A Sweet & Savory Condition

Okada and I watched as Tomio wolfed down a far-from-healthy amount of sweets. The more I hung out with Tomio, the more I felt like a babysitter. Since he was completely engrossed in his snack, I turned to face Okada who was right next to me.

“So how are we gonna go about this deal of ours, I’m not exactly the sociable-type y’know.”

She continued to watch Tomio eat before turning to face me and replying.

“After getting to know you for a day, I agree that my initial plan may not work.”

The “one condition” of hers involved me getting to know this crush of hers. Basically, she wanted me to infiltrate his friend group, become his friend, and learn everything about him. While doing this, I’d relay this information to her, so she’d be able to appeal to him more.

“Okada, that was the dumbest idea I’ve ever heard.”

“Huh? It was well thought out!”

“Are you serious right now?”

Yes. Yes she was serious, her tone was both as real and as shocked as could be. Like she hadn’t expected her plan to be bad at all.

“Why don’t you just tell him how you feel?” I continued.

“A-Are you crazy? I can’t do that.” She folded her arms across her chest and turned away from me.

Am I crazy? You’re the crazy one!

I let out a heavy audible sigh, making it clear how tiring she could be.

“You sure sigh a lot.” She retorted, probably picking up on my signal but still being stubborn.

“I’m being serious, you should just ask him.” I attempted to push my point further.

She sat silently again, watching Tomio eat. I watched as a realization struck her and her face lit up. Was she finally going to agree to common sense?

“Inoue, instead of becoming friends with him, you should just stalk him for a f-“

I knocked her over the head several times. Making sure that she wouldn’t finish her sentence. As onlookers passed by, I smiled and waved.

“Okay, okay, you’re right.” Ding, ding. I won.

She rested her head on the table. Tomio paid no mind.

“How do I do this though?” She asked me, her face still planted in the table.

“I’m not the right person to ask for that, don’t you have close friends that you can to about this?”

“Uh, they don’t know, and I have no intention of telling them.”

What am I to you, huh? A therapist? Counselor?

I kept my thoughts to myself. If whatever came out of my mouth next was of no substance, she might rescind her decision to join the club. After giving it some thought, my lackluster experience in relationships and such were far beyond my knowledge. As a guy though…

“Maybe you could try giving him chocolate or something to see how he reacts.”

“Chocolate?” Tomio looked up.

“You don’t have to give it to him directly, maybe drop it in his locker or something to see if he’s interested in that kind of thing. Make sure it’s obvious that it’s from a girl.”

She still didn’t look convinced.

“Okay, imagine this. You receive a present that’s clearly from a guy in your locker. You’d be excited because you’re interested in a relationship like that and the thought that it might be from a special someone would spur you on. On the other hand, if I were to receive something like that, I probably wouldn’t care at all. Honestly, I’d probably end up handing the chocolates to Tomio.” As my thoughts flowed out of my mouth, my eyes wandered over to him. His complete attention had switched from the pastries over to us.

“I guess that makes sense.” Okada scratched at her chin pensively. “I don’t know how to make chocolates though.”

“That’s where, drumroll…” Tomio proceeded to drumroll at my queue, “the sweets connoisseurs club comes in!”

“That makes it the first unofficial club activity,” Tomio added, apparently if it has to with sweets, his ears will automatically pick it up.

“It’s finalized then, tomorrow after school, the sweets connoisseurs club will have it’s first unofficial club activity. Operation sweets for Okada’s crush!”

“H-Hey don’t say that so loud!” Okada became flustered

“Sweets for Okada’s crush!” Tomio started to chant.

Okada went back and forth from just trying to hide herself from the embarrassment and attempting to get Tomio to stop. I couldn’t stop laughing.