Hunting solo nets you a surprising number of experience points

"Starting today, we're going to correct your posture."

Thus began Hinami's instructions the following morning.

"Posture?"

"Yes, your posture. Do you remember what I said? The three keys to

appearance are expression, build, and posture."

"Yeah, I remember." She'd mentioned that when we were in her room.

"Once you have those three covered, you'll have the foundation. You've

got an average build, so as long as you fix your expression and your posture,

you'll have enough points to pass. We're working on your expression with

the mask training, so that just leaves posture."

My goal was surprisingly close.

"But how do I fix that? Is it even that bad to start with?"

"Well, it's not great…but more importantly, most people have poor

posture."

"Really? So you're saying that if I have good posture, I'll look especially

good?"

"Half right, half wrong."

"Half?"

"There are different kinds of bad posture."

She bent her elbows, bowed her legs, tilted her chin up, and walked

forward swinging her shoulders.

"This is one kind of bad posture, but it's an intimidating one. It's not the

best, but it's common among normies."

"You look like a thug. I get the feeling you're strong."

"Right. Then there's this one…"

She rounded her back, stuck her neck forward, drew her shoulders in, and

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started walking again.

"This is also a kind of bad posture. But this one makes you look weak,

doesn't it?"

"Yeah. Like a geek or an artsy type."

I would have assumed she was bad at sports. Posture really did make a big

difference. She sure is good at impressions.

"So you see, most people have poor posture, but people further down the

social ladder usually have the weak type."

"Really? Why's that?"

"Well, I can think of a lot of reasons. For one, they tend to spend a lot of

time on the computer or playing video games, which tends to create that kind

of posture."

"Makes sense."

"But I don't think that's the main reason. It's an issue of body and soul."

"Body and soul?"

"Yeah. Try puffing your chest out and putting both hands on your hips,

like you're saying 'ahem.'"

"L-like this?" I tried to look imposing.

"…How do you feel? Just by changing your posture, don't you have more

of a presence?"

"Yeah, I do."

She was right. By striking that pose, I felt a little more confident, a little

more like, Hey, you can't tell me what to be.

"But couldn't I be feeling that way because you suggested it to me?"

"That could be part of it, but your body and heart are closely connected.

Think about when you feel nervous and cross your arms, or how spread your

legs and let the tension out of your shoulders because you're relaxed. Or the

reverse, like that famous line about how if you smile even when you're sad,

the sadness itself will go away."

"Yeah, I guess I've heard that."

"If you stand proud with your body, your heart will stand proud, too. And

if your heart is feeling down, your body will slump. It's not a question of

which one comes first—they're a set. Normies have the heart for it, and their

posture naturally reflects that."

"Okay, I get that."

"So…"

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Hinami started walking forward in a way that showed off her figure yet

wasn't intimidating and at the same time projected an aura of mature

confidence.

"You don't have to make your posture this good. I mean, this isn't

something you can do overnight. You've got to spend a long time adjusting

your pelvis and retraining your muscles to achieve this. You don't have that

kind of time. Plus, it's not necessary."

Wow. She really could do anything. "So what should I do?"

"Just stop looking so weak." She pointed at my chest.

"…How?"

"There's an easy fix… Come over here."

"Huh?" I questioned, following her all the same.

"Put your back and shoulders against the wall. Heels together, toes

straight forward."

I did what she said.

"Do you feel the tension in your glutes?"

"Huh? Oh, uh, yeah. I really do."

Standing like this really had made my butt tighter—and as I was thinking

about it, Hinami came up to me with purpose. Uh-oh, what's going on? Her

near-perfect symmetrical features were right up next to my face, and since the

wall was behind me I couldn't back away. Was the classy, clean scent I

noticed coming from her shampoo?

She slowly reached her hands toward me.

"Yes, very good," she said, touching my butt.

"Aaaah! Wh-wh-what are you doing?"

"Checking. I just touched your butt a little; don't get so worked up.

You're a guy, right?"

"That's not the point!"

Seriously, stop! You're gonna give me a heart attack! I'm already

overheating!

"…What's with that look on your face? Anyway, you're really doing well.

Keep the tension in your butt and move your toes and heels back to a normal

position. Now press your shoulders and hips against the wall. Don't release

your butt."

She kept giving me instructions like she hadn't just copped a feel, and I

scrambled to obey.

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"Like this?"

"Yes… Can you tell the difference? You look more imposing already."

…Hey, she's right. I hadn't noticed. "Yeah, I do."

"Now step away from the wall… Your posture doesn't look weak

anymore. Nope, definitely not," she said, giving me a once-over from a slight

distance. Seriously?

"This is a little harder than it seemed at first."

