“Uh, g-guys? Are you listening? Because none of you are lookin’ at me!”
“Great job, Yui!”
“Kiriyama-saaaan!”
“Your match was so inspiring!”
“Aww, thanks! I’ll be sure to pass it on to Chinatsu, too!”
“Don’t forget about me! Aoki Yoshifumiiii!”
“Okay, my turn. I’m Inaba Himeko, finalist in the Couples’ Battle Royale.”
“As a spectator, it felt like she had a strategy for every battle, y’know?”
“Yeah! You could tell she knew what she was doing!”
“And this is my partner, Yaegashi Taichi.”
“You mean your boyfriend?”
“Wait, so an official couple made it all the way to the final battle?”
“Wouldn’t that make them... Yamaboshi’s best couple?!”
“Hah! Old news. We’ve been Yamaboshi’s best couple for a long time.”
“Even the way she gushes about her relationship is intimidating!”
“She sounds so matter-of-fact about it... I’m not sure you can really call that gushing...”
“You all see it, right? My girlfriend is way too calm about this! Even I’m—”
“When’s the wedding?!”
“W-W-Wedding?! Until Taichi turns 18, we can’t legally — Wait, but that’s not too long from now!”
“Himeko! Have some sense! It’s just not realistic to think about—”
“Settle down, lovebirds!”
“You better invite me to the ceremony!”
“Okay, enough of the mushy couple! I’m the champion, Nagase Iori!”
“Nagase-saaaan!”
“Ioriiii!”
“I love you!”
“Marry me!”
“Okay, now it really feels like a celebrity meet-and-greet! Anyway, as you can see, I brought with me all 300 fake flowers I won on Saturday!”
“Ooooh...”
“I really wanted to take some commemorative photos with these, but once the event ended, we all just tidied up and went home... So how about a little photo shoot?”
“Wooooo!”
“Not to sound like a broken record, but we’re all part of the Culture Research Club, or the CRC for short! How did so many CRC members place so high in the tournament? Well, for anyone who wants to hear more... Tell ’em, Inaban!”
“Come by our clubroom, Rec Hall Room 401. Offer limited to first-years or second-years willing to change clubs.”
“So the whole thing was a promo stunt?!”
“In case you haven’t noticed, more than half of us are third-years!”
The five CRC third-years were right at home in the spotlight (for the most part), and the crowd was more than happy to play their part as well. As for me, I was nowhere close. I couldn’t believe they were serious. It felt like a well-rehearsed play, but no, it was real life.
“How’s it going?”
The sudden voice made me nearly jump out of my skin. The next thing I knew, CRC second-year Uwa Chihiro was standing right beside me.
“We... We’ve been having a real hard time with club recruitment, so we asked the third-years to pull out all the stops,” Enjouji explained as she walked up on my other side.
I hadn’t talked to many people today, so I wasn’t prepared to have a conversation. My heart thumped in my chest, and my voice faltered. A few seconds of silence passed.
“...Will this help you get new members?” I finally asked. My voice sounded low and unenthusiastic.
“Well, it’ll get more people to visit the clubroom. It’s up to us to convert them to new members from there. But we’re really cutting it close to the deadline...”
“Yeah.”
“You don’t sound too concerned. Anyway, how was your Saturday?”
“Huh? Er... I... I had plans that day... with friends... from middle school...”
The question came when I least expected it. Naturally, I was caught entirely off-guard and nearly forgot the answer I’d prepared in advance, so it came out sounding like an obvious lie.
“Ah, I see,” Uwa replied curtly. Had he seen through me? Had he lost interest in me now?
“Still... our senpai sure are cool,” Enjouji murmured to herself.
“Cool”? What’s so cool about them? What’s so impressive about having an easy life? I thought to myself, but I wasn’t about to make myself sound like a bitter loser. Instead, I decided to just be honest.
“Yeah... They’re definitely cool. On the one hand, they’re tournament champions... but on the other hand, they don’t seem that special. And yet I feel like I could never be like them.”
