I Accidentally Triggered The Erratic Childhood-Friend Route! (Part 9)

Having arrived for yet another early morning of school, I make my way up to the entrance when, out of the corner of my eye, I spot Haruki back by the gate.

“Hey, Haruki!”

He glances up from his phone to see me by the school entrance, waving him over.

“Hey man! Surprised to see you here this early!” he calls out, jogging up to me. I’m glad to have finally caught him alone for once.

“Yeah, I have to meet with some of the club presidents this morning—you were right, the Gaming Club did have a pretty interesting proposal.”

“Oh! That reminds me, you know that game we were talking about a couple days ago?”

“Yeah?”

“Guess who managed to get into the alpha after all?” he gloats, smirking.

“Aw man, some guys have all the luck! I couldn’t play it last night—I’ve been too busy. I would have loved to try it out early, though.”

“Well, you know, it has been forever since we’ve actually hung out. I was thinking maybe later today we could boot up the game together and—”

THUD!

“Tomoyaaa!”

I’m knocked to the ground as a familiar voice tackles me from behind. I glance back to see the source sprawled across my back, looking over at Haruki.

“Hi, Haruki!”

“Hi, Yuka.”

She looks back at me.

“Tomoya, I have so much I want to talk to you about right now!”

“Uh. Yeah. Sure—but wait, Haruki, what were you saying?”

Haruki gives me an awkward smile.

“Um, never mind. It’s fine—you guys go ahead and catch up. I’ll see you later.”

He turns and walks off.

“Wait, Haruki, I—”

Yuka tightens her grip.

“I hope you’ve been having a good morning, Tomoya.”

I mean, I was having a good morning.

I push myself up, Yuka still clinging to my arm.

“I just wanted to thank you for yesterday.”

I give a sheepish smile.

“Think nothing of it, it’s what any friend would do.”

“Oh Tomoya, not just any kind of friend.”

She puts both hands to her cheeks and starts squirming.

“Well, to be fair, we have known each for a long time,” I concede.

“Oh, stop it.”

“So it only makes sense our bond would be special.”

“You can stop now.”

Seeing her expression start to shift—and realizing what’s coming—I decide to oblige.

“Okay.”

Then I keep walking.

“Wait, Tomoya! I didn’t actually mean—wait for meeeee!” she calls, jogging to catch up.

Not today, Yuka.

Not ever.

I’m not as dense as Haruki.

I know the signs.

I know how to avoid setting you off.

And I am not letting it happen twice.

***

As I make the rounds talking to various club presidents, Yuka shadows me the entire way.

I won’t pretend like it’s the end of the world—like I said, she does have an energy about her that makes it hard not to smile and feel a little more invigorated—but this adds yet another new variable I’ll have to deal with if I ever want a moment alone with Haruki for that heart-to-heart conversation.

Why does life always have to make things harder for me?

As we head down the hallway toward the student council office, Yuka continues clinging to me. When we pass by Shinomiya and her entourage, I keep my head down, avoiding eye contact. Even just talking to her is another chance to get saddled with more paperwork—and more verbal torture.

Thankfully, she doesn’t seem to notice me, and we pass by without a hitch.

I let out a sigh of relief.

SLAM!

Shinomiya steps in close, planting an arm against the wall on both sides of me, cutting off my escape and forcing Yuka to take a step back.

In the background, I hear squeals from her entourage…

…the legendary wall slam—oldest trick in the ikemen joshi playbook.

“I couldn’t help but notice you seemed to be avoiding me, Ubakawa,” she says with a playful smile.

“Nah, whatever gave you that idea?”

I avert her gaze, but she gets in closer, lowering her voice.

“You know, it hurts my feelings when you avoid me like that.”

She leans in even closer, whispering right beside my ear.

“Don’t you like spending time with me?”

I feel my face warming as I glance aside, only to see Yuka standing next to us, jaw dropped, her face flushing hard, clearly fuming.

“Uh, me and Yuka were in the middle of working, so we really gotta get going.”

Yuka grabs onto my arm and gives Shinomiya a dirty look.

“Yeah, what he said!”

Raising an eyebrow at Yuka, she looks back at me and shrugs.

“Fine, have it your way.”

I duck under her arm and make my escape.

“Oh, before you go.”

I stop dead in my tracks and slowly look back, suddenly feeling the air shift as her tone changes.

“You wouldn’t happen to have the papers I assigned you yesterday, would you? The ones I needed done by this morning?”

I gulp as I look back at her. With everything that happened yesterday, it had totally slipped my mind.

“Uh, sorry Shinomiya, I wasn’t…quite able to get around to that yesterday.”

“You didn’t forget about it, did you? After all, if that gets turned in late, you’re not the only one who gets in trouble.”

Maybe she should have thought about that before pawning her work off on others.

