The Fourth Class Is Modern Chinese (Continued)

When it came to interpersonal relationships, she occasionally had moments that were even more miserable than mine!

Perhaps because she agreed with me, the door to my memories slowly opened, and unpleasant recollections came pouring out one after another.

"And that clique of best friends loves forcing coworkers to socialize... They even throw welcome parties without anyone asking them to."

I said wearily. Yuihama-san puffed out her cheeks, clearly unconvinced.

"Huh? That sounds nice, though. It feels comfortable."

"I'm telling you, feeling comfortable and being an ultimate little clique are synonymous. Usually, they just leave the newcomer out while only those people have all the fun."

Having said that, I paused for a moment, cleared my throat two or three times, and began explaining to her as though taking my time.

"Listen, imagine this... Imagine how painful it is when some college upperclassman at a welcome party who thinks he's hilarious tells you, 'Tell us something funny.' If you refuse, they laugh at you for being boring. If your joke falls flat, they call you unbelievably boring. Either way, there's only death waiting for you... And then you still have to go to work as usual the next day. It's like hell. Go on, imagine it..."

Like John Lennon at the Olympic opening ceremony, I kept chanting "imagine," and Yuihama-san's expression grew gloomier and gloomier.

Note: At the opening ceremony of the 2021 Tokyo Olympics, John Lennon's song "Imagine" was played.

"Ugh, I'm starting not to want a part-time job either..."

Yuihama-san hunched her back, giving off a heavy atmosphere. Mm-hmm. I see you understand. That's wonderful.

Yukino patted her shoulder encouragingly.

"Hikigaya-kun's way of stirring up other people's anxiety could practically be called a scammer's standard tactic, but I agree that prior research is important."

Yukino nodded in understanding.