Admittedly, it wasn’t easy trying to confirm my theory. For one thing, I had to ask my classmates about whether they still have any feelings for their other half that they broke up with. It was quite difficult to hold back my laughter or even my grin as they told me with an expression of absolute anguish or anger.

   In the end, I didn’t talk to everyone as I have more and more trouble in stopping myself from having the time of my life on the expense of their negative emotions. Thankfully, it did the trick anyway as I conclude that my theory is indeed correct. Now to meet up with Nagano after the school’s over. However, there’s just one problem. We didn’t agree on a location to meet up. I guess I have to wait for her.

   Two minutes after the final school bell for the day has rung, Nagano appears once again in front of the class. She’s so eager to know about my theory she’s not even putting up a facade in front of my friends and classmates.

   ‘Let’s go, Bandou-kun. Time’s passing by while we’re doing nothing.’ she walks over to my seat and tells me.

   I, on the other hand, took my time in packing up my stuff. ‘Yeah yeah, hold your horses.’

   ‘Going to a after-school date, Takuya?’ Masato asks me. ‘I guess miracles do happen.’

   ‘You should enjoy it while it lasts.’ Kazuki adds. ‘It probably wouldn’t since it’s you we’re talking about.’

   I’m not really in a mood to counter them, so all I said was, ‘It’s not a date, okay?’

   As we’re walking down the corridors, we’re getting odd looks from the students who passed by the two of us. I wonder what’s their deal?

   Nagano lets out a sigh. ‘Maybe we should have met up at a location we’ve agreed on, after all. We’re going to be gossiped for days or even weeks.’

   ‘Bah. Who cares?’

   She glares at me. ‘Reputation might means nothing to a loner like you, but it’s a huge deal for me, okay?’

   ‘Is that what a cosplayer should be saying?’

   ‘Cosplay? I’m a bona fide shrine maiden!’

   ‘Uh-huh.’

   She grits her teeth and stomps ahead. She’s probably waiting for me at the school gates. I’m not in any rush. So I take my time to go there.

   By the time I got there, Nagano’s being harassed by some male upperclassmen one year above us. I could tell since they’re wearing blue shoes instead of the dark-blue ones we first-years wear. Other schools differentiate the years of students based on ribbons and ties. Ours use shoes instead. If you don’t call this weird, I don’t know what is.

   Anyway, there’s eight of those guys, and all of them are tall. Basketball club members, maybe? I’ve never bothered to check out the clubs of this school ever since the school term has started since I have part-time work to do and I simply couldn’t be bothered to take up activities.

   ‘Come on, it’s fine right~?’ one of them is asking Nagano. ‘You look tots’ free, and we don’t have practise since eternity, so we should all have some fun~.’

   Wow. Just wow. His tanned skin, his unruly hair that’s dyed to a blonde color, the piercings on his ears and his mannerisms totally remind me of a gyaru. I didn’t know that a male version of them existed.

   ‘I’m sorry, but I’m waiting for someone.’ Nagano replies with a forced smile.

   ‘Come on, you were standing here for like two minutes already. Whoever that you’re waiting for tots’ ditched you~!’

   Nagano sees me on this exact moment. Her eyes sparkle with hope.

   ‘No he hasn’t. There he is now.’ she tells them while pointing at me.

   The upperclassmen turn their head to me. The male gyaru walks towards me menacingly.

   ‘Hey hey hey~! What your deal, huh~? How come you get to have a date with that pretty lady?’ he demands.

   I frown in confusion. Pretty lady? All I see is a two-faced banshee.

   ‘We’re not going on a date, senpai.’ I tell him patiently.

   ‘That so? Then you don’t mind if we bring her to somewhere fun, right?’

   He’s basically spitting on my face now. I have to stop myself from wiping my face with his shirt. Who knows what kind of germs are on that unkempt-looking shirt? Then again, some of his saliva is on my face, so I’m screwed either way.

   I shrug at him. ‘Not at all. Please do so.’

   ‘We’ll do just that.’

   That freaked out Nagano.

   ‘I’m really sorry, but I have to do something with him, so I hope you’ll excuse us.’

   ‘Huh~? Seriously? What does this shrimp has that I don’t? I bet I could thrash him with one hand tied behind my back.’ the male gyaru gloats while jabbing a thumb towards me rudely.

   I’ve seen and fought enough of his type on my six years of practising Muay Thai and engaging in street fights. His is the all bark, no bite type that’ll go down in a single strike. I honestly doubt his chance of winning against me.

