"In simpler words, the divide happens due to the fear of losing their spot in the friend group, the approval of those around you significantly influences your self-esteem, and the reason individuals are so reserved in attempting to integrate themselves into a new circle was due to the fear of judgment and rejection from people around them. It's a way to protect one's own egos."
Is what Hitomi-san concluded, sharing her insights and thoughts with her curious friend Mocha Tsukiyo-san.
Mocha-san then pondered, collecting her thoughts about what Hitomi-san concluded.
"Hm, I-I see. So that's the reason why barriers are formed. It's so to protect egos of those who fear judgment, a-and to not lose the dynamics they have grown accustomed to. I-Is that right?"
Mocha-san just summarizes in agreement, wanting to contribute to the conversation. Hitomi-san just simply nodded, seeing as Mocha-san seem to arrive at the same conclusion.
"Yes. Rejection, judgement, approval, these are barriers we have to face in terms of building meaningful relationships amongst our peers."
Hitomi-san then stared at Mocha-san, inquiring with a serious gaze. She asked her,
"So, how do you think Yukiya-kun manage to resolve to break these barriers. Hm?"
"I, I don't know."
Mocha-san was clueless on what her master did exactly. After all, she wasn't here on the first semester to make out as reference. However, she could guess it was probably related to him being a social outcast (delinquent). At the same time, Hitomi-san seemed to be eager to tell her the answer anyway, that's the reason why she didn't bother guessing on the spot. Hitomi-san seemed to be enjoying herself in this conversation for some reason, so she let things play out as is. As expected, Hitomi-san willingly gave her the answer.
"You see, this is where the character role called 'connectors' comes in."
She revealed. Proceeding to elaborate that,
"In every friend group, 'connectors' are individuals who play the role of facilitating introductions between group members and outside networks. They are the type of people who enjoy expanding their connections; excelling at mingling, making new acquaintances, and helping others expand their social circles."
Hitomi-san elaborated, to which Mocha-san interrupted,
"B-But wait. I thought mas-, Yukiya-kun didn't belong in any circles? S-So why is he the one playing connector?"
Hitomi-san lips curled up, grinning softly.
"Let me finish"
Mocha-san complied, waiting for Hitomi-san to continue.
"Why do you think Yukiya-kun specifically waited until the second semester before making his moves?"
She asked Mocha-san, smirking, referring to the specific timing of my image change occurring only at the start of the second semester.
In curiosity, Mocha-san inquired,
"Why?"
Urging as the feelings of getting closer and closer towards the main answer, Mocha-san felt as though she getting closer in discovering her master's true capabilities, as a true mastermind hiding within the shadows.
"After a month's break, returning to school, that timeframe was enough for everyone to grow independently. If you observe everyone around you, our classmates, some became closer, while some became distant, with each of their own reasonings, and sometimes none at all."
Hitomi-san then proceeded to share her theory, telling Mocha-san that,
"This is just my hypothesis. But I believe Yukiya-kun purposely made himself out to be the villain, so that the class could have a common enemy."
Hitomi-san revealed, hints of gratitude to her tone remembering the chuunibyou's noble sacrifice.
"Just like I mentioned, friendship starts after having common grounds. By purposely letting others talk bad behind his back, he let himself fall and sit at the very bottom of the hierarchy. Due to his previous absurd antics and actions, he set the bar high, higher to be even classified as one of the bottom tier characters. With this in mind, others gain confidence, thinking that even they could do better. Any typical loner seemed so ordinary in comparison to his previous character that everyone commonly avoids."
As Hitomi-san let out those words, a certain quote with a solemn tone flashed inside her mind. "I am the villain, after all" she recalled. A certain quote I let out in our earlier days working at the cafe.
With those words echoing inside Hitomi-san's mind, she assumed I did what I did for the sake of others, playing the role of the fool so that no bottom tier character would be treated as losers, as I became their biggest diversion. However, once again, I have no such intentions. It was just Hitomi-san making her own assumptions, assuming that everything that I did had some kind of deeper meaning behind it. In reality, I actually, genuinely thought I was the coolest person in the class at that time.
"But that's not all. He-"
Just when Hitomi-san was to complete the last portion of her hypothesis, a sudden commotion happened in the boys' crowded corner.
Silence fell to the room, as a shout, a loud voice of denial coming from a typically otherwise quiet personality of the class.
Out of embarrassment, the boy stood up from his seat, his face beat red as he ran across the classroom, exiting through the back door.
Just what exactly happened, for him to be running in embarrassment like that?
Actually, just moments prior to this incident, everyone was teasing him about a certain something. Everyone got worried, including me, and everyone else from the class as that certain boy was usually timid.
'We're not in trouble, are we?'
Everyone in the room thought, seeing the certain incident unfold before their very eyes.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Moments prior before the incident, at the boys' corner. The boys were discussing and debating about their stylistic preferences, which was slowly getting out of hand.
Currently, there are three contending sides debating for utmost superiority.
Those factions are: Emo Girls/Goth Girls, Gothic Lolitas, and Landmine Girls/Jirai Kei. After taking everyone's votes, it seems that we had a three-way tie, with three votes in each faction.
