My Romance Life System
Chapter 28: Dumbasses

Chapter 28: Dumbasses

She was crying, but smiling at the same time. It was the weirdest thing I’d ever seen, and I had no idea what to do. I just sat there.

She sniffled and wiped at her eyes with the back of her other hand, and a shaky little laugh came out.

"God, I’m a mess," she said. "And you... you really are a dumbass, Kofi."

’Yeah,’ I thought. ’I guess I am.’

"It’s okay," she said, her voice getting a little stronger. "I mean, it’s not okay what happened with your friend. That sounds awful. But it’s okay to be scared."

’Scared? I wasn’t scared. I was being smart. Safer.’ But hearing her say it... yeah, maybe she was right. It did feel like being scared.

"You don’t have to be, though," she continued, leaning forward a little. Her eyes were so focused on me, it felt like we were the only two people in the whole café. "Not anymore. Those people in class, with their phones and their whispering... they don’t matter. They’re just background noise."

She took a breath. "So what if they stare? Let them. If you’re with me, you don’t have to worry about them. I’ll be your pillar, or something. I’ll be the one to block them out. We can do this together, and you can learn how to deal with all this... society stuff. I can help you, if you want me to, of course."

’A pillar?’ The word sounded like something out of one of the manga I read. ’Is she for real?’ I thought. Nobody just offers to do that. There’s always a reason, something they want. I just watched her, trying to figure out what her angle was.

"And I don’t care what they say about me," she said, her voice firm now. "I really, really don’t. Not anymore. I’m so tired of trying to be what everyone else wants me to be."

’....’

The question came out before I could stop it. It was quiet, and it felt like the most important thing I had ever asked.

"Can I... can I really lean on you?" I asked, my voice barely there. "Isn’t that... too much? For you to take on?"

She didn’t answer right away. Her watery smile was gone, and her expression was completely serious now. She just held my gaze, and my stomach felt weird. I don’t know what I was expecting but seeing her so serious made me nervous.

She didn’t say anything back. Her serious expression didn’t change, and for a second I was sure I’d screwed it all up again, that I’d asked for too much.

Then, she just reached across the table.

Her hand was small and warm. She didn’t grab my hand or anything dramatic like that. She just put her hand on top of mine, the one that was still clenched into a fist on the table. Her fingers gently covered my knuckles.

That was it. That was her answer.

My hand just unclenched on its own, my fingers uncurling under hers until my palm was flat against the cool wood of the table.

I just stared at our hands. Hers on top of mine. I’d never held a girl’s hand before. Not really. My brain felt like it had just stopped working. All those thoughts about what to say, what she was thinking, they just went quiet.

There was just this. Her hand on mine. It was a simple, solid feeling.

"Yes," she said finally, her voice so soft i almost didn’t hear. "You can lean on me, Kofi."

She squeezed my hand, just a little.

"I won’t disappear," she promised.

I looked up from our hands and at her face. The serious look was gone, replaced by that same watery smile from before. She wasn’t just some popular girl anymore. She was Nina, my friend. And she was holding my hand. My face felt hot. I hoped she couldn’t tell.

"Thank you, I really it this time, from the bottom of my heart, thank you."

The system window suddenly showed.

[Friendship Level Up!]

[Friendship with Nina Shoka has reached Level 2: Trusted Companion.]

[New Trait Unlocked: Mutual Support.]

[Description: You can now rely on each other. Sincere requests for help are more likely to be accepted.]

[Reward: 1,500 Friendship Points.]

’Friendship points?’ I thought, staring at the screen. ’What the hell am I supposed to do with those?’

The window vanished as quickly as it came.

Nina was looking at me funny. "You spaced out for a second there," she said, her thumb gently rubbing the back of my hand. "Everything okay?"

I just nodded, because I didn’t think I could make words work right then. The feeling of her thumb moving back and forth was distracting.

We sat like that for a few minutes, not talking.

She finally let go of my hand and picked up her coffee cup, taking a sip. I felt the loss of her hand more than I expected.

"So," she said, putting her cup down. "We’re dumbasses."

I blinked at her. "We are?"

"Yeah," she said with a little laugh. "You, for thinking I’d just ditch you. And me, for getting so mad over something so stupid. We should probably just talk to each other from now on, instead of just assuming things."

"Yeah," I agreed, a small smile finding its way onto my face. "That’s probably a good idea."

She picked up her coffee and took another sip. When she put the cup down, she looked happy. The sad, tired look she’d had before was completely gone. She had this little smile on her face, and her eyes were clear. She looked... bright.

’How could they say those things about her?’ I thought. The memory of Tyler and Ronnie’s voices, their disgusting words behind the van, came back so clearly. They had called her annoying, a bitch. They talked about her like she was just a face and a body. They had it so wrong. This girl, the one sitting across from me, the one who cried because I was a jerk to her, the one who promised she wouldn’t disappear... she wasn’t any of those things they said. They didn’t know her at all.

I must have been staring, because she tilted her head and her smile got a little wider. It turned into a teasing grin.

"What?" she asked. "Are you mesmerized by my beauty or something?"

My brain just stalled. ’What? Where did that come from?’

My face felt hot. "No," I said, probably way too fast. "I was just... thinking."

"Thinking about what?" she asked, leaning forward a little, her eyes sparkling. She was enjoying this.

"Nothing," I said, looking down at my coffee cup. I could feel her watching me, and it was making me nervous, but not in a bad way this time.

"Come on, you were staring really hard," she said.

Then she reached across the table and poked my arm. It wasn’t hard, just a light poke with her finger.

"Was it my stunning wit? My incredible charm?" she kept going, her grin was even bigger now. She poked my arm again. "You can tell me. I won’t tell anyone."

I looked up at her, I couldn’t help it. I started to smile. This whole thing, her teasing me, poking me... it was so weird. It felt like a scene straight out of one of the romance anime I watched. The part where the girl finally breaks through the quiet guy’s shell and starts messing with him.

I’d always thought those scenes were kind of cheesy and unrealistic.

But sitting here, with her looking at me like that, it didn’t feel cheesy at all. It felt nice. Really nice.

My small smile turned into a real one. I guess I was a dumbass after all.

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