   Just as things are about to go ugly for him, another of the upperclassmen speaks. He’s annoyingly handsome and his teeth are irritatingly white. I bet he always goes around the school and makes the girls scream in joy at the sight of him.

   ‘Come on Osamu, there’s no need to bully our junior like that.’ he tells the male gyaru.

   ‘But Kou-chan~’ the male gyaru whines.

   On the surface, the flashy senpai may have “saved” me from a pickle. In reality, he’s just trying to look good after a failed attempt at picking up a girl. I mean, how else could you explain the fact that it took him this long to intervene? And the poor male gyaru is acting like a sacrificial pawn so that the Kou character could act like a kind senpai. He probably doesn’t even realized that he was being used. Poor simple-minded bloke.

   ‘Move.’

   The utterly frosty voice made the male gyaru flinch. The flashy senpai’s handsome face suddenly looks less handsome, and the rest of his cronies are whimpering softly. I look towards the direction where the voice came from.

   The person who spoke is a girl who’s another sophomore. Her hair’s blond like the male gyaru’s, and she has a cold look on her expression. Even her gaze is ice cold. It’s like her house is a freezer or something.

   The male gyaru and I move backwards so that she can walk past us. When she reaches the gate she stops and glares at the flashy senpai for a second. She lets out a loud and haughty snort and looks away before leaving the school ground.

   That girl took the fight out of the male gyaru. He and the rest of the gang have somehow forgotten about the existence of Nagano and I and pass through the school gate as well. After they left for a minute or two, Nagano finally remembers on how to breath. She lets out a long sigh of relief.

   ‘Whew. That was so scary…’ she mutters.

   ‘Not that I really care, but you could have just screamed for help, right?’

   She stares at my in disbelief.

   ‘Are you seriously asking me that? When it comes to that group, I’m the one who’ll be reprimanded if I ever do that.’

   ‘Are they that famous a group?’

   The way she’s looking at me is similar to someone who’s staring at a person who wore a garbage bag to a cocktail party.

   ‘Have you been living under a rock all these times?’

   ‘More or less. I don’t really care about the different social groups in this school.’

   ‘They’re from the male basketball club, which the most popular group in this school. All the members consist of hunks who has good looks and excellent skills when it comes to playing basketball. Furuta Osamu, the one who picked a fight with you and Kagawa Kou, the one who tried to alleviate things are especially famous.’

   ‘Famous for being jerks?’

   ‘Well, their personality are a bit on the bad side.’ she admits hesitantly. ‘Nonetheless, they’re quite worshiped by the girls.’

   I roll my eyes in disgust. ‘Ah yes. The girls love bad boys more than good boys thing. What about that female senpai? Those basketball people seemed to be afraid of her.’

   ‘She’s Iseri Ayano. She’s like the queen of this school despite the fact that she’s only a second year. A lot of people, even some of the teachers, are afraid of her.’

   ‘Yup. She totally gives off the vibe of someone who thinks she’s better than everyone else.’

   ‘She was the girlfriend of Kagawa-senpai until a few days ago. You know, before a certain idiot made a ridiculous wish?’

   ‘So the king and queen of Jindai High are no longer a thing. Boo-hoo. Watch me shed a drop of tears.’

   Nagano exhales a deep breath in annoyance.

   ‘Whatever. Let’s go to a family restaurant so that I can hear that theory of yours.’

   ‘Sure, sure. Lead on.’

   I’m not really into going to a normie spot like a family restaurant, but I want to make Nagano disappear from my life as soon as possible, so I have to suck it up. Once inside, we sit down opposite a table and order our drinks. She got a cup of tea, I got a glass of melon soda.

   ‘Now then, out with it.’ she demands.

   ‘Alright. First of all, do you know of the exact wish I made?’

   ‘It goes along the line of all human couples will break up until you get a girlfriend, right?’

   ‘Right. And you should thank me here. I don’t know whether plants and animals need love to reproduce, so I made sure to specify humans when I made the wish. At least we don’t have to worry about food anytime soon.’

   ‘Yes, thank you for being the saviour of mankind. I’m sure that artificial insemination isn’t a thing, and plants don’t even have feelings.’ she says sarcastically.

   ‘Speaking of artificial insemination, don’t human females do that all the time? It’s essentially the same thing, so no harm done on the long term.’

