The phrase five minutes was obviously a trap. It was commonly used to stall for time. Once a person presented with it agreed, more often than not, it would not be honored unless he or she forcefully enforced it. And thats even rarer than not agreeing to give those five minutes.

And so Here I am, inside a girls room that I only met today as well as someone whose voice I hadnt heard yet.

Given that my appearance made both mother and daughter react positively earlier, I thought that the same would happen when I had her face me. Thats why I did that instead of just calling out to her.

However, the girl, even after getting a glance at my face, remained unmoved. She only stared at me with a blank expression which gradually transformed into a frown.

Reason? I had no idea. Perhaps, shes one of the few whos not fond of it. I mean, I got a glow-up, true. But that doesnt mean it will suit everyones tastes. Ayu also had little to no reaction to this but she acknowledged the change.

As for this girl I could only put out a guess.

Either its the above reason or theres a possibility that she grew hateful of boys with pretty faces.

Since its my job, I checked the guy who rejected her offer of friendship. Hes apparently ranked 1st in that popularity poll held by the girls in their class and ranked 3rd on the year-level poll where I was placed 6th.

All things considered, that guy was a hot-shot. However, hes not a friendly one. The girl overreached when she tried to ask him to become his friend. And in turn, she got so hurt from the rejection that she stopped coming to school.

If thats not idiotic then what is?

Anyway, thats irrelevant to the current situation

With the girl inviting me to her room instead of giving me the five minutes in their living room, the situation became more favorable to me. Rather than restrict my means of convincing her, this gave me the freedom to try different things.

And obviously, before I followed her up, I glanced back to check on the two who disappeared in the kitchen. And I understood that I got my assumption wrong. Theyre not clueless about the girls mindset. They only created a situation where the girl would be forced to do something rather than stay curled up there.

With that, I saw both Miura-senpai and her mother peeking out from the door as they gave me their seal of approval by nodding encouragingly or smiling with their thumbs up.

And now, were back to the present.

As soon as the door closed behind me, my vision darkened because of the lack of a light source. The only illumination in the room was from the faint light coming from the clock on top of the girls bedside table.

Miura Komoe jumped in her bed and covered herself in her blanket without so much as tending to me. And with her back turned, shes probably only going to listen to me.

Miura-san. Its dark here. Can we turn on the lights? I started as I cautiously walked forward and stopped a few steps away from her bed.

Surely, if I suddenly sat down on her bed, shed freak out and kick me into this room. I had to go through various steps to gain her trust and make her more comfortable with my presence.

No. Say your piece now. Im not going back to school either way. She replied without turning around to face me.

From this angle, the girl appeared really defenseless with her back turned to me Compared to Miura-senpais shoulder-length hair, this girl had lush and longer hair. It reached just before those perky mounds behind her. And since shes lying down at the moment, her hair was kind of beautifully sprawled behind her. If I had a fetish for hair, I would probably not be able to help myself and scoop it up in my hands. Good thing I dont have that.

Alright. I wont mince words. I heard from Eguchi-sensei the reason why you refused to come back to school.

So? Wanna laugh at me?

Uh Ill apologize in advance for my words. To be honest, while the reason is clearly too stupid, I wont laugh at you. Instead, Im thinking of comforting you. I understand the feeling of being rejected.

Yep. That last sentence was a blatant lie. But if I would think about my past, I definitely had moments where I was rejected. However, rather than be depressed about it, I just quickly moved on to the next target.

So, understanding her feelings came from simulating the situation in my head.

Comforting me How will you do that?

Great. Shes interested. But within this dark room and with her back turned to me, its hard to properly gauge how shes taking in my words.

Lets see. It depends on how you want to be comforted. I can spew out comforting words that will be soothing to your ears or I can ask if you will allow me to sit on your bed; Ill comfort you by brushing your hair with my fingers.

Upon hearing that, the girl chortled and almost burst into laughter, Pfft. So, youre telling me you came here without a plan in mind?

This is great. My out-of-the-norm answers were making her more engaged.

Regrettably, yes. But Im confident with my tongue. This is sharper than any sword. Maybe it can also break you open.

Intentionally using an innuendo there, I once again got my predicted response from her.

What the?! Are you a pervert?! The girl shouted but this made her turn to me.

Yes is the answer to that but theres no way I would honestly blurt that out.

At this point, I already sat down on the floor which allowed us to make eye contact.

I put on a gentle smile before clearing it up, Oh. You misunderstood me. I mean Im great with words. See that? I got you to face me, Miura-san.

Youre an obnoxious guy, Onoda-san. The girl huffed and chuckled. And even though it was still dark, I finally got to observe her minute reactions to our conversations.

Fortunately, she was amused.

Mhm. I get that a lot. I shrugged and that made the girl chuckle again.

Not gonna deny it, huh?

Well, Im just honest with myself. You see. People tend to put on a mask for their daily life. To be comfortable around other people. To adjust for them. But for me, I believe in the saying, be true to yourself. What you see is what you get. However, I wont deny that I also have secrets that I will not easily divulge.

The girl took a few seconds to digest my answer. And when she finished, her voice toned down as she almost whispered her response, How enviable to have that mindset.

No, no. Theres no need to envy me. I find myself worse than normal people. You wont like to get the same mindset as me.

Worse? I dont think so. Mine is way worse than yours. Who will stop going to school just because some guy rejected their friendship? Only me.

That could still be fixed. Mine, however is pretty hopeless. Anyway, enough about that. I know youre expecting this but Miura-san, what about me? I can be your friend in place of that guy.

Having deemed that it was about time to work on convincing her, I quickly switched topics and raised that suggestion.