I wasn’t the only one who saw new couples being born during the confession session during the cultural festival. Nagano did as well, and that gave her an idea. She made a new poster to promote our club and wrote that now we not only fix relationships, but also helps with anyone who has trouble confessing to their crush. Thankfully, our reputation is still down the drain, so no one bat an eye to the newly-added function of the club.

   ‘Seriously, doesn’t anyone have any love trouble at all? Why isn’t anyone coming to seek advise from us?’ Nagano grumbles to us one day while we’re lazing around inside the club room.

   ‘Because they prefer to solve things by themselves?’ I provide.

   ‘Because we’re not famous?’ Suzu adds.

   ‘Seriously, can’t the two of you show some enthusiasm every once in a while?’

   ‘No can do. We’re doing this for free, for starters.’ I tell her.

   Nagano glares at me. ‘Is money everything to you?’

   ‘Not really. The only issue I have is that matchmakers get paid for the service they provide. Why aren’t we? We’re being exploited just because we’re students and forced to work for free.’

   ‘I don’t know how many times have I said this, but this is your fault to begin with!’

   ‘And I probably have said this more times than I care, I know but I don’t care. Why are we gathered here today, anyway? It’s not like there’s any appointment.’

   ‘I deduced that one of the reasons people don’t come to us is because we’re not in our club room most of the time. Maybe if we hang around here a bit more, we might get someone to come.’

   ‘Aiai, the posters you made wrote that advance appointment must be made, remember?’ Suzu reminds her.

   ‘I know, but some students might think that it’s a hoax since practically no one’s here most of the time.’

   I get up from my seat. ‘That’s it. I’m going home. There’s a new anime that came out last night, and I can’t wait to watch it. See ya tomorrow.’

   Nagano’s so demotivated she didn’t even try to stop me. As I was about to reach the door, someone knocks on it.

   ‘Come in!’ Nagano says immediately.

   I turn around to look at her. Nagano was lying on the table like some dying patient. Now she’s absolutely energetic and prepared to do anything.

   The person comes inside as instructed. Turns out it’s Nitta Yuki, one of the top idols in Japan and the manager of General Affairs in the student council of Jindai High.

   Nagano’s face goes pales at once.

   ‘H-Has the student council finally decides to get rid of us?’ she asks Nitta fearfully.

   Nitta looks completely confused.

   ‘What? What makes you come to that conclusion?’ she asks back.

   ‘I mean, you’re part of the student council! That’s the only reason you’re here!’

   ‘Have you ever considered the fact that I might be here just because I need help from all of you?’

   I groan. Nagano’s eyes sparkle. Suzu’s…not reacting at all, as usual.

   ‘Look, I don’t care if you’re part of the student council. The posters clearly wrote-’

   ‘Please ignore him and take a seat!’ Nagano interrupts me and tells Nitta excitedly.

Nitta sits down next to Suzu, and Nagano got up to make a cup of tea for her.

‘Now then, what business do you have with us?’ Nagano asks Nitta.

   I swear to all the deities that exist and don’t exist. If she opens her mouth and requests us to help her become intimate with that spineless Nishiyama, I’m going to leave right away.

   ‘My long time crush is going to visit me next week. I want to confess to him when we meet again, so I need your advise.’ she tells us.

   ‘Hold on, you have a long time crush? Weren’t you head over heels with Nishiyama?’ I ask her.

   ‘Oh, is that what it looks like to all of you? I don’t know about the others, but I for one only see Nishiyama-kun as a toy and a convenient man-servant, nothing more.’

   ‘Fair enough. Tell us about that crush of yours.’

   ‘Wait, you’re just going to brush off that last part?’ Nagano asks me.

   ‘Why not? It’s not relevant to the request, is it? Do continue, Nitta.’

   ‘Right. His name is Furuta Naoki. I guess you could say that we’re childhood friends, since we grow up together.’

