Written by rtya.
Translated by Sideways.This is a fan work set after Volume 4 of “Too Many Losing Heroines!”
“That’s exactly what I’m talking about, Nukumizu,” Yanami shot me a sharp, piercing look.
“What do you mean?”
It was January, and Yanami and I found ourselves at Toyohashi City Hall.
After somehow surviving a hectic December filled with birthdays and Christmas, we finally welcomed the long-awaited New Year.
I had hoped to spend the rest of my break in peace and quiet, but out of the blue, I got a call from Yanami. From what I could gather, it seemed she was trying to use a lunch voucher she got from Koto as a token of appreciation.
I somehow doubt she got it from Koto…
Either way, Yanami wouldn’t miss an opportunity to eat, and this seemed to put her in a good mood, so I wasn’t going to complain.
While eating a generous serving of her fancy Italian meal, Yanami continued.
“Like I said, there are rumors going around that you dumped me.”
“Isn’t denying it so vehemently only spreading the rumor further? Why not just let it blow over?”
Yanami skillfully twirled her spaghetti—no… pasta? It’s confusing how these places used different words for it—and responded to my argument.
“You never know how long these things take to simmer down.”
“Well, they say that rumors usually last for seventy-five days.”
“That’s way too long!”
I conceded that seventy-five days was a bit of a stretch. Two and a half months. Waiting that long would be tough.
“Besides, even Karen is starting to doubt me. Isn’t it rude to doubt your best friend?”
Disgruntled, Yanami called the waiter over to order dessert.
Hmm, I wondered if dessert was included in the voucher. It didn’t seem like it was.
“Yeah, you’re right, Yanami.”
“Hm?”
“Waiting seventy-five days would be a bit unreasonable… I’ve got an idea.”
Yanami sent a blank stare my way, so I told her where we’d be going after lunch.
When it came to high, quiet places in Toyohashi, this was it.
It was 2 PM on a weekday, which meant this place was mostly vacant. It usually got pretty busy during the evenings, when you could see the night view.
The place was quiet and the ambience was just right. This was perfect for our conversation.
Yanami followed me silently, looking at her own hands. She suddenly went quiet when I mentioned I had something important to say.
I wondered if she had something else going on. I came all this way to help Yanami with her problems, after all.
“Is here good, Yanami?”
“Huh? H-Here? It’s a nice spot with a good view, but…”
“You’re bothered by the rumor saying I rejected you, right?”
Yanami nodded quietly.
“Alright. I’ll confess right here, and you just need to conclusively turn me down.”
“Ah, so that’s what this was. I guess I misunderstood.”
What was there to misunderstand?
“Well, in that case, make sure to give me a proper confession. Okay, Nukumizu?”
I mentally responded with “leave it to me” then took a moment to collect myself. Maybe it was because I felt a bit nervous, but I clenched my fists as I turned to face Yanami.
She was really cute, on second glance. Over the past year, we’d had our fair share of ups and downs. If there had been any misunderstandings, I don’t think Yanami and I would ever have become friends.
Looking back now, it’s probably more unusual that we ended up as friends.
With a sense of gratitude for our relationship, I confessed to Yanami.
“Yanami, I like you a lot. Please go out with me.”
Come to think of it, that was my first confession. Though, it ended up being one tinged with complicated emotions.
After all, this was all just pretend.
Upon hearing my confession, Yanami’s eyes widened slightly.
A silence fell between us.
A moment passed.
Yanami still hadn’t said a word.
“… Yanami?”
Eventually, Yanami looked down and whispered, “I-I look forward to being with you, too…”
“Huh?! Yanami?”
Uh, this was only supposed to be a fake confession.
“D-Don’t get the wrong idea! I only accepted because it would be sad if you got rejected, okay?”
Yanami waved her hands around and spoke quickly, clearly flustered and sounding like a textbook tsundere.
“Wait, are you serious about this? We’re… we’re not actually going out now, are we?”
“Of course not! Sorry for saying something weird. I wasn’t actually worried about that rumor.”
I see. Well that case, that was fine by me.
Even though that was my first confession, if it meant Yanami wasn’t troubled anymore, then I was okay with it. And, if she wasn’t as bothered by the rumors as I thought, then that was even better.
Though I couldn’t help but notice that Yanami’s face was redder than usual, it was cold today, so maybe she was coming down with something.
After a bit of casual conversation, we went our separate ways.
As I laid on my bed, I reflected on the day’s events.
A lot happened today. I hoped the third term could be a bit more leisurely. Though, as club president, I did have responsibilities.
My phone vibrated gently.
Since I had set my notifications to silent, everything—game events, LINE messages, and so on—made the same noise, so I wasn’t expecting to see what was on my notification feed.
It was a text message from Yanami.
