Because She Looks So Attractive

(Everyone is so excited.)

As the atmosphere of the school was changing towards the sports festival, Minato watched the excitement of his classmates as if he were a stranger.

He felt sorry that Kazuma, who was a member of the class committee, didn't get to join any of the events.

In the first place, Minato believed that a sports festival is something that people who could exercise get excited about. Although Minato was not athletically illiterate, he was not good at it either.

The only events that Minato participated in were the footrace, which all the students participated in, and the ball game, which attracted people who didn't want to exercise. Naturally, he was not invited to participate in relays.

Minato thought that this year's sports festival would probably end without any problems.

"Hah~~"

"It's rare for Ninomiya to sigh like that. Are you tired?"

The day before the sports festival, Minato was relaxing in the living room as usual when he heard a sigh.

Airi didn't usually have such a blatant attitude, so something must have happened to her.

"No, it's not that. I'm just depressed about the sports festival."

"Why? Ninomiya is an athletic person. You should have no problem with sports, right?"

"In the gym, yes, but I don't like the stares at the sports festival."

Airi raised her eyebrows in deep disgust. She should be used to people's eyes on her, but she had never complained so much about their gaze before.

"You're used to getting stared at, aren't you?"

"Just because you're used to it doesn't mean you don't feel uncomfortable."

"Well, I guess that's true."

"Think about it, people stare at me all the time, but tomorrow they will stare at me even more. Even though I'm not a freak show."

"It's good to be the center of attention…"

"Absolutely not, good grief."

Airi and Minato chuckled, thinking that beautiful girls must have it rough in these kinds of situations.

On the day of the sports festival, Minato was sitting idly in the class tent when suddenly the crowd went wild.

Apparently, Airi would be participating in the relay. Minato didn't ask about the events she would be joining when they were at home, so he didn't know about it.

When he turned his eyes, he saw that many people were looking at Airi. Some of them probably had confessed to her and been rejected.

He wondered if the boys couldn't give up on Airi or if they were just looking at her as an object. There were also a lot of girls who had their eyes on Airi. It was probably because she was so eye-catching or maybe the girls were jealous.

(She must be struggling with having all these people watching her…)

Minato was reminded of Airi's disgusted face yesterday. However, there was nothing he could do about it, so he absentmindedly watched Airi run with such beautiful form.

The sports festival was over and students were leaving the school grounds.

Minato talked a bit with his classmates about their impressions of the festival, but now, he was alone.

Kazuma seemed to be going home to play with Momose, and Minato, who had a part-time job, refrained from joining them. If the three of them were to go home together, the two of them would immediately flirt with each other. Minato wanted to take it easy and go home alone at least for today.

He was a little tired after the sports festival and talking to his classmates, so he decided to take a break in a secluded area and bought a drink from a vending machine in the corner of the grounds.

Suddenly, he saw something white out of the corner of his eye. Minato turned his eyes and saw a familiar silver-haired girl with a male student going to an even more secluded place.

Minato thought that the boy were probably going to confess. Airi was so popular that even after the sports festival ended, people would still try to confess to her. Thinking about this, Minato bought Airi's favorite tea.

"..."

Minato didn't have a taste for eavesdropping on confessions, so he staggered over to the direction they were headed and found that they had just finished.

It would be awkward to run into the boy coming towards him, so he hid and let himm pass.

"…The ice doll is so scary."

As the boys walked past Minato, he thought about retorting to the small words a boy had said, but it would be no use for Minato to say anything here.

He calmed himself down and went towards Airi while making sure that no one else was around.

She had no expression on her face, but she looked as if she was about to disappear. Minato thought that maybe she was disgusted or something.

Airi started glaring when she heard footsteps, but then saw Minato's figure.

"Didn't you say you were going to pretend to be a stranger at school?"

"I checked to see if anyone was around, just in case. No one would come to this corner of the school."

Minato said that they could talk since they were in an empty area.

He explained to Airi that he had made sure of it as he handed her favorite tea. Minato was hoping she would be a little more relaxed after receiving a confession.

"Thank you very much, I will pay you back."

"Don't worry about it, it's for everything you've done."

"…Okay, I'll take your word for it."

There was no energy in her voice. Normally, Airi would be a little more assertive, but apparently she didn't have the energy to do so.

The conversation stopped.

Minato didn't particularly want to continue the conversation, and he was sure that Airi would like to be alone, so he turned on his heel and turned away from her.

