Battles go better when you’re fighting alongside someone whose signature move is the opposite of yours

"…Mizusawa?" I said, still startled by our unexpected guest.

He settled into the desk on my right, so I was

sandwiched between him and Tama-chan.

"Okay, Fumiya, fess up. You're up to something, aren't

you?"

"Wh-what are you talking about?" I sputtered at the

cryptic accusation.

Tama-chan stared at him suspiciously.

"Come on, you were scheming with Mimimi, too, and

during the sports tournament. I bet you and Tama-chan are

coming up with a strategy against Erika right now, aren't

you? You keep pretty busy when no one's looking, huh?"

"Uh…"

I felt his words were carrying me toward an unknown

destination.

"And Tama, you ignored Erika when she kicked your

desk today, didn't you? That got my attention, and I figured

something was up when I saw you two look at each other.

Then just now, right as I happen to stop by class after

practice, here you guys are by the window. So what's going

on? A secret conference?"

All I could do was listen as Mizusawa smoothly exhibited

how perceptive he was. When did he take over my private

meeting between Tama-chan and me? Leadership slipped

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from my hands before I had even noticed.

"Well? Am I right?" he asked, peering at me with a

teasing smile. I gave in and smiled back. He was as sharp as

ever. No lying to him. The guy should become a detective or

something.

"On the nose."

He laughed as I lifted up both hands in surrender.

"Okay then, since I've done such a good job," he said as

he looked at Tama-chan, "let me ask: Have you been okay

lately?"

"…Yeah, I'm fine."

Even though Tama-chan seemed flustered, she answered

right away. But she shifted her gaze from him to me and

then down at the ground uncomfortably.

"Ha-ha… Would you two prefer if I wasn't here?" he

asked wryly.

"No, it's just…why are you here?" I changed the subject

to what I really wanted to know.

"Huh? I mean, you two are trying to figure out what to

do about Erika, right?"

"Yeah, we are."

"Well, I just thought a sketchy guy like me could smooth

out the process…"

He smirked again and looked at Tama-chan.

"But maybe it's not that important?"

Tama-chan was staring at her hands, which were folded

on her lap.

"…Tama-chan?" I said softly. She glanced at me but then

looked back down again right away. I remembered

something. I'd seen her like this before. It was during the

first semester, when she'd been pulled into a conversation

with Nakamura and his buddies during home ec. She'd acted

exactly like this.

"…Um, Mizusawa?"

"Yeah?"

He looked straight at me.

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"Your group doesn't really get along with Tama-chan,

does it?" I asked point-blank. That was my guess anyway,

based on her reaction in home ec and the context Hinami

had given me later on. There seemed to be some deep-rooted

enmity going on.

Mizusawa widened his eyes like I'd caught him off guard,

then looked at me and finally burst out laughing.

"There you go again, Fumiya!"

"What?"

He then narrowed his eyes and cackled.

"She's right here, y'know. Or is this not weird to you?"

"Oh…that's what you mean."

Made sense. Tama-chan and I were used to each other

after our honest conversation here two days earlier, but from

Mizusawa's perspective, my question must have come from

left field. He didn't know this was our natural state.

"Get used to it," I said casually and fairly naturally. I was

getting more comfortable talking with him these days. I was

even able to use two different skills at the same time!

"Ha-ha-ha. And here I thought you were the

conscientious type!" His smile was genuine.

"What can I say?"

"It works for you."

I smiled in return. "Anyway, back to my question…"

He scratched his neck and made a pensive noise. "I

wouldn't say we don't get along…but we're not very

compatible."

"…Compatible?" I echoed, not sure what he meant. I

glanced at Tama-chan, but she was still avoiding looking at

him.

"I mean, Tama-chan sticks to her guns, right? That's why

she's been fighting with Erika so much lately. And since

Erika is the boss type, she won't give an inch, either. They're

like oil and water."

"I'd agree."

"Right? And…," he said, pausing imperiously before

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continuing in a more humorous way. "A certain someone in

our group can be just as pushy as Erika, am I right?"

As soon as he said it, a light bulb flickered to life in my

mind.

"Oh…Nakamura."

"Correct!" He frowned and then gave me an exasperated

smile. "Shuji and Tama are like oil and water, too."

He glanced at Tama-chan. I did, too. She didn't make

any attempt to speak. I knew she didn't get along with

Nakamura, and I guess the same went for Mizusawa. I

looked back at him.

"So she doesn't get along with Nakamura's whole

group?"

"Basically," he said, nodding. "Now and then, they snap

at each other, or he'll make some stupid joke. You even got

dragged into it once, didn't you?"

"Um, yeah, just that one time."

He must mean the incident in home ec.

"Thought so. Happens to Takei and me almost every day.

Once, they had a huge fight, and things got awkward. They

still are."

"Ha-ha…got it."

I gave a little huff of a laugh. But things made sense now.

Nakamura and Tama-chan were incompatible, so she often

got into little conflicts that involved his whole group. Those

conflicts made their relationship awkward. The situation

was a little complicated, but thankfully not as serious as I'd

feared.

"I wouldn't say the two of you are completely

incompatible…but cliques are cliques, I guess."

"Yeah. We don't argue directly, but if I'm involved, I'll

take Shuji's side, and I'll tease her sometimes. I'm not

surprised she doesn't like me much."

He smiled sheepishly. Mizusawa was essentially a kind

person, but he did tend to poke fun at people a lot. Not long

ago, he'd piled on when Nakamura was imitating how I

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spoke. The explanation made sense.

I turned to Tama-chan again. She was still looking down.

She might not want to talk about this stuff, but I wanted to

hear her side.

"Tama-chan… Do you feel awkward around Mizusawa

because you've argued before?"

She raised her head and glanced back and forth between

the two of us, gauging us. But she stayed silent, and her gaze

gradually fell back onto the desk. An indecisive silence fell

over the group. Mizusawa grew serious for a minute, then

smiled again without any hint of resentment.

"Anyway, I'm here if you need to talk. Lemme know if I

can help. Later, guys," he said cheerfully, trying to ease the

awkwardness. Then he slid off the desk and walked toward

the classroom door. He acted like nothing important had

happened, but even I could tell that wasn't the case. He was

trying to slip away because he could tell that his presence

was making Tama-chan uncomfortable. He'd even

announced he was on our side and promised to help us.

"Gotcha. Thanks—"

Right then, a jolt of inspiration flashed through me.

I thought of Mizusawa's thoughtful behavior toward

Tama-chan.

I thought of Tama-chan staring down at the desk.

I thought of all the assignments Hinami had given me so

far.

All the pieces came together, and an idea took shape in

my head.

I had a feeling that one of the assignments Hinami had

given me might have a big impact on helping us solve Tamachan's problem.

"—Mizusawa, wait a second."

I put one finger to my lip and looked down as I spoke.

Mizusawa's footsteps stopped in the middle of the

classroom.

"What's up?"

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When I looked at him, I saw he was looking at me with a

mixture of anticipation and bewilderment.

"Um…I was wondering if you could help us with

something."

"Help you?"

"Yeah," I said, nodding and then looking at Tama-chan.

"—Tama-chan."

"What?"

She looked at me, surprised to suddenly hear her name.

"I was saying the other day that you'd need to complete

some training to solve this problem, right?"

"Yeah…," she replied awkwardly; I was acting a little too

excited about this. I gave her a serious look as Mizusawa

watched us with interest.

"I figured out what assignment to give you first."

Maybe she guessed what I was thinking from my

expression, because she turned serious, too.

"…What is it?" she said, then waited quietly for my

answer.

"Well…"

I thought back to that assignment from the barbecue

trip.

"Starting today…I want you to become friends with

Mizusawa."

She looked at me blankly. Mizusawa looked back and

forth between us. There was a brief silence, and then

Mizusawa spoke.

