Chapter 285._Redo of a Romanceless Author鈥檚 Life Devoid of Love; Another Chance at Youth

Chapter 285.

 Chapter 285. An Insidious Trap. (2/8)

 “Woah. Huh? Did I get the wrong room? Wait, Alicia? Why are you here?” The identity of the individual who’d knocked on our door was… Jass. His acting was... awful and the tone of his voice waspletely over-exaggerated. It didn’t sound like a coincidental meeting at all. It sounded more like, ‘Oh no~ whatever shall I do?’

 “Oh, hey, Ran’s here with his girlfriend too? What a coincidence bumping into you guys here.”

 “Coincidence? Bullshit! Learn how to act, you idiot!” I couldn’t help but retort.

 “Hahaha… act? Come on man, I don’t know what you’re talking about. It’s totally a coincidence that I knocked on the wrong door and came across you guys together here.”

 “Yes. It’s totally a coincidence.” Alicia’s expression, unable to keep a straight face while saying that, was too telling.

 “What sort of conspiracy are you three plotting here?” I squinted my eyes and examined the three warily.

 “Come on man! Just help me out here! Please!”

 “No way. I can already imagine what this is about now. I’m definitely leaving before then.”

 “What are you saying, Ran~ the food hasn’t even arrived yet. You can’t leave before the food even gets here.” I tried to stand up, but while I’d been distracted by Jass, Rosa had raised her left leg up over mine and hooked it over my right thigh at some point. Both her arms were securely wrapped around my right arm as she hugged it close to her body. My right hand was locked in ce between her thighs. In this sort of position, it wasn’t possible for me to stand up and leave.

 “Rosa, can you please let go? I’ve got to use the toilet really badly.”

 “What~ but if I remember correctly you went earlier, didn’t you?”

 “No, I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

 “Alicia, you saw him go too, right?”

 She wasn’t wrong, I did use the washroom at home before we left.

 “Yeah. He did. I remember when he went.”

 “See? If Alicia also remembers it, it must be true. There’s no way you need the washroom again when we haven’t even eaten yet.”

 “I have a condition where I need to use the toilet a lot.”

 “That’s the first I’m hearing about such a condition. In fact, now that I think about it, I never see you using the washroom at school.” Rosa sported a teasing smile as she one by one shot down my paths to slip out of here.

 “Ria, hey, you made it~ Over here, we’re using this room.” Alicia stuck her head out the door and suddenly called out with a cheerful smile.

 When Izora entered the room, her eyes immediatelynded on me. She hadn’t noticed Jass at all. She’d definitely been invited here by Rosa through Alicia. There were now two guys and three girls. If this was supposed to be a group date, the numbers were obviously unbnced.

 When that thought surfaced, my lips twitched as I remembered what Alicia let slip when we were home.

 Pres... She wasn’t going to say present at that time.

 Rather, it was… president. Student council president.

 “Zale,” Alicia called out his name as she stuck her arm out the door into the corridor to catch his attention.

 When Zale entered the room, Jass’s eyes locked onto him. His… love rival had made his appearance. The stupid event Rosa set up would definitely time into some sort of fight for Izora’s affection.

 Didn’t this sort of look like I’d dumped the problem of the student council president and Jass onto Izora? Well, it’s got nothing to do with me.

 From what I could tell, Izora hadn’t realized she was being targeted by Jass. Zale, on the other hand, didn’t immediately notice Jass’s or my presence when he entered the room as his eyes were immediately drawn to Alicia and then to Izora.

 Him ignoring me made perfect sense as I was aplete stranger unacquainted with him as far as he was concerned.

 Jass wasn’t unacquainted with Zale though and his dismissive attitude toward him had obviously gotten on his nerves.

 If I were to plot a rtionship chart right now between everyone gathered together in this room, I’d definitely have a migraine.

 Wait. What were we doing right now? Karaoke, right? In other words, singing, right? Wasn’t that some awful foreshadowing? I mean… Ang was a singer?

