“I understand you have to find out about Watari’s future career but why do you think he’s gonna tell me about it when he hasn’t even told Akane about it?” Ann turned back towards me after looking inside her class for a while. “I haven’t even gotten to know him well.”

“That part… just think of it as my gamble.” Explaining how ‘The Zone’ works to someone who is in ‘The Zone’ is too big of a task for anyone.

‘The Zone’- is the ability of someone living a life so fulfilling that people around them are filled with pure joy and kindness even if their life has nothing to feel fulfilled about.

And with my talent for observation I can say, just as Stand users are attracted to Stand users and lonely people are attracted to lonely people, people in ‘The Zone’ are attracted to people in the ‘The Zone’.

When two people in ‘The Zone’ meet it leads to two possible outcomes. Some people see that mixture as something sacred and start thinking nothing more can be more perfect, while others see it as a threat to the original ‘Zone’ believing they will end up being exiled from the ‘Zone’.

In the case with Ann and Watari the second possibility is far more likely as Ann is the new kid and she’s already threatening their relationship with the perfect Watari. But it’s also her status as the new kid that I can use to make Watari look even more reliable, as the guy who even a popular new kid can depend on. That way there wouldn’t be a clash between the ‘Zone’ of Ann and Watari and I’ll have the answer to where Watari will end up.

“You do make a lot of creepy faces, Akane was right.” Ann said, looking at me with disappointment.

“Yeah, Yeah, you two friends think of me as a creep, I get it, no need to rub it on my face.”

“Well you can start with not making those creepy faces and then you gotta speak more, honestly talking with you is like talking to a wall.” Ann turns back to look at Watari who was laughing with his followers, “Like yesterday, you didn’t even tell me what you were planning and just told me wait till today, and even now you aren’t really explaining anything. That way of doing things is too similar to Akane.”

‘Similar to Akane’. Come to think of it, Akane did the same thing the first time I met Ann, she just told me to follow her without telling me anything about her plan. But that’s a different thing, she and I are nothing alike.

“We have our own way of doing things, that doesn’t make us similar.” I exclaimed.

“Both of you say the same things.” she murmured.

Before I could say anything else, I saw Watari heading towards us. I turned to Ann, “He’s coming out, you know what to do right?” Ann nodded. “Okay then, I’ll be listening from the corner. Good luck.” I back out and hide behind the corner leading to stairs.

After some moments I hear Ann’s voice, “Oh Watari-Kun, how are you?”

“Amamiya-san, I’m good. How have you been feeling in this school? I hope everyone is treating you with kindness.” Watari said in his usual super friendly voice, even when I can’t see his face I tell what kind of face he would be making, the kind which radiates sunshine on the cloudiest days.

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

“Yeah, it’s been great… mostly.” Ann said softly.

“Is everything okay Amamiya-san?” Watari took the bait, he’s the kind of person who wouldn’t leave anyone alone if they were feeling down. “You can tell me if something is bothering you.”

“No, no… it’s not like that, I mean I was able to reunite with Akane here and I also met with Kai who’s been so nice to me. I am not so selfish that I would ask for anything more than that.”

“You say that but you still look down, I can tell something is bothering you” Watari is always concerned about others, he can’t just leave people alone.

“It seems nothing gets past you, ha” Ann chuckled, “Yeah there is something bothering me ever since I have started coming to this school.” She’s really selling her performance with that soft voice. If I didn’t know it was planned I’d definitely be moved by it. This is nothing like the obvious acting she did when we first met.

“You can talk to me, Amamiya-san.”

“I shouldn’t bother you with something so trivial.”

“It’s not a bother, if there is something I can do to help a fellow student I’d gladly do it.” there it is, the fish is hooked just have to reel it in now.

“Well, if you put it that way. Actually… there is something, you know I’m still a new student in the eyes of the student body and it seems I’ve already made a name for myself, which wasn’t my intention at all. Honestly I just came to this school so I could meet with Akane and nothing else. But it seems hearing my name in the same sentence as Akane’s name has some people angry with me, I really don’t want people to think I’m here to steal their places and I want to be friends with others too. I’m just not very good when it comes to talking to people I haven’t talked to before.” Even though I can’t see Ann's face, her voice still sounds so convincing.

“I understand what you are saying,” Of course Watari understands, he understands everything, “How can I help you?”

“Well… you see… Everyone here really respects you, if you can talk to some people to at least talk to me once before they judge me I’m sure I’ll be able to show them that I just want to be friends with them.”

“Sure I’ll help you out.”

“Ahh… Wait… Watari-kun. If you tell people that here then they might just think I’m using you to be liked. Maybe we can start with a smaller number which would then convince others as well.”

“I’m not against that idea, but how would we start on that?”

“Oh I have an idea about that. You remember how there’s gonna be a workplace observation trip. Maybe we can use that, I will go to the same workplace as you and we–”

“I’m sorry Amamiya-san, that won’t be possible.” His voice was firmer than usual. He’s really against that idea.

“Watari-kun, You won’t help me?” Ann said in a trembling voice.

“I can help you in any other way except this.”

“But why not?”

“I can’t tell you which workplace I will be choosing. And you shouldn’t waste this opportunity for something like this, this trip will help us decide our future, we shouldn’t waste it for others.”

I had never heard Watari say something like this. Even when he had seen me talking to Akane on the roof he didn’t sound this serious.

There has to be something more than just not wanting to waste a trip to some workplace which we will be trapped in the future anyway.

“If that’s all I shall be leaving, Amamiya-san. I’ll talk to some students about not excluding you.”

I didn’t hear Ann say anything. Just as I was about to leave the hiding place to talk to Ann, a student was standing in front of me. “Oh Arima-san, I’m sorry I didn’t see you there, excuse me I have to go somewhere.” Watari said in his friendly voice and walked past me. I turned back and watched him walk away.

When Watari was no longer visible, I turned the corner to face Ann who had her head down. As I approached her she put her head up and turned around to face me. Her eyes were red as if she was recently crying. It’s my fault Ann cried, I shouldn’t have involved her in this.

Before I could apologize Ann flashed a smile toward me, “Oh Arima, I’m sorry, I couldn’t get Watari’s workplace choice.”

Somehow I could feel my nails digging into my palms. She shouldn’t be the one apologizing, I should be, but no words left my mouth.

After struggling a little I finally said, “It’s not your fault, you did everything you could, I’m sorry for putting you in that situation.”

“No, no, please don’t worry about that, I choose to do this. You have nothing to be sorry for.”

Why is this girl not blaming me for putting her in that situation? She had to go through all that because of me, I had no right to involve her in this. Everything I did was for me, I was selfish. Everytime I involve others they get hurt. I have to stop depending on others and do things by myself.

“What are we going to do now, Arima? We still have to find out what workplace Watari-kun will be choosing…”

“Don’t worry about it, I have another idea.”

“That’s good. How do I help?”

“You have done enough. I’ll handle the rest myself.”