Chapter 177 - Pure Innocence
(1)
When I entered the room, silver empty cans and empty bottles were scattered about. Plastic bottles and paper plates. Various small dishes made by the women were strewn everywhere.
"Oh, Toya's back!"
Kanna, noticing my presence, called out, drawing everyone's attention.
"First, just sit down."
Makoto, his face flushed red, opened up the spot next to him.
I and Airi sat there. Next to us, Nishimatsu-kun sat down as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
"Tosaka-san, please excuse me for earlier."
"I'm not bothered by it."
Whether those words meant she truly wasn't bothered, or that he simply wasn't significant enough to be a bother, only Airi knew.
"You must have been quite offended. It was the worst possible behavior for a man."
"What are you talking about?"
Airi's eyebrow twitched.
It wasn't that Airi had no idea; she must have guessed he was referring to my thoughtless actions.
"You actually realize it, don't you? Kissing another woman while having a fiancée is an unthinkable act."
"Heh, you've become a little smarter."
The icy smile Airi occasionally showed when she was in a bad mood. And a freezing, cold voice.
"If you understand that much, then you understand without me having to say anything, right? You're different from some woman who doesn't know her place, aren't you?"
"But wasn't he also careless? Perhaps he simply forgot that someone like Tosaka-san existed..."
"He didn't do it; it was done to him. Do you not know the word 'force majeure'? I believe Toya-kun's words."
"You are a devoted person. But if you stay like that, he'll make you cry someday."
"He's already made me cry plenty."
Everyone reacted to Airi's words.
And they pierced me with cold glares.
"When Toya-kun makes me cry, it's usually when he's thinking of me, or when he's planning some surprise. I'm often mistaken. That's why we decided to speak our true feelings to each other. Even now, Toya-kun is protecting me. He doesn't keep secrets from me."
By the time Airi finished speaking, I felt everyone's glares melting away.
"Toya's got moves, huh, a surprise," Mika-san said, to which Kanna replied, "It's not even that great. Try being the one receiving the consultation."
When Airi apologized with a "Sorry as always," Kanna replied, "Don't worry about it, we're friends."
Looking at Manabe-kun and the others, he was sitting with Niina-san. And Niina-san was apologizing to Manabe-kun. Although Manabe-kun said softly, "It's already in the past," she didn't stop apologizing at all.
Looking at her feet, a silver empty can was rolling there. I see...
Kinoshita-san was looking at Niina-san with concern. Huh? Where's Takemoto-kun?
He was talking about something with Hanayama-san. I wonder what's up?
"Kazu-san, how's the job hunting going?"
"I've entered for a few companies."
"I hope you get one."
"With this sort of thing, you can't say anything until you actually try."
Kimoto-senpai and Oshima-san were talking happily.
"Isshy, you're twenty now, so drink more confidently!"
"I'm not good with beer."
"Can't be helped, then is a chu-hi okay?"
"Yeah, that's probably better."
Upon hearing that, Eguchi-san handed a chu-hi to Ishihara-kun.
"This should be no problem, right?"
"W-well, yeah."
"Then, cheers."
I see, both of them are twenty already. I felt a little envious.
"Zen-kun, please say those kinds of things when it's just the two of us."
"Why? I'll say it as many times as it takes. Akira-chan certainly loves me."
"Yes, that's right. What about you, Zen-kun?"
"I've said it many times, haven't I? I'll say it all. My inside is overflowing with love for Akira-chan."
When Sakai-kun said that, everyone let out an "Ooh~" of commotion.
"I get it... I get it, so let's leave it at that for today."
"When Akira-chan goes home... let's do it."
"Really, I'm so happy. I recorded those words just now."
Shimizu-san said that and held up a voice recorder she had been hiding.
Does she always carry that?
Then, I thought Sakai-kun was trying to snatch the voice recorder from Shimizu-san's hand, but it seemed he wasn't. He grabbed both of Shimizu-san's shoulders and pushed her down right there. Was he that kind of character?
"Wait! Not here..."
Shimizu-san was mindful of the eyes around them. But Sakai-kun didn't care about that and kissed Shimizu-san.
Not a light one, but a long, sweet kiss.
"Even though you don't usually do it... only at times like this...!?"
The reason Shimizu-san was surprised was that Sakai-kun put his hand inside her clothes and grabbed her breast.
Everyone watched with bated breath. Wait, this isn't the time to be mesmerized. If I'm mesmerized by this...
Poke
See.
"Toya-kun, don't just watch, you have to help Shimizu-san!"
Without needing to be told by Airi, Watanabe-kun and I stood up.
"Let's call it a night for tonight. Come on! Sakai, let's go!"
"Let go!! I'm with Akira-chan...!!"
