“Hold it!” Apollo— Sato interjected. “I just heard back about my uh, thing, going on. It got canceled, so I can go too.”

  “Oh, let’s all go then! Works out nice that way.”

  I never agreed to this! And also I never took you for that much of an idiot, Takechi! When I'm in a being obvious about the lying competition, my opponent is Sato! I wouldn’t just lose! I’d get dumpstered!

  A few more words were exchanged between the group before the two guys plus Yoshika the gyaru setoff ahead. Akimoto moved to walk with them but I stopped her by the sleeve. “What’d you think you’re doing!?” I asked

  “We’re going out with friends…? Did you not pick up on that?”

  “Don’t speak to me like I’m that stupid! No, I’m not dumb at all! I mean why’d you invite me without asking if I wanted to go!?”

  “...You’re friends with Takechi, right?”

  “...Yes.”

  “You’ve hung-out with him before.”

  “Yes.”

  “So what’s the issue this time?”

  The blonde thing clearly doesn’t have the highest intelligence stat. The issue should be btantly obvious. “It’s an activity that popur people do… With a group of popur people… I— I don’t do that stuff.”

  “Whaaaa—?”

  I responded to her with a serious gre.

  “Seriously?”

  Did my expression not just answer that!?

  “But you’re “Kiyotaka Makoto, the great writer who only cares about his writing,” right? This shouldn’t bother you, like, at all.”

  “W-w-well you got it right. It doesn’t. And as I only care about my writing, this is merely a waste of time and a distraction.” There, sound, steadfast logic. Impossible to break.

  “If you don’t go out and live, how are you supposed to gain experiences to reference and build off of when writing?”

  I could feel my knees begin to buckle. No. She’s wrong. The blonde devil is sowing seeds of poisonous doubt in my mind.

  “Kiyotaka-kun, come on, they’re waiting for us.” Akimoto smiled at me. It wasn’t the sort of smile she used after hitting me on the head with a book or when she was ughing at my bad writing. No, it was the kind she used with her friends—the kind she used when encouraging one of them that they could do well on an exam or ask out someone they liked. It felt pure. Ah— It hurts. It’s sorta like looking at the sun. Stop it.

  She patted me on the shoulder and turned to leave the clubroom.

  “W-wait—”

  “Hm?” She turned back to me.

  “T-the reason I didn’t wanna go really is because it’d take me away from my writing. Okay?”

  “Mm, yeah. I get it.”

  “My brother owns this pce so we can get a discount,” Takechi said as he entered—the rest of us trailed him in a conga-line.

  While him and Sato haggled with his brother, Kaoru’s Love School held an impromptu meeting. “Yoshi-chan,” Akimoto whispered with some urgency to her tone. “You remember the pn?”

  “W-what pn!? All you said was to confess. That’s not a pn at all!”

  “Just use your cheeky kouhai charm, a few dashes of light physical contact, and you’ll have him!”

  “I— I can’t do that. I look like a freak styled like this!”

  “No you don’t, trust me. He’ll love it.”

  Yoshika went quiet for a moment then remet Akimoto’s gaze with a determined fist clench.

  “Alright, on three everyone.” Akimoto put her hand in the middle of us. “Akimoto-sensei is incredibly smart, attractive and helpful! One, two… Three!”

  We stared at her.

  “Guys you’re supposed to… ya’ know, like, do the thing…”

  “Hey, what’re you three chatting about?” Takechi approached us with Sato trailing.

  “Oh just about what songs we’re gonna sing,” Our love-teacher was the one to respond.

  “Wha’d ya choose?”

  “I think I’m gonna do Dress Down and— Narcissist?” Akimoto rubbed her chin.

  “Nice. How about you two?”

  Takechi turned his attention towards me specifically.

  “I-if I have to, anime openings of course. Are you stupid?”

  He ughed and dismissed my comment. “Yoshika-san?”

  “Uhm… I— I— I’d like to do some songs with you, senpai.”

  “Mm, sure. That should be fine.

  Yoshika’s face lit up. Is that what genuine happiness looks like? How can you let someone dictate your emotions like that? I don’t get it. It’s not like he’s an incredible anime with a perfect soundtrack, it’s just Takechi.

  “Aren’t you going to ask what I’m going to sing?” Sato huffed from behind.

  “Hm? I already know, that’s why I didn’t ask.”

  “...I-it’s still nice to ask you know... Come on, let’s go.”

  The group quickly followed after Sato, however, I was left with a question: What’s that about? No, I can’t be the only one who noticed it. Sato was blushing a little and acting kinda… feminine. I mean maybe that’s how he is and I’m the only one who found it a little strange… Oh well.

  Once I joined the others in the Karaoke room I found my spot next to Akimoto. Whale— while the other three were deeply locked into song choice, the elegant Akimoto was dialed into snack selection.

  “Kiyotaka-kun, come here, come here.” She waved me over with a cheeky smirk drawn on her face.

  Once I sat down she shifted closer to me, holding a menu between us. She probably wasn’t aware of it but our legs pressed up against each other and I might’ve felt something soft against my arm. I mean really, like I said previously my foremost concern is writing so why would I be worried about this or better yet even have it on my radar because it’s just not something to like think about she’s not worried about it clearly she’s like me a writer so we’re both in the same boat so honestly there’s no reason to stress.

  “Kiyotaka…kun?”

  “Hm, what? Oh right, the menu…”

  “Focus, this is important. What I’m thinkin’ is we get two orders of fries, one pizza, then another if you guys want anything, uhm— fried chicken, probably two orders… Then oo! The sads here look good, so one of those for me… And I’m worried the sushi is just going to be like convenience store sushi, ya’ know? But I’ll get some regardless.”