Chapter 73 A New Connection

I didnt expect to come back here so soon.

Maehara!

I guessed correctly. Seki-kun was sitting alone on a bench behind the club building while drinking some milk.

He was supposed to be one of the centers of the class, but the way he slumped over the bench made him look quite pathetic.

I felt pity for him.

Mind if I take a seat, Seki-kun?

S-sure

He wiped his tears with his sleeve as he noticed me coming closer.

As expected, he got rejected.

I didnt come here to make fun of him, so I just sat beside him without saying anything.

I didnt expect you to come here, Maehara

Considering what happened yesterday, of course Ill come to check on you.

So, what did the others say? I know they were watching me

Who knows? I dont speak monkey, I dont know what they were talking about.

Woah, Maehara, chill Thats actually kinda f**ked, you know?

Hey, its a perfect chance to say that line. Besides, doesnt it sound cool?

True, hahaha.

He was surprised, but I could see his smile beneath that expression.

I always tried to avoid him because he looked so intimidating to me. Now I kind of regretted it, he was so easy to talk to.

So, what are you doing here? You want to comfort me?

If thats what you want, sure. I have a few cheesy lines in my arsenal.

No thanks, I dont need that. Buy me some lunch instead. The cafeteria lunch set A, its only five hundred yen.

How about some udon instead? Its a hundred and ninety yen each.

Youre so stingy.

I got and spent most of my allowances on Fridays lately, because of that I was scraping for money for the rest of the week.

However, Ive been making my own lunch, so it hasnt become an issue.

And I wasnt planning to buy anything in particular, so I didnt really need to keep too much money around.

Seki-kun, you got too impatient. The timing was off, man.

Yeah, well I originally only planned to ask her out to go with me to the Christmas party, but I got so nervous and that happened The worst thing is that I blanked out and cant even remember what I said to her

Im sorry.

According to him, it seemed like Amami-san gave him a polite bow as she rejected his confession. They talked for a while, but because of his nervousness, he couldnt even remember the conversation.

Well, that should be proof that his feelings were genuine, so I shouldnt blame him for his mess up. Im curious about Amami-san though.

After she rejected his confession, she didnt immediately go back to the classroom, instead she called Umi over.

Her behavior was different than usual. Did something happen to her?

Seki-kun, Im asking out of curiosity, but You didnt do anything weird to Amami-san, did you?

Of course not, just look at me, how could I even manage to do that?

Right

Im a little curious about what they were talking about, but Im not curious enough to pry deeply about it. Umi probably wont tell me even if I asked her later.

Theres nothing I can do to help Seki-kun right now, sadly.

Seki-kun

Hm?

I know you just got rejected but Do you still love Amami-san?

Hold back a little, will you? Well, its okay, whats the point of fussing over it Ill tell you everything

He looked embarrassed as he forced the words out of his mouth.

Im not that strong Getting rejected and immediately getting over my feelings I cant do that So, yeah, I still love her A lot

Hmm Then, if I tell you that Ill help you get closer to her, what will you do?

Maehara, you?

Seki-kun at me, surprised.

Im actually kinda pissed You were just being honest with yourself, yet everyone laughed at you

His friends would most likely try to comfort him. Saying something like Dont worry about it, or We can introduce you to another girl, but at the same time, theyll still make fun of him behind his back.

This happened all the time. Ive seen it happen many times back when I was in grade school and middle school, and the same thing is happening right now.

Honestly, this kind of thing disgusts me.

Look, you got rejected once, but that doesnt mean you should immediately give up, no? Amami-san might seem friendly, but she is quite rational in deciding her relationships. The fact that she didnt mind hanging out with you means she sees you in a positive light, you still have hope, Seki-kun.

Besides, the reason why she rejected him without giving more thought about it was because she simply had no lenience to care about anything else. She was still focusing on fixing her relationship with Umi after all. But if their relationship was fixed, there was a chance that her feelings might change.

Yeah, she rejected him now, but who knows what will happen in the future.

Since Im doing this on my own, I cant promise Umis cooperation, but I can help you out even without her.

Umi? Ah, Asanagi

Ah Whoops, sorry about that?

Dont worry, you guys are dating, it should be normal to refer to each other by your first names, right? I just cant believe that you out of all people beat me to it Also, Asanagi has been getting more popular lately, huh?

Huh? She has?

Well, I noticed that her expression had been getting softer compared to back when we first became friends. Guess other people started to notice that too and now got attracted to her.

Ah, also, it has been quiet when everyone found out that you guys were dating, but thats only on the surface In my group alone, there were some guys who went ballistic when they found out.

Ah I see. Well, sucks to be them. To be fair, even if I didnt get close to her, she would definitely reject all of them. They should be thankful to me that they didnt need to hear her rejection coming out directly from her mouth.

Anyway, lets stop talking about Umi. So, what will you do? I can help you out, though not by much, but it should be better than you doing everything alone, right?

Theres always more chances in the future, huh?

Right. We were freshmen, there were two full years for both of them to develop their relationship.

Knowing Amami-san, hell need to go all out to win her over. If a rejection or two stopped him dead in his tracks, then he simply didnt have what it took to be with her.

Well, originally, I asked you to help me, right?

Then

As we were about to shake hands,

Sorry Im going to do this on my own after all

Huh?

Seki-kun crumpled his hand into a fist and stopped it in midair.

Rather than having you help me out, I should just hang out with you. If I stick with you, Ill naturally get closer to Asanagi and then Amami-san should be next. Theres no guarantee that this will go as I expected, but at least my time together with her will increase.

He was trying to make me and Umi to be the middlemen between him and Amami-san.

Well, that could work. But why though?

Um Saying it right now is kinda late, but

He scratched his head with his other hand.

I want to get along with you

I didnt expect that answer. I stared at him in surprise.

Oi, dont go all silent on me! Saying it out loud is embarrassing, you know?

A-Ah S-Sorry You caught me off guard

Part of the reason why I decided to help him was out of spite for the rest of the class.

Of course, the main reason was because I sympathized with his feelings.

To tell you the truth, I always looked down on you. After all, you never talked to anyone and you always looked so gloomy. Sometimes, we would make up some nonsense about you.

Okay

But you are actually more amazing than I gave you credit for. The cultural festival, the thing with Asanagi, and now this. I was sure that everyone would be laughing at me, but you came to comfort me. Even though we barely talked and I was the same person who tried to make an unreasonable request for you yesterday. Yet, you still came here for me Your method of helping might be clumsy, but I could feel your passion and goodwill Youre a good person, Maehara, I want to be friends with you

Seki-kun

You can forget about the matter with Amami-san, Maehara I dont need anything like that right now I just want to be friends with you

I tried to get out of my comfort zone for once and Im thankful that I decided to do it.

A new friend that wasnt Umi or Amami-san Ive come a long way

Got it. Then, Ill be in your care from now on

Likewise, lets get along well, Maehara No, Maki.

Sure Nozomu Can I call you that?

Yeah, go ahead.

Seki-kun, no, Nozomu then grabbed my hand and shook it. It was a sign that well be friends from now on.

And this matter was finally settled. I wanted to tell Umi about everything, Im kind of curious what she would say.