Things Went Right, Right?

As it turned out, Arata was right for once. The group was able to finish off their homework after their meal.

"That should be all the notes written down." Arata said as he handed Yuki all the papers. "Since you'll be the one with the book, it's probably best if you got all our work." While she was apprehensive about the responsibility. Yuki accepted the task and put everything in a safe place on her desk along with her bag.

"If that's everything, then you probably want us out of your hair." Yogi directed that towards Yuki as she walked back down the stairs. He also gave a nudge to Arata, tilting his head to signal something.

Arata could only give him an odd stare since nothing about those actions gave him anything to work with. What did that boy want from him? "You want to pull out some of that magic you got?" Those words didn't give much else for him to know what was supposed to happen here. The only thing he could figure was that boy wanted to talk with him alone.

That couldn't happen if they all left with Matsu in tow. Especially since that girl would most likely want Arata to walk with her the entire way back. So he had to come up with something to get them separated. That's when it hit him.

"Say Yuki." He leaned into the girl. "Maybe now might be a good time to… Open up a little?" If there was one thing he could take advantage of, it would be the fact that he was aiding Yogi's cousin with her friendship issue. "You know what I mean?"

"R-right." She knew instantly what he was referencing, and it made the girl's heart sink like a rock. "Um, Ma-Matsu, would you like to stay here for a little longer? I just wanted to run some things… Um, I just wanted to look over our homework again."

"You do?" Matsu considered the offer, for she knew what that would entail. However, there was no way she could reject ensuring their project was proper for school. "Okay, I'll stay."

"Great." Yogi took Arata by the arm. "Then we'll be off. See you tomorrow." He hastily took them out of the door. There was barely enough time for Arata to put on his shoes before they hit the pavement of the street.

"That's odd." Matsu was intrigued about the display. The way Yogi was acting was different than she had grown accustomed to. "Anyway, let's go check out our homework." Of course, she wasn't one to delve any further on that subject. Not when they had other more important plans.

"It looks like there's no errors here." It didn't take long for them to double check on the project. Everything had already been looked at thoroughly before the boys had left the house. "And it looks like we've got all the requirements taken care of as well."

"Great, then we should get a perfect score on it when we present it tomorrow." Matsu was ever the optimist between them.

"R-right." Yuki was on the opposite end of that spectrum. "I guess you can go now, sorry for making you stay late."

"It's no problem." They chatted as the pair walked back down the stairs. She figured that she could attempt to catch up to Arata now that things were handled here, but there was one other idea coming to mind. "Do you mind if I ask you something?"

"I guess?" Yuki responded. "I suppose you don't really need my permission to ask, do you?"

"It's a little personal, so I hope I don't sound like I'm forcing it on you."

"If it's too much, then I'll just not answer it." Yuki remembered one thing that Arata told her. That would be to have the confidence to not answer.

"Okay." Matsu got a little excited, her glow was hard to ignore. "Do you know what type of girl Arata likes?"

"H-his type?" She was taken aback my the question. That was very upfront coming from that girl. Though she couldn't say that it was surprising, since she had known the truth of this girl's feelings for months now.

"Right, I figure that since you hang out with him and Yogi all the time. You probably got a clue on the type of girls he likes the most." That much was true, but Arata never gave anyone a straight answer on the girls he was into. She recalled the conversation he had with Yogi back during the convention when they were watching the cosplayers. The boy was either too shy, or uncertain to say with confidence on what he liked.

"I've only heard him say he likes pretty girls." That was the best answer she had for her. "But there's never been anything specific." Though that might've been her opinion on the talk of real girls. There was a little more she could ascertain from him based on their online conversations. Of course, those were in relation to fictional characters, but there had to be something he wanted in real life that was represented in fiction.

"But what does pretty mean in his head?" Matsu wondered aloud. "A large chest?" If that was the case, then she was out of luck with her underdeveloped breasts. "A certain hair color?" Her bright orange hair could be flashy, or did he prefer something more subtle?

"I guess you'll have to ask him yourself." Yuki replied uneasily. When she thought about it, her mind was filled with worry. For she too also had a stake in wanting him to like a certain type of girl. One that she was very well acquainted with.

