Hitting on the Shy Girl

Now that Ryo had gone off to do his thing, it was just Red and me in the copy room.

"It seems like things are starting to fall into place. What's our next plan of attack?" I asked.

"Hmm."

He put his finger up to his month and pondered for a moment. After a bit he crawled up my shoulder and started rummaging through my backpack.

"What the heck are you doing?"

"Here we go."

He pulled out a pen and a notebook.

"Since that Ryo kid is dealing with promotion for the most part. You have two main objectives this week. First and probably the most important is the debate you have at the end of the week. We need to get you prepared for that."

"I don't even know the first thing about debates. How do I even prepare for one?"

"That's what you have me for. I'll put together a charismatic opening and closing speech for you and lay out some talking points. Throughout the week we'll practice in your room at home."

"That sounds pretty good to me. I'll admit I'm a bit nervous, but with you there, I think I can manage. So what's the second thing?"

"Girls."

"Girls?"

Red looked me sternly in the eyes.

"Yes, girls. In case you forgot, you only have a few weeks to get a girlfriend."

"I know, but pretty much every girl in this school thinks that I'm a creep thanks to the school paper. This isn't going to be easy.

"Well first of all we just need to lower your standards a bit. Are there any girls that are more... in your league?"

"I guess maybe one or two come to mind."

"Perfect, why don't we pay one of these girls a visit. I'll be your wingman."

...

"Alright, so who is this girl?" Red asked.

I was standing casually in one of the club hallways. He was perched on my shoulder, kind of like a parrot.

"We should be able to just catch her. Her club gets out in just a few minutes... Oh, actually here she comes now."

A short and timid looking girl with glasses came walking down the hall. Her black wavy hair was worn in a bob. The headband she wore had two cat ears on top and her backpack was covered with anime pins.

"Afternoon, Ikehara-chan. Do you have a moment?"

She jumped a bit as I approached her.

"I-I don't w-want any trouble Hako-san.

This girl's name was Ikehara Hana and she was a member of the school's anime club. I had spoken to her on a few occasions before and I thought we hit it off pretty well. We both had pretty similar tastes in anime and manga. For some reason though, she looked like she was terrified of me today.

"I just wanted to talk with you for a minute."

"Um... Wh-what do you n-need from me?"

She refused to make eye contact with me.

Red spoke in my ear,

"She seems like a shy girl. Try complimenting her to break the ice."

I noticed she had a bunch of pins related to a particular fox monster from a certain game series.

"Is that your favorite Poké-"

Red stabbed me in the back of the neck with a pencil.

"Are you crazy! I can already see the cease and desist letters flooding in from a certain game company that rhymes with Mintendo."

"-er I mean favorite character."

I intentionally knocked Red off my shoulder and rubbed the spot where he stabbed.

"L-listen H-hako-san, I'm n-not that kind of girl. I know you're a boy going through puberty, but you still have to control yourself."

What the heck is she talking about? That article must have given her the image that I'm some sort of perverted monster.

"It's not wha-."

She grabbed something on her backpack that looked like a cord.

"I-I don't want to have to p-pull this. Please..."

"What's that?"

"It's an alarm. A bunch of us girls got them because we feel unsafe with you around."

I can't believe the school press managed to damage my reputation this bad. I'm literally feared and hated by almost every girl at this school.

"But none of-!"

She wouldn't let me get out what I wanted to say.

"I'm sorry?"

She proceeded to run down the hall as quickly as she could to get away from me.

"That didn't go very well." Red said, sitting on top of my shoe.

"How the heck am I going to get a girlfriend, when everyone believes those rumors about me."

"Hmmm... During that debate on Friday, we'll use that as an opportunity for you to clear up the rumors about you."

"That's actually not a bad idea. Maybe if I'm able to address these allegations in front of everyone, that will clear up any misunderstandings."

*Bzzz* *Bzzz*

My phone vibrated. It looked like it was a text from Ryo. It read:

Get down to the school's court yard bro. We have a huge prob! 😟

I picked up Red and put him back on my shoulder.

"We better get over there. I got a bad feeling about this."