Daichi Itakura:

When I reached the school gate, I saw a purple haired girl desperately looking everywhere for someone. Needless to say that someone was me.

"Hey.", I called her.

She noticed me and breathed a sigh of relief. But instantly her expression became angry. Of course the anger was understandable.

"What is the time, Daichi-kun?"

"Umm... I'm sorry, I'm a little late."

"A little? You said you would come after 10 minutes. Almost half an hour has passed."

She pouted at me. Even though she was angry, she was still looking cute. This anger was totally different compared to the menacing dark glare she normally had when she reached her yandere mode.

I hope she never goes that yandere mode again.

"Look. I'm very sorry. Please forgive me and in return tell me where you want to go.", I offered her.

"Eh? Me?"

"Yes. Where do you like to go? I don't really know about where girls do want to go. So I'm guessing, maybe movies or shopping mall?"

"Fufu...", she suddenly chuckled.

"W-What happened?"

"It's really cute to see that Daichi-kun is considering this like a date..."

"Oh... Now that I think... W-Wait... that's definitely not it!"

I once again got ahead of myself. 

"Just kidding. Don't worry about it.", Otosaki reassured me.

I sighed. It's really hard to keep up with this girl.

"By the way, Daichi-kun. I'm not the type to watch movies or shopping. If you ask me, I would just want to go to a restaurant and talk."

"Restaurant? I see. I know a family restaurant! It's close to my house. Would you like to go there?"

It would take 10 minutes from here to reach the restaurant. And 5 more minutes to reach my house.

"Really? I'm okay with it."

We then walked together. Now that she told me earlier, we could really be misunderstood as a couple by outsiders. I didn't think about this before.

I wondered how Otosaki was thinking about it. She seemed to be just joking then. I was probably the only one who was taking this far too seriously. 

When we reached the family restaurant, Otosaki said, 

"I didn't know there was a family restaurant this close. My home is on the other way and I go by bus. So I never really checked out this way."

"Then you should really check this out. The food here is very delicious, and also not that costly. But don't worry about that. I'll treat you."

"Oh ho. Daichi-kun's really taking care of me today."

Yeah... I don't know myself why I'm really doing all this. Probably because I want her to forget all that happened today.

We took a table near the window. We ordered some light meals for us, along with her favourite cold coffee. In the meantime, I looked at Otosaki to judge her mood. Even though she was hard to understand, I thought her mood was better than what it was in the morning. 

"Daichi-kun..."

"Yeah?"

"I'm sorry, you have to endure all this because of me."

"Why are you talking like that? I told you before that I'm only doing this because I want to."

"There's no way you want to hear me consistently talking about Rintaro."

Well... she's right. It's really painful for me to hear the same stories about the same guy everytime. However, I can't just say yes because she will get extremely hurt if I agree with her.

"No... I don't really mind it."

"Why?"

"It's because... you know... I really like to hear people's stories, I never find them boring. Especially yours, Otosaki."

"Really.... thank you.", Otosaki looked at me with a grateful smile. 

"I hope Otosaki's feeling better now."

"Yes... but I'm still not convinced that Daichi-kun likes hearing my stories."

Jeez... how do I convince her?

"See... I have a weird fetish where I like to hear someone consistently talking... or something like that."

"Pfft."

Otosaki burst into laughter after hearing me.

"It's cute that you're trying so much to convince me.", She told me while controlling her laughter. 

"Don't laugh... I'm serious."

"Yeah yeah... fufu...", she continued laughing. 

Well, even though she didn't believe me, at least her mood has become way better.

"You're the probably the funniest person I've ever met, Daichi-kun."

"I wonder if this is compliment or insult."

"You know Daichi-kun... I'm really happy that I went to the Counselling club."

"Really? I'm glad we could help you."

"Not the club. Only you, Daichi-kun. Only you could make me feel happy everytime my mood was bad."

She said this wholeheartedly which really warmed my heart. I knew she didn't think me as any more important than a useful friend. But the fact that I contributed to improve her mental condition was really special feelings for me.

"Well, Thank you. And remember, you can always contact me if you have any problems."

