11. Schrodinger's Attraction

As the challenge came through clearly, the pressure shifted.

Hanashi Shiro still looked at me like I was some kind of villain straight out of a manga.

“Kamiya-san… what are you—”

The vice president tapped her shoulder, quietly cutting her off.

A silent signal.

All of a sudden, her involvement was being reduced to the minimum.

“What do you mean by that, precisely, Kamiya?”

I adjusted my glasses once more.

“Well, Yuuta. As you can see…”

“…to me, you sound like an attraction field!”

…

…

Holy crap, I actually said that!

And of course, that sounded way worse out loud.

Because that wasn’t just me stating a theory. 

Fortunately, no one was nearby. The library was practically empty.

It's the weekend, after all.

Though… don’t ask why the student council room was still in operation.

Hanashi-san, who rarely saw me this expressive, was already trying—and failing—to suppress her laughter in the background.

Meanwhile, I was doing everything I could to hold whatever remained of my dignity together.

Kasegawa Yuuta, on the other hand…

was visibly caught off guard.

“Uh… okay? And?”

Hanase-san completely lost it after that.

A laugh escaped her throat before she immediately covered her mouth with both hands, shoulders trembling violently as she tried—and failed—to contain herself.

“You seriously said that with a straight face…”

“Please stop talking for five seconds, Kamiya-kun. I’m begging you.”

“That bad?”

“It sounded like something a rejected manga antagonist would say before discovering electricity for the first time.”

“That comparison is way too specific.”

“No, seriously.” She pointed at me accusingly.

“You even adjusted your glasses right before saying it. Twice.”

…Did I?

Crap.

Kasegawa Yuuta meanwhile stayed unexpectedly quiet.

Not mocking.

Not confused either.

Instead, he looked oddly focused, as if he was trying to understand whether I was joking, insane, or somehow making sense despite sounding absolutely ridiculous.

Honestly, I wasn’t sure myself anymore.

But strangely enough, that silence from him made me continue explaining anyway.

Almost like I subconsciously wanted him to understand what I actually meant beneath the embarrassing wording.

Right.

Of course.

There’s no such thing as an “attraction field.”

That was just something I made up on the spot.

If anything, electromagnetic fields would be a closer explanation—

the way certain presences influence others without direct contact, shaping behavior, attention… direction.

So what I really meant was—

"I know it sounded strange."

I said while fixing my glasses that were already adjusted properly.

“But that’s not the point.”

I glanced at him briefly.

“You don’t force people.”

A short pause.

“You just make every other option worse.”

Silence followed.

“You call it an invitation… but it’s not.”

“It’s convergence."

Another pause.

“Like a field.”

I leaned back slightly.

“And you act like a magnet.”

“Not by pulling people in—”

“but by making every other direction worse.”

“In the end…”

“they choose you.”

My gaze settled back on him.

“So tell me, Yuuta—”

“Is this really an invitation…”

“or just a conclusion you’ve already decided?”

After finishing my explanation, I folded my arms.

But then, an unexpected reaction followed.

He raised both of his hands slightly—

and then clapped.

“Fantastic. You really caught me red-handed.”

Hanashi-san, who clearly didn’t understand even half of what just happened, looked back and forth between us. Though, her confusion was… more than understandable.

Honestly, I wasn’t that far off myself albeit it might be an understatement.

So what exactly did he take from that?

He understood it.

But the way I delivered it must have sounded like something entirely different.

I held back a laugh while saying that.

Or perhaps, it was just relief that I did.

Suppressing the lingering embarrassment from that first line—that ridiculous phrasing—I somehow managed to land the point anyway.

“Lorentz and Maxwell, right?”

…Oh.

So he does understand.

Oh, well. Of course he does.

As expected from a model student.

I gave a small nod.

No need to elaborate further.

What I described wasn’t anything formal anyway.

Just an intuitive application—

fields, influence, interaction. Covariance and equation.

The way presence alone could shape direction without direct force.

Call it electromagnetic analogy if you want.

Or just common sense, dressed differently.

In the end, it worked exactly like that.

And yet—

people still underestimate how often physics mirrors reality.

“You noticed it faster than I expected.”

I said, adjusting my glasses again.

This time—on purpose.

Glasses supremacy above everything.

But then, I glanced to the side—

…and immediately regretted it.

Hanashi-san was staring at me with pure, unfiltered disgust.

Her eyes narrowed.

Her lips twitched, as if she couldn’t decide whether to laugh or call me out on the spot.

No, she must have had been thinking I was being totally cringe and stereotypical on purpose.

“I see. So that was the message.”

He said, folding his hands again.

Except this time, it felt different.

Not defensive but rather, conclusive. As if it was absolute.

He closed his eyes briefly, as if organizing his thoughts—before delivering what could very well be the most cliché line ever said in a school setting.

“I’ll inform the prez about it… and let you know if she can do something.”

A pause.

“For now, I’ll leave you two. Bye.”

And just like that—

he turned around and walked off, raising and waving his hand casually, as if nothing significant had just happened.

…That guy. Just how cool he is.

Meanwhile, Shiro stood there in complete confusion.

“Kamiya-kun…”

But then—

she let out a small chuckle.

Short and contained.

But then gone in an instant. To be precise, just for a few seconds.

And right after—

a punch landed straight into my stomach.

“—What the hell was that?! Are you insane or just stupid?! And what message even?!”

Of course. There are questions. Too many of them. How understandable.

I said that while I was wailing in-pain.

Even she couldn’t grasp the flow of that conversation.

I exhaled quietly, and slowly but surely as well.

Now, how was I supposed to explain this?