   ‘It’s not the same thing! Unlike most animals, humans need both their parents so that they could grow up and become a proper human being! I’m not trying to rub salt on your old wounds, but you’re the best example of someone who lacks the proper love from both your parents.’

   ‘Point taken. But I digress. Now, the loophole I mentioned lies in the first part of my wish.’

   ‘You mean the part where all human couples will break up?’

   ‘Yup. Now, all of the couples I know of did broke up as a result of my wish, but it’s not like they lost all their feelings towards each other. At least, not those I talked to.’

   ‘What do you mean?’

   ‘Don’t you get it? Couples normally break up because they no longer love each other. But every single person I talked to still claim that they love their exes. In other words, this is not a mass break up. It’s one of those situations where couple had a huge fight and decided to keep away from each other until both of them have cooled down.’

   ‘What you’re saying is, those couples who severed their ties with each other can make up if they stop having their cold war.’

   Nagano finally gets what I’m saying. Took her long enough.

   ‘Exactly.’

   ‘And no innocent girl will have to listen to your confession and forced to agree to go out with you, even if it’s for a single second!’

   I ignore her hurtful jibe and drain my melon soda in a single gulp.

   ‘Exactly. Now that that’s out of the way, I wish you good luck and may we never have to see each other again.’

   Nagano stops me before I could even get up.

   ‘Hold on! Where do you think you’re going?’

   ‘Back to my apartment, of course. I don’t have any work today, so I plan to watch anime until sunrise tomorrow.’

   ‘What about helping the couples to get back together?’

   ‘What about it? You’re the one that wants that to happen, not me. As such, I have no obligation in helping you out.’

   ‘This wouldn’t have happened if it wasn’t for you!’

   ‘You’re pointing your finger at the wrong direction. It’s your God who granted my wish in the first place. If you want to blame someone, blame Him.’

   ‘No way! I don’t want to get divine punishment!’

   ‘Then stop whining and get to work. Also, leave me out of this.’

   ‘But, I don’t even know where to start!’

   ‘That’s not my problem. You mentioned that there are others like you, right? Ask them for help.’

   ‘They’re not dependable at all! One is an absolute airhead, one refuses to head outside unless absolutely necessary, one… don’t even get me started with her! You’re my last hope!’

   Nagano’s causing such a huge ruckus she’s attracting the attention of several waiters and waitresses. No matter. I’m leaving right now anyway.

   ‘I failed to see the part where that’s my problem. Now then, I’ll be excusing myself.’

   Nagano takes out her phone and shows me the screen after pressing a few buttons.

   ‘Have you no heart? Look at this poor guy! His girlfriend finally agreed to go out with him after he continued to woo her for five whole years! Now, just because you went and made that wish, all his hard work was for nothing!’

   I stare at the screen. The left side shows the picture of a dorky-looking guy, while the rest of the screen is filled with his biodata. His name is Yonamine Jun. He’s twenty five years-old this year, and he works as an office employee in Shibuya.

   ‘How and where did you get such a detailed data? It’s even got his shoe size.’

   ‘One of our girl is very capable at gathering information like this.’

   ‘I take it that she’s the one who told you the address of my apartment?’

   ‘That’s right.’

   Breach of privacy aside, it kind of makes me angry that even a guy who looks like a shut-in has a girlfriend while I still have zero results.

   ‘...We’re going to Shibuya.’ I tell her.

   Her face brightens at once. ‘You’re willing to help?’

   ‘Not at all. I just want to know the reason the girlfriend said yes to his confession in the first place, and why it took her this long to say it. You got any intel on her?’

   ‘Huh? Yeah.’

   She scrolls around a bit on her phone.

   ‘There it is. Makino Yuka, twenty four years-old. She works as the same place as Yonamine-san.’

   ‘Splendid. Let’s go meet her.’

   ‘Shouldn’t we do that after we formulate a plan so that they could be together again?’

   ‘Weren’t you listening to a single thing I said? I just want to know why she said yes. Now come on, we’re bothering the other customers of this place enough already.’

   It was only then Nagano realized that she got the attention of the entire family restaurant. She was so embarrassed her whole face turned red, and she couldn’t stop bowing to them in apology.

   I go to the counter and ask for the bill. I take a good look at it and take out bills and coins enough to pay for my own drink. Nagano notices the amount and stares at me in disbelief.

   ‘You’re not paying for me?’ she asks me with both her eyes wide.

   ‘Why should I?’

   ‘It’s common courtesy that guys should pay during an outing!’

