Chapter 1: Do You Like Arai Yuki?

Having graduated from middle school and entered high school, he was now exposed to a new wind.

Advancing to high school brought a fresh start, major changes in personal relationships, and a significant increase in freedom.

While many people talk about doing a “high school debut,” this boy entered high school without any particular debut. He simply moved on like everyone else, without thinking too deeply, in order to live the same way as those around him.

In middle school, he hadn’t stood out much, caused no problems, had a moderate number of friends, played moderately, and lived a moderate life.

By the time Akaishi entered his second year of high school, he witnessed something strange inside the classroom.

It was one boy — Sakurai — surrounded by five girls.

From that moment on, Akaishi constantly wondered why this guy was so popular and wanted to know the reason. It might have stemmed from quite dark emotions. Perhaps jealousy — the desire to be popular with girls like Sakurai — had created these feelings. However, learning why Sakurai was popular was also pure curiosity for him.

As an ordinary male student, Akaishi naturally had his share of sexual desire, but like most other boys, he lacked the courage to casually chat with girls in a friendly way.

Most working adults in society live the same way — without any particular doubts, without experiencing any notable “popular period,” and without causing major problems.

Just what exactly makes Sakurai different from the rest of us?

Ding-dong-ding-dong.

The usual light and cheerful school bell rang out.

Another day of completely ordinary classes ended, and it was now after school. Most students were heading off to club activities, while a small number belonged to the “going-home club” and left for home.

Akaishi was part of the going-home club, but today he was on duty, so he had to stay a bit longer to finish his classroom duties.

“Here, Yuki. I took notes for you today. Seriously… stop making me take notes for you all the time.”

“Aw, Sousuke! Thank you, I love you!”

“Yeah yeah, sure sure.”

While doing his after-school duties in the classroom, Akaishi saw Sakurai being lovey-dovey with one of his followers, Arai, right next to him.

She had reddish-brown hair that reached her shoulders. From her appearance, one could sense a lively and energetic personality. She was slightly smaller than average. Her eyes were large, and when interested in something, they would widen dramatically. She had the face of a cat locking onto its prey and gave off the vibe of a sporty girl. She was quite popular among the boys in school. In fact, she posted impressive numbers during the school sports festivals.

Sakurai placed the notes he had taken during class on top of Arai’s head with a light pon. She turned around and accepted them with a smile.

This is such a classic rom-com scene… Akaishi thought with a strange sense of emotion.

After putting the notes in her bag, Arai trotted over to Akaishi.

“Sorry, sorry! Akaishi, I left you with all the duty work. I’ll help now so we can finish it quickly, okay?”

“Yeah.”

Today, Akaishi was on duty. The student whose attendance number came right after his — Arai Yuki — was also on duty with him.

After exchanging a few words about their tasks, Akaishi and Arai worked in silence, efficiently finishing their duties. They cleaned the blackboard, took out the trash, wrote down the day’s lesson summary, and completed all the required tasks.

While Akaishi and Arai were working, Sakurai was talking with a more mature-looking girl.

She had beautiful, translucent golden hair that reached down to her waist. Her well-developed figure was evident. She had the air of a proper young lady. Her eyes were long and narrow, and she carried herself with the expected elegance. However, her mouth was quite sharp. Ironically, her harsh tongue combined with her refined appearance gave her a high “I want to be insulted by her” popularity in school.

Her name was Takanashi Yayoi. Every gesture she made was solemn and mature, but she was actually their classmate in the same year and class.

Akaishi had attended the same middle school as Takanashi, though they had no direct interaction. However, he had indirectly been helped by her in the past, so he always looked at her with considerable respect.

“Oh, Sousuke-kun, what is this?”

“What do you mean…? It’s gum that Yuki gave me.”

“You’ve got some nerve accepting things from other girls. I’ll have to punish you.”

“Why!?”

Akaishi himself didn’t realize he was sneering at the fact that Takanashi was also one of Sakurai’s followers.

“I’m about to head to club activities… Sousuke-kun, what will you do?”

“Ah, right. Then I should head to the clubroom soon.”

With that, Takanashi and Sakurai picked up their school bags, stood up, and walked over to Akaishi and Arai.

“We’re heading to the clubroom now. Want us to buy you some drinks? Maybe two bottles or so?”

He offered refreshments to Akaishi and the others. Buying two bottles clearly implied he was including Akaishi as well.

“Umm… just a little more! Please wait a bit! I’m begging you!”

Arai rubbed her hands together and bowed to Sakurai in apology. Feeling that it would be troublesome to make Sakurai and Takanashi wait, Akaishi offered a helping hand. More than anything, he didn’t want to see any more of Takanashi acting this way.

“No… I’m in the going-home club anyway. I’ll finish the rest. There’s no need for two people just to report to the teacher.”

“Eh… for real!?”

Without any hesitation, Arai immediately took the offered help.

“Yeah.”

“Sorry about this, Akaishi. Thanks for handling the rest!”

After lightly rubbing her hands together toward Akaishi as well, the three of them — Takanashi, Arai, and Sakurai — left the classroom.

“Sousuke, you look so cool again today~~~~! Love you!”

“There you go again saying that here…”

“Hmm… you’ve got quite the nerve today, Arai-san. Are you doing this knowing that I am Sakurai-kun’s rightful wife?”

“No, you’re not his wife or anything!”

The three of them walked noisily down the hallway.

Sakurai and all five of his followers were in the same club.

Akaishi didn’t know the details well, but it seemed to be the broadcasting club or something similar. He didn’t know what exactly the broadcasting club did, but being in the same club naturally meant they were close… or so one would think.

He pondered meaningless things.

Akaishi finished his duties one by one and completed the last task.

However, at that moment, he noticed a slight sense of discomfort.

When Arai was present, Sakurai had offered to buy drinks for both of them. But the moment he learned Arai was going to the clubroom, he never once considered buying a drink for Akaishi alone.

It was true that Akaishi and Sakurai were not particularly close. They had never spoken even once, and Sakurai’s group had club activities ahead of them.

Proposing to buy drinks for both when Arai was there, but not offering anything when it was just Akaishi, might be perfectly reasonable.

However, the fact that he offered for two when a girl (Arai) was present, but not for Akaishi alone when he was by himself, left a deep, dark, stagnant sediment inside Akaishi.

Why was the response different between when it was two people versus when it was just Akaishi?

He fully understood that closeness and personal relationships played a role. He also understood that offering something to someone you’re not close with would be strange.

Yet that very behavior made Akaishi increasingly distrustful.

Wasn’t he only offering the drinks to show Arai that he cares about her? Wasn’t it to keep Arai from drifting away from him? Because she’s a girl, he thought being nice would make her pay attention to him?

Akaishi made these dark, deep, stagnant, and malicious speculations.

In the end, wasn’t it just that he wanted to look good in front of Arai? Wasn’t he worried that Akaishi might take her away, and proposed the drinks to check the change in their relationship?

Even if the person himself didn’t feel that way, wasn’t there a dark possessive desire swirling in his subconscious? Akaishi couldn’t help but think so.

Chapter 1_ Do You Like Arai Yuki