LMLCG – Episode 23 – The Goddess This Morning

**Beep** **beep…** **beep** **beep…**

I slept pretty well, but somehow I still feel tired…

Well, a lot happened yesterday.

Alright, time to get up and get ready.

…

Come to think of it, I got my first RAIN message from Senpai last night.

She asked if I’d be able to come to the flower bed during lunch again starting today. That meant I was welcome there, which made me really happy.

Although we had exchanged RAIN contact info before, I never had the chance to use it. I didn’t have the courage to send casual chat messages.

But the fact that Senpai messaged me, maybe this means we’ve become close enough to talk more freely.

…Still, I can’t believe I’m friends with that goddess.

On the way to school, I casually looked around, but Senpai wasn’t anywhere nearby.

She mentioned that she saw me and Mio-chan occasionally, so I thought maybe I’d run into her too…

After getting to school, I changed into my indoor shoes and headed to the classroom.

I don’t feel like going in…

Even after everything with Senpai, it doesn’t mean the class situation has improved.

It’s not like all my concerns have disappeared.

**Rattle**, **rattle**, **rattle…**

When I entered the classroom, the usual rowdy idiots seemed quieter than normal.

Now that I think about it, I didn’t hear their noise spilling into the hallway today… I just realized it.

…Come to think of it, these guys are connected to the morons from yesterday, aren’t they?

Maybe something happened there… Not that I care.

As I was thinking that, it felt like the hallway was getting noisier instead.

No, not “it felt like”, there is some commotion in the hallway…

**Rattle**, **rattle**, **rattle…**

“Excuse me.”

!?

Senpai came!?

She looks like she’s in a bad mood…

I thought it might be something to do with those idiots, but it turns out it wasn’t. Our eyes met, and Senpai smiled happily.

That smile of Senpai, who doesn’t usually smile like that, was seriously powerful…

She walked straight over to me.

“Good morning, Takanashi-san.”

“G-good morning, Senpai. What’s wrong? Did something happen?”

“No, I couldn’t meet you this morning, so I wanted to say hello before homeroom started…”

“O-oh, I see. I’m sorry you had to come all the way here.”

Ughhh everyone’s paying attention to us… People in the hallway too…

I can see some of them looking like they’ve been seduced by that smile.

The effect was lethal… I don’t think I’ve ever seen Senpai with that kind of expression at school before…

Honestly, I was a little charmed by it too.

“Fufu… Is something wrong?”

Senpai tilted her head slightly, probably not realizing the chaos she’s causing.

So cute…

“N-no, it’s nothing! I’m just happy that you came to see me.”

“I’m sorry for suddenly showing up like this. I didn’t have any particular reason, but I thought I’d take this chance to see you and talk… Oh, not to sound like it was an afterthought, but as I mentioned on RAIN yesterday, about lunch today—”

“Yes! No problem! That’s totally fine!”

I cut her off quickly before she could finish.

This isn’t the place to talk about that, and honestly, I’d rather keep it private… for many reasons.

“…Hey, did she just say RAIN?”

“…What the hell? Why is he talking to the Goddess?”

“…The fan club isn’t going to keep quiet about this.”

“…I’ve never seen her smile like that before. What’s going on?”

Yeah… This is getting going to get dangerous…

Rather, what fan club??

“Satsukawa-senpai! Good morning! This is a rare opportunity, so come and talk to us…”

“Wow, how lucky I am this morning! There’s some other guys here too… so how about…”

The idiots got carried away and started talking to Senpai.

And just like that, Senpai, who had been smiling at me, suddenly returned to her usual expression…

No, she’s really glaring at them…

“…Can’t you see that I’m talking to Takanashi-san right now? Even though you’re high school students, you don’t understand how rude you’re being? It’s unpleasant.”

“Uh… well…”

“We just…”

“I have no reason to engage in casual conversation with complete strangers.”

This… could get dangerous if I don’t stop her.

These guys are the type of people that Senpai hates the most.

But even so, has she ever been this harsh before?

“Senpai, we’re running out of time so let’s leave it at that. Just ignore them.”

“…I’m sorry. They interrupted our conversation…”

“No, I’m glad you said that.”

“Takanashi-san…”

Senpai smiled at me again.

Considering how things were just a few days ago, it honestly feels overwhelming.

…Those guys probably thought they had a chance after seeing her smile.

“I’m sorry, Takanashi-san. It seems the people around us are going to be a nuisance, so let’s talk again later.”

“Y-yeah. I’ll see you later.”

She actually called them a nuisance… clearly…

“Well then, excuse me.”

After saying that with a smile, Senpai left.

“““““……………”””””

No one talks to me because they have no intention of getting involved with me, but just this once, I was grateful.

Considering the future, I should to talk to Senpai about this…