"Are you staring at my breasts?"
Olympia stood right in front of me, her eyes locked on mine as I zoned out, my gaze embarrassingly fixed on her chest.
What the hell just happened? I died, didn't I? Is this real? Did I die? If I did die, why am I experiencing this moment again?
Oh, I get it. This must be Hell. Kagami killed me and sent me here. Honestly, where else would someone like me—who's done nothing with his life—end up?
But, if this is Hell, why would Olypmia be standing right in front of me?
Oh, I get it. Olympia is here to remind me that I'm a coward for all of eternity. That's my punishment! Well, it's not a punishment since I get the chance to stare at her miraculous rack for all of eternity. But wait! She would never let me touch them, I just know it. She's here just to taunt me with my cowardice and her breasts! God, did I live such a horrible life to deserve this punishment?
"Hell to Kiyomi? Are you there?"
"I'm in Hell!"
"Oops, my bad. I meant 'Earth to Kiyomi.' Sometimes Hell and school blur together for me. Hope you'll forgive the mix-up."
"I would have never expected someone like you to consider school to be in the same realm as Hell…"
"Well, school brings me a lot of stress, you know. Most people consider me the top one in the school, but that doesn't mean I'm a genius. I study every day, even on weekends, just so I can do well."
"You study every day and still find time to have a social life, right? I'd consider anyone who's able to balance the two to be a genius."
"I'm not a genius… I hate when people assume that."
"I'm sorry for saying that. Having such a label must be putting a lot of weight on your back."
"I appreciate your apology. But slip up like that again and you'll regret it," she says with a look in her eyes that strikes fear in me. Can you blame me after what happened?
"Hey, we're bickering like we're some old friends," Olympia continued. "This feels rather nostalgic. I'm having more fun talking to you than with others. Do you mind if we talk some more? That is, if you're not busy."
"Well, I am rather busy…"
"Okay, bye—"
"Wait! I'm not busy… I just didn't want to seem too eager to talk to you."
"Haha, you're rather cowardly, aren't you?"
Cowardly? Even in this life, Olympia considers me a coward. Is there any way to change that?
"I'm not a coward. I was a little nervous about accepting your request to speak with me. See, I don't have any friends, but I would like to make some. Please forgive me for being nervous in your presence." Good, now she'll feel bad for intimidating me.
"I feel so bad for intimidating you… Did it work? Just kidding! I also felt nervous about trying to talk to you. You're so cool and mysterious; it makes it feel almost impossible to try to approach you."
"What makes me cool and mysterious?"
"The way you're always on your own and never talking to anyone makes you cool and mysterious. Everyone never talks to you because they're all so intimidated, including me."
"T-That's not true! By no means am I cool and mysterious! And I am especially not intimidating! You're the intimidating one!"
Why did my plan backfire so badly? Why couldn't I have just said sure when she asked if we could talk? I wish I could take this all back. Wait… I can. But I don't want to experience death again. I've already experienced it once, and it was terrifying. It's not worth experiencing death a second time just so I can have a third chance to talk to Olympia again.
"Can we start all over?" I request.
"Are you staring at my breasts?"
"Y-Yes!"
"Let's start all over again. Tone down your pervertedness."
"Got it."
"Are you staring at my breasts?"
"No, I apologize if it seems that I was. I was just zoning out and happened to be staring at you."
"Well, since you apologized, I'll forgive you. Since we're already talking, how about you tell me about yourself? We shared the same class throughout high school, but we never once had a proper conversation. I would love to get to know you."
"I'd love to get to know you, too, Olympia."
"So you do know my name! You haven't addressed me by it yet. I expected someone as cool and mysterious as you not to know of someone as feeble and tiny as me."
"I told you I'm not cool and mysterious! And you're the most popular person in our school, how can I not know you!"
"But there's a fan club dedicated entirely to you! Didn't you know? With your head constantly above the clouds, I doubt you've had the chance to notice it. There's an entire army enlisted. Mainly girls, might I add. Not to brag, but I'm the president of the club. We hold events every weekend from the afternoon to midnight."
"This only makes me not want to set foot in any school ever again!"
We share a laugh.
"Hey…" Olympia said, her smile softening, "Can we talk about something a bit more… serious? Like, what happiness really means to us?"
Even though we started on the wrong foot, I found myself wanting to hear what she had to say. Maybe some things never change.
Although our conversation started much differently than our first time, we still ended up talking about Olympia's view on happiness and living a life you can be happy with.. Instead of saying that it's better to avoid negative feelings, I instead agreed with Olympia. I don't know if I was truthful in saying that, but I would like to believe that it's true to accept and experience all types of feelings.