Source
https://kakuyomu.jp/works/16818093079507847550/episodes/16818093080253385690
Amamiya was invited to eat dinner at the Kumatani family as a result of the current.
The menu consisted of more than 500 g of fried chicken, which was piled up on a plate.
Not much was eaten, though, as the Kumatani’s younger siblings were fighting over it as if they were the fastest,
(Tastier than my mother’s!?)
Although he felt bad for his mother, Amamiya was impressed by the sheer deliciousness of the Kumatani family’s fried food.
After washing the dishes with the children and playing with them one more time, Kumatani finally started teaching him in the living room.
Second son Arata on his head, third son Ryuji on his right shoulder, fourth son Keigo on his left shoulder and eldest daughter Yui sitting a little on his lap.
They are very fond of him.
Kumatani, showing no sign of caring that his younger siblings have taken over the amamiya, gets down to business.
“I’m going to be straight with you, Amamiya, you don’t have much confidence in yourself, do you? So, when you hold your head in front of the mirror, you become self-deprecating. People with that kind of negative thinking tend to end up failing even when they try to improve themselves.”
Amamiya has been negative since junior high school.
While everyone around him was changing, he was the same, and even if he tried to start something new, he was too timid to take on the challenge.
This vicious cycle continued until high school, which led to the formation of the negative character Amamiya Takaaki.
“Then what should I do ……”
“Smile.”
“Smile ……?”
Kumatani fished his cheeks out with his hands and made a big smile.
“No matter how ugly you are, if you smile like this, you’ll look a little prettier, right? At the beginning, when you’re not confident, you don’t have to force yourself to be positive. Over time, you can notice changes in your body shape and appearance. You’re gradually cultivating your mental health while feeling it. In the meantime, you can just try to make amends with a smile.”
As with the way you look, it is not so easy to change on the inside either.
Kumatani’s genuine positive spirit makes him very persuasive.
“Amamiya, try smiling once.”
“Haha. ……”
“Ouch”
Kumatani’s
honest feedback, with zero reservation, stings Amamiya’s fragile psyche.
It was expected to come, but the damage was too great.
“It’s obvious that you don’t smile on a regular basis. Well, It’s fine”
Kumatani says, scratching his hair.
“Listen? Smiling has the effect of putting the brain in a relaxed state and stabilising the autonomic nervous system.
In other words, it’s a way to trick the brain into thinking it’s confident.”
Amamiya wonders if such a thing is possible, but then he remembers an article somewhere on the internet that says the same thing.
[Emotional disguise] It may not be a lie after all.
“Do it twice a day. When you leave the house and when you get back. It’s not like you’re exercising, so it seems easier to keep up, doesn’t it?”
“Yeah, sure. I’ll try it when I get home today. ……”
Amamiya takes out a notepad from his bag and leaves a note of what Kumatani said.
With a smartphone, it is easier to leave it this way
“And the way you speak.”
“T-Tthe way I speak ……?”
Amamiya’s weakest area, by far, is conversation.
“To put it bluntly, Amamiya has a quiet voice. Even when you speak normally, you bite your teeth, so I can’t understand what you’re saying. A person’s first impression is determined not only by their appearance, but also by the way they speak.”
“W-Well, that’s true, but I have to do something about that mentally too. ……”
“Okay, but your communication skills are more important than you imagine. An example would be an interview. You must have experienced that oppressive atmosphere when you entered high school. It’s the same as that. No matter how nervous I am, I don’t let my voice shake, and when I answer, I try to convey exactly what I’m thinking in my head.”
“I see. ……”
“In other words, emotions have nothing to do with it. Everyone gets nervous when they meet someone for the first time, and I do too. But wouldn’t it be out of place to say ‘I’m nervous’ in an interview?”
“W-well, ……”
“What did you do in that situation?”
On the contrary, Amamiya recalls that he was open about the fact that interviews were stressful.
