One Lucky Idiot Meets A Girl

Juzo, Nikko, and Toshiharu walked through the boiling streets, steam rising off of the burning streets. Toshiharu, stuck carrying everyone's tennis equipment, didn't hold back his complaints.

"Are we close to the restaurant? I don't think I can keep walking much longer."

Nikko didn't care.

"Be quiet. I'm trying to figure out how to get there. It's been a while since I last went there."

Toshiharu lost all hope.

"You don't know where you're going!? I'm going to die out here."

Also labouring from the heat, Juzo didn't want to hear useless banter.

"Just stop complaining. It was cooler when we were playing, how could we know it would get so hot?"

Toshiharu stated the obvious.

"By looking at the weather forecast."

"Besides that."

Toshiharu was confused.

"What does that even mean?"

"And my point is proven."

"W...what!?"

Toshiharu's brain was fried by Juzo's incomprehensible logic, but Nikko had found salvation.

"Ah! There it is!"

The group walked up to the front doors, but Toshiharu shoved the other two out of the way as he stumbled into the restaurant, ultimately falling flat on his face.

"Toshiharu?"

Toshiharu looked up and saw Reina and Shinobu staring at him from a nearby table.

"Hey, it's you, umm… I don't remember your name."

Reina glared at him.

"It's Reina."

"Oh, yeah! Good to see you, Reina! Who's that?"

Nikko and Juzo had entered behind him, and Nikko sorted out the introductions.

"Toshiharu, that sweet, short girl is Shinobu."

Shinobu gave Toshiharu a gentle wave.

"Hello!"

"And Shinobu, this bumbling airhead is Toshiharu."

"It's good to meet you."

Juzo grabbed Toshiharu by the back of his shirt and pulled him to his feet.

"Come on, let's get to a table."

The three boys sat down at a table next to Reina and Shinobu. A waitress came by to grab their orders, then Toshiharu started some conversation to kill time.

"So, where's Shinobu from? I didn't see her with you guys at the fishing pier."

Juzo answered.

"We met her at the aquarium in Matsuno at the start of summer break. She moved here today for work."

"For work? You mean she's not in school?"

"Yeah, I know. We've all said that. Apparently, she graduated this spring and has been working odd jobs since. Now she's gotten a job at Reina's uncle's aquarium store."

Toshiharu lit up.

"Are you talking about Sakamoto's Aquarium Store?"

"Yeah, why?"

"I go there all the time! I live near it, in the apartments near that hotel!"

Juzo realized that some coincidences were happening.

"You live over there? Shinobu's actually going to live at that hotel until she can find a place to rent."

"No way! If she needs a place, my neighbor just moved out a few days ago. I could get my parents to put in a word for her to the building owner."

Nikko was now also shocked by the amount of coincidences.

"Wow, it's almost as if fate is pulling you two together! But that sucks for you, 'cuz she has her sights set on Juzo."

That grabbed Toshiharu's attention.

"She does!? But why? I mean, look at her, then look at Juzo. There's a considerable difference between them. No offense."

Juzo accepted the statement.

"I'm not even going to argue that. Even I don't know what she saw in me, that's why I turned her down at the time."

Toshiharu chose a bad time to take a sip of his drink, as Juzo's words made him spit most of it out.

"You what!? Her!? Are you stupid or something!?"

"I thought it would be a bad idea if I let her rush into something with me. I told her to ask again if she still felt the same after getting to know me better."

"And? What's her impression of you now?"

"Dunno. Haven't seen her since until today."

Toshiharu was surprised.

"So, a cute girl like that said that she liked you, but you wanted to get to know each other more before doing anything. And then you go weeks without seeing her, and don't seem to even care. This seems pretty one-sided."

That piqued Nikko's interest.

"Juzo, if you don't want Shinobu, I call dibs on her next."

Unfortunately, Nikko was talking a bit too loud and Shinobu overheard.

"What do you mean calling dibs on me?"

Juzo decided to answer.

"Oh, don't mind him. He's just talking about all the nasty things he wants to do to you."

Shinobu looked uncomfortable, but the eavesdropping Reina looked as if she was about to vomit.

"Let's go now, Shinobu. Being around these guys is gonna make me sick."

Reina got up and was ready to leave before Shinobu could respond, forcing her to follow suit.

"Oh, okay. I'll see you later, guys. Bye, Juzo."

The girls left, leaving the boys alone. Nikko was not happy with Juzo's joke.

"What was that!? Why would you say that?"

"You were annoying me."

"Whatever. Let's just finish eating and leave."

After finishing their business at the restaurant, the boys hit the street again.

"Are you going home now, Toshiharu?"

Toshiharu looked over at Juzo, who was strutting alongside him.

"I was thinking about stopping at the aquarium store first. Do you guys wanna tag along?"

"Sure."

The group followed Toshiharu to the store, this time making Nikko the equipment pack mule. Once arriving, the boys walked in only to be met once again with Reina and Shinobu. Shinobu was busy talking to Reina's uncle, but Reina immediately noticed them.

"And you guys are here again. Great."

Toshiharu ignored Reina's comment and waved at the store owner, who recognized him and waved back. Reina was shocked to see the exchange.

"Wait, do you know my uncle?"

"Yeah, I come here all the time. I got a few fish at home."

Meanwhile, Shinobu finished talking to the owner and joined up with the others.

"Oh, everyone's here now."

Toshiharu's attention turned to the new employee.

"So you're going to be working here now? You'll probably be running into me a lot here; I'm a regular."

"Oh, do you like fish, too? What do you think of the catfish they have here?"

"They're pretty cool! I have one!"

"Really!?"

As the two talked, Reina commented to the other boys.

"You may have given up your chance, Juzo."

"Not my problem."

"What? I literally said that it's your problem."

"Oh well."

Reina had picked up on Juzo's behaviour.

"You don't like her, do you?"

Nikko laughed.

"Don't be stupid, Reina. Right, Juzo?"

Juzo just stood quietly. Reina knew she was right.

"You didn't want to flat out turn her down that day because you were scared she wouldn't want to have anything to do with you afterwards."

Juzo sighed.

"I don't have many friends. I couldn't risk throwing one away because of my selfishness."

Nikko started to understand Juzo's feelings.

"Dude…"

Reina wrapped her arm around Juzo to comfort him.

"Well, everything might work out well. Look at her and Toshiharu."

Juzo looked up to see the two of them laughing and smiling.

"If you need help finding a place to live, I could have a talk with my building's owner and put in some good words for you."

"Really!? That would be awesome! Thank you!"

Ecstatic, Shinobu embraced Toshiharu without thinking. Realizing what she had done, she slowly peeled off of him.

"Sorry. I got excited"

Toshiharu's face was completely red.

"N-no problem! I'm happy to help!"

Reina slapped Juzo's back.

"Look, they're perfect."

Juzo saw how happy they looked.

"Well, we'll see what happens. Hopefully it goes well. If you'll excuse me, I'm going home to try and convince myself that I won't be alone forever."

As Juzo left out the door, Nikko stood with his arms crossed, starring at Toshiharu.

"That son of a bitch seduced her in mere moments. I gotta get him to teach me."