Chapter 1 - Jeke’s Playfulness

Ughhhhhh?!

…..Ah, eh?

What was that intense pain that ran through my body for a moment just now?

There’s no——

The pain was so intense that I thought I had screamed, but I couldn’t even speak.

It’s not there——

When I open my eyes, I find myself in a strange cave.

Where am I?

Who am I?

Okay, calm down, me.

For now, let’s just calmly observe the situation.

Well, I can’t move or speak right now, can I?

I could only manage to move my eyes, but since I can’t move my neck, I couldn’t even check my body’s condition.

What in the world…..What’s going on!?

Am I in some kind of vegetative state!?

There’s no way——

Is this how it’s going to be for the rest of my life?

I——

And why am I in a cave?

Have I been abandoned?

Are you serious?

Can I cry?

Am I getting ignored?

Aah, I see.

Okay, I should calm down once again.

Let’s try to remember what happened more clearly.

As I recall, I went to school in the morning and slept in the class as usual.

And then after school, I heard about a trendy new café that had just opened, so I went there with four of my classmates and my best friend Otowa.

It seems that something terrible happened after that….

＊＊＊＊＊

“Haaaa….I’m sure I’ll get a sermon tomorrow.”

“I give up. We chose to go to the new café over club activities just because we were in the mood, and we lost.”

“Woaah, it’s snowing so hard. It’s piled up so much! Let’s have a snowball fight later!”

“There’s about one fucking asshole in here.”

“Aah, I’ve stopped dwelling on it! I’m going to enjoy myself at the café to the fullest! Have you decided on what you get yet?”

“Oh, I didn’t know there was an app for this place. I haven’t seen it yet! Do you have a coupon!?”

“Wow~ Everything looks so good~!”

“That’s what they make it look like. This one right here fell for the store’s trick.” 1

“I’ll have this one!”

“That’s the one I’m after, so no!”

“What’d you say!? Then, I’ll take this one!”

“And there’s someone here who had his eye on it first.”

“Hey! There’s nothing for me to eat!”

“Have you two decided what you’re going to eat?”

“…..”

“Heey, Otoha?”

“Funya!? I, I’m sorry! I didn’t hear you!”

“What do you mean by ‘Funya’!?”

“You really do love Sakuya, flirting with her without caring if you’re seen.”

“Take your eyes off her for a moment, and she’s already in a world of her own.”

“Ehehehe. I think it’s wrong for Sakuya to be so cutee.”

My name is Sakuya Hattori, also known as Sakuya, and I was walking behind my four classmates along with my best friend, Otoha Kouzuki, also known as Otoha.

“I’ve heard that a hundred times before. But Sakuya still has the same iron mask expression.”

“That’s it! Even when Otoha, who everyone recognizes as the most beautiful girl in the school, hugs her, she doesn’t change her expression.”

“No, no, Sakuya is very happy about going to the café right now, you know?”

「「「「Eeeeeeh?」」」」

“Are you happy while wearing that expression?!”

“I can only see the usual blank look…..”

“I understand everything about Sakuya. I’m not happy that she’s thinking about the café more than me, but~”

“Well, if Otoha says that, it must be true.”

“Which one is the excited Sakuya going to eat?”

There’s a lot of noise around me, but I’m not focused on that right now!

It’s been a while since I’ve been to a café, and while I’d really like to eat everything on the menu, my stomach and finances don’t allow for it, so I have to make a hard decision about which dessert to eat!

Oh?

Can I see the menu!?

That child is smart―

What’s her name again?

Well, whatever.

I guess I should just go for the safe cakes around here….

No, no, I’m going to go out on a limb here and get this special menu….

“H, hey, hey, Sakuya, you’re too close to the screen! Can you even see?”

“Sakuya~ I want to see your face at close range, too. Then, if our lips accidentally touch each other, it’ll be an accident…..”

“Otoha, don’t go any further! You’ll ruin your beauty.”

“Sakuya, you’re going for that? That’s a bold move!”

“This one here wonders if it should take the same thing as Sakuya. I’ll take a bite.”

“Ah, then I’ll have one too!”

“Ah~, you can’t do that, okay? Ah~, that’s not good, okay? Absolutely not, okay?”

“I understand, so stop showing that serious face! You’re scaring me!”

My catchphrase is a silent, expressionless, completely unresponsive and unsociable person.

As you can see from the conversation so far, I haven’t said a single word!

No matter who speaks to me, I can’t even smile affectionately, let alone speak, change my expression, or even nod my head.

That’s who I am.

There is actually a reason why I have become such a person.

When I was little, I was a child who could do anything.

This is partly due to my family’s background, but I was trained in various educational disciplines from the time I can remember, and by the time I was in elementary school, I was a super kid who could do a wide range of things, from studying and sports to building simple machines and computers.

By the time I realized that I was so different from the other kids, it was too late and I became more and more isolated.

Footnotes

This is how this person refers to herself/himself.