What Tsundere Childhood Friend? Isn't She Just a Simp?

The principal's speech finally ended, and after the opening ceremony, the students headed toward their respective classrooms in groups of three or five.

Their faces were filled with anticipation and nervous excitement for the next three years.

Meanwhile, Suzuran Ayano, standing beside Akimoto Yoichi, seemed as though she had already foreseen her "losing heroine" ending.

"On the first day you get a new phone, you cherish it carefully. During the first month, you're still somewhat mindful of it," Akimoto Yoichi quietly answered Suzuran Ayano's earlier question.

"But after using it for half a year, you stop caring. Over time, you get used to being careless and no longer put any thought into it."

"By then, you've completely gotten used to the phone. The feelings you had at the beginning are gone."

"But if one day the phone gets lost, you'll panic more than anyone."

Although this was a good opportunity.

Someone else's bicycle? Get on it and pedal.

But Akimoto Yoichi only wanted to be a blondie who studied hard.

"I-Is that so? Thank you, Akimoto-kun. I feel a little better now." Only then did Suzuran Ayano lift her shadowed face, fragile tears glimmering in the corners of her eyes.

"I'm just stating facts. If someone snatched the book I'm reading or blocked me from reading it, I wouldn't be able to stand it either."

Akimoto Yoichi glanced at Suzuran Ayano beside him, then reached into his pocket and handed her a tissue.

If Suzuran Ayano really started crying, people would probably think he was the one who made her cry.

He did not want to take the blame, but he did want to leech Suzuran Ayano's BUFF.

"Mm, thank you, Akimoto-kun. This is so embarrassing, letting you see such an awful side of me." Taking the tissue, Suzuran Ayano's cheeks flushed red.

She had never cried in front of Fukayama Midori before. After all, she was a tsundere.

Yet now she was making such a fool of herself in front of Akimoto Yoichi, whom she had only met today. She felt embarrassed.

Still, Akimoto Yoichi had seen through her feelings, while Fukayama Midori had not noticed at all.

"Then, Akimoto-kun, do you think I went too far? I-I mean, in front of so many people, I hit Fukayama... hit that guy..."

It seemed that although Suzuran Ayano was a tsundere, she still had at least some self-awareness.

Getting jealous and angry, being told by Fukayama Midori that she was meddling in things that were not her business, being disliked for being too noisy—those things were indeed excessive.

But slapping a boy in public, giving a high school boy a huge smack across the face.

Did she know how much psychological damage that could cause a teenage boy? Suzuran Ayano felt uneasy.

"Fukayama only got slapped, while you've had to think about so much. You've cared for him so much as his childhood friend, but he's already become used to everything you do and hasn't noticed your feelings at all. So what if you slapped him once?"

"You think about him too much. You should have your own life too. This is your life, isn't it?"

Since he was not the one getting slapped, why would Akimoto Yoichi speak up for Fukayama Midori?

Honestly, in Akimoto Yoichi's eyes, Suzuran Ayano was no different from a simp.

Though this tsundere simp bared her fangs and claws, she still silently made four dishes and a soup for you, cleaned the house, and conveniently completed the daily quests.

"Hearing you say that, Akimoto-kun, puts me at ease. You're right. I can't keep revolving around that guy Fukayama. He wouldn't appreciate it anyway." Suzuran Ayano's face gradually brightened.

After hearing Akimoto Yoichi's words, she suddenly felt enlightened.

When she looked at Akimoto Yoichi beside her again, she finally realized that he was so much taller than Fukayama Midori, like a sturdy, towering tree.

Judging by Akimoto Yoichi's appearance alone, he did not look like a good student no matter how she looked at him.

Yet the more she interacted with him, the more she felt that he was not as shallow as his appearance suggested. His words had seeped into her heart like a clear spring, and his personality was mature, dependable, and strong.

Clutching the damp tissue, Suzuran Ayano, seated beside Akimoto Yoichi, gradually wore a determined expression.

"Akimoto-kun, I know what to do now."

"You're right. It's because Fukayama-kun and I are so used to each other that we've always stayed the same as when we were kids, and he's never been able to realize it."

"I've decided to keep a little distance from Fukayama-kun. Then that guy will understand how important I am!"

Huh? How had she reached that conclusion?

Akimoto Yoichi looked at the tsundere heroine beside him. He had only intended to agree with Suzuran Ayano a little.

How had it become her deciding to distance herself from Fukayama Midori? This was much faster than those cliché blondie plots.

In the cliché blondie stories, the blondie first had to crush the male lead, then the tsundere childhood friend would step forward to defend him, and then he would push things further. That whole process took at least a week before the inseparable male lead and childhood friend began to grow apart.

