The Hunt for the Fourth Member!

3 days until we leave for the Okinawa trip. Aki, Tsukasa and I are talking all about it in the cafeteria and making a whole bunch of plans. It’s a lot of fun, until Aki’s face suddenly and randomly goes into shock. “Oh my god.” Aki gasps. “We don’t have a fourth group member for the field trip.”

It must have slipped our minds while we were too excited for the field trip itself. All Tsukasa does though, is shrug, and say, “Oh. No big deal, I’m sure we could just pick up some random person right now.”

We all glance around the cafeteria for anyone who isn’t sitting with 3 other people, but… “Everyone’s already got their groups of 4…” Aki slowly starts to look much more worried.

Tsukasa gets the idea to look up and down the hallways and classrooms for more students who could join us, but we can’t find anyone. No matter who we ask, or who we see, there’s no one to invite to our group.

As we peeked into Tsukasa and Aki’s homeroom classroom for people. I notice a girl sitting at a desk by the window, writing in her notebooks. “What about that person?”

“Aoi-kun, GREAT idea!! Heyy~” Tsukasa begins to skip towards the girl, with a blissful expression, but Aki yanks him by his sleeve to stop him.

“NO way, Tsukasa. Get back here.” Aki growls coldly. She stares at the girl with narrow eyes.

“Why not? She looks like the only option.” I shrug.

Aki’s still holding back Tsukasa as he tries to escape towards the girl. “That’s Chisako Kachimi, the nerdy sports kid. I’m surprised she hasn’t found a group yet, since she’s so popular.”

Chisako? I see, it’s the girl Tsukasa likes. Tsukasa rarely talks about her, so I don’t know a lot about her.

“Why are you surprised? She doesn’t even look that popular…” We talk quietly by the classroom’s doorway, so Chisako doesn’t hear us talking about her.

Aki continues glaring at her distastefully. “Nope, she’s really popular. Everyone falls for her shy, innocent girl-personality and looks. No one openly admits they like her because she’s such a nerd. But yeah, everyone likes her.”

Tsukasa finally manages to squirm away from Aki and pouts, while scolding her. “Hey!! Chisako-chan is the cutest nerd ever!”

I still don’t understand though. “But why are you so against grouping with her? Is it because you want to keep Tsukasa away from his crush?~”

“No, stop that! That’s not the reason! It’s because she’s my enemy.” Aki goes to a nearby desk and raises one leg on the desk, as if she’s telling a dramatic legend.

“The only one who keeps up with my grades is her. She was the most popular girl in class before I came. Which is why, I spend every single second of my school life to maintain my status above her.” Aki sheds a fake tear.

Chisako was the most popular girl before Aki? I suppose I understand… Chisako is quite a beauty. Her sunny yellow eyes are hidden behind large, round glasses framed with a shiny silver. Her honey-blonde hair is as long as Aki's, except unlike the layers Aki has, Chisako’s is just cut straight across. Aki's face is more childlike and chibi, but Chisako's is more mature-looking and slimmer.

In addition to Chisako being pretty, she’s also smart and athletic. I see the reason why Aki might be competitive. “But I thought you hated being popular, and having all your fans?? Why are you trying to be more popular than Chisako then?”

“Being popular is different from being better. I want to be better than her.” Aki scoffs.

Tsukasa sarcastically applauds at Aki’s exaggerated telling of Chisako versus her. “What a great performance. Chisako-chan is still better.”

“Why you—” Aki jumps off the desk like a bat onto Tsukasa, and they start bickering as usual.

Just then, the bell rings, and the classroom starts flooding with students. Before taking my leave, I pull Tsukasa and Aki apart like 2 fighting dogs, then sigh.

“I’ll see if I can find a different person in my grade to join us, so don’t worry about Chisako-san joining us, Shirasawa-san.” I reassure Aki. I look back at Chisako as I exit the classroom. I wonder if she’s as “evil” as Aki explains.

Back in my 2nd year classroom, I prepare to start scouting for someone to join our group.

But right when I enter my classroom, I come to the horrible realization– I’m a nobody in my class. No one would want to join my group!