“Forget? Me? No, never! I just…left it somewhere. I’ll go find it and get it to you soon, promise!”

I try to deny it, but I’m fully aware I’m screwed—given Shinomiya is basically a human lie detector, and I’ve got just about the worst poker face imaginable.

“That’s…okay.”

Everything about her face tells me that it is, in fact, not okay.

She holds her anger back in front of her entourage, giving me a begrudging smile.

I sense that I’m going to end up paying for that mistake later.

Ready to get out of here and avoid her wrath I start to speed-walk away—before being stopped again.

“Oh, one last thing.”

I look back. What could it possibly be now?

To my surprise, she turns to Yuka instead of me.

“Yuki, I noticed you’ve been sticking to Ubakawa like glue. Did something happen between the two of you yesterday afternoon? You both ran out of the room in quite a hurry.

Caught off guard, Yuki starts to blush.

“I-I-I don’t know what you’re talking about!”

“Really? Your face is getting quite red.”

“No!”

“You seem upset. Does it bother you—the thought of people thinking there could be something more going on between the two of you?”

“Wha—I mean, I don’t know…as long as it’s him, it’s not the worst thing—”

“And what if he wanted to make it real—”

Now.

She’s making me pay for it right now.

Realizing what Shinomiya is doing, I immediately make a break for it.

“It’s not like I want him to ask me out or anything!”

A second too slow.

A powerful kick from Yuka slams into my back, sending me flying forward before skidding across the floor.

I groan, looking up to find myself outside the student council room.

Not exactly my preferred mode of travel, but I guess that’s one way to get there faster.

I take a moment to let out a groan before getting up.

“Interesting.”

I look up to see Shinomiya standing over me.

“Make sure you get those papers to me by this afternoon, Ubakawa.”

She flashes an intimidating smile, then turns and walks off.

Laying there, I realize my folly in thinking avoiding Yuka’s outbursts would be as simple as just not setting her off myself. I let myself forget that every other student is a potential landmine waiting to set her off.

“Are you okay?” Yuka asks, running up to me.

“Yeah, I'm fine,” I reassure her as I get up.

With her head down and a crestfallen look on her face, she starts to apologize.

“I’m sorry, Tomo-”

Before she can finish, I reach out and pinch her cheek.

“Ow!”

“Yuka, none of that moping.”

She looks up at me.

“Look, obviously, I’d rather you not flip out on me like that, but I know you don’t mean to. I’m never going to hate you for it, so just promise me you understand that, alright?”

“…yeah, I promise,” she says with a small smile.

I hobble through the door and over to my desk, where I take a load off, plopping down in my chair. However, it’s not too long before my moment of peace is interrupted by the sound of various treats being poured out onto my desk.

I watch as Yuka pours out more snacks than I’ve ever seen her bring. I can’t help but to chuckle.

“Jeez Yuka, I don’t know how you’re able to fit so much food in your stomach, have you ever considered joining the Magic Club?”

“Half of it’s for you silly,” she says as she pushes half the pile over to me.

The chuckle dies in my throat.

“Oh. That’s sweet, really, but I actually don’t eat much in the mor—”

I stop myself as she gives me a puppy dog look, her eyes starting to get watery.

“Uh…you know what? This looks delicious. Let’s dig in.”

“Yay!”

As we power through both our student council work and the snacks, I’m forced to hold back nausea—this is way too much food in the morning, and especially too much sugar.

As I choke down the last item on my side, she asks:

“Was it as good for you as it was for me?”

I die a little on the inside.

“Uh, yeah, they were good.”

“Well then get ready for snacks everyday!”

Panicking at the thought of dying of a sugar coma sometime this year, I quickly reach into my pocket.

“Uh, Yuka, I think I’ve maybe got a better idea.”

She looks at me, puzzled.

“I’m kind of trying to stay in shape for Sports Day later this semester, so I really don’t think—”

“Oh…”

Her look of confusion melts into dejection.

“So how about we do this instead?”

I pull out my emergency cinnamon roll pack and hand it to her.

“Every day, we can split one of these. How does that sound?”

“Sure,” she says with a smile, grabbing my right arm and cuddling up to it.

“Uh, Yuka, I’m still trying to write here,” I plead.

“No public indecency," Shinomiya jokingly chides as she walks by on her way to the door.

“Oh, that’s rich, let me think—have you ever once respected my personal boundaries?”

Yuka sticks her tongue out at Shinomiya, grabbing tighter onto my arm.

“Rules for thee, not for me, Ubakawa. Come on, you know the drill.”

She waves goodbye over her shoulder as she exits the room.

“Don’t forget those papers, Ubakawa.”

Once she’s gone, Yuka turns to me, pouting.

“I don’t like the way she treats you.”

“Yeah…I’m not exactly a fan of it either.”

“The singling you out, the mocking, all the work she puts on you—if you’d like, I could beat her up for you.”