"Yeah. You're using muscles you don't usually use. But from now on,

whenever you're standing, I want you to stand like this. Even when you're

sitting you should stick out your chest and tense your butt muscles, if you

can. Most people with posture like yours generally don't open their chests,

and they have saggy butts. I want you make a habit of always keeping your

chest open and your butt taut."

"'Always' again, huh?"

"Obviously. This is your character creation. You're trying to find a way to

improve your base stats. If it's not a constant baseline, you can't call it a

basic ability, can you?"

Fair enough. "I understand. That can't be all I have to do today…can it?"

"Of course not. There's one more thing."

Yeah, I knew it. She wouldn't let me off that easy.

"What?"

"This isn't a very hard one. All you have to do is talk to me and someone

I'm with, like Mimimi or Hanabi or another friend."

That's all? At least she made it sound easy.

"Well, I bet it'll be a cinch compared to yesterday's assignment, since

you'll be there."

"Right. That's your assignment through Friday."

"So the next four days."

"Yeah."

That's a fair length of time. Got it. "And what am I going to learn from

this?"

If I didn't understand the why, the learning process wouldn't be very

efficient.

"Wow, you're getting very proactive. That's a good habit to get into."

"Thanks."

"Anyway, it's simple. You're collecting experience points."

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"Collecting experience points?"

"Yeah. Happens all the time, right? Like when you have really a strong

character in your party in the early stages of an RPG and fight a powerful

enemy together. Then they break away from the party, and at the end of the

game they turn out to be really important and rejoin you. At that point, the

main characters are around the same level, and you think to yourself, 'Wow, I

really grew a lot.' Y'know what I mean?"

She seemed so happy whenever she talked about gaming.

"Oh yeah, I know what you're talking about. I always wonder why the

other guy hasn't leveled up, too."

"Exactly!" Hinami replied excitedly, then coughed. "Anyway, same thing.

I'm gonna be a temporary party member to help you fight a powerful enemy

and net you some EXP."

"Okay, I get it."

So I'd be raising my level with a handicap.

"And you'll be collecting information at the same time. In RPGs, if you

fight a boss once, you learn their moveset so you know what to do the next

time you fight them, right? You know their weaknesses and how much

damage they do. Which means you know how to attack them and when to

recover, right?"

"Right."

"You'll be doing something similar. I want you to pick up the technique

by observing the flow of real conversations."

Just "pick it up," huh? I felt like in my current state, I'd probably just be

watching the conversation go by without catching much of anything.

"Is it enough to just watch and learn? Is there nothing in particular I

should be watching for?"

Hinami thought for a moment. "Good question…You'll probably have

conversations with around twenty people in the next four days. Just analyze

those conversations in general terms."

"Analyze?" Actually, twenty is an awfully big number.

"Yes. Think about how to choose topics or close the distance, things like

that. I want you to do your best to think about each conversational

technique."

"Okay… Analyze."

I didn't know if I could do it, but I figured I'd give it a whirl.

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"Also…I don't think I'll be very good at jumping into conversations with

people I don't know. What do you suggest?"

"Oh, you don't need to jump in."

"Huh?"

"The goal right now is observation. Don't worry, I'll make sure there's a

good reason for you to be there. You just focus on observing."

Just leave it to her, then…? I guess?

"That's about it for now. I'll come get you after school, so study or

something while you wait."

"After school? What are we doing after school?"

"I'm gonna walk to the train station with Mimimi and Hanabi and a

couple of guys, and you're going with us."

"What?!"

This wasn't a bit of light conversation—it was full-on going home

together.

* * *

"Yeah. You didn't know, Mimimi?"

"No. What, did everyone else?"

"Uh-huh, we totally did."

"Well, you would know, Aoi."

"I knew, too."

We were about to head home after school. The group was talking

excitedly about the killer drawing on the blackboard at the back of the

classroom, which had actually been done by one of the guys in the group,

Daichi Matsumoto, and another guy named Kiyu Hashiguchi.

"What about you, Tomozaki-kun?"

Hinami had been periodically tossing me opportunities to join the

conversation.

"Um, I've seen him drawing before, so I knew."

"What! Tomozaki-kun knew and I didn't?!"

"That was rude! Ha-ha!"

Then after she'd opened a little space for me, someone else would say

something. That was the general pattern. Hinami would bump the ball to me,

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and I would try keep it aloft in the safest possible way, trying at least to not

demolish her attempts to help me. As long as the ball didn't hit the ground,

Hinami was able to catch it from whatever crazy angle I'd sent it from and tip

it over to the other team's side of the court.

As a result, my conversational observation was proceeding smoothly.

Except, given that I was a rank beginner, I probably wasn't making many

meaningful observations.

