- “Kiken… Come in Kiken!... Dang it Kiken, stop making goo-goo eyes at John and talk to me!... It’s no use…”

How do these things happen to me…?

- “Are you ok Nio-chan?”

- “Yeah, I am. Thanks, Sanagi… By the way, why are you here, isn’t this the third year’s bus… Aren’t you a second year?”

- “Ha-ha… Funny story… Back in Japan, I came late, and my bus left early, thankfully the third year’s bus hadn’t left yet, so they accepted me into their group.”

- “…”

- “…”

- “…”

- “Did I just hear you say the name Kiken?”

- “Ah… yes… She’s a classmate that I was helping…”

- “Kiken, as in Utsukushi Kiken?”

- “Yeah… Do you know her or something?”

- “Has she been manipulating you, bribing you, or maybe threatening you…”

- “Umm… No comment… But you do know her…”

- “She’s my cousin… And I won’t let her manipulate my friend, I’m gonna call her right now!”

- “Calm down… Sanagi, it’s ok… I was the one to offer my assistance first, but I do know she has done stuff like that, I just-”

- “Have no evidence? … As usual with her…”

   I have never seen Sanagi like this… She is genuinely angry… Although, her current pout doesn’t sell it… Not that I’m telling her that. Still, it’s not like I’ve met her in person ever since the mall incident, but she is always cheerful, even over our text messages, and that accidental call she gave me. I would never have guessed that obsessive-compulsive Kiken would be related to social butterfly Sanagi, small world, huh?

   Anyways, family situation aside, I have a big problem. I have no way of communicating with my class. With my phone dead, I can’t call any of my friends or acquaintances. And since I was helping only Kiken, I didn’t give com-links to any of the other girls, and Kiken is on cloud nine talking with John right now. Good for her, but frustrating for me. Gita probably noticed and is worried, I just hope they aren’t frantically looking for me at the airport… Then again, school protocol states that all the students must be sent to their destination, before looking for a missing one, so was the plan stated before we left for Puerto Rico. I just hope the All-Girl school teacher can call Eagle High to notify them that I’m ok before they send a search party.

   Their teacher said that they would call my school the moment they reach their hotel because she doesn’t have my school’s number, so they’ll look for it at the hotel’s international registry. I thought about asking Sanagi or Fasshon for their phones, but I didn’t learn any of my friend’s contacts, and attempting to log in to any social media account I may have is a no-no since I don’t remember my password.

   I have to say, this has plot armor written all over it. Isolating me without communication, with a group of, objectively speaking as this isn’t my role, pretty girls. This is, definitely, a rom-com scenario, but they have the wrong guy. Shouldn’t the girl magnet protagonist be in this situation… Isn’t this better suited for John? Considering he is dense enough not to notice what is going on. Contrary to me that is hyper-aware, considering how much anime of this type I have watched.

Sigh.

   I can’t do anything about it. But… Two of these girls are my friends. Maybe I can strengthen that friendship, even if we are from different schools. Making the best of the situation right?

- “So, Sanagi… I didn’t know your school was coming to Puerto Rico as well. Are there any places you are going to visit here?”

- “Yeah. We are going to stay at the hotel tonight, and then we are going to Aguadilla, we are going to visit this big tree house there. After that, we are going to Ponce, I don’t know what we are going to do there. After that, we’ll head to Arecibo for the coast area. We’ll be staying at different hotels along those areas and be given time to explore as well, and when the week, ends, we’ll be back at San Juan ready to go back to Japan.”

Sounds like a Vacation, there has to be more to it.

- “But why come to Puerto Rico?”

- “Like… We have to take photos, and make a group collage…, then make an oral presentation on the sites we visit…”

   Fasshon was chewing gum and looking at her phone, but she wasn’t ignoring us, despite being at the other side of the bus division by me.

- “I guess that since I’ll be exploring with the third years, one group will include me regardless. Won't it, Kei-chan?”

- “Like… I guess so…”

   It seems my topic of conversation allowed Sanagi to forget her pout due to Kiken, and thankfully, it has helped me relax about my situation, even if just a bit.