"Uh, what's the idea behind that?"

"Um, well…"

Better explain—of course they wouldn't get it right

away.

"Tama-chan and I have been talking since yesterday, and

the first thing she needs to do is get everyone in class to stop

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avoiding her."

"Makes sense," Mizusawa said, leaning against a desk.

Tama-chan listened silently.

"And if she wants to do that, she needs some training to

build up the skills that'll help her fit in better with

everyone."

"Huh. So she can start practicing by becoming friends

with me?"

"Right!"

Mizusawa caught on quick, as usual. I looked over at

Tama-chan.

"Watching you, it occurred to me that one of the reasons

you have trouble fitting in is that once you've closed yourself

off to people, there's no going back. Like what just happened

with Mizusawa."

Tama-chan turned her gaze from me to Mizusawa.

Predictably, she seemed vaguely uncomfortable. But she

didn't look down.

"I'm guessing you assume you won't be able to get along

with anyone in Nakamura's group. I think breaking through

that shell is the first step toward getting along better with

the rest of the class."

"Shell…?" she murmured, looking down. This time,

though, she seemed to be examining herself rather than

escaping eye contact with us.

"Yeah."

"Wow," Mizusawa said. "You've grown up, haven't you,

Fumiya?"

What's with the sudden role shift? You sound like my

dad or something.

"What you're saying is surprisingly logical, too."

"Y-yeah?"

Probably had something to do with all my close-up

observations of a certain hyperlogical someone. After all, I'd

stolen her assignment outright. Never expected this would

be the one I'd choose for Tama-chan, though. Mizusawa

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gave a few small nods.

"Okay. I'll help out since you asked, but it's up to Tamachan to take the initiative from here on out."

He turned to Tama-chan. She was still looking down at

herself.

"I…"

She slowly raised her head and pursed her lips. She'd

always stayed true to her own wishes. That time in home ec,

right now with Mizusawa, and probably for a very long time,

she'd refused to talk to people she didn't like, with

Nakamura first and foremost among them. She probably

had some powerful reason for not wanting to interact with

them. But right now, she wasn't sure. Which path would she

choose? It was a question of priorities; there was no right

answer. I waited silently for her decision.

She waited another moment, and then she directed a

determined look at me.

"Okay. I'll try."

Mizusawa and I turned to each other, smiled, and

nodded. Tama-chan had just made another crack in her

shell.

* * *

Mizusawa and Tama-chan faced each other across a desk.

"I think this might be the first time we've really talked."

"Maybe so."

I was standing a few steps away, my back to the window.

In contrast to Mizusawa, who was talking in his usual soft

tone, Tama-chan sounded indifferent. More than nerves,

though, I think it was just that she wasn't used to talking to

him, and she wasn't trying to hide it.

"So what do you think now?"

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"Now?"

"I mean, I can understand why you don't like talking to

Shuji, but what about me?"

Mizusawa wasn't beating around the bush. He wasn't

being unkind, but this level of directness was slightly

unusual for him. He was probably adapting to Tama-chan's

blunt honesty. If so, props to him. The power of the socially

adept.

"I'm not sure. My image of you is that you always say

mean things."

She sounded flat and a bit stiff.

"Ha-ha-ha. I'm mean, huh?"

"Yeah. You always go along with the mean things

Nakamura says."

"Ha-ha, really?"

"I'm not a fan of that, so I avoid you."

"Huh. Oh…"

Even Mizusawa was starting to flinch from Tama-chan's

one-two punches.

"Hey, Fumiya, I found someone even blunter than you."

"She's just getting started, dude."

"Seriously?" Mizusawa smiled goofily. He seemed to

actually be enjoying her bluntness. Figures. "Well, I'm

guessing you don't like me much. Seeing how you've been

avoiding me."

Tama-chan's expression didn't change.

"I don't know. I won't know what kind of person you are

without talking to you."

Her round eyes met Mizusawa's.

"…Hmm," he murmured, with a hint of surprise. After

all, it was an odd answer. She avoided him because he was

mean to her, but she wouldn't know if she disliked him or

not until she talked to him. There wasn't anything wrong

with that, but it was definitely unusual. It also fit her

perfectly. She couldn't hide those genuine feelings of hers.

"Well, is there anything you want to ask me, then? In the

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interest of getting to know me better."

"Um…no?"

"Ha-ha-ha! Thought so!"

He opened his mouth wide and laughed. It was nice that

he seemed to be enjoying himself. Right now, Tama-chan

was telling him exactly what she thought, and he was

accepting it, with a laugh, even. They were actually getting

along great. Seemed like they'd be friends in no time.

"Oh, actually, there was one thing!" Tama-chan said a

little more excitedly.

"What?" Mizusawa asked, grinning. He looked as relaxed

as ever, but he also didn't know what was coming.

"Do you like Aoi?"

"Urk!"

That was me, not Mizusawa, sputtering in shock at her

candid question. For his part, Mizusawa looked amused

even though he didn't know how to answer.

"Well that came from left field," he said very calmly,

throwing my own lack of stoicism into sharp relief.

"I heard some rumors, so I was wondering what the

story was. I'm curious, since Aoi keeps a lot of secrets."

"Huh…"

Mizusawa stared at Tama-chan, trying to figure out

exactly what she meant. Her expression didn't change.

Mizusawa was making full use of his natural shrewdness,

but I think she may have been so honest, she didn't even

realize he was trying to pry into her motivations. This was

definitely a mixed martial arts showdown.

I'd already seen Mizusawa declare his true feelings to

Hinami, so for me, it was a nerve-racking situation. I held

my breath as I watched, but Mizusawa didn't show any signs

of panic.

"Yeah, I like her."

"Mizusawa?!"

"Wow! So it's true!"

I reacted at the same time as Tama-chan.

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"Yeah," Mizusawa said, smiling casually. "As a friend."

His tone was joking—so that's how he planned to brush

it over. He had me there for a second. But wow. He sure had

guts to stay so cool and admit it after Tama-chan sussed out

his real feelings, only to turn it on its head and surprise us.

He was so relaxed, you'd never think he was lying. Hinami

had done the same thing before. Must be a special normie

skill. No way I can copy that one.

"…Oh, okay." Tama-chan nodded, apparently convinced,

and Mizusawa smiled teasingly.

"So you get a kick out of romantic gossip, huh?"

"Th-that's not true!" she protested, a little jolted by his

joke.

"Well, I answered your question, so now it's my turn. Do

you like anyone right now?"

"No way! And I wouldn't tell you if I did!"

"Oh! So there is someone? Who is it?"

"Hey! Stop assuming I like anyone!"

Tama-chan pointed sharply at Mizusawa. He cackled

deviously.

"You say that, but these little after-school, one-on-one

strategy meetings with Fumiya look awfully suspicious to

me…"

"What?" I sputtered at this surprise attack, but Tamachan stood firm.

"No way!"

"Really now?"

"That's completely ridiculous!"

"Ha-ha-ha! She says it's completely ridiculous, Fumiya."

"I'm not sure I can handle that level of rejection…"

"What?! Oh, s-sorry?"

Swept up in the wave of conversation, Tama-chan shot

me a question-slash-apology. Mizusawa smiled with

satisfaction and sighed, while Tama-chan freaked out, and I

sank into depression. What was going on?

"Man, you guys are funny."

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"How did I get dragged into this…?"

Little by little, Tama-chan was completing her

assignment and gaining the ability to converse naturally

with Mizusawa. Never mind that I was the one being

sacrificed for their amusement…

* * *

"You came again today, my darling Tama! And you're with…

Tomozaki…and Takahiro?"

"'Sup."

When we walked down to meet Mimimi after track

practice ended, she fixated on Mizusawa.

"I've gotta know! What's going on?"

For some reason, she sidled up to me, her eyes sparkling.

"Um, well, Tama-chan has a new friend?"

