I’m Not Doing This With A Friend – Chapter 70

Author: Nikss

My heart began to pound in my chest as if I feigned sleep for fear of being discovered.

Then, when the figure came right up to my face, I swallowed hard.

Halt—

The figure approaching him was frozen in place, as if it had seen him swallow.

Fjord tried to regain his composure, singing the national anthem of the Lagrath Empire in his head.

I pretended to sleep as soundly as I could. In all the years of masked behavior, I had never acted so well.

I heard a small sigh from the figure. Luckily, she’d fallen for my act.

Relieved, the figure moved closer. Slowly, ever so slightly.

Until we were so close that I could hear her breathing. It didn’t stop.

‘Huh? Hmm…?’

Fjord’s mind went white as she felt closer than expected.

If he had to pick a time to surprise Leen, now would have been the best time.

In his panic, he missed the timing.

He felt a cold sensation on his face.

At the same time, he felt a sudden sensation, as if he were sketching something. It was a very naughty gesture.

Ah…

The tension in his body, which he had been straining to release, was gone.

I wondered what I was expecting.

A wave of embarrassment washed over me as I realized that Leen had only approached me to scribble on my face.

Even as Fjord screamed inwardly, Leen’s hand was busy.

The excitement was so palpable that even the nib could feel it.

After a few more moments, Leen pulled away from Fjord.

She giggled, as if satisfied with her work. Fjord listened to her laugh, not sure whether to be relieved or disappointed.

Yes, there was no way Leen would touch him when they were only friends.

It was the way it was, and the way it had to be.

Friends falling for the same girl was a common trope.

Right?

🍃

The academy was in a frenzy over the upcoming academic festival.

Since it was held at the start of the semester, there were no academic projects to exhibit, so it was just a festival to celebrate and enjoy.

The booths at the festival were run by clubs, but the question was…

“What are we going to do this time?”

Fjord raised his hand in response to my question.

“How about an arena?”

“An arena?”

Oh. I hope I’m mishearing this.

Fjord didn’t see my stony expression and began to explain.

“I’ll be the swordsman, Carson will be the magician, and you, Leen, will be the referee.”

“…So?”

“If I win, you get double the money for the first one, how about that?”

“Dismissed.”

“Without even thinking about it?”

Oomph. Fjord jerked a thumbs down in exaggerated frustration.

“Who wants to do that, and besides, what’s with the money if the other guy actually wins?”

To which Fjord replied with a smug look on his face as if he had it all figured out.

“I’m sure Carson will take care of that.”

He was just going to pass the buck…?

“I don’t need to hear anymore. Case dismissed.”

I heaved a deep sigh. The other clubs usually did things related to their clubs.

For example, Jane’s Costume Design Club was going to display and sell their homemade clothing…

I heard that Moto Club was going to have a mosquito extermination demonstration.

But our club didn’t have a purpose, so we didn’t know what to do.

“What am I supposed to do to get a decent amount of honey?”

I sighed, and Carson, who had been watching our conversation, spoke up for the first time.

“Leen. I wonder if we’re making it too difficult.”

“What do you mean?”

“Let’s make it easy and go by the name of our club.”

The name of the club?

FjoToClub.

The Fjord Torture Club…

I stared at him in disbelief, “You want us to publicly torture Fjord?”

Carson smirked and shook his head.

“Yep. I think we could make a pretty penny for the tickets, don’t you? We might as well organize a hands-on spanking session like Moto Club.”

I didn’t think Fjord’s suggestion could be any worse, but Carson was even dumber than Fjord.

Fjord jumped to his feet, grabbed Carson by the scruff of the neck, and shook him.

“Not in front of the crowd, that’s for sure!”

Carson yawned lazily, following Fjord’s movement as if unable to stop him.

I have no interest in their quarrels, and said with a hint of regret.

“Maybe we should have abolished the club and started a new one.”

“For a one-day academic festival?”

Because the festival was held early in the semester, first-year students were not required to participate like other grades.

Even those who were new to the clubs.