"…Right? I'm so exhausted."

"You said that yesterday, too, Daichi."

"Yeah, I've been doing some lifting."

"Wow!"

Now the guys were talking about working out, and Mimimi was chiming

in. She was impressive. She both brought up topics of her own and expanded

on other people's topics, and she smiled the whole time, which kept the mood

lively. She must be a naturally cheerful person. I needed to steal some of her

tricks. Introducing new topics was beyond me, so I figured I should focus on

expanding on existing ones.

"What area are you focusing on?" she asked.

"Pretty much my whole body. I do my arms, my pecs, my abs, my back,

and my legs."

"Dang."

"Oh hey…" Without warning, I jumped into the conversation. It was now

or never! Hinami's eyebrows shot up in surprise as she glanced at me. What?

Did I screw up? But it was too late to turn back. All I could do was give it a

try.

"Are you working on your butt, too?"

The mood after that comment was best described as: Butt?

* * *

"I'm really sorry about yesterday!"

It was the next morning in Sewing Room #2. The instant I saw Hinami's

face, I apologized.

"…Are you talking about the butt incident?"

"Yes. I'm so sorry for speaking out of turn and making everything weird!"

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I said, thinking that anything called "the butt incident" was kind of

impressive, even as I apologized sincerely for a second time.

After I'd made the comment the day before, Daichi Matsumoto replied,

with some confusion, that he thought you couldn't tone your butt muscles.

Just as everyone was starting to wonder awkwardly if it was some kind of

joke, Hinami stepped in and averted disaster by nonchalantly saying that she

worked her butt muscles. The conversation veered toward the question of

whether butt workouts were the secret to her attractive physique. After that, I

stayed quiet.

"Really, I just went and…"

"You don't have to say the same thing over and over. I'm not worried

about it anyway."

"Huh?"

"You were thinking for yourself and taking action, right? Okay, you

floundered some, but I'm not going to criticize you for trying."

"Hi…Hinami…"

She was so forgiving…

"What's important is your assignment. If you were focusing on your

misstep to the point that you didn't actually do what I wanted you to, then I

would be mad."

"Oh right. You mean reflecting and analyzing the day's events as well as I

could, right? I basically did that."

"Then we're all good. You still have three days left, so you can tell me

about all your conclusions at the end. I think we're done for today."

"Uh, wait a second."

"What? Did you not understand something?"

"No, it's more like…something happened that I didn't understand.

Actually, yesterday on the way home from school…"

"…What?" Hinami asked warily.

Glancing at her, I started describing what had happened.

* * *

"Bye!" "Bye!" "See you tomorrow!"

The six of us had arrived at the station after leaving school and were

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getting ready to board our various trains.

"Oh, here's my train."

"Oh, me too! See you!"

"Bye-bye!"

"Later!"

The group started to break up. Hinami disappeared on the train that had

just arrived, heading in the opposite direction from my house. Which meant I

had to keep talking to the people going in the same direction as me, without

her help.

She'd considered that, too, of course. She'd told me I should be okay

since the ride was only ten minutes or so, and I'd be with Mimimi and

Daichi, who probably would keep the conversation going. Both of them

would be getting off at different stops from mine; plus, it was Mimimi.

Hinami acted like knowing what stop everyone got off at was totally natural;

it was unnerving, but also reassuring.

The train came and we got on. Just like she'd promised, the two of them

chatted like they were born for it, so the conversation on the train went okay.

Mimimi asked me questions now and then, which I barely managed to answer

with some boring comment, and then she would find something funny about

what I said and laugh. But, like that time in home ec, I didn't feel like she

was making fun of me. She seemed as good at conversations as Hinami was.

We got to my station, and I congratulated myself silently on one mission

cleared.

"Oh, this is my stop, so I'll see you guys later," I said.

"Really? Me too! I'll walk home with you!" Mimimi chirped.

"Huh?!"

The same stop? Wait a second, Hinami, what's going on?

"Hey, Tomozaki, don't try anything funny!" Matsumoto warned.

Wait a second! I'm already embarrassed; why is he suddenly making

mean jokes?

"N-no, I wouldn't d-do that!"

"Ooh, he's panicking…! What if my chastity is in danger?!"

"Ah-ha-ha-ha! Anyway, you're blocking the door. See ya!"

Mimimi and I got off the train together.

"Mimimi, is this really your stop…?"

The doors closed.

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"…It is, isn't it…?"

"Yeah, why?"

"Oh, no reason…"

* * *

"So her stop and mine weren't different, were they?" I asked Hinami.

Apparently, I wasn't making sense to her. "Mimimi gets off at Kitayono.