After my fake confession to her, she seemed a bit awkward around me. I doubt she actually took my confession seriously, but in hindsight, my solution had been a bit hasty.
The text read, “Can we talk over the phone now?”
This was unusual as her calls typically came without warning. She sometimes called me right before bed, which was quite inconvenient.
I replied that it was fine, and soon enough, the phone rang.
In a soft voice, Yanami began to speak.
“Sorry for calling out of the blue, Nukumizu.”
“It’s alright. I wasn’t doing anything. Is this about the winter homework?”
I recalled that the math worksheets were the most challenging since they covered material from both the first and second terms.
“Oh, yeah. There’s that.”
“You forgot, didn’t you? Typical Yanami.”
“What’s that supposed to mean? I’m fine whether or not you show me your answers. I happen to be a science girl, you know.”
Science? Really? I thought Yanami would be more into cooking. Though, she might end up eating everything before completing a dish.
“So, if this wasn’t about our homework, what did you want to talk about?”
“Anything’s fine. You’re the club president, Nukumizu. I think you need to manage your club members.”
“That might be true for a sports club.”
I hadn’t heard about managing members of a culture club before. Though, if it was about managing the deadline for the club magazine, I could see some merit in that…
“Well, whatever. I’ve got nothing going on, so let’s talk.”
I sat at my desk and spread out my homework.
Perfect, I’ll do my assignments while having trivial conversation with Yanami.
“You don’t seem too enthusiastic about this,” she deadpanned, “Hmm, how about we talk about the cake shop we visited last month?”
So, for about an hour, Yanami and I talked mostly about food. Our conversation must’ve been 90% food-related.
As I wrapped up the last of my homework, Yanami chimed up, seemingly satisfied.
“That was a good talk, Nukumizu.”
“Glad to hear it.”
“Well, um…” Yanami seemed to hesitate, “About what happened today…”
“Ah, I’m sorry. I was trying to help out, but it seems I might’ve ended up being a nuisance instead.”
“No, it’s not that. You doing all this for me isn’t anything new.”
It wasn’t anything new? I wondered how Yanami saw me.
“When you confessed to me,” she continued, “um… even though I knew it was just pretend, I-I felt happy.”
Another silence.
Was Yanami fidgeting like a normal girl would, or was I imagining things?
“Oh. Yeah. That’s good to hear.”
“T-That was all. See you third term.”
“Yeah, see you.”
The call ended.
I let out a deep sigh.
I felt a sudden nervous pang in my chest. We were talking normally just a moment ago.
When Yanami said she was happy, I could’ve sworn there was something more she wanted to say…
“Brother dearest?”
Before I knew it, Kaju had opened the door and called for me.
Wait, wasn’t the door locked?
“You two seemed to be having fun. It almost sounded like an important conversation, too.”
I didn’t remember being that loud, but if Kaju overheard, then I must’ve been.
With cold sweat trickling down my back, I fumbled for some sort of excuse.
The third term had begun.
The lazy days of winter break were over, and we were forcibly thrust back into life at school.
Ahh… I had really wanted to enjoy the break a little longer.
Compared to summer and spring break, winter break was way too short.
Though, I figured when I became an adult, I wouldn’t even have those anymore.
Perhaps thats how Ms. Amanatsu ended up the way she did. It all made sense now.
After getting to the station near the school, I joined the throng of students with the same uniform as me.
“Nukkun!”
Suddenly, someone slapped me on the shoulder, and I turned to face them.
It was Yakishio.
“Long time no see! How was your winter break?”
“Well, it was neither good nor bad, I guess.”
“Neither…?”
Maybe that was too vague for Yakishio to understand.
“Is the Literature Club meeting today?”
“Oh, right. We didn’t really decide. Well, since it’s the first day, let’s just do it tomorrow.”
“Got it!”
Yakishio responded cheerfully and dashed off.
Full of energy, even on the first day of the third term.
It seemed like Yakishio never had a gloomy day. If anything, she might’ve been more energetic on school days.
As I exhaled a foggy breath, I glanced up at the high, blue sky before continuing my walk toward school.
After entering the classroom, I sent a message on LINE to let everyone know that the Literature Club would meet tomorrow.
Just then, Yanami and Himemiya entered the classroom together.
We didn’t exchange morning greetings or anything, but I happened to glance in Yanami’s direction.
While chatting with Himemiya, Yanami’s eyes met mine.
I hesitated for a moment, wondering if I should send her a nod, but Yanami quickly looked away.
Huh, did something happen?
I brushed it off as my imagination and turned my gaze back to my phone screen.
Little did I know, Himemiya had been watching our little scene.
Today was only the opening ceremony and some simple lessons, so school ended relatively early.
Seizing the chance, I decided to go to the bookstore near Toyohashi Station to check out the latest light novels.