"What? I mean, you don't usually see these two

together!" she said, surprised.

I kept calm as I replied. "I know… They didn't get along

very well before."

"Not beating around the bush, huh?"

Apparently, our little circle of honesty was a bit

confusing. Mizusawa cackled as he stood next to her.

"Well, it's true. Things were awkward between Tama and

me because we were always involved in those arguments

between her and Shuji."

"What, you're in on this, too, Takahiro?!"

Mimimi couldn't keep up with our blunt trio—especially

now that Mizusawa was included.

"Anyway, Minmi! We're heading home!"

"What? Oh right…?"

The ever-competent conversationalist Mimimi was

suddenly flustered. That was rare, and I liked it. The four of

us headed out together.

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"Okay, you guys, what's this all about?"

Mimimi held an imaginary microphone in her hand like

an aggressive reporter. One of her usual tricks.

"Um…"

What to say? I had to hide the fact that we were all hard

at work helping Tama-chan avoid making Mimimi sad. But

she had probably already guessed from the timing and

situation that it had something to do with Erika Konno. That

left me with one option.

"Guess you could say it's an Erika Konno strategy

meeting."

Mizusawa nodded. "Yeah, just ignoring her won't solve

it. The whole class could end up targeting Tama over that

BS."

Mimimi clapped her hands and nodded.

"Gotcha! Wow, Tama, you have two protectors? A

beautiful boy on each arm!"

Mizusawa smiled and rolled his eyes at Mimimi's joke,

which was unusually romantic for her.

"Ha-ha-ha. 'Beautiful'?"

"Well, what should I call you, then?"

"How about a knight on each arm? Duty bound to

protect her!" Mizusawa put his hand on his chest in a

chivalrous pose.

"Ha-ha-ha! You're shameless! But okay!"

Mimimi pointed at the sky. Okay. I'd better join this

conversational wave, too.

"Wait a second, Mizusawa might work as a knight, but I

don't think that describes me, either!"

That was just me putting myself down as usual, but

Mimimi pouted.

"There you go again, Tomozaki! You're cooler than

people think, so have a little faith! The world is your oyster!

You might actually be popular if you didn't say stuff like

that!"

"Oh, um, okay."

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I was caught off guard being called cool at the same time

I was being called unpopular. She switched tactics fast.

"Yeah, you do tend to do that."

"R-really?"

Mizusawa joined in. They were right, though—I do beat

myself up a lot.

"If you keep putting yourself down, the damsel in

distress will be sad. You gotta tell her she can leave it to you!

With confidence!"

I nodded. "O-oh, okay."

I couldn't imagine nanashi delivering that line, let alone

me, the bottom-tier character in life. But their advice did

strike a chord; I shouldn't put myself down so much. In a

way, self-deprecation had provided me an easy out. It took

less effort to kick myself than it did to raise the bar by acting

confident and playing around in a way I wasn't used to. Huh.

Guess they were saying never to give up the fight. Was that

the path to acceptance?

Tama-chan was listening in on our conversation with

interest.

"I've thought that before myself," she said.

"Well, if you agree, too…I promise to keep learning," I

said in a mournful tone. Guess I won't improve unless I'm

constantly attempting something new.

Tama-chan smiled faintly and nodded. "Yeah, I hope you

can say, Leave it to me! with real confidence one day, too."

"…Yeah."

The nuance was a little different coming from her. While

Mimimi and Mizusawa seemed to be saying I should act

confident on the surface, I think Tama-chan was telling me

to have genuine confidence that would show in my words.

She had her own unique perspective when it came to stuff

like this.

"…Well, then." Mizusawa reacted with surprised

admiration, while Mimimi energetically tied up this thread

of conversation.

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"That's what I'm talking about! Minami Nanami has high

expectations of you!"

I bet Mizusawa was thinking the same thing as me, but

Mimimi didn't seem to pay attention to the subtle meaning

behind Tama-chan's words. Even though Mizusawa and

Mimimi were both good at communication, they were polar

opposites in that sense.

"Y-you're making me nervous!" I said.

"And the self-doubt strikes again!"

"Oof." I staggered at Mimimi's comeback.

"Ha-ha-ha. But you do tend to talk after everyone else,

Fumiya," Mizusawa commented. His tone was light, but he

was basically backing up what Tama-chan had said a minute

earlier, with a slightly different nuance. I thought about

those two stances as I answered him.

"Well, I'm not sure which is better, but for now, I'm just

trying not to overdo it and make everything weird."

Tama-chan nodded.

"Yeah, you should just act natural. It does get weird

when you try too hard."

"Ha-ha-ha! Telling it like it is, Tama!"

The three of us continued talking just like that, complete

with our subtle differences in tone. Mimimi watched in a

daze, like she couldn't keep up. Eventually, she gave up,

laughed, and pounded my back.

"Whew, this conversation is beyond me!"

"Ouch!"

Our chat on the way home from school was much more

honest than usual. But was this all really helping Tamachan?

* * *

The next day was Saturday. When I got to Karaoke Sevens

for my shift, Mizusawa and Gumi-chan were already there.

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"'Sup, Fumiya."

"Hey. You're on today, too, huh?"

"Good morning, Tomozaki-san."

"Morning, Gumi-chan."

I managed to get through the morning formalities

without tripping over my tongue. The manager stuck his

head around from the front desk and greeted us. That caught

me off guard!

"G-good morning." I stuttered a little as I spoke to my

boss.

"Good luck today!"

"Yessir!"

After that, I headed to the changing room, put on my

uniform, and came back. Once I'd clocked in with the vein

scanner, I started working. The computer screen showed a

couple of rooms that hadn't been cleaned yet, so I did those

while Mizusawa and Gumi-chan took care of the orders.

When I walked up to them after, Gumi-chan was washing

some cups, and Mizusawa was rinsing them in the sink next

to her.

"Slow day, huh?" I said, trying to make conversation.

"Yup," Gumi-chan said listlessly before seeming to

remember something. "Oh, by the way! How did things go

with the queen?"

"Um, well…"

What should I say? I had asked her for advice on my

assignment with Konno for the tournament…but it felt weird

to tell her the ultimate result had thrown the whole class out

of whack. While I was trying to decide what to say,

Mizusawa jumped in.

"…By 'the queen,' do you mean Erika?"

He gave me a smirk, and I mumbled something

noncommittal.

"Oh right! Mizusawa-san, you go to the same school as

Tomozaki-san, don't you?"

"Sure do."

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"Did you know Tomozaki-san was trying to get your class

queen to care about a tournament?"

Having finished washing up, Gumi-chan wiped her

hands with a paper towel.

"Yeah, I had an idea," Mizusawa answered, stacking the

clean cups in the dish rack. Luckily, he did already know, but

what if he hadn't, and she had spilled the beans without

asking me first? Still, it was hard to dislike her for some

reason.

"Oh, you did? So does everyone know Tomozaki-san is

from Planet Effort?"

"Planet Effort? What the heck is that?"

Mizusawa raised his eyebrows. Gumi-chan groaned, like

explaining was too much trouble.

"Can't you figure it out yourself?"

"Huh?"

Mizusawa appeared unsatisfied, but Gumi-chan was

probably used to that, because she went on efficiently lining

up the cups without even trying to clarify. What a pro.

"Anyway, how did it go?"

Gumi-chan looked at me. What to say?

"Um, it went okay…"

I couldn't think of a good answer, so I just gave her

something vague. Even a bottom-tier character like me knew

I'd score a zero in terms of slick cover-ups. Gumi-chan gave

an uninterested snort and changed the subject. Maybe she

didn't actually care to start with?

"Speaking of which, didn't the tournament help you both

get into relationships? I thought you mentioned something

like that before!"

She really did love that kind of gossip. Her question

made me nervous, since summer vacation had been full of

twists and turns for me.

