Chapter 1: I can’t stand it.
I’m out of patience.

“I hate that you and I have known each other since we were kids, lol.”

“—Yeah, me too.”

“Eh?”

　Her face froze at the unexpected “surprise attack”.

　Her name is Rua Takayashiki.

　She is my childhood friend.

　A karaoke bar in front of the station.
In a spacious and luxurious VIP room, the school’s “hot group,” men and women of the top caste, are gathered.
They are staring at me, a shady guy who came here without knowing his status, with a grin.

　Rua brushed her long blonde hair, her pride and joy.
The edges of her rouged lips trembled.

“W-What are you talking about? You’re so cocky, Kazu!”

“You said you didn’t like it, Rua.
We are in the same boat”

“Haa?　Stop making jokes, you idiot.
You don’t have the right to do that.
I am free to dislike you, but you are not free to dislike me!”

　What kind of Gianism.

　What is yours is mine.
Mine belongs to me.

The world is coming to an end because the most beautiful girl in the school and the most popular idol voice actress is the one who says such a crazy thing.

　Further discussion is pointless.

Ears rot, mouths rot, eyes rot.
I don’t even want to breathe the same air anymore.

　Today is the end of a decade-long relationship since I was in kindergarten.

“Good bye.”

I slammed my own bill on the table.
It was ridiculous, even though it had been less than three minutes since I had entered the room, but it was worth it if I considered it my parting gift.

One of the hot guys in the group yells at my back.

“Uncool!”

“What was he doing?”

“He looked like an idiot”

“Just die, lol”

　What a coincidence.
I hate you guys too.
I’ve hated you for a long time.

　Bam, I closed the door with a slam.
I could still hear Rua squeaking, but I didn’t care.

　I don’t need to be popular anymore.

I don’t want to be a part of the “hot group.”

　Thinking of this, my body felt light.

　From now on, I will live on my own.

　It all started on Sunday morning.

　It was a message from Rua on my phone.

[Hey Kazu, can you come to the station at noon today?]

[We’re going to do karaoke with Asano-kun, Ayaka-chi, and the others.]

　To be honest, I was puzzled.

The two names Rua gave were both members of the “hot group”.
Yuuya Asano is the ace of the baseball team and Ayaka Ayukawa is the first-year leader of the dance club.
They are beautiful boy and girl who stand out anywhere in the school.

They are the two who stand out in any part of the school.
The school’s hot group.

　Would I, a conspicuous, unattractive, and unappealing person in the class, be allowed to participate in their karaoke?

“I don’t know if it’s okay for me to go.　I don’t know them well at all.”

As soon as I replied, I received another message.

[But, Kazu, you said it in the past.
‘I want to lighten up, I want to have friends, I want to have a girlfriend’.]

[The best way to do that is to join a cool group like us.]

[Okay?　You have to be brave and take the first step!!]

　Her words were persuasive.

　I certainly didn’t consider my plain, dark self to be “good enough”.
I was a healthy first-year high school boy, and I wanted to be popular with girls.
I didn’t need to be popular like Rua.
I just wanted to have normal friends and a normal girlfriend.

　But that “normal” was hard to come by.

　I don’t know how to put it, but the “normal” that is advertised on TV and in magazines is not normal at all.
There are only a few people in my class who have many friends and lovers in their youth.

　How does Yuuya Asano manage to dress so coolly in his school uniform?

　How can Ayaka Ayukawa go out with her college boyfriend?

　How can they talk so loudly in the classroom?

　I don’t want to be like them, but I do wish I had at least half the brightness and sociability of theirs.

　I mentioned this to Rua once.

　The popular voice-over idol’s response was.

“Are you stupid?　A fugly guy like you should know your place.”

“Your value is only that you are Rua’s childhood friend.
You can’t just go out and find a new one.　You should know that!”

　It was a typical Rua word.

　Rua’s queen-like character has made her quite popular in the voice-over industry, as if there are many M men in this world.

　Rua’s habit is to say, “You should know your place.”

Be aware of your size, be aware of your face, be aware of your birth, be aware of your genes, and so on.

In various ways, she has expressed that she is the “privileged class” and I am the “lowly people.”

　I would get angry too, but on the other hand, there was a part of me that thought, “It can’t be helped.
Rua was popular, had a boyfriend as early as the fourth grade, was scouted in front of a train station, became an idol, and then a voice actress—-” she was a picture-perfect princess.
In contrast, I had nothing to offer.
I don’t have many friends.
I don’t have a girlfriend, of course.
My face is ugly and dark, and my hobby is reading.

　So it’s no wonder people say that about me.

　I had given up.

　And then this invitation came along.

（This is a chance for me.)

(Shouldn’t I be brave enough to join?)

(I don’t think I’ll ever be able to join the cool corps, but if I can make even a thin connection, it might be a chance f