May 11, 20XX

  8:03 AM

  The usual setting takes pce in the cssroom, with me seated in my pce, with one slight yet significant difference.

  Thanks, Mieko! Because of you, I have attained my goal of being a Slice-of-Life Protagonist.

  “What a lovely day! Starting now, I am a Slice-of-Life Protagonist.”

  To make use of my newfound power, I peer over to the 4th row, 4th column, where Masaru sat. He gres back at me with angry and vengeful eyes. It was a normal and understandable response, but that wouldn’t stop me from kicking him while he’s down.

  My turn, weakling.

  I craft my best smug face, with a tongue stuck out to add insult to injury. Clearly, he was enraged from this.

  “WHY YOU LITTLE-”

  I bring out my phone and his expression immediately shifts to a smiling face.

  Serves you right.

  …

  ..

  .

  12:05 PM

  Ring. Ring.

  The school bell rings.

  Takashi stands up from his seat and walks toward me.

  “You’re with the gang now, right? Follow us to the cafeteria for lunch.”

  My face lights up. The sense of belonging. The sense of being included in a group makes me, a former mob character joyous. In here, I am accepted!

  …

  ..

  .

  All five of us meet up at the door and head to the cafeteria. We sit around a long table.

  Before we do anything else, Katsuro gets up and clears his throat. Pointing both arms at me, he begins.

  “And here we welcome to our group, the newest member… uh… his name is…”

  Why did he pause?

  Awkwardly cutting it short, he walks over to me and whispers to my ear, “Uh… what was your name again?”

  This simpleton literally forgot my name.

  “…Takayuki Kibe, just call me Kibe.”

  “Kibe! Welcome!” he introduces me, having killed the tension.

  After that fuss, he returns to his seat.

  “…”

  Now, the group is flushed with silence.

  Oi, what’s up with this awkward atmosphere?

  No one dared break the ice.

  Come on, are you guys really not gonna say anything to the new member?

  As if I could actually say that out loud, that would be a jerk move, even from me. Since I know the reason for this silence and I am the very cause of it.

  Masaru eventually cracks and bangs the table.

  “There is no way in hell we’re gonna let you in on our group!”

  “You all just let me in yesterday though?”

  “You bckmailed us! We were forced to! Sure, okay, you’re in this group, but you’re not our friend!”

  His teeth were hard pressing on one another. Truly, he was displeased with my way of doing things and he even went so far as to y a fist on me.

  Thankfully, Madoka holds him back, his fist only mere centimeters to my face.

  “You idiot! Calm down! You should have just pyed along!” he instructs.

  Masaru struggles to get me.

  “I can’t! The way he does things just pisses me off!”

  “I get it… but we had no choice! He had us by our necks,” Madoka responds, then his eyes focus on me, “It’s out in the open now… so it’s no use trying to pretend… Kibe! You are our enemy! We… the two of us, dislike you! We won’t accept you that easily.”

  They both sit down in a bad mood. My two supporters, on the other hand, remain silent, with no say in the matter.

  My approach yesterday was too aggressive. It makes sense they would act this way, heck, I’d probably do the same. Well, in order to remove it…

  “AHHHHHHH! SO BORING!” I compin out loud with outstretching arms on the table, “Let’s just forget everything and start over, ‘kay boys? Let’s do something fun.”

  “Don’t think you can shrug it all off just like that,” Masaru states, “specifically because of what you have in your phone.”

  “I promise I’ll delete all things I have as long as you let me stay in your group.”

  “Wait, really?”

  “Does that apply to me too?” Madoka asks.

  “Of course. I know I’ve been a bit of a jerk to you guys… but I genuinely want to be friends. For that reason, I would go to great lengths to atone and give you a reason to keep me.”

  Slice-of-Life Protagonists trust each other, it would be best to establish trust between us. To further improve that, would be to tear and erase all things I could use against the in front of their faces, it’s not like these types of protagonists have the tendency to backstab each other aside from comedic gimmicks. However, it’s best not to do it so soon when my pce has only been recently cemented, so I’ll only erase these files once I actually feel comfortable.

  Katsuro joins in, “Don’t forget to-”

  However, he was cut off.

  “Yes! But don’t take that as my mark for forgiving you, you still have much to go. In any case, what fun thing should we do?” Madoka asks.

  “Gee, I don’t know. Wait, I think I have an idea!” Katsuro replies.

  Katsuro grabs something from his right. It was a bottle of isopropyl alcohol.

  “I managed to sneak it in school, but… what if we did a test of manliness, right here, right now?”

  …He has some loose wires in his head.

  “I think you got the wrong kind of alcohol…” I correct him.

  “Nah, you’re just too chicken to have some.”

  He opens it and decides to gulp some.

  “Your grave, moron,” I outright tell him.

  “Don’t drink that… Oh well, too te,” Masaru states.

  “You’re just scared,” Katsuro excims.

  “NO, I’M NOT A CHICKEN!!! I’ll participate,” Madoka yells.

  Masaru brings out his phone and began typing.

  What’s wrong with these people? I know these are common gimmicks and all, but still…

  “Surely Katsuro can’t be that dumb, I’m sure that bottle is just filled with water,” Madoka surmises.

  Note: Don’t forget children, drink water 8 times a day!!!

  He takes the bottle and starts to drink. The fluid flows into his mouth and into his stomach.