- “And why is your school here, Nio-chan?”

- “If I’m not mistaken, we’ll be making individual essays on what we learn and what we see. The third-years, similar to you, are the group I’m staying with despite being a first-year student… They’ll be staying in San Juan to visit 'El Morro'. Then, they’ll move to the museum of science in Bayamon, then the Observatory in Arecibo, the one that used to have the Radio Telescope that fell, and then we’ll go to Aguadilla and that tree house you mentioned.”

- “Aww… I guess we won’t be meeting any other times on our trip…”

- “We might meet at the airport again.”

   The rest of the ride was filled with conversations on many subjects, as Sanagi and Fasshon probably tried to keep me calm, while I was just trying to have fun in this situation. I learned that their school is fluent in Spanish so, contrary to me and my school, they won’t have problems communicating with the locals. For some reason, the Convention Center seemed full as we passed by, but I decided to close my eyes after a while.

Eventually, we reached the hotel in which they were staying, and what I saw in the lobby filled me with dread and shock.

- “They… Are all here…?”

   Many more girls wearing the same uniform. Contrary to my school, their school made them wear uniforms for this trip, which was more effective for keeping track of students now that I think about it. But they were all here. Their first years and second years, along with the third years that had just arrived with me in tow…

I was the only boy in this lobby…

They were all looking at me and muttering amongst themselves

I was scared.

- “Aww… Is Nio-chan nervous around girls?”

EXCUSE ME?! I looked at Sanagi like she had just declared war on the nation. She just had a mix of a teasing smirk, and a friendly face.

- “I’ll have you know. I was a total flirt in pre-school!”

- “…”

- “…”

- “…”

   The room went quiet, and both Sanagi and Fasshon were staring directly at me. Not only that, all the other girls that were in the lobby were staring as well.

- “Maybe… I shouldn’t have admitted that so proudly… I’m sorry…”

I gave a light bow in apology, blushing from embarrassment for my proud proclamation, of something so… yeah.

   About three seconds passed before the whole lobby erupted in laughter at my expense. It wasn’t mean laughter, they just found my comment funny. The girls I didn’t know were belly laughing so hard, they probably thought I was too young to be thinking about such things. They probably think I’m a middle schooler. But Sanagi and Fasshon were laughing genuinely like friends do when something embarrassing happens to one of them. After all, they already knew I was a little weird (with the whole shipping notebook) and accepted me, this shocked them, but didn’t surprise them… If that makes sense.

   After their laughing session is over, all the girls begin to approach my direction, after all, it wasn’t normal to see a boy amongst classes from an All-Girls school. Varying gazes went my way, from questioning, to sympathetic, to the look they give babies, and others. I just retreated closer to Sanagi’s side before the third-year’s teacher interrupted.

- “Ok girls, settle down. Please don’t overbear our guest. He just boarded our bus by mistake… Mr. Toyohama, I just called your school and they notified your teacher. Considering how late it is, they said they’d pick you up here first thing in the morning, which means you’ll be in our care until the.”

- “EEEEEHHH-”

- “YEY!”

Sanagi clearly didn’t understand the situation.

- “I trust you have bathing essentials and a change of clothes in that backpack which you carry?”

- “Yes teacher.”

- “Then please take a shower and meet me down here afterward. Since we don’t have any other rooms reserved, you’ll stay in the lounge area we reserved.”

Plot armor strikes again.

- “I assume that you know. Any inappropriate behavior will go on your record.”

- “Yes teacher.”

- “Same goes for all of you. Just because he is the boy, doesn’t mean the warning doesn’t apply to you.”

All the girls approved in unison. And so, my night in a hotel filled only with high school girls began. Thank goodness I know my place.

…

   It was 01:13 AM and I couldn’t sleep. All of us were in our rooms with our roommates, but Nio-chan was all alone in the lounge. I texted him before going to bed and he said he was fine, but still, I didn’t think it was fair. After all, it wasn’t his fault that he got confused about which bus to board.

   Kei-chan was already asleep so I decided I would check on him. I decided to bring an additional blanket I had in my bag, just in case he was cold or something.

