[Chapter 31: Just seemed cold but is actually caring.]
The door slides open and the one behind it was Hitomi-san, with her, our classmates who were in the same team as Mocha-san's when they were playing volleyball. And it seems like they wanted to say something.
Mocha-san pulled down the blanket, presenting herself, as she realized there are other people present.
"H, Hey, g-guys." She greeted them nervously, expecting, 'Are they gonna scold me?'
Mocha-san thought they were there to confront her about the volleyball game.
Just before anything happens, 'I guess it's time to make my exit.'
Just when Class Rep Hitomi-san and the others arrived, I casually stood up and excused myself. Nonchalantly telling them,
"I'll leave you guys to it."
I told them with an all knowing grin, as if, already know what they're gonna talk about and realized I didn't belong there.
But actually, after I exited the room. I was thinking,
'Kukuku. How was that? My mysterious character exit. Was it shady enough to leave you questioning, "what were they talking about before we interrupted? Kukuku.'
What I was trying to achieve here is when there were two characters talking about important matters, until another character came into the scene, seemingly being forced to cut their conversation short.
As they saw the other character excused themselves, you'll have to wonder, what were they talking about? Cutting their conversation short, as though they didn't want that specific conversation to be heard by others.
Their curiosity will grow as they raised suspicion. Later finding out that specific conversation was actually relevant to the plot. It's a typical mysterious character move if I do say so myself.
Blending amongst the crowds is what a shadow hero does, but it's still important to act shady from time to time to plant the seeds of suspicion.
In the long term of being a mysterious character, it's important to plant these subtle hints of suspicion so that the reveal would make sense later on when they reveal their true identity and their relevance to the plot.
These slow realizations of those subtle hints is what truly makes the reveal all the more thrilling for the viewers.
Though, I still don't know how I would use it in the future... I just really wanted to make a shady exit at the moment.
"Mocha-san, are you alright now?" inquired Class Rep Hitomi-san, asking if Mocha-san was already fine from the volleyball incident.
"Y, yeah..." replied Mocha-san, preparing herself for what they're about to say. 'Here it comes!'
"You..."
Mocha-san closed her eyes, expecting to be scolded. Just when Class Rep Hitomi-san was about to speak, she was interrupted by our tomboyish and free spirited classmate.
"You did a good job holding out there!"
"?!"
'Eh...? Did a good job? on what?'
Mocha-san tilted her head, looking puzzled by what they meant.
"Yeah, you really take that spike head on."
"Pfft. We didn't think you would do that"
"You were super brave. I *chuckles* didn't think you *chuckles*, you'd take the ball head on. Pfft, Pwa Ha Ha Ha!"
"Eh?"
Mocha-san tilted her head even more, confused at how the others were reacting, seemingly trying to hold their laughter's.
When she was running simulations inside her head, in the worst case scenario, they would hate her for sucking at the game, and the best outcome would be them not caring at all. However, she did not expect this kind of atmosphere, even being praised and treated like a hero(sarcastically).
"What do you mean...?"
She finally asked as to what they actually meant, expecting to reach a conclusion as to why they were reacting like that.
"You didn't know...? Oh yeah, you just transferred so you wouldn't!"
Class Rep Hitomi-san then proceeded to explain why they thought of Mocha-san as someone courageous like a hero, not like being disappointed like she was assuming.
"Actually, the upperclassmen we were up against were athletes who reached the nationals last season."
"Eh?!"
"Yeah, our school has always been a power house in various sports. We wouldn't even dare to try blocking their spikes. That's why we think of Mocha-san as the bravest out of all of us for taking the hit head on. Pfft."
"Stop laughing, Haru-san."
The other classmates explained, while comfortably fooling around.
Looking back, the upperclassmen performed really well in their volleyball match. They manage to find a weakness in their team and accurately targeted it which is Mocha-san. They properly receive the ball even at hard to reach and awkward places and. Also displayed great team work when receiving and attacking.
If you think about it now, they didn't have a chance of winning to begin with looking at how big the skill difference is compared to the enemy team.
Mocha-san remembered how exactly they played and realized that none of her teammates even tried blocking the ball even once.
'Now that they mention it... But I guess that's a relief rather than them hating me ...a little heads-up would have been nice tho...'
Mocha-san felt that the bravery she showed was just her being unnecessary. However, she finds herself being relieved as no one seems to be angry at the poor performance she showed in the court.
"Sigh. I see... S, so it was just me being unnecessary, huh. Hahaha..." Mocha-san awkwardly laughed.
"No. M, Mocha-san was great!"
Class Rep Hitomi-san retorted, then thought of something to cheer her up.
"Y, you were like a real shojo heroine."
"W-Where did you hear that from!?" Mocha-san inquired with embarrassment.
"You were mumbling about it earlier... was I not supposed to say that?"
"N, never mind... Please forget about it."
"Anyway, Mocha-san was the person who contributed the most in our team."
"R, really?"
'I don't remember doing that much tho...'
"You really did your best on diverting the enemy's attention!" complimented by Class Rep Hitomi-san while giving her a thumbs up.
'I... don't think that's a good compliment.'
As Hitomi tried complimenting her, Mocha-san had flashbacks of how she practically became a meat target and even got hit hard enough in the face to be sent to the infirmary.
...
After resolving Mocha-san's worries about the possibility of her being hated. They confronted her how it wasn't her fault and wasn't really expecting much to begin with since the team they were up against was just too strong to compete.
Right now, they are just chilling in the infirmary, waiting for the next bell to ring as they wait.
'Wait! This is my chance to get closer to them! Quick, Mocha. Think of an interesting topic to ask!'
Mocha-san tried to think of a topic to keep the conversation going. This time, she wanted to try taking the intiative.
