Co-conspirators

Tucked away at the back of the library, were a group of scheming students plotting their next plan of action. Two of us were practically pros at this by now. Nakamura and myself had gone through this same process countless times in our pursuit of victory. Our newest recruit, while inexperienced, held insider knowledge that we didn't have, and would become essential to the war effort moving forward.

Iwasaki blinked awkwardly, uncertain why I was glaring at her so intensely. Yeah, okay, maybe I was getting a little too into this. Let's back it up just a little.

After I had learnt about Shinohara's hidden feelings for Inaba, I felt it only right to explain the reasons for his outburst to the people who were worrying about him. There was no way I could just blurt it out to Inaba, of course, so that left only Nakamura and Iwasaki. Nakamura was of the same mind as me. She wanted to help them out if she could. Iwasaki caught on that we were plotting something, and begged to be included. She was just as worried about her friends as we were.

“I've known Shino-kun and Inaba-senpai for some time now, but even I have no idea how she feels towards him. We've never really spoken about it.”

“Then we'll need to put them in a situation where we can discover exactly what her feelings - if any - are.”

“You two seem like naturals at this,” Iwasaki chuckled, “you even knew a place where we wouldn't be overhead.”

Nakamura and I glanced over at each other, we both knew this was dangerous territory to be in.

“We've come here a few times,” I spoke up, deciding that a half-truth would be better than lies, “I've shown some of the stuff I've written to Nakamura before, and she's been giving me some pointers.”

“Oh, you like to write, Tachi-kun?”

“Oh, er, yeah. I guess I've never told you that.”

“I'd love to read it sometime,” she beamed.

I blushed, and quickly cleared my throat, “a-anyway, what can we do about Shinohara and Inaba-senpai?”

“Well,” Nakamura pondered, “we need to come up with an idea that would get the two of them alone.”

“It'd have to be kinda romantic, yeah?” Iwasaki added.

“Hmm.”

I contemplated everything that was being said. We needed a romantic setting that could elicit an emotional response from Inaba, and we needed a way of getting the two of them there alone. I recalled an earlier discussion I had had with Shinohara, where he himself had suggested a perfect romantic evening. In my mind, a plan was already starting to form.

“What about Christmas Eve?” I suggested.

***

Shinohara was getting close to the arranged meeting spot. The group had agreed to meet up under the Christmas Tree that had been placed in the central plaza of the station. Unsurprisingly, he was running late. He expected to see the rest of the club members all standing there with annoyed looks spread across their faces. He had been practicing his apology to them over and over in his head. Oddly, he could only spot one person waiting for him. Wasn't he the one who was running late? Where were all the others? Inaba looked disapprovingly at him as he arrived.

“Finally! At least someone's decided to show. Do you know how long I've been standing here alone?”

Shinohara couldn't help but think the sight of her illuminated by the tree’s pale blue lights was breathtaking, though he admitted to himself that it would have been better if she hadn't been scowling. He pulled out his phone, and checked the time. Where the hell was everyone? It had been Ren's idea too, at the very least he should have shown.

“Hang on, I'll try ringing him,” he told Inaba as he dialed the number.

My phone buzzed in my pocket, but I couldn't quite reach it. I was uncomfortably sandwiched in between Nakamura and Iwasaki, and all three of us were crouched among the bushes watching over our two friends.

“He's not picking up,” I heard Shinohara complaining to Inaba.

Suddenly, Shinohara froze in place. He made an exasperated face when he spotted the three of his friends all huddled together amidst the foliage.

“Dude, seriously?”

“What is it?” Inaba wondered, leaning over and trying to figure out what Shinohara was staring at.

“N-nothing!” He stammered.

He grabbed her by the shoulders and spun her round until we were out of her line of sight.

I stumbled around in an attempt to reach my back pocket, much to the annoyance of the two girls.

“H-hey, watch it!”

“Sorry,” I whispered back as I managed to pull out my phone.

I hastily texted Shinohara.

"This is your chance, bro. Make it work!"

Shinohara stared down at his phone, then looked back incredulously towards us. I gave him a cheeky thumbs up in response. Shinohara facepalmed before straightening up and turning back to Inaba.

“Looks like they aren't coming,” he exaggerated a sigh.

“None of them?” Inaba repeated quizzically.

“Yeah, looks like Ren has made some last minute plans with his family, and Iwasaki-chan’s come down with a cold.”

“And Nakamura-san?”

“Uh, she's gone round to check on Iwasaki-chan.”

“Well, this turned out to be a total waste. Maybe we should just call it off?” Inaba sighed.

Shinohara took another glance at us, as we shook our heads rigorously, hoping he'd take the hint not to miss out on this chance.

