Living with the Arrogant Queen from High School is Surprisingly Not Uncomfortable

After chatting with Akari for a while, the time for my call with Oota and Ito came.

I opened Akari’s laptop and we began the call using the laptop’s camera.

“Eh, Hayashi and Akari, you’re together?”

“Yeah. I thought I’d stay over tonight.”

“Eh, that’s nice. Next time, let me stay over like Hayashi. Akari!”

“Yeah. Sure.”

As we chatted with smiles, our casual conversation began.

…Speaking of which, both Oota and Ito call me by my surname, yet they call Akari by her first name.

I didn’t mind in high school, but I realize now that they feel differently about Akari and me.

Well, it doesn’t matter now.

“Thanks for today, both of you.”

First, I thanked the two of them for taking the time to help me with my speech.

By the way, I had already thanked Akari before the call started. Akari was grinning from ear to ear.

“Eh.”

“Ah, it’s fine. We wanted to help Hayashi. Ito feels the same way, right?”

“Y-yeah. It’s not a burden at all.”

“No, sorry for taking your valuable time off.”

Even though I simply thanked them and apologized, the atmosphere over the computer got awkward.

…Why?

Akari clapped her hands with a ‘pan’ sound.

“Well, shall we start?”

At Akari’s signal, the creation of my speech began.

But none of us have ever attended a wedding… not just a friend’s wedding, we’ve never been to any wedding at all. Nowadays, I hear that more people are opting for family weddings or not having weddings at all. It’s the result of the changing times.

It’s become a tough world.

Weddings are a girl’s dream. I wish the time when we couldn’t have them wouldn’t come.

I, too, dreamed of having a wedding when I was a little girl, though it may not have suited me.

…But now that I’m independent, I understand why people these days think they don’t need to spend money on a wedding.

Anyway, our speech creation hit a snag right away.

Because, as I mentioned earlier, none of us have ever been to a wedding.

What should we talk about in a representative speech for a friend?

We were all stuck.

“But it’s surprising, right? Who would’ve thought that Ito would be the first one to get married among us.”

“Eh, really? Ito was popular with boys, so I thought she would be early.”

No, I was lying when I said we were stuck.

The two of them over the computer had forgotten about the speech creation and were excitedly chatting.

Akari has been looking at her smartphone the whole time… this is a problem.

If I were the old me, I would’ve scolded everyone out of frustration, but I now understand that I’m not in a position to do that.

…In this case, it might be faster to give up and ask Yamamoto for help.

“Meg.”

“Hmm?”

“This article says it’s good to praise the other person in a friend’s representative speech.”

…I’m such a fool.

I don’t try to do anything myself, I just rely on others.

Probably since high school, I’ve been like this.

If I scold or act strong, people will accommodate me to some extent. Of course, I’ll do what I can myself.

But I give up on things I think I can’t do and rely on others.

It seems I’ve developed such a bad habit.

Akari, who had been silently playing with her smartphone, seems to have been searching the net for what to talk about in a representative speech at a wedding.

And she conveyed her impressions of several online articles for someone like me.

…It’s not that I can’t do it because I don’t know.

I should have tried to resist like Akari instead of giving up.

Instead of showing an attitude that suggests the two people over the computer are wrong, I should have thought about how to get them to cooperate.

This is probably what it means to take responsibility for a job that has been entrusted to me.

…By the way, I wonder why Ito asked me to give a representative speech.

Probably, Akari, who is kinder, more tactful, and more responsible, would be more suited for this.

“Thanks, Akari.”

“No problem. This article seems helpful.”

“Let’s see?”

I took out my glasses from my bag and looked at the smartphone.

“…Meg?”

“What?”

“Can I borrow your phone for a sec?”

“Why?”

“I want to take a picture of Meg with glasses.”

“Huh?”

“…Sorry.”

I felt guilty.

After all the help she’s given me, how terrible of me to grumble about a single photo.

“I get it. Do as you like.”

“This is too emotional.”

“Yeah, yeah.”

“Hehe. That gaze, as if looking down on people with glasses, it’s awesome!”

“…Really, you’re silly.”

And so, my photo session continued for a while.