“Oh, Nukumizu. What a coincidence.”
This sparkling voice belonged to none other than Himemiya Karen, a heroine I couldn’t forget.
“Hello, Himemiya. Are you heading home?”
“Indeed. And you, Nukumizu?”
“I…”
It would’ve been awkward to lie, so I decided to be honest.
“I was heading to the bookstore to grab a novel I was interested in.”
Hearing this, Himemiya clapped her hands together.
“What a coincidence! So was I!”
Oh…
Naturally, given flow of conversation, she said, “Shall we go together?”
Faced with Himemiya’s vibrant proposition, my gloomy self had no choice but to oblige.
Upon entering the bookstore, we began to peruse the shelves while talking in low voices.
“I like mystery novels. What about you, Nukumizu?”
“I’ve read a few, but I’m not too knowledgeable about them. I kind of read a variety of things.”
“Is that so? Well, let me know if you have any recommendations!”
Himemiya turned to me with a bright smile.
Uwah. Too vibrant…
I recalled that Yanami was also a bright and cheery person and was best friends with Himemiya, but somehow, I found it easier to talk with Yanami.
She was more relaxing.
After we bought some books that interested us, Himemiya called to me just as we were about to go our separate ways.
“Nukumizu, I wanted to talk to you about something…”
“Is something the matter?”
“Let’s go grab something at a restaurant. This isn’t something we should talk about outside.”
Seriously?
If I had been able to refuse here, I might’ve been more popular.
At the family restaurant, after putting in our orders, I got straight to the point.
“What did you want to talk about?”
“It’s about Anna, actually.”
“Yanami?”
“Yes. I saw her over winter break, but since January, she’s been eating less than usual.”
“What?”
Yanami? The same Yanami that always carried some sort of food along with her?
“Yeah, she only gets seconds now.”
“She seems to be eating fine.”
“She usually gets thirds.”
That sounded like too much, actually. Maybe Yanami’s just settled down.
But, it definitely concerned me that something changed in the first place.
Come to think of it, my fake confession happened around January…
“Can you think of anything that might’ve caused this?” Himemiya asked.
“Uh, no, not really. Though, knowing Yanami, maybe she’s just on a diet.”
“If she were dieting, Anna would make it loud and clear. Maybe I’m just overthinking this.”
“No, thanks for telling me about it, Himemiya. As her club’s president, I’ll keep an eye on her.”
And with that, we shifted into a more trivial conversation about Yanami and Himemiya.
After my detour with Himemiya came to a close, I was finally able to go home. But, along the way, I noticed some familiar red hair.
Wasn’t that Komari?
“Hey, Komari. Are you headed home?”
“N-Nukumizu. Are you flirting with Himemiya now, too?”
“No, I wasn’t. And, I’m not even flirting with anyone in the first place.”
“Hmph. W-We’ll see about that.”
Komari’s gaze was frigid.
Harsh.
“I really haven’t done anything suspicious. I was actually buying books at the bookstore.”
“L-Let me see. Oh, I like this one, too.”
So easy to distract. I managed to shift the subject and we talked about the latest entry in my favorite series.
It was the next day.
In the Literature Club room, everyone was going about their usual business.
Even in the third term, nothing has changed-
“By the way, Nukumizu. What were you talking about with Himemiya?”
Silence fell over the clubroom at the sudden inquiry.
I looked around and saw Yakishio staring, shellshocked, at Yanami.
Yanami was shooting me a dirty glare.
“Nukumizu?”
I felt a chill run down my spine.
“No, I wasn’t-“
“You were drooling.”
“I wasn’t drooling!”
Yanami’s glare seemed to intensify.
“Nukkun, you always go for the cute girls. But Yanamin, you don’t need to be so mad. He’s probably just doing his usual thing.”
My usual thing? Was I such a sulky character?
“Between the student council and everything, you’ve started talking to a lot of girls, haven’t you, Nukumizu?” Yanami pressed me further.
I was backed against a corner.
This was strange. Wasn’t I supposed to be the club president?
I decided to make a risky gamble.
I went to grab Yanami’s hand.
“Look, nothing happened. I’m me, after all. Nothing really ever happens to me, don’t you think?”
“Eh?! O-Oh… yeah,” Yanami squeaked cutely and looked down.
What was that? Did she actually come down with something?
Concerned, I leaned in to get a closer look.
Yanami suddenly pulled her hand from mine and leaned away.
“Sorry, I doubted you. I’m good now.”
“That’s a relief. I’m glad you understand.”
I went to return to my seat and resume reading, but I noticed Yakishio’s and Komari’s shocked expressions.
What now?
“What’s up?”
Both voiced their curiosity about Yanami and I, and I again had to insist that nothing else was going on.