"Nope," Mizusawa said, smiling casually and glancing at

me.

"Me neither."

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Gumi-chan snorted again. "I'm surprised you both aren't

taken."

"Huh?"

That was a shock to hear. I mean, she wasn't just talking

about Mizusawa—she was talking about me, too. If I hadn't

misheard her, and she wasn't saying it to be nice, well, that

was incredible. And fairly unlikely.

"You two are boring. Don't either of you even like

anyone?"

She sulked. Her question did bring a certain someone to

mind, but to cover it up, I forced myself to sound calm.

"…Sorry, nope."

Gumi-chan looked at me in surprise.

"What was that pause about?! So there is someone!"

"Ha-ha-ha. He did sound suspicious."

"No way!" I said, trying to hide my panic behind a mask

of cheer.

"I see. So Tomozaki-san does have a crush. And what

about you, Mizusawa-san? Any prospects?"

"Well, I've been hanging out with someone, but that's it."

He brushed away her question with complete calmness.

Huh. He was such an incredible actor that even after

witnessing that conversation between him and Hinami, I

was almost convinced by his story.

"Hmm. I never know if you're lying or telling the truth…"

"Ha-ha-ha. Too bad. Guess you've got some work to do."

Mizusawa thumped Gumi-chan on the shoulder. Sheesh,

that was way too smooth. Gumi-chan just looked at him with

a mixture of disappointment and apathy. Guess this is how

normies interact. Physical contact? No big deal.

"In that case…," Gumi-chan said, suddenly turning to me

with a scheming gleam in her eye. "Tomozaki-san. Is

Mizusawa-san telling the truth? Did anything happen over

summer break or during the sports tournament?"

Her gaze pierced into mine. Wait a second, don't ask

me!

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"Uh, n-no, nothing happened."

She stared at me for another few seconds before yelling:

"What?! Something definitely happened! So there is

someone, Mizusawa-san!"

"Come on, Fumiya…" Mizusawa pressed his temples and

slumped over.

"Hee-hee-hee, looks like you got caught! As long as

Tomozaki-san is here, you can't hide the truth from me!"

Gumi-chan grinned, her eyes glittering wickedly. Sorry,

Mizusawa…

* * *

After work, Mizusawa and I headed to a Gusto diner nearby.

Gumi-chan had gotten off before us because she only did

short shifts.

Huh, I didn't know there was a Gusto here. It was in the

building that used to have a Loft in it, and now there was a

Saizeria diner next door. Might as well remember them as a

pair. That time when I went to Omiya Station with Kikuchisan, I hadn't known where to find a place like this, so this

was good info to have. A Gusto and a Saizeria. Got it.

"Whew. Good work today."

After the waiter showed us to our seats, Mizusawa put

his tote bag, which was black with a red logo on it, down on

the sofa.

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"Yeah, good work."

I put my black backpack down on the seat next to me.

Mizusawa glanced over the menu and smiled naturally.

"Figures it got busy as soon as Gumi left. She's got the

magic touch."

"Ha-ha, now that you mention it, that's true," I said,

chuckling. She really was born under the star of apathy.

"I bet she's either gonna become famous or fall apart

completely in the future."

I nodded.

"Yeah, maybe she's suddenly gonna get married to some

rich guy. Kind of a scary thought."

"Ha-ha-ha, very true."

I perused the menu as we chatted casually. I was

completely used to this kind of conversation by now. When

we'd both decided, we called the waiter over and placed our

orders. After the waiter left, Mizusawa brought up Tamachan.

"So what should we do about Tama?"

That's what we'd come here to talk about in the first

place.

"Well, you have any ideas?"

"Hmmm…"

He looked down for a second before continuing.

"Right now, I think it's good that she stopped fighting

back against Konno. If she'd kept that up, everyone would

have felt like they had a get-out-of-jail-free card to attack

her."

"A get-out-of-jail-free card?"

He nodded.

"You know how sometimes, people feel like they have the

right to beat on someone because that person doesn't know

how to act appropriately? Once people have a surface-level

excuse for attacking someone, it can deteriorate into

bullying overnight."

"A surface-level excuse, huh…?"

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I ruminated on that idea and tried to piece together what

he was getting at.

"Guess that's pretty much true for everything, right?

Like, it's okay to beat up on that person because they did

something bad. You can gang up on whoever you want, as

long as you use 'justice' as an excuse."

"Even if it barely resembles justice at all," Mizusawa

added, laughing cynically.

I mulled over that for a bit and decided it made sense.

"Huh. Can't say that doesn't make sense. It's like

cyberbullying, right?"

"Yeah, exactly."

A mob would string someone up in the name of justice

for the tiniest infraction. It wasn't even that rare anymore. I

should know, since my primary habitat until recently was

the Internet. "As long as you have a surface-level excuse, you

can pretend attacking someone is 'punishing' them."

Mizusawa smiled wryly at my twist on his interpretation.

"Once that happens, it's impossible to get the situation

back under control. If Tama went on fighting back against

Konno, they might have started 'punishing' her. So I think it

was right for Tama to stop."

"Huh…groups tend to be like that, don't they?"

"So you get what I'm saying?" Mizusawa grinned.

"Basically."

"Like I said, you've grown up lately, Fumiya."

"Who are you, my dad?"

"Ha-ha-ha. Just take the compliment." He laughed

jokingly.

He had this kind of softness that made it impossible not

to forgive him when he said things in that particular way.

Damn. Special normie techniques.

I got back to the topic at hand, conscious that in a battle

of social skills, he could still kick my ass.

"Anyway, since she stopped resisting, there's no excuse

for Konno to attack her now, right?"

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"Yeah."

"And if she's able to get along with people better, she

should be able to win them over, don't you think?"

"Yeah, but getting along with people is the tough part."

Mizusawa deflated a little. He had a point.

"I feel like she broke through her shell a little by starting

to become friends with you—but that's not enough, is it?"

Mizusawa shook his head. "Nope. She's not ready to take

down the wall between her and everyone else. Hey, wanna

go to the bar?"

"What bar?"

"The drink bar?"

"Oh right. Sure."

Of course that's what he meant. Caught me by surprise

there for a minute. Mizusawa cackled as I tried to play off

my confusion.

"You've changed a lot lately, but you still don't know

some really basic stuff."

"Uh…yeah, I guess."

"Anyway, let's go."

Thanks to him, I went to the drink bar with a friend for

the first time in my life. I used to go with my family

sometimes, but it'd been ages. Talk about a blast from the

past.

I filled my glass with soda and dropped in a couple of ice

cubes carefully, so they wouldn't splash, before going to my

seat. I figured Mizusawa had some smooth method for this

kind of thing, too, so I watched him get his drink. He put the

ice in before the iced tea. Duh. Obviously. Once again, the

difference between us was in the details.

When he got back to our table, he stirred a single flavor

packet into his tea and picked up the conversation.

"So we were talking about how Tama can break down the

walls between her and other people, right?"

I slurped up some soda with my straw. "Yeah."

"And basically, we just teach her a bunch of ways to do

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that?" he said calmly, taking a sip of his iced tea. I nodded.

"That's one idea…but I'm not sure."

Mizusawa was caught off guard. "What, you have a better

idea?"

He seemed to be expecting something good. Uh-oh. His

expectations of me were always high.

"N-no, I'm not really thinking in specific terms…"

"But?"

He looked at me excitedly, increasing the pressure. Stop

it.

I told him my idea—it wasn't anything special, but it

drew on my own past training. "Teaching her like we're in a

class is fine, too, but I think it's more important to create a

space where she can practice and fail without getting hurt."

Speaking from experience.

"…Huh."

For instance, take the first assignments Hinami gave me,

like when I pretended to have a cold so I could talk to Izumi.

Even if I screwed it up, Izumi would have blamed it on the

cold, so it wouldn't have been a big loss. I'd gained EXP

while hedging my bets at the same time.

