What Are You, a Lurker?
Yume Irido
“Hm? Your little brother?”
“We just had lunch with him, but he went off somewhere.”
“Yeah, him and Higashira-san! They’re totally dating!”
“How many times are you gonna say that?”
After lunch, I returned to the classroom, but Mizuto wasn’t there. I’d been surprised to hear that he and Higashira-san had had lunch with Maki-san and Nasuka-san, but apparently they’d been roped into it by Akatsuki-san.
“Look, I made friends with Higashira-chan,” Nasuka-san said, holding out her phone.
Apparently, lunch had gone pretty well. Akatsuki-san had already left since she had the cheer competition. Kawanami-kun was gone too, but I assumed he was most likely with Mizuto and Higashira-san. I kinda wanted to see Mizuto before getting back to work...
As I headed back to the organizers’ tent, the cheer competition began.
“One! Two! Red Team!”
The guys and girls on the cheer squad yelled, matching the rhythm of the taiko drum. Among them, I saw Akatsuki-san. Despite how small she was, the impact of her bold, sharp movements really set her apart from the others. As I watched over her, I noticed someone watching her from a corner of the school courtyard.
“Hm? Kawanami-kun?” I called out to him.
“Ah...” Realizing that he’d been caught, Kawanami sheepishly looked back at me.
Did he not want people to see him watching over Akatsuki-san? I couldn’t help but smile. “She’s really kicking butt, don’t you think? She practiced really hard.”
“Hm... Well, looks like she worked pretty hard despite being a shrimp,” Kawanami-kun said, scratching his head as if to distract from how he really felt.
Neither of them is honest about their feelings. “Could you keep this to yourself, Irido-san? She’s gonna get so full of herself and be all like, ‘What are you, a lurker?’”
“Sure, you got it.” But then, inspiration struck me. “In exchange, could you tell me something?”
“Hm?”
“Where are Mizuto and Higashira-san?”
Kawanami-kun’s lips widened into a teasing grin. “Oh? You worried about them?”
“Well, uh... As a member of the student council, I need to make sure that students aren’t slacking off.”
“Heh, sure. Let’s go with that, but it’s no fun to just tell you outright. Hm...but I guess the cat’s already out of the bag, so it doesn’t matter,” Kawanami muttered to himself. “Corner of the tennis court.” He pointed towards the side of the school building. “Quiet and peaceful there, isn’t it?”
“Oh. Thanks...”
Ugh, this guy... He’s such an unsociable pain in the butt. I had work to do, but I decided to go check on him when I had a chance later.
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