Chapter 231 – Do Your Best, Amami-san

It was currently lunchtime. We'd spent our day practicing our cheer for the event. After we took our valuables, phones and wallets, from the teachers, we went to the cafeteria. We could bring our own lunch, but considering that it might go bad being left in the hot classroom, we decided to buy lunch at the cafeteria.

"What do you want, Maki? They have plenty of choices here, it's hard to decide…"

"Guess I'll go with anything cheap. I spent too much money during the vacation, so I gotta be frugal now."

I spent too much money playing around with Umi and the others. My wallet was almost empty because of it.

Regarding my allowance, like usual, mom would give it to me on Friday, so until then I had to be frugal.

And so, I decided to go with kake udon since it was the cheapest thing on the menu. Nozomu told me that I could ask for extra green onions and tenkasu, so I did that. It seemed like a lot of people also did the same thing.(T/N: Kake udon is udon, but the broth used isn't too thick. As for tenkasu, some people called it tempura crunchies, that name should be self explanatory enough.)

"What about you, Umi?"

"Hm, I think I'll have the recommended set menu. I don't think I can finish the side dishes, but you can finish it for me."

"Alright, but no feeding this time."

"Boo…"

"Don't give me that reaction."

The cafeteria was crowded with people, so we had to restrain ourselves a little. I knew that Umi would sneak one up on me, so I had to keep my guard up for that.

Besides, we were currently the center of attention…

'Amami-senpai, you're eating in the cafeteria today?'

'Let's practice together after this, Amami-senpai!'

'Amami-chan, can you inform the underclassmen that the cheering and the backboard group will have a meeting after practice?'

While we were waiting in the line, various people approached Amami-san for a multitude of different reasons, in which she responded to all of them with a bright smile.

Since the sports festival gave a lot of room for students from different grades to interact, this was inevitable. Last year we didn't have this because the cultural festival didn't give us such opportunities, but this year, both the upperclassmen and the underclassmen flocked to her like crazy.

"Have you all decided on your lunch yet? My stomach can't take it anymore, so hungry…"

"…You seem busy, Yuu."

"Hehe, yeah. They were kouhai from the backboard group and the vice-leader of our group. You know, at first I was really nervous. I thought that I couldn't get along with them well because you weren't with me, Umi, but it turned out everyone is nice!"

"I'm glad to hear that, but… You aren't overworking yourself, right?"

It was good that she was liked by everyone, but their expectations for her would get higher and higher.

That was probably what Umi was worried about. After all, we weren't there to help Amami-san this time. Though, it seemed like it was an unnecessary worry since Amami-san looked like she was having fun.

The backboard group workload would be especially time consuming since the size of the board itself was massive, not to mention that its existence was important for each group. Since Amami-san was especially talented in drawing, it wasn't hard to guess that she'd be the key figure of our backboard group.

"Thanks for worrying about me, but I can handle this. I'm giving it my all!"

"Yuu…"

"Yuuchin…"

"Jeez, stop worrying about me! I'll be fine!"

Despite Umi and Nitta-san's worries, Amami-san smiled at them and turned her two hands into small fists.

"Up until now, I've always depended on others. From grade school to middle school, Umi was always by my side and since high school started, I've always depended on everyone, that's why I want to do everything on my own this time… At first, I only did it to challenge myself, but now I'm having fun with my work! I had a lot of doubts at first, but with the help of everyone in the group, everything's coming together. We're in the middle of coloring the board right now and—"

Hearing her talk like that, I felt a sense of respect for her. The blue paint that stained her P.E. uniform and jersey was proof that she was working really hard for the project. But her smile and cheerful attitude showed that all that effort was worth it.

It gave me the urge to help her somehow.

"Of course if something goes wrong or if I'm having a hard time, I'll ask for everyone's help!"

"…Alright. You've been waking up early in the morning lately, so I expected that it's about time for you to whine to me about being sleepy or something. But it seems like I was worried for nothing."

"Mhm! Like I said, I'm giving it my all here! So can you praise me, Umi? I want you to pat my head like you always did to Maki-kun!"

"…I've never done that."

We actually did that when we were alone at my house, but of course Umi wouldn't mention that.

However, Amami-san didn't let up on her teasing and continued while smirking.

"Ah jeez, Maki, you're such a spoiled child~ Come here~ Who's the good boy?~"

"W-What? W-What are you?!—"

"Wha?…"

The words she said sounded familiar. Not only Umi, but even I was startled by her words.

Umi immediately turned her head at me. Of course, I wouldn't tell Amami-san about something like that, so I assumed that she was just baiting us with those words.

And we gracefully fell for it.

I knew I shouldn't praise her for this, but… Amami-san, your skill has grown…

"…Yuu…"

"Hehe~"

"Don't think you can get away from me! Oi, where do you think you're going?!"

"Scary~ But you're cute when you're flustered like this, Umi~"

And so, Amami-san dashed away after she bought a meal ticket from the machine. Meanwhile Umi was chasing her from behind with a red face.

…Leaving me with Nozomu and Nitta-san.

"Maki…"

"Rep, you…"

"I get it, I get it, shut up."

We wouldn't do something like that when there were other people around, but we'd probably do something worse when we were alone. I guess that was why everyone called us the idiotic couple.

Before worrying about Amami-san, I should worry about myself first, huh? Now, how the hell do I get away from this situation?