   Opening the door lightly, I looked both sides to see an empty hallway. Seeing that the coast was clear, I made my way to the lounge. I stopped to look myself over, I didn’t want to look embarrass myself in front of him, I was technically his ‘sempai’ even if from another school. My pink, cat-themed pajamas looked alright, and I was not going to take off my bunny slippers.

   Trying to make the least noise possible, I tiptoed around until I reached my destination. I open the door, and what I saw was surprising. He wasn’t sleeping, nor trying to sleep, he was watching a movie on the lounge’s T.V.

   I haven’t met Nio-chan ever since the mall incident, but I haven’t seen him so focused with a look of joy in anything, more than the look he is giving the T.V. Not even when playing on the arcade with Kei-chan, Jinna-chan, and me. He looked hypnotized by the screen, a look of glee and… Longing?

I tried to sneak a bit, but remained close to the door, just enough to see what he was watching.

   For some reason, I thought he was going to be watching an action movie, or superhero stuff. Maybe one of the animes he constantly texts about. But he was watching a romance movie. I remember watching this movie when I was a little girl with my mom in theaters. I remember I cried, it’s a really good movie and a nice ending. The plot was in the middle, 30 minutes away from the climax. The climax was sad, but it’s not like the protagonist’s best friend was a good character. His pickup lines were corny, but you can’t help but feel bad for the guy, I mean I doubt anyone wants their crush to end up with their best friend, but yeah, it doesn’t compare with the awesome ending. Also, he must, really, love that 'pava’ because wearing it at these hours of the night?

Nio-chan hadn’t noticed me, but a tap on my back let me know that someone had.

- “Miss Sanagi, what are you doing at the lounge at these hours of the night?”

- “I just wanted to make sure Nio-chan was ok. I brought him an extra blanket.”

- “Mr. Toyohama asked permission to watch television. While I didn’t expect him to be using it so late, the volume isn’t disturbing anyone, so I’ll let him be. I see you also decided to check on him.”

- “Hey, Miss… Can I please stay with him? I don’t want him to be alone right now…”

   The teacher eyed me with an expressionless gaze. I wasn’t stupid, I knew it was a risk for the school about what could happen, but I wasn’t going to try anything, and although I know Nio-chan only for a short time, he has been nothing but sweet (sometimes overbearing on text messages), he wasn’t going to try anything.

- “Ok… But no shenanigans and remember what I said.”

- “Yes teacher, thank you.”

The teacher left and closed behind lightly as if not to disturb Nio-chan’s complete movie focus.

   I decided to seat beside him, I was slow and tried not to make sounds, as I didn’t want to interrupt Nio-chan either. Perhaps I was just worrying too much, he was fine watching the movie alone, but maybe after it ended, he would want to talk to someone about it or something. So, I stayed and seated myself by his side, and he didn’t notice.

…

   During the first 15 minutes of the movie, I was in a mix of watching the movie and watching Nio-chan’s expressions. He was completely engrossed by it, maybe he had never seen it before. He gasped at the surprising parts, and chuckled quietly at the funny parts, especially at the protagonist’s best friend’s pick-up lines. He will never let me say this, but the fact that he was small made his expressions even more adorable. My newest friend looked like a cartoon character come to life. I wouldn’t say it to him, I think he has a little complex regarding his height.

- “It’s been a while since I’ve watched a non-anime romance movie.”

- “EEEK…”

I placed a hand on my mouth, I didn’t want to cause a ruckus. Had he noticed me? Since when?

- “Did you know I was here?”

- “Ever since you sat by my right. Have you watched this movie Sanagi?”

- “Yeah. Only once, with my parents at the theater. I was a little girl back then.”

- “Yeah, me too. I loved this movie. Even if it made me cry. It holds a special place, it's important.”

- “…”

- “…”

- “…”

- “Did you know it’s not on streaming?”

- “Really?”

- “Yeah, it surprised me too, everything is on streaming nowadays, but I was never able to find it. It was only on Blu-ray or DVD. I tried to buy it online, but it’s practically a collectible, really expensive. When I found it here in the lounge, I just had to ask the teacher to let me use the T.V.”