   Tsk. Another childhood friend pair. Why does everyone has one except for me? This is so unfair.

   ‘He was always interested in idols and animes and all those otaku stuff. He’s the real reason I became an idol, so that I could make him look at me.’

   And he’s an otaku to boot. Real nice.

   ‘But then, we lost contact a few years ago as I was becoming famous. I tried to look for him, but I haven’t a single clue on where to begin looking, since he and his family moved out of our hometown after we graduated elementary school. He never tried to contact me either, which means he never thought much of me. Having lost my only motivation, I thought of wanting to quit my job, but I fell in love with being an idol without realizing it. A few days ago, he suddenly got my contact number and called me.’

   ‘And the two of you agreed to meet up somewhere next week.’ I conclude for her.

   She nods. ‘That’s right.’

   ‘But, isn’t an idol forbidden from falling in love~?’ Suzu asks Nitta.

   Nitta sighs in frustration. ‘That’s another thing I would like to hear your advise in.’

   ‘Does your agency openly bans their idols from having a significant half?’ Nagano asks.

   ‘Surprisingly, no. But my fans-’

   ‘Will support your decision if they’re really your fans.’ I end the sentence for her.

   ‘And what do you think, Bandou-kun?’ Nitta asks me.

   I shrug. ‘I’d say go get him.’

   ‘Is it really okay for you to represent her fans like that?’ Nagano asks.

   I take out my phone and play a song I downloaded from it. Nitta’s and Nagano’s (who’s a Nitta’s fan herself) eyes widen in recognition.

   ‘That’s…one of my songs.’ Nitta says.

   Nagano couldn’t believe her ears. ‘Wait, you’re one of her fans too?’

   ‘Sure am. I got all her songs inside here. Downloaded legally, of course.’

   Nitta gets up and bows at me. ‘Thank you for supporting me.’

   ‘You’re welcome. Back to the topic at hand. I obviously can’t speak for all of your fans, but I for one never believed in the idols belong to everyone nonsense. Idols are humans too and deserve privacy rights.’

   ‘I also don’t believe in that. I want the best for my favourite idols and will always support your decision!’ Nagano adds.

   Nitta looks at me, then Nagano.

   ‘Thank you, both of you. All right then, I’m going to confess to him!’ Nitta decides.

   Nagano claps her hands encouragingly. ‘That’s the spirit!’

   ‘But I still have on more problem.’

   As she says this, she lost all the vigor she had just a few seconds ago.

   ‘Which is?’

   ‘I’ve never confessed to anyone before, so I don’t know how to do it.’

   Nagano is frozen stiff at that. She obviously has zero experience at that as well. She slowly looks at me.

   ‘Oh no, don’t look at me.’ I tell her. ‘I’ve been rejected 16 times. I’m the last person you want to look for in this kind of thing.’

   ‘Wow, that’s so sad.’ Nitta says.

   ‘Tell me about it.’

   ‘Well, I guess I’ll figure out the rest by myself. Thank you all for your time.’ Nitta says to us as she’s getting up to leave.

   Nagano looks at me desperately. ‘Are you sure you got nothing?’

   ‘Well, if there’s one thing, I guess you could go on a date with him first.’

   Nitta sits down once more. ‘A date, you say?’

   ‘Yup. A lot of people are scared to confess because they don’t know how will their crush react. That’s where a date comes in. You try to gauge the other party’s reaction by spending time with them. If they showed positive reaction and are happy to be with you, you can go ahead and confess. If not, well…at least you didn’t confess.’

   ‘Say, Takkun. Didn’t you go on a date with the girl from Yuzuaki?’ Suzu asks me. ‘And yet you still failed to notice that she didn’t like you.’

   ‘Oh shush, you. How do you even know that?’

   ‘I did my research~.’ she replies smugly.

   ‘My point still stands. Going to a date is pretty much fool proof plan to go through before you confess to him. Besides, you could also tell how much he changed over the years from the way he acts towards you and those around him.’

