Is It Tough Being A Friend? Volume 1 Chapter 2 Part1

On that day, the battlefield for Ryuuga and the others was an unpopulated park.

The third apostle they were fighting was an octopus-like enemy that was huge like a blimp. It was impressive how it was able to catch Yukimiya using its tentacle-like arms, but it didn't have the time do anything erotic since Ryuuga beat it down.

(Whoa! How cool, Ryuuga! But, wouldn't it have been better to observe the situation a little longer? To an extent, Yukimiya was the highlight scene of the fight…)

Then something arose as I was thinking of such things.

I may have let my guard down. My wariness might have have been inactive. In any case, I was ten meters from the battle scene, which was too close.

I was hiding myself behind a sculpture of a stone animal. These things were common in parks, and some of them were painted with a weird color. I was hiding by a panda that had an odd yellow coloring for some reason.

That was a wrong move.

The school uniform I wore was too different of a color compared to the yellow panda.

After making sure of the apostle's disappearance, Ryuuga suddenly turned around, and at that moment──

Ryuuga's line of sight completely met with mine.

“Ah.”

“Ah.”

Our voices overlapped and they both stiff.

Feigning ignorance would be impossible. My eyes were still interlocked with Ryuuga's. I would have definitely seen the third enemy that disappeared as well.

“I, Ichirou…?”

Ryuuga called out my name, and I resigned myself.

I timidly get up and make an appearance from the panda. I heard the heroines slightly gasp upon seeing me.

“K, Kobayashi?”

“Kobayashi, you…”

“Don't tell me you saw that? Kobayashi Ichirou.”

They spoke one after the other, and I shrunk away like an elementary school kid that did that something bad.

…This turned terrible.

The friend position that I took great pains to establish until today collapsed.

Curse my carelessness. Why wasn't I being more cautious?! Why didn't I stop spectating after the previous fight?! Why is this panda painted yellow?!

The four approached me. The people with unusual abilities were surrounding one powerless person, I could only laugh at this kind of situation.

While I was dumbfounded and frozen stiff, Ryuuga's confused voice soon reached my ears.

“Ichirou, how long you were you there…”

Should I speak honestly?

I've been watching battles from start to finish recently. I've also been taking notes.

No, it's a poor move. If I do confess, I'll seem like a mysterious person. Or rather, it'll seem like I'm with the enemy or something like that.

This is a completely different matter compared to peeping on Aogasaki changing clothes. This is something that's I'm never meant to be exposed on. This is something even worse than looking at a heroine's bra.

(I need to decide on what to do.)

While being stuck on what course of action to go through with, I come up with something in the end.

Doing this is the worst, and there's the risk that the position I've held so far will change. However, I can't escape this situation without some sacrifice. I want to be Ryuuga's friend character. So, I have no choice!

“──Ryuga.”

In the next moment, I changed my expression and drew closer to Ryuuga.

“Hey Ryuga! What was that just now!”

“Huh…?”

“I happened to come here by chance, how are you fighting monsters! How is your whole body shining in gold!”

“T, that, um…”

“When I was on the way home, the park was noisy so I happened to come here. What was that monster just now!”

I mixed some fierce questions in with my overbearing explanation.

I'm not going to let Ryuuga keep up with my pace. At any rate, I need to convey my stance on this.

“Ah! I get it! Are you filming a movie or something? So there was a mechanism to make that monster disappear, right? Wow, modern technology is unbelievable.”

“……”

“I see, you four are part of the actors. That's why you're all awfully close even during school. So that's what it was.”

This is a pretty forced explanation, I'm fully aware of that. But nothing else came to mind.

(The best case scenario is if they buy it. They should know that I'm a carefree person!)

Please. For goodness sake. Go along with my wave of deception.

I'm doing the best I can in the daily life part! That's the only position that I'm suited for! I can't be like Satou!

“Hinomori, what do we do…”

As if troubled, Yukimiya asked for Ryuuga's opinion.

“I'll entrust this to Ryuuga's wishes. It's up to you whether or not you speak.”

Aogasaki seems to want to leave it to Ryuuga.

“I don't mind either way. I never planned to hide this from the beginning.”

Elmira is fiddling with her (scarlet) hair while saying so. She's definitely a dangerous character.

…These courses of events are kinda problematic, but there's still Ryuuga's thoughts on the matter.

We observe him as I hold my breath. Soon, Ryuuga breathes in deeply and stares straight at me.

“──We need to talk, Ichirou. It's about the truth.”

We don't need to talk!

“I'm doing this since you're my dear friend, Ichirou. Everyone, I hope you're okay with that.”

Everyone, disagree with him! Make your complaints!

“I see. I too am indebted to Kobayashi…”

Yukimiya! Don't return my favor with a stab in the back! Besides, all I did was tell you a little bit about Ryuuga!

“Is that so. Since he's seen the apostles, there's a chance that Kobayashi will fall into danger as well. I might be better to have him know our circ.u.mstances.”

Aogasaki! You have no right to say that when you nearly killed me! I already know about your circ.u.mstances!

“Anyways, I just want to go home quickly.”

Vampire! You can just shut up!

“…Everyone, thank you!”

Hearing the heroines' opinions, Ryuuga smiled.

Not good. It seems they've already made up their mind.

“I hope it's okay that you all entrust Ichirou to me. Well then Ichirou, do you have some time? There's something I want to talk about.”

Afterwards, the heroines parted ways.

Ryuuga explained various facts to me.

──The truth is that we hold unusual abilities.

──With our power, we fight mankind's enemy, the “Apostles of h.e.l.l.”

──The guardian deity called the “Dragon King” has been pa.s.sed down in my household for generations.

──Those three are companions that I'm fighting alongside with…

The secrets Ryuuga talked about were pretty much things I already knew.

That being said, I can't just tell him “I already know,” so I was forced to make astonished, perplexed, and enthusiastic reactions.

“Perhaps it's for the better that I was able to talk with you. I felt painfully guilty the entire time I was keeping this a secret from you.”

At the end, I saw Ryuuga saying that while having a carefree laugh, and so I gave up. From the start, this was just me reaping what I sow. Ryuuga didn't do anything wrong.

…With this, I'll have retire being a “carefree friend character that doesn't know anything.”

Starting today, I'll have to change into a “cooperating friend character that knows the secret about Ryuuga and the others.”

It'll be fine. With this, I'll still be a friend character.

I guess saying “I'm worried about Ryuuga and the others” or “I'm bitter that I have no power” has been added to my duties now.

I suppose I should be glad that it only ended with a minor change. I might have increased my involvement with the main story, but I don't think Ryuuga and the others would force me to do anything absurd as a student who holds no unusual abilities.

From now on, I think I'll refrain from doing any excessive conduct.

Screw off, status promotion.