Usually, the story began when the childhood friend stopped going home with the male lead after school. For what happened next, please see the fan subtitles.

Yet Akimoto Yoichi had merely stayed by her side and said a few things, and he had already triggered the plot where the male lead and childhood friend started keeping their distance.

Was this the destructive power of a male best friend?

"Oh, as long as you're happy." What else could he say?

It had nothing to do with him in the first place, and Akimoto Yoichi did not want to say much more.

As long as he could still leech BUFFs off Suzuran Ayano in the future, that was enough.

At that moment, accompanied by the laughter of a girl and a boy.

Two figures approached.

"Suzuran, why did you suddenly go sit in the back just now? So you saw Akimoto-kun."

Fukayama Midori walked over with Nishida Yuki. Judging from his slightly awkward expression, he clearly wanted to make up with Suzuran Ayano.

However, he did not know why Suzuran Ayano was angry.

He had come over with the mindset of apologizing first no matter what, but what he said clearly did not satisfy Suzuran Ayano.

"Yes, I wanted to talk to Akimoto-kun. Do you need something?" Suzuran Ayano answered unhappily, her gaze falling on Nishida Yuki beside Fukayama Midori.

"Hello, Akimoto-kun and Suzuran." Nishida Yuki looked meaningfully at Akimoto Yoichi, then at Suzuran Ayano beside him, maintaining the elegant bearing of a Young Lady.

Why did these two heroines seem like they had somehow switched places?

Akimoto Yoichi frowned. There was something strange about the look Nishida Yuki had given him earlier.

"I'm Nishida Yuki. If I've done anything that has upset any of you, please forgive me."

"Although we're not in the same class, I hope we can become friends."

Looking at the hand Nishida Yuki extended, Suzuran Ayano instinctively wanted to refuse. But after glancing at Akimoto Yoichi beside her, she held herself back and did not make a scene.

"Suzuran Ayano. Please treat me well, though I doubt we'll have much contact." They shook hands, but Suzuran Ayano's expression was far from pleasant.

The two girls stared at each other, their clashing gazes seeming to spark with the scorched scent of electricity.

However, not everyone was as perceptive as Akimoto Yoichi.

"I'm saying, Suzuran, isn't that attitude a bit much?" Fukayama Midori performed as usual—timid around strangers, fearless around his childhood friend.

Akimoto Yoichi calmly took half a step back, trying to avoid the battle that might break out soon.

A fight between heroines was bound to be brutal, yet the male lead Fukayama Midori had actually chosen a side?

As a blondie, he did not want the male lead's blood splashing onto him.

"Nishida is being so friendly. Why do you always have this kind of attitude?"

"It's one thing when you treat me like this, but now you're treating Nishida this way too? That's going too far."

Akiyama Yoichi stood to the side, shaking his head.

Fukayama Midori's reaction at this moment was not exactly right or wrong. Suzuran Ayano's attitude really was unpleasant; after all, that was just how tsunderes were.

As for Fukayama Midori, he was merely a gloomy shut-in. Nishida Yuki, the new student representative, had treated him with such kindness and gentleness, while his childhood friend kept picking fights and finding fault with him. Naturally, he chose to defend Nishida Yuki, who had been friendly to him.

Childhood friends being unable to beat sudden arrivals had practically become Mari.

"You! Fukayama-kun, you don't understand anything!" Suzuran Ayano finally exploded.

The emotions that Akimoto Yoichi had painstakingly soothed had once again risen into stormy waves.

"How don't I understand? Tell me! If you're unhappy about something, then say it! Every time, you just get angry for no reason!"

"You still need me to say it? Do you really need me to spell something like this out? If I don't, are you never going to understand?"

"If you don't say it, how am I supposed to know!? Who knows what you're thinking!"

"If I don't say anything, then you won't know anything? Idiot Fukayama!"

"..."

They were arguing. They were really arguing.

Watching this utterly childish quarrel unfold before him, Akimoto Yoichi yawned. Then his gaze fell upon Nishida Yuki, who was quietly moving closer to him.

A pleasant natural fragrance drifted from Nishida Yuki. Her beautiful eyes curved with amusement as she looked at Akimoto Yoichi and said,

"Aren't you going to stop them from arguing? Akiyama-kun, this is a good chance to make an impression."

Nishida Yuki looked slyly at Akimoto Yoichi beside her, her gaze moving back and forth between him and Suzuran Ayano.

Akimoto Yoichi watched her from the corner of his eye, his brow slightly furrowed.

A heroine dared to pick a fight with a blondie?