TL: Kagefij
TLC: learning2tl
ED: Fractal
And then it was lunch break. Class 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 constitutes 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 class'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 flustered, 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 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 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 Japanese (?) 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 Japanese, 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.