Chapter 73 – A New Connection

I didn't expect to come back here so soon.

"Maehara!"

I guessed correctly. Seki-kun was sitting alone on a bench behind the club building while drinking some milk.

He was supposed to be one of the centers of the class, but the way he slumped over the bench made him look quite pathetic.

I felt pity for him.

"Mind if I take a seat, Seki-kun?"

"S-sure…"

He wiped his tears with his sleeve as he noticed me coming closer.

As expected, he got rejected. 

I didn't come here to make fun of him, so I just sat beside him without saying anything.

"I didn't expect you to come here, Maehara…"

"Considering what happened yesterday, of course I'll come to check on you."

"So, what did the others say? I know they were watching me…"

"Who knows? I don't speak monkey, I don't know what they were talking about."

"Woah, Maehara, chill… That's actually kinda fucked, you know?"

"Hey, it's a perfect chance to say that line. Besides, doesn't it sound cool?"

"True, hahaha."

He was surprised, but I could see his smile beneath that expression.

I always tried to avoid him because he looked so intimidating to me. Now I kind of regretted it, he was so easy to talk to.

"So, what are you doing here? You want to comfort me?"

"If that's what you want, sure. I have a few cheesy lines in my arsenal."

"No thanks, I don't need that. Buy me some lunch instead. The cafeteria lunch set A, it's only five hundred yen."

"How about some udon instead? It's a hundred and ninety yen each."

"You're so stingy."

I got and spent most of my allowances on Fridays lately, because of that I was scraping for money for the rest of the week.

However, I've been making my own lunch, so it hasn't become an issue.

And I wasn't planning to buy anything in particular, so I didn't really need to keep too much money around.

"Seki-kun, you got too impatient. The timing was off, man."

"Yeah, well… I originally only planned to ask her out to go with me to the Christmas party, but I got so nervous and that happened… The worst thing is that I blanked out and can't even remember what I said to her…"

'I'm sorry.'

According to him, it seemed like Amami-san gave him a polite bow as she rejected his confession. They talked for a while, but because of his nervousness, he couldn't even remember the conversation.

Well, that should be proof that his feelings were genuine, so I shouldn't blame him for his mess up. I'm curious about Amami-san though.

After she rejected his confession, she didn't immediately go back to the classroom, instead she called Umi over.

Her behavior was different than usual. Did something happen to her?

"Seki-kun, I'm asking out of curiosity, but… You didn't do anything weird to Amami-san, did you?"

"Of course not, just look at me, how could I even manage to do that?"

"Right…"

I'm a little curious about what they were talking about, but I'm not curious enough to pry deeply about it. Umi probably won't tell me even if I asked her later.

There's nothing I can do to help Seki-kun right now, sadly.

"Seki-kun…"

"Hm?"

"I know you just got rejected but… Do you still love Amami-san?"

"…Hold back a little, will you? …Well, it's okay, what's the point of fussing over it… I'll tell you everything…"

He looked embarrassed as he forced the words out of his mouth.

"I'm not that strong… Getting rejected and immediately getting over my feelings… I can't do that… So, yeah, I still love her… A lot…"

"Hmm… Then, if I tell you that I'll help you get closer to her, what will you do?"

"Maehara, you?"

Seki-kun at me, surprised.

"…I'm actually kinda pissed… You were just being honest with yourself, yet everyone laughed at you…"

His friends would most likely try to comfort him. Saying something like 'Don't worry about it', or 'We can introduce you to another girl', but at the same time, they'll still make fun of him behind his back.

This happened all the time. I've seen it happen many times back when I was in grade school and middle school, and the same thing is happening right now.

Honestly, this kind of thing disgusts me.

"Look, you got rejected once, but that doesn't mean you should immediately give up, no? Amami-san might seem friendly, but she is quite rational in deciding her relationships. The fact that she didn't mind hanging out with you means she sees you in a positive light, you still have hope, Seki-kun."

Besides, the reason why she rejected him without giving more thought about it was because she simply had no lenience to care about anything else. She was still focusing on fixing her relationship with Umi after all. But if their relationship was fixed, there was a chance that her feelings might change.

Yeah, she rejected him now, but who knows what will happen in the future.

"Since I'm doing this on my own, I can't promise Umi's cooperation, but I can help you out even without her."

"Umi? …Ah, Asanagi…"

"Ah… Whoops, sorry about that?"

"Don't worry, you guys are dating, it should be normal to refer to each other by your first names, right? …I just can't believe that you out of all people beat me to it… Also, Asanagi has been getting more popular lately, huh?"

"Huh? She has?"

Well, I noticed that her expression had been getting softer compared to back when we first became friends. Guess other people started to notice that too and now got attracted to her.

"Ah, also, it has been quiet when everyone found out that you guys were dating, but that's only on the surface… In my group alone, there were some guys who went ballistic when they found out."

Ah I see. Well, sucks to be them. To be fair, even if I didn't get close to her, she would definitely reject all of them. They should be thankful to me that they didn't need to hear her rejection coming out directly from her mouth.

"Anyway, let's stop talking about Umi. So, what will you do? I can help you out, though not by much, but it should be better than you doing everything alone, right?"

"…There's always more chances in the future, huh?"

Right. We were freshmen, there were two full years for both of them to develop their relationship. 

Knowing Amami-san, he'll need to go all out to win her over. If a rejection or two stopped him dead in his tracks, then he simply didn't have what it took to be with her.

"…Well, originally, I asked you to help me, right?"

"Then…"

As we were about to shake hands,

"Sorry… I'm going to do this on my own after all…"

"Huh?"

Seki-kun crumpled his hand into a fist and stopped it in midair.

"Rather than having you help me out, I should just hang out with you. If I stick with you, I'll naturally get closer to Asanagi and then Amami-san should be next. There's no guarantee that this will go as I expected, but at least my time together with her will increase."

He was trying to make me and Umi to be the middlemen between him and Amami-san.

"Well, that could work. But why though?"

"…Um… Saying it right now is kinda late, but…"

He scratched his head with his other hand.

"…I want to get along with you…"

"…"

I didn't expect that answer. I stared at him in surprise.

"Oi, don't go all silent on me! Saying it out loud is embarrassing, you know?"

"A-Ah… S-Sorry… You caught me off guard…"

Part of the reason why I decided to help him was out of spite for the rest of the class.

Of course, the main reason was because I sympathized with his feelings. 

"To tell you the truth, I always looked down on you. After all, you never talked to anyone and you always looked so gloomy. Sometimes, we would make up some nonsense about you."

"…Okay…"

"But you are actually more amazing than I gave you credit for. The cultural festival, the thing with Asanagi, and now this. I was sure that everyone would be laughing at me, but you came to comfort me. Even though we barely talked and I was the same person who tried to make an unreasonable request for you yesterday. Yet, you still came here for me… Your method of helping might be clumsy, but I could feel your passion and goodwill… You're a good person, Maehara, I want to be friends with you…"

"Seki-kun…"

"You can forget about the matter with Amami-san, Maehara… I don't need anything like that right now… I just want to be friends with you…"

I tried to get out of my comfort zone for once and I'm thankful that I decided to do it.

A new friend that wasn't Umi or Amami-san… I've come a long way…

"Got it. Then, I'll be in your care from now on…"

"Likewise, let's get along well, Maehara… No, Maki."

"Sure… Nozomu… Can I call you that?"

"Yeah, go ahead."

Seki-kun, no, Nozomu then grabbed my hand and shook it. It was a sign that we'll be friends from now on.

And this matter was finally settled. I wanted to tell Umi about everything, I'm kind of curious what she would say.