“I guess we could still hang out,” he rubbed the back of his neck, “only if you want to, that is.”

“It would be a shame to just leave now that we're here,” Inaba agreed, “I guess it's still fine if it's just the two of us.”

Shinohara's face lit up, “yeah? Awesome!”

As the pair walked off together, we finally stepped out from our hiding spot and I let out a sigh of relief. It seemed the plan was succeeding so far. Iwasaki seemed to be sharing my enthusiasm.

“They look so cute together, don't you think?”

“Inaba-senpai seemed happy enough to go along with him. I'd take that as a good sign,” Nakamura noted, “though we still don't know if she actually has any feelings for him in return.”

“That's true,” I admitted.

“Maybe we should keep an eye on them?” Iwasaki suggested.

We each agreed that this was the best course of action, and hurried after our friends, making sure to keep enough distance so as to not be seen. We slowed our pursuit once they had stopped outside of an arcade. Shinohara was gesturing inside, and Inaba followed his lead.

An arcade, really?

It was definitely a Shinohara move, but I wasn't convinced it was the right place to take someone like Inaba to. We crept inside after them and positioned ourselves behind one of the machines. We peeked around the corner, and saw the pair stationed at a claw machine. Inaba was laughing, perhaps at something Shinohara had just said. At least she seemed to be enjoying herself. I was starting to feel a little guilty for intruding on their privacy like this. Inaba pointed at one of the plush dolls that had caught her eye and Shinohara was inserting coin after coin trying to grab it for her. Eventually, he managed to hook one, though it wasn't the same one she had wanted. Despite that, she still accepted the gift from him gratefully and hugged it tight.

Iwasaki turned to whisper to us, “aww, she looks so happy.”

I nodded back in agreement before risking another peek around the corner.

Crap, they had started to leave, and were heading this way!

I pushed Nakamura and Iwasaki towards the exit, moving rather hastily to avoid being caught out.

Once we were outside, we slipped down an alley a little ways down the path. We waited in silence until we heard Shinohara's booming voice trailing off into the distance. We re-emerged and resumed tailing after the pair. Eventually, they settled on their next destination, a karaoke box. I recognised this place, it was the same one we had all come to once before. It was strangely nostalgic being back here, even though it had only been a few months ago.

“We should probably wait outside,” Nakamura stopped us, “it's not like we can keep an eye on them in the private rooms.”

Iwasaki and I agreed with her suggestion, and we moved to a spot further down the street that was out of sight, but allowed us to continue to watch the entrance. Now that we were stood still, I started to notice just how cold the air was starting to get. I rubbed my hands together and blew into them to try and combat the chill. It didn't really work, so I instead threw my hands into my pockets. Nakamura noticed my discomfort, and looked conflicted over something.

“Hey, are you alright?”

“Yeah, it's just a little cold,” I mumbled back.

“I was going to wait until later for this, but here.”

She rummaged through her bag and pulled out a small wrapped gift. Iwasaki's eyes lit up as Nakamura held out the gift towards me in her outstretched hands. I hesitantly took it from her, I hadn't been expecting to receive anything today. I kinda felt bad that I didn't have anything to offer in return.

“T-thanks.”

“It's really nothing, don't worry about it.”

I unwrapped her gift and found a pair of soft gloves. They were dark blue in colour and looked incredibly warm.

“It seemed like you didn't have any, and the weather's been cold lately, so…”

I thanked her again as I slipped them on, and she gave me a soft smile.

It felt like it had been at least an hour before we saw Inaba and Shinohara leave the Karaoke place. We couldn't hear what they were saying from where we were, but I made a guess that they were saying goodbye as not long after, they were heading off in opposite directions from each other. Once Inaba was out of sight, Shinohara stopped walking and called out into the night.

“Okay, the coast is clear. You guys can all come out now.”

Sheepishly, we made our way over to Shinohara, who stood with his arms crossed as he eyed the three of us.

“H-hey,” I waved.

“I can't believe you guys did all that…” he said, exasperated.

“Think of it as payback for the Karaoke night,” I joked.

“Hmm?” Iwasaki raised her eyebrow.

“Oh, er, nothing,” I quickly backtracked.

“So, how did it go?” Nakamura asked, pulling the conversation back.

“Nothing happened. In the end I couldn't bring myself to say anything to her.”

There was a silence between us after he said that. I think that we were all hoping that something would have happened between them tonight. Shinohara saw how disappointed we all were and let out a deep sigh, running his hand through his hair.

“...But it was nice. It gave me a chance to properly say goodbye to her, in my own way. So, thanks guys.”