"So our best option is to create those situations for her."

"Makes sense," Mizusawa murmured in admiration.

"Given the stakes, we do need some kind of safety net."

"Right. If she messes up and makes it even worse, we'll

just end up further away from her goal."

Since the situation was so delicate, we had to ensure that

any mistakes she might make on the assignments we gave

her didn't impact the class directly. That was when

Mizusawa pitched a suggestion.

"In that case, how about we invite Takei to hang out with

us after school on Monday?"

"Takei?"

At first, his suggestion surprised me, but it made sense.

"Oh, so her next assignment would be to make friends

with Takei?"

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Mizusawa nodded, grinning. "Exactly. With him, she can

mess up all she wants."

"Ha-ha…true enough."

The plan was simple and easy to understand. She'd

successfully made friends with Mizusawa, so now it was on

to Takei. And since Takei was kind of an idiot, failing this

would have zero impact on the rest of the class. Yeah, good

plan. I wasn't sure if this assignment would be harder or

easier than the Mizusawa one, but her risks were mitigated,

and she'd be guaranteed a sizable chunk of EXP. Not a bad

way to grind.

"Sounds good to me," I said.

"Okay, then I'll get in touch with Takei."

"Thanks."

The conversation was moving right along. Compared

with thinking things over by myself, talking about the

situation with him produced more ideas, and we could split

up the tasks. The outlook was brightening.

As we chatted, our orders arrived. I got the ginger-pork

set, and Mizusawa got the mixed-grill set with rice. I took a

bite and brought up a new issue.

"I wonder how Takei and Tama-chan will get along."

"Yeah, I dunno…"

Takei started in on his mixed grill. It was huge, with a

hamburger patty, a sausage, and some sautéed chicken.

Mizusawa had a surprisingly big appetite.

"I mean, the reason I asked for your help is that I

assumed you'd accept Tama-chan as she was, but Takei…

He's not a bad guy, but he's really oblivious. I'm not sure

how things will go with him."

"Ha-ha-ha. I feel ya."

He laughed casually, then rested his cheek on one hand

and peered at me with interest. "You thought I'd accept her,

huh?"

He smiled, like he was very interested to hear my

answer. Uh-oh, he'd homed in on that one point. I wasn't

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sure how to answer, but he always managed to guess my true

thoughts, so I didn't try to hide it.

"No, I mean, what I was thinking was, you seem to get a

kick out of people who do what they want."

"You're right." He took a bite of his hamburger and

waited for me to go on.

"Plus, well…there's the stuff I overheard that one time."

"Ha-ha. You did hear some juicy stuff."

"You were praising people for being idiots. Or for being

sincere."

"In other words, people who are like you," he shot back.

"Uh, yeah."

"I had no idea you were listening in."

"I know. I'm sorry…"

"Ha-ha-ha! You don't have to apologize. Anyway, go on."

I paused, a little flustered, and tried to pull my thoughts

together. "Well, I figured Tama-chan is sincere in the same

way I am."

Mizusawa seemed satisfied by that explanation.

"Gotcha. So you thought I'd get a kick out of her, too."

"Yeah…basically."

In a sense, the reason I'd chosen Mizusawa for her first

assignment was because it was…well, Mizusawa. I figured he

would accept the most important part of her personality, so

he wouldn't hurt her. She'd been hurt so much already—that

was the one thing I wanted to avoid.

Mizusawa sighed, his mouth full of rice. "If that's what

you're thinking, Takei should be fine, too."

"You think? How come?"

He raised his eyebrows.

"I mean, Takei's that type, too."

"…Oh."

So that's what he meant.

"He's right up there with you and Tama."

That was true. "He does tend to say what he's thinking

and live life how he wants."

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"Exactly," Mizusawa said, smiling. "I don't think they

can clash too much. They're too similar."

"…Yeah, maybe not."

There was no guarantee, but he was probably right.

"Anyway, it's Takei," I said. Mizusawa laughed.

"Ha-ha-ha. Yeah. No need to overthink Takei."

"Right."

Honestly, Takei being Takei was more convincing than

his similarity to Tama-chan. Which, let's face it, was very

Takei.

"Okay. So Monday after school, right?"

"Okay!"

I'd just about mastered the Izumi-style okay . But

Mizusawa's next comment caught me off guard.

"We've gotta be careful Shuji doesn't hear about this," he

said with a smirk.

"What do you mean?"

He frowned. "I mean what I said… Wait, you don't get

it?"

What was that supposed to mean? I ran through the

possible reasons why it would be bad for him to find out.

"Uh…you mean because Tama-chan and Nakamura have

argued a lot?"

Mizusawa gave a little nod. "Yup. They don't just argue—

it's become this deep-rooted thing. It's not a good idea to let

him see us supporting Tama."

"Huh…"

"Part of it is just him being stubborn. Gotta keep up

appearances and all."

Hinami had said something similar before. Something

about Nakamura being touchy.

"He's part of the reason Tama's status is in such bad

shape right now. Most of the guys know her as Shuji's

enemy, which makes it hard for them to jump in and help.

Now that she's Konno's target, too, she's on the bad side of

two class bosses."

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That surprised me.

"Really? If that's true, then things are worse than I

thought."

"Yeah," Mizusawa said, holding up his drink. "I'm taking

a pretty big risk helping her like this."

He smiled and took a gulp of his tea. The ice clinked in

his glass.

"Huh, I didn't realize that… Thank you. It means a lot."

So he'd offered his help despite the messy situation. This

guy was too good to be true—handsome, good-hearted, and

apparently, devoid of any weakness.

"Ha-ha-ha. At your service."

He smiled breezily. Against this perfect specimen of

manhood, I was nothing.

"…You're amazing."

"Where'd that come from?"

He smiled wider, looking amused by my honesty.

"I don't know, it's just… You can do anything, but you're

never mean about it. I'm kinda blown away by how good of a

person you are."

Delivering the compliment so directly was a little

embarrassing, but he really was saving our butts this time.

He looked at me with a calmer expression than before.

"That's not true."

"…What?"

His expression was surprisingly forceful. He drew back a

little, like he was slowly aiming an arrow at the center of his

target.

"I don't do everything out of the goodness of my heart."

He wore a teasing expression, but there was a sharpness to

his eyes. "You'd be surprised by how much of a schemer I

can be."

"R-really?"

I was thrown off-balance by the combination of his

intimidating aura and friendly grin. He nodded and flicked

the edge of his glass with his fingernail. The soft little ting

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rang high and cool.

"I mean, take the reason I stopped by the classroom after

school the other day. I thought you and Tama might be

there…with Aoi."

"…Oh."

He kept talking as I reacted.

"I'm just another guy who's doing what he wants."

He glanced down standoffishly. His long eyelashes hid

his irises.

"Y-you are?" I said, flustered. He slowly raised his eyes

to meet mine. His expression had grown cocky. Then, as if

he was talking about nothing important at all, he went on.

"After all, a certain someone taught me that it was best

to go straight for it."

Now his smile was powerful. He was looking directly at

me.

"…Oh right."

I nodded. He was aloof and solemn in a way that was

somehow different from usual.

So he'd thought Hinami would be there. Something

about the way he said it was hard to connect with the evercool-and-collected Mizusawa that I knew.

* * *

The weekend ended, Monday morning rolled around, and

my meeting with Hinami was more awkward than ever.

"…This isn't really the time for a new assignment, is it?"

Hinami muttered, fiddling restlessly with the ends of her

hair.

"No… Before I can even consider one, I want to do

something about Tama-chan's situation."

She stared at me. "…Well, what you're doing may go

against what I believe, but I don't have the right to stop you."

She sounded resigned and vaguely frustrated.

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"You mean about changing Tama-chan?"

