Chapter 36: "Just watch me"

After declaring to Mocha-san I'll be performing blending in with the crowds, I put up my "perfect side character mode", more prepared than ever before.

Class proceeded normally, nothing much happened.

Two periods have passed and the next will be recess.

But before that, just before the bell rings,

"Okay class, wait for the next bell then you can have your recess."

After the teacher walked out of the room, I leaned towards Mocha-san, trying to catch her attention.

"Pst, Mocha-san." I called out her name quietly.

"W-What is it?"

Mocha-san answered, slightly startled as she's not used to being talked to by other people at random.

I waved my hand in a gesture telling her to come closer.

'What could it be that he's trying to tell me?'

She lent me her ear with curiosity.

Learning a little closer, I then whispered to Mocha-san.

"Get ready, it's about to begin. Watch me(as I blend in with the crowds.)"

'Ready for what? What's about to begin? Watch me? What does he mean by that...?'

Mocha-san tilted her head as she had no clue what I was talking about.

'I know I failed miserably yesterday. However, this time, I'll show you the fruits of my labor with my one month's worth of training. Kukuku.''

*Bell rings*

The bell rang and time for recess arrived.

Recess in our school has a duration of fifteen minutes. That might not sound that long, however, fifteen minutes was enough for a crowd to form in the back which is our spot.

The crowd was split between Mocha-san and mine's desk. A barrage of questions began, as if we were being interrogated.

Our classmates wanted to know more about Mocha-san, who was a new addition to the class. As for me, despite being classmates for as long as four months, we were practically strangers to each other. They only started growing curious about me after retiring my Phantom attire as my passive mode, no longer having this "don't talk to me" barrier surrounding me.

"Mocha-san, what games do you like? "

"Do you have any hobbies?"

"What do you think of our school so far?"

"What do you usually do at home?"

"If a soap fell on the floor. Is the floor clean, or is the soap dirty...?"

"Um-, I... uhm..."

'I can't understand what they're saying at all...'

Due to them talking consecutively in no order, Mocha-san can't quite make out what everyone is saying. Which question should she answer first? How will she respond? They're asking questions about me. Wait, who am I? Overthinking about what she'll reply, Mocha-san's mind came to a blank.

Before she knew it, she found herself stuck frozen, awkwardly smiling like an idiot as she doesn't know what to do or say anymore.

"Stop that guys, you're troubling Mocha-san."

Class Rep Hitomi-san interfered as she saw Mocha-san's troubled expression.

Mocha-san isn't used to being the center of attention, much less expecting a confident reply for each and everyone of them. The only reason she managed yesterday was due to the adrenaline rush she had that she gained after our first encounter. However, after having a goodnight's rest, she calmed down and came back to reality.

[To simply put, she was high yesterday.]

Even though Class Rep Hitomi-san told our classmates not to pressure her, they just kept coming anyways with their curious questions.

'How can someone expect to talk and reply with this many people.?' [Does not understand extroverts.]

Mocha-san, mind going blank from pressure of all this human interaction, desperately looked for an answer on how she'll survive this situation.

Thinking of ways to solve this, she suddenly remembered the warning I told her before the crowding even began.

"Watch me," those were the words that played back in her head as she desperately looked for a solution.

She looked towards my direction, surprised to see I was in a similar position as her. However, unlike her, I was conversing with everyone really well and was very casual about it.

For a while now, she had this impression of me that I was bad at interacting with people, so me being friendly to them was out of her expectations.

'Even though we're put in the same situation. No matter how you look at it, the way we are handling this is completely different...'

At that moment, Mocha-san felt as though she was being left behind, making he feel  somewhat dejected.

As Mocha-san looked at me interacting with people, we accidentally met eyes.

Noticing her stare, I gave her the smuggest grin she had ever seen, as if, telepathically telling her "Look how well I am doing."

'Why you...!?'

She thought as though I was mocking her for not being able to do the same. Because of that, she somewhat became irritated.

Fifteen minutes of constant questioning passed. Recess ended and classes resumed saving Mocha-san mentally.

...

After our fifteen-minute break, class resumed.

'Sigh.... In the end I still couldn't hold a proper conversation with everyone.'

Mocha-san felt regrets, thinking she could have handled talking with our classmates better just now.

'What's up with this guy, really? I thought we were in the same boat as bad communicators.'

Feeling betrayed, Mocha-san glared at me intensely. Noticing her glare, I stared back at her with confidence, then inquired.

"How was that?" I inquired, thinking 'Are you impressed with my perfect side character act? Kukuku.'

"How was what?" she query with a seemingly tired tone.

"My acting." I specified.

Mocha-san seemed to be surprised by my clarification.

'So he really was acting just now!?'

'Don't tell me Yukiya-kun is actually... a two-faced character!?'

Mocha-san put her hand on her chin, pondering.

'This could be, bad? There is this popular trope in shoujo manga. A male lead who acts friendly in front of others, but when no one is looking, he shows a twisted side of himself.'

'Wait, now that I think about it, wasn't he pretending to be kind to me on our first meeting. Then out of nowhere, he wall slammed me, probably because I figured out he trespassed.'

Mocha-san tried to think of an immediate response.

"I, it's not bad." she cautiously replied.

'Everything he has shown until now was an act? So which one is his true personality?'

'Could he actually be a really twisted character behind his friendly act...?! I just hope this isn't a death flag or anything...'

Mocha-san is overthinking what I said. She suspects me of being a two faced character, acting nice but is actually twisted inside. But I guess that isn't too far off.

Coming to her own conclusion, Mocha-san became wary of me once again and put up her guard more.

Meanwhile, I was there celebrating.

'Hell yeah, did you hear that? Not bad she says. That means she acknowledges my performance as the "perfect side character!".'

Just by a simple not bad, it means that it is very effective, right?

All I have to do now is to maintain my facade of being just a normal person and Ayaka's theory of the perfect side character mode's level of effectiveness to be a stated fact.

Two more-period passed and time for lunch arrived.