5

If you keep upgrading your initial equipment, they’ll usually become your most powerful weapon

Several days passed. Thanks to Tama-chan’s scolding, the negative feelings toward Konno gradually faded, and while she didn’t return to her former top position, she did regain some of her standing in the cool-girl group. Of course, the incident with Hinami meant she couldn’t flaunt her control anymore, but she was still accepted. Gradually, she pulled herself back up to a powerful position in the class hierarchy.

Her own political savvy and sense of balance were partly to thank, but I think Izumi’s support played an even bigger role. Right after the incident, people didn’t exactly victimize her, but they did treat her kind of distantly. Izumi was the only one who consistently stayed by her side.

Of course, the harassment stopped. Not just toward Tama-chan, but the others, too, including Konno. And as for Tama-chan herself…

“Tama-chan, want to come do karaoke with us?”

“Well, okay, if everyone’s going!”

“What’s that supposed to mean? Feel the love!”

“Shut up! I said I’m going!”

“Ah-ha-ha. You guys are playing around again!”

“Hey, wait! That wasn’t playing around!”

“At it again, huh?”

To put it simply, she had way more friends. Ever since the charm-school strategy, people had started to accept her, and then when she scolded the whole class, that cemented her status. She’d gained a stable position as a really good, really solid person.

In other words, the class came to define her character as the essence of her personality. When we had talked about people getting used to her character, I think this was it.

It went without saying that her charm, developed through training and some help from all of us, played a big role in all that.

And me? I was at a restaurant on the way home from school with some people. The group included Mizusawa, Nakamura, Takei, Hinami, Mimimi, Izumi, and Tama-chan.

“Shut up, Nakamura! I’d never do that!”

“Shit, you really are stubborn…”

Believe it or not, Nakamura and Tama-chan were joking around. The charm-school strategy wasn’t enough to make the two of them friends, but after she defended Konno, the tension softened. According to Mizusawa, “he probably just needed a reason to forgive her.”

If Nakamura gave in when Tama-chan didn’t, he would have felt like he’d lost. Given his position at the top of the hierarchy, that wasn’t acceptable. So he needed some kind of “story” that would convince the rest of the class that it was okay for him to give in. The Konno incident was more than enough to serve that role. It’s a real pain to have a higher position than everyone else.

“Okay! Everyone, listen up!” Mimimi said, clapping her hands. Once the whole group was looking at her, she coughed. “We’ve gathered here today for one reason…”

After that overly formal introduction, she pulled a paper bag from her school bag.

“Reinforcements!!!”

This mysterious military reference was followed by her dumping the contents of the bag onto the table. Colorful items rolled out, covering the whole surface. There were enough striped haniwa charms for everyone at the table to have one.

“Oh wow…,” Tama-chan said in surprise.

Everyone else grinned. We were all in on this one.

“Hee-hee-hee. Tama, look at this.”

Mimimi flipped each of the charms over so that their back sides showed. When she was done, she smiled wide.

“Now there won’t be any more problems!” she said, giving a thumbs-up. Tama-chan looked at the charms with an astonished smile. Of course she did. I’d probably react the same way.

“…So was Tomozaki the one who came up with this idea?”

“How’d you know?”

My heart skipped a beat; she saw right through me. I did come up with this plan.

The eight haniwa charms on the table in front of us each had a red line of stitches down its back. I got the idea when Konno destroyed Tama’s charm. If the rip on that charm made it not special anymore, why not rip all the others and sew their backs up, too? Then they’d all be the same again.

“You’re an idiot, Tomozaki…but thanks.”

Tama-chan smiled happily, looking just a little more grown-up than usual. In addition to the charms that Mimimi, Hinami, and I already had, we’d bought new ones for Mizusawa, Nakamura, Takei, and Izumi, too. We tore them, then sewed them back up. Yeah, I’ll admit it was a little silly.

“I worked hard to sew those!” Izumi said proudly. Eight of them must have been a slog; no wonder she felt like boasting.

“Mine’s coming unraveled already!” Nakamura said teasingly.

“You’re lying!” Izumi anxiously inspected the spot he was pointing at. Glad to see they’re getting along.

“Yeah, I was.”

“What?! …Hey!”

That was when Hinami smoothly jumped in. “Okay, okay, enough flirting.”

“We’re not flirting.”

“Y-yeah!”

Nakamura’s denial was resolute, Izumi’s less so.

“Man, which one should I choose?!” Takei butted in, looking excitedly at the pile of bright charms.

“Calm down, everyone! I’ll flip them over again, and everyone can choose the Haniwa-chan they like!”

Mizusawa rolled his eyes and smiled. “All their faces are the same, but anyway…”

“Stop being so picky! They all look different to me!” Mimimi said, flipping them all faceup and arranging them in a circle. “See? They’re all different!”

“Really, now? Your eyesight must be great, Mimimi.”

“You’re asking for a fight, buddy.”

The two of them glared at each other playfully. Mizusawa’s got a good touch with Mimimi.

Suddenly, Hinami mumbled something. “Huh…when you line them up like that, they really are beautiful.”

Her hushed words brought everyone’s eyes to the table. True enough, the striped charms lined up in a circle, each its own color, made a vivid picture.

“…You’re right. They are,” I said softly.

Mimimi nodded with emotion. “Yeah! They’re so round and colorful, like fireworks!” Then she realized what she’d just said—Tama-chan’s real name meant fireworks. “Just like you!”

Tama-chan pointed at her with a smirk on her face. “The fireworks might be gone for the summer, but I’ll still be here…tamarrow!”

“Nooo, don’t take my joke!”

“Come on, guys, can we choose already?” Takei interrupted impatiently. Why was he so motivated when it came to these charms?

“Wait a second! Those of you who had a Haniwa-chan to start with, please pick it up!” Mimimi said, making her hands into a megaphone. What was she imagining now, a sound truck or something?

“Damn!! I liked that one, but I guess it’s Tomozaki’s!!”

“Sorry, man.”

Honestly, I couldn’t care less what color I had. But Takei always did have strong preferences.

“All right, now the remaining individuals may choose which one they want! And no pushing!”

Mizusawa, Nakamura, Takei, and Izumi followed her instructions and chose their charms. Incidentally, I think Mimimi was envisioning herself as a lifeguard, not a sound-truck driver.

The four of them stared at their new charms, as bewildered as the rest of us had been. Who’d have guessed we’d end up in this situation again? Mizusawa broke the silence.

“This thing is…,” he mumbled. Nakamura, Izumi, and Takei nodded.

“Yeah.”

“Uh-huh, I thought so.”

“You’re right!”

Here it was again—the test of normie-ness. When I got my charm, I was the only one who had said the wrong thing, which made me feel horribly isolated. But since then, I’d been gradually developing my social sensibilities, and my feelings toward these charms had slowly changed as well!

“Yeah,” I chimed in, hoping to make up for last time. A second later, Mizusawa, Nakamura, Takei, Izumi, and I all spoke at once.

“““So ugly!”””

““Cute!””

Mizusawa, Nakamura, and Izumi weighed in for ugly, while Takei and I were on the cute side. Mizusawa burst out laughing.

“Ha-ha-ha! Fumiya and Takei are two of a kind!”

I had nothing to say. All I could do was suffer through my humiliation. Okay, maybe we’re a little similar, but something about that comparison just doesn’t feel right!