"Then, see you later."

"…Please wait"

"What's wrong?"

Minato was trying to leave quickly, but he was stopped.

He didn't expect that Airi would stop him.

"Do you have some time right now?"

"Yeah, sure."

"…Will you listen to me?"

"I'll listen to anything. Just take your time."

Although Minato had a part-time job today, time was not a problem.

Even if he didn't have the time, he couldn't leave Airi alone who was in a fragile state.

For now, Minato let her lean against the wall of the school building and went next to her, a bit distance away.

There seemed to be something important to talk about, so it would be better to talk slowly.

The person next to him, Airi, took in a big breath and let it out. Again, and again, and again.

Airi was unable to say anything.

Minato kept silent for a while, hoping that Airi would talk to him at her own pace as he would listen carefully without rushing her.

"…I'm half Japanese, and I likely got this hair and eye color from my mother. My face is mostly Japanese, though."

"I knew you had some foreign blood in you, even if it's only half. So, it's your mother's side."

Koji-san was clearly Japanese in appearance, so it made sense.

It was a worrisome way of saying 'likely', but Minato thought it was not the right time to pursue it.

"That's right. And for a long time, this hair and eyes stood out and I've been called a lot of things. If anything, it stood out in a bad way. I've had envy, jealousy, and in the worst cases, resentment, and all kinds of bad emotions directed at me."

Naturally, Airi didn't only receive praise.

Minato couldn't see her face as she was beside him, but her voice sounded exhausted.

"And it's not just emotions. I've gotten a lot of looks from boys with ulterior motives, and a lot of looks from girls who want to take advantage of me. At first, I tried my best to be friendly with them, and at least, act cheerful while I was outside."

The 'while I was outside' part stuck out to Minato, but as before, he didn't pursue it and silently urged Airi to continue.

"…The results were not good. One day, I heard the people who were always talking to me in class spoke badly about me. The boys said, 'I thought I could get her because of her pretty looks, but she's not good at all', and the girls said, 'She is very beautiful, but she's boring to talk to.' They were all talking excitedly about me. Well, I certainly can't talk about anything interesting so it must've been painful for them to be with me."

"..."

Minato bit his teeth at the story that was too much.

After living with Airi for more than two months, there was certainly nothing between Minato and Airi that was funny or made them laugh. That said, he never found it painful, in fact, he even found it comforting.

Minato was about to deny it, but Airi continued with a dry laugh.

"It broke my heart. No matter how cheerful I was, all people saw was my silver hair and blue eyes. No one saw the existence of Airi Ninomiya… After that, I began to dislike both boys and girls, and quit associating with others. I quit because I realized that there was no point in doing so."

"That's probably true, I'd rather not get involved than force myself to do something like that."

Minato replied in a voice as calm as possible, trying not to sound angry.

There was nothing wrong with Airi's reaction. It was natural for her to be hurt by such a thing.

This seemed to be the reason why before, she said she had no intention of making friends.

"…Thank you for saying that. In the end, I treated boys curtly and girls deceptively with smiles and tried to avoid making friends with them. I don't really expect anything from boys, but if I'm cold to the girls, I get clawed back… School life becomes like a tightrope where I have to be constantly and desperately careful."

Minato thought Airi was trying to blend in with the class in some way so that she wouldn't become a foreign object. He thought it was a good idea.

In fact, it's impossible to turn against everything and be alone. No matter how you look at it, you need to communicate with others.

"The more I did this, the more confessions I got, and the more I had to follow up on them. It's really hard, because people only care about the girl he's interested in, not the guys I rejected. It's ironic, isn't it… The more I try not to get involved with other people, the more people confess to me, and the more ties I have to them."

Minato guessed that they liked that Airi didn't reject them with a smile on her face, probably because she was too beautiful or she said it with a gentle attitude. Minato laughed bitterly, realizing the irony of it all.

"And almost all of the reasons why people confess to me are because of my beautiful hair, my beautiful eyes, and my beautiful smile. That's all they want. I think it's unavoidable that people have bad feelings towards me because I refuse them with a cold attitude. But I don't want them to think they have a chance by being vague."

Minato didn't want Airi to be convinced that just because she rejected the boys, she deserved all the bad emotions towards her.

But Airi thought it was better than rejecting someone with a vague attitude.

She let out a small, long sigh and continued her story.