 Why did I suddenly have a terrible feeling rising up in my gut? What would happen if Ang suddenly showed up by some freak chance during this event? I trembled when I thought about the possibility. It should be pretty low and unlikely to happen though. There was no way it’d really happen.

 Even if it did somehow happen, she definitely wouldn’t go and reveal my rtionship with her in front of everyone here. But… she’d still easily find out a lot about me if it did.

 Calm down. It’s not going to happen.

 “Hey, Zale, what’s up man? Fancy seeing you here.” Jass who’d been ignored finally called out to Zale.

 “Doesn’t this look like it’ll be interesting?” Rosa whispered in my ear with a cat-like expression.

 “No, it doesn’t. It looks like world war 3 is about to break out.”

 “Oh? You were invited as well?” Zale asked the way a superior would ask someone beneath them.

 “Yeah. I was invited by Alicia.” That was bull, it was Rosa who’d set it up.

 “Oh? You were? I didn’t know you were on such good terms with her. What about her boyfriend? Is he here?”

 “Huh? Apparently he couldn’t make it.”

 “Tsk. Is that true, Alicia?”

 “Uh… yeah.”

 “Oh well, I suppose it’s better that unpleasant guy isn’t here.”

 Sorry for being so unpleasant. I’m also sorry for actually being here.

 “He’s not unpleasant,” Alicia protested.

 “Right… just don’t forget the agreement.”

 “Yeah… I know.”

 “Agreement? What agreement are you talking about?” Jass cut in when he found himself out of the loop.

 “It has nothing to do with you. But putting you aside, Rosa, is this your boyfriend?” Zale answered dismissively and skillfully redirected the topic by cing the spotlight on me.

 “Oh? You don’t know him? He’s my pal, Ran. We’re in the same ss. And yeah, unlike us he’s a stud with Rosa as his girlfriend.”

 “Heh. A stud? Him?”

 “He is such a stud~ so cool and handsome. A lot more than some boring student council president.” Rosa flirtatiously nuzzled her cheek up against my arm while taking shots at Zale.

 “Haha… it seems you just have terrible taste in men, Rosa.” Zale obviously knew Rosa and the invisible sparks that shed between the two were those of mortal enemies. They had beef with each other, that much was obvious.

 Rosa often spent lunch breaks together with Alicia at school so it was only natural that she encountered Zale a lot.

 When I pictured the scene of Izora, Alicia, and Rosa together with Zale during lunch breaks, I couldn’t help but think that it was the perfect setup for a romanticedy. Was that maybe how Zale saw things for himself?

 The three were meant to be his and the hardships and struggles he faced before that point were all part of the process? He was the main character, the girls were his romantic interests, and everyone else was nothing more than a mob character.

 Hmm… I could probably write a story with this sort of setting from his perspective, couldn’t I? Wouldn’t it be pretty funny?

 I should definitely do that one day.

 I am Zale.

 The most handsome, charismatic stud in my high school.

 I am the dashing student council president who has girls turning their heads toward me wherever I go.

 I can sing.

 I can dance.

 I am good at any sport.

 I am good at studying.

 I am a social man everybody loves to talk to.

 I am a hit with women.

 Essentially, I am the perfect man.

 All thedies chase after me.

 Well… all of them except for the one I actually want the most. She has a scumbag, piece of shit boyfriend. But! She just doesn’t realize that she actually loves me. The same for her best friend. She’s just a tsundere who can’t be honest with her feelings for me. But it’s better that way because Alicia is the only one for me. (lol)

 “Pfft. Heheh.” Ah. I identallyughed out loud for real. I raised my arm up and quickly covered my mouth with my hand. I’m sure it looked creepy when someone randomly chuckled to themself without a good reason.

 “Did I say something funny?” Zale asked with a frown on his face.

 “No. Not at all. I just thought you were probably right that Rosa has terrible taste...”

AliNovel

Chapter 285.