  “Hey, who knew that water tastes like alcohol nowadays?”

  “…They’re screwed,” Takashi comments.

  Masaru grabs a lighter from his left pocket.

  LIGHTER? SERIOUSLY, WHERE DO THEY GET THESE KINDS OF STUFF?

  He took the bottle, poured some in a gss, and lit it up.

  Click.

  The liquid in the bottle lights up.

  Ah, a reference.

  Note: Don’t copy this at home, never forget to wear protective equipment when performing experiments.

  “Masaru, are you alright in the head?” Madoka asks worryingly.

  “I’M THE ONE WHO SHOULD BE ASKING YOU THAT,” Masaru thought.

  “WHY DID YOU LIGHT THE WATER? ARE YOU TELLING ME TO DRINK WATER WITH FLAMES?” Madoka shouts.

  “This is alcohol. IT LIT. ALCOHOL IS FLAMMABLE, SO THIS IS ALCOHOL! GET IT THROUGH YOUR HEAD!!!”

  “Quiet, Madoka. I think he intends to drink alcohol with fmes. As expected of one of the toughest people in school, you may proceed,” Katsuro responds.

  “I’M NOT DRINKING THIS!” Masaru screams.

  “I wanna drink it,” Takashi yells.

  “BE QUIET TAKASHI! OF ALL THE TIMES YOU SHOULD BE SPEAKING, WHY NOW?” Masaru compins.

  “Sure is lively. Well, the symptoms should start anytime soon,” I say.

  Masaru proceeds to search up something in his phone.

  “Symptoms?” Takashi queries.

  Masaru reads out aloud, “According to ***.org, the drinking of isopropyl alcohol can lead to slurred speech, stumbling, sedation, vomiting, and many more. But most importantly, it could lead to death.”

  “Death? Eh, their fault,” I reply with no concern.

  “D-D-Death?” Katsuro wonders as he releases a hiccup.

  The symptoms have already started.

  “That’s funny. I don’t remember th-,” hiccup, “anyone dying?”

  “That’s you, dude. Also, where is Madoka?” I ask.

  “Madoka? Oh, he’s over there barfing in the corner with Takashi accompanying him,” Masaru reports.

  Takashi pats Madoka’s back while throwing up.

  “DON’T FORGET TO CLEAN UP YOUR MESS!” Masaru yells.

  He shakes his head in dismay.

  “I swear, my friends are total nutjobs often.”

  He turns to the rest of us who weren’t drunk.

  “So, what should we do?”

  Why do you ask that question as if the answer wasn’t obvious already?

  I gnce at Katsuro. His hand was reaching for the lighted gss of alcohol.

  He hiccups, “O-Ooh! F-Fire! Spicy alcohol!”

  “Oh, Katsuro is heading for the fming alcohol, should I stop him?” I query.

  “No, leave him alone. I wanna watch him squeal as his throat burns,” Masaru answers.

  “Same.”

  Both Madoka and Masaru colpse and fall unconscious. Next thing we knew, Katsuro faints as well, dropping the fming alcohol as well and setting the table abze.

  “Okay, now we should bring them to a hospital,” I insist.

  “Check their pulses,” Takashi instructs.

  “Why? I honestly think they’re fine,” Masaru responds.

  He checks their wrists and then their pulses. He proceeds to pce his index finger in front of their nostrils. He put it back, stands back up, and approach us.

  He chuckles, “They aren’t breathing.”

  I chuckle with him, “You’re joking, right?”

  He chuckles, “Nope.”

  “AHAHHAHAHHA!”

  “AHAHAHHAHAHA!”

  “AHAHHAHAHHA!”

  “AHAHHAHAHH! GET THEM TO AN AMBULANCE NOW! HELP SOMEBODY!”

  “HELP!” I screamed, “ALSO! THERE’S FIRE!”

  “…Help…” Takashi says in an attempt to shout.

  …

  ..

  .

  4:00 PM

  I was back at home in my room.

  That was how our afternoon ended. With the help of Okada-sensei, we managed to save them and bring them to the hospital. Thankfully, she arrived at the right time to stop the fire from devolving any further.

  I sigh.

  Unfortunately, it’s a rule that once one or more of the protagonists in a Slice-of-Life are unavaible, there are no further activities for the rest of the day.

  “Now for my progress- Wait a minute, nothing happened.”

  “Eh? Eh?”

  “EHHHHHHHHHH?”

  Nakatani was peeking by the door and was crying.

  “It’s okay, onii-chan, even if you are crazy, your little sister will still love you.”

  …

  ..

  .

  At the same time, at Arisu’s home.

  She was inside her room, filled with scientific gadgets, such as microscopes, gss fsks, gloves, computers and many more. She sat in front of her computer typing on her keyboard.

  “Jeez, those boys bothered my work, and now I keep running into errors.”

  Her cellphone rings.

  She takes a gnce at it and picks it up.

  “Toshiaki-kun, sorry for the dey, it’s all because of those boys earlier, I keep running into erro-”

  “That’s what I called you for. It’s not an error. There’s something wrong,” Toshiaki replies from the phone.

  “So it was true after all? That in recent days, there has been disturbances in the flow of the space-time continuum?”

  “Keep investigating. We can’t continue our time research in this state.”

  “Got it.”

  The phone call ends and she puts the phone back.

  “I wonder what’s happening to the world.”

  END OF EPISODE 17