   ‘I guess that could work. Okay, I’ll go on a date with him when we meet next Sunday.’

   Nitta’s worried that something might go wrong during the date, so we wants us to tail them just in case. I got better things to do like waking up way later in the morning, and Suzu doesn’t want to wake up until it was noon, but Nagano’s having none of it and came to our house personally so that she could drag us out. And so, the four of us are at Shibuya early in the morning.

   For obvious reasons, Nitta can’t walk around without having a disguise. Overkill ones will just make her a suspicious person, so she went with a cap and a pair of glasses and twisted her hair into pigtails. The disguise isn’t perfect, but it’ll have to do. While she’s waiting for Furuta in front of the famous dog statue, the rest of us are observing her from a distance.

   ‘I just realized this but, aren’t we acting pretty suspicious? We’re basically stalkers.’ I tell Nagano.

   ‘This isn’t stalking, we’re just here to make sure Nitta-san is safe.’ Nagano corrects me.

   ‘And shouldn’t we get red bean bread and milk for stakeouts~?’ Suzu asks.

   ‘This is not a stakeout either. You’re just hungry aren’t you?’

   ‘Of course I am~! I was forcefully dragged away from my beautiful breakfast before I could finish eating them~!’

   ‘Okay, okay. I’m really sorry about that. I’ll buy you something on the way, so just hang in there in the meantime. Oh, I think he’s here.’

   ‘Um, are you sure it’s him?’

   ‘I think. Maybe?’

   ‘Sure doesn’t look like an otaku to me~.’

   There’s a reason all of us are worried. See, there’s a guy who’s walking towards the statue and as Suzu has said, his outlook is the polar opposite of an otaku’s.

   He dyed his hair blonde and made it into a mohawk. He was lots of piercings on both is ears and his lower lips. He’s wearing a black uniform that your average delinquents you see in animes and mangas, even though school’s closed today. There’s even a cringey name at the back written in kanji which translates as “Death Scorpion”.

   Nitta notices the delinquent too, and her eyes widen in recognition and shock.

   ‘Nao-kun, is that you?’ she asks him.

   The delinquent grunts. ‘Sure am. It’s been a while, Yuki.’

   ‘Oh my. It’s really him.’ Nagano gasps in horror.

   ‘What happened to you?’ Nitta asks Furuta as if she doesn’t know him anymore.

   ‘Nothin’ much. I’ve decided that I’m done with those nerd stuff when I reach high school and decides to go for a wilder look. You dig it?’ he asks while flaunting his ridiculous look at her.

   ‘O-Of course I do. You look very dashing.’

   ‘Good to hear. Now let’s go grab somethin’ to eat. I’m starvin’.’

   While the two of them are walking together, everyone near them give them a wide berth. Furuta is busy glaring and rudely accosting the pedestrians who got too close to them. In a way, he’s preventing Nitta from getting recognized by the passers-by since they’re too busy staying away from him.

   ‘So, what have you been up to, Nao-kun?’ Nitta asks with the intention of striking up a conversation.

   ‘Not long after I’ve moved to Saitama, I’ve joined an awesome local gang called Death Scorpion. It’s a total blast to hang out with them!’

   ‘I-I see…’

   ‘And you’ve been hittin’ it big huh, Yuki? You’re pretty much a world-class idol. As yer long-time childhood friend, I’m totes proud!’

   Nitta looks mighty disappointed when he called her his childhood friend, but she got back her bearing in a flash.

   She smiles at him. ‘I guess it’s time for you to fulfill your promise.’

   Furuta gives her a blank look. ‘What promise?’

   This time, Nitta couldn’t keep up a straight face. She looks absolutely devastated.

   ‘It’s fine if you’ve forgotten it. Let’s hurry and find something to eat.’ she tells him after she calmed down a bit.

   ‘Alright! Now we’re talkin’!’

