COTE: Koenji What if

Vol. 1 Chapter 12.3 - Date?

I then went back to the more positive rankings. 

I wonder if I could ask any of the boys at the top of the positive lists about advice on dating? 

Also, for some reason it showed a ranking of top couples, and Satou and I were on that list, and we were around the middle of that list.

These rankings were made through a collective, anonymous voting, as described at the top of this website, so that meant quite a few people saw us as a couple.

"Are you done?" Satou asked.

"Yeah, that was an interesting read. I do feel bad for, ahem, Ike and Yamauchi."

"Oh well, maybe if they weren't so obvious. Rumors went by very, very quickly after that one swimming lesson. Speaking of which, you were amazing. I'm surprised even Hirata lost that one. Even Koenji and Sudou got demolished." Satou said enthusiastically.

This is one of her favorite things to say about me for some reason. I suppose that is because that is when she apparently first fell for me.

After we went to some shops, me and Satou saw another couple. They looked all happy, and were smiling.

"I do like the way you look right now, although you basically don't ever show an expression on your face. Like, at all. It is quite freaky at times, not going to lie. It is one of the reasons why your ranking in social skills aren't too high, as well as your high ranking in gloominess." Satou said bluntly.

"I can't really help it. It just feels very unnatural trying to force an emotion on my face."

"Perhaps if you practiced making a little smile in the mirror, that could work? I do feel like if you managed to work on yourself, you could get that number 1 spot and even beat Hirata!" Satou said.

This was advice 'professor Koenji' said to me as well about smiling back during his lecture on the ways to deal with a stalker 101. Even small steps can come a long way, so I guess it is worth a shot. Perhaps it can become natural for me to do. Such trivial things considered as human instinct do not really apply to me at times, such as the head nod which is apparently an unspoken rule of sorts amongst boys. That has now become somewhat natural to me.

"Alright then, I guess I could try that. By the way, do you care about those Ikemen rankings?"

"Well I guess I do enjoy looking at them from time to time. By the way, you don't have to force yourself to smile when you don't want to, of course, but a little smile goes a long way, you know? Like how Hirata-kun does it!" Satou added.

"Speaking of Hirata, it was very nice of him to get those cheats." I said.

"Well yeah~! Of course! But I am sure that you were probably thinking of the same lines as well, am I right?"

"I guess I did think of that, but I didn't actually act through with it. Although it did give me inspiration for something. You will see something very surprising tomorrow, trust me."

"Well I am looking forward to it then." Satou said while smiling.

It felt like Satou felt quite competitive regarding the likes of comparing me to Hirata and the Ikemen rankings.

Satou and I then started walking around in Keyaki mall. She was eyeing one of the stores in particular, but due to the lack of points, she couldn't go ahead and spend points carelessly in the shop.

But before we decided to go to the shop, I spotted the idiot trio in the distance. And they seemed to have spotted me as well. Sudou then proceeded to wave at me, and so I waved back. They then started to approach us.