Holding Back 1

Yurime was exhausted from another long day. It wasn't easy being someone a part of a club and a committee that had activities nearly everyday. The journalism club always wanted to search out for the latest scoops, while the library committee was designed to try and continue to find use for the building space. She played a big role in both and of course, there was also some other things a part of her life that added onto the stress.

That being the boy sitting in front of her after she plopped herself down at one of the library tables. Arata.

"I have something important to ask you." He said. Now, she knew that her two good friends, Ichiri and Hifumi had major crushes on him. And if that wasn't bad enough, she also held some feelings for him, but had decided not to pursue them. After all, considering the acts she had committed against him, there was no way he'd ever like her in that manner. Even if the boy had forgiven her. Yurime also didn't want to get in the way of her friends either, so it was pointless to even try.

"What do you need?" She asked.

"I think I've… Narrowed down my choices." In a surprise twist for her, he had nearly found the girl he truly liked. "So I wanted your help because the two left are Ichiri and Hifumi." Of course in a more disappointing fashion, she was now stuck between those two once more.

"I'd love to help out." While it wasn't the best situation to be in. Yurime was more than willing to lend him aid. To her, this sounded like a fair way to get even after all the things he had done for her. Not to mention that she was likely the one he went to because the boy was yet unaware of her true feelings.

"That's great." He breathed a sigh of relief from her accepting his offer. "It's been stressing me out lately the more I've thought about things. So it's nice to have someone supporting me."

"Yeah, it is." Why did he have to speak so kindly to her? Yurime still felt like he was giving her more credit than she deserved when it came to being a supporter. Sure, after countless times of him telling her he didn't hold a grudge she wasn't as harsh on herself about it anymore. However, it was not something so easily forgotten, especially when it had recent ramifications during the student elections. "So what is it that you need me to do?"

"I'm not so sure myself." Given his own personal experience, usually a supporter was just trying to get a person's crush to notice them. However, this was flipped with those girls liking him and the boy trying to figure out how to choose. "But if it was that easy, then I wouldn't even have come to you for help."

So that left them to brainstorm things to do after classes to try and find out their plan. Yurime, despite already resolving on the inside to not pursue Arata, did enjoy the time together. This was a rare opportunity to be alone with him. They kept up their flow of conversation with little issue despite the complicated nature of their subject. How much of it was because of how good an of actress she was, versus how close they had become was unknown.

"Say, do you like anyone?" Then, as they were chatting, he dropped onto her a question she wasn't prepared to answer. "I mean, are there any boys you're interested in?"

"Boy?" Her face turned bright red as she nervously pictured him as the right answer, but there was no way to tell him that. "What makes you ask that?"

"I was just hoping, maybe I could understand someone who was in love." He explained. To Arata, it wasn't simple to go to someone he knew that liked him. At least he could see it, but getting an understanding based on actions he had done didn't work. So maybe it might've been useful to try and find someone who had an outside perspective. "Just to see what I should be feeling for them."

"Ahh, right. I understand." It was enough to calm her down from the panic. Though she was still cautious on answering to try and not give herself away.

"You don't have to tell me who, it's not really important." A funny statement from him, since if he wanted someone who didn't have feelings for him to explain, then she wasn't of much use. He would've gotten better information from someone like Erina, who in his mind was still madly in love with Yogi. Or from Misao, who had feelings for someone who liked someone else.

"I don't know how to explain it." She said. Being in love was easy, but being able to bring that out into words was nearly impossible for someone only in high school. Even if she was one of the more literate types at this school due to her passion in journalism. "…" For a second, she was about to say 'you' and give herself away. So the girl took the time in her mind to replace all the right words. "With him, he's just always been there for me. Even when no one else wanted to."

"Hmm, I see." He assumed that the boy she was talking about must've been that guy who was a part of the journalism club with her. Not a bad choice in people to fall for, so he figured she could give him good advice. "Go on, and take your time if you need it." Arata encouraged her to open up more for his sake.

"He's a really kind boy. And I just love being around him, even when we're surrounded with friends." It was challenging for her to continue talking, as she was practically confessing her feelings to him without actually doing so. To him, it made sense where she was coming from. One should want to be with someone they love, whether romantic or otherwise. "And… And he's really cute too." Upon saying that, she had her eyes wide and fingers fiddling with each other from how hard it was to say.

"That makes sense too." Her nervousness was giving him secondhand anxiety. For some reason, even he was feeling embarrassed to be hearing her describe her crush. "I have to say, he's really one lucky boy to have someone like you in love."

"Uh… Thanks." Now that just pierced her heart from how unaware he was about it "But it doesn't matter anyway, because I'm not the only one who likes him." As he thought about what she said. Arata had in his mind the other girl that was a part of the journalism club. So both of them like that guy? It seemed that multiple love interests were common in this school.

"I'm sorry you're in that position." He gave her a pat on the shoulder to comfort her. It seemed as though the tables had turned with him now being the one lending aid to the girl. No wonder she couldn't help but fall for him, even after trying to move on before any rejection had occurred. He was the one who came to her, yet she was the one who benefited.

"It's not a big deal." She tried not to indulge in his touch by brushing off his arm. "I've already decided to step back for the sake of my friends."

"I don't know if you should do that." Admittedly, he wasn't sure how he'd act if he liked the same person as someone else. An example would be if he all of a sudden fell in love with Misao, then he'd probably still stand aside for Yogi's sake. So maybe the boy was being a bit hypocritical for encouraging her to not hold back. "I think that boy should know who's into him. Because, it's his feelings that make the final decision." This was similar to how he felt with the others. Now that Ichiri and Hifumi were the only ones, then he knew that he was tracking down to hopefully what would be the best decision.

"It doesn't matter anymore. I don't think he'd like me anyway." He frowned upon hearing her so sorrowful on giving up. Why was she so adamant about letting that boy go? Did she really care so much about her friend's feelings? Well, to him that wasn't a terrible trait to have. He could certainly understand and respect her reasoning. It was things like that, that had him like her more as a friend.

"It's getting late, so maybe we can wrap things up." He took note of the time. They had been in the library for an hour now. "You know, how about we stop by a place to eat?" Arata gave her an offer as thanks for helping him out today and for the foreseeable future.

"Really?" In the back of her head, she knew that if she wanted to keep holding back. Then she should decline his offer. But being with him today lit a fire under her that was difficult to keep under control. "Let's go then!" Yurime was far too enthusiastic over accepting.

"Wow, you must be really hungry." Of course with Arata, he was none-the-wiser.