"…I know, I'm the one who caused it to be that way. But what can I do? If I am friendly, no one will see me, and if I am cold, more people will have to be involved. And it's impossible to reject everyone. As long as I am in a class, I will inevitably be involved with others."

Minato was sure that not all people who approached Airi were all like that, surely there were some who had no ill feelings towards her.

But if she were to be friendly to only those people, it would only make things more complicated around her.

There would be many people who would want to be treated the same way, but that didn't mean that all of them would not have bad intentions.

In fact, there would even be people who would try to raise their status in school by becoming superficially close to Airi.

Those people would probably get closer to Airi and talk about her behind her back.

This would only make things harder for Airi no matter how she tried.

"It's the same today, he told me he likes my beautiful hair and eyes. As far as I'm concerned, it really doesn't matter."

Minato wondered what Airi meant when she said it as if it were someone else's problem.

She said she didn't care if people complimented her on her hair, which she took good care of every day.

It's possible that she wasn't really affected by such praise after so many people have told her about it, but there was something strange about the way she said it.

"Does Ninomiya hate her hair and eyes?"

"That's a little…"

"I'm sorry. I guess that was hard for you to say. I'm sorry for asking."

Airi stammered, so Minato quickly cut the conversation short.

Even Minato, who was probably somewhat trustworthy, shouldn't touch this part.

"I'm sorry."

"No, it was my fault."

They apologized to each other and Airi let out a big sigh.

"Honestly, I'm tired of this."

Minato couldn't find any words to say to Airi who seemed to be at a loss for words.

"I don't know what I should do. Do you have any idea?"

"…Sorry, I can't think of anything."

"Is that so…"

Minato bit his back teeth in frustration at the sound of Airi's resigned, cold voice.

Airi's position was too different from Minato's. Minato was an ordinary looking man, and he was sure his opinion wouldn't be of any help.

He hated himself for not being able to help Airi at a time like this, even though he would usually be there for her.

Even so, Minato still wanted to share his opinion, even if it wouldn't be helpful.

"But I don't think you need to change yourself to be as friendly as you were before. You care too much about the people around you. You should be more selfish."

"Selfish?"

"That's right. It's okay to think that you only accept people you approve of. But if you say it out loud, people will see you as someone with a really bad personality."

It's hard for Minato because he cares about other people, but this is one of Airi's virtues. In this case however, it will only work for the worse.

If that's the case, Minato thought it was a good idea for Airi to cut off everyone except the ones she's accepted, because she can't be nice to everyone.

When Minato said it in a joking way so as not to take it too seriously, Airi laughed a little.

"What's that? I'm just a girl with a bad personality?"

"I'm just saying, don't think like that and don't worry about your surroundings. Also, let me correct one thing."

"…What?"

"Don't say no one sees Ninomiya, because I do, I'm looking at you. You're kind, you're strong, but you're also a little bit out of your element."

"..."

The conversation was cut short by the sound of Airi gasping.

She always takes care of Minato and does most of the housework for him, but there are times when she gets so absorbed in her games that she forgets about time.

Minato does think that Airi's appearance is attractive, but there are people who are looking at other things as well.

"…I'm not alone, am I?"

When Minato finally heard Airi's voice, it was not the gloomy voice he had heard earlier, but her usual voice that gave him a sense of human warmth.

"Of course. But I don't have any powers, and I look ordinary."

"Fufu, that's okay… So, you've been watching me all this time."

"Ah."

"…Senpai, if you'll excuse me."

Airi said and closed the distance between her and Minato. Their shoulders touched each other.

Although it was through his clothes, Minato could feel the heat of Airi's touch.

They didn't talk to each other after, but the time didn't feel unpleasant.

"Thank you. I feel a little better now."

"That's good."

After a while, Airi's warmth disappeared from next to him and she stood in front of Minato.

They had been touching each other for what must have been only a short time, but it felt strangely long.

If such an opinion could make Airi feel better, Minato thought it was a small price to pay.

The conversation seemed to be over, and her face, which Minato hadn't seen in a while, seemed to be refreshed.

"Well, Kujo-senpai, shall we get going? You have a part-time job today, right? What do you want for dinner?"

"After the sports festival and part-time job, I'd like to eat some gutsy meat."

"I understand, please leave it to me."

Airi's voice had already regained its usual cheerfulness.

Even though Minato had no power, he was happy to have been able to help her, even if only a little, and it warmed his heart.