"Hey..."
Frenrin turned around to see Charlie behind him, acting timid.
"Hello?"
"Can I sit with you?"
"Be my guest."
Charlie's face visibly brightened up as he sat next to him.
"Did that loser just sit next to him?" "Heh, I guess he actually does have balls."
All sorts of mocking ricocheted inside the cafeteria; luckily nobody else could hear them, well, besides Garmr's heightened hearing.
{Kid, that nitwit is an outcast, similar to you.}
{That's... good?}
{Meh, whether it's good or bad doesn't change anything; think about what people would think if you abandoned him.}
As Frenrin and Garmr were talking to each other, Charlie was staring at Frenrin's food with a feverish desire.
"...Do you want some?"
"Please! I haven't ever seen a hamburger that looks like yours before."
"Here," Frenrin slid the tray over to Charlie.
As Charlie scarfed down the hamburger as if he were a chipmunk, Frenrin pondered over his next steps.
("I need to get the books from the library; I'll ask Charlie to bring me there... and after that I'll probably practice martial arts.")
"Why wou got swuch a sewious loohk?"
Frenrin stared at Charlie in disbelief due to his cheeks being swollen to the size of a chipmunk finding a harvest of nuts.
"How... how are you even talking like that?"
"I am quihte talanted in mahny things."
Frenrin decided to just wait until Charlie finished eating the rest of Frenrin's meal; also, shouldn't he have asked if he could eat it all...?
As Frenrin sighed mentally in his mind, Charlie swallowed a giant amount of food at once.
("Disgusting...")
"Charlie, could you show me where the library is?"
Charlie gave a thumbs up, "No problem."
And so the duo that became a trio now walked towards the library.
Frenrin continued walking and facing forwards as he talked, "Charlie, can I ask you something?"
"Yep."
"You... aren't very popular, are you?"
Charlie paused, staring at Frenrin.
"I guess the cat's out of the bag..." Charlie said with a dark expression.
"I'm sorry for leading you on... I'll, I'll just leave now..."
Charlie then ran away with tears in his eyes, sprinting at a pace that Frenrin couldn't even hope to match.
Frenrin had a stupored expression, unsure of how such a simple question elicited this response. ("How am I supposed to find the library now...?")
Currently at a large tree in the courtyard, there was a person crying and wiping away the tears staining their face. ("Again... again, it happened again!")
("This always happens...") *sob,* sob...
Around three years ago.
A young boy was bowing down towards a girl, "I really like you!"
The girl got flustered and blurted out, "I'm a boy..."
"Wh-what? You're joking... right?
The feminine boy shook his head; immediately after, the boy ran away with tears in his eyes.
One year later.
"Did you hear? Apparently the youngest prince got seduced by a girl, but then he found out it was a boy after asking her out!"
"Huhh...? Does that mean the prince is... a boy lover?"
"No! He just looks like a girl; I wouldn't of known either if I wasn't told."
"Wow..."
One more year later.
"Look! It's that bitch that tried to seduce the prince."
A group of three noble-looking young girls ran up to the innocent-looking girl.
"Didn't we tell you to stay inside like the slut you are?"
"Trying to seduce the prince while being a boy, you must have been trying to ruin his reputation!"
"You're not even worthy of being a concubine for a beggar."
The group of girls then laughed at the outsider as she ran away while crying.
Six months later.
A group of boys was talking to each other in an extravagant lounge area.
"Doesn't that girl look pretty cute?" He then pointed at a gloomy-looking girl sitting in a chair at the entrance of the room.
Pfft, "That's not a girl; it's a guy!"
The group laughed out loud at the boy's flustered face; he then ran past the girl with an expression filled with hatred, as if saying, "This is your fault."
Currently.
The young feminine boy was still sobbing underneath the tree, ("Girls hate me cause they're jealous the prince asked me out, and boys won't talk to me cause they'll get made fun of...")
He then mumbled, "I never asked to look like this..."
Then suddenly he felt a hand on her shoulder, causing him to jump up in surprise away from the hand.
"H-hey…"
Frenrin's state was not pretty, to say the least; he looked incredibly exhausted, with sweat glistening off his hair and a flushed face.
"Huh… Huh...?"
Charlie also looked disheveled, although not physically exhausted; she definitely looked mentally drained.
Frenrin spoke with a smile, contrasting his appearance. "You still... need to show me... where the library is."
"Uhm, uhhh? Uh... huh?"
"Do I have to speak so directly? I'm telling you to stop crying."
"Wh-What! I'm not crying..."
"Yeah... sure, anyway, didn't you say you were gonna show me the library?"
"...Yeah, I did say that..."
"Then let's go already; unlike you, I can't use Ren." Frenrin said with a smile, as if saying. 'Everything's gonna be okay.'
"Yeah, okay..." Charlie said as he wiped the tears from his eyes.
And then the trio was once again reunited, heading towards the library.
Charlie then had a stupefied expression, "...Did you just say you can't use Ren...? Also... how did you even find me?"
Frenrin waved his finger with a smile, ignoring the first question. "Not telling."
Charlie grabbed Frenrin's collar. "Huhhh, you can't just not tell me!"
Frenrin responded while being shaken, "N-n-n-ot T-e-e-l-l-ing."
They then walked to the library while Charlie pouted the whole way there, constantly asking how he found him.
As Charlie opened the door to the library, she stood in front of Frenrin with a firm stance. "You have to tell me! I'm using the favor you owe me."
"...What a shame, I guess I have to tell you my secret."
"Yep!"
Frenrin then smiled while getting close to Charlie's face. "At night I sneaked inside your room while you were sleeping, and then..."
Charlie said with an aghast expression, "I don't wanna know! I don't wanna know!"
"I'm just messing with you; Garmr is very good at tracking smells; he led me right to you."
Charlie's face regained its color. "Oh, oh! Yeah, that makes much more sense."
"Although I did break into your room to steal some of your clothes so Garmr could track you."
"Huh...?"
As Frenrin continued to tease Charlie, a familiar face came to greet them.
"Frenrin...?"
"Um... Miss... Cici?"
"Hello... I'm sorry about what I said last time..."
Back during the time when Frenrin met the faculty staff, Cici accidentally brought up Frenrin's family situation due to her naivety.
"...It's fine; I know you didn't mean to."
"Thank you, I really am sorry..." Cici said with a somber expression.
Then a voice cut in, "Hello, Miss Cici."
"Oh! Hi Charlie, I didn't see you there... have you been crying again?"