Yuka stands up and starts shadowboxing in the air.

“I appreciate the thought, but I’ve seen firsthand how strong you are. We should probably refrain from homicide on school grounds. I don’t think it’d set the best example for the other students.”

“Okay, well, if you ever change your mind, let me know. I have to go—see you later, Tomoya!"

“Yeah, see you later,” I say with a smile.

As soon as she rounds the corner, I slump back in my chair and stare at the ceiling.

It’s way too early for all this commotion.

I really have no idea what I’m supposed to do about Yuka.

There’s no way I can reject her right after what happened with Haruki—it would crush her. But leading her on isn’t exactly a solution either.

Don’t get me wrong, she’s great. But I have enough on my plate as it is. The idea of adding a romantic partner on top of schoolwork, student council duties, and trying to sort things out with Haruki hasn’t even crossed my mind.

“Hey, Tomoya!”

And right on cue, the man himself arrives.

“There’s something I was hoping to talk to you about.”

I raise an eyebrow at the sudden reversal of roles, wondering what in the world is on his mind.

“So, I just passed by Yuka in the hallway. She was still friendly and all, but she felt a little more…distant than usual. She’s usually a lot more—uh—”

“Suffocating?”

“I was going to say attached,” Haruki says, giving me a disapproving look.

“And then it got me thinking about yesterday afternoon. I might be imagining it, but when she ran past me at the doorway…she seemed kind of upset. She didn’t even really acknowledge me. Did I…do something wrong?”

I rub the back of my head and let out a nervous laugh.

“Uh, no, of course not. Don’t be absurd.”

“Well…okay, if you say so.”

The look on his face tells me he isn’t fully convinced.

“I, uh, just came by to drop off some papers, so I’m gonna go now.”

As he heads for the door, I call after him.

“Hey, Haruki?”

“Yeah?”

“Don’t worry about it. I promise you, she’s fine. You can always trust me, right?”

“Right…well, see you later.”

“See ya.”

Not too long after he walks out the door, I see Shinomiya pass by. She glances at Haruki, then over at me, an eyebrow raised.

With a nervous smile, I quickly wave the papers I owe her. She responds with a small hand gesture—I’m watching you.

Then turns her attention back to Haruki, pulling out a rose and striding toward him.

“Is that my dear Kojima?”

I let out a sigh.

“I still have no idea where she gets those roses,” I mutter to myself.

“You and me both.”

Startled, I look up and see our treasurer, Ichino Rei (市野 零).

They have a center-parted chin length bob cut—black on the outside, with the inner layers dyed a bright golden yellow. Their features are distinctly androgynous, paired with pale skin, dark, almost empty-looking eyes, and a devious-looking smile that never leaves their face.

While I don’t think they’re a bad person, they definitely give off sketchy vibes. Shrewd, silver-tongued, and always looking for an angle, they’re constantly finding new ways to raise funds for both the student body and themself. They’re definitely a rule-bender—but they wouldn’t go as far as actually defrauding anybody…at least, I don’t think.

“So I guess you never asked her where she gets her roses?”

“No, I did—but she told me ‘A prince never reveals their secrets’.”

“Yeah, that tracks.”

“By the way, just a heads-up—the girls you had me distract? They know you paid me.”

“WHAT? And how would they know that?”

“Because I told them.”

“And why would you do that?”

“Because they paid me.”

“I paid you.”

“Unfortunately, not enough to turn down what they offered.”

“Ugh.”

“Best not to roll around in the mud if you can’t afford the price of staying clean.”

“I’ll keep that in mind,” I say begrudgingly.

I might have to reassess my analysis of their moral character.

“Here, on the house.”

I stare at the packet of cinnamon rolls Ichino places on my desk, then look up at them.

“I assure you, your hard work isn’t going unnoticed. I used to be the General Affairs Clerk myself, and yes, it’s a time-consuming job, and yes, you’ll make mistakes—but it does get better, so don’t let yourself get discouraged.

I say—stay the course. Who knows? Maybe you’ll even come to find it a lucrative launching pad to other opportunities, the way I did.”

“Somehow I doubt that, but…thanks Ichino.”

With their back already turned, they wave me off as they leave the room.

I guess I might have to postpone that reassessment…at least for now.

Maybe they’re right, it’s only been a few weeks—and high school is three whole years! Maybe things are just hectic because it’s the start of the first semester, I’ve got the whole year ahead of me!

So what am I moping around for?

I get up and pack my bag, getting ready to head off to class.

Sure, maybe Plan A didn’t work out like I’d hoped—but that’s what Plan B is for, right?

And tomorrow should be the perfect chance to put it into action.

Not to toot my own horn, but it’s a pretty brilliant plan—and I’m confident it will work!

Besides, my bad luck has to run out eventually, right?

After all…

…what else could possibly go wrong?

***

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