Volume 2: Chapter 15 - Who do you like (Part l)

At noon, I arrived at the D Class classroom door.

"Toke, let's go to lunch together."

Perhaps because Toke was a "celebrity" in D Class, my words drew strange looks from the D Class students.

"Ah, okay."

Toke walked towards me with a wry smile.

He would get used to this kind of thing; eventually, they would become accustomed to it.

The Noble School's cafeteria was exceptionally large, big enough to seat all students and provide a variety of rich lunches for the noble students.

Leaving aside the taste, the fact that all meals were free was commendable, allowing even a poor noble like Toke to live here without pressure.

As it was lunchtime, many people were gathered in the cafeteria, and it was quite noisy.

However, by walking around a bit, one could always find a seat, which was not a bothersome matter.

"S-Speaking of which, is that rumor true?"

"Hmm? What rumor?"

Toke and I found a window seat with our trays and sat down.

On the way, he had been stammering, seemingly hesitant to speak, but now he finally couldn't hold it in.

"I heard that you and Shinika from the Arnold Marquis Family were hugging and acting very intimately during practical class. Everyone in D Class is discussing whether you two are dating."

"There are even rumours that you are threatening and coercing her, using despicable means to force her to be in a relationship with you..."

"Cough, cough, cough..."

Fortunately, I wasn't drinking soup, or I would have immediately spit it out.

Ah, not good, I almost choked.

I quickly took a sip of water.

It's the same in schools in any era; only gossip spreads the fastest.

No one in class D would have actively told Toke about this, so since he knew, it must have caused quite a stir in class D. By extension, it wouldn't be surprising if everyone in class A, B, and C must know as well, yet it hadn't reached my ears.

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But it's amazing that even this can be associated with my evil persona. Do you really think Marquis Arnold is made of mud? Threatening his daughter is no different from asking for death.

People are really stupid.

"How is that possible? Shinika and I aren't like that; we're not dating. People misunderstood. And do you really think I can threaten that noble lady. Marquis Arnold will chop me off."

Although from an outsider's perspective, Shinika and I hugging was a fact, I was still unilaterally touched.

But explaining why it happened would be troublesome, and I found it difficult to debunk the rumor.

"I don't think so. But it's really a pity. I thought if Robert could date such a cute girl, I'd want to congratulate you."

"Cute? I see you completely don't understand. It seems necessary to give you a lesson on what true cuteness is."

"Eh? Not like Shinika?"

"I don't deny her cuteness but you can't just look at a woman's appearance, Toke.

Let me teach you a lesson.

Girls like Shinika are typical two-dimensional 'natural' types, a natural enemy for boys like you. You absolutely must not approach them casually."

"Natural? Two-dimensional?"

"A 'natural' type of girl, you can think of her as missing a screw, lacking common sense without realizing it, or being a slow-witted idiot girl who doesn't notice unless reminded."

"You're being too harsh."

"However, in recent years, this has been discovered as a 'moe' attribute in the two-dimensional realm. Some boys find such clumsy girls very cute, feeling a desire to protect their innocence.

Of course, this is understandable; after seeing too much dirt in reality, one unconsciously wants to protect pure and beautiful things.

This is human nature; I've had those moments too."

"Anyway, can you first explain what 'two-dimensional is?"

"But! Natural girls are highly toxic to honest people like you!

Because those types of girls sometimes easily act in ways that break the normal distance in male-female relationships, such as getting very close to you or saying things that make you imagine things.

At this point, you might think: Does she like me? Does she want to pursue me? Is my spring coming? However, all of this is just your misunderstanding; she doesn't mean it at all.

Any intimate gestures she makes are simply because she is a 'natural,' not because she likes you.

If you misunderstand this and confidently confess, you will suffer double the backlash, wishing you could disappear from this world immediately.

Yet, you can't blame her, because she has no ill will whatsoever; if you get angry, you become the bad guy."

"I... I imagined it a bit, and it's indeed quite terrifying."

"That's how terrifying 'natural' girls are, wantonly playing with the hearts of honest people without realizing it.

Shinika is a typical example of this.

Perhaps she focused solely on sword practice since childhood and is completely clueless about maintaining proper distance between genders, which is why that rumor arose."

"I see, I understand.

So, Shinika doesn't mean anything by it to you, and you don't mean anything by it to Shinika, right?"

"How could I dare? I'm too busy trying to avoid her.

I've long passed the age where I'd get carried away just because a girl was a little nice to me."

"Huh? Aren't you only 12 this year?"

"A-Anyway, you must also be careful not to be deceived by women who are only cute on the outside, seriously."

I took a big bite of a pie from my tray.

A 'natural' character like Shinika might indeed be cute from a male protagonist's perspective, but for us who cannot be protagonists, she is merely an unattainable mirage.

Being attracted to her would only lead to getting lost in the desert.