"Toya, help me. Can you take the other side?"
"Got it."
Watanabe-kun and I worked together to tear Sakai-kun away from Shimizu-san, grabbed him by both shoulders, and dragged him out of the room.
"Tosaka-san, if you'd like. After this, just the two of us..."
"Airi. Let's clean up a little. Just something simple."
"You're right."
The girls remaining in the room began to clean up.
They gathered cans, plastic bottles, and snack bags, sorting them into bags.
"Tosaka-san, once the cleaning is finished, won't you talk with me alone?"
Nishimatsu-kun was still persistent.
Airi and Sashihara-san completely ignored him.
"Airi, this is enough, shall we go back to our room too?"
"Yeah."
"Then, Nishimatsu-kun, good night."
"...She's quite a handful. That just makes her more rewarding to win over."
Saying that, Nishimatsu-kun also returned to his room.
(2)
While everyone else was getting excited, there was something that bothered me.
Hanayama-san, sitting alone in the corner of the room.
Holding two silver cans in my hands, I called out to Hanayama-san.
"Good work. Mind if I sit next to you?"
"You usually just sit down without a care, so why are you asking for permission today of all days?"
"Usually it's force majeure because I'm talking with Katagiri-kun and the others. Today, I don't have a reason like that."
"Is that sarcasm?"
"I didn't mean it that way."
"Well, fine. Do as you please."
Hanayama-san said that and took the silver can I offered.
I sat next to her with a moderate distance and opened the pull-tab. It made a nice pssh sound. After taking a sip of the contents, she spoke.
"Can you actually drink?"
When Hanayama-san asked that, I answered, "I'm fine."
She stood up, brought over some drinks, and lined them up on the floor.
"You're the one who called out to me, so I won't listen to any complaints later."
Saying that, Hanayama-san also started drinking.
The reason I called out to her was simply because she looked lonely, and since I had no particular topic, silence flowed.
There wasn't really a reason, but for some reason, I felt an awkward atmosphere, so I searched for something to talk about.
"Come to think of it, I heard you kissed Katagiri-kun."
I regretted it, thinking it might have been the one topic I shouldn't have touched, but she only twitched her eyebrow and didn't say anything in particular.
"Well, yeah... what about you?"
"Me?"
"You like Kinoshita-san, don't you?"
"...I don't even know if I like her yet."
"Hah? You don't even know your own feelings? Aren't you an idiot?"
That's true, not knowing your own feelings is pretty stupid. I could only answer with a dry "Hahaha" laugh.
"That's just an excuse. Either you're trying to live peacefully while hiding your feelings by making the excuse that you don't like her, or you're making an excuse for when you confess and fail. Well, you don't have the courage to confess in the first place, do you? You don't even have the courage to admit your own feelings."
I just listened to Hanayama-san's opinion.
I see, so I'm just dodging the truth.
I finally found an explanation for the restlessness I was feeling.
Even so, she really exposes her true self in front of me.
"...Maybe I can say it too. I'm telling myself I don't like Toya-kun, and every time I'm rejected, I make an excuse that this is all just a game. Maybe I'm just running away."
Is that your true feeling too? Is she unusually loose-lipped because of the drinks?
"Say something. Do you intend to let me be the only one talking?"
"Ah, sorry. I was just thinking that Hanayama-san is right. That I'm just running away... Also, that you really won't look my way."
Those last words might have been unnecessary.
"That's true, you're the only one I can talk to honestly..."
Saying that, she looked away. Did I make her angry?
"Now's the time..."
"Eh?"
Did I ask back?
"A woman in a state like this right now might be easier to seduce."
She's talking about the game...
"I think it's not good to mess with people's emotions for a reason like that."
"Are you indirectly criticizing me?"
"Ah, no. It's not like that, but..."
"But what? What do you want to say! Say it clearly."
Is it because of the drinks that she looks like she's truly exposing her raw self?
"I think Hanayama-san is amazing. Looking from the outside, you feel like a brave warrior facing a battle with no chance of winning, dignified and noble."
"You won't get anything out of me just by praising me, or have you decided to try and win me over?"
"Nothing like that. I couldn't possibly do something so audacious."
After all, she's a princess.
"You've been insisting you're a bystander for a while now, but haven't you forgotten that you're also a target of the bet?"
"Eh?"
"The condition that if I fall in love with you, I lose. Do you remember that?"
"But the people in Watanabe's group don't seem like the kind of people who would control others' emotions for the sake of winning or losing."
A group that pushes your back when you're hesitant. A group that looks for a suitable person and tries to stick them to you when you're worrying. A group with a mysterious power for matchmaking.
"You just said I was an amazing person for kissing Toya-kun, right?"
"Yeah."
