Chapter 16 A Pinch

We were saved since Asanagi was away at this time, but I never expected to run into Amami-san here.

Eh? Yuu-chin, you know each other?

Jeez, Ninacchi! Hes our classmate! We even met with him the other day!

N-now that I think about it

Maybe they were just messing with me, but apparently, other than Amami-san, my other classmates didnt recognize me.

Then again, I was like air in class, even if I were to walk right in front of everyone, I was completely confident that they would never notice me.

Maehara-kun, do you come here often? Its the first time we bumped into each other here, right?

A-ahh Mhm Thats true

I casually fiddled with my phone, pretended that I was doing something with it, but in reality, I secretly called Asanagi, before quickly shoving my phone into my pocket.

My phone was cheap and it picked up a lot of the background noises, so if I did this, my phone should be able to convey the conversation between me and Amami-san to Asanagi.

Ah, are you here with someone else? Right, of course! Playing alone in this place is boring after all.

S-something like that, yeah. Im a little bit tired right now, so Im taking a break by myself.

Really? I noticed there are two drinks over there, so I assumed that youre here with someone else

Uhh

As expected, Amami-san was really observant. Of course, she also observed everyone in the class closely, it wasnt limited to me. Normally she was like an angel, spreading her kindness toward everyone in the class, but right now, she was more of a demon than anything.

At this rate, no matter how obscure Asanagis attire was, Amami-san, her best friend, would notice that it was her immediately.

Anyway, I need to make sure that they wont find out that Asanagi is currently here.

We were still keeping our relationship a secret after all, letting Amami-san and the rest of the class know about it would be bad.

Still, Im glad that Maehara-kun has friends you can hang out with. I was a little worried about you because you were alone all the time in class.

I-I see But, I prefer to be by myself, so you dont need to worry about me

Really? Well, if you feel lonely, you can always reach out to me! I dont mind you inviting me for lunch too!

O-okay

Im thankful that Amami-san felt concerned about me, but, after seeing the faces of her cronies Yeah, I wont be calling out to her in the future.

Im quite perceptive if I may say so myself, I can read the air.

Dont get ahead of yourself, loner, thats what they are telling me with their faces.

Thank you for your kind words Ill gratefully keep them in mind. Well, I have to go now

Ah, wait a minute!

I decided to leave the place immediately. But as I was about to leave, Amami-san grabbed my shoulders from behind, it seemed like she had something in her mind.

I had a bad feeling about this.

W-what is it?

Hey, if you want to, you can hang out with us right now, Maehara-kun! Of course, you can bring your friend along too!

Eh?

I was so surprised that I let out a strange sound.

Wait, Yuu-chin! Wouldnt that inconvenience Maehara-kun? Besides, Maehara-kun seemed to be occupied with something.

Perhaps she didnt fancy the idea of me tagging along, Nitta-san immediately chimed in from the back. Well, me too, even if Amami-san went through the trouble of inviting me like this, I disliked the idea. Even if Asanagi was included in her group, I would still dislike it.

Nitta-san is right, Amami-san. Besides, if I were to join in, everyone would have to be considerate toward me and they wouldnt be able to enjoy themselves to the fullest.

Really ~? I think it would be more fun with more people though

If I were a more sociable person, I would be able to blend into the group without ruining the atmosphere, but unfortunately, that wasnt the case. Im bad at dealing with any kind of group activity with more than three people in it, and Id prefer not to ruin the groups fun.

If Asanagi were here at Amami-sans side, she could warn her about it because she was her best friend and all, but she wasnt here right now.

Yeah, itll be more fun if Maehara-kun joins in, no? Or maybe you dislike him, Ninacchi?

Eh? N-no, no way thats the case, right?

Out of everyone here, Nitta-san was probably the closest person to Amami-san, but, sadly she wasnt Asanagi, she wasnt close enough to Amami-san to act more assertively toward her.

Reining in the uncontrollable Amami-san while keeping up and guiding the other people such as Nitta-san When I first heard that Asanagi was doing something like that, I could only vaguely imagine such a scene. Now that Ive witnessed what she was really up to, there was only one thought that popped out in my mind.

Asanagi was actually doing such a troublesome thing.

I can see why shes exhausted

Eh? Maehara-kun, did you say something?

Ah, no, nothing Anyway, about the thing you said previously

Mhm, what do you think?

Sorry but, I dont want to hang out with you guys.

Eh?

Hearing my words, the cheerful expression on Amami-sans face immediately turned gloomy.

Ah, of course, Im glad that Amami-san invited me, but, you see, Im not big-hearted enough to hang out with a group of people who clearly dislike me.

In other words, you lot, I glared at her cronies, including Nitta-san.

Both my attitude and words were clearly filled with hostility and it would definitely deteriorate the good atmosphere they previously had.

Normally, I would just ignore them and retreat, but by the time I realized it, my feelings were already leaking out of my mouth.

I didnt know why I felt this way.

Besides, today is the day for me and my friend to hang out together. Im sorry, but I dont think neither my friend nor I, would like it if someone were to intrude on our time together like this So, my bad, I cant accept your invitation.

Ah, Maehara-kun

Then, see you later, Amami-san I appreciate the invite.

With that said, I waved lightly and shook Amami-sans hands off, and walked away.

I vaguely heard someone trying to tell me something, but the sound of the background music drowned out their voices. Not like I cared about what they had to say.

After making sure that no one was following me, I pulled out my phone from my pocket.

[Thank you, Maehara. You saved me.]

Youre welcome Well, weve had enough fun for today, so lets go home.

[Mmm]

We decided to meet up again at the ticket gate. In the end, we managed to escape from the arcade without being discovered by Amami-san and her cronies.