And you get off at Omiya, right? That's a different stop…"

"My stop's Kitayono!"

"What…?"

She sank into thought for a minute, then looked up with realization.

"…You were trying to be thoughtful, weren't you? But you didn't have

to. That slipped past me. Rookie mistake…"

"What are you talking about?"

"When nanashi and NO NAME met offline, you were supposed to go to

the station closest to your house!"

"…Oh…"

That explained it. Instead of telling her the station that was actually

closest to me, I'd tried to be considerate by telling her to go to the terminal

because it was easier to get to. But she didn't know that…

"Well, no use for regret. Water under the bridge, okay? …Anyway, what

happened after that?"

"Oh right…"

At her prompt, I continued my story.

* * *

We headed out of the station and started down the street. I was so nervous

even my gait felt awkward.

"This is the first chance we've had to talk alone, isn't it?! I mean, we just

started talking at all the other day!"

Mimimi giggled and slapped her forehead.

"Y-yeah."

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"What are you so nervous about?! Be confident!"

She slapped my back quite a bit harder than most people would consider

appropriate.

"Ow! That stung!"

"Really?" She cackled cheerfully, apparently even more cheerful than

usual. I think that was her version of being thoughtful toward me.

"Y-you sure have a lot of energy, Mimimi…"

"Right? My plan is to get through life on my cheerfulness and smiles."

"Ha-ha, that's amazing…I mean, that sounds hard…"

"Hard how?" She peered at my face curiously.

"I mean…surely there are times in life when you can't be cheerful and

smiley…right?"

Mimimi blinked. "What are you talking about?! The harder things get, the

more you smile! Frowning just makes it harder, right?"

"Oh."

Hinami had said the same thing. Something about your body and heart

being connected.

"Yeah, I've heard that. Like, if you stand up straight and smile, you'll feel

better."

"Yeah, exactly! I think life will be more fun if I'm sunny and cheerful all

the time!"

That was an amazingly positive attitude. But at the same time…how do I

put this? Why does every day need to be fun? Okay, in my case you'd expect

every day to be not fun, which may have numbed my capacity for enjoyment

in general, but I wanted to say that human beings can have a lot of notespecially-fun moments and still be fine. It's like…protecting your own world

is more important, I guess.

While I was thinking about this, silence stretched on. Was it my turn to

talk? Yup, it sure was.

"You don't agree? Well, everybody's different," Mimimi remarked.

"Oh sorry. Y-yeah."

For a minute, things got awkward. Aaah! I'm sorry! Since I'd clammed

up, Mimimi had offered a comment of her own, but then I'd gone and given

her an answer that went nowhere. This is what happens when you have no

communication skills!

"Hey, anyway! Can I ask you something I've been wondering about?"

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Mimimi smiled as if to say, No worries, you didn't mess up. Like I said,

she's incredible.

"Huh? What?"

Mimimi made her hand like a mask and brought it toward my mouth.

"Be honest with me, Tomozaki! Is something going on between you and

Aoi?"

I sputtered and coughed, choking on my words.

"Aha! Just as I thought! Something is going on. What is it, what is it?!

Come on, I'm like your big sister! You can tell me! Well?"

"There's nothing going on!"

"Are you suuure? I swear I saw you two giving each other fishy glances!

And the other day, you almost forgot to use 'san' with Aoi's name, but not

with anyone else!"

…I did? Even if I had, did people normally notice that sort of thing?

Normies make you think they're just cheerful, but in reality, they're masters

of reading the room and sussing out people's emotions. One false move and I

was done for. If she already knew this much, a clumsy attempt at a cover-up

wouldn't save me.

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"Nothing's up! I mean, we're not enemies or anything like that, but

Hinami is friends with everyone, isn't she?"

"There! You did it again! You didn't use 'san.' Just as I thought, very

suspicious. Tomozaki! Why did you try to hide it? A guilty conscience,

perhaps? Tell me everything! Spill!"

"I told you, nothing's going on! Anyway, you think Aoi Hinami, the

school idol, would do anything with me to feel guilty about? No way!"

"Got me there!"

"Hey!" I shot back teasingly.

"Ha-ha-ha-ha! I like that! You really are funny sometimes, Tomozaki!"

"Gimme a break! I wasn't trying to be funny, and come on, that

'sometimes' was unnecessary."

Somehow, I didn't feel so nervous anymore. I probably had Mimimi's

conversation style to thank for that. Or maybe it was just that we were talking

about a certain rude gamer.

"See, you should be happy like that all the time. You're always so glum."

"That's none of your business… But actually, I'm fine with not being

happy all the time."

"…Really?! What do you mean by that?"

She really latched on to that. What am I supposed to say now? "Um, how

do I explain this? Being fun and happy isn't always the right answer…

maybe?"

