After a month of trying, even Rin had to throw in the towel and focus all his energy on Shelly.
Luckily for him, Shelly seemed to have no interest in other people and chose to spend her time with Rin.
But it had consequences for him too. He was not able to make other friends because no one wanted to be around him.
His only hope was the random class projects that forced people to work together. Even students who did not want to be around him would follow instructions because they were afraid of getting in trouble.
And one such project was to be held today, which made Rin even more eager..
"Rin, you look excited. Is something about to happen today?"
His excitement rubbed off on Shelly, and she perked up too. Rin held her shoulder and turned his expression as serious as his five-year-old face would allow.
"Shelly, today is our chance. In this group assignment, give it our all and try our best."
Shelly's face hardened with determination at his encouragement, and she nodded.
"I understand. I will make sure to give it my all for you."
"No, Shelly. Make sure you give it your all for your own sake and your partner's sake."
Rin carefully emphasized these words to make sure his point got across. And Shelly's determined expression told him that it did.
Unfortunately, he was not a mind reader. Because if he was, he would have realized that Shelly only took one thing from his words—that she should give it her all for his sake.. And it only fueled her desire to do better.
Their teacher wasted no time in entering the room and getting straight to the point.
"Class, today we will be working on a group project. I will be choosing your partners randomly, so please work with them well. I will announce a number, so please partner up with them."
The teacher kept calling out the numbers, and Rin waited until he was called.
"Number 4 with number 9, please."
Rin checked his number '4' and scanned the room for number 9. Shelly immediately grabbed his arm with a smile on her face.
"Rin, you and I are partners. Isn't this nice? We can work together."
Shelly looked excited, but Rin didn't share her excitement. He felt duped and immediately tried to turn the situation around to make it work in his favor.
"Hmm, let me see your slip…Shelly, I think this is '6,' not '9.' Your partner might be someone else-"
"I don't think so. After all, if someone else had a 9, then they are not speaking up. D-Do you not want to be my partner?"
Shelly suddenly looked ready to cry, and Rin reacted.
"No! Of course it's not like that. I am super happy to be your partner. I just thought you could make more friends, that's all."
Rin confessed, and Shelly shook her head, shook her head silently. It made Rin feel bad for making Shelly cry, so he patted her head to make her feel better.
"Alright, we can be partners. Let's go and sit somewhere else so that we can work."
Rin told her, and Shelly nodded. She grabbed Rin's hand before letting him lead the way. What Rin did not see was Shelly turning her head back and giving the trembling boy sitting beside them a glare to make sure he kept quiet.
The poor boy clutched the '1' in his hand with a trembling expression. What Rin did not know was that Shelly's initial number had been '1,' not '9,' but she had exchanged it as soon as the teacher announced the partners.
She was so fast and efficient in snatching it up and giving it to the trembling boy.
The rest of the afternoon was spent working in silence. It was fairly quiet and peaceful, but it also felt like it was the last straw that forced Rin to give up.
He could officially say that he had tried everything to make friends and tried to get Shelly to make friends too. But maybe God had decided other things for them because it never worked out.
'Ah, but we still have so many years ahead of us. I am sure things will get better by the time we grow up.'
Well, spoiler warning-they did not, and the reason was Shelly.
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Ten years passed just like that, and Rin felt like it was only yesterday he had opened his eyes in this world.
Both he and Shelly were 15 now, and that meant a crucial moment was approaching for them-the separation.
This was a crucial point in the original story for a nameless extra like him…well, at least, as far as he could remember..
In the original novel, when Shelly had mentioned having a resourceful friend, she had told the MC that they had been childhood friends until the age of 15, when Shelly moved away.
At that time, her childhood friend had promised to always be friends with her and help her in the future. So the MC and his party decided to approach the 'nameless extra' for funds and other resources.
Of course, Rin had been reborn as a nameless extra who was going to be in the next five years, and he was making sure to not let that happen.
With his initial plan of making friends failing, he had changed his tactics and realized that it was better to prepare for the apocalypse.
Unfortunately, he didn't have much athletic ability, so all his hard work over the years had only helped with his stamina and not real fighting capabilities. But it was still progressing.
'At least I was able to gather a lot of resources and make sure only I can access them. I know what will be needed in the future anyway, so I can prepare better.'
It was unfortunate that others did not take his words about the apocalypse seriously.
Someone leaned against Rin's shoulder, and he looked up, only to see a beautiful and familiar face looking down at him.
"What are you thinking about so much? We need to hurry home now. Also, you are going to watch me practice today as well, right? I feel like I do better when you are here with me."
His childhood friend, the future heroine and the future no. 1 hunter, had finally grown up, and she was as beautiful and delicate-looking as ever. And she was just as caring as before as well.
And Rin could honestly say that Shelly, out of all people, deserved better than the MC in the future, and he would make sure that she got better as well.
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Please leave some Power Stones for me as well as reviews. If I cross 100 PS, and/or 10 reviews, I will post a bonus chapter. I will try to get to 12k words today, but after that 1 ch/day. If you reach PS goals and future goals, then it will be 1 Bonus chapter