Lunch break.
“Asanagi.”
“Ah, mm. Wait a minute, let me tidy up my desk first.”
As promised, I approached her during the lunch break.
The moment I walked over to her seat and called out to her, the whole class stared at me. I could feel a mixture of emotions within those stares, but I had gotten used to it by now.
Umi and I were friends, so approaching her like this should be normal… Right?
“Thanks for waiting, let’s go… You’re going too, right, Nina?”
“Hehehe… Of course!”
Nitta-san grinned.
“Anyway, how’s it going, Rep?” (T/N: Rep for representative. Raw is Iinchou, which could also mean chairman or president. We decided on representative because it fits the context, but it feels off as a nickname. What do you guys think?)“I told you to cut that out… Whatever…”
Apparently the three of us will be together this lunch break; me, Umi and Nitta-san. Honestly, I found it difficult to deal with people like Nitta-san, but after chatting a couple times since the cultural festival, I had gotten used to her.
Unlike the two central figures of the class, Amami-san and Umi, Nitta-san was the kind of person who acted based on the opinion of the majority in the class. By looking at her attitude, I could get a feel for how I’m viewed by the class.
I would be fine with only having Umi as my friend, but it wouldn’t hurt to have more connections, so I should probably try to talk to people other than Umi and Amami-san. That was what Umi told me anyway.
“Alright, let’s go.”
“Mm… Wait, what about Amami-san?”
“We’re going to pick her up.”
Normally, wherever Umi was, Amami-san would be there as well. But for some reason, she wasn’t currently in the classroom.
After class was over, she talked a bit with Umi and immediately stormed out of the classroom.
It was unusual since she was always stuck to Umi like glue.
Where in the world did she run off to?
* * *
The three of us went to pick Amami-san up. With our lunchboxes in hand, we went to the place where Amami-san was said to be.
According to Umi, she was at the student’s bicycle racks. It was one of those spots that I frequently used whenever I ate alone.
It was also a famous confession spot since barely anyone would pass by that place.
“It feels like I’ve been peeping on other’s confessions a lot lately…”
I hid in the shadows with Umi and Nitta-san as I watched Amami-san and a male student from some distance away. The male student seemed to be an upperclassman.
“Well, Yuu was the one who asked me to come here.”
“Eh? Really?”
“Yeah, you didn’t know about it, Rep?”
My question was answered by Nitta-san, who was fiddling her phone.
“If your friends barge in at the right moment, it’s unlikely that you’ll get into trouble after rejecting someone. People on the receiving end of the confession would plot something like this sometimes too, you know?”
“In your case, Nina, you just want to peep…”
“I’m here to stand by in case something happens~ I mean, in a worst case scenario, you’ll need someone to be a witness, no?~”
“…Say that after you delete the picture of Maehara and I holding hands…”
“I can delete it if you want, but I’m sure there are other people who also took pictures. It’s useless~”
I expected this, but the lover’s hold incident turned out to be a hotter topic than I thought.
Thinking back, it was so embarrassing, but thanks to that, people stopped confessing to Umi, so you win some and you lose some, I guess.
Although she didn’t care much about those confessions, it still bothered me a little that strangers kept confessing to her.
Since people stopped trying to win her over, I guess they tried to win over Amami-san instead.
‘…If possible, would you come to the Christmas party with me?…’
‘I’m sorry… I’ve promised to go to the party with my friends… Besides, I already have someone I like…”
Obviously he’d get rejected, but I couldn’t help but feel a little sorry for him.
No one knew this except for Umi and I, but at the moment, Amami-san was focusing on repairing her relationship with Umi. She simply didn’t have the time to get closer to other people, let alone someone from the opposite gender.
Amami-san would prioritize her best friend, Umi over everyone else, including me. If he really wanted to have a relationship with her, the best thing he could do was to wait.
She said she had someone that she liked? Who?
I’ve heard her talk about male idols quite often, but I don’t really think those count.
If I were to name someone that she truly likes… Umi?
“It’s about time, lovebirds, get ready. Or do you want to wait a little more?”
“Alright, let’s go. Maehara, follow me.”
“Eh? Sure…”
Ignoring Nitta-san’s comment, all three of us went up to Amami-san’s side, pretending that it was by chance that we bumped into them.
“Yuu, what are you doing here? Have you eaten yet? If not, you wanna join us?”
“Umi! Ah, yes, our business here is pretty much done anyway.”
Amami-san saw us and came to our side with her iconic smile on her face.
‘Thank you, Umi. You too, Ninacchi, Maki-kun.’
We quickly left the place. The upperclassman who was left behind looked uncomfortable.
We decided to eat our lunch on a bench in the courtyard.
As soon as we sat down, Amami-san’s previously stiff face relaxed.
“Fuuh… What a relief…”
“Good work, Amami-san. That was quite the ordeal, wasn’t it?”
“Not really. It’s troublesome to deal with it, but I’m used to it by now.”
According to Amami-san, she’d actually been called out like this several times since the cultural festival preparation.
At that time, it was mainly Nitta-san who would interfere instead of Umi since the latter was busy with the committee matters.
Nitta-san tended to slack off back when we were working on our festival project, but behind the scenes, she was doing her best to support her friends.
I guess I could understand why Amami-san and Umi kept her around as a friend.
There were many things you couldn’t understand just by looking at them from the corner of the class.
“Oh, by the way, Umi, you said you have something to talk about after school. What is it? Is it a bad time to say it now?”
“Not really, but Nina is around, so…”
“Eh? Why are you leaving me out now? Rep, why is she being mean to me?”
“Uh… sorry about that, Nitta-san…”
My impression of her had changed, but could I really trust her?
“It’s fine~, just pretend that Ninacchi doesn’t exist for now~ So, what is it?”
“Uhh… You see…”
While keeping a close eye on a certain someone, Umi talked about her plan after the Christmas party was over.
“At Maki-kun’s house? Sure, that sounds fun! If you two are okay with it, I’m down!”
Amami-san immediately agreed.
Well, I’ve been troubling her lately, so I guess I’d have to do my best for her during that day.
“Eh? The two cutest girls in our class will hang out at Rep’s house for Christmas… Damn, that sounds so interesting… But…”
“Huh? That’s rare. You aren’t forcing yourself to join us?”
“…I got a date with my boyfriend on that day…”
“““Huh?”””
“Huh? Didn’t I tell you guys? Someone confessed to me at the cultural festival.”
Umi and Amami-san shook their heads. Since they didn’t know, I obviously didn’t know either.
I’m not surprised since Nitta-san was pretty cute herself.
We spent the rest of our lunch break listening to her brag about her boyfriend.
My excitement was through the roof now that my Christmas plans were set.
But of course, more trouble would come around to bite me after school.