"Yeah! I will, Daichi-kun. In fact, can I always call you, Daichi-kun? Everyday?"

"Sure you can."

"Thank you! I'll call you everyday then!"

Otosaki looked super happy after I confirmed. How could a girl, who looked so scary normally, also act so cute? 

It was one of those moments where I felt a little jealous because Otosaki already had someone she liked. Maybe in a parallel world where she didn't like her childhood friend, she might be together with me...

Enough of my delusions...

At this moment, I suddenly noticed something outside the window. A short-black haired tomboy-ish girl, with her usual cheerful voice, was walking outside. 

Immediately, I knelt down under the table, so that she couldn't see me.

"Eh?! What happened, Daichi-kun?"

"Shhhh.... don't speak."

"B-But...."

Eventually she also knelt down under the table with me. And then she continued to whisper, 

"Now can I speak?",

"Yes but very slowly.", I whispered back.

"Why are we kneeling down?"

"Carefully look outside the window, there is a short haired girl."

"Ah... I see. Wait, isn't that Wakamiya?", Otosaki said casually. 

"What? You know her?", I was honestly surprised. 

"Yes, she is at the same class as me. Class D."

"I see."

"But what's the problem? Why are we hiding?"

"She's not the problem. Look at the guy she is with."

She wasn't alone. She was walking side by side with a guy... you guessed it, Keiichi. 

"I don't know that guy. He's not in my class.", Otosaki said.

"But I know that guy very well... and I still don't understand what he is doing..."

"Daichi-kun... how long are we going to stay like that? They are gone."

"Oh... are they gone?", I carefully looked outside to see they were indeed not there.

When we stood up, we caught the glances of other customers, as expected. 

"Can you now explain me the matter, Daichi-kun?"

Otosaki was not just angry, but extremely curious as well.

"Okay... so hear me out..."

After I explained her everything, she sipped her cold coffee and said,

"I get it... so you're worried that Keiichi-san might be cheating on his girlfriend."

"Well... I fully trust him that he's not doing anything like that. I know Keiichi for a long time. He's just not that type of a guy."

"Are you sure?"

"I.... am sure."

"Are you absolutely sure?"

"Am I absolutely sure?"

Am I really... really... sure? To be honest my loyalty to my best friend stops me thinking otherwise. 

I remember Keiichi talking about his girlfriend... he always said "My girlfriend is the cutest person in the world". There's no way that guy's going to cheat on his girlfriend. 

"Who is Keiichi-san's girlfriend by the way?", Otosaki asked.

"Chihaya Rikka. She's in class F. You probably don't know her."

"Yeah. But how about you inform her about this, Daichi-kun?"

"Eh? Informing her?"

No! No! No! No! This will be a betrayal to my best friend. Whatever, I'm still the best friend of Keiichi. I can't just break his trust.

"No. I mean before doing anything reckless, I should go ask Keiichi first. This whole thing might just be a misunderstanding after all."

Otosaki sighed and said, 

"Daichi-kun, I don't know what type of a person Keiichi-san is. However, even if he's not that type of a guy who would cheat on his girlfriend, don't you think that he's already doing something what is wrong?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean... suppose he's not cheating, Wakamiya is just a friend to him. However, now he has a girlfriend, he should not talk to or meet other girls privately that much. The girlfriend surely won't like it. In fact, I don't like when Rintaro talks to Yumiko and I'm not even his official girlfriend."

"Now that you said... it's true that Chihaya probably wouldn't like it. But what should I do right now?"

"For now, I think we should let it be, Daichi-kun. But don't worry, this case is on my hand now."

"Eh? Who gave you this case?"

"After a long time, we got such an interesting case. Don't you think we should find out the truth together, Daichi-kun?"

Don't talk like you are a detective.

Otosaki's eyes were sparkling with excitement. 

"But..."

"No 'but's! We both will investigate on this case. That's it."

After shutting me up, Otosaki continued to drink her cold coffee.

Well, one good thing in all of these is that... at least Otosaki got something else to think other than Rintaro.

[To be continued]