"Aha! There you are, Ryouta! You finally showed up!"
As I was speaking with Rui, Airi and Yuria—who had been off somewhere—made their return.
"You’re late, Ryouta. Don't tell me you were busy flirting with Tanaka on the way to school?"
"N-no way! It’s just that Tanaka walks so damn slow."
"There goes Ryouta again, blaming poor Tanaka-chan."
"It’s the literal truth!"
Since Airi and Yuria were ganging up to tease me, I decided to shift all the responsibility onto Tanaka for the time being.
In reality, Tanaka always walks with these tiny, mincing steps, so trying to match her pace is an absolute nightmare.
By the way, if I don't match her and walk ahead, she snaps, "Men like that are never popular!" But the moment I actually do match her speed, she sighs, "Ryouta-kun... honestly, it’s things like that," and turns her head away in a huff.
Either way, she’s incredibly high-maintenance.
But that’s just Tanaka for you. Business as usual.
"Anyway, where were you two off to just now?"
"Eh? Airi and I were—"
"Wait, Airi!"
"Huh?"
Just as Airi was about to spill the beans, Yuria suddenly reached out and clamped a hand over her mouth.
What was that about? Was it something they couldn't tell me?
Wait, could it be... a secret yuri tryst?!
"Ryouta, you’re thinking about something incredibly stupid again, aren't you?"
"I-I am! What of it?!"
"Don't just own up to it like it's a point of pride."
While I was busy having delusions of massive breasts and thick thighs overlapping in my head, Yuria saw right through me.
"More importantly, Rui-chan! The Track and Field Club is off today, right?"
"Yeah, that’s right... How did you know, Airi?"
"I just asked one of the club members! So, I was thinking, if you're free, maybe we could all go to karaoke together after school?"
"Of course, I’d love to. Then it's settled. The four of us are going to karaoke after school."
"Yay! Airi is so happy she gets to play with Rui-chan for the first time in forever!"
Airi expressed her joy by bouncing her explosive breasts even more violently than usual.
If Airi's chest is shaking this much, she must be truly ecstatic to hang out with Rui... Wait.
Just now, Rui said "the four of us"...
"Wait! Am I going to karaoke too?"
"Well, obviously! Airi wants to hang out with everyone for a change!"
"O-oh... okay..."
Karaoke, huh... If I were going with just Tanaka, I’d be relaxed in a way, but with these three... damn.
Still, Airi is clearly in high spirits. If I acted reluctant and refused, I’d probably end up ruining the whole vibe.
"Alright. I'll go too."
"Mhm, mhm! Then it’s karaoke for the whole group! Now I'm really looking forward to after school!"
Airi beamed as she spoke.
Through a summer vacation overflowing with perversion, I had finally become an adult—in the deepest sense of the word.
In short, I had become socially savvy enough to read the room, just like the extroverts.
This was growth achieved solely through the power of lewdness.
Not everyone who commits perverted acts is rewarded, but those who have succeeded in life have, without exception, been perverts.
Having tasted Airi's explosive breast-dive, Yuria's bare chest, and that thick-thigh sandwich, I was now invincible.
"Ah, morning homeroom is about to start... Wait, Ryouta, what’s with that face? You’re creeping me out."
As I was grinning to myself like a total creep, Yuria muttered her disgust.
"Ah, sorry. I was just thinking that a handsome guy like me is so good at reading the room that the sheer scale of my own social awareness is just too much to handle."
"Ugh, you’re getting cocky in the grossest way possible. Aren't you getting a little too full of yourself just because we're going to karaoke? Besides, if you're so good at reading the vibe, you know anime songs are banned, right? You gonna be okay with that?"
"...Eh?"
At Yuria's words, my expression darkened instantly.
Hold on. I literally can't sing anything except anime songs. And they're all those ultra-moe Kirara-style songs at that.
"D-don't tell me, Ryouta... only anime songs...?"
No matter how much perversion I tasted, I was forced to reaffirm a harsh reality: a gloomy otaku is still a gloomy otaku.
After school.
Since I didn't know a single song that an extrovert would recognize, and it was a near-certainty that I’d be relegated to the maracas and tambourine like a certain "lost-child" lead singer, I walked toward my shoe locker with slumped shoulders.
"Come on, Ryouta! Hurry up!"
"Yeah, yeah..."
Unlike the three girls who were happily leading the way, my feet felt like lead. But then...
Just as I was about to pull my shoes out of the locker, I noticed a single letter resting on top of them.
It was a pristine white envelope, sealed with a musical note sticker.
"Hm? This is... no way! A love letter?"
"Geez! Ryouta, move it!"
"Ah, right! I'm coming!"
Hurried by Airi, I instinctively stuffed the letter into my pocket and shoved my shoes on.
There’s no way it’s actually a love letter.
For a creepy, gloomy otaku boy like me, the idea of a love letter is a statistical impossibility.
Having become an adult through my perverted experiences, I’ve already graduated from the delusions of a lonely loner!
Well, putting my perversion aside for a moment, I'm about to go hang out with those three. I’ll save the letter as a little treat for when I get back home.