Staring at Yasurouka’s black hairs shining as she was walking in front of me. My plan to approach her failed. She didn’t even talk to me.

As I was putting my shoes in the locker, I noticed Kizhashi coming up from behind and hugging Yasurouka. Her locker was just in the next aisle. Girls are really intimate with each other and they don’t feel weird. But with boys, even if our hands touch by mistake we feel awkward.

I walked past them and pretended not to see them. It would be weird to act all friendly with people you just met once. At least for a loner like me, it is weird.

I was heading towards my class when someone put their arms around my neck. I knew who it was.

“Good Morning, Sakamaki-kun.” Yukimura greeted me.

“Morning,” I greeted him back.

We talked the rest of the way to our class. Many juniors and seniors were also waving at him or talking to him every now and then. He knew many people in the school.

I wonder if he gets irritated by interacting with so many people every single day.

“Tsumen-senpai” I heard a girl’s voice from behind calling for Yukimura.

He turned around and smiled at the girl who greeted him. “Ahh, Yumiko-san, I’m sorry but I can’t do that thing.”

“Y…you can’t?” The girl named Yumiko said in a disappointed voice.

“Don’t worry, I’ll see what I can do about that.”

“No, it’s okay Tsumen-senpai.” She said and walked with her friend, who was watching the event unfold.

“Tsumen?” I narrowed my eyes on him.

He gave an awkward smile and a shrug.

“Quite close you’re with her, Tsumen-senpai.” I emphasised on the ‘senpai’ part.

“Piss off!” He scolded me. I chuckled a bit.

I was sitting at my desk, glancing at Yasurouka frequently. I guess I will have to really stalk her now. I have to be the initiator in this case and I will lay perfect field work for that situation to occur.

Though I’ll have to keep patience.

Kizhashi and Yasurouka were always talking in their free periods. They reminded me of Kana and Tomose, except they weren’t this close. Also, the fact that Kana and Kizhashi never talk with each other. It seems like they have a cold war between them.

Or mostly because it was about seizing the dominance over the girls of the class. Kizhashi and Kana both had strong personalities. As of now Kizhashi was in dominance. The boys’ class representative was Seifuku, and none of us had problems with that.

As Yasurouka, she seems to be less extroverted than I imagined her to be. I know it will be difficult to talk to her now.

It was lunchtime, and I headed out of the class. As I turned around the doorway, I met Tomose in front of me. Her strange eyes looked at me as if she had never met me before. I didn’t give her any kind of reaction.

“Hello, Sakamaki-kun” She greeted me but her voice lacked the warmth that she used to have.

“Yo,” I nonchalantly replied. Her eyes stared at me for a few moments, and she stepped aside and walked past me. Everything is like how it used to be.

I entered the washroom and met with two gentlemen who were standing within a distance of an urinal between them. It was none other than Yukimura and Seifuku.

“Oi, quickly finish your business.” I told them as the pressure on my bladder was screaming at this point.

“Why don’t you use the empty one, right here.” Seifuku pointed his eyes towards the space between them.

“No.”

“Why?” He asked with smug.

“Because, I said so.”

“Hoo, then pee your pants” Yukimura laughed and Seifuku chuckled. Yukimura was more blunt than Seifuku.

I will remember this betrayal. Everyone knows boys will never pee standing next to each other. It’s the unspoken rule. I patiently waited for them to finish, but it seemed like they were trying to piss me off.

I followed them out into the washroom and it seemed like they were heading towards the playground. Three of us were good friends, to be specific, they were my only friends.

I was acquainted with a lot of people but rarely talked to anyone unless I had some business with them.

We were walking to the playground and both of them were talking about their club activities regarding the sports festival.

“So, how’s your football team doing, Captain?” Yukimura asked.

“Nothing great, to be honest. The coordination of our team isn’t efficient.” He sighed.

“Well…” Yukimura commented nothing about this.

“I feel like my team would do better if Coach chose Haruka-kun as our captain.”

Nishimiya Haruka from class 2-3 was the left winger of their team and was a potential candidate during the selection of candidates. He was also one of the fastest runners in our school, so that really helped him as his position was to basically run with the ball and assist the striker.

“It’s not like that. Your team has improved a lot under your captaincy too.” Yukimura said.

“I feel that too.” I supported Yukimura. I didn’t lie to him and told him my honest opinion on that.

“Ah, no need to be generous guys.” He chuckled awkwardly.

“No dude, seriously.” Yukimura patted his shoulder.

“See, they did not choose me as the representative of the archery club because I’m not good enough.” Yukimura sighed but tried to cheer Seifuku up.

Both of them were under a bit of pressure because of their club and the sports festival.

Seifuku was a guy who would always doubt his capabilities, albeit being capable. Either he was too nice or he was under confident. Knowing him, it’s the latter, probably.

Seifuku himself was a skilled player on the field but if I were to compare Haruka and him, I would say that Seifuku was indeed the correct choice of captain. He had all the abilities a genuine leader should have.

I know he won’t believe us no matter how much we convince him so the best thing to do will be to make him feel indirectly that we believe in him.

I know being the captain of a team isn’t easy as it comes with a lot of responsibilities.

I find it funny how typical rom coms, manga, and anime show the popular kids being all carefree and living a happy fulfilled life but in real life, the popular kid, in this case Seifuku, was also having normal problems as every other student.

The bell rang, which showed the end of our lunch time. All the students started returning from the playground towards the school building.

I couldn’t progress much with the target today either. I’ll have to be a bit offensive on my side now.