Chapter 9 (1/2)

Sekigae Bishoujo ni h.o.r.erareta – Chapter 9 Neighbor Seat Phobia

That night, Yui who was buried under a blanket on her bed, just couldn't sleep.

It has always been like this. Every time there is a seating change planned for the next day, she can't help but remember it.

— Uwaa, I don't want to be her neighbor ~ Such misfortune, such luck ~ This is the worst.

That happened on a seat exchange day when she was only in fourth grade elementary.

It was whispered by the person who just became her neighbor. No, that wasn't a whisper, it was considerably loud.

Admittedly, I was one of the ”misses.” 1

I was extremely shy and had a considerable small voice. I also had a very bad case of stage fright, to the point that just someone smiling could scare me.

I wanted to say ”it's the same case for me, the worst case.” but for obvious reasons I couldn't say those words, so I brought that sadness home and cried loudly.

I started to hate changing seats, and I started to hate attending school altogether.

While I was a.s.signed on that seat, I was always startled by my neighbors' sudden outbursts, but I was able to endure all of that until the next change of seats.

But, when the next exchange of seats happens, what will I do if the other person says the same ”this is the worst.”

If that were to happen, it will all just repeat from the start. Will I keep on feeling this anxiety every time there is a change of seats?

Yui, who was really troubled, consulted her most reliable person that she knows, her older sister.

Thereafter, her sister made a really confused expression and told her,

「Then why don't you just turn into an interesting girl?」

It was quite a bit of an advice if she were to think about it now, but Yui back then took that as if that was the most perfect answer there can be.

In fact, there was a girl that was really bright and funny, and her surroundings were full of people. She was really popular.

Thereafter, Yui started to research on how to be an interesting person.

She read not only shoujo manga but also Gag manga. She watched comedians on some video sharing website, she also checked a variety of comedy shows and reality shows.

Apart from that, Yui also received dubious advice from her sister— Girls should be this and that, that kind of advice.

But in fact, there was no certainty that such efforts would yield results.

There was a time where she just stopped trying after laughing and tiring herself out by watching a Gag anime.

Eventually, my sister asked me if ”I was trying my best.” She then told me to just try to smile for now, and I did try to do so.

But fortunately, all of that worked, and since then no more neighbors said that it was ”the worst.”

She started to become popular and gained friends.

However, after a while in junior high school, it all gradually moved towards a strange direction.

Even though I just tried to greet someone with a smile, I was suddenly called and told ”I like you.”

Now, that interesting girl from elementary is treated as an envious and annoying woman.

Yui was not aware of her own growth, appearance wise. She started to be confused because her idea of ”being interesting = justice” was not working the way she expected it to.

For Yui, all she was doing was in order to avoid getting hated by her neighbor.

She tried to smile to brighten the atmosphere between them, and she tried to act nice between them, but all that lead to an overkill.

As time pa.s.sed, she became a hot topic between guys, but she had not grasped all of that.

In time, she just kept receiving confessions, so she finally had it.

Let's stop all of this, let's be normal, let's stay normal, so she thought.

Even if she knew that in her mind, her neighbor seat phobia didn't help.

She even forgot how she was acting before all of this.

She had a feeling that she was just acting as a character, or that her personality itself had already changed. The boundary between what is real and what is for appearance was blurred.