Volume 1 - CH 3.4

Just as I was about to stop talking, I heard footsteps coming from the hallway. For a moment, I thought it was Sugawara-sensei, but it was still too early for the appointment.

So there was only one candidate left.

“Sorry, Izumi. I’m late!” The one who opened the door, out of breath, was the one that we were talking about until just now—Sakuraba Sota.

“Sota? Why is Sota here?” Kotani looked flustered by the sudden appearance of her crush.

“I fell asleep in my Japanese class the other day because I’ve been practicing so hard in the morning, so I was told that the teacher punished me by cleaning the preparation room. Izumi informed me earlier.”

Yes, before I went to see Kotani, I had stopped by the gymnasium first to catch Sakuraba during his break.

“Today’s club activities are just meetings and independent practice, so I’m done, and sorry I’m late, but I’ll try to finish this. Let’s get this over with.”

“U-um.” She nodded her head, and Kotani’s voice was nasally and sweet. It was a far cry from earlier.

Anyway, the three of us got through it quickly.

Sakuraba, who was physically strong and dexterous, and Kotani, who was excited by his arrival. The power of the two of them was so great that they were able to finish all the work five minutes before the time I promised the teacher.

”Phew… I guess it should be okay like this? Really, I’m sorry to have dragged you into this, Izumi. You’re a great help!” Sakuraba thanked me while breaking into a fresh sweat.

“No, don’t worry about it.”

“That’s right. I don’t want to have to ask you to come to the gymnasium every time something happens again, so let’s exchange contact information.” Sakuraba casually pulled out his phone.

For a loner dork like me, it would take a certain amount of courage to ask someone I didn’t know that well for their contact information, but it was amazing how easy it was for these Riajus to do it.

“Well, okay.” I had no reason to refuse, so I accepted his proposal and we exchanged contact information.

This was the first time that I ever exchanged contact information with a boy in my class since I started high school.

“I’ll let the teacher know that the cleaning up is done, so Sakuraba and Kotani, you can go home first.” As soon as we finished exchanging contact information, I casually tried to create a moment for them to be alone.

This was the reason why I had taken the trouble to call these two people here. The plan was to give them time to spend together and make it easier for Kotani to invite Sota to the amusement park…!

‘So far, so good. Next, I only need Yuzu to pass the tickets again to Kotani…’ I thought that in my mind, but surprisingly Sakuraba shook his head.

“I told you I’d stay with you until the end. I can’t leave Izumi alone.”

‘Guh…what’s with this guy, is he a good guy? I’m your love rival, okay?’ Thanks to him, my plan failed.

Just then, the door to the preparation room opened and Sugawara-sensei walked in, right on time.

“Oh…it looks so clean and beautiful, Izumi.” Sugawara-sensei looked around the room and smiled admiringly.

His gaze immediately went to the two other people besides me.

“Hmm? What, you got Sakuraba and Kotani to help you? All right, I’ll give you both extra points as well.”

“Help…?” Sakuraba reacted to his words.

“As well…?” At the same time, Kotani too.

They seemed to feel uncomfortable with the flow of the conversation and looked at each other. Eventually, their gazes turned to me.

But I ignored them and smiled at Sugawara-sensei.

“Yes, thank you very much. I’m very lucky to have such good friends. Hahaha.”

“Then I’ll lock the door, and you three can leave the preparation room.”

Sakuraba and Kotani followed the teacher’s words and left the preparation room, still looking dumbfounded. The teacher then locked the door, thanked us again for our hard work, and went back to the staff room.

“Then, please don’t forget about our points.”

What was waiting for me was the tremendous pressure I felt from behind.

“…Well, Izumi.”

“…Care to explain what this is all about?”

When I turned around, there were two Riajus who seemed to have figured out what was going on and were looking at me coldly.

‘Haha, dorks like me are creatures that get petrified when they are stared at by a real person. So, please don’t be too intimidating.’

“Well, I’m sorry. As you can see, I offered to clean up the messy room for the sake of my points, but I couldn’t handle it alone. So I got the idea of tricking my classmates who were still on campus into helping me. I’m really sorry about that.”

As I bowed my head and apologized, I heard Kotani sighed, mixed with anger.

“I can’t believe it. You’re the worst, you know that? I’ll tell Yuzu about this.”

Oh, we were able to communicate just a little bit earlier, but it seemed like I had drastically ruined my reputation.

“…Well, it looks like he’s going to give us extra points too, so that’s good, but if that’s the case, I wish you’d have asked for help honestly, Izumi. I’d be happy to help like always.” Sakuraba also frowned at me, though not as blatantly as Kotani.

But this situation was perfect for me to use plan B.

“No, I’m really sorry about that. Yes, please accept this as an apology.”

Then I handed them the amusement park tickets that I had collected from Kotani earlier. I handed them to them one by one, pressuring them to take it.

“This is…” Kotani widened her eyes and grasped one of the tickets.

“I just went with Yuzu the other day, but we had leftover tickets. I thought it would be a shame to go twice in a short period of time, so I’ll give you this as an apology.”

“…You.” That seemed to give Kotani an idea of my intentions.

I also pushed her to ask him out with eye contact.

This was the perfect situation for Sakuraba and her to go to an amusement park together. If she missed this, she would never get another chance. Kotani looked at the ticket and me several times, then turned to Sakuraba as if she had made up her mind.

“Wh-what should we do? Sota…he seems to be remorseful, isn’t it a pity to give it back?”

“Well, I guess so. I don’t want to nag so much either.”

Sakuraba showed a complicated expression at the part where I mentioned me and Yuzu’s date, but he still seemed to be a good guy and accepted my apology.

Seeing this, Kotani took another step forward, “He went so far to give this to us… Do you want to go to-together?”

At her courageous invitation, Sota who understood her intention silently chuckled and nodded.

“That might be a good idea. It was given to us under these circumstances too, so let’s go together.”

‘—Yahoo!’

I couldn’t help but make a fist pose1 in my heart. Maybe Kotani did too.

I was so relieved that my plan had worked that I immediately turned on my heels.

“I’m glad you’ve forgiven me. Well, I’m going to leave as soon as I can before you change your mind. I’m sorry about today, both of you.”

“Oh. See you tomorrow.”

“…anks.”

Sakuraba raised his hand lightly to send me off, and Kotani murmured what seemed like words of gratitude in a low voice. The two of them saw me off and I promptly disappeared from their presence.

“…Well, that’s one less task I’ve had to deal with for a while now.”

When I was left alone, I folded my arms and pondered. The relationship between Sakuraba and Kotani had just taken a step forward. It remained to be seen how it would turn out, but I think it was safe to say that they were getting closer to their goal than if I had done nothing.

So, there was only one task left at hand.

“…On second thought, I’ve been neglecting Yuzu for over an hour.”

Although it was difficult to return to the literature club room, I could not just run home.

“…Let’s just give up and return there.” I heaved a sigh and headed back to the clubroom… Or more precisely turned myself in.

Afterwards, needless to say, I had to buy dinner for the sulking Yuzu.