[Chapter 28: Just a Chuuni's words of assurance.]
Mocha-san palmed both of her cheeks to wake herself up.
"Sigh." Taking a deep breath, her eyes filled with determination, declaring to herself that.
'Alright! It's my turn to do the same as the strong willed shoujo heroine.'
Finding her determination once more, Mocha-san disregards all her insecurities for a second, focusing all her attention on the game.
The enemy served, Mocha-san is now positioned behind the net from the current rotation.
The ball flew over and it wasn't directed towards Mocha-san this time for being in the front line.
Their team receives the ball properly, then passes the ball around two more times until it reaches the enemy's court.
The ball was pretty low and touched the net barely. Because of that, it managed to pass through just enough to make the ball fall on the enemy territory, falling at an awkward position for a receive.
However, the enemy team reacted swiftly and still managed to properly receive the ball that a normal player can hope to react with speed.
They tossed the ball in the air and was going for a spike. The spiker runs at the opposite side of the net where Mocha-san is standing.
The spiker hit the ball, then-
'I, I can block it!'
Determined, Mocha-san jumped the same time the spiker did in attempt on blocking the ball. However,
*Slam*
"Ghack!"
She jumped without getting closer to the net. She was about 3 to 4 steps behind the net so blocking at that distance was practically of no use.
Instead, because of the angle of the spike and her out of position block, the ball hit her straight in the face with full force, and a loud slapping sound was made and can be heard through the entire gymnasium.
She was knocked down on the floor, with eyes spinning, and a really brightly red round print on her face, the same size as the volleyball that hit her just now.
"Mocha-san, are you alright?!"
Everyone rushed to Mocha-san's aid, who was currently laying flat on the floor.
"Yeah, I'm fin-"
Just about when she tried to stand, she felt lightheaded and laid back on the floor from dizziness.
She was hit fairly hard on that spike, so her balance is a little disorganized at the moment.
"Ugh... Everything is spinning. M, my shoujo heroine debut..."
She mumbled out loud while staring in the ceiling l, as Class Rep Hitomi-san held her in her arms. Hitomi-san has no clue what she was talking about.
"Mocha-san, hold on! We'll take you to the infirmary."
Just when Class Rep Hitomi-san was about to carry Mocha-san on her shoulder, a guy stepped in and tapped Class Rep Hitomi-san's shoulder.
"Let me take this from here."
"Y, Yukiya-kun?!"
All of a sudden, I picked up Mocha-san in my arms like I did with President Shiori-senpai, performing a princess carry.
[Still under the influence of Ayaka's little prank.]
"W, Wha-"
Mocha-san got flustered by suddenly getting carried by someone in their arms, especially by me who she considered as a potential male lead candidate.
'I-I'm being princess carried right now by the delinquent prince! Is this a dream? This is so shoujo manga like! ...Maybe getting hit in the face by the ball was worth it after al- ugh...
Mocha-san thought about how shojo manga the situation is like, maybe getting hit by the ball was worth it after all? But soon reminded how painful the experience was, feeling the numbness to her face, and the dizziness she was experiencing right now.
'Never mind. I don't wanna go through that again...'
She stayed silent as I carry her to the infirmary. It was probably her being flustered and also being too dizzy to react at the same time.
...
Why did I insisted on carrying Mocha-san myself, even though I was at the opposite side of the gym?
Though there's a lot of students available, including Class Rep Hitomi-san who was more than willing to take on the role, you asked?
This is also part of Operation: [BETA], phase three of being a Generic Student Character.
[BETA] Student Character chacteristic number 3: Show unconditional amounts of kindness.
'Kukuku... I'll take every kindness opportunity I can get. For the sake of being the generic student character. Kuwhahaha.'
I thought, as I tried to hone my other side of the coin of my shadow hero character.
It says on the internet that every generic character always shows a good amount of kindness.
I don't know why but, it also says that they're pretty dense, and for some reason, the one who posted the article seemed really passionately angry about it.
[Unbeknownst to Yikiya, the author of the article he read was actually a rant on generic main characters you could typically find at a highschool setting.
The original poser was ranting about how could someone be so phathetic, lacking in personality, dense beyond stupid, whose only redeeming feature was that they're kind. Yet somehow, they managed to acquire a harem they aren't even aware of? In other words, a diss on the "self insert" type of main character. Though it is simplified to "They're kind to a fault" in the summary that Yukiya read.]
...
At the infirmary.
I successfully carried Mocha-san to the infirmary.
Unlike senpai, who's heavier in "assets", I caried Mocha-san pretty effortlessly as Mocha-san was lighter and the weight distribution isn't too out of balance.
The moment we arrived at the infirmary, I laid Mocha-san on the clinic bed, waiting for the school nurse or the student in charge to arrive.
By that time, Mocha-san's headache already subsided. But still... she looked somewhat down for some reason, as if something was troubling her mind.
But I didn't really take notice, because I was too eager to head back to get more kindness points for [Operation BETA].
"I'll be going now." I notified Mocha-san after laying her on the clinic bed.
Just when I tried to leave, Mocha-san grabbed me by the back of my shirt, and I stopped walking from the feeling of someone's hold.
