TL: Kagefij

TLC: learning2tl

ED: Fractal

And then it was lunch break . Cla.s.s ended and everyone started tidying up their textbooks .

I planned to use this timing to invite Izumi .

In the end, after Mizusawa’s deductions, he said「Izumi’s totally fine! Do your best!」giving his approval and also cheering me on . Because of that, I have no choice but to try my best . I wanted to calm down but since Izumi was directly left of me, I found it impossible . This was the downside of sitting next to her . By the way, not saying anything to her until lunch break was a part of my plan… not . I postponed it simply because I was too nervous .

But well, I’ve already decided what to say . I did several dry runs mentally and also practiced the tone and way of speaking quite a bit, so it shouldn’t be that difficult .

── But I also know that if I’m not careful, I’d get tripped up . Why? Because I’ve failed in a similar way several times before . I will not get careless . Here I go!

「Izumi」

「Hn?」

Izumi faced me, her eyes devoid of even the slightest malice . What pretty eyes they are . Even the act of looking at me me with such pure eyes is worthy of my thanks . No, that’s not it .

「Err, yesterday I said that it’d be Nakamura’s birthday soon, right?」

「That again!? And it’s not even soon! It’s still far away!」

Izumi objected, her face turning visibly red . As I suppressed the urge to ask what const.i.tutes as 『soon』 and 『far away』, I said the next words .

「But even so, you see, I was wondering if Izumi was planning on buying him a present or something like that…」

「Hmm . I am thinking about buying one but…… wait, what! Why are we talking about this!?」

Izumi tried to cool down her face by repeatedly hitting it lightly using both hands . I’m pretty sure that won’t help, you know .

I was able to confirm that she didn’t buy anything yet, though that she was planning to buy something . Good .

「Actually, Mizusawa, Hinami and I

were talking about going out for a meal, and we were looking for one more person…」

「Yea . Ah, and that’s me?」

Creating a tone that’s exaggeratingly bright, I put my scripts into words .

「Yea, it’s something like that . And then…… you see, you’re buying a present, right? If so, Mizusawa’s close to Nakamura, so he’d know what’s to buy . Seems like a good opportunity . 」

「That’s true!」

Izumi made a That’s it! [1] pose and looked at me with eyes that expressed agreement .

「Hinami also seems good at things like that, so I was wondering if…… we could all go buy them together . 」

「Ah thanks, but it’s fine . I don’t want to bother them . 」

「Eh?」

Bother? My thoughts froze from unexpected reply .

「The plan’s only for a meal, right? I don’t want to bother everyone by having them go shopping with me!」

Izumi rejected me with a light wave . Then I realized . That’s what it is . Izumi has that kind of a personality .

Despite being a gyaru [2] in the cla.s.s’s top group, Konno Erica’s group, Izumi is the type of person who reads the mood and pays attention to other people’s feelings . The type that’s good at supporting other people and taking them into consideration . Though, on the contrary, you can say that she has trouble accepting support from others . It’s similar to how a monk is unsuited for battles . There are a lot of cases where when you’re good at something, you’re bad at the opposite . Probably .

Because of that, she’s probably not good at handling a situation where people help her without her returning the favour .

Ah, I messed up . I need to overcome this somehow . At this rate, she’s going to turn me down .

「It’s fine, you don’t have to worry that it’d be a bother!」

「But, well, is everyone buying Shuuji a present?」

I wonder… We didn’t talk about that . While deciding on the behalf of everyone would be extremely selfish, telling a lie would be bad too……

「I, I don’t know . 」

「Isn’t that so? It’s kind of like, if everyone’s buying something, then let’s go together!」

I’m getting the feeling that she would still reject me, even if I provided a compromise .

Argh, what should I do .

. Should I put this on hold then invite her again later? But my inner feeling wants to optimistically push forward and somehow settle this right now . A Fight-or-flight decision .  I’m not sure what I should do here .

「Well, I mean, that’s not something you have to care about……」

「Is that so?」

「……I wonder how should I put it . 」

「Hn?」

I’m becoming fl.u.s.tered, while Izumi is becoming more and more troubled . This is bad .

There should be a way…… while thinking that, a lightbulb went off in in my head .

I had some doubts about the plan but since I was in a rush I didn’t check for accuracy, instead I just started babbling .

「You see, I’m also buying something . 」

「Eh?」

Izumi froze .

「Me too . I guess- I mean, I’m also planning on buying . A present . For Nakamura I mean . 」

「……Haa?」

Izumi’s expression told me that what i had said was extremely incomprehensible to her . Yep, should have seen that coming . If I was another person in this scenario I would probably have made a face worse than hers . Why would I buy him a present? Especially since we don’t get along .

