After the concert was finished, the Otaku went looking for Koyamauchi. But for whatever reason, she was nowhere to be found. He went around the entire school, yet never even caught a glimpse of the girl. She must’ve left pretty early then or something. Obviously because she didn’t want to talk to him.

So he had tried to message her on his phone. Despite their rocky relationship, she hadn’t blocked him yet. That means he knew she’d easily read his messages, even if she didn’t respond. Thank you modern technology. Unfortunately, that still can’t help him get her to reply to anything he sends to her. No matter what though, there’s no way this boy plans on giving up.

But where did she even go? He searched the usual spots and it didn’t seem like she was anywhere. The boy even asked all their friends and they actually couldn’t get in touch with her either. It was honestly the strangest thing.

Then, as he’s about to continue on his searching, the Otaku finally receives a message from her. However, the contents are far from what he had been hoping for.

“I know you’re looking for me.” It begins. “But don’t bother. I’m on a date with someone who actually likes me.” That’s all it say. Simple, short, yet extremely effective as his heart falls into the depths of the underworld. Is he really too late? Did the Otaku really mess up so badly that he just let the best person in the entire world slip right out of his hands into the arms of another boy?

Grief stricken, he heads home. This is like running into an NTR doujin. Just something to get him sad and depressed for all the wrong reasons. But… Moping a bit at home for a couple of hours, he knows he can’t give up. So after spending a bit longer than he’d like to admit in the fetal position. The Otaku heads back out to search for her.

It seems like no matter where he goes, she’s not there. The boy spend all evening and late into the night looking for her. Eventually, it’s gotten so late that it’s well past midnight. Hungry, tired, and most importantly, alone. There’s nowhere else for him to go, but to pop his head into a ramen shop that’s open into these late hours.

“Hi, I’ll just have…” He’s about to order the moment he steps in. There, he’s knocked speechless at the one person other person sitting here eating a bowl of ramen. It’s Koyamauchi. Without saying anything else, he slowly sits down besides her. She saw him coming in, but she doesn’t say anything. Instead, the girl simply slurps up her noodles. Albeit with much less gusto than he’s used to seeing her.

The pair are right next to one another, but it feels like there’s a chasm between them. He orders his food and awkwardly waits for the owner to place it in front of him. “…So…” Finally, he speaks up. “Did your date go well?”

“…” She doesn’t respond to him for what feel like the longest time. Eventually, she does decide to say something back to him. “No…” She answers.

“What?” He’s a little surprised, but that would explain why she’s all along here in this little restaurant. “Are you all right? I’m sorry that it didn’t work out.”

“I didn’t even like him in the first place.” She continues on. Koyamauchi only accepted the date because she wanted him to feel the way she had felt this past week. Yet as she went on this date, it made her feel absolutely miserable. There was only one person she could envision herself being with and that was the Otaku. “How can you say that? Aren’t you mad at me? Don’t you want to yell at me?”

“Why would I do that?” She wanted to make him jealous, but all it’s done is make him more worried for her. “I want you to be happy, and it’s pretty obvious I’m terrible at doing that.”

“How can you be like this?” She clenched her chopsticks tightly, nearly breaking the pair in half. Koyamauchi closes her eyes, but it does little to keep teardrops from falling into her broth. “When you’re like this… It only makes me love you more, but why? How can you still like a girl like me? I’m your senpai, but I’m so immature. I’m not as big as the other girls. Who could-”

“Don’t say such bad things about yourself.” He can’t stand to see her crying like this any longer. “Senpai, I can’t live without you.” To him, she’s the one girl who’s the one for him. There is no other that can compare. Everything they’ve shared together, it wasn’t just out of pure luck. Sure, their meeting was by chance, but they’ve stuck together for a reason.

“You really think that?” She asks, attempting to wipe the tear from her cheeks.

“I really do know that.” He answers, not just with words. But also as he leans into her face. Their lips touch as he gives her a tender kiss.