In context, there are fourteen boys in our section, adding up to a total of twenty-nine students overall. That means there are nine students in our gathering, and currently, the boys are debating, dropping cases of their own, trying to poach other members from enemy factions. Some now even consider recruiting those outside our huddle, those boys who have not yet voted.
As for me? Well, I just sat there, had silently faded in the background. Not in the literal sense like I usually do in most cases, but in a way that my presence faded in all of this noise, a chaotic sound of bickering from my classmates outshining my existence.
I was taking a back seat, if that's what you may call it. They realized halfway through that there's nothing they could do or make me say to make me embarrassed. After all, I have already said and done more outlandish things in the past, so they quickly moved on. Instead, they now focused on dragging each other in exposing their own fetishes.
Anyways, before we get off track. As I mentioned, things have slowly started getting out of hand. The main focus, which was supposedly to interrogate me, became a free for all debate, attempting to expose each other's fetishes in front of everyone present in the classroom. Others even began taking outsider's opinions, and those who are originally uninvolved have started to get dragged in this chaotic discussion.
One of the fortunate boys is Oota Kutanaka-kun, who was just minding his own business, immersed in his phone, playing a gatcha game.
Yuichi Satoru-kun, who was looking for votes, took notice of the quiet Kutanaka-kun, alone in his seat, and seems to be unoccupied.
Without warning, Satoru-kun hooked his arm on Oota-kun's shoulders, which shaken Oota-kun quite a bit as he was not used to physical contact outside of family.
Satoru-kun then inquired,
"Hey hey, Oota-kun. What do you think, isn't our Jirai Kei faction superior?"
He inquired to Oota-kun, attempting to advocate and persuade him to join his faction, which was the Jirai Kei faction.
Oota-kun, noticeably shaken by the sudden human interaction, awkwardly smiled and replied, slowly removing his earphone.
"Wh-, the what now?"
He thought to himself, 'Fist name basis, huh? Why's he acting buddy-buddy all of a sudden'
He does not remember him and Satoru-kun being close enough to link arms and call each other by given names. So why is he going buddy-buddy all of a sudden? He wondered
"Ho ho~"
Intrigued, Satoru-kun realized Oota-kun wasn't paying attention to our debate all this time. Ceasing this opportunity, Satoru-kun grinned and inquired,
"What type of girls do you like?"
Oota-kun wasn't the talkative type, with this, Satoru-kun thought we might expose some underlying secret fetish to the usually timid Oota-kun, at the same time, a chance to know him a little better starting here with this conversation.
"Uhm, I-..."
Unable to think of a reply, Oota-kun find himself glancing at the group of girls, the flock interested in Aria-san.
"So, what is it? Do you like Goth Girls? Jirai Kei? Lolita? Hey hey. Tell me, tell me!"
Awkwardly looking around as if looking for an escape, Oota-kun locked eyes with one of the girls. She stood there, staring intently, as if awaiting for his reply to this specific question.
As his mind went blank, Oota-kun unconsciously mumbles, "A Gal"
Following Oota-kun's gaze, a huge grin crept Satoru-kun's face as he realized the meaning of those strange stares written on Oota-kun's face.
"Eh? What's that? I couldn't hear what you said. Can you repeat it for me?"
A little hesitant, Oota-kun mumbles and repeated.
"A gal"
"What's that? I still can't hear it."
Acting as though he was unable to hear Oota-kun's answer, he requested for Oota-kun to repeat his answer.
Oota-kun mutters, a little louder than before.
"I said a gall"
"Eh?"
Satoru-kun was a little taken aback. 'So he's not denying it?' he thought.
He was expecting for Oota-kun to have a fully flushed face, right about now he should be pushing him away in embarrassment, begging to keep this slip of the tongue a secret. However, Oota-kun seems to be behaving strangely, repeating his answer for the third time with each one becoming more on more clearer.
"Once more." Satoru-kun requested, making sure he didn't hear it wrong.
As if realizing and giving up to his true feelings, Oota-kun shouted in frustration and annoyance.
"I SAID A GAL GOD DAMN IT!"
The whole room fell silent. The quite kid from the class had a sudden outburst, unsure of the reason why.
Oota-kun, who realized he caused a commotion, stood there frozen, realizing everyone probably heard his confession just now.
Unable to stand this suffocating atmosphere any longer, Oota-kun marched across the room. His face beet red, covering with his arm as he makes his exit, unable to look people on the eyes as he hastily makes his way through the back door.
"Is he gonna be alright?"
Everyone wondered.
"We're not in trouble, are we?"
"Satoru. You're the one who should fetch him. You're probably the one at fault anyway. Go apologize."
"Eh? But I didn't do anything tho."
Everyone fought and argued of who's responsible for making Oota-kun angry. Some blame Satoru-kun, while others defended him knowing they were just playing around and is meant to be just light hearted fun.
But before things become anything bigger, one of the girl from the Gyaru Gals' Group (G3 for short) dashed her way through the door, trailing after Oota-kun's direction.
First Oota-kun, now Kawai Nishino-san. What could be the relation between the two be?