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Asakura looked in the direction of the sound and saw a boy and a girl sitting opposite each other in a corner of the family restaurant, chatting about something.
The boy was named Sousuke, and the girl was none other than Yanami, whom Asakura had just been thinking about.
To say Asakura had almost no impression of his classmates was true, but the reason he recognized these two at a glance was entirely because they were both quite noticeable in the class.
There was no need to mention the enthusiastic, cheerful (and seemingly easy to deal with) Yanami. Even Sousuke had once sparked some strange chemistry with another transfer student in the class.
It hadn't been long since school started, but Asakura already felt like he had watched at least 12 episodes of a romantic youth drama unfold between them...
Asakura calmed down and listened for a moment, then pretty much grasped the current progress.
In short, the transfer student, the 'fated' girl, was leaving again. Sousuke, as the male lead, was hesitant for various reasons, so Yanami, the female supporting character who liked the male lead, gave him a push, allowing Sousuke to make up his mind to go and bring the transfer student back.
Because the 'plot' development was so classic, Asakura felt that they were probably characters from some anime, it was just that he had never seen the corresponding original work.
Presumably, Sousuke, the protagonist, was encouraged by the losing heroine Yanami, regained his motivation, and stumbled out of the family restaurant, leaving only the girl who had pushed the person she loved towards another, sitting forlornly in the booth.
Asakura silently took a sip of his drink.
In a typical anime, at this point, the camera would naturally focus on the passionate male and female leads, their tumultuous romance being the key to a memorable story.
The supporting characters' loneliness, however, was never seen by the audience, because it wasn't important to the 'plot' itself. The supporting characters' unrequited love was merely sesame and nori sprinkled on the male and female leads' fervent emotions, used for seasoning—it could enhance the flavor, but whether it was there or not made little difference, and it would never overshadow the main event.
However, all of this was now reality, and these parts unseen in anime undoubtedly existed in reality as well.
Asakura was filled with emotion about this:
He felt annoyed, and thought it was due to the school assigning too little homework.
Perhaps as an anime, when empathizing with the protagonist, these convoluted love stories were quite interesting. But when he became an observer of the story, able to view these teenagers' romantic entanglements from a more neutral and objective perspective, Asakura naturally found it a bit awkward and couldn't understand situations where people made a huge fuss over trivial matters.
At this moment, facing the booth where only the girl remained, Asakura could only spiritually support her and continue to observe from a distance...
It wasn't until he saw the girl stealthily pick up the drink that belonged to Sousuke, placed opposite her, and like a lovesick woman, deliberately try to have an indirect kiss, that Asakura couldn't help but let out a sound of surprise.
No, sister, that's way too much!
Perhaps his startled sound was too obvious, causing the already guilty girl to instantly look over at him.
After the confusion in the girl's eyes faded—she clearly recognized Asakura, her classmate—she quickly came and silently sat down opposite Asakura.
"Uh..." Asakura suddenly felt awkward.
If his meal hadn't arrived yet, he probably would have quickly made an excuse and retreated.
"It's not like that!" the blue-haired girl exclaimed, tears welling up in her eyes.
"I didn't even say anything yet..."
"I just thought the drink shouldn't go to waste!"
"Even if you explain it to me like that…" Asakura chuckled dryly.
The girl and Asakura stared at each other for a moment.
"Crunch, crunch…"
"Hey! Don't just start eating my fries without saying anything!"
"Munch, munch, if I'm not mistaken, you're Asakura Takuma, right?"
"You got it wrong! It's Asakura Takuma! It's not some name that sounds like a mere thickened version!" Asakura protested.
"Minor detail, whatever…"
"Don't talk while eating! Fry crumbs are spraying out, it's disgusting!" Asakura leaned back, his face showing disgust as he avoided the girl's spitting attack.
"Asakura, what did you just see?" The girl stared intently at Asakura with piercing electric eyes.
"…Actually, you don't have to care that much. This kind of thing is quite common, like elementary school boys secretly taking home the Scribe of someone they like." Asakura's gaze shifted.
"Are you saying my perverted level is only that of an elementary school boy?! Ah, waiter, I'll have a hamburger steak, please…"
"Why are you arguing about the extent of your perversion? Besides, in terms of taste, isn't it pretty much the same?"
"I'm just using good food to relieve the pain in my heart that has nowhere to go!" The girl retorted self-righteously.
"If there's nowhere to put it, why not just throw it away?" Asakura suggested.
"A maiden's love isn't such a convenient thing! It's fickle, fragile, yet very soft…"
"A Slime?"
"Right, a Slime… No, it's not! Why would you describe my heart as a mere minion that can be defeated with the best sword in the village?!"
"Hajya no Tsurugi…"
"What are you saying?" The girl looked at Asakura in confusion.
"A resurrection spell." (Note)
"I haven't been defeated! Even a Slime has guts!"
"But after guts activate, doesn't your HP only have 1 point left?"
"That's why I'm not a Slime," the girl grumbled, then noticed Asakura had already started eating his burger and seemed to be ignoring her.
So, after a moment of silence, she began to speak to herself: "Sousuke and I have been childhood sweethearts since we were little…"
Asakura licked his mayonnaise-stained fingers, thinking, "Oh no, it seems like a very long cutscene has begun."
However, facing the girl's appearance, which was like 'The Slime is looking over here with eyes that want to be friends (Note 2),' he ultimately said nothing, just quietly waiting for the girl to recount her past.
Actually, it wasn't a complicated plot, just a fairly common story of a childhood friend losing to a newcomer, with her childhood sweetheart being stolen away.
Note: The classic resurrection spell from the FC version of Dragon Quest, a password for continuing the game, consisting of forty-eight characters. In DQ11, it was even parodied as an opening Easter egg.
Note 2: Also a Dragon Quest meme. If you choose 'yes' at this point, you can get a monster companion.
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