— — — — — —
Peaceful days were drifting farther and farther away from Oikawa.
Lately, Shizuka Hiratsuka still hadn't given up on her grand plan for the Service Club.
Again and again she tried to find excuses to rope Oikawa into it.
To be honest, Oikawa had never quite understood why she was putting so much effort into creating that club in the first place.
Was it to protect the students? Or to guide a bunch of teenagers who were lost in the fog of adolescence?
Oikawa didn't know.
He'd grown up pretty much free-range, so he believed something else: people should go out, experience things for themselves, and let time do its work. That was probably the best way to grow.
Still, even if he didn't understand Shizuka's motives, he respected her.
You don't have to personally change the world. But you should never mock the people who are trying to make it better.
Later that day, after spending more time with Kawasaki Saki, Oikawa discovered something surprising.
This so-called violent girl wasn't nearly as dumb as he'd first thought.
At the very least, she was strong in Japanese, foreign languages, and geography and history.
Sometimes when Oikawa ran into a geography or history problem he couldn't quite wrap his head around, he'd ask Kawasaki about it. She was especially knowledgeable about the Edo period, practically knowing it inside out.
Even idiots have their shining moments.
Of course—
That was something Oikawa only dared to think to himself. There was no way he'd say it to Kawasaki's face.
...
During P.E.
After running five kilometers, Oikawa collapsed onto the grass like a fish that had completely given up on life.
For the record, Hachiman was lying nearby, looking just as miserable.
"Oikawa, are you dating Kawasaki?"
A voice suddenly spoke up.
Hina Ebina handed him a bottle of sports drink and sat down beside him.
"Is it that obvious?"
Oikawa pushed himself upright and took a sip. Then his eyes flicked around as he lowered his voice conspiratorially.
"Don't tell anyone I'm dating Kawasaki, okay? Walls have ears. I don't want Shizuka-sensei calling me out in front of everyone."
Hina blinked.
She stared at him for a while before the corners of her mouth slowly curled upward.
"Oikawa, you're really interesting."
"You've changed a lot lately. If you didn't look exactly the same, I'd think you were a completely different person."
She paused. "Didn't you used to secretly like Kawasaki? You even wrote her a love letter once. But she tore it up without even reading it. Just between us… she still has no idea that letter was from you."
Oikawa froze.
The original owner of this body wrote Kawasaki a love letter?
What kind of taste was that?!
"Wait," Oikawa said, suddenly realizing something. "If Kawasaki didn't know it was from me… how did you know?"
Hina laughed lightly. "Kawasaki's pretty dense. She couldn't tell. But I saw how guilty you looked back then."
Oikawa felt secondhand embarrassment so strong it almost knocked him over.
Dating was supposed to be a push-and-pull game. The old Oikawa clearly had no clue how that worked.
He should've watched more pro play—study how the masters handle their push and pull.
"Eh, whatever," Oikawa waved it off. "She's mine now anyway. The past is the past."
He leaned closer to Hina and whispered, "Let me tell you a secret."
"Kawasaki acts all cold in front of other people, but when it's just the two of us? She happily calls me 'boyfriend' over and over."
He sighed dramatically. "Ah, my irresistible charm. Truly a curse."
Hina's expression stiffened. She was beginning to feel like talking to Oikawa had been a mistake.
And right then—
The hairs on Oikawa's arms suddenly stood up.
The heat in his body vanished, replaced by an icy chill.
On the grass in front of him appeared a shadow.
A very distinctive shadow.
One that looked… oddly familiar.
A terrible premonition crept into Oikawa's heart.
His voice turned stiff as he hurriedly tried to salvage the situation.
"Kawasaki is actually a very charismatic person! She's beautiful, great bo— I mean, great at studying! And most importantly, she has a very gentle personality. She's a classmate I deeply respect."
"What a coincidence, Kawasaki. When did you get here?"
"You must be tired. Here, have some water."
Like a malfunctioning robot, Oikawa slowly turned around and mechanically held out the drink he'd already taken a sip from.
"I got here when you said the 'boyfriend' part."
Kawasaki stood there holding an ice-cold bottle of cola.
Her face looked colder than a winter morning after a heavy snowfall.
"Can I beg for mercy now?" Oikawa asked weakly. "Will you forgive me just this once?"
"Too late."
Moments later, someone was rolling around on the grass screaming in agony.
Hachiman glanced over.
Then he immediately scrambled to his feet and retreated as far away as possible.
...
The relationship between Kawasaki and Oikawa promptly dropped to absolute zero.
Aside from talking during tutoring sessions, they acted like complete strangers the rest of the time.
And the bad news kept coming.
The student council sent Oikawa a notice: the Literature Club would be shut down.
Without Shizuka backing him up anymore, the club needed at least one more member to remain active.
This development made Oikawa think of certain manga plots.
A female club president recruiting members with "special conditions" just to avoid disbandment… Maybe he should use his body to—
"Cough."
Oikawa quickly cut that train of thought short and thoroughly condemned such immoral behavior.
A man must be upright!
He put his phone away, folded up his judgmental attitude, and started thinking seriously.
"Who should I drag into the club…"
"Preferably someone who isn't a pain to deal with."
But finding someone like that was surprisingly hard.
"Saika Totsuka?"
"No. Absolutely not. I'd start questioning whether I'm gay or not!"
Saika Totsuka was immediately eliminated.
"Hina Ebina?"
"Also no. That woman's way too troublesome. I don't want to deal with some scheming mastermind."
Hina was eliminated too.
Honestly, what he'd said to her earlier had partly been to keep some distance.
Three pieces of wisdom for life:
Never get involved with a scheming woman.
Haven't thought of the second one yet.
...Or the third.
"If it were Nana Ebina instead, I might consider it."
"So who should I ask?"
After crossing out the few "sports idiots" in his class, Oikawa found himself completely stuck.
Then suddenly—
A slightly chubby figure flashed through his mind.
"If I remember right… his name was Yoshiteru Zaimokuza."
"He's a bit of a chunibyo idiot, but if I recall correctly… he's actually pretty reliable."
Oikawa's eyes lit up.
.
.
.