Envious

Arata was off in his conversation. This left the other two girls with very little to do in a strange store, by their standards at least. It also put both of them in an awkward situation of not knowing where to go, while also not having much to say either.

What was there to say? Matsu knew why Misei was here. Misei didn't know why Matsu was here, but she could make a good assumption.

"So…" Matsu was the first to break this silence. "I hope you've been having fun." She said. This was a struggle to not yell at her. This girl knew, though she also understood that she had no claim to Arata.

"It's been nice." Misei responded with politeness. The tension between the two could've been cut with a knife. Actually, it might've been too thick for even that. She was hoping that Arata would return soon. "I've been having a lot of fun, and I'm certain he's enjoying it too."

"That sounds… Good." Matsu had a fist tightly clenched. It was making her very upset to hear this. She felt so powerless in this situation. It took a lot to be calm in this situation.

"Yes." Misei responded simply. "I'm glad that you never confessed to him. It made it-"

"Why?" She turned to her, tears about to form in her eyes. "First you go and take him from me, now you're rubbing it in my face?" For a little while, Misei had a dumbfounded look on her face. She was misunderstood.

"I'm sorry." An apology? That immediately lowered her stress level. Replacing it with confusion instead. Why was she apologizing?

"Huh?"

"I didn't mean to insinuate that I stole him from you. At least not in any positive manner." Misei explained herself. "I meant it as a way to say that, your relationship with him worried me."

Unlike with Yogi and the girls that were in love with him. It was clear to her how close Arata had gotten with the strange girl that claimed that she knew him. It wasn't simply a matter of getting friendlier with her. That boy even had several intimate moments with her.

However, what broke the camel's back, would have to be his decision that fateful night. When he chose to close his eyes. There was only one girl that Misei thought at the time he would want to be kissed by. When she saw that happening, she just couldn't hold her feelings back any longer. That was when she made her move on him.

This was the choice she made, to enter this love triangle. Competition wasn't new to her, but the development that Matsu had far surpassed what the other girls had when she still liked Yogi.

Of course, things were made a little more different than expected when she witnessed Erina doing the same as her. Except that girl hasn't made any more moves since then, so she wasn't really competing here.

"The truth is, I was envious of you." Envious? That wasn't a word she'd ever think she'd hear the school president utter. Especially about her of all people.

"You're jealous of me?" She asked. "But, aren't you the one dating him right now?"

"I said envious." Misei corrected her. "And this date is hardly something serious." She admitted. Now that she had the opportunity, she believed that it has been squandered. And there was no one for her to blame, but herself.

Indeed, as Arata had felt about the date itself. She knew what she was doing was wrong, but she just couldn't open up to him despite her feelings. Even though he was being honest with her, she couldn't be with him. That was a major problem that she knew had cost her dearly.

"I envy that personality of yours." She told Matsu. "How you can be so carefree, and so friendly to others. I wish I could be something like that."

"That's how you feel about me?" Matsu couldn't believe what she was hearing with her own ears. The silent nod from Misei was the only answer she needed. "I never realized that, I was always so jealous of you."

"Really?"

"Yeah, I mean. I always thought that Arata liked girls that are more mature, like you." There was also the fact that she was feeling inadequate compared to a girl of Misei's reputation. It didn't hurt that she was also much more grown physically compared to her as well.

"Heh." Misei responded with a puff of air as a laugh. "I guess that's why there's been some animosity between the two of us, correct?" For some reason, just hearing that made her feel a little more relieved being in this girls presence.

For a while, neither of them understood this weird tension anytime they saw each other. Perhaps it was always known, but now the truth was out. It almost felt silly to her now.

"I guess it is a little funny." Matsu joined in with her on the laughter. "I'm sorry if I ever said anything to hurt you."

"It's no problem." She replied. "After all, I'm also to blame for that." Slowly, the laughter died down, leaving only more silence between the two again. There was only one more subject to talk about to clear the air.

"But then, about-"

"Arata?" She finished the thought. "Well, I don't hate you. I never did, but at the end of the day, we're both still rivals." Maybe on the friendlier side of things. After all, Misei has some experience with this.

"Right." Matsu smiled at her. "But just remember, I don't plan on losing." Misei returned with her own smug smile.

"Neither do I."

"There you two are." Arata approached them both, once he was out of the bathroom. "Hey, I gotta apologize to you Misei… Again." He explained to her that it was going to have to be time to end this date. His mother called and asked him to help her make some dinner for his sister's surprise arrival.

"That's okay." She said to him, though her tone clearly made it sound not fine with her.

"I'm sorry, and I wish I could give you an answer. But I don't have one." He explained more. "I hope you aren't too upset that I'm being indecisive." This wasn't how he planned on ending this day. However, life gets in the way and sometimes that means being patient is the only solution.

"That's fine." Unlike the last statement, this one wasn't as unhappy. "I would like a better chance to really… put my best self out, if you don't mind." Arata could live with that, but what she meant he wasn't entirely certain.

Arata looked over to Matsu, she was much more cheerful now. Not that he was surprised with that, she was probably happy over this date not going better. That way, she still had a shot. However, that thought made him feel bad. It kind of sounded like he was just stringing her along for the ride, just like Hifumi felt he was doing with all of them.

"So you're really going now?" Hifumi overheard them talking, hearing about him going back home.

"Yeah, I guess you're all free to do whatever you want now." He said, averting his gaze away from her eyes.

"It's fine with me." She said. "But if you're heading home, are you going to catch the finale for the anime of 'Mad Love'?" The show was about to reach its climax, after a long 25 episode season. It was going to be time for the main character to make his choice.

"Heh, you know it." That made him change his mood about what they were talking about now. "I always catch the episodes as soon as they drop. No matter what." He smiled with glee, surely that girl he wanted to win was going to get it. It just seemed like it given the development from the last few ones.

"Right, plus it's supposed to get an original ending, since you know, the source material isn't finished yet."

With that, Arata said his farewell to the girls. Now he was left with more things on his plate than when he started this day. Though at least he was feeling slightly better, perhaps when he gets back to school he can really get to work on resolving everything.