"Huh! You're the first person I've ever heard say that! Gimme the deets!

The 411!"

"41…?"

Oh right, 411. Who actually says that? "It's hard to explain. For example,

I like Atafami and other games, and…"

"Yeah, I've heard you're super-good, too! And, and?"

"Yeah, um… it's not at all like fun stuff at school. But I still spend my

time playing Atafami, I mean…"

"Hmm. But isn't Atafami fun?"

"Um…I mean, it is, definitely, but it's like… I don't play Atafami because

I want to have fun. I like Atafami and I work hard at it, so the fun comes as a

kind of side effect… Sorry I can't explain it better…"

"No, I get it."

"Really?"

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"Yeah, actually… I think you're a little like Tama in that sense."

"…Like Tama-chan?"

I couldn't see that at all… But Hinami had said something similar.

"I guess…she doesn't bend, or she doesn't let herself be bent, ha-ha, and

that's a really good thing. Anyway, she's got that side to her."

"Yeah, I can see that."

"You can tell? For example, even if bending would make a situation more

enjoyable, she won't do it unless she thinks it's right. She's really extreme.

I've gotta give her props for that."

"That's unusual among our generation, isn't it?"

"Ha-ha-ha! Here comes Mr. Talk-Show Host again!"

"Shut up!"

"Ah-ha-ha! …Anyway, I think that side of her is amazing, but I also know

I don't have it in me. I mean, I'm bent over backward most of the time! I

bend every which way and do whatever it takes to make things fun. I'm bent

so far over I can hear my back popping!"

"R-really?" I'd thought it was a natural gift.

"Oh, definitely. I'm a young maiden with many worries…I mean, is there

anyone that doesn't have any? Compared to Tama, my worries are tiny!"

"She really does seem…to have a lot of problems."

"Right? I totally agree. But that's why someone more flexible like me has

to protect her. That's the situation! So! What do you think? You gonna cry

for me? Or pat my back?"

She stood in front of me with her hands outspread.

"I see," I said. I'd been lost in thought, so I missed most of what she said.

"But how do you feel? I mean, I can't imagine you'd enjoy having to keep

the mood up all the time."

"Huh? Are you spacing out? But anyway, me? I don't mind! The reason I

do it is so things will be more fun, so obviously it's fun! Of course, there are

times when I don't want to bend, but what can I do? Life's not perfect! The

reason I give in is because it would be worse if I didn't! I'm always trying to

go where the fun is!"

"…Okay, I get it. You do what you're best at."

"Exactly! You're full of good lines, aren't you, Tomozaki? My job is

bending, and Tama's job is not bending! That's how we function!"

"And you support each other."

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"Right, right, exactly! We support each other! You really do know how to

sum it up, Tomozaki! Of course, if I had to say one way or the other, I'd say

I'm the one who supports Tama, to be accurate. And I'm okay with that!"

She gave another little ta-ha.

"Well, to me…"

"Oh, I'm heading this way now! Were you about to say something?"

"No, nothing important."

"Really? Okay, well, see you later, Tomozaki!"

"Uh, yeah, see you."

She waved exaggeratedly and disappeared like a passing storm. I'd started

to say something and hadn't finished, but maybe that was okay. It was just

my own unsolicited opinion, or rather guess, and it was probably better to

keep to myself.

I was going to say that to me, Mimimi seemed like the one being

supported.

* * *

"Huh. Nice work," Hinami said flatly.

"Well, Mimimi just kept the energy high while we were talking about

serious stuff. The stuff even I can manage."

"That's true, but…it shows that you have a strength."

"…I…do?" What did she mean?

"You did it in home ec, too. Apparently, you're good at saying what's on

your mind."

"Uh, saying what's on my mind? Isn't everyone good at that? I mean, all

you have to do is say it."

Hinami wagged her finger. "Not quite. There are more people who can't

do it than can."

"Huh?"

"For example, Mimimi. Her strength is her flexibility. Do you think she's

good at saying what she's thinking?"

"…Oh, I see. You mean she's good at agreeing with the people around

her."

"Right," Hinami said, nodding. "What about Hanabi? She's probably

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good at it, right? At speaking her mind, I mean."

"…Yeah, probably."

"Are there a lot of people like her? Or not so many?"

Uh…not many. Fine, you got me. "So…this is a rare skill I have?"

"Yup. In a sense, this is your weapon, your strong point, your killer

technique. And fighting on the field where you're strongest is the foundation

of gaming, right?"

"Um, yeah."

"Okay. So if you get in trouble, you can fall back on this skill. Remember

that."

"I will."

