“Yeah, I guess so. It’s no use looking all the time, let’s just line up.”
I was starving to death.
I didn’t have a chance to be at the matches, but I had been getting hungry a lot lately.
We lined up in a relatively uncrowded line.
As we waited in line, we overheard a conversation between a couple in front of us.
“Hey, I heard that this year’s freshmen are great.”
“Oh, you know. The third prince and the duchess. Natalie was so cute.”
“What? What are you talking about? More importantly than the third prince! I love cute girls like her!”
I quietly listened to the couple’s conversation.
“They were both strong, though.”
“Yeah, that’s it! That’s right! They beat a third year! They could win the championship!”
“I don’t know about that. You can’t beat the Student Council President.”
“But it’s possible that Berg-kun and Natalie-chan will win before the student council president does, and the match will be decided. The student council president was the general.”
“That’s probably not going to happen. The president of the student council will probably play in the next match as the spearhead or the center. After all, Owen is the general.”
“That’s true. It’s not surprising that he won if he went to the…… general match. I don’t know why they made Owen the general, but he’s obviously a waste.”
……Hey, Owen.
You were being made fun of.
You meant me?
“That’ s the thing, isn’t it? It’s just that the plan was to win with the spearhead and the center, and the last one could have been anyone.”
“Haha, that’s true! If you can’t win no matter who you play, you should play the incompetent Owen!”
That was an awful thing to say.
I felt sorry for Owen, as expected.
No, they were talking about me.
Let’s not escape reality.
It seemed that my reputation was very low.
“Yeah, yeah. I feel sorry for Owen, too. For now, he’ll be able to stand proud as a general, but he’ll have to show his ugliness in front of many people.”
“I hope he doesn’t lose miserably, even if he loses anyway. It would ruin the whole martial arts competition.”
Stop it.
What was wrong with Owen?
He was just incompetent and selfish!
Yeah, that’s what was wrong with him, right?
There was nothing wrong with what they’re saying.
And that was when I was convinced.
“Hey, you guys. I’ve been listening to you. You’ve been saying whatever you want.”
Natalie was very angry.
“Who the hell are you, ……?”
The schoolgirl turned around and was shocked.
“I’m Natalie Alderath. What do you know about Owen?”
“What do I know about ……?”
“You just called him incompetent. Is that your impression of the real Owen?”
“Not really. …… But that’s the rumor. ……”
The girls flinched under Natalie’s pressure.
“Don’t judge a person by rumors. It is horrible.”
Natalie then took my hand and led me out of the line.
“Oh, eh, …….”
I left, with her startled by the suddenness of the situation.
I walked on for a while.
“Why, someone else is picking on you! They don’t know anything about you!”
Natalie said with a furious expression on her face.
The Owen that the couple had been talking about was just as they had said.
In fact, he was an arrogant and incompetent child.
So the rumors themselves were true.
Besides, people liked bad rumors more.
There was a lot of news in modern Japan that said that someone had an affair or that someone was doing something bad behind the scenes.
That’s what got the best ratings.
In other words, people liked that kind of information.
“Aren’t you upset, Owen? After what they said?”
“It’s just a rumor……. Besides, Natalie understands me, so I’m fine.”
” You are so mature, ……. Ahhh! But it still pisses me off! I’ll get revenge on you in the next game!”
I didn’t mind so much, but Natalie is angry for me.
She’s a really sweet girl, isn’t she?
I didn’t care that much, but I didn’t want to lose for Natalie’s sake.
“It’s fine, so I’m going to do my best to win the next game.”
“Yeah, you have to win!”
“Absolutely.”
It’s not okay to be ridiculed all the time because of a bad rumor.
I was only human, you know.
And I was not the same Owen anymore.
I was who I am.
This was my chance to show them who I am now.
I will going to win, no matter who the opponent is