Feelings

I was on cleaning duty when I received a message from Yuuno-san asking to have strategy meeting.

“Who’s that? Your girlfriend?”

I quickly hid my phone and glared at the person who dared to take a peek at it.

There, Shuugo stood with a silly smile as if he did not do anything wrong earlier today.

As much as I want to help him, a side character’s job does not include having to deal with this kind of bullshit. If I had a little more strength on my arms, I would have punched this guy out of frustration.

My glare did not leave my face as he flinched in fear. I just turned my back at him and proceeded to finish things up so I could go to the meeting.

“Hey, Eichi… Are you still mad that I didn’t have lunch with you?” He asked with a pitiful voice that will make me feel bad for him. “I’m really sorry! Let me make it up to you!”

“No need, Shuugo Arisugawa,” I coldly answered.

“Wah! You’re really angry!’ He frantically reacted.

I sighed to myself and faced him.

“Okay, I’m just kidding. I’m not mad at all. I know very well that you’re the type of person that can’t say no most of the time so I’ll let you off this time.”

I have known this guy since we’re kids. I am aware of what kind of personality he has. And this is obviously not the first time that something like this happened.

“Really? Thanks, man!”

Shuugo smiled brightly and I squinted my eyes at that brightness. As expected of the main character with his signature blinding smile.

We soon finished up the cleaning and all that’s left was to bring the handouts to the faculty office.

“Leave it to me, Eichi!” Shuugo declared proudly.

I deadpanned at him.

“Now, now, don’t look at me like that. I can do this much myself. You have something important to attend to, right?”

Shuugo patted my back, ushering me to leave. He then grinned and gave me a thumbs up.

“Good luck with your girlfriend!”

“Idiot! I don’t have a girlfriend!” I rebutted.

“Yes, yes, whatever you say~”

Ah, there he goes.

If he’s going to tease me about having a girlfriend, he should worry about himself more!

___

“Excuse my intrusion.”

I entered the room where Yuuno-san asked to meet.

This is the Animanga Research Club. I’m not that into anime or manga but I sometimes read light novels so I don’t mind going here.

On the other hand, Yuuno-san is an esteemed member of this club. Her being the only member aside, this is still a functioning club.

“Oh, Tomoru-kun! Welcome, take a seat over there, I’m just finishing my research.”

Yuuno-san was doing something on the desk in the corner of the room so I did not bother her and just took a seat at other chairs nearby.

I waited for her to finish while passing time by fiddling with my phone.

I am already used to this room ever since our cooperation started. I neither like nor hate this place if I’m going to be honest. Such a bland opinion, right?

Of course, I have never felt strongly about something before so I’m neutral about things.

Despite being a fellow side character, I actually admire Yuuno-san for having something that she passionately wanted to do. I have no such thing, but being in this room with her is not a bad thing.

The first time that I went here, I asked her if she was alone in this club.

“There were senpais with me until last year, but after they graduated, I was the only one left here.”

“I see. Why didn’t you ask Yamazono-san to join you?”

That question made her downcasted.

“I can’t do that. Sarina-chan belongs to a different world, if people found out that she’s close to a gloomy person like myself, her reputation will go down the drain!”

I hate to break it to her but I realized that they were close with each other at first glance. However, there was no reason for me to say that to her so I remained silent.

“How about you, Tomoru-kun? Will you invite Arisugawa-kun to study in the library with you?” She threw a question back at me.

“No. It’s useless inviting that idiot to study.” I confidently responded.

“That’s not what I meant! Do you not have hobbies at all?”

“None.” I proudly declared.

“Oh, wow.”

Yuuno-san looked at me with both understanding and pity. I don’t know but I slightly felt insulted back then.

Going back to the present, Yuuno-san finished what she was doing and took a seat beside me. She put down a pile of papers in front of me and I took the liberty to skim through the pages.

This has been how our strategy meeting was taking place.

No unnecessary talk during the session, just a straightforward planning of our next course of action.

Silent moments like this are not bad at all. It was very peaceful.

I finished reading the plan that Yuuno-san made. It was well-written and flawless.

If we follow this plan, everything will play out well… yeah, not really.