……I need to save this situation somehow . I need some kind of excuse .

「Well, how should I put it…… I’d like to reconcile with him . 」

「Reconcile?」

When Izumi heard those words uttered in desperation, her face became a tiny bit brighter . Eh, what are you expecting me to say? With this question in mind, I continued speaking .

「You see, while it ended up like that, how should I say it, I’d like to get along with a fellow AtaFami fan……Nakamura, it seems like he came to like AtaFami, didn’t he? Furthermore, the situation from earlier made me feel that he doesn’t seem like a bad guy . So I was thinking, maybe it would be possible for us to reconcile……」

My excuse came out so smoothly that it even surprised me . How should I put it, is the skill coming to me more naturally?

「Because of that, well, I wonder if I could use his birthday as a chance or something……」

After I finished saying that, Izumi looked at me with a flabbergasted expression .

This expression stood silently for a

for a while, before transforming into a smile so large it almost seemed to burst out of her face .

「──Good!!」

She placed her hands on my shoulders and shook them strongly . What? What’s happening?

I let my neck go limp and let my head shake along with my shoulders .

「Good! That’s a great decision, Tomozaki! Actually I kind of didn’t like it . How should I put it . You see, me and Shuuji are……close, right!? Then, recently, I’ve started talking to Tomozaki a lot too . Then I thought like this! Because both of you are good people who get along with me, I don’t want you two to be like, fighting with each other . Ah, s,sorry . 」

At the end, as if only just realizing she apologized and let go of my shoulders . From that speech, I was deeply moved by the fact that she said that we『got along』 . Please don’t say that she was just saying that to be polite .

「Wh, whoa……」

「You see, isn’t it sad to see friends fighting with each other? For people close to me, after all, I’d feel happier if they get along well . Or rather, it’d be more fun that way! I, I wonder if my seriousness is kind of gross? But, I really feel that it’s better that way!」

「Err, su, surely that is true!」

Even though those carefully chosen saintly words sounded far too beautiful, as far as I could tell, they truly came from the bottom of her heart which touched me deeply . What’s this? Is it light?

Even though her makeup is cute and trendy and her uniform suits her really well, she has a heart that is too pure . Furthermore, her chest is huge…… no, this is bad . I should not harbour such impure thoughts in front of a saint .

「Because of that, I’ll cooperate with you! Let’s go buy presents together!」

Ah, while I was too busy thinking about useless stuff, the conversation has turned in a weird direction .

Still, since I managed to successfully invite her, I guess it’s okay……？

「Yea, yeah! Err, thank you . 」

Like this, the『Nakamura’s birthday present (abbr . ) Wait . Am I not needed? 』grand strategy suddenly turned into the 『Let’s reconcile Nakamura and Tomozaki!』grand strategy .

And then on that day after school…

「──and

day after school…

「──and with that, I have invited her . 」

After my report Hinami, once again, said something which seemed to be hiding a deeper meaning .

「Good job . I’ve already asked you once, but are you really fine with this?」

「Ah, I’ve been wondering about what you meant . What do you mean by being fine?」

「Because initially Mizusawa’s invitation was just for a meal, right?」

「That’s true, but…」

I see, when you put it like that, it has turned into going shopping .

「I think that you’d normally understand if you think about it . Between having a meal where you only have to talk sitting down and shopping where you have to walk around doing various things, to a beginner like you the latter is much harder you know?」

「……Ah」

Then I realized . She’s right that if it’s only a meal, as long as Hinami is there, then I’ll be able to manage the conversation somehow . As I wouldn’t have to think much about other things, I wasn’t that worried . But if it’s going shopping…… then I’ll have to think about what to buy myself, what to comment on what others buy . In the first place, I’m not sure where to stand and where to look while walking . There’s too many things I don’t know . Argh .

「From your reaction, it looks like you really didn’t realize it……」

Hinami let out a sigh .

「B, but, if I didn’t do that, I wouldn’t have been able to invite her . 」

「 After she said that going shopping would be a bother to others you could have just invited her for the meal . 」

「Ah……」

Realising this I unconsciously emitted that noise, making Hinami face down, shake her head and let out another sigh .

And like that, I have raised the difficulty level for myself .

Translator Notes:

[1] This is the j.a.panese (?) pose you make when you understand something . Search Google Image for ポンと手を打つ to see an example .

[2] Gyaru is a transliteration of girl, but in j.a.panese, it refers to a specific type of girl . A brief description would be flashy girls, but it actually goes a lot deeper than that . It’s the type of girl that Otakus find hard to deal with . You can Google it to find the full details .