- “I didn’t know you liked these types of movies. I knew you liked romance, but I thought it was only in anime.”

- “You are right, but I watched this movie before I discovered rom-com anime, my parents were really into romantic movies, and I liked them as well.”

- “Cool, I like them too. The ending is amazing.”

- “…”

   The fact that he didn’t respond made me curious, but I just assumed he had focused back on the movie. I turned my gaze to the screen again. For the next minutes we spent, we were between light conversation and full attention to the film. In the blink of an eye, the climax was here.

- “Love is not like in the movies.”

   The pickup liner spoke. He had accepted that his crush was in love with his best friend (the protagonist), a sad scene, but not worth tears… Or so I thought…

   Looking to my side, I saw something I did not expect to see Nio-chan do, at least until we were closer friends, not everyone cries in front of a person they had only physically met twice. But he was crying. He wasn’t sniffling or bowling. He was just tearing up, a smile on his face, his eyes, slightly downcast. His expression wasn’t just the sadness his tears showed… It was… Acceptance?... Had Nio been heartbroken like this before?

   Somehow, I felt that that wasn’t it, but I couldn’t put my finger on it. I must have been staring at Nio-chan for a while because he looked at me still tearing up a little before, he spoke.

- “That’s me.”

   Two words that explained so much. I saw the connection between what Nio-chan had proudly stated about his pre-school behavior, and how he acted now. He didn’t need to say it. I guess he had believed that the pickup liner’s way was the correct way to find love. Maybe seeing this movie, had opened his eyes to the fact that constantly flirting was not the way to find love? Was I overthinking his words? Overanalyzing?

   We stayed the rest of the movie in silence. I stayed focused on the screen, but my mind was not on the movie… It was in Nio-chan. He calmed down after the climax, and reacted normally to the rest of the movie, the only reaction that surprised me was his tears at 'the best friend’s' words, the moment everyone saw coming when I watched the movie in theaters, the moment no one reacted when I saw it, yet it had made Nio-chan cry.

The credits rolled, and Nio-chan stood up to place the DVD on its case.

- “Uff… The movie got me huh? Did you like it, Sanagi? Was it as good as you remembered?”

- “…”

- “Sanagi?”

- “…”

- “Ahh… You are probably wondering why I said the protagonist’s best friend was me-”

- “It’s because of the flirting… The one you spoke off when you got here?”

- “Yeah… This movie was my wake-up call. I would never find love if I flirted with every girl that breathed… Plus… I was very little in age.”

- “Is that why you have the notebook?”

- “Hmm?”

- “The notebook. The one you said you used to help girls from your school have chances to win your best friend’s heart. You thought that because you flirted, you wouldn’t find love, and gave up on love entirely?”

- “My shipping notebook? No… The movie is not the reason for that. The notebook came later. It’s a bit personal.”

- “You don’t have to tell me if-”

- “It’s ok… Just please don’t tell.”

- “… I find comfort in bringing people together… Helping others find love…”

That’s it. That’s not so bad. He was smiling as he looked at the now turned-off T.V.

- “That’s a great sentiment Nio-chan.”

But then… 

The longing. The way he looked at the couple in the movie. He longed that for himself.

- “Do you… Not believe you are capable of finding love? In the romantic sense”

- “No… Not anymore… That life is not for me.”

- “Why?... Everyone can hope for love. And you are so nice and…”

- “I don’t want to change who I am…”

- “What? Why would you need to change who you are? … To find love?”

   He thought, perhaps considering if he should reveal to me something so personal. I couldn’t judge him on that.

- “My master, a boy from my third grade, thought me a valuable lesson… ‘People like us, will never get the girls. That life is not for us. That is unless we change ourselves. People like us that crave love cannot go about searching for it like in your previous life. We either choose to live a life to impress the girls, like those gentlemen playing soccer; they unknowingly chose that path, whether they want to or not; or we accept our fate and find a way to alleviate the pain.’ I do not mean you, I meant him and me, and a group of others. I don’t remember his name, but as if by plot armor I remember what he told me word for word. I had been wondering that day, why the girls were so interested in the soccer players, he assumed I was jealous, I wasn’t but I was curious, as to why those boys were getting the attention I had wanted with my flirts, and after I stopped, and they were simply playing, not caring for the attention.”

