Someone, Help Me!

With a tense expression next to Toba, Kotori walked down the hallway against the stream of people heading toward the cafeteria and school store.

She looked back on the series of day duty tasks since this morning.

Although she had almost stumbled during the initial flower vase water change, erasing the blackboard, locking and unlocking for room changes, and returning these reference materials were all going smoothly. Compared to past day duties—where the assigned boy gave her dirty looks, dumped all the work on her, and left her to complete it alone in silence—she was doing quite well so far.

“Still, that pit-dwelling reconstruction video in class earlier… seeing guys in suits building it made me laugh out loud.”

“That’s true.”

Even though the conversation didn’t really register in her mind because she was so tense, she was now able to carry out her duties while maintaining harmless surface chit-chat. Feeling a sense of accomplishment, a surge of joy welled up within her, threatening to make her walk on air, so Kotori desperately tightened her resolve.

Ever since that fake confession in the past, Kotori had vowed to remake herself in high school.

Having taken action in one way or another, she could say she was achieving tangible results.

She, too, was a girl who could do it if she tried.

Moreover, she had an ideal figure she strived to be like.

It was Acchan, who had brought her—unfriendly, awkward with words, yet secretly lonely—into everyone’s circle back then. Acchan had pulled her into the group and shown her a bright, fun world. To Kotori, Acchan was both a benefactor and an inspiration.

If she could unlock the achievement of “successfully finishing day duty,” she might take another step closer to Acchan.

She was also grateful to Takumi.

Although she used the term “routine,” he was having sex with a slug-like girl—someone who usually kept quiet like she belonged in the classroom cleaning closet—entirely for her own convenience. Every time they performed the routine, it gave her confidence, proving that even someone like her could properly please a member of the opposite sex and function as a woman.

(But what happened this morning was a bit troublesome…)

Recalling how she had been swept away by pleasure for the first time, her cheeks flushed bright red.

In the routine, whether she could make Takumi feel good was what mattered.

Yet she felt a strange sense of guilt over the fact that she had ended up feeling good herself.

In the first place, he was being dragged into a foolish routine for her sake. She felt a slight resentment toward Takumi, wishing he would just enjoy himself without worrying about her.

“Welp, this is the place.”

“Mm.”

Right at that moment, they arrived at the reference room. Kotori stepped inside alongside Toba, her face still red.

Numerous shelves lined the walls of the reference room, housing plaster busts, file binders, and wooden crates similar to the one they had carried here. In a corner of the room, easels used in art class, torsos used in home economics, and stacks of cardboard boxes could be seen.

Labels were affixed to the shelves, dividing the areas by subject. Splitting up to find the section marked “Japanese History,” they returned the wooden crate to a reasonably open spot.

With that, returning the materials was complete.

All that remained was making it through the afternoon for the mission to be complete.

Just as she turned on her heel, thinking it was time to head back to the classroom for lunch, Toba suddenly grabbed her by the arm.

“W-Wait a sec, Nabata.”

“…?”

Their errand was already finished, so what was wrong? Kotori blinked in surprise.

Toba’s face was unusually red.

His usual cheerful, goofy demeanor was nowhere to be seen; his expression was stiff, and his tension radiated through the arm he held.

“…”

“…”

His usually talkative mouth remained heavy.

A silent beat stretched on.

Unable to grasp the situation, Kotori was thoroughly confused.

Could she have made a mistake somewhere?

Just as such anxiety began to grip her:

Toba summoned his courage, blushing bashfully as he strove for his usual light tone, yet blurted out something she could never mishear.

“Hey… wanna go out with me?”

“…Eh?”

At those words, her mind instantly went completely blank. Into that void, memories of the past fake confession came crashing in, filling every corner.

Use some common sense. Who’d ever be interested in a girl like you?

She could never forget the contemptuous, down-looking glares of him and his friends, nor their mocking laughter.

Kotori opened her eyes as wide as humanly possible, staring intently at Toba.

Toba wasn’t him.

Yet, just like him, it was far too sudden.

Her heart began to pound so violently it felt as though it would shatter.

‘—Am I about to be humiliated all over again, just like back then?’

Her trauma triggered, she stood frozen, overwhelmed by a feeling as if her heart were being torn apart.

Then Toba placed a hand on her shoulder this time.

Trembling out of sheer terror, Kotori reflexively closed her eyes.

“…gh.”

“Umm, so does that mean… yes…?”

Everything before her had turned physically dark.

Yet she could feel Toba’s presence drawing closer to her.

(…No, I’m scared, someone, help me!)

Even in a moment like this, no sound came out, leaving her to scream only in her heart.

Her body was paralyzed, refusing to move even an inch.

Despite all her hard work, had she really not changed at all?

Just as Kotori was on the verge of despairing in herself, a surprisingly menacing girl’s voice resounded.

“Hey! Can’t you see she’s terrified?!”

“Eh… Ow!?”

“!”

A moment later, her arm and shoulder were released, followed by a heavy thud hitting the floor.

Timidly opening her eyes, she saw a cute girl, a head smaller than Kotori, throwing down Toba—who was more than a head larger than Kotori—and kicking him while he was down.

She couldn’t quite understand what had just happened.

As Kotori blinked in utter confusion, the girl before her suddenly did a complete 180, asking in a clear, ringing voice full of concern.

“Are you okay? Did he do anything weird to you?”

“Kotori! Aki-senpai!”

“You’re late, Hashio-kun!”

“…Ah.”

Kotori stared dumbfounded as she watched the girl interact with Takumi in such a familiar manner.

I see, so this was the upperclassman Takumi could speak to normally. She wasn’t an imaginary senpai after all. To not be intimidated by Takumi at all, what a peculiar senior.

And even more strangely, words of thanks tumbled out of Kotori’s mouth as if entirely natural.

“T-Thank you for saving me. Um…”

“I’m Aki. Second-year, Aki Ikoma. Just call me Aki!”

“Yes, Aki-senpai.”

“Mm-hmm, glad you’re unharmed! And who might you be?”

“F-First-year, Kotori Nabata.”

“I see! Nice to meet you, Kotori-chan~”

“!”

Saying so, Aki beamed with a friendly smile and extended her hand.

Staring at that somehow familiar smile with wide, incredulous eyes, Kotori took her hand, letting out a silent scream in her heart.