Volume 1 - CH 3.5

T/N: This time it’s Yuzu’s POV!

‘I’ll go on a date with Sota, so please help me choose what to wear.’

It was on Friday that a blushing Aki came to Yuzu for advice. Yuzu was surprised when Aki asked her that, but at the same time, she was relieved that her friend finally managed to invite Sota; she was more than happy to offer help to her best friend.

“Hmmm… Rather than this one, I think this one is better. It’s the first date, so wearing a skirt is certainly better. Try this one out.”

After school ended on that day Aki had asked Yuzu for help, both of them went to a shopping mall near the school. Yuzu was selecting the fashion choice for the day of the date as she made Aki as a dress-up doll.

“Do I wear this…? Doesn’t it look too cute?” Aki looked a little stumped as she picked up the pleated skirt Yuzu had chosen for her.

Fashion that appealed to the opposite sex was often different from fashion that appealed to the same sex; Aki preferred to wear fashion that appealed to the same sex. For that reason, she was slightly uncomfortable with the fashion that Yuzu presented, which seemed to be very attractive to men.

“No-no, I’m telling you, boys prefer something very cute like this. My boyfriend does too.”

“Is that so…”

The opinions of those with boyfriends were immensely influential in these situations, and Aki, still embarrassed, was easily coaxed into the fitting room.

“Anyway, how did you manage to ask Sota out? It’s been rather a long time, so I honestly thought you might have given up.” Yuzu asked over the fitting room curtain.

Yuzu expected that she had to figure out various ways for Aki to smoothly invite Sota out, but it turned out to be unnecessary. 

“Ahh, um. It was thanks to your boyfriend, he pulled some strings.” An unexpected answer came from Aki.

“Eh, you must be lying, I never knew anything about that!” Yuzu widened her eyes in surprise, and she could sense that Aki was slightly chuckling from inside the fitting room.

“I’m serious. The other day, while I was waiting for Sota to finish his club activities—” 

Piece by piece, Aki recounted the events leading up to her being able to ask Sota out on a date.

“So, something like that happened…” Yuzu couldn’t conceal her astonishment over the fact she just discovered.

Seemed like her indoor-type dork boyfriend had uncannily shown the active side of him. But well, even after having done such a thing, his communicative ability still had a lot to improve since he failed to share this important information—he was still a dork after all.

“When Yuzu first dated Izumi, I was puzzled why would you be with that guy, but now I kinda understand a bit.”

“Re-really? To be acknowledged by Aki, I’m also happy.” 

Yuzu was indeed happy… but she wondered why she felt a bit vexed about it. Something like, she felt it was already enough if she alone knew Izumi’s good points.

“Mmmn… I think I’m more possessive than I thought.” Yuzu muttered in a voice low enough not to be heard by Aki.

Yuzu was proud of the fact that she could understand herself objectively. However, the following words of Aki completely destroyed that self-confidence, “Moreover, he seems to like Yuzu a lot, too. I was worried about whether he cared for Yuzu as he should, but it seems to be no problem.”

“EH, wh-what’s that? Tell me in more detail.” Her voice, which she let out on the spur of the moment, was unexpectedly shrill.

“Hm, well, he just kept flaunting about you.” Aki didn’t seem the topic to be a big deal, she simply brushed off Yuzu whose interest was piqued as she opened the curtain.

“How? Does it look weird on me?” Aki asked for confirmation as she was anxious about the new skirt. For her, the impending date on the following day was probably more important than the topic about Yamato.

Yuzu fought her inner thoughts that wanted to delve deeper into the earlier topic and to know how and what exactly Yamato was flaunting about; there, she fully utilised her remarkable communicative ability to put up the brightest smile on her face.

“Yes, it perfectly suits you!”

‘So, tell me more about Yamato!’ was what she almost said but she desperately swallowed it down. It would appear very unnatural if she interrupted the flow of their current conversation and dredged up the previous topic. From Aki’s perspective, Yuzu and Yamato were dating for real, so it would be an everyday thing for them to speak lovey-dovey between themselves.

“This is quite different from how you normally look, so I’m sure Sota will be more conscious of you!” Somehow Yuzu managed to shed her frustrations with reason and concentrate on her best friend’s clothes.

“I hope so…”

“For real. Aki is so cute, you should be more confident in yourself.” 

Yuzu felt like she was a bit of a jerk for saying that so unabashedly. Her intention to support Aki was sincere. Yet, she hid from Aki the most crucial information while cheering for her like this. There were several legitimate excuses that she could come up with, such as that she shouldn’t say what she learned from an overheard conversation or that it would only cause unnecessary confusion; but in the end, she was merely protecting herself. 

Yuzu wanted to protect that place that she was comfortable at. She wanted to protect that group she enjoyed being in. With this in mind, she pretended to be a fake couple with Yamato, avoiding Sota’s feelings and cheering for Aki. 

She was—to put it mildly—a horrible girl.

“Um… I, I’ll do my best!”

“That’s the spirit!”

While thinking in that way, Yuzu also felt the need to justify herself.

There was no other way, she could not respond to Sota’s feelings towards her. Hence, even if he confessed to her, they would only lose a lot of things but gain nothing. Be it Aki, Sota, Yuzu and Keigo. It would only end with everyone’s loss. In that case, even if the means she chose was cowardly, the smart thing to do would be to find a way around it and let the matter settle; she figured this was the least she could do for her friends’ sake.

“—Hey, Yuzu,” Aki’s tense voice pulled up Yuzu’s consciousness which was about to sink into a sea of thoughts.

“What’s the matter?” Looking into the eyes of her best friend, who had an unexpectedly serious expression on her face, Yuzu also straightened her posture.

“I, I’ll… confess to Sota during the date.”

“Oh…” Yuzu could not hide her surprise at Aki’s unexpectedly positive attitude.

“I’m sure it’s not easy to be this brave and ask him out anymore. So I’m going to take this opportunity to confess my feelings.” In the words of the strong determination of Aki, Yuzu witnessed her seriousness. 

Although Aki could be a little too shy when it comes to love, she had a strong heart. Having said all this, she would certainly make her confession.

“Is, is that so? Yup, it’ll turn out well for sure! I’m cheering on you!” Yuzu tightly gripped her best friend’s hand and sent her cheer.

‘—I see, so this is going to end.’ That thought popped up in Yuzu’s mind, but on the contrary, she was struck by complicated loneliness. The contract with Yamato lasted until Aki’s confession. The easy, calm, yet fun and magical time spent in that club room would soon come to an end.

“If I knew it’d be like this…”

“Yuzu? You said something?” A questioning look on Aki’s face brought Yuzu back to her senses.

“No, nothing.” Yuzu feigned another smile to conceal her real feeling.

She couldn’t say that if she knew it’d be like this, she would’ve made the contract last longer.

chocolala: Yuzu would be missing the happy time with Yamato-kun for sure… But will things go smoothly? Of course not