"That's a huge mistake, because right after the kiss, I got slapped hard on the cheek."
"Eh?"
Katagiri-kun raised his hand to a woman? He doesn't seem like that kind of person.
"The moment I was slapped, it hit me. What am I doing? Why am I getting so worked up? I thought..."
"So you did it on impulse?"
"I don't know. I intended to do it with my usual mischievous spirit, but it was the first time I'd had that reaction."
It was probably the first time even being rejected in contact with her happened.
At that moment, I realized for the first time.
That she already harbors those emotions.
But if she says it, it would be like admitting her defeat, so she can't say it.
To put it in her words, she's "making excuses and running away." There was only one thing I could say to her.
"Good luck."
"I don't need you to tell me that. You're the one who should work hard. I'll refuse if you just lose without saying anything and run away!"
"Thank you."
"Phew! I feel refreshed! I was feeling kind of restless! Let's drink and forget about it today! Accompany me, you too. Feel honored that you can drink with me."
"I know. Princess."
"...Even coming from you, that sounds like nothing but sarcasm."
While saying that, though it might be because of the drinks, her cheeks were dyed bright red.
It was then that Watanabe-kun said, "Let's call it a night for today."
Looking over, Sakai-kun had pushed Shimizu-san down and things were getting out of hand.
"It's a shame, but maybe another time."
"I suppose."
Saying that, she returned to her room with her half-finished drink in hand.
I helped the women with the cleaning.
Then, Otonashi-san called out to me.
"What were you talking about with Hanayama?"
"Eh?"
"Don't play dumb, you two were talking for a long time, weren't you?"
When Otonashi-san said that, Umi-chan, who was cleaning nearby, looked at me.
"Takemoto-kun, do you like Hanayama-san?"
"N-no. I was just listening to some complaints."
"Complaints?"
"Y-yeah. I can't go into details, though."
"Well, I don't think Takemoto is skilled enough to two-time anyone."
Otonashi-san said that and returned to cleaning.
"Two-timing? Takemoto-kun, is there someone you like?"
Umi-chan asked.
"There is..."
"Eh, who, who?"
Umi-chan was full of curiosity. I couldn't possibly say "It's you" here...
I only answered, "It's a secret."
"Ehh~"
"Kinoshita-san, please bring that over here."
"Oka~y."
I watched with a smile as she headed toward Tosaka-san with a light step.
(3)
A sense of incongruity I'd felt since joining this group.
It was the fact that I didn't receive gazes from anyone other than Eita-kun and Makoto-kun.
I wasn't being ignored. It was just that I didn't attract attention.
I knew the reason. It was that everyone had a girlfriend, and those girlfriends were all beautiful.
Appearance might not be related, though.
Because they seemed to have been together for a long time.
Among them, there was a woman who showed open hostility.
Saki Hanayama.
A person who had challenged them to a bet that seemed somewhat reckless: that she would win if she could break up any one of the couples in this group.
The solidarity of this group, which could calmly call such a thing reckless, was firm.
It was one of the characteristics of this group, known as the matchmaking group.
Ridiculous.
When I heard that, my heart skipped a beat.
Because I had also been secretly plotting.
I had thought about making everyone fall for me.
That thought vanished in an instant.
Everyone has confidence. That's why no one says anything.
Where does that confidence come from?
I really want to ask.
In my room, there are five people: Eguchi-san, Shimizu-san, Ichinose-san, Oshima-san, and Kuze-san.
After spreading out the futons and getting into our respective beds, we began to talk.
Kuze-san was asleep.
"That was surprising earlier, wasn't it, Akira-chan?"
"He seems to have bad drinking habits. But I got a verbal commitment, so I'll consider it a win."
"Do words spoken while drunk count as evidence?"
"His voice doesn't change. But if possible, I'd like him to say it while sober."
Eguchi-san and Shimizu-san laughed as they said that.
Shimizu-san was the one who won the grand prix at the local university's miss contest last year. A very beautiful woman.
Eguchi-san also had a fan club for a while.
Now, apparently, most of them are gone due to a certain incident.
People like those two probably have confidence.
"Um, there's something I want to ask everyone."
"What is it, Sakura-san?"
"It's about that game... To be blunt, why can you all trust your partners that much? Have you never felt anxious that they might be taken away?"
"No, I haven't."
"Not at all."
Eguchi-san and Shimizu-san spoke in unison. I understand these two. As for the other two...
"I do worry, but I have no choice but to believe," Ichinose-san said.
"Because I believe the words 'I can only be my true self in front of you,'" Oshima-san said.
"Come to think of it, aren't you surrounded by an entourage at Private University too?"
"Eh~ yes, I am."
"Did you enter by seducing Kiritani-kun?"