"S-So who won...?" inquired Mocha-san, asking a question that came on the top of her head.
"The enemy team, of course. They are athletes after all."
'Gah! Of all things, what a stupid question to ask. They already mentioned the upper classmen reaching the nationals. Stupid, stupid, stupid!'
Mocha-san internally screamed in embarrassment, thinking to herself that what she inquired just now was a very dumb question to ask.
"No, wait. Technically we didn't lose. The game was called off so it's a draw."
"Come on now, it was obvious we lost by a long shot from that large of a gap. Stop being a sore loser, Haru."
"Am not!"
The others were talking about how the game goes. They were arguing in the background whether they lost or not, and for some reason they mentioned the game being stopped.
"What, do they mean by the game got called off?"
'Was it because of me leaving?! Was it the lack of players after I left?! So was it really my fault...?'
Mocha-san asked in curiosity, overthinking and blaming herself once again.
Class Rep Hitomi-san then gave an explanation about what happened.
"After you were sent to the infirmary, when Yukiya-kun returned to the gym, a girl who was running tripped so Yukiya-kun insisted he'll bring her to the infirmary at the same fashion hed did with Mocha-san(princess carry)."
"Just after returning again, another girl tripped from jump roping and he insisted again he would bring them to the infirmary."
"Both of them don't seem to be badly hurt, but Yukiya-kun insisted he'll carry them to the infirmary."
"Though they seemed to fall down coincidentally, other girls started to do the same and pretend to fall down one by one whenever they're in front of Yukiya-kun."
"Even though it was obviously an act, what's really weird is the way Yukiya-kun did not discriminate against them and still gave the other girls(including Soba-kun) the same treatment of carrying them to the infirmary."
What Class Rep Hitomi-san said was the truth. After all, at the time I was also suspicious of how much of a coincidence it was for so many people to fall over just as I return on the spot. I even thout it was some kind of new form of bullying.
However, it was when I was executing my operation [BETA] which was to show unconditional amounts of kindness to the point of becoming a fool, so I complied anyways. It's not like I always do that willingly.
"An that point, when the PE teacher arrived. He was surprised to see everyone keep tripping left and right and the game was held of to che the gym's floor. But confused to see that there doesn't seemed to be wrong with it."
"By the time they figured out what was going on, the bell already rang and so here we are."
Is what Class Rep Hitomi-san explained about what happened.
"You should have seen it. It was so bizarre that we almost forgot you got hit in the face."
"Ah-"
The other female classmate commented and Mocha-san once again got reminded of what happened.
Then Mocha-san thought about the whole scenario and placed her hand on her chin, thinking deeply.
'That story sound so, strange? Even though he's a player prince, why would someone cause a scene like that?'
Trying to process what happened, she asked another curious question.
"Has Mr. Demon Prince always cause a scene like that?" inquired Mocha-san, forgetting the nickname she got me.
[Note: Maouji > Mao Ouji >Demon lord prince > Demon Prince.]
'Demon Prince...? Ah, she is talking about Yukiya-kun.'
They already knew me as a chuunibyou far back so it wouldn't be weird if I call myself that.
"No, at least I don't think he would act like that before. He only started talking to us just recently, so we thought the him from before disliked interacting with people."
Up until recently, I don't really get to interact with anyone in school. I was taking my role so seriously as the silent and mysterious character of the class that I didn't even realize that I had been out casted.
"Yeah, we never expected something like that would happen, especially coming from Saito-kun"
They said, as people who perceived Yukiya Saito as someone angry all the time with his glare.
"Yeah. I think people even started calling what happened today as the hundred carry incident."
From what Hitomi and the other said, I sounded like a person who dislikes interacting with others, but today I seemed really out of character.
Hearing their opinions of how they saw me from befor, it left Mocha-san wondering.
Then why would he...
She wonders, if I dislike interacting with people that much, 'then why would he put himself in a situation that requires a lot of interactions?'
? ...Now that I think about it, he was also carrying a guy(Soba Hito) so he doesn't necessarily discriminate who he caries. That means it doesn't necessarily have to be a female student.'
And then, it clicked her.
'Could it be... so they'll forget I got hit by the ball earlier!?'
What happened to her was truly an embarrassing incident. That loud slapping sound of the ball as it hit her face. I'm sure everyone remembers it.
'So that's why he tried carrying that unusual amount of people... He tried to divert everyone's attention to him to overshadow me getting hit by the volleyball on the face. H, he made an even memorable event to overshadow the volleyball incident. D, did he sacrifice himself just to protect my honor!!?''
Mocha-san thought, coming to her own conclusion about my intentions of carrying everyone to the infirmary.
A/n: Mocha thought he just pulled some Hachiman type big brain move.
'Even though it looks like he doesn't want to deal with people. He still stepped forward to help me...!'
'Now that I think about it, he even stepped out of the room when Hitomi and the others arrived.'
'Before, I thought he just doesn't care about our conversation, but was he just actually trying to be considerate at that time?'
'So was he not actually a playboy? Instead, a cold looking but actually caring type of male lead? The classic "go to" for the majority of shoujo maga!?'
Mocha-san confused my actions as the traditional standards for male leads, with the popular boy meets unpopular girl setting.
"I see..."
"You see what?"
Class Rep Hitomi-san asked in curiosity as Mocha-san mumbled outloud.
"N, nothing..!"
*Bell rings*
And so, their talk ended along with recess, with Mocha-san problems somehow being resolved. And assumption of me being a cold but actually caring type of character embedded on her mind.
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A/n: If you know your shojo stuff, popular boys with indiferent attitude was popular back in the day.
Male leads like "Kei" from "Special A", "Usui" from "Maid-sama", "Kyouya" from "Wolf Girl and Black Prince"
I noticed them having similar traits, looking cold but actually caring.