Is It Okay If I Don't Want to Try Anymore? [7]

Second Elementary School.

Higashino Kanade, Izumi Konata, and Higashino Suzu were waiting by the front gate.

They weren’t here for Tokyo, Hiroshima, or Nagasaki.
They were waiting for Nishimiya Shouko and Nishimiya Yuzuru.

“You—what are you doing here?”

“You picking a fight? We’ve got backup, you know! Don’t try anything!”

“If you hit us, we’ll tell the teacher!”

Ugh. Why these three idiots again.

Kanade’s mood soured the instant he saw the three boys walking out of the school building.

He was here to meet Shouko and Yuzuru. Why did these punks think he was there just to pick on them? The sheer level of self-importance was mind-boggling.

“And why wouldn’t I be here?”

Kanade rubbed his eyes. He wasn’t trying to be mean, but honestly, these three… Even if you didn’t call them ugly, they were all shifty-eyed and rat-faced—nowhere near as pretty as him.

“This is our school!”

The skinniest of the trio—Hiroshima—spoke up, puffed full of indignation.

“Oh? You own it?”

Kanade’s face was blank.

“…No.”

“Then why do you care?”

“You—!”

“You what? Scram. Or I’ll punch you. You run to the teacher? Still punching you. I’ll come back every day after school and keep punching you. Welcome to the Beatdown Express.”

He threw a fist in the air for emphasis. A total delinquent.

To be honest, if it weren’t for the side effects of his powers and the fact he had solid parental guidance, Kanade probably would’ve turned into a proper supervillain. But thanks to those checks, he wasn’t some born-to-rule-over-mortals nationalist freak.

Right now, he was Bushi the Boombox Cricket.

The three boys glared back defiantly—but under threat of violence, their bravado quickly wilted. The last thing they wanted was to get their faces rearranged in front of the school. Too humiliating. They’d lose all their status.

“Over here! Over here!”

Just as Kanade chased off the narcissistic trio, the wild Nishimiya sisters appeared at last. Seeing them from a distance, Konata began waving both arms wildly.

“There they are…” Yuzuru spotted the group by the gate.

They actually came. She’d honestly thought they were just being polite yesterday. But here they were, waiting for her and her sister. Maybe… maybe her lonely big sis was finally making some real friends.

“Shouko.”

Yuzuru tugged at her sister’s sleeve, worried she hadn’t noticed the people waiting for her—or hadn’t heard Konata calling.

Her sister had congenital hearing loss, and as a result, her speech was limited too.

It was rare enough for Shouko to make new friends. Yuzuru didn’t want any misunderstanding to drive them apart just because her sister didn’t wave back or say hello.

Shouko spotted them—Konata, Kanade, Suzu. She understood what her sister’s tug meant. With a soft smile, she waved to the three and carefully enunciated, “Ni… mo… ha~.”

Fifth-grader Nishimiya Shouko hadn’t given up on communicating with people.

“Yoohoo! Nice to see you~!”

Konata waved and beamed.

“Good afternoon,” Suzu added, nodding politely.

“Yeah. ‘Sup.” Kanade gave a half-hearted salute, his wave barely more than a flick of the wrist.

On the way home, the five of them walked together.

Kanade, Suzu, and Konata had returned to the Second Elementary School just to walk the Nishimiya sisters home. After learning yesterday that Shouko had a hearing impairment—and that she and her sister were often bullied by other kids at school—Konata had made a decision.

She’d be their friend.
And from now on, they’d walk home together.
No more getting picked on.

Don’t be fooled by Konata’s laid-back, game-obsessed demeanor. When it came to injustice, she had a righteous streak a mile wide—like a protagonist from a classic shounen manga.

Granted, she could be a bit timid on her own.
But with her childhood friend Kanade by her side—a literal psychic with shounen protagonist vibes—she was fully emboldened.

Now she just prayed this world wasn’t one of those grimdark, despair-riddled universes. Please let this be a peaceful slice-of-life world. Because if it was dark and cruel… her dear childhood friend Kanade might end up getting sacrificed for narrative drama.

Let Kanade be the protagonist, she thought. If he’s not, and we’re just background characters in some twisted world… we’re all doomed.

Kanade liked to daydream about being the main character. Konata did too. It was no surprise they’d grown up together—neighbors, childhood friends, hopeless nerds, and both completely on the same wavelength.

For years, it had always been just Kanade and Konata. Sometimes Suzu tagged along. But beyond that, they’d never really made close friends.

Kanade had no one else.
Konata only had Kanade and Suzu.

“Whoa! That means ‘police’? Cool!”

All the way home, Konata was enthusiastically learning sign language from the Nishimiya sisters.

Since they were going to be friends, learning to sign was a must. Shouko could still speak, but it wasn’t always clear—and to avoid misunderstandings, it was better for everyone if they used sign when needed.

Kanade was learning too. Not just because it made communication easier, but because he saw it as a skill worth having. Who knew? It might even come in handy in manga someday.

Speaking of manga—he’d barely gotten anything done during lunch break. He needed to grind harder after school. Sure, he was just an elementary schooler. There was no rush to become a professional manga artist.

But the thought of getting a manga serialized and earning the title Genius Kid Mangaka?
Delicious.
Not to mention the bragging rights.

“Look, Konata—me. Professional manga artist. Genius manga artist. Child prodigy manga artist.”

“You’re making a gross face. Were you thinking about something pervy?”

Konata poked him in the cheek, noticing his suspicious smile.

“Absolutely not. What are you on about? I’m a kid, okay? Not some pervy adult with a head full of H-thoughts. You keep accusing me of this stuff—it’s probably because you’re the one always thinking about it, huh?”

Kanade gave her forehead a flick.
What was with this girl’s brain? Always going there.
She was way too young to be saying “H” this, “H” that. If she was like this in elementary school, he didn’t even want to imagine what she’d be like in junior high or high school. And God forbid, college.

No. Impossible. That wasn’t the real Konata.
Not his Konata.
As long as he was around, there was no way she’d become some kind of fanservice idol.

Honestly, he should be more worried about himself. Konata always said he had “crossdressing potential.” What if one day she tricked him into it?

And everyone knew the rule about crossdressing:

There’s no such thing as doing it once.
It’s either zero times… or infinite times.

For the sake of his dignity, he had to stay at zero.

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T/N: INFINITE TIMES PLEASSEE

This is a fan translation of 不想努力可以吗？by 优的布丁 All rights to the original work belong to the creator. Please support them by exploring their original work or sharing it with others if you can. Thank you for reading and supporting my efforts to bring this story to a wider audience!