After school, by the shoe lockers at Machida General High School.
Takuma Kunimi was staring down as he sluggishly changed his shoes.
"...Man, today was exhausting too. I'm ugly, and girls aren't interested in me anyway."
He muttered it to himself as if it were simply a fact of life.
And then—
"...Oh."
"...Ah."
Their eyes met.
Standing there were the three members of Silent Riot—
Kotone Himesaki, Iroha Yuki, and Mei Shibata.
Kotone, internally:
(Oh crap... That's Kunimi. If he smiled at me right now, I'd probably die. N-Not that I want him to smile at me or anything!!)
Iroha leaned toward her and whispered—
"Hey, Kotone! Your face is totally red! Oh my God, you're acting super suspicious right now!"
Mei remained expressionless.
"...He has more presence than my DJ equipment. I mean... isn't he basically the physical embodiment of a popular guy?"
Silent Riot were practically the idols of the entire school.
The three of them, however, were completely unaware of it.
And Takuma was exactly the same.
Despite being the most popular boy among the girls at school, he remained absolutely convinced that—
"...Huh? Aren't those the girls from Silent Riot?"
Takuma blinked.
"...Wait, why are they bowing to me?"
Kotone froze.
(Ahhh! I just waved at him without thinking!!)
Iroha stared at her.
(Whoa, whoa, whoa! Why are you WAVING at him?!)
Mei remained perfectly calm.
(Let's just pretend she was... keeping rhythm for a rap.)
Takuma awkwardly raised a hand.
"...Uh, hey. You guys are pretty friendly."
Then he thought about it.
(Why would Kotone wave at me? She's an introvert like me...)
(...Oh. She was probably waving at one of the popular kids behind me.)
(Yeah. That makes sense.)
"HEY! KUNIMI?! Why are you running into Silent Riot at the shoe lockers?!"
Mikiko came charging over.
Karen followed right behind her.
"Ooh, now this is an all-star lineup! ♡"
Shiori stared at the scene.
"What even is this picture? This is hilarious." This chapter is updated first at g.com.
Urara's eyes sparkled.
"Wow... They're all so cute..."
Then she clenched her fists.
"...But I'm not gonna lose! ♡"
The heroines who had rushed over from the classroom surrounded Takuma all at once.
Within seconds, the normally ordinary shoe-locker area had descended into chaos.
Hina Tachibana watched from a short distance away.
"...What is this? An intersection where popular people collide?"
Momiji nodded.
"More like popular people colliding with popular people—with none of them realizing they're popular."
"And we've got obliviousness, social awkwardness, and airheadedness all mixed together."
"...Honestly, the fact that nothing romantic is happening in this situation might qualify as a miracle."
As Takuma left the shoe lockers behind, he muttered to himself—
(...Yep. Still unpopular today.)
(I could've sworn those Silent Riot girls were looking at me...)
(...Nah. Probably just my imagination.)
And so— the most popular boy in the entire school added yet another chapter to his legend.
Takuma Kunimi:
the undisputed king of all hopelessly oblivious men.