Chapter 5 (1/2)
Mochizuki Souta
Birthday: September 3
Horoscope Sign: Virgo
Blood Type: B
Natsuki’s childhood friend In the Film Club Can be honest to a fault, and is often teased by his friends
—–
practice 5
His school uniform still felt stiff on his body
Even after a week had passed since the end of suain
‘Come to think of it, I was absent for the first day back this year, too…’
Although it was because the first day back at school had overlapped with craitimate excuse to not have to see Koyuki
Ever since he’d caught his between them had been like a cold war
‘…Somehow, this summer vacation felt really short’
As he headed for short hoot the better of him, and he unbuttoned his collar
Although summer vacation itself had ended in a flash, the heat of suht melt
‘Ugh, speak of the devil…’
Looking out the , he saw Koyuki crouched down in front of a flowerbed Back when he’d met him at the park, his skin had been even paler than Natsuki’s, but after tending to the flowerbeds outside as part of his club activities, it seeotten a bit tanned
Yuu stopped walking, and watched his head of soft hair move restlessly
‘I guess he really does have a crush on Natsuki, huh…’
He’d suspected as such a while back, due to the fact that Koyuki looked at Natsuki in a way that ht of her as more than just a classmate or a friend that shared the same interests
What confirmed his doubts were the words that Koyuki had said to him at the park
“It isn’t fair of you to do this if you aren’t going to compete!”
Heto be Natsuki’s boyfriend
‘Still, it’s not like Ayase’s confessed yet, either’
If he had, Natsuki would have shown some kind of reaction
He’d tried asking her about it offhandedly, but it didn’t seem like he had, after all
“Like I’”
The day after he’d walked her ho Natsuki had said to him when she’d stormed up to his room
She told hi because she’d been started by Yuu’s sudden aggressiveness
Although it sounded like a bad excuse, he decided not to push it any else that bothered him even more
“Then what about Ayase hugging you? What was that all about?”
Natsuki had widened her eyes, and then nervously averted her gaze
Yuu stared at her, waiting patiently for an answer as to not juain
Before long, Natsuki crossed her ar her head,
“Why was he hugging me?”
That’s what I wanna know!
Holding back the urge to screa more questions
But since she only laughed and promptly replied with, “I don’t really reive up
Moreover, after getting annoyed over how clueless Natsuki was, they’d ended up getting into an argu up for the day
‘Although, thanks to Hina butting in, we started talking like usual again by the next day…’
Natsukilike an invisible wall had been wedged between them
They’d stopped doing confession rehearsals lately, and even when they tried chatting, it felt strangely aard
“…Wish everything would just work themselves out…”
As if he’d heard him mutter this to himself, Koyuki turned to face in his direction
Feeling their eyes meet, Yuu quickly moved away from the
‘Wait, what a away for?’
He thought, and looked out theagain, but Koyuki was already nowhere to be seen
“…Guess I’ll head over for my club activities too”
♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥
Face-to-face with Haruki and Souta in the club rooes of the script , covered in sticky notes
He snuck a glance at the other two, and noticed they were acting a bit strangely They kept suddenly going back a page, or turning several pages at once at weird tis
‘Well, with how dark those circles under their eyes are, I guess it’s a given they’re kinda out of it’
Ais done; there’s a lot of editing that has to be done before the final product
Counting backwards from the deadline date, they didn’t havethe scenes
‘They’ve been working hard with fil even when I have cram school, huh…’
Now, it was Yuu’s turn to take the baton
He tightened his grip on the script in his hand, and spoke up in a firm voice
“So basically, we’ve filmed all the scenes that we’re able to at the moment I’ll help check them over for now”
“…Yeah, thanks,”
Haruki answered in a slightly hoarse voice, and beside him, Souta nodded limply
He felt bad for pressing the how far everyone was, it would be hard to etic, Yuu opened hisnotes and continued
“Mochita, how are Hayasaka’s drawings co?”
“…Um, well, about that…”
As Souta struggled to answer, Yuu glanced over at Haruki
However, Haruki only shook his head loosely and gestured at Souta with his chin
‘Guess that he e of this’
At first, Haruki had also helped in contacting Akari, but in the end, that task had been left solely to Souta They’d been contacting each other through text es, but since Souta still seemed pretty nervous about it despite that, Yuu had been a bit worried…
“Don’t tell me you’ve lost contact with her?”