   ‘I wonder what that promise is?’ Nagano wonders out loud.

   ‘Just how hopeless are you? It’s obviously something along the line of “I’ll marry you if you ever become an idol!”.’ I tell her.

   ‘And he forgotten about it?’

   I shrug. ‘He probably made that promise when they were very young. Happens all the time in animes and mangas.’

   ‘And he didn’t even flinch at her sad expression! Maybe this is a bad idea, after all.’

   ‘It’s still too early to decide that. There’s a chance that he’s a delinquent with a heart of gold.’

   The longer I watch them, the harder I have a hard time convincing myself that Furuta is just playing dress-up and is still the introvert who made a famous idol fall in love with him.

   ‘Get me the food that’s the most filling in yer place!’ Furuta demanded loudly from the waitress who took their orders inside a café. ‘And don’t take all day!’

   Nitta, on the other hand, politely ordered a french toast from her.

   They were gathering glances and whispers form nearby customers until Furuta silenced them all and make them look away with his glare.

   The food they ordered soon arrived. Nitta got her french toast, while Furuta got an English breakfast set. He didn’t even bother to use fork and knife and just gobbled everything up like a hungry animal. He ate so fast he almost choked himself. The only reason he didn’t was he managed to wash the food down with water.

   As the waitress just now was carefully refilling his glass with a jug, his elbow knocked the jug over and made her spill the drink on him. Furuta got up angrily.

   ‘THE HELL YOU DOIN’? YOU BLIND OR SOMETHIN’?’ he demanded at the top of his lung.

   The poor waitress is shaking and crying while frantically bowing at him to apologize. Nitta got up from her seat to calm him down.

   ‘Nao-kun, don’t be so angry. It’s an accident.’

   ‘...Fine.’

   Furuta reluctantly agreed to calm down. He then glared at the waitress.

   ‘Count yerself lucky! There better not be a next time!’

   ‘Y-Y-Yes! Of course not sir!’ the waitress assured him.

   Wen the bill came, Furuta looked at Nitta.

   ‘Sorry, Yuki. I didn’t bring my wallet. Mind payin’ fer me?’ he asked her.

   Nagano gasped in anger.

   ‘He actually wants a lady to pay for their food during a date? How preposterous!’ she hissed.

   ‘I take it that you don’t support gender equality.’ I predicted drily.

   Nagano was so upset she didn’t hear my sarcastic remark. The person who had to pay, on the other hand, didn’t seem to mind at all.

   They left the place and went to hang out at a few places. When they passed by a T*ranoana branch shop, Nitta points at the shop and looked at Fruta excitedly.

   ‘Look, it’s your favourite shop when we were younger! Do you want to go inside and check out some anime stuff?’

   ‘Weren’t ya listenin’, Yuki? I said I was already grown out of this nerd stuff!’

   He spits on the glass wall of the shop. For some reason, this shop is still keeping the poster of the 1st season of L*ve Live on one of their walls. I was very close to go out and pulverize him when his spit landed on the face of my favourite girl Honoka. I had to grit my teeth and calm myself.

   ‘Oh, that’s too bad. What do you do to past your time then?’

   ‘Let’s see, riding motorcycles during late at night, bullyin’ brats smaller than I am, stuff like that.’

   Nitta’s eyes widen in shock when she heard the last part. ‘You bullied small kids?’

   ‘Sure did! And it always felt great, let me tell ya that! Just watching them cry in agony after they got their toys taken by me just blows my stress away!’

   ‘But, you said you hated bullies who made fun of your hobby!’

   ‘I did, until I became a bully myself! No wonder they loved making my life miserable! Now that I’m in their shoes, it’s freakin’ addictin’!’

   ‘What happened to you, Nao-kun?’ Nitta asks him. ‘You used to be so kind! Now you think it’s okay to bully children just because you yourself were bullied? It’s wrong!’