"T, thank you..." she timidly thanked me.
I took a passing glance at her and replied. "No problem."
She thanked me with her face a little flushed. Or maybe it was just the print left by the ball? Who knows.
All I cared about at the moment is gaining some kindness points for Operation: [Beta].
Though I tried to leave, I can still feel her holding me from behind. I looked back at her to see what else she wants.
Putting on my Beta mode, I turned around. There I saw she was looking at me intensely as if she wanted to tell me something.
"W... What is it, Mocha-san?" I inquired while I talked on my beta mode.
"C-Can I ask you something?!"
"Eh, s-sure..."
[Part of Operation Beta: Always spam "Eh" every chance you get while slightly stuttering on your words.]
"H, how can you do that?" She asked me, thinking. 'How can you make friends with them so easily.'
Mocha-san was under the impression that I was a loner delinquent, so she assumed I wasn't really that good with communicating with people.
'Is she talking about my side character act?'
Is what I concluded "that", thinking back to the whole point why I asked her if I looked like a side character, earlier in class before P.E period.
"I don't know... Practice, I guess?"
It was the honest truth, I did train my side character act with the help of Ayaka's guidance and interaction with Haruka-san this past month. Although it wasn't related to Mocha-san's question...
"I see. Practice, huh..."
'I guess if it's him, I could place my trust as people who bear the same circumstances of wanting to break free of being loners...'
"Actually, I- I was trying to change." Is what she revealed to me all of a sudden.
"What... do you mean?" I inquired, thinking, 'She looks serious for some reason.'
I acted clueless as to act being a [Beta] student character.
"I, I want to blend in with everyone!" She answered, with the internet of, 'I wanted to make friends with everyone!'
Mocha-san shared her feeling of wanting to belong.
Hearing her answer, I processed, 'Hm, I see. So she really was asking me about my blend in with the crowds. Huh...'
She didn't specify it enough, so I just assumed and related it to my side character act as she also knows I am hiding my power. (From the hood incident)
I just nodded, thinking of a reply.
"Don't worry, you'll get there eventually."
Is what the words of encouragement I gave her, thinking she was aiming for a role of a bystander as well.
I told her that, thinking. 'You already have a weak presence, so I think you have great potential in acting as an NPC.' I nodded.
'This is the word of encouragement scene, so I should probably flesh out some backstory to it.'
"Actually, I was trying to change as well."
"R, really?" Mocha-san acted surprised, thinking in her mind. 'I already knew.'
Trying to give a back story of how I ended up wanting to blend in with the crowds, I shared to her my experience before the sidecharacterification.
"Yeah. At first, I thought that being avoided was fine (hella cool), but then, I soon realized that I was doing it all wrong (Because I wasn't properly hiding amongst the crowds.)
[Still isn't hidden amongst the crowds]
'We really are alike...' is what Mocha-san thought to my backstory.
Mocha-san felt a sense of resonance.
'Well, I'm already aware how it is for him from Hitomi. But, hearing it directly from him. Does this mean, he alread trust me...? That, does cheer me up a bit...'
I then gave my final word of advice before I take my leave.
'Let's leave a cool quote before I make my exit.'
"It is up to you to make a change. If you couldn't find your way, then come to me. I will give you the answer that you're looking for."
This quote is directed to those who lost their path. What I'm trying to play out here is the "I know the answer. Come and find me" scenario that is played out by the mysterious character, believing he holds a significant information about the lore. Just like my boi Gaias in WHKE.
'Is he trying to encourage me, telling me I could rely on him?'
Is what Mocha-san assumed, thinking it was just me being cold but is actually caring again, like the way I acted before, during lunch and when exchanging notes.
"Okay then, I'll be going now." I excused myself to Mocha-san. 'Those kindness points are not gonna collect themselves.'
I opened the door and tried to leave but.
"W-wait!"
Once again, just when I was about to leave. Mocha-san stopped me from leaving.
She then asked me a question.
"Why did you go through the trouble of carrying me here?" She inquired, wondering, 'Why go through the trouble of carrying me when you didn't have to?'
What Mocha-san was thinking makes a valid point. I wasn't really the closest to the scene at that time, so why go through the trouble of carrying her if there were a lot of people close by willing to do so?
I smiled back at her and replied, "I guess... It's not like everyday I get to carry anyone in my arms(for kindness points.)"
It's rare to find people needing help out in the open. Right now, for the sake of Operation: [Beta], I will take on as much kindness opportunity as much as I could.
Mocha-san's face blushed once again hearing my answer.
"Okay, I'm really better be heading off now."
I said my partings, and this time, she finally let me go.
'He doesn't do this everyday...? Does that mean... He goes out of his way to carry me here, because I was special?!'
She misunderstood it as me indirectly telling her she was special.
Her face turned completely red thinking of the possibility that that was the case.
...
Not too long after, I headed back to the clinic only for Mocha-san to find another random girl laying in my arms.
"Eh?"
Mocha-san's blushing face turns to shock and confusion.
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A/N: Damn this chapter took longer to revise, the original almost gave me brane damage trying to read it.