Déjà vu 32

“Hey, monkey. Quit staring like an idiot and—” Kazama. Kazama? Oh right. Kazama. Damn, it didn’t work out this time either, huh?

“Haaaaah~”

“The hell are you sighing for?” The guy’s annoyance skyrockets. Of course it does. “Do you want to have a problem or somethin’?”

“Ya know, man… When one of your buddies is clearly having a rough time, you should at least ask what’s going on~” It doesn’t surprise me that he doesn’t. This is how this guy is, after all. If things go wrong, I might even have to get him out of the picture!

“Like you have the kind of heart that cares about everyday problems.” Instead of becoming meaner, Kazama sneers at me.

“Hey man, I can get worried about stuff that keeps happening!” How rude! And to think that I kind of don’t want to have to mess with him! That’s what I get for being a better person than him. “It’s like I always tell you: Big problems mean big annoyances. I care about those.”

“Right, right.” Kazama scoffs. “And speaking of…”

Kazama points with his chin at a pair of students walking through the corridors while chatting their mouths off.

My gaze sharpens.

Kamishiro and one of the girls walk past us, with the guy giving Kazama a worried look until he can’t stare without turning his head around. They continue to walk without changing anything, but I can tell that there is relief coursing through the guy since he didn’t have any problems here.

“What did he do to get so many hotties anyway?” I complain with a sigh. “Seriously, he’s completely useless. What kind of charm does he have?”

“Right?” Kazama shakes his head. “Idiot wouldn’t be able to score even if a chick showed him her underwear while they were alone. It pisses me off.”

“Oh? I didn’t know you were interested in these things.” Indeed, Kazama’s attitude toward girls could be described as ‘playfully curious’ at best. Most of the time, he behaved like a bully. So even I didn’t know whether he had a crush on someone or something like that.

“I hate when losers are dangled opportunities in front of their faces but don’t realize it.” Is all Kazama says about it.

I don’t ask any further, since his tone tells me that he won’t welcome anything on the subject anymore.

That’s fine. I’m not that interested anyway. I just know that Kazama has something to do with the way Akamine and Kamishiro grow closer.

I suppress a sigh. In the end, Kamishiro didn’t accept anyone’s confession. Right? I can’t be certain, but his idea of being there for those he cares about seems to be flirting without actually flirting… How contrived.

I’ve felt some real hatred toward him, but I can’t blame him if he doesn’t like any of the girls. It’d be like being hated for having a type! That cannot be, even when I don’t like him. We’re both men after all; it’s something that I ought to respect and forgive.

I walk down the corridors musing about my next step. I can’t remember everything that happened since the months passed in real time for me. But I still have the advantage of having some understanding of the future.

I check my phone for the date and can’t believe my eyes. It’s close to summer break! This time, I get to go to the beach and see some girls in their swimsuits! Finally!

I know Kamishiro gets to go out with the girls to buy their new swimsuits and gets some good fanservice, so I’ve been fiending to get something like that myself! Not like I have a girl that is so close to me, but a nice break at the beach sounds nice. I’m pretty sure Kazama and the guys hit on the girls once we find Kamishiro, so maybe this time I should try to separate them from him?

Urara-chan should be satisfied with one of Kamishiro’s friends. I’m pretty sure that a lot of their interactions are about Urara-chan used Kamishiro as some sort of errand guy, or someone who gives her stuff during lunchbreak. That could work.

Yeah. I’ve tried to let things run their course, but that doesn’t seem to work. There’s no need to rush things. I don’t want to go for the long path of going back in time again and again. But something tells me that this will keep happening. So might as well try some stuff out before I lose patience and start losing my grip on reality!

Even so…

I walk to the library and silently look for the girl I know about the least. She’s working on a laptop and sometimes peering over her shoulders to see if someone’s watching her. It seems like she still doesn’t want anyone to figure her out. Which, granted, is understandable given that online personas are… One has to be careful who knows you on the internet and—

Wait, online personas? But I don’t really know what’s up with her.

I stare at the girl for some more time, puzzled. I forget myself for a bit until I hear someone enter the library.

I hide and Kamishiro greets the girl like a co-conspirator hiding from the law to deliver some important spy info or something.

I feel like I’ve seen this scene before. It’s… Strange. I don’t know how or why. Indeed, it’s not like I actually have figured out much about why this is happening, how Kamishiro relates to my return in time. Or anything about this girl.

I haven’t gone back in time that many times, after all. The first time it happened I was so confused that I could only do a few changes, and even then my main concern was—

“Senpai.”

“GAH!” I jump in place, disrupting Kamishiro and the girl’s hushed talk. But I am drawn away so that they don’t see me.

Pulling me away is one of the, if not the, most popular girl in the entire school. The target of both jealousy and admiration from students both male and female.

Akamine Tamayo, who I’ve felt vaguely threatened by since I first came back in time.

“Please do not raise your voice in the library.” Akamine gave a quick glance at the two people that had been talking in a low volume thus far. But she seemed to find something that she didn’t like because, when she led her attention back to me, she looked somewhat cold and sullen. “Pray tell what Senpai is doing here? You wouldn’t be plotting something nasty, right?”

“Not at all, Akamine-san~” Seriously! What a strict girl! And how did she find me anyway? Don’t tell me she’s stalking me?! “I just saw those two lovebirds and was wondering what was up with that~”

Akamine’s reaction is oddly… Heartfelt. She looks shocked, baffled, bamboozled.

“D-Do those two really look like a couple…?”

“E-Er…” Even though she seems to want an honest answer, I’m unable to give one. It’s strange, I don’t understand. But behind that worried look, Akamine seems to be hiding something… Dangerous. “I-I wouldn’t know, haha. It’s always hard to tell with the weirdos that have little to no friends, right?”

Akamine blinks a couple of times but just sighs.

“…Please don’t call your fellow students weirdoes.”

I feel like I’ve seen this before. In a dream, or perhaps in the midst of distant memories. Memories that I couldn’t possess since I’ve only gone back in time twice. If I had seen something like this before, I’d definitely remember!

So why…?

Why does Akamine Tamayo’s glare fill me with so much dread?