“Have you even been texting her like you’re supposed to?”
“What?! Come on, of course I have!”
As Souta furrowed his brows in annoyance, Yuu and Haruki cracked jokes at him one after another
“Even so, weren’t you about to pass out the last tiuys met in person?”
“If I hadn’t acted quickly enough and taken over when I did, he would’ve fainted right then and there”
“Th-Thanks a lot for savingfine on o to see see how much she’s done once a week”
Souta pounded his chest in triumph, but in contrast to that, his expression darkened a bit
“If it’s going so well, what are youthat face for?”
“That’s because, um, well…”
As soon as Yuu called hiain
Just as Yuu was about to give hiers
“I know It’s because Hayasaka’s the probleht?”
‘Oh, I get it now He doesn’t want to say it because he doesn’t want to put the blame on her’
It turned out that Haruki had guessed correctly
Souta turned pale, and then nodded reluctantly
“She finished the sketch, and has already started coloring it, but… She said that there was still ‘soress since then to finish it”
Haruki nodded frequently, as if this was all very familiar to him, while Yuu held his head
“That always see, huh”
“And what’re estions fro you just have to figure out for yourself…”
Yuu stated, speaking fro bitterly, and then continued
“I tried asking her what she was stuck on, but even she didn’t see all philosophically, and saying things like, ‘What is love, anyway?’”
“Ughhh, this seriously isn’t good…”
As Yuu scratched the back of his head, Haruki immediately asked, “Why’s that?”
Souta seemed surprised by Haruki’s words, and turned to stare at him
Even with two people staring him down, Haruki didn’t seem particularly fazed, and spoke absently,
“Look, it’s not like Hayasaka was saying ‘What is love?’ in a really philosophical way, like ‘What is the et it, that’s all”
“…I-I still don’t understand Can you say that one more time?”
“Mochita, you’re just thinking too hard Listen, it basicallyanyone That’s it”
After he’d said that, it was so quiet that you could hear a pin drop
Putting it in Haruki’s words, that meant that Akari hadn’t had her first love yet, even since entering high school
‘Well, it’s not like she’s completely oblivious Everyone has at least some experience with love’
While Yuu thought to himself quietly, Souta slowly spoke up
“Come to think of it, Akarin was my first love…”
“Mochita, quit blushi+ng when you’re the one saying that… You’ll make me feel embarrassed too”
“Like you’re one to talk when you can’t even face your first love,”
Haruki snickered at Yuu, rimace
‘You’re the last person I want to hear that from,’
Yuu wanted to snap back, but since it’d just sound like he was picking a fight, he kept those words to himself
Instead, he asked teasingly,
“Speaking of which… Haruki, how are things between you and Aida?”
“Same as usual? Or, well actually, she said she can’t walk home with me for a while”
Due to how casually he’d said it, their initial reactions were delayed
After lowly processing those words, brains sluggish from the heat, it finally clicked
“…What? Wait, hold on ato distance herself from you?”
“Yeah, so here!”
Souta jumped up from his seat as well, and pointed at Haruki fervently
However, Haruki only leaned forward on the desk, propping up his chin with the pal a variety TV show in his living room
“Wow, you guys sure have some fiery reactions!”
“You’re the one that’s too cold, Haruki! Are you really fine with that? Did you ask her why?”
Haruki looked up at the ceiling before replying, as if it was too hard to look at Souta acting so worried like this was his problem
“H busy with the art contest”
“So it’s not because of you or anything, then That’s good”
“Geez, don’t worry us like that…”
Yuu also breathed a sigh of relief, but he cainal question
When he’d asked hi between hih Yuu had intentionally avoided phrasing ithappen with you and Aida yet?” Haruki hadn’t even flinched
“Actually, Haruki and Aida aren’t even going out with each other, right?”
“Ah, I wanted to ask about that, too”
As Souta took the opportunity to bring up this fact, it was turning into their usual two-on-one scheme
However, Haruki showed no sign of giving in, and h
He ignored Souta, as leaning forward in anticipation, and threw a sharp look over at Yuu
“And ould be the point in asking? If I told you that I was going out with Aida… No, that’s not right If I said that I liked anyone other than Natsuki, would you feel relieved? And then what?”
