CH 3.5

Author’s Note: This is an extra chapter entitled “Behind-the-scenes Perspective”, which was serialised in the X Activity Report section during the serialisation of the main story. It depicts the situation from Kijima’s point of view in the same chronological order as the main story.

If you read this in parallel with the main story, you can read the work with a completely different perspective on the characters from the main story. It is highly likely that your impression of Amami will change significantly, so it is separated from the main story. Please enjoy it.

Translator’s Note: As the TLs, we’re going to be releasing this in tandem with the main story because I feel that makes for a better reading experience. These will be titled as X.5 chapters, and will explicitly state the POV, so you can come back to them later if you’d like.

In a rare occurrence, Karasawa was absent from the classroom during lunch break. This was because the gardening club, which normally only had activities after school hours, was meeting during the lunch break. Karasawa was focusing on growing chili peppers as a part of the gardening club. It sounded exhausting.1

Amami was looking out the window while nibbling on a piece of bread and ended up staring at Karasawa tending the flower beds in front of the schoolyard.

“So, you talked about your fated pair yesterday with Karasawa, didn’t you?”

“Yeah. Just as I thought, he hasn’t noticed at all.”

Yesterday after school, on the way back from the ramen shop that had opened in front of the train station, Amami had talked with Karasawa about his “fated pair”. Amami apparently did not say anything that hinted at a deeper meaning, but his secrecy seemed thorough, as Karasawa apparently did not even get upset at the topic, which directly implied a relationship between Alpha and an Omega. …Or perhaps he was just not conscious of Amami as an Alpha, but I would never say that to him, even if I thought it.

“Is that so… Wouldn’t it have been better to just confess then with the flow of things? There’s no one who wouldn’t like you, Amami, and what you said was practically a confession, wasn’t it?”

“Hmm, it’s impossible to confess in a place like that… Isn’t it obvious that I should propose at a wonderful place that he’ll remember for a lifetime?”

“Wait, wait, you need to confess first; the proposal comes after.”

“I see, that’s how it is. But even if it’s a confession, it’d be better to do it somewhere nicer.”

“Ah yes, yes. You want to do this when you and Karasawa get accepted to a college, at the park facing the sea… right? ”

“Ah, well, you see. Karasawa said that if that was to be the case, I should confess on the day of graduation, so I might do it at the back of the school building, at our alma mater, with the cherry blossom petals dancing in the air… I think.”

“Huuuuh!? ”

When I slammed both my hands on the desk and lurched forward in surprise, a clatter louder than I expected resounded. Having attracted the attention of the class, I hurriedly sat down and lowered my voice.

“You… Haven’t I always told you to confess quickly? Why are you delaying it further, doing the exact opposite?”

“Because that’s what Karasawa wants.”

“But the person in question doesn’t know you’re talking about him! It’s not good to leave a defenseless Omega to his own devices when he’s of an age where he can get heats! ”

“Don’t worry, I was originally planning on confessing on New Years’. It doesn’t matter if I wait a little longer.”

“I can’t stomach the wait! ”

Even now, I could feel my stomach churn while imagining the troubles that would come after he confessed. I am sensitive about my friends, you know? Try being in my shoes and dealing with the things that should be together, but never are. In the first place, the “confession in a park with a view of the sea” idea only came about since Karasawa muttered “How romantic,” while watching it in a drama one time, so it wasn’t even like you could say it was what he wanted. God, this idiot friend of mine makes things so overly complicated that it’s a pain in the ass.

“And besides, look, if I confess, we’ll become lovers, so isn’t now the only time I have to be with him as a friend? I also want to cherish my friendship with Karasawa while I can.”

“You were almost making sense, but where did you come up with the equation that a confession equals mutual love?”

“Eh? ”

Amami wore a confused look that seemed to say, ‘Am I wrong about something?’ Talking about this made me feel exceedingly exhausted.

Amami seemed to take it for granted that he and Karasawa would be in love with each other, but from my point of view, Karasawa didn’t seem to have feelings for anyone beyond friendship. In the first place, he didn’t seem to be interested in anything resembling romance. It’s hard to guess how much Karasawa, who had an absentminded air about him even when talking about Fated Pairs in front of Amami, thought about other people’s feelings… Rather, if the alpha Amami confessed to Karasawa, who was hiding his secondary gender, it would just create unnecessary tension. However, there was no point in fretting about other people’s love lives.

“Sigh~…let’s just drop it. So, what’s the plan after that? ”

“It’s nothing different really? I’ll stay by Karasawa’s side as his friend.”

He was quite opportunistic in this way too. I decided to take the chance and hit him with something I had always been thinking of.

“Amami, just imagine. If I confessed to Karasawa now, what do you think would happen?”

“I’d kill you.”

“No, stop! Don’t get mad and defensive at me! That’s not what I meant. You know Karasawa and I are 100% purely in the friend-zone, right? What I meant is, if you confess to someone without any warning, they’ll just think you said it on a dare or that you got influenced by a drama and blurted it out by mistake.”

Amami’s eyes widened and he nodded, as this was something he had overlooked.

“Certainly… someone as absentminded as Karasawa might think that.”

“Right? In order not to cause such a misunderstanding at the graduation ceremony when the cherry blossoms are falling, we should make some changes little by little from now on.”

“And that means? ”

“Ah, first, you increase your physical intimacy with him little by little. Try to create a sweet atmosphere and make him realise that you’re the only one who feels special to him…? ”

Suddenly, the conversation had to become a lecture on how to turn a friend into a lover. Why was I even doing this…? You have to remember, at the moment, my personal love life was a series of losses, and I was clearly not in a position to give advice to others. Combined with the slight embarrassment that what we were talking about was a plan to bring Karasawa and Amami together, I ended the conversation right there. However, Amami seemed to be thinking hard about something afterward, so there was still hope for their relationship’s progress.