Tridente 3

chapter 3

Small Village Tridente – Chapter 003

 

rawr: https://ncode.syosetu.com/n8908ek/3/

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June, 2XX7

Those Nonchalant Words

 

There are a lot of cases where you meet a person from the same grade online.

But Saaya-san is someone who lives in the same neighborhood and is also in the same grade as me. Unlike high school, there is a high probability that we go to the same school if it’s middle school.

 

I wonder if there’s a girl called 「Saaya」 at our school?

There are a lot of students who are called by their last names, and I don’t really remember the names of students. Especially since my social relationships are very limited.

 

「Mari-san, what’s the matter?」

 

………For now let’s reserve this subject for later.

Thinking too much might really disrupt the conversation.

 

「N-nothing! Since we got a weapon now, why don’t we hunt some more?」

「Yeah. Let’s put the remaining points on hold for now.」

 

Because I panicked, I completely forgot about the skill points.

「M-me too, I’ll hold on to them too.」

 

Saaya-san giggled.

「Well then, let’s keep going!」

「o-oo~!」

 

And after that, we continued hunting monsters for a while. Mice, crickets, and caterpillar types.

Since we had the wooden swords, we were able to quickly kill the low level monsters, so our efficiency increased and we easily reached level 5.

 

「Well, that’s it. Quite a lot of time has passed. We also have to eat dinner, so that’s it for today, I guess?」

 

Looking at the time, it’s nearly 7pm.

Our house isn’t that strict with time, so I’m fine until whenever, but I went with the flow and decided to stop as well.

 

「Hey, Mari-san, if you want to, would you like to go adventuring tomorrow too?」

「O-of course. I’d love to!」

 

Rather, I should be the one asking for it, but I probably could not do so myself.

I friended Saaya-san and talked about where and when to meet tomorrow.

 

「I’ll be fine around 4pm. How about you, Mari-san?」

「I’m also about the… same time」

「Then, let’s meet up at 4pm! I think that we should meet up at the same place we log out.」

 

It’s obviously the same school, grade, and to add to that, the same area.

So of course we would return home at the same time…

 

「Well, see you tomorrow.」

「Y-yeah. Please take care of me tomorrow too!」

 

See you tomorrow――

Those words don’t have a lot of meaning, but to me, those are wonderful words.

While I enjoyed myself with those words, I logged out.

 

◇

 

After logging out, I immediately became curious so I checked our year’s name list.

 

Saaya, Saaya…

Sayaka, Saya, I wonder if it might be one of those too?

Following the order, I checked the names on the name list.

 

There we go――

There are three candidates.

 

The first is the student council president, Suzukawa Saya.

The second is a classmate, Kasumi Sayaka.

The third is the school princess… Himemiya Saya.

 

Tomorrow, I should try checking them out…

 

It’s really not a good thing, but for some reason, I’m really curious about the IRL Saaya-san.

 

It’s somewhat stalker-ish. Are you alright, me…?

 

After that, I ate dinner, entered the bath, and slept early.

It might be the first time that I am looking forward to going to school…

 

◇

 

The next day, I left my house earlier than usual, and arrived at school 30 minutes earlier.

At first, I thought that I would observe my classmate Kasumi-san, but it looks like she still isn’t here.

 

Maybe I should look at the neighboring class’s Himemiya-san…

But from my impression of Saaya-san, they are totally different, so it’s probably not the same person. But for now, I’ll take a peek at the neighboring class.

 

As usual, there was a crowd, so I easily knew where she was.

 

「Himemiya-san, wanna hang out with us during lunch?」

「Ah, that’s cheating! Even though I was going to inviter her!」

「Now, now, don’t fight, okay~ I’m going to eat with everyone, so get along, okay~☆」

 

As usual, she’s talking all cutesy… I wonder if that’s how she really talks, or if maybe she’s just forcing it? Rather than a princess, all that I see is just a gal talking.

 

I observed for a while, but that way of speaking is totally different… Saaya-san talking cutesy like that, I just can’t imagine it.