She nodded. "If that's what she wants, and you want to

help her, I can't say anything. All I can do is work on my own

plans. Agreed?"

"Hinami…?"

Her quiet tone was typical Hinami, but rather than

reflecting her usual calm, it seemed like an attempt to

suppress her emotions. Her words, too, sounded more like

they were intended to convince herself than me.

"I'm fine. The most important thing is not to lose the

war."

"Hinami, I don't really understand…"

She nodded to herself and looked straight at me.

"Right. Let's suspend our morning meetings for now.

You can't very well start a new assignment at this point, and

it wouldn't be right to give you one you might fail at while

you and Hanabi are involved in something. If we can't do

anything productive, we should at least use this time for

something else."

"…Okay."

She was kinda bouncing from thought to thought, but I

at least understood she wanted to stop meeting every

morning, so I nodded.

"We'll pick things up again when the situation with

Hanabi has clearly improved. I guess I'll be in touch then?"

"Sure…but…" I looked her in the eye. "Are you sure

you're okay?"

She stared at me for a moment before answering.

"…What do you mean?"

She genuinely seemed like she didn't understand—but I

couldn't say for sure. It could have been an act, or it could

have been real.

"It's just…you've been acting strange lately."

"Wouldn't anyone be upset if their friend was going

through a rough patch?"

"…Okay. If that's all it is," I said, unsatisfied.

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Hinami quietly stood up. "It is. Well, see you later."

"…Yeah, see you around."

I didn't have any more words or strategies to keep her

there, so our morning meeting ended with an awkward

silence.

* * *

Konno's harassment continued as usual that day.

During every break, she kicked Tama-chan's desk and

said mean things about her. Nevertheless, Tama-chan

resisted fighting back. The hateful atmosphere didn't get any

better, but she managed to hold the line and prevent it from

growing.

More than that, though, the thing that stuck out the

most that day was Hinami's strange behavior. Last week,

she'd spent all her breaks talking to Izumi and Nakamura,

but this week, she switched to talking to one of the girls in

Konno's group—I think her name was Akiyama. Hinami was

openly talking to her all the time; I'd never seen her act like

this before.

I didn't have a grasp on the whole picture, but she was

obviously planning something. I wanted to believe she

wouldn't do anything to put me at a disadvantage, since we

both wanted to help Tama-chan—but she'd made it clear in

our morning meeting that our strategies were completely

opposed to each other. My guess was that she was working

on a plan to keep Tama-chan where she was.

I'd never seen her looking so down before. I felt justified

in worrying about her a little, like a student might worry

about his teacher. Just a little, of course.

…That's why I decided to do some reconnaissance. She

wouldn't have told me her strategy even if I asked, so I took

another approach.

"…Izumi?"

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As soon as fifth period ended and break began, I turned

toward Izumi's desk. I figured Hinami wouldn't notice if I

did it now, and I'd be able to talk to Izumi quickly and

naturally. I had a massive geographical advantage, so I was

on easy mode. Nanashi always uses his advantages

shamelessly.

"Huh? What?"

Izumi turned to me with a blank look. As usual, she had

all her makeup and accessories on, but her eyes were round

and friendly. I'm guessing her tired expression had to do

with the recent drama.

"I wanted to ask you something…about Hinami."

"What about Aoi?"

Last week, Hinami had clearly been focusing her

attention on Izumi and Nakamura. Even considering she

was friends with both of them, the timing and obvious

increase in contact suggested she was laying the groundwork

for something. Her chats with Akiyama were probably an

extension of the same strategy. First, she'd made

preparations with Izumi and Nakamura, and now she was

reaping the results of some sort with Akiyama. I didn't know

the concrete details, but everything seemed connected.

We're talking about NO NAME, after all.

"You were talking to Hinami a lot last week, right?"

Izumi widened her eyes even more. Okay, that was a

weird question.

"Huh? I mean, yeah, I was talking to her…"

She looked a little suspicious. S-stop looking at me with

those eyes. I don't have the defense for this. I may have

gained some skills lately, but my armor is still made of

paper.

"It's just…well, things being what they are, I was

wondering if she mentioned anything different from usual.

Something about Tama-chan or Konno."

"Oh…" Izumi sank into thought. "Things are really rough

right now, huh?" she said.

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"…Yeah."

"I don't know if this is different from usual, but…she

asked if I could hang out less with Shuji for a while."

"…Really?"

Izumi nodded. "There's not much else I can do. I asked

Aoi for ideas, and she said that was something she wanted

me to do."

"Oh, got it."

"She thought that might improve Erika's mood a little."

The logic made sense. Even if Erika already knew the

two of them were dating, seeing them together all the time

might be adding to her stress.

"I see. She could have a point."

"Yeah. I told her I'd try. I'd been keeping an eye on

Erika's mood, and I wanted to help out. Shuji was kind of

annoyed about it, but he went along with the plan."

Izumi giggled. I smiled, too, imagining their

conversation. So he'd gotten annoyed. I'm sure it was partly

because he just doesn't like being told what to do, but it was

funny that he'd been grumpy about not getting to spend as

much time with Izumi. And typical that he'd agreed to do it

instead of telling her directly that he wasn't happy about it.

"I've been knitting something to cheer him up," Izumi

announced proudly.

"Y-you think that will cheer Nakamura up?"

"Y-yeah. Maybe I'm being silly…but I've always wanted

to knit something for a boyfriend…"

Her voice was getting softer and softer; she sounded

super embarrassed to say the word boyfriend . Oh boy.

Izumi, you shouldn't leave yourself so open, especially now

that I'm familiar with the art of teasing.

"…Come on, don't say it if you're just gonna get

embarrassed!" I said, hoping to ease the tension. Izumi

blushed.

"I'm not embarrassed!"

"Oh, really?"

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I smiled wryly. Izumi changed the subject.

"Shut up! Anyway, we were talking about Aoi!" she said,

contorting her expression. Her facial muscles were well

trained.

"Oh right. Did she say anything else?"

Izumi pursed her lips, thinking.

"…That was the only unusual thing she said."

"Okay… So she didn't seem any different from usual to

you?"

Huh. So Hinami had been talking to Izumi and

Nakamura in order to reduce the stress on Konno. Her goal

was probably to prevent the situation from getting any

worse. Now that the groundwork had been laid, she was

working on something with Akiyama. I still didn't have a

clear idea of what she was up to.

"No. I wanted to do something myself, but it's tough

because I can't talk to Erika about the situation directly…"

"Yeah…that's true…"

This whole string of events likely started because Konno

was upset that Izumi and Nakamura were dating. That made

it harder for Izumi to do anything about it than it was for

me, Hinami, or Mizusawa, since she was part of the original

cause.

"What, are you doing recon again?" Izumi rolled her eyes

and smiled. Well, I had started asking some sudden, weird

questions when I was trying to motivate Konno, and now I

was doing it again.

"Yeah, kind of. Everything's been awkward lately, and

Hinami has been acting weird," I said vaguely. Izumi nodded

twice.

"I did notice that Aoi has been kinda…tense."

"You did?" I'll admit I was surprised to hear her echoing

my own thoughts.

"Yeah. I was thinking all this must even be getting to

her…"

"…It could be."

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I nodded back, hoping Izumi wouldn't catch my surprise.

I knew Hinami's true nature and some of her real feelings, so

of course I'd notice her unusual behavior, but this must be

the first time someone else had caught a glimpse of her

exhaustion. On the other hand, she could be putting on

another act—this was an unusual situation, after all, so

maybe she was adjusting to match.

"That's why I wanted to ask around about what she's

been up to," I explained.

Izumi seemed to be puzzling through something and

seriously considered what I said. "Huh. Yeah, I can see your

point… Let's see, did she say anything else?"

She was now racking her brain for additional memories.

She pressed one hand to her head and squeezed her eyes

shut. I could practically hear her mental gears turning. If she

kept this up, I wouldn't be surprised to see a spring pop

loose.