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

“Ugh, curse me and my social awkwardness.” Hanging out at Boba Fans after school, I tell Aki and Tsukasa all about how I ended up not being able to even ask anyone about the field trip. Today wasn’t my shift, so instead of working, we all just chilled and drank boba until the usual time that me and Aki started studying.

Aki laughs and awkwardly pats my head. “It’s ok, I’m sure we can find someone soon.”

I look into her eyes with an anxious stare. “What happens if we can’t find another person??”

Tsukasa pops up behind me and Aki, like in a horror movie. In a haunting tone, he drones, “If a group is missing a member, a teacher joins them.” Both me and Aki jump at his sudden appearance, and Aki’s headphones accidentally bumps Tsukasa’s nose.

So a teacher joins us? Imagining how Mr. Inoue, my fairly young homeroom teacher, always reeks of farts and a strong scent of aloe vera (everyone in class knows, he always smells like a mix of farts and aloe vera), I shudder.

“Bleh… then we better find someone, fast.” I stick out my tongue thinking about Mr. Inoue.

Tsukasa perks up and puts his hands on his hips smugly. “Actually, I already got someone to join our group.”

“Who gave you the right to just bring someone into our group??” Aki looks dumbfounded, and groans at Tsukasa.

Tsukasa shrugs, still grinning. “You guys sounded desperate, so I just asked her and she said yes.” Turns out Tsukasa’s supposed to be working, so the boss calls out to him to keep making boba, and Tsukasa turns around and runs away and back to the boba maker.

“But who is it?” I try to ask Tsukasa before he goes back to work, but I’m interrupted by the bell on the entrance door as someone enters the shop.

Both me and Aki look to see who entered just for fun, but after seeing who it was, my eyes widen and Aki’s jaw drops.

“K- Kachimi-san?? Are you the–” Aki stutters. I notice her fist clenching under the table.

It certainly was Chisako Kachimi, the same one Aki hates but Tsukasa loves. Seeing her in front of me now, she sure is tall. Chisako probably plays volleyball.

Chisako approaches our table. She ignores Aki and bows politely towards me. “Nice to meet you, Katsuki-senpai. I appreciate the invite to join your group for the Okinawa field trip.”

“Oh of course! Here, sit over here.” I knew that the 4th person to join our group would be someone I don’t talk to (since I don’t talk to anyone), but I didn’t expect her to show up now. I’m not socially prepared for this!!

Chisako pulls a chair from the other table and takes a seat next to me. Chisako places her bag on the floor next to her and starts rummaging through the bag.

Meanwhile, Aki turns to Tsukasa working at the boba maker and snarls at him. Tsukasa just smiles, happy he got his crush in his group.

I whisper to Aki while watching Chisako. “She seems nice. She doesn’t seem like she hates you like you hate her.”

“No, we hate each other. She’s just trying to seem like a goody-two-shoes in front of you.”

Aki whispers back, rolling her eyes aggressively and sticking her tongue out.

Aki seems to have a passion for hating Chisako. I sigh. “Ok then…”

Aki clears her throat loudly and addresses strictly, “Anyways, Kachimi-san, I’m busy with Katsuki-kun. So if you’re going to stay here, please let us work.”

“Of course, I’d never do anything as horrible as interfere with your studying, Katsuki-senpai!” Chisako smiles a friendly smile at me, and Aki rolls her eyes at her smile. She tucks her shining yellow hair behind one ear and starts to read a fat novel she pulled out of her bag.

Aki shakes her head to get into a studying mood. “By the way, Katsuki-kun, what did you get on your homework yesterday?” Aki asks as she puts her phone down after finding a song to play in her headphones.

Reluctantly, I sink into my seat and show her a sheet of paper filled with red pen marks and a failing score.

Aki groans, and she snatches the paper while looking over all my wrong answers. “But you were acing our practice sheets that night!! Honestly, you’re hopeless.” She bonks me on my head and starts to scold me. But she’s interrupted by a soft and high pitched voice, which belongs to Chisako.

“There there, Shirasawa-san. No need to be so hard on Katsuki-senpai. You need to do it like this…” Chisako takes a notebook from the table and opens it along with a pencil, and starts writing and solving the problems I got wrong.

Aki growls, and wrenches Chisako’s pencil out of her hand. “I can do it myself, thank you very much.” Aki looks like she’s ready to kill Chisako.