He felt like he’d just been punched right in the face
Yuu was as a loss for words, and could only stare blankly back at Haruki
‘He’s right I wanted the reassurance’
The nuain
And then, the first thing that ca
Even if Natsuki really did like Haruki, if Haruki liked someone else, then the worst-case scenario would be avoided
Ever since she’d chosen him as her confession rehearsal partner, Yuu had always hoped for those terrible circumstances
Moreover, he hadn’t even acknowledged those guilty feelings, instead choosing to keep the like he was still on Natsuki’s side It was completely pathetic
‘In the end, it was probably just because I was jealous of Ayase and Haruki…’
“Hey, Yuu”
He wasn’t sure how long he sat spacing out, but Souta’s voice pulled him back to reality
Their eyes met, and Souta looked back at him with an expression of worry, but also a bit of relief
“I don’t really get what’s going on, but aren’t you hungry?”
“Huh…?”
Haruki didn’t say anything at first, and nodded as he started gathering his things to leave
“It feels like a hole could open up insince last night”
“Yeah, and you slept through the entire lunch break, too…”
As Souta laughed dryly, Haruki looked over at Yuu again
His gaze wasn’t sharp at all, like it was before Instead, the corner of his lips lifted up in a grin
“Let’s go get ramen!”
“…Let’s go to that newly-opened place It’s behind the supermarket”
Yuu rose fro info on his new favorite place
“Huh? You already found a new one? You sure do love ramen a lot, Yuu”
After that, things went back to how they usually were
As the three of thes, they left the classroom
‘…No, we can’t just go pretend like nothing happened’
“And ould be the point in asking? If I told you that I was going out with Aida… No, that’s not right If I said that I liked anyone other than Natsuki, you’ll feel relieved, right? And then what?”
While he didn’t know Haruki’s true intentions, for Yuu, those questions had
As soon he figured out what the problem was exactly, he’d be able to find his answer, as well
When they passed through the school gates, Yuu whispered just loud enough for Haruki to hear,
“You helpedThanks”
Haruki looked like he was caught off guard for a rinned and wrapped an arm around Yuu’s shoulders
“If you get duain”
“H-Hey, don’t jinx it!”
♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥
As Yuu looked around at the roster surrounding the brand-new table, his expression turned bitter
Sitting to his right was Souta with his wonton rareen onions; and right next to hiave their co in spite of the summer heat
‘That’s right, the rareat It’s the best’
Even Yuu’s shouyu raood that he already wanted seconds
This place was a hit, no doubt about it
‘But why is he here?’
He traced his o
It had all started when Souta had recognized Koyuki fro excitedly as he ran up to his classmate, he was just like a puppy
“Yukki! Wait no, I ht now? Wanna come eat ramen with us?”
“Ahaha, you can call me Yukki if you’d like Ramen? Sure, I’d love to”
Souta had never called Koyuki by nickname before
But in spite of that, he spoke familiarly to him, and Koyuki also responded in kind
‘Wh-What just happened…?’
As Yuu stood there dumbfounded, Haruki had patted him smartly on the back and said to him,
“Well isn’t this a great opportunity? To have a nice man-to-man talk, that is”
Just how much did he even know?
Yuu was starting to feel scared that Haruki knew everything that went on with him
Although he was just about to ask about it, it would be a pain if the tables turned against him, so he decided to stay quiet They took his silence as hi no objections, and in the end, Koyuki wound up joining them for ramen
‘…Mochita really gets along ith Ayase, huh’
After he’d finished eating his noodles, Souta started bo for this chance to interrogate him
The main topic of discussion was Koyuki’s recent transformation
“Wow! So you got your hair done at a salon in Aoyaazine?”
“I thought I’d start changing how I looked, first”
“That’s true It really depends on which hairdresser you go to You look really good with that style”
Koyuki see coaze doards
“I’o so far…”
As Koyuki laughed weakly, Souta tried to encourage him
“Yukki, you should havethat you can just transform yourself like this, you know!”