"Izu—"

"Oh!" she blurted out. "She asked me not to see him on

weekends, either, and I remember thinking that was

strange."

"Weekends, too?"

She nodded.

"She said it was because we might run into Erika. But

that's kinda extreme for her, so I thought she must really be

desperate or something…"

"Huh…"

Saitama high schoolers didn't have many places to go out

to, so I could understand why she mentioned the weekends.

Still, that was toeing the line. Usually, the only person she

pushed that hard was me. At the same time, it fit into her

scheme to take pressure off Konno. And Hinami was the

only one who currently knew what the ultimate aim of that

scheme was.

"That is weird now that you mention it."

"Right? She must be running out of options…"

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"Could be."

I nodded. I might not know what she was up to, but I

definitely sensed her desperation. Izumi peered at me

solemnly, then finally seemed to make her mind up about

something.

"Well, since there's not much I can do right now…I'll try

to keep an eye on Aoi."

"…Ah, okay."

When we were dealing with the Hirabayashi issue, she'd

talked to Hirabayashi-san during breaks, providing

emotional support. This time, Mimimi and Hinami were

filling that role for Tama-chan. Even though Izumi couldn't

do much, she'd made up her mind to try to support the

usually invincible Hinami from the shadows. That was

classic Izumi: flexible but strong.

"Thanks, Izumi. You've been a big help."

"Really? Glad to hear it!"

She waved good-bye cheerfully and headed over to

Konno's group.

* * *

That afternoon, Tama-chan, Mizusawa, and I met up first

and waited for Takei. Apparently, soccer practice was

running long, and he was going to come when it was done.

"So today, we were thinking you could break down some

more walls by becoming friends with Takei."

"Takei…," Tama-chan muttered nervously.

Mizusawa smiled gently, probably guessing how she felt.

"Don't worry; he's dumb as a brick. You don't have to get

too nervous. Plus, you've got quite a bit in common with

him."

"What are you talking about?! I'm not like him!"

She frowned in horror, rejecting Mizusawa's suggestion

sharply. Poor Takei. Okay, my turn to jump in.

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"Actually, I think you are."

"Not you, too, Tomozaki!"

Mizusawa enlightened the flustered Tama-chan.

"You really are. Both of you always do exactly what

you're thinking. You're totally honest, all the time."

"Oh…," Tama-chan said, looking down pensively. "I can

see that." She gave Mizusawa a very disgruntled look.

She had to accept what he was saying, but I could tell she

didn't want to. I decided to tease her a little. Taking a page

from the master himself standing next to me, I tried to

sound as jokey as possible.

"Geez, you really hate being compared to Takei, huh?"

"Uh, I mean…it's Takei," she said, like it was selfexplanatory. Mizusawa and I looked at each other and

laughed.

"What can we say?" Mizusawa said.

"Anyway, that means he's like Tomozaki, too!" Tamachan said.

"Guilty as charged," I joked.

"Yeah! You're like us! Just like us!" she shot back, like

she was clinging to a sliver of hope. Mizusawa laughed.

"Why are you so desperate not to be the only one?"

"Why wouldn't I be?"

As we all joked around about Takei, a doubt occurred to

me. It had crossed my mind when I talked to Tama-chan,

and it had to do with our strategy moving forward. She and I

hadn't been able to figure it out on our own.

"Um, Mizusawa?"

"What's up?"

I decided to tell him my concern. Maybe we'd find a new

perspective if the three of us talked about it. Over the past

couple days, I'd gained a sense of how important it was to

deepen my understanding of a problem by talking it

through.

"You were saying that Tama-chan and Takei are similar,

and that I am, too."

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"Yeah," Mizusawa said, nodding.

"Takei has always been a guy everyone knows and likes,

and lately, I've been having normal conversations with

Nakamura and stuff. But Tama-chan always seems to have a

hard time."

"Uh-huh."

"I wonder what the main reason for that is."

Takei, Tama-chan, and I all tended to say exactly what

we were thinking. And yet, he was the beloved class moron,

she was an outsider who couldn't read the mood and fit in,

and I was a loser who'd only recently started being less of a

loser. Why was that? I couldn't figure out what brought on

that difference.

Even if my sketchy aura was to blame for the fact that I

wasn't as popular as Takei, Tama-chan's face, posture, and

vocal expression were all those of a perfect normie. There

wasn't much difference between her and Takei in terms of

latent ability. Granted, she had a tendency to put up walls

between herself and other people, but one of the main

reasons she'd done so with Nakamura and his buddies was

that Nakamura didn't enjoy her Takei-like habit of speaking

her mind, and they'd argued a lot as a result.

In Takei's case, that trait worked in his favor, but in

Tama-chan's case, it didn't. What was the difference? I

couldn't figure it out. But whatever the underlying cause

was, it could become a bridge connecting Tama-chan to the

rest of the class.

Mizusawa sighed in agreement. "I do think that's

important. You're pretty sharp sometimes, Fumiya."

"I—I am?" I stuttered, a little embarrassed by

Mizusawa's straightforward compliment. If I were a girl, I'd

probably be swooning.

"But there are tons of differences, like how you guys talk.

And whether people are used to you."

"Oh…true."

I thought about what he'd said. The two examples he

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gave matched what I'd experienced and observed myself. As

far as the first one went, I paid attention to tone on a daily

basis, so Mizusawa's observations fit with mine. Takei had

that strangely cheerful way of speaking without being mean

at all—on that front, he was on Mizusawa's or Hinami's level.

But the part about people being used to him resonated even

more.

"That last point really is important."

"So that rings true, huh?"

He gave me that expectant look again. I decided to try

explaining my thoughts. Exchanging opinions is an

important skill, after all.

"Okay, take the day we were deciding on what to play in

the sports tournament. I had a thought."

"Oh?"

"Yeah," I said, replaying the scene in my mind. "Takei

was one of the class captains, but he was just saying what he

wanted. He was like, Nooo, I wanted soccer! Everyone knew

what he was doing, but they all just rolled with it. Just Takei

being ridiculous."

"Ha-ha-ha. That's Takei for you." Mizusawa smiled.

"…But with Tama-chan, it was a little different."

Tama-chan looked at me questioningly. "What do you

mean?"

"Remember when you suggested the girls choose

volleyball? And when you had to give a reason, you just

said…'Because I want to play volleyball.'"

"Oh yeah, she did say that! Good memory, Fumiya!"

"Thanks." Back then, I was laser-focused on observing

the class.

"Yeah, I remember," Tama-chan said.

"Right. But when you said that…" I paused in thought.

"Yeah?" Mizusawa said, nudging me along. Tama-chan

was waiting silently for me to continue. I looked from one to

the other, pulled my thoughts together, and went on.

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"…you were basically saying the same thing as Takei."

It was like a light bulb had just gone on for Mizusawa.

"You're right! Both of them were just giving their opinion,

with Takei for soccer and Tama for volleyball."

"Exactly!"

As usual, Mizusawa caught on quick. Actually, I felt like

he'd leaped past me and was waiting for me to catch up. He

cackled and glanced at Tama-chan.

"Like I said, two peas in a pod."

"Shut up!"

Mizusawa didn't miss a beat in teasing Tama-chan, but

she was right there with her comeback. And there I was, just

watching their high-speed conversation. Huh. Tama-chan

did have major potential. It was hard for me to keep up and

get my thoughts out at the same time. I did a mental reset

and kept talking.

"So they basically said the same thing…but when Tamachan said it, the mood got a little weird."

Tama-chan nodded. "Yeah, I remember that. Minmi

came to my rescue."

"Oh yeah," Mizusawa said.

Once they'd both agreed, I went on.

"Tone probably had something to do with it…but I think

it was more than that. I think it was the fact that everyone

accepts Takei's character."

