Chapter 46 – Friends
Asanagi and I finally made up and promised to talk about everything properly during the festival. For now, we decided to focus on our work.
"Oh, Umi, Maki-kun, welcome back ~"
"You two are late! Were you two busy flirting behind our backs?"
"…We were busy cleaning the cans. Also, didn't I tell you guys to clean them properly before you collect them? So why are some of them dirty, hm? Nina, was my instruction not clear enough?"
"I-I'm sorry! …Y-you're scaring me…"
At that moment, an empty can cleanly hit Nitta-san's forehead and bounced toward Amami-san's side. Well, she was actually spot on. Our talk took up most of our time; the cleaning took way less time than we initially thought.
"Uhm… Anyway, we've got all the cans needed for row A through F, so we can finally arrange them according to the draft and connect them with the strings…"
While Asanagi was bully– I mean, giving a warning to Nitta-san, I gave out instructions to the rest of the classmates.
Also, I called out to Amami-san.
"Right, Amami-san, I want to change the color on some of the parts, so please come with me."
"Huh? Okay? Sure, but do we have to move places to talk…?"
"Well, I don't want to distract the others. Asanagi-san, come with me too."
"…Ah… Mm… Okay."
Asanagi responded with her usual tone, but her voice was slightly trembling.
That should give Amami-san an idea about what kind of conversation we were going to have.
We left the classroom since this wasn't the kind of thing that we wanted others to overhear.
"Go ahead, Asanagi."
"O-okay…"
I turned my back as Asanagi took a step closer to Amami-san.
"…Umi?"
"Yuu… Umm… about the other day…"
"Mm…"
"I'm sorry I was being selfish… I even told you to forget about everything… I'll tell you everything soon, okay? Do you mind waiting…?"
"Mhm, I don't mind."
Amami-san easily accepted Asanagi's request.
"Eh? A-are you sure? Even though I wronged you?"
"Of course! Aren't we best friends? If you think you need more time to tell me everything, sure, I can wait."
While it would be normal for her to hold a small grudge over this, Amami-san instead showed Asanagi her usual carefree smile.
I guess we're both the same kind of person, huh?
"That's that. Good for you, Asanagi."
"Mm… Thank you, Yuu…"
"No problem~"
For the time being, everything should be fine until the festival starts. As for what would happen later, that would be for our future selves to solve.
"Oh, right, Maehara, thank you."
"You finally remembered that I'm here, huh?"
"Yeah, your presence is thin, after all."
"Woah, so cruel…"
"Hehe, I'll take that as a compliment."
Yeah, this was the Asanagi I knew. The reliable, cool girl who would sometimes show her mischievous side.
*Stare~
Since she found out anyway, I decided to stop pretending to be a reserved guy and talked in my normal tone. This resulted in Amami-san giving us quite the glare.
"Hey, Umi, Maki-kun."
"W-what is it, Yuu?"
"Y-yes?"
"You guys became friends two months ago, right?"
"U-Uhh… yeah…"
"…Around that long, yeah…"
"…"
She studied our faces closely with a difficult expression.
"You two…"
"Hm?"
"Yes?"
"You two are just friends, right?"
""Y-yes…""
"Hmmm…."
She let out a low hum as her frown deepened.
I could understand her skepticism. It was hard to believe that we were merely friends since we definitely did things that normal friends wouldn't do. But it wasn't like we were lovers or anything…
We were certain that we were at least friends though.
"…Oh well, I'll leave it at this, for now."
"O-okay…"
"T-thank you…?"
"Yeah, yeah, now that everything is done, we should hurry back to the classroom. Umi, Maki-kun, you have to supervise everyone's work, right?"
Amami-san quickly shifted her mood, leaving the two of us in an awkward mood instead.
The festival will start in three weeks, I hoped that it would come sooner though.
Anyway, I left them and went to the staff room to return the storage room key to Yagisawa-sensei.
"Here's the key, Yagisawa-sensei."
"Mm? Ah, thanks for the hard work, Maehara-kun. So, how is everything? Tell me, tell me~"
While I was working hard, she was sipping her coffee carefreely like this…
Even though I was supposed to be a hopeless loner, she dragged me into the spotlight by making me the representative for the committee… Seriously, what a horrible person… Well, the lottery part was completely on me for having such rotten luck, but she was the one who started the whole thing, so she shared the blame.
"Ah, right… We might have to stay the night the day before the festival, can I get an application form in advance?"
"Sure, I'll give you a copy of it tomorrow."
"Alright… Then, excuse me…"
"Ah, Maehara-kun, wait a second."
"Yes?"
I thought we were done, but it seemed like she still had other business with me.
"Mm yes. You look tired, but you're giving off a different air than before. How should I say this? You look cool."
"…I see… Then, please excuse me."
"You still need to work on your friendliness though."
"…Thanks for your input… Please excuse me, everyone is waiting for me…"
I ignored her and left the staff room.
What was she on about? Me? Gave off a different air?
"…Cool…"
I took out my phone and looked at my face using the LCD screen as a mirror.
"…Cool, huh?"
…If anything, my face looked boring rather than cool. Seriously, what was she on about?