"Not seducing, I just asked him normally."
"Why did you think you wanted to enter?"
"At first, I felt the same as Hanayama-san. But I realized that was impossible, so I'm not thinking about it now."
Because seeing everyone's bonds, I felt acutely that it wasn't something I could just slide into.
"Come to think of it, you haven't made any moves."
"What are you thinking now?"
"Well, I'm interested in the process of reaching that state, and how it feels to stand in that state."
A special person just for me, not like the people around me.
"In short, you just want a boyfriend."
Well, I guess it comes down to that?
"And a special one just for you."
"That's how it is."
"If it's that kind of talk, it might be faster to ask Ai-chan."
Eguchi-san said that and operated her smartphone.
Before long, Sashihara-san, Otonashi-san, and Niina-san entered.
"Where are the other three?"
"They fell asleep. So... Sakura-san, was it? She said she wants a boyfriend."
I nodded as Sashihara-san said that.
"Well, it's a pain to have Eita constantly clinging to me, so maybe I'll help her out."
"I'm sorry."
"Ai-chan, this girl seems to be a bit smarter than Hanayama-san..."
Eguchi-san explained the previous conversation to Sashihara-san.
"I see. She certainly seems more capable than Saki... Right, Takemoto-kun is a no, and Nishimatsu is also a no."
"Does that mean we need more recruits?"
"It does... Don't worry! I'll manage something for you."
"Thank you very much. I'm truly sorry about Eita-kun."
"I don't dislike a girl who understands things."
Eguchi-san said that and laughed.
"Sakura. Do you have a type or any requests?"
Otonashi-san asked.
That's the problem...
"For now, maybe a type that isn't among my entourage?"
"A type that isn't fooled by appearances, huh? That's quite difficult."
Sashihara-san frowned.
Is it impossible after all?
"It's okay, I'll consult with Watanabe-kun and try to find someone."
Saying that, Sashihara-san began operating her smartphone.
"Maybe I'll ask Makoto too? He seems to have a decent network."
Otonashi-san also began operating her smartphone. I think it'll be difficult to find someone at Private University, though.
"Well, just leave it to us and it'll be fine!"
The mysterious matchmaking group. It might be good to leave it to them.
"Just wait. The world you've shown interest in... is a very wonderful thing."
Eguchi-san said that and patted my shoulder.
"There are painful things too, though."
Niina-san spoke in a sunken voice.
"Mirai, don't stay depressed forever. Should I look for a man for Mirai too?"
Otonashi-san said.
"No, I'll wait for him until I'm satisfied."
Niina-san's determination was also firm.
Something they want to enter that much... I'm becoming more and more interested.
I looked forward to the day that would come.
(4)
"This is troublesome..."
"It is troublesome."
Makoto-kun and I were staring at our smartphones and worrying.
"Find a man who is just right for Sakura."
We had received such messages from Sashihara-san and Otonashi-san respectively.
"I hate to say it, but a man who can match Kanzaki-san and is also pure... it's like asking Toya to bring another version of himself."
Makoto-kun said that and held his head.
"It's impossible at Private University; her fame is too high."
"I guess so. In that case, I'm the only one who can do something about it."
"If you'd like, I'll cooperate too?"
There was a proposal from Manabe-kun.
"I have quite a few various acquaintances, so I'll ask around. In exchange, if I may say..."
An exchange condition?
"What is it, just say it."
"Could you introduce a man to Niina-san? I want her to fall in love again..."
"We don't mind, but..."
"There's also the condition with Niina-san."
"Condition?"
"Ah!"
Makoto-kun hurriedly covered his mouth. It was too late.
"I don't mind, it's a story from the past. It's fine to say it now."
When I said that, Makoto-kun explained the condition for letting Niina-san in.
"Takemoto, and Umi-chan... I had a sneaking suspicion."
"The person himself doesn't seem to have any intention of taking any action, though."
Saying that, the three of us looked at Takemoto-kun, who was breathing quietly in sleep.
"Well, I'll try to adjust things tomorrow."
While saying that, I operated my smartphone.
"Even so, I was surprised. I never thought Niina-san would confess."
It seemed unexpected for Manabe-kun. He's probably the type who stops seeing his surroundings when he becomes absorbed in one thing.
Or maybe he simply wasn't interested.
"Maybe Manabe-kun was avoiding her unconsciously. Innocence can sometimes be a burden to others. Just like the way you direct it toward that president at your part-time job."
"I heard that a woman's love is overwritten. I wonder how I can reset her feelings."
"Maybe we just have to rely on time. Now then, let's get some sleep. There's no point in the three of us talking..."
"You're right."
Saying that, we slept.
And so, the first day of our turbulent training camp ended.
Spring was also about to end soon.