Mizusawa nodded enthusiastically. "You've got a point

there, for sure."

"Y-you think so?"

I felt an unexpected wave of relief at getting Mizusawa's

stamp of approval.

"Yeah, I had a similar thought myself," he said, as if he

just remembered something. Dang, this conversation was

going really well.

"Oh yeah?"

"All right, so…" He paused self-importantly, successfully

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pulling me in. Tama-chan was staring at him intently, too.

Conversational theatrics really were his strength, and he

could do it so well because of his self-confidence. With both

of us watching, he waited a good while before continuing.

"What's more important than anything else…is charm."

He looked extremely sure of himself.

"Um, charm?"

I kind of got his point, but not entirely. I waited patiently

for him to explain.

"I mean, there's something about Takei that's impossible

to hate, right? That just kinda charms you? That's what

people expect of his character."

"Yeah, I get that."

"But with Tama, her aura is more sullen. She's not gonna

win you over easily. In the end, it's all about charm. And I'm

not talking about cuteness or looks."

I nodded.

"Yeah, 'cute' isn't a word I would use for him," I joked.

"Ha-ha-ha. Very true."

We both laughed.

"I'm basically following you…but I'm not good at that

stuff," Tama-chan said. She looked anxious, probably

because we were pointing out shortcomings she was already

aware of. "How am I supposed to get more charm?" she

asked.

It was a simple question, but a tough problem. Even

though the word charm sounds straightforward, it's actually

very abstract. You could lose a lot of sleep trying to pin it

down in concrete terms. Mizusawa didn't seem disturbed,

however.

"That's the question. I've thought about it a lot."

"And?" Tama-chan asked. Mizusawa nodded, cool and

collected as always.

"I think charm is all about…consistent vulnerability."

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"Vulnerability?" I asked.

"Yup," Mizusawa said casually, nodding. "Look, right in

our circle of friends, we've got the world's best actress. She's

constantly recreating herself, right?"

"R-right."

It made me nervous when Mizusawa hinted at Hinami's

behind-the-scenes self. We couldn't just tell Tama-chan

about that.

"You mean Aoi?"

"Bingo!"

Guess I was worried for nothing—Tama-chan saw it

herself.

"Aoi's who I mean," Mizusawa continued.

"Uh, Mizusawa…"

"She's incredible," Tama-chan added.

"Uh-huh…"

In the end, we didn't delve into what he meant. Guess I

overreacted? Just because he said she re-created herself

didn't inherently imply she could cut people to ribbons with

her words.

"Aoi can do anything. She propels herself forward.

Ordinarily, people like that are easy to hate, right? But she's

got that charm, so everyone loves her anyway."

"Yeah, that's true."

I regained my calm. Leaving aside the question of who

she really was, her onstage self was exactly like Mizusawa

said. She was perfect but charming, too, which only added to

the sense of perfection she had. Tama-chan nodded.

"That description does fit Aoi well," she said.

Seeing we were both convinced, Mizusawa continued.

"I've thought about why that is, and the conclusion I

reached…is that she does a good job of consistently making

herself vulnerable."

"Um, does she really?" I asked.

Mizusawa did another one of those dramatic pauses.

"For instance, there's her extreme love of cheese."

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"Ah."

I was starting to understand.

"She doesn't normally show her desires or weaknesses,

but when it comes to cheese, she makes a point of it, just a

little. She innocently lets her desire show a bit, and that

creates an obvious vulnerability."

As I recalled all the cheese incidents, I realized that she

definitely did appear extremely vulnerable on that front.

"Yeah, it's like you can see her heart at those moments."

Mizusawa smiled.

"And since the cheese thing is so consistent, people

accept it as part of her character. Now every time she talks

about cheese, the people she's with are like, there she goes

again , right? I think that sense of there she goes again is a

sign that people accept and like her character."

"…Interesting."

His argument was fairly convincing—especially given

that Hinami was putting it into practice in an easy-to-grasp

way. It would be like her to analyze how people engender

charm and implement her conclusions. When it came to

cheese, my guess was that she honestly liked it to start with,

but she played it up a little for maximum effect.

As I was silently admiring Mizusawa's insight, Tamachan asked him a question in a fascinated tone.

"Wow, Mizusawa, do you always think that hard about

stuff?"

"Huh? Well, Sometimes, I guess. Not every day.

Probably not tama rrow."

"Oh, come on, I'm so tired of that!"

"Whoops, you got me."

They shared a laugh. It was good to see them getting

along so well.

I had a guess as to why Mizusawa might be so interested

in this particular topic. Or maybe I was jumping to

conclusions—but had he reflected on this question so deeply

because he liked her? I did feel like he was analyzing a kind

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of battle strategy for her, though. As I was thinking this over,

Mizusawa kept talking.

"Getting back to my original point—Takei has tons of

weaknesses, right?"

"Huh? Oh yeah, you're right."

He startled me out of my thoughts as they started to veer

off in a strange direction, so my answer came across as a

little surprised. But his point did make sense. If you wanted

to understand this "consistent vulnerability" concept, look

no further than Takei. They say 70 percent of the human

body is made up of water, and in Takei's case, the remaining

30 percent was vulnerability. And because people saw that

as the "typical Takei," it drew them into liking him. Huh,

interesting.

"But you think Aoi does that intentionally?" Tama-chan

asked, tilting her head.

My heart skipped a beat again. As I was wondering how

to cover for her, Mizusawa jumped in.

"I'm not sure. But either way, it's a good lesson to learn

from."

He glanced at me and smiled conspiratorially.

"Y-yeah." I nodded with feigned calm. I was fairly sure

Mizusawa had not only figured out Hinami's behind-thescenes character but also knew that I knew, which was why

he was helping to keep it hidden from Tama-chan. Wow,

he's good. Let me warn you, man—her real personality is

fifty times more extreme than you've ever imagined. Even I

haven't seen the full extent of it yet.

Tama-chan lowered her eyes. "Vulnerability, huh…?" she

mumbled, frowning.

"Right. And you, Tama, have almost none of that, no?"

"Yeah…I guess."

She nodded. I agreed with Mizusawa's point. Behind her

petite appearance, she was unshakably solid. She was always

with Mimimi, but Mimimi was the silly one letting down her

guard, while Tama-chan's role was to poke fun when she did.

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"What I'm saying is, if you create some easy-to-see

vulnerabilities and get everyone used to them, you can win

people over. You're already petite, and your nickname is a

popular name for cats. You're brimming with potential. It's

all a question of how you make use of it."

That did seem like a good strategy for resolving the

problem.

"Seems worth trying," I said, turning to Tama-chan. She

looked back and forth between the two of us. Her expression

was brave, with a hint of fear and a whole lot of will to fight.

"Yeah. I'll give it a try," she replied decisively. She'd

taken one more step forward. Little by little, she was making

the choices she needed to in order to change. Mizusawa

smiled gently at her.

"Great. Now, on to the special training."

"Right," I said with a relieved smile. "So how do you

create vulnerabilities?"

Mizusawa put his hand to his chin.

"Well…there's lots of ways."

Suddenly, we heard footsteps clattering down the

hallway. Mizusawa grinned.

"And if you want specifics…"

"Sorry, guys!! Practice ran late!"

Takei burst into the classroom and immediately banged

his leg on the corner of a desk near the door.

"Owwwww!!" he cried out. Mizusawa rolled his eyes,

smiled, and thumped Takei on the back as he doubled over

in pain.

"And if you want specifics—your teacher has arrived."

"Although, he might be an unwilling one," he added to

his cocky announcement.

"Hey, what are you talking about?!"

Takei was left out of the loop, but he made zero attempt

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to hide that fact. There he goes again. Wide-open.

"He is perfect for the role."

"What?! What am I perfect for?!"

We all ignored his excited question, and with that,

Tama-chan's charm school began.