"I guess so." She accepted the fact, and also came up with something while she was here. "So, you already know about my feelings for him…" She got a little meek with her next request.

"If you're worried about me telling anyone, don't worry about it."

"It's not that. I was wondering if you'd… Help me out a little?"

"H-help you with h-him?"

"Right." Not caring for personal space, Matsu grabbed the girl over both shoulders. "I'm not saying you have to force him or anything. But since you spend so much time with him, maybe you could lead him to… Notice me?"

This was far from what Yuki wanted to do. There were a multitude of reason for her reluctance. However, it was impossible for her to argue against those puppy dog eyes coming from the girl holding her still. As much as she was going to regret this decision, she had no better ideas at the moment.

"I… I s-suppose I can."

Meanwhile, there was another important conversation occurring in the area.

"Phew, good thing we got away from them." Yogi commented as they walked down the street, the sun beginning to set onto the horizon.

"How'd you know I could figure a way out of there?" Arata asked, confused about his friend's demeanor.

"It's kind of your thing." He answered. "You have a way of getting people to be right where you want them."

"I guess you could say I've gotten a lot of practice." With that revelation, he now knew that his actions hadn't gone unnoticed by the boy. A little bit of a surprise since he figured Yogi to be on the not-so-smart side of the spectrum. "Since you wanted us to be alone, I'm guessing you wanted to ask me something private."

"Yep." Yogi seemed to be acting like his casual self here, but if he wanted to keep something private. Then this must be something pretty important, at least for him. "I need help with something."

"Well, you know we're friends." Arata was fine with accepting whatever he requested. After everything he kind of hid from him, it was only fair. "So what is it?"

"Well, I was hoping that maybe you could put in that bit of that matching magic of yours to work."

"Matching magic?"

"Yeah, you have a real knack for getting specific people to be alone together and have it make sense so no one's the wiser." Half the time Arata ever did that was with Yogi as one of the people. If that boy picked up on it, then it couldn't be that much of a secret.

"Wait, if you want me to do something like that, then that must mean…"

"Right, I want you to help me get my feelings across. But it's also with helping me understand my own feelings because I can't decide between the two of them." He was conflicted with his feelings on two girls? Well, that wasn't much of a surprise since that boy had a harem not too long ago. Actually, now that he was thinking of it, Arata had the chance of learning who had a real shot with the boy. Maybe this could be his opportunity to start fixing this weird love tangle going on with them.

"Of course, I understand." Arata had to play it cool as he put a hand over the boy's shoulder. "Just tell me who, and I'll try my best."

"Okay…" Yogi felt a little bashful about admitting the truth, but it had to be done. "Well, I've known her for a while now." The way he put it, Arata figured that it must've been Akiba. Well, that could cause complication with Akaki, but he could think of something. "She's always such a studious worker, and she's really pretty."

"Kind of need a name here." This beating around the bush was making him feel a little impatient.

"Sorry, but I've always kind of had a crush on Misao."

"I see, well… Wait what!?" Did Arata hear that right? He couldn't have possibly just said Misao, right? Or did this boy say Misei and he misheard him?

"Misao, I like Misao." He could believe his ears. Here he was, talking with a boy that had a harem, and the one girl he liked among them was the one that wasn't even a part of said harem. "I don't know how to explain it."

"You don't have to." He relieved the boy of having to say something so difficult. Though it was only because the reasoning was the least of his concerns. Especially now that he remembered when they were talking about the type of girls they liked. Arata should've realized that the girl Yogi described to him that day was literally what Misao looked like. "What about the other girl?"

"Well, we're not particularly close." Yogi was just as unsure about whether to tell him the truth here as well, but they were too deep in to back out now. "But, I think I might like Hifumi too."

"...Of course you do." Why couldn't things just go his way for once. Of course Yogi would like the other girl that wore glasses here. And of course it was one of the girls that had already confessed her feelings for Arata as well. Of course… Well, if he was to list out all the ways this made things worse they'd be out here all night.

"Is there something wrong?" Yogi could sense the turn in mood coming from his friend now.

"No no." Regardless of what he had learned today, Arata was going to have to find a way to overcome this. Hopefully, he'd find a way. "Don't worry. I... Got your back."

By the way, they got a perfect score on their project the next day.