- “…”

- “He introduced me to rom-com anime… The satisfaction of seeing two characters come together, for the right reasons, made my day. I wanted that, and I wanted that happiness for other people… I wanted to help them reach it.”

   He was smiling at me with stars in his eyes as he spoke his reasoning to me. I can see he believes in all of this. But that was terrible advice, and for him to take that advice at face value. Weren’t there any friends to st-

He didn’t have friends back then, did he?

   The way he constantly texts about the happiness of his friends. The way he speaks about bringing people together. The way he speaks about john, this Ao-sen, Gita… He believes that if they are not happy with him… They’ll leave.

   It may be subconscious… But part of why he ships, is because he can get closer to others through it as well. When Nio-chan texts about how dense John is, in how he thinks Nio-chan is merely trying to get closer to John’s friends by coming up with hangs between them, he may not be entirely wrong. He may be dense when it comes to how the girls feel about him, but not when it comes to how Nio-chan acts. Why else would he feel so upset with himself, when he had texted about how he thought John’s friends were angry with him? Nio-chan may not have told, but it doesn’t take a genius to know these people he mentions, are the ones he ships with John.

   A normal matchmaker would have left the moment those he matched didn’t want his help anymore without reaching an ending, but he bashed himself. A chance at getting closer to someone, by getting them closer to someone else… Closing on his face. Maybe I am thinking too much. But as a person who was once lonely, who found relief in doing other things rather than socializing healthily, I believe Nio-chan is experiencing something similar.

   Taking every word his so-called ‘master’ thought him to the letter, finding alleviation from the pain, by bringing others together through his ships, pain not only from lack of romantic love but from lack of connection. The fact that all his friends are older than him, as he struggles to connect with others his age, probably due to judgment and criticism from others, by how he is, what he likes, what he does, or what he used to do, making him feel perhaps this is the only way. I could be wrong… But it feels that way.

- “Nio-chan… Do you… Feel lonely?”

- “Hmm?… Why would I feel lonely?”

   He smiled and had a cheerful voice, but his smile didn’t reach his eyes. Maybe I was right, but today wasn’t the moment. I for one know, that his true friends won't leave even if they become a little upset, or if they don’t end up with the love of their lives, even if he stops shipping. But even if that were to happen, I know neither Jinna-chan, nor Kei-chan, nor I, will leave him. He is our true friend. And I will show it to him.

- “… Sanagi? …”

- “Sorry. It’s nothing… Hey, want to show me some of that anime you like? I think the hotel has a streaming service.”

   His eyes sparkled, it was 02:01 AM, but we weren’t going to sleep. He nodded and took the remote, choosing a streaming service.

- “I love this one. It was the first anime rom-com I watched. It was good until episode 26, then I stopped watching. I never finished it, and never will. 'Best girl' didn’t end up with the boy of her dreams!”

- “I hate when that happens in stories!” (Pout).

- “Who doesn’t… But hey, we can just watch until episode 26, and then come up with an ending for best girl ourselves!”

- “That sounds fun Nio-chan, let's start. We need to finish the episodes before you and we have to leave here!”

…

{They tried but failed to finish. By 03:04 AM, both teenagers were fast asleep, a certain blonde girl, hugging a short shipper between her arms, as she slept her head using his fluffy hair as a pillow, while he dosed off, ‘pava’ on the floor. Both in sitting position, as the episodes rolled one after the other, while no one watched, as they waited ‘till the dawn of a next day}.

…

   Woah, unexpected. Our shipper and his second-year friend Sanagi, have a little moment, as we revisit something from the shipper’s past, this time from the perspective of someone who learned it. What will this moment mean for the future? Who knows, but we can’t let side stories outshine titular ones, or maybe they can?

Next time, back to his group, the Shipper prepares a moment between the cool beauty, and his best friend, as they must maintain order when the group prepares to explore 'El Morro'.