What Should I Do?

Arata felt like he had really done it now. Sitting in class during the afternoon, all he could think about was how he had last seen Misei. Lunch felt really awkward, it's not as if they chatted like friends before, but both of them were trying really hard not to acknowledge the other.

It didn't go unnoticed either. Yogi couldn't help, but notice his poor mood. It wasn't as if he wasn't used to strife.

"Hey." He struck up the conversation during their break. "It looks like something's wrong between you and Misei?"

"So you noticed it." Was the response that Arata gave him. He wasn't sure if he should get into specifics, or whose sake that was for. Luckily, that wasn't a decision he was going to have to make.

"Misao already told me about what happened at the pool." So there was nothing to hide then? Even with that being the case, could he rely on this boy to help him? Did Arata even want help?

"If that's the case, then you already know what she did was very foolish." He crossed his arms, acting all mighty about it.

"Of course, she could've been seriously hurt." He agreed. "But I don't think you should be so hard on her. She gets kind of prideful sometimes."

"Prideful?"

"Right, I guess you've never gotten a chance to really know her yet. It's just that everything I've ever seen her do, she's always wanted to be the best at." Yogi recalled to Arata probably the biggest moment in her life. At least from his point of view.

That would've been when she ran for school president. Thinking of it now, it had been just over a year at this point when it happened. That girl went into overdrive for the campaign, claiming it to be the single most important thing for her in high school to him.

"Well I know how that ended, she won. I even voted for her actually." He wasn't planning to initially, but Yogi's constant pestering left him not much of a choice.

"But I don't think you understand how much strain she put herself through for it. It was like she was afraid of losing." He explained further. "I'm glad that when I told her, I was happy for her effort, regardless of winning or losing. That she came to her senses." Arata was sure that made her happy, considering her feelings.

Actually, was this before or after she had a crush on him? Misao didn't state when because she didn't know. Maybe they were just friends at this point.

"Even after that though, I think she still has that competitive side of wanting to be the best to her."

"Interesting. Well not like it matters…"

"I'm so sorry, but do you mind if I say something to you?" A boy interrupted his conversation. He wanted to ask Arata something, but he didn't recognize him, so he wasn't sure of the subject matter.

"Um… Sure, but who are you exactly?"

"Huh? You don't know who I am? I'm the school treasurer." He explained. Yogi confirmed that statement, so that problem was fixed. However, why was the school treasurer talking to him was a whole other deal. "I was hoping if you could lend me a huge favor."

"Favor? It's not like we're old friends or anything." Having a stranger ask for a so-called huge favor was odd to him. Especially for someone like Arata.

"Oh, it must be that thing you asked me about this morning." Yogi chimed in.

"This morning? What's something that I can do, that he also can do?"

"Well it turns out he can't…" This boy explained it as needing someone to fill in for him at the student council meeting. Due to an unfortunate incident that's occurred, he was going to have to be out of town for the second half of the week.

With the meeting set on Friday, that meant that he couldn't make it. Arata didn't see the issue, being that he was certain that the group would be okay with him being gone. However, this was an important meeting that couldn't be missed, not for a person with his position.

"… You see, this is going to set the budget for the school clubs for the year. The school absolutely needs the bookkeeping done."

"I see that is a problem, but why me? What made you think I could do it."

"You're friends with President Jingu, right?"

"Friends isn't what I'd call it." He replied.

"It's complicated." Yogi added in. What he didn't understand was that there's never been a point where Arata could even consider Misei a friend. Even without their strife, they didn't talk that much to each other.

"Oh, I would've thought otherwise." The treasurer looked dejected. "I'm really desperate, so if you change your mind, I'll still be at school tomorrow before I have to leave. Assuming I don't find someone else."

Arata believed he'd find someone better suited than him. For the best anyway, taking over a student council role meant having to interact with Misei. There was no way that was going to work out.

"I think you should've done it." Yogi told him.

"We both know I won't, for multiple reasons." It was already one thing with misei. But this falls pretty squarely on his not bothering with people list. There's no benefit for him, so he wasn't going to do it.

Once school finished once again, Arata went on his usual duty on Tuesdays. That being tending to Hine's garden. At least that paid for him.

"Ah, hello." She greeted him like she always did. "It's been a while."

"It's been a pretty long weekend. It's nice seeing you again." He said back to her. Just as he's always done, he got right to work.

With Summer really ramping up now, the heat pounded down on him. Despite that, his mind still wondered. Arata couldn't understand why, but for some reason. He felt really bad about Misei.

Why though? He anger was justified, he was upset that she ignored his commands and put herself in danger. At the same time, they weren't friends. Was there any point to reconciling anyway?

"Oh my, is there something the matter?" Hine walked up to him. She could tell from the way he was handling the plants, that something was on his mind.

"It's nothing that you need to worry about."

"You had a fight with one of your friends, right?"

"Look, we both know why I'm hanging with them. Let's not pretend that any of them are my friends."

"Not even Erina?"

"N-no. Of course not." His hesitation was all she needed for an answer. "Beside, how did you know I had an argument anyway?"

"Well I ran into Erina last night. She was near that restaurant that you were eating." He was surprised, yet not at the same time. The restaurant wasn't far from here, so it was not that unlikely to run into her.

"I guess she told you everything too." Was anything he was going to do be private anymore, he wondered. "I hope you understand why I got mad, right?"

"Of course, you have every right to be upset about what happened. But I think as one of your elders, it would be wrong of me to not tell you that you should try to forgive her." That age-old advice. She wasn't wrong, but it wasn't that forgiving her was what he was worried about.

"It's not like I'm still mad at her or anything." He explained. "It's just that…"

"It's because she's the school president." She finish that line for him, even if that wasn't what he was going to say. "It's probably not everyday that girl gets yelled at by someone like you. A nobody."

"When you put it like that." It was a bit mean calling him a nobody, but who was he to complain. That's what he called himself all the time. "I just don't know how she feels. Does she even want to talk to me?"

"So you're worried about finding the right time to talk then." It was like she had this conversation many times before. Given her age, that wasn't a surprise to Arata. "I'm sure she feels the same way. Not knowing how to approach you. You know, you really don't give an inviting aura around you."

"That's kind of the plan." He chuckled at that. He had gotten good at keeping people from going towards him. Not that it was working as lately.

"It's a good plan of losing friends." She said. "But if walking up to her is too scary for you, then maybe finding an opportunity that forces you to talk is a good start." Finding an opportunity? He already had one in mind.

"Actually, I do have a way to do just that." He explained to her the favor that was asked of him today. Something that she approved of. However, as he explained it. Arata did find one flaw with it. "Ahhh, but I don't think I can do it. Erina will probably get mad at me if I shirk on helping her with Yogi."

"Oh I wouldn't worry about that." Hine gave him words of encouragement. "I'm pretty sure she'd rather you do this instead."

"How can you be so sure?" He asked because if she was wrong, Erina would give him hell to pay.

"Oh just trust me on this one." Hine wasn't told by Erina, but just by talking to her last night. She knew for certain how much that girl cared about him now.

She believed that Arata was too busy sulking over Misei to notice. The way that girl talked about him, her body language, the way she asked for advice. Neither of them may not admit it, but they were friends in every sense of the word.

"Okay, I'll trust you. You've never tried to let me down before." He accepted her encouragement. "I'll do it. I'll go to that meeting, so I can have a chance to talk to her."