Like stars in the night sky — unattainable, yet dangling right in front of me.
“But to be clear, you two give me the same vibe.”
“We do?” Enjouji asked, tilting her head.
“You’re pretty cool. I could never be like you.”
I was willing to admit it: they were just different.
“What’s cool about us?” Uwa asked.
I wasn’t sure why they cared so much about my opinion, but nevertheless, I responded, “Because you’re willing to humiliate yourselves.”
“Wait, which time are you talking about? Oh god, the possibilities are endless. Kill me now.”
“I mean all the time. Generally speaking, I could never do what you do, and it’s cool.”
Why did I keep saying the word “cool”? I was starting to cringe internally, although to be fair, I wasn’t lying. But for some reason, the second-years blinked at me in confusion.
“D-Did you hear that, Chihiro-kun? What he said? Did he say we’re cool? Did he?!”
“Will you calm down? You’re embarrassing me! Anyway, wow... Guess we’re cool... Heh...”
“I see that little smile on your face! So much for trying to play it cool, you loser!”
“Cram it, you!”
Then they started bickering — but in a sense, they were perfectly in sync. Were they an item?
“Ahem! Anyway, I’m surprised you see us that way.”
They don’t get it, I thought to myself. They were just too different; they’d never get it. “Maybe it’s hard to tell when it comes to yourself, but from my perspective, there’s a massive gulf between us.”
Uwa looked at me and froze. Likewise, Enjouji fell silent. Normally I never would have said something like that out loud — it just slipped out. For some reason I was willing to let my guard down around them.
But perhaps it made them uncomfortable.
“That’s not true,” Uwa replied flatly.
He had rejected my statement... and me along with it...
“If there’s a gulf, then I used to be right there where you’re standing.”
Or... maybe not...?
“But I wanted to... be like them.”
The last few words left his lips in a small voice.
“I worked hard to close that gap. So did Enjouji.”
“Yup, yup. In the past, I was... Well, there wasn’t anything wrong with me, but I was a lot different. Nothing like I am now.”
She used to be different?
“But I wanted to change myself, so I did.”
The look in their eyes was dead serious, yet content at the same time.
They used to be different? They used to be right where I’m standing? It was all so hard to believe. I couldn’t even picture it. Was it even humanly possible to scale the wall that divided us?
Just then, some of their second-year friends walked over.
“Aren’t you two gonna head over there?”
“Or are you too busy flirting?”
“We are not flirting,” Uwa shot back.
“Nobody would spend this much time with someone who was just a clubmate... Do I detect a whiff of chemistry?”
“Nope, no chemistry here. Chihiro-kun’s way too stupid for that.”
“Hey! Don’t you insult me! I’ll bend you over right now!”
“B-B-Bend me over?! D-Did you all hear what he just said?! That’s sexual harassment!”
“No, I didn’t mean it! It just slipped out! I take it back!”
As they bickered, their friends started to talk amongst themselves.
“There they go again.”
“He really threatened to bend her over, huh?”
“Honestly, I think it’s a valid strategy to get out of the friend zone...”
“No. No it isn’t.”
They all talked so fast, like they didn’t even stop to think about it first. In reality, they probably didn’t. But at the same time, it felt like I was watching a TV show, or peering into a fictional alternate universe. Then again, they outnumbered me dramatically... so maybe my universe was the alternate. A fictional alternate universe that I could never escape.
“I gotta say, you two have really changed since last year,” one of the guys said to Uwa and Enjouji.
“Yeah, totally! Especially when you think about how Uwa used to be!”
“N-No idea what you’re talking about... I just needed a little time to warm up to everyone, that’s all...”
“No way. I’m talking about the Sports Festival! Remember? You guys changed completely!”
“Oh man, that takes me back!”
As the others started chatting happily, I pondered this for a moment.
When they told me they worked hard to close the gap and change themselves... were they telling the truth?