“No no, I’ll show you how.” Chisako tells me calmly, and takes the pencil back. I’ve noticed that she’s never said anything directly to Aki the whole time she was here. Chisako’s voice right now is serene and soft as usual, but underneath her glasses… Do I see a vein?!

I scratch my head awkwardly. I have a bad feeling about them… “W- wait…” I try to calm them both down and I reach for the pencil too.

My hand is quickly whacked out of the way, and they both yell at me, “Stay out of it!” Both are clearly annoyed at the other, and I’m too scared to interfere… I understand now what Aki said about them hating each other…

Luckily Tsukasa comes in time before the girls start throwing punches. “Heya~ I’m off of work. How’s tutoring going?” Tsukasa’s presence forces Chisako to calm down, let go of the pencil, and revert to her cordial manner. Chisako smiles preciously at Tsukasa, causing Tsukasa to go starry eyed.

“Why’d you choose her, out of all people??” Aki’s still riled up, and squeezing the pencil. I had to yank the pencil away from her so that she doesn’t hurt anyone.

“I felt bad for her all by herself with no group, and my good conscience couldn’t leave her be.” Tsukasa places a hand on his heart and sighs with relief.

“No, you just wanted her because you think she’s cute!!” Aki huffs hysterically. She motions to me to huddle up with her and Tsukasa for a secret group talk. Chisako just picks up her book again and continues reading like nothing happened.

I whisper into our 3-person huddle, “What are we talking about?”

“We can’t have her join our group!” Aki strongly persists in a loud whisper, glaring at Tsukasa specifically while she says this.

“Yes we can! She’s smart and athletic and stuff!” Tsukasa tries to argue back, also whispering loudly.

“I actually agree with Aki-chan on this one.” I would not be able to stand staying with Aki and Chisako brawling every second of the field trip. “After all, I’m sure there’s other people who really really want her in their group.”

Tsukasa whines, but while whispering, so it comes out more as a silent groan. “I really really want her in our–”

“We can find a different person. Come on Tsukasa. Please??” Aki automatically stops Tsukasa from saying any more. Tsukasa squints his eyes, thinking hard.

“...Fine.” Tsukasa sighs, and pouts. “What do we tell Chisako-chan then? I already told her she’d come with us on the trip.” At this, Aki smirks and turns away from our huddle and to Chisako.

“Oh my god my stomach!! I must have drunk too much boba! It hurts so bad, I think it’s going to last 3 days! I don’t think I’ll be able to go on the field trip!! Well that sucks, I guess we’re going to have to disband our group and Tsukasa and Katsuki-kun and I won’t be able to go to Okinawa! So sorry to suddenly kick you out– I mean, lose a precious group member!” Aki bends over her stomach, acting like she’s in pain. It looks so fake, I can’t even watch her and I look away, covering my face with my hands in embarrassment.

“O- oh…” Chisako stands from her seat and picks up her bag. “Well then, that’s too bad. I do hope you feel better, Shirasawa-san.” She sounds a bit sarcastic as she says this. She pulls her sleeve up to check her watch for the time, then leaves the shop.

After she leaves, Tsukasa quickly pats Aki worriedly. “Are you ok?? Are we not going to Okinawa??”

Aki gets rid of the overexaggerated look of pain from her face and replaces it with her usual straight face. “Chill, Tsukasa, it was an act.”

“Jeez, Kachimi-san is so annoying. Trying to get on your good side, and steal you from me just to one-up me.” Aki ogles Chisako through the shop’s windows until Chisako finally walks out of sight.

Realizing what she said, Aki stops watching Chisako out the window and turns her eyes to me. Well, not directly to me, but her eyes dash around, embarrassed. “Wait, when I said she steals you from me- not that we’re together or anything- if that’s what it sounded like- I mean as a friend- and a tutor buddy- and- you know??” Aki’s all red.

“For real for real. And we can’t have her stealing Tsukasa from you, can we?” I wink at her, and I say the part about Tsukasa quietly so that he doesn’t hear it.

Aki just smiles unsettlingly. “Uh…”

“So who should we pick to fill our still-empty fourth spot?” Tsukasa pulls us into his arms as we walk out into the nighttime.

“How about that one dude…” Aki suggests. We talk all about it as we stroll together, all on our way homes.