"Well, there weren't any major problems in the incident you just

described, so I'll continue. Consider yourself lucky with the extra EXP…

Anyway, keep observing conversations. You all prepared?"

"How can I prepare? …Don't you just head out to the field for this stuff?"

"I think you know the answer. And put some spirit into it. I'm expecting

your analysis on the final day."

With that, I headed out to start my three-day exercise in raising my level

and gathering information.

Wednesday, lunchtime in the cafeteria.

"Did you catch the last episode yesterday? I wonder what they're gonna

do in the finale."

"Yeah, but the part when he was like 'Come back to me!' was so bad. I

was laughing the whole time."

"Ha-ha-ha! Me too! That was terrible!"

"Hey look at Tomozaki, he's acting all nervous. He hasn't said anything!"

"Yeah, I know. Weirdo!"

…Hmm, hmm.

Thursday, walking to the station after school.

"Oh, that reminds me, Yukako, was everything okay yesterday? Your dad

kept calling you!"

"Oh, that! My brother was actually the one who didn't get it!"

"The little guy?"

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"Yeah! When I opened the front door, he was standing there like a statue,

and he goes 'Damn it!'"

"What a weirdo!"

"Sounds like something you'd do, Tomozaki!"

"Ha-ha-ha, yeah right."

…Uh-huh.

Friday, between classes.

"Tell us something funny, Takahiro!"

"Hey, don't put me on the spot!"

"Come on!"

"Um…well…yesterday, my girlfriend…"

"Stop showing off!"

"I'm not!"

"Tomozaki, do you have any…never mind, you wouldn't."

"Ha-ha-ha! That was rude!"

…Indeed.

That's pretty much how things went.

"So how was it?"

It was our Friday after-school meeting. For the past four days, I'd been

tossed into groups of kids I wasn't particularly close with and forced to

observe them, even participate a tiny bit. Four days in the depths of hell. And

today we were going over it all.

"My soul is dead."

"…Well, that's the fate of antisocial people. But once you get your

expression and posture and conversational skills in shape, you'll be released

from that fate soon enough."

"…Are you sure?"

"I don't think you can avoid being insulted. Groups are like that. Once

five or six people get together, well…someone's gonna be the sacrifice."

"…I see."

"What matters is your analysis."

"Um, I thought about a lot of stuff, but…"

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"Yes?"

The ultimate normie is asking me, the communication-disabled, for the

observations I barely managed to scrape together. Of course I'm nervous.

What I noticed was the division of roles in conversations.

It seems to me that each participant in a given conversation has a role to

take care of. There are three main ones: the person who introduces new

topics, the person who expands on existing topics, and the person who reacts.

For example, on Monday, I observed a conversation that started like this:

"Hey, listen to this! Yesterday at cram school…"

Mimimi always starts by saying something like "Listen to this" or "That

reminds me" or "So yesterday…" After that, she mentions something that's

not really related to what everyone had been talking about up to that point.

Conversations are started by these "introducers." That's obvious enough.

Then there are people who add to the topics with comments like "And

then this happened" or "That's similar to this other thing." These are the

"expanders."

Finally, you have the people who keep it fun by listening and agreeing or

laughing, or occasionally expressing an opinion. These are the "reactors."

Once a given topic has been wrapped up, an introducer will throw out a

new topic.

Of course, expanders and reactors sometimes introduce new topics, and

introducers take on the role of listener. But it seems to me that the roles are

fairly fixed within each group.

And that wasn't all I noticed. Also from Monday:

"Wow, the teacher definitely must have done that on purpose."

"I thought so, too!"

"I bet he likes you, Minmi."

"No way! It's probably the opposite!"

In this case, Kyoya Hashiguchi and Tama-chan were acting as expanders.

Even though they were part of the conversation the whole time, I could tell

they weren't at the center of it.

"Speaking of, have you memorized the vocab yet? I can't believe we have

to remember a hundred words all at once."

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This was something a certain key normie said on Wednesday.

What struck me as important was that while everyone in the conversation

did quite a bit of expanding, it was almost always the same ones who

introduced new topics. On Monday it was Daichi Matsumoto, Mimimi, and

Hinami. I almost never observed Tama-chan or Kyoya Hashiguchi introduce

a topic. Maybe if I watched for a really long time, I'd see one of them do it,

but it was clearly rare. Which suggests that if you don't introduce new topics,

you'll never be at the center of things.

Anyway, I couldn't put a specific name on the idea if you asked me to, but

that's what I noticed.

"…And since Tama-chan and Kyoya didn't introduce any new topics,

they didn't control the mood. That's about it."

Hinami nodded.

"Hmm. If the average person listened to what you just said, they'd

probably be like, And? Does that mean something? In other words,

everything you said is completely obvious."