He has fond memories of being able to speak clearly so that the interviewer could understand.
“I could speak normally when I thought about how nervous I was.”
“Good, then practice it the next time you talk to someone. No matter how much advice I give you, it’s always up to you. “
“O-ou…!”
The way a person speaks can only be fixed by the person in question.
The next time you speak to someone, you should practice what you preach.
“The other thing to do is to practise saying ‘good morning’, ‘hello’, ‘good evening’ and ‘thank you’ at home, to the extent that it does not disturb the neighbours. If you do that, your voice volume will naturally improve.”
“How long does it take to improve?”
“Well, I’m not an expert either, so I can only speak from experience. Six months at the earliest, a few years at the most.”
“That’s a long time. ……”
Amamiya raises the corner of his mouth and smiles wryly.
“No wonder. People cannot change so easily. That’s why it’s most important to notice the daily changes. Because noticing gives you confidence, and that’s what drives you to keep motivated.”
Kumatani drank the tea and stood up.
Then, in a cheerful voice that is probably more excited than anyone else in the room, he declares.
“I’ve decided, Amamiya Takaaki. I’m going to bring you up until you’re a cheerful person on the same level as me!”
His eyes were burning hot like a gamer with a new purpose.
Amamiya opens his mouth wide as the eldest son, Arata, teases his hair.
“B-but Kumatani-kun is busy with club activities and family, right ……? Every single time you spend time for me …… mugg!?”
“Don’t say anything with low self-esteem.”
Amamiya gets his cheek pinched by Kumatani.
This is because he naturally ended up saying the negative things he was told not to do.
“The other day I saw you being made fun of by Takasaki, and to tell you the truth, it was a bit of a disgust. Why you just let her get away with it?”
“That’s …… because if I provoked her, I would have been in a lot worse trouble. ……”
“There’s a way to turn any bleakness into a laugh. If I were you, I would do that. But, well, you can’t help it now. You’ll just have to learn it from now on.”
You can see by the look in Kumatani’s eyes that he is serious.
He is not just a blonde-haired charlatan, he is a hardworking person who takes everything seriously.
That is why he is able to reign supreme in the school caste.
(He seriously wants me to be as good as him ……)
Amamiya could not ignore Kumatani’s thoughts like that.
“All right, I’ll ask you to do it. Kumatani-kun.”
“Ah, I look like this, but I’m a Spartan type, so I’m gonna go ahead and be tough.”
“Yeah!”
“””Ooooouuuu!!!”””
The younger brothers are in sync with each other.
For some reason, only the younger sister Yui, who was on her knees, stared up at Amamiya’s face and kept silent.
She’s the quietest of them all, and he doesn’t know what she’s thinking.
“Well then, I’ll send you the first steps later by email”
Amamiya exchanges contact details with him in a natural way.
With Karina and the good Kumatani, it’s a contact list he wouldn’t have had before.
After what seems like a long time, he plays with his younger siblings and then go home late at night.
Next day.
[Greet all the girls apart from Karina and Tojo.]
He greeted the girls who caught his eye as soon as he entered the classroom.
“G-G-ood M-morning”
He gives a creepy greeting that he admits to himself and others.
The girl who was greeted turns around suspiciously and her eyes meet those of Amamiya.
“Ah?”
Amamiya shuddered.
The reason is that he greeted her on the spur of the moment, without checking her carefully.
“Hey, aren’t you that creepy guy? What do you want?”
(I’ts a landmine!!!!!!!!)
The person he greeted was the feared ‘Queen of the Classroom’, Takasaki Rinka.
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Tanking a landmine looks cool so DO YOUR WORST, BRO~!
Don’t do it irl unless you’re Dante ir Vergil~
Unrealistic, but nice…
All of these tips feel like advice straight out of a terrible self-help book. Y’know, shallow advice like “smile more” and “practice greetings”, which target surface-level symptoms rather than the underlying causes of social anxiety.