T/N:

There’ll be a change of POV back to the regular Yamato-kun’s. Just a heads-up in case anyone gets confused in the middle.

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Yes, she believed that it was really a waste.

First impressions and timing. As long as you don’t make any mistakes in these areas, you can usually make friends unless you have a very strange personality.

For example, the first lunch break of a new school year. People who have lunch together at this time often naturally become friends. It’s the easiest time to make friends because most people have the goal of getting to know someone, so you just have to put your name out there and you’ll naturally make friends.

The group of Yuzu and others also met at such a time; they became friends and naturally established themselves. The difficulty of making friends could vary greatly depending on whether or not you know the timing that you should not miss.

“He’s a real pleasure to talk to. Well, for me, the less competition, the better, because I feel safer.”

It’s hard to make friends if you miss out on the right opportunities to make friends, no matter how good your character is, just like a major league baseball player can’t get a hit if he doesn’t stand up to bat. Yuzu has always been a person who had no difficulty in making such efforts, and she was more interested in people who made such efforts as well.

In other words, the effort to be liked by others. Those who make that effort and those who don’t, to her, the former certainly were more enjoyable to be with and less stressful.

However, it was a mystery to Yuzu why she started to feel that it was fun to be with Yamato, who never made the slightest effort to do so.

“Anyway, there’s a certain charm about Yamato-kun that people don’t really get. That’s all you need to know for now.”

“…Is that so?”

Sota’s poker face shook for a moment, probably because Yuzu was so good at showing off her good relationship with her boyfriend. Although it was harsh on Sota, Yuzu just couldn’t respond to his feelings.

If that were to happen, her relationship with Aki would completely disintegrate and this cosy group would completely fall apart. To be fair, even just getting a confession was quite a risk, so she tried to avoid it whenever possible.

‘Geez, just how did things become this troublesome?’ Yuzu couldn’t help but to grumble inwardly.

In this circle, no one got on badly with each other and she enjoyed the time when all the four of them were together and all of them cared about the other. So just why was this group on the verge of collapse? When did the four of them start to look in different directions?

“…”

Even then, Yuzu thought like this: ‘If I can keep this place by doing my best, then so much the better’.

The following day, when we left the classroom together and came to the literature club room, I decided to get down to business before we even started the game.

“Hey, about Sakuraba and Kotani…”

“Wow. It’s unusual for Yamato-kun to start talking about it before the game is ready.” As Yuzu prepared the unfolded chair to sit, she looked at me as if she was surprised.

It certainly was unusual for me who normally prioritised the RPG over other things; so Yuzu found it weird but she didn’t intend to interrupt and she sat obediently in the chair to listen. I also sat opposite her and continued speaking.

“I don’t think we’re going to get anywhere at this rate. Why don’t we give them a push?” When I suggested this, Yuzu looked a little puzzled.

“Eh, yesterday it’s you who said the status quo was best, what’s wrong with you all of a sudden?”

It’s a question I expected to be asked, and I answered it without changing my expression.

“I thought about it a lot after that. I felt that if things dragged on for too long, it might make it harder for her to confess, so I thought it would be better to act sooner rather than later.”

Yuzu was still not convinced by my answer, but she still considered it properly.

“Hmmm… Well, sure, maybe it’s time to set something in motion. When we did our homework together yesterday, Aki seemed to want a bit of a chance. Once we give her a push, maybe she’ll even confess.”

Surprisingly, she readily agreed, and I was relieved.

“So the question is, how do we do it?”

When we proceeded to talk about concrete measures, Yuzu’s face immediately changed to a sullen expression.

“Hmmm… That’s the difficult part. Those two, they never go out alone together. When they go out, there are always other people with them.”

“Well, I guess the first step is to get them to a date.”

When I tried to summarize the conversation, Yuzu clapped her hands as if remembering something.

“Then there is something good. Ta-da!”

With that said, Yuzu proudly took out something from her bag… It was a pair ticket for the amusement park.

“Fufufu, the other day, the newspaper man brought several of these along with detergent. What do you think? If we give this to them, won’t they go on a date together?”

“It might be just the perfect pretext. There’s just one problem.”

I pointed a finger to myself at a puzzled Yuzu.

“Why give it away to someone else instead of asking your boyfriend out when you have such a great date plan ready?”

""

“Um… now you said it, that’s true.”

“Then, what if that boyfriend is someone who has a phobia of Ferris wheel and he would develop rashes when he tries to enter an amusement park?”

“Can you please stop making me bear such a weird setting? I don’t have the confidence to go through school as someone with that character.”

I was almost given a strange character setting that akin to some weird magical idol, so I rejected it outright.

“Hmm.. then what should we do?”

Yuzu folded her arms and pondered for a while and eventually a good idea struck her, and her face lit up as if a light had been switched on.

“Yes! Then how about we go on a date here first?”

“…We?”

When I asked her back, Yuzu nodded her head confidently.

“Yes. I’m going to go to this amusement park with Yamato-kun and I’m going to show the photos to Aki. And then I’ll show it to her and say, ‘We still have some tickets left, so you and Sota should go. We’ve been once and we’re satisfied.’ Isn’t it natural passing the tickets to her like that?”

“I see.”

In that situation, it might indeed be easier to invite Kotani and for her to receive the tickets.

“Good. If that’s the case, we’ll have another date this Sunday! Yamato-kun scored 10 out of 100 on our last date! This is your chance to redeem yourself!”

“No, I don’t have any need to amuse you…”

“You do! We’ll be on a date, for goodness sake!”

Yuzu strongly asserted.

“…Well, I’ll try.”

There was no reason to take the risk of making it boring, so I agreed. Yuzu happily nodded, satisfied with my answer.

“Yeah. I’m expecting a lot from you. You’re a boyfriend I’m proud of, after all.”

“I thought you chose me as your boyfriend because I’m not a man you’d be proud of.”

As usual, I let out a sigh at Yuzu’s contradictory words, and I finally began to set up the game console.

chocolala: Yay! they’ll be going on a second date, smooth ride as a couple, huh?