Her words hit home extra hard because I'd been wondering that myself.

"…But for people like you and me who are assessing the situation with a

focus on cause and effect, it's an important observation. Worthy of nanashi,

I'd say."

Just as I was reeling from the damage of her previous comment, she

praised me. I was happy, unsurprisingly. She had me completely under the

control of her good cop bad cop routine.

"R-really?"

"Yeah. You understand now, right? What are the two things you need in

order to be good at conversation?"

…Oh, okay. I do get it.

"Improving my ability to introduce and expand on topics?"

"Hexactly."

"Huh?"

"All that's left is to figure out how to improve those abilities."

"Wait, wait, wait. This is the third time you've said that 'Hexactly' thing.

What is that?"

"…"

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No response!

"…Okay fine, I give up. It's a habit, and sometimes I slip up and say it.

You don't recognize it? It's what Oinko always said in that retro game Go Go

Oinko. I loved that game when I was a kid. To tell you the truth, I try not to

say it because it's embarrassing, but I'm tired of avoiding it. It always slips

out, whether I like it or not, so from now on I'm gonna say it all the time. Just

ignore it, okay? Story over."

What's with this girl? She gives a big speech, then suddenly gets all

defensive and ends the conversation.

Wait a sec…

"…Oinko! I thought I recognized that phrase from somewhere! I

remember now! You like that game?"

"…Wow. I should have expected the top gamer in Japan to remember that

one. Hardly anyone knows about it. Which is weird because it was superfamous back in the day!" For once, Hinami sounded excited.

"Totally! I used to play it at a friend's house when I was a kid. Oinko the

pig was super-cute. He always said, 'That's so correct, I think I've been

hexed!' …That was a good game."

"Yeah, it was. They made you think it was just gonna be another crappy

manga spinoff, but it actually had stuff you wouldn't expect from the

technology back then, like 2.5-D parallax scrolling. Just technically speaking,

it was amazing! But at the same time, it was one of those unique little worlds

kids love. The characters were so cute! Seriously good game."

Hinami was smiling like an innocent little girl. I—I didn't even know she

could make that expression.

"I'm with you there," I said, looking away from her.

"I should've known you'd get it! When it comes to games, Oinko was like

my…I mean…" Hinami turned her face away and coughed, like she'd

suddenly realized something. "We're way off topic."

Maybe because she'd been rambling enthusiastically about something she

liked, her cheeks were flushed.

"Oh yeah. Um…"

"We were talking about how to be good at conversations, right?" Hinami

said, sounding disappointed. She crossed her arms with some discontent.

"Right. And we can talk about Oinko another time."

"Yeah. Let's get back to the point. So…do you know how to develop that

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skill?"

"Um…by imitating people who are good at it?"

"Hexactly."

"There it is."

"Once you've figured out what the two important skills are, you just

watch the best and copy them. And now that you know what's important, you

know what to pay attention to, right?"

"Sounds good to me."

"By the way, you mentioned the 'mood' earlier. Do you know what that

is?"

"Uh, mood?"

…Now that she mentioned it, I realized I'd been thinking in vague terms,

like "that person commands the mood" or "the mood is getting weird in this

conversation," but if someone asked me to define it, I wouldn't be able to.

"No, I don't. What is it?"

Might as well ask the expert.

"So 'mood' refers to the standards for right and wrong in a particular

situation."

Um, the standards for right and wrong? "What do you mean?"

"If I break it down, it's the standard for what you should and shouldn't do.

Within a specific group, that is. For example, in some groups, you'll earn

praise for being easy-going and upbeat, but others, like, say, a group of

college students, might dislike that and think it's childish or uncool. That

standard for good and bad is what people call the 'mood.'"

"Hmm."

I felt like I was starting to get the idea. If I said Mimimi was easily

influenced by the mood and Tama-chan wasn't influenced by it at all, that

would make sense.

"The 'mood' refers to these standards for right and wrong, or good and

bad. Specifically when they hold true within a particular group and not

anywhere else."

Hmm. "I get the gist, but I'm not sure that explanation's enough."

"That's fine. We're getting into the weeds here, which is not necessary at

your level. Just keep it in mind as something that might come in handy in the

future. For now, it's enough to have a vague sense of it as 'mood.'"

"That's enough? …Okay. But there's something essential I still haven't

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asked you."

Hinami grinned. "And what would that be?"

"I have a feeling I won't get good at conversation just by copying the

masters. It's like my body won't be able to keep up…like I probably don't

have the basic abilities to make the moves I want to make."

That's exactly the problem. I literally can't copy the experts. At least,

that's how it often goes with video games—the expert is just too good with

the controller.

