‘I’ll handle the rest myself.’ I did say that in front of Ann but I have no idea what I’m gonna do. It’s true I wouldn’t have gotten any new information even if I found another way to make Watari talk to Ann, the way he reacted to her made it clear he won’t tell his choice to anyone. In that case I’ll have to figure out another way to figure out what career path Watari is thinking about. Like Akane, he’s not going to use this trip to just have fun, they both take their future seriously. They’ll go to the workplaces that reflect their career.

Could Watari be choosing the same career as Akane? That’s highly unlikely, if they were aiming for the same career they must have shared their interest and Akane would’ve known about it. Unless she’s just hiding it from me, no the way they treat each other it’s possible that subject never came up. The odds of both of them choosing the same career without talking about it are too low.

Should I just ask Kitagawa-sensei what Watari wrote on the trip form? If he’s sure about his career he must have already submitted his form, if I can just get Kitagawa-sensei to tell me about it I can write the same thing. But knowing her… ‘Have you started to stalk students from other classes too… You creep, I won’t tell you anything.’ That's all I can hear her saying.

My next best option is asking someone who is close to Watari, someone Watari would share about his future. Airi Yuria. If anyone knows about Watari it has to be her. She’s the person he’s spending his time with and the way she talked made it seem like they are close, at least closer than Akane has ever been.

Should I try and ask Airi? I’m thinking too far ahead, even if she knows anything there’s no way she’ll tell me anything. She acts carefree but she’s a cautious person, there’s no way she’ll let anything slip by her. All that if I managed to get in contact with her, which is impossible on another level, she’s not even a student in our school. Contacting her, getting on her good side and making her tell me about Watari is way harder to pull off in one day.

If I could have managed something like that I wouldn't have to follow Watari, I would've just asked Airi about her relation with Watari.

There’s not enough time. I can’t do anything right now, I shouldn’t have gotten involved with popular students, they are always a pain to deal with.

Nothing good ever comes when a background character tries to mix with protagonists, if they get involved it’s the background character that’s sacrificed for the development of the protagonists. The background character has to suffer for the main character to shine. And don’t give crap about how the background character is given more depth by interacting with the main character, it’s all for show, totally unrealistic. It’s only done so that readers can feel a superficial connection with the character so that when they are inevitably written out of the story the reader feels some kind of attachment with them, it’s all calculated to make the story seem deeper than it is.

I could feel my head get lower and lower, feeling like my forehead would touch the stairs I was sitting on anytime now. I’m all out of ideas and time, I have to find some way to learn about Watari’s career. As I was spacing out I heard a faint voice.

“Arima” Miyuki shouted, even when he shouts his voice seems so quiet and calming, I can listen to his voice for the rest of my life, “Arima, are you okay?”

“Yeah, sorry, I was just thinking about something.”

“Are you sure? You can tell me about anything.” His voice is soft.

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

“It’s nothing. What about you? Everything okay?”

Miyuki turns his head slightly, “Actually I was actually looking for you.”

“Looking for me?” Why me? Why does he look so embarrassed? Are the gods finally noticing me?

“Yeah… it’s actually… I need your help with something”

He’s just embarrassed to ask for help, “Yeah sure. How can I help you, Miyuki?”

“Could you follow me to the drama club room? I’ll explain everything on the way.”

“Sure.”

***

I followed Miyuki to the club room, he didn’t explain anything to me on the way, only that he needed my help with something and that I’ll understand everything once I see the club room. He did mention Ann, apparently she’s also dealing with whatever the problem is.

I don’t know how she’ll react to seeing me after yesterday. I told her I’ll handle everything but I still have no plan to find out about Watari’s career. If Ann asks me about the plan I’ll have to tell her to not get involved, I’m not involving her after what she had to go through yesterday, it’s not like having her to count on would make anything easier, Watari already said he’s not gonna share his plans with anyone so asking him is out of the question.

I really wish I didn’t have to face Ann right now but I can’t deny Miyuki when he asks for help. I’ll just find a quick way to solve whatever the problem is and then get out of the club room. That way everyone will be happy. In the end if the problem is related to the acting I wouldn’t be able to do anything, I know nothing about acting and my charisma is basically non existent.

Soon enough both Myuki and I were standing in front of the door that led to the club room. Miyuki, who was ahead of me, turns back to face me, “Are you ready Arima?”

“To be honest, I don’t really know what I’m supposed to do here, I really don’t know anything about acting.”

“Don’t worry about it, I told you, you’ll understand once you are inside.”

I do remember Miyuki talking about having a rough time with practice when I first met him, I guess this is the same thing he was talking about, I think he wants me to see him practicing and tell him ways to improve. Probably the same reason he asked Ann to be present today.

“I don’t really know why you think I’m the right guy for this but I’ll help you any way I can.” As long as I don’t have to act I should be fine, though I need to do this fast and then find Watari. If he goes home today I won’t have enough time to confirm his career path, the worst case I’ll have to make Kitagawa-sensei to leak his career form, she’s too unpredictable to count on.

Watari is popular outside school too. I’ve heard his family is really famous, someone with that kind of fame also gets burdened with a lot of responsibility. As much as I want to pity Watari for being born with a silver spoon, it makes it easier to guess what career he is gonna choose, when someone has a name to keep up they end up continuing that name. If it’s the same for Watari I’ll just need to find out about his family, in the end that’s just a guess it’s not gonna be as accurate as an answer from his own mouth.

Miyuki places his hand on the door knob, “You are the only person who can help.” he said with a warm smile.

As the door opened, everyone inside seemed to have been frozen in time as they stopped whatever they were doing to look towards the door to see who would enter their domain. I could see many familiar faces, including Ann, whoes smile had vanished as she realized I am the one standing behind Miyuki. It was as I had thought, she didn’t want to see my face anytime soon.

“Everyone, I brought the last volunteer for our practice.” Miyuki said enthusiastically.

At this moment I knew I had agreed to something too big for me to handle and everyone else had realized that a mistake was made as they looked at my face.

“Miyuki, can you repeat the last thing you said, it seems something is wrong with me. I heard you say I’m a volunteer at your practice. That can’t be right, right?” I said with a nervous laugh.

“But that’s exactly what I said, Arima, you agreed to help me practice.”

“I agreed to help you practice not to act myself, I have no idea how to act anyway, It’s impossible.” I pleaded.

“So you won’t help me, Arima?” Miyuki looks down, his eyes start tearing up, I can’t see his cute face like this, his face is my weak spot.

“Okay… I’ll do what I can but I warn you my acting is really bad.”

“You’ll really do it?” His eyes brighten up and a smile takes over his face, “don’t worry about acting just be the normal you.”

“Well what role do I have to play?”

“Oh don’t worry, I have the perfect role for you… you’ll be sharing a scene with–” Miyuki starts to look around, “Where did he go? Oh, there he is.” He runs towards the back of the room, “Arima, you will be sharing a scene with him, Watari Washirou.”