAtsv5oGk6V3
My eyes aren’t sharp-looking, right?
“Who told you that you had a scary face?”
“No, nothing like that happened.”
I looked at Oniisama’s face.120Please respect copyright.PENANAjmx9QKNxlT
Maybe Oniisama’s inner-self projected from his face or something, because although it wasn’t too sweet-looking, you could feel the kindness from it.120Please respect copyright.PENANAHLAC7wmvht
Whenever I talk to Oniisama, the corners of his mouth curve up a little, and I think that’s part of why he feels so easy to get along with.
“So it’s not just eyes. The mouth is important too.”
I looked at the mirror and smiled.120Please respect copyright.PENANADalwNWXRJo
Yeah. Suspicious-looking.
“I don’t think your face is particularly scary. Although you standing here changing expressions in the mirror is. Anyway, why are you so worried all of a sudden?”
“…There is a girl I would like to get along with, but I get the feeling that she is frightened of me.”
“Hmm~ Is this a girl from school?”
“No, a girl from cram school. I have been trying my best to appear friendly, but the more I try, the more frightened she becomes. I wonder why. Is it because my appearance truly is scary?”
“What kind of girl is she? Depending on what she’s like, your approach should change, right?”
What type?
“Docile, and somewhat ‘small’. But cute like a small animal.”
“Quite different from the girls normally around you, isn’t she. In that case, if you’re too assertive about it, it’s true that she might get scared, huh. How about thinking about if you were in her position?”
If I was in her position?120Please respect copyright.PENANAze1qrS9stP
That girl isn’t plain, but she seems the docile type, so she probably wouldn’t be in the centre of her class.120Please respect copyright.PENANA6mVqI47DIe
I get the feeling that the old me would’ve gotten along with her without a problem.120Please respect copyright.PENANAa5ycAoKttz
I wasn’t docile, but I had friends like her around me.120Please respect copyright.PENANAjQ8AjxXVZo
In that case, could the old me have become friends with a girl like Kisshouin Reika…?120Please respect copyright.PENANA9kpzU0lTxL
…No way, huh.120Please respect copyright.PENANAFmv0YydvGm
I mean, I doubt our conversation would mesh, and it’d probably get troublesome if an intense ojousama like Reika got angry at me.120Please respect copyright.PENANA93q6tnsxlV
Aahh, I guess it’s true that if I didn’t want to become friends with her but Reika continued to forcefully approach me, it would be kind of scary.120Please respect copyright.PENANAB4h7Q043uL
Just like how I’m afraid when Stalker Kaburagi approaches me to make me a spy, huh?120Please respect copyright.PENANAoeDJ6uLWJZ
But I never went and ambushed her, did I~
“If I cut my hair and wore cheaper clothing, I wonder if she would be less vigilant.”
“I don’t think our parents would ever let you though.”
Yeah~120Please respect copyright.PENANA2XVgWU0bnB
Okaasama wants me to act like an ojousama from a proper family.120Please respect copyright.PENANAqsX5FMKkO1
I’m sure she has her own ideas of what I should be like.120Please respect copyright.PENANAw1UgUst57k
But her taste… like this curled hair for example, her taste is pretty classical, huh?120Please respect copyright.PENANAMoLcL9kTrQ
Could it be that she really wants me to become like the Rococo Queen?
“Then whatever should I do?”
“Let’s see. I guess there isn’t any other way except diligently have her understand you, huh? Because you’re an honest, and good girl.”
Oniisama!!
“I understand! I shall do my best!”
“Yeah. You really are honest, aren’t you.”
For the first time in a while, Oniisama rubbed my head.120Please respect copyright.PENANAUYzquIcsZH
My mood is on the rise.
I’m impatient to talk to her about Tarow the Taro, but just like Oniisama said, it might be better if I slowly get closer to her.120Please respect copyright.PENANADesgLaeM45
I’ll learn from Kaburagi’s bad example, and try my very best!