   ‘First of all, this is not an outing. This is me sharing my information with you. Second of all, let me tell you a tragedy. It was my third confession to a girl. Instead of replying immediately, she made me pay for an expensive meal that costed a five-figured number before rejecting me without batting an eyelid. Never again.’

   ‘...Fine.’ she takes out her wallet and paid her share grudgingly.

   We leave the restaurant and head for the train station so that we could go to Shibuya. The trip took us thirteen minutes.

   ‘Where’s the office they work at?’ I ask Nagano once we hot out of the Shibuya Station.

   ‘Um, this way.’

   She brings me to a building that’s at least twenty storeys tall. It’s after working hours, and the employees are pouring out of the building one after another. Thankfully, Makino-san just came out as well. I could somehow tell it’s her without looking at her photo because for some reason she’s being surrounded by her female colleagues.

   ‘That’s her in the middle, right?’ I ask Nagano for confirmation.

   ‘Yup. How do we even approach her?’

   ‘Just leave it to me.’

   I take out my phone and slowly walks towards them.

   ‘Excuse me.’ I call out to her.

   ‘Yes?’ she asks me wearily.

   ‘My friend and I are doing a research for our project. We’re supposed to find out about the rising crime rates around this area. Could I take some of your time and ask you some questions?’

   ‘Um, why me in particular?’

   I look at her colleagues who are looking at me like a pack of hellhounds ready to tear apart their prey. ‘Not to be insensitive, but I had a feeling that you just became a victim to a crime.’

   Makino-san hesitates at first, but eventually nods.

   ‘I guess can’t really refuse since you need to graduate. Alright. I’ll cooperate.’

   ‘Thank you very much.’

   While we’re interviewing Makino-san, her colleagues spread out near her so that they could protect her from someone or something.

   ‘Now then, let us get to the point immediately.’ I begin. ‘Was I wrong in deducing that you are being protected from someone?’

   ‘Yes. From my ex-boyfriend.’

   I raise my eyebrow instinctively, but I manage to become expressionless again in a single second. Nagano, on the other hand, let out a small gasp.

   ‘How did the whole thing began?’ I ask.

   ‘Well, the two of us work at the same company for the past few years. I entered the company one year later than him, and he had been showing interest in me ever since. He was very insistent on having a relationship with me despite my countless refusal, but he never gave up. I’ve tried lots of methods except quitting the job or calling the police. Last month, I finally gave in and agreed to become his girlfriend because I was real tired of his advancement.’

   ‘You said that he’s your ex now.’ I remind her. ‘Does that mean you finally had the courage to break up with him?’

   ‘Yes. It was two days ago. I was finally being able to tell him bluntly that we’re breaking up.’

   ‘I know it’s a bit too late to ask this, but haven’t you grow fond of him during the one month that the two of you were together?’ Nagano speaks for the first time since the interview began.

   ‘I was thinking the same thing at first. Who knows, maybe it’ll turns out that he’s actually the one for me. But that was not the case at all. He’s too controlling over who I meet up with, he’s overly insecure, and he’s too clingy. He also stalked me even though we were going out. I couldn’t take it anymore, which is why I put a stopped to this.’

   ‘I’m guessing that he didn’t take it too kindly to your decision.’ I predict.

   ‘No. No he didn’t. When I told him last morning in front of everyone at the office, he threw a fit. He even got suspended for his temper tantrum. I was worried for my safety, so I had been asking my colleagues to send me home.’

   I bow at her. Nagano does the same.

   ‘Thank you for your valuable time and information. I hope your ex will be calm again by the time he’s back from his suspension.’ I say to her.

   ‘Thank you. I highly doubt that, but thank you nonetheless.’

   With that, we leave her and head to the train station so that we can go back.

   ‘I have to say, I’m really glad you were with me. If I was alone, there was no way I could interview her without arousing suspicion.’ Nagano tells me on our way back.

   I laugh bitterly. ‘You shouldn’t underestimate someone who spent countless hours to take pointers online just so he could hit on girls he had never talked before.’

   ‘...I honestly don’t know what kind of comment or expression I should be having. Can you enlighten me?’

   ‘More importantly, do you see now? Love is not always involved when couples are formed.’

   She goes quiet for quite a while before finally answering.

   ‘Yes. I can see that now. Still, it’s wrong to cause the mass break up. You’d better be helping us from now on!’

   ‘Oh come on, give me a break!’