I'm foreseeing the same problem in conversations. Say I want to introduce

a new topic or respond to a joke with some witty comment, but the words just

don't come out because I don't have the skills… In that sense, life really is a

game.

"Very astute. You're right. You need to build up your skills."

"Right? And it won't happen overnight…"

"It's the easiest thing ever."

"Huh? It's easy?"

"Yep," Hinami said, raising her finger in the air like a cheerful teacher.

"Just memorize."

"…Memorize?"

"Yeah. Piece of cake, right?"

She smiled mischievously. I was being teased.

"Come on, I need more than that. What do you mean?"

"It's very simple."

She pulled a pencil box from her bag. From inside it, she withdrew a pile

of flash cards and started flipping through them.

"What are those?" I said, peering at the cards in her hand. I couldn't

believe my eyes. "…You're kidding me!"

Each card had writing on both sides. For example, one said "The story

about the little brother of Taro Nakajima (Group 2)" on the front and "He

said he'd get into a national junior high no problem, but he didn't even take

the entrance exam" on the back. Another one said "What my mom said to me

in the middle of May" on the front with "You're a fine student but you wear

the stupidest clothes" on the back. Another said "The scene in the third

episode of My Secret Father that made me laugh" on the front and "The part

where Yusuke Sugawara falls down, but he's being so careful not to get hurt

that it looks like a slapstick routine" on the back. And on and on. There was a

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whole fat pile of them.

"See? Easy."

She was positively beaming. Terrifying.

"You…memorized these? Conversation topics?"

"Yup." The smile was affixed to her face like the mask of a leering ogre.

"No, this is just too weird…"

"What are you talking about? In RPGs, you memorize the attack and

defense values for all the equipment, right? And in training-battle games, you

memorize the fixed stats of all the monsters, right? What's the difference?"

As she was talking, she opened her large pencil box to show me the piles

of flash cards stuffed inside, all of which I guessed served the same purpose

as the ones she'd just shown me.

"Oh geez…"

"Why do you sound so pathetic? If you do this, you'll never run out of

topics."

Sure, but…if a normal person saw this, they'd run the other way.

"…It's just, wow. You're right that I'm not gonna run out of topics…" I

can see her point, but… "Are you suggesting I do the same thing?"

I was somewhat on the defensive.

"Obviously. But you can use whatever method you want. It doesn't have

to be flash cards. You're decent at studying, right? In that case, you can use

whatever is easiest for you as long as you memorize some topics."

"O-okay."

"Okay then, that's it as far as conversation instruction goes."

"Um, wait a second. There's something I don't understand."

"What?"

"Assuming I can memorize some topics, you know I always stutter when I

talk to people. What should I do about that? Practice saying 'excuse me' or

something?"

"…Just get used to it," Hinami said, sounding bored and tapping her

finger on her forehead. "Anyway, you're not going to say 'excuse me' to kids

in our class, so what's the point of practicing?"

"Oh r-right."

"I swear," she sighed, putting her flash cards back in the pencil box and

sticking the box in her bag.

"Whew…I'm kinda tired after today," I said.

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"Makes sense. We talked about a lot of new stuff. Plus you shared a lot of

your own thoughts. But tonight when you get home, and then tomorrow

night, I want you to review our conversation, because we went over a lot of

important things."

"Review? You mean just try to remember what we talked about? I think I

can do that…but I'm not sure."

"I thought as much. Here, take this."

She pulled a slender, palm-sized rectangular device with REPLAY and

RECORD buttons on it from her chest pocket.

"…A recorder?"

"Yeah, it's a voice recorder. I've been taping our whole conversation."

When did she manage to do that?

"Ha-ha, you plan for everything… Did you buy that just for this?"

"No, I had it around. You can use it for a lot of things. I'm just lending it

to you for a bit."

A lot of things… I wonder what that includes? Considering those flash

cards, though, I'm too scared to ask. She handed the recorder to me.

"Th-thanks," I said.

"It has a bunch of different folders, but there's nothing in them. If you

press the REPLAY button, you can listen to today's conversation. And here's

the plug for earphones."

"G-got it."

She really thought of everything for me. Must be another skill of normie

experts.

"Okay, so let's talk about the plan for tomorrow."

"Huh? Tomorrow? Isn't tomorrow Saturday?"

Some schools have class on Saturdays, but ours wasn't one of them.

"Yes, and that's why it's extra important. Or did you have plans?"

"No…I'm free." Sadly enough. "Why? You want me to practice at home

or something?"

"Nope."

"What, then?"

She replied as if the answer was not a huge bombshell.

"We're meeting at Omiya Station at eleven AM. You're going to spend the

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day with me."

A date?! Or…I guess not, but…what?!