“Good morning.”
When I called out to her, our class's little devil flinched for a moment before slowly turning around.
After confirming it was Yuri and me, she let out a relieved sigh, “Haaa~”
“Takuto-kun and Yuri-ka, good morning~” she said, her cheeks relaxing.
“Good morning, Erina,” the President of the Greeting Club replied. However, after her initial relief, Erina-san seemed to notice something and began to furrow her brows.
“I mean, why are you two going to school together, and why are you using this path...?”
“That's...”
“We just ran into each other by chance, coincidence, or fate just now. As for this path... no reason, really. Just because,” Yuri denied strongly before I could slip up. Well, we couldn't exactly tell her we were taking the long way around just to talk about Erina-san and Sako.
“Using a deserted, roundabout path for no reason...? Hey, Takuto-kun, isn't it a bit early for that kind of thing...? Erina likes that kind of talk, but keep it within a laughable range, okay...?”
“No, it's really not like that...”
Erina-san has a surprisingly strong aversion to things like cheating (it's rude of me to say 'surprisingly', though). I suppose it's because that's not 'love' to her. What am I even saying?
“Um, what about you, Erina-san? Why are you here?”
“Erina is— ah—... well—... For a change of pace, maybe~?”
“Well, I guess so...”
I asked back to change the subject, but naturally, it must be because she didn't want to run into Sako and the others.
Erina-san is also having a hard time, I thought, scratching my cheek. Then Yuri gave me a little nudge with her elbow. Right, I had to strike up a conversation with Erina-san.
First... right, praise her.
Feeling like I was selecting a command in an RPG, I chose 'Flatter'.
“Erina-san, today... um, what was it. Your face is well-proportioned.”
“What do you mean by well-proportioned...?” Erina-san tilted her head, slightly scowling with that well-proportioned face.
“Just say she's cute normally...” Yuri hissed in a small voice from behind.
...For some reason, I want to avoid using the word 'cute' as much as possible. Except for one specific person.
“Like, you're like a doll... what is it, uh, um...”
What are the words that make girls happy when their looks are praised... something Erina-san would be glad to hear... Ah!
“Right! Instagrammable! You have an Instagrammable face!”
“Huh...?”
Oh no, Erina-san is scowling even more now...
“I was a fool to expect even a little bit of Japanese sense from Konuma...” Yuri muttered, holding her forehead as if giving up.
Um... it doesn't seem to be going very well, but at least I praised her. The 'Flatter' command is finished.
So, what was next? No, wait, I was supposed to praise her to make her open her heart. So that was a total failure. What's the next move?
After my head spun around, having already exhausted all options, I said, “Um... Erina-san, by the way, how are you? Are you doing well?” I just blurted out the phrase I had initially told Yuri I would avoid.
Then, after Erina-san's lips trembled for a moment, she said, “Waaaah, Takuto-kun! I'm not doing well at all!” and clung to me.
What, so a direct approach was fine after all...
When I looked at Yuri-nee-san with a smug face, she scolded me in a boyish tone, “Hey, that was seriously a fluke, you know...?”
Yes, sorry...
Turning back to Erina-san, she began to talk while letting out sighs and groans.
“You see, as I thought, Erina doesn't know how she should be anymore...”
“How you should be?”
“Hmm, Erina wants the three of us to be close like before, and I want to be with Kenji and Sakosh, but Erina thinks it might be a nuisance if I did that...”
She must have wanted to let it all out. Erina-san continued talking without stopping.
“It must be awkward for Kenji, and I feel like I can't talk to Sakosh very well, so I end up leaving without saying anything to her...”
“I see... Why can't you talk to Sako well?” I'm still bad at this; I'm just repeating questions, which doesn't lead anywhere.
“It's just, I don't want Sakosh to worry about me... I think she probably would. And what's even worse is that Erina feels a bit of jealousy too. Even though she's worried about me, I feel like I might think something bad about Sakosh...”
“I see...”
No matter how much she wants to stay friends, it doesn't mean those murky feelings will disappear.
‘...Is it really going to be our last after-school together?’
The words Sako said last Tuesday night suddenly came to mind.
“Hey, Yuri, what do you think I should do~?”
“Eh, me?” Yuri made a startled sound when she was suddenly brought into the conversation.
“Yeah, because even if I ask Takuto-kun, he wouldn't know...”
“Well, that might be true...” Yuri crossed her arms and thought for a moment.
“So, the story is that it's painful to talk to the person your crush likes, right?”
“Yeah, that's right... Yuri, what would you do...?”
“Ahaha, that's a difficult question... Hmm, for me, I guess...” With a wry smile, Yuri scratched her cheek.
“I think that feeling of jealousy is also proof that you love that person. Because you love them... it's unavoidable. If you didn't love them, you wouldn't feel that way, right?”
“I guess so...” Yuri's words came out smoothly, as if they had been prepared.
“If it's an irresistible feeling, I think you just have to accept it, swallow it, and live with those emotions. ...Well, if that were to happen to me, that is.”
“Proof that Erina loves Kenji...! I see...!” Erina-san nodded as if swallowing the idea, appearing somewhat convinced.
Then, she looked up at us again, her eyes wavering.
“Hey, so...? ...Is it okay for Erina to still love Kenji?”
“...The answer to that is probably held by this guy.”
“Eh? Me?” Now it was my turn to make a startled sound when she pointed at me.
“Huh, Takuto-kun...?” Erina-san tilted her head in confusion. Well, of course. Yuri, what are you saying all of a sudden?
“He might be unreliable, but for what it's worth, this guy is thinking a lot about you, Erina. So much that Amane might get angry. Right?”
“Is that so?”
“Hey, Yuri...!” What kind of assist is that...!
When I sent a protesting glance at Yuri, her face didn't have a mischievous look, but a gentle smile. It was Yuri-nee-san's specialty, her 'sisterly smile'.
“Haa...” giving up, I scratched my cheek and asked.
“Um, Erina-san, are you free the Saturday after next?”
“Saturday...? I think I'm free, but...?”
“Our band is going to perform, so I want you to come to the live.” I simply told her that.
“Why...?”
“Because I really want Erina-san to hear it.”
That's all I can say for now. It's meaningless unless she hears the song. Explaining the content now would be, as Yuri puts it, 'tasteless'.
“...Yeah, I understand.” Erina-san looked down, her cheeks flushing slightly.
“Takuto-kun is actually quite cool when he has a serious face...”