   ‘Hey, don’t you dare think that you can tell me how to live my life just because yer my childhood friend! I always got picked on because I was weak! No one wanted to talk to me, and no one wanted to be my friend! Now that I’m part of a gang, things are different now! I’m the one who’s gonna do the bullying!’

   Nitta looks at him sternly. ‘Stop being a delinquent this instant, Nao-kun. One of these days, you’ll make a grave mistake, and by then it’ll be too late for you to turn back.’

   Furuta got dangerously close to Nitta.

   ‘And I’m tellin’ ya to stop givin’ me orders like yer some hot shit.’ he hisses at her.

   I’ve got to give Nitta credit. She’s not backing down at all and continues to make eye contact with Furuta.

   ‘Get ready to jump out.’ Nagano tells me.

   ‘No need for you to tell me.’

   ‘There he is!’ someone yells.

   I look towards the direction where the shout came from. The person who shouted dressed similarly to Furuta with a pompadour on his head. He’s pointing at Furuta with four of his friends/goons who also dress like him. They wasted no time in surrounding Furuta and Nitta. Suddenly, Furuta doesn’t look so tough.

   ‘W-Wha da ya guys want?’ Furuta demands in a loud but shaky voice.

   ‘What do we want? That’s our line!’ the same guy who shouted just now says in an equally loud voice. ‘You got some nerve trespassing the territory of the great Loud Hounds!’

   ‘Do all high-school delinquent gangs have some kind of lame names like those?’ Nagano couldn’t help but ask.

   ‘Try Gaping Hawks and Howl Monkeys.’ Suzu supplies. ‘Both those gangs are based in Harajuku.’

   ‘...Wow. And how do you even know that?’

   ‘I did some research~.’

   Meanwhile, thins aren’t looking so good for Furuta.

   ‘Look, guys. I’ll just leave quietly and save you the trouble of beating me up, alright?’ he tells them fearfully.

   ‘No can do! You come to our territory, you got to pay up or get beaten up! Unless…’

   The leader of the group is looking meaningfully at Nitta. Furuta took his meaning and pushed her towards the leader without a second thought.

   ‘Fine, ya can have her! Just don’t hurt me!’

   Nitta’s current look is the look of despair someone has when she got betrayed.

   ‘Nao-kun, how could you…’

   ‘Shut it! Ya always said that yer goin’ to protect me when we were kids, remember? Now’s the time ta keep ya promise!’

   Right. I can’t watch this anymore. I got out of my hiding place and walk towards them.

   ‘I’m sorry but, she’s with us.’ I say to them.

   ‘Huh? Who the hell are you?’ the leader demands.

   ‘Just her schoolmate.’ I tell him calmly.

   ‘Well you should just mind your own business and-’

   The guy suddenly stops and looks at me. Maybe he could tell that I’m a martial artist, I don’t know. Whatever the reason, he turn around and walks back where he came from.

   ‘We’re leaving, boys.’ he tells his goons.

   His goons leave the place with him without so much as a single protest, leaving only us and Nagano and Suzu who come out from the hiding place as well.

   ‘Are you hurt, Nitta-san?’ Nagano asks Nitta in a concerned tone.

   Nitta shakes her head. ‘No, I’m fine. Thank you for saving us, Bandou-kun.’

   ‘No problem.’

   ‘I would have beaten them up with one hand tied behind my back without your help.’ Furuta grumbles while glaring at me.

   That ticked me off. I grab his collar and slam him to the ground.

   ‘Listen, pal. Never find Nitta again, or I’m going to thrash you. Do you understand?’

   His cowardice returns in an instant.

   ‘Yes! Yes! I got it! So please, don’t hurt me!’ he shrieks like a little girl.

   I let go of him and look at the girls.

   ‘Let’s go.’ I tell them.

   Wordlessly, they nod in agreement. All of us left Furuta there, who’s still lying down on the ground like an upside-down tortoise.