Since we weren’t first-years and didn’t switch clubs, we were forced to participate this time.

The good news was that it didn’t matter what activities we participated in.

This meant that we didn’t necessarily have to do anything club-related, like the things I listed above.

In other words, it was perfectly acceptable for members of the swordsmanship club to dress up in frilly maid suits and serve tea.

…Wow. Now that I think about it, this could be a real hit.

I was contemplating making an anonymous suggestion to the sword club.

“Leen, what are you thinking?” Carson asked, looking at me with his innocent eyes.

I shook my head, feeling somehow guilty at the way he looked at me.

“I wasn’t thinking about anything.”

“…You looked like you were thinking about something very distasteful.”

I nibbled on one lip, frowning in disbelief.

So, that’s how a man feels.

I clapped my hands to clear the atmosphere that had turned into an interrogation session.

“That’s not the point, right now we need to figure out what our club is going to do.”

“I have an idea, Leen.”

“Dismissed.”

His shoulders slumped as Carson heard the dismissal as fast as he spoke.

Oh, I’m going to have to stop myself from making another weird comment.

“That was just a joke, relax, so what is it?”

Carson’s shoulders quickly straightened, and he grinned.

“Leen, you don’t want to do much, just enough to make sure you don’t get called names, right?”

Oh…

Although he’d said it out loud, hearing it organized out of someone else’s mouth made him sound like an idiot.

“Uh…yeah.”

I stuttered and admitted, and Carson smirked.

“How about a haunted house?”

“A haunted house? But it takes a lot of work to make a clubroom spooky, and our clubroom isn’t big enough for that.”

The size of the clubroom was determined by the number of members in the club.

Since we were three people, barely meeting the minimum number of members, we were assigned the smallest room.

Well, it’s more than enough room for the three of us.

It’s just not big enough for a haunted house…

I was about to shout out my dismissal and say that we should think of something else.

Carson laughed leisurely, as if he’d seen it coming.

“You don’t have to decorate the clubroom.”

“Really?”

“We’ll just make the exterior of the clubroom look a little convincing, and when people enter, I’ll cast an illusion spell.”

“Oh?”

That was a good idea I hadn’t thought of.

“But do you think the illusion will work?”

“Do you want to try it?”

He raised his hand as if he were about to cast a spell.

“Yes. Please.”

Carson pulled his hand away in embarrassment, not expecting her to agree without a second thought.

“Aren’t you scared?”

“I think I’ve told you before, I’m more afraid of people than ghosts.”

Carson’s expression visibly darkened.

“…Did something happen to you in the past?”

I smirked and ruffled Carson’s pink hair.

“Now, think about it. Suppose you’re in a room all by yourself, and you feel someone moving around, so you cautiously check under the bed. Which do you think would be scarier, a ghost or a person?”

“I think I’d kick the crap out of both of them… attack them.”

Uhm. Wrong question.

“What if the person is the one who has a crazed crush on you?”

Carson’s brow creased at that. He must have felt bad about crawling under my bed.

“Well, something like that.”

His brow furrowed in a slightly different way than mine.

Come to think of it…

That girl who was so crazy about Carson doesn’t exist as much as I thought.

Did she lose her conviction when she saw him chasing after me?

It seems possible, given that when I saw her on the training grounds, she didn’t even look in Carson’s direction.

But…

A kid who took a year off school just to be in the same grade wouldn’t give up so easily. Or maybe she’s not being quiet, but there’s something I haven’t heard yet.

“Fjord, do you know someone named Sera?”

“The girl who dropped out a while ago?”

“Dropped out?”

My eyes widened at the unexpected news.

Why…?

She was in the same grade as Carson, even in the same class, and she just gave up? That easily?

As Leen was wracked with questions, Fjord waved his hand dismissively.

“I know what you’re thinking, Leen, but don’t worry about it.”

“Isn’t it weird?”

If Fjord was a gossip, surely he knew why she’d taken a leave of absence.

“Our academy has a long grace period for dropping out, probably well over a month.”

“What’s a grace period got to do with it?”