 

And then, as I was peeking half of my head through the door, the school gal… or rather, the school princess, found me…

 

「What’s the matter~? You’re from a different class, right? If there’s something you need, come here~☆」

 

She talked to me!

Let’s run.

 

「I-I’m sorrrrrry~~~!」

 

They are 99% different! That is not Saaya-san, not at all!

Let’s move on to the next one, the next one!

I returned to my class, and saw that Kasumi-san had already arrived.

 

「Kasumi, you’ve been busy with your club recently, right?」(9: Not Mari talking.)

「The competition is close after all. Yesterday too, we practiced until 6pm~」

「Wah, so strict.」

「After all, once the competition is over, the third years will retire. So I’ll work hard.」

 

From her impression, she isn’t that far from Saaya-san.

But she was at her club yesterday after school, which means that she was not logged in at the same time as me… Since she doesn’t clear that condition, that means that they are 100% different.

The only one left is the student council president, but it’s nearly time for homeroom, so it’ll have to be during lunch break.

 

◇

 

The stuco president, it seems that she also does student council work during lunch.

I stealthily looked into the student council room and saw the stuco president skillfully doing her work.

 

「Please make copies of this printout. I have organized the details about the field trip in this printout.」

「You’re already done? Even though I’m barely finishing. President, you’re amazing.」

「I’ll help out. If we all work together, it will be done quickly.」

 

…A very reliable person.

She has points similar to Saaya-san yesterday.

Her appearance too, her long hair, enticing eyes, and slender proportions.

There is a high chance that this person is Saaya-san, I think.

 

She is such a splendid person even IRL. I can’t help but admire her…

I want to talk to her, but starting a conversation is something that I haven’t accomplished yet, so I’m really nervous. Once the student council work ends, and after she leaves the student council room, I’ll try my best to talk to her.

After all, if only I know her real self, it’s not fair, right?

I’m surprised at how I became somewhat more positive. I wonder if it’s because I talked with Saaya-san a lot yesterday…

And then, the student council room door opened and the president came out.

 

「U-um!」

I mustered up my courage, and for the first time, I called out to a student in the same grade as me.

 

「Oh? Do you need something?」

The student council president seemed to be busy, but she still responded to me without looking displeased.

 

「Thank you very much for yesterday! You’re Sa-Saaya-san, right?」

「Y-yes. I am, but,」

 

I was right. This person is the Saaya-san that I met in the game.

Saaya-san, she was really cool when she rescued me, and she was really kind to me, who she had just met!

 

「I, I’m Mari. I was in your care yesterday…」

「W-wait a minute! I don’t remember talking to you yesterday. Aren’t you talking about another person?」

 

「Eh, but yesterday, in NW…」

「NW? What do you mean…?」

 

It seems that she really doesn’t understand.

Apparently, I completely got the wrong impression and mistook her for Saaya-san.

「I-I’m sorry… I misunderstood, since you resemble a friend…」

The president said 「I don’t mind」, smiled, and left.

 

In the end, she wasn’t either of the three…

 

◇

 

After school, when I went to the shoe racks to change my shoes and go home, there was someone before me… the school gal, Himemiya-san. When I hurried up and ran ahead, our eyes met.

 

「Ah, the girl from this morning~. Are you in a hurry too~?☆」

 

This morning, when she caught me peeking. I wonder if she remembered my face.

 

「Y-yeah…」

「I see~☆ I’m also hurrying, you know~☆」

 

I wonder what she’s hurrying up for?

Now that I think about it, yesterday she refused an invitation from a friend and went home…

 

「Well then, see you tomorrow~☆」

See you tomorrowー

Those words that don’t mean much, but to me, are really important. I was really happy today, those motivational words that gave me courage.

 

「Saaya-san…?」

I unconsciously called out to her.

 

When I called out that name, Himemiya-san who was hurrying to go home suddenly stopped in her tracks and slowly turned around.

And after a few seconds, she looked at my face, and opened her mouth.

 

「I see… So you were Mari-san.」

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Chapter 3 END

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Goddess loves you.