Considering those two airheads, things are bound to go wrong no matter how simple our plan is.

“What do you think, Tomoru-kun?” Yuuno-san asked with a hopeful glance.

“Hmm… I think it’s great.” I responded honestly. “But you know those two…”

“Yeah, those two…”

We laughed dryly upon the realization.

“Whatever, let’s just try it.” Yuuno-san recovered quickly.

We discussed our plan for a while. We exchanged ideas and suggestions. Before we knew it, the sun was about to set already.

“Alright, we should just ask them what they think about their crush, right?” I reiterated.

“Yes. That is the plan for now. I was wondering that the reason why our strategies are not working might be related to how strongly they feel about love.”

I’m sure that our problem is not that. But I agree that asking them might give us more insight about what we are supposed to do later so I’ll try asking Shuugo tomorrow.

“That’s all. The meeting is now adjourned,” Yuuno-san declared.

“Oh. See you tomorrow, Yuuno-san.”

She responded with a nod as I excused myself and left the room.

___

“Shuugo, how do you feel about Yamazono-san?”

The guy who was drinking his juice unceremoniously spit what he was drinking and ended up coughing continuously after choking on his drink.

“Cough, cough, cough…. W-what’s with the question?”

“Just answer.”

“I love her.”

As if he recovered in the blink of an eye, Shuugo answered like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

“Yeah, no. That hardly meant anything.”

I squinted my eyes at him.

“What’s with you all of a sudden? You never asked about this before.”

I hate to admit it but I just blindly went and said that I will help him. That was a mistake on my part but looking back on it, maybe I should have interrogated him more.

“Oh, could it be…” He stared at me with a suspicious look as if he connected something.

“What? Stop staring.”

“Hohoho, could it be that you’re asking because you finally have a girl you like?”

He looks proud of himself and I feel a vein popping on my forehead. This brat…!

“Yes, yes, whatever you say. So? Will you please guide this amateur to the ways of love?”

I lied with a strained smile on my face.

“Ehem!” Shuugo proudly puffed his chest. “As your best friend, I will answer any questions you have!”

“Well, what do you think about Yamazono-san?”

“She’s my fated partner!”

“Erm… how did you come to that conclusion?”

“My guts told me!”

“W-well…. What do you like about her?”

“Everything!”

I took a deep breath to calm myself from committing the unimaginable at the moment.

This guy is hopeless.

The fact that he answered with that proud face and without hesitation did not help one bit.

How can I explain this to Yuuno-san?

No…

In the first place, how did I end up being friends with this guy anyway? I feel like I’m forgetting something. Who am I? Where is this?

“Okay.”

That was the only thing that I could say.

“Wait, Eichi! What’s with that cold look?”

Are you seriously asking about that?

I sighed and decided to ask one more question for Shuugo to redeem himself.

“How did you know that it was love that you felt and not just infatuation?”

Considering that it was a complicated question, I’m not getting my hopes up.

“Oh, that’s simple!”

Oh, this is definitely useless.

That’s what I thought but…

My eyes widened when I saw the expression that he was making.

Shuugo smiled fondly while he answered my question. His cheeks flushed lightly, he had that gentle look on his face.

“The first time that I met Yamazono-san, I felt like my world changed. I can’t put it into words but I felt something warm on my chest. While everyone looked at her because of her beauty, and I will agree because she’s the most beautiful person in my eyes, it’s not just her appearance that I love.”

Shuugo’s voice was clear, it was the same as when he asked for help that started all of this. It was full of sincerity.

“I love everything about Yamazono-san. Not just the pretty things that she has, but all of her flaws as well. I don’t have any reason but isn’t that what love is? It doesn’t need to have any reason to happen, because if you love someone, you love them unconditionally.”

I fell speechless right there and then. It feels like I was watching a scene in a movie. It was breathtaking.

Shuugo really… is the main character.

If Shuugo loves Yamazono-san this much, the only thing left to do is to confess. Yet, I couldn’t see something like that happening any moment from now.

He loves her to this extent, and yet... 

This thing called love is truly unfair.

The plan concluded, but I don’t know if this can be considered a success.