I made up some random story on the spot and somehow got through the rest of the day’s activities unscathed.
I could have just mentioned that I had confessed to Yanami, but for some reason, it felt difficult to bring up. If Yanami hadn’t told Yakishio and Komari, then it probably wasn’t my place to say anything.
As I was mulling over this on my way home, someone walked up beside me.
“Nukumizu. Heading home?”
It was Yanami, the girl of the hour, who had approached me.
I tried to act calm, despite feeling quite nervous on the inside.
“Yeah, you too, Yanami?”
“Yup.”
Yanami responded while staring straight ahead.
There was a brief pause.
“… So, what were you talking about with Karen?”
“Oh, uh, yeah. There really wasn’t anything to it. We just talked about school and stuff.”
“I didn’t think you were actually getting close with Karen. It’s you we’re talking about, after all.”
How rude. I mean, she’s not wrong. Even I couldn’t picture myself getting close with Himemiya.
But still.
“Really, nothing happened between us.”
“I see.”
Yanami and I continued walking in silence.
Then, out of the blue, I heard a soft rustling from above, and my vision was obscured by a blanket of rain.
The forecast had said it wouldn’t rain until later, but it turned out to be an early downpour.
Yanami and I hurried to find shelter from the weather, but by the time we reached a convenience store, we were both drenched.
“Wow, that was a surprise.”
“Yeah, I wasn’t expecting to rain so suddenly. The forecast said it would be fine.”
We both complained as we looked up at the sky.
It didn’t seem like the rain would let up anytime soon.
And it was cold.
I sneezed loudly. Yanami looked at me with concern.
“Are you okay, Nukumizu?”
Before I could reply, I sneezed again.
“… Nukumizu, should we head to my place?”
“Huh?”
“This is a special occasion, okay?”
Yanami opened the umbrella she bought in the convenience store and smiled mischieviously.
She then guided me to her house, saying that it would be better to warm up and that she wouldn’t want me catching a cold.
Her house was quite similar to mine.
As she opened the door, Yanami told me to wait at the entrance.
“I’ll go grab a towel. Just wait here.”
“Thanks, Yanami. You really didn’t have to go this far.”
“It’s fine, it’s fine. I’m just being a bit of a busybee.”
With that, Yanami quickly moved down the hallway to get a towel.
I was grateful, regardless of the circumstances.
I was feeling quite chilly, and I supposed if I had taken the train home in this weather, I very likely would’ve caught a cold.
Yanami eventually handed me the towel.
“Thanks, Yanami. By the way, where are your parents?”
“Both my mom and dad work, so they won’t be home until later.”
“I see.”
That made the atmosphere a bit awkward.
Maybe I shouldn’t have brought that up, and now I was starting to overthink things.
“Thanks for the towel, Yanami. I’m feeling much better now.”
I went to make my leave after thanking her, but Yanami caught me before I could.
“Why don’t you stay a bit longer? It’s still raining pretty hard.”
… The rain and the wind were indeed still going strong.
But, I didn’t want to overstay my welcome.
“It’s fine, it’s fine! Come on up.”
Yanami grabbed my hand and took me inside.
She seemed a bit more assertive than usual.
Yanami had taken me to her room.
This was my first time in a girl’s room, especially one that was a classmate’s.
Feeling a bit nervous, I sat down on the cushion Yanami had urged me to get comfortable in.
The room was surprisingly tidy, despite the snacks scattered all around.
Why where there snacks everywhere? Was it so she could eat them wherever she was?
“Here you go. Have this.”
Yanami handed me a warm cup of green tea.
As I drank it, I felt its warmth spread throughout my body and let out a sigh of content.
“And this.”
She placed a large pile of snacks at the center of the table.
“Wow, that’s a lot. Where’d you get all these?”
“They’re snacks for guests. What better time to eat them than now?”
I think Yanami just wanted to eat snacks.
She tore open a bag of chocolates with a snap and handed me a few.
“Wouldn’t eating all this ruin your appetite for dinner?”
“Hmm? Of course not.”
I supposed it depended on the person. Just looking at the selection in front of me made me feel full.
Out of courtesy, I took something from the pile.
I shifted my gaze to Yanami. She was wearing a gentle smile, and it got me thinking.
“A lot has happened in the last year, hasn’t it?”
“Yeah, I used to make you lunch.”
“It wasn’t just the lunches, you know.”
“Yeah, yeah. There was also that training camp and the cultural festival. Oh, and we did that whole thing to get Koto’s book back, too.”
“Yeah, Koto was amazing at the cultural festival, standing there like that…”
“We’ll be second years pretty soon, too. We’ll have different classes and all that.”
We would be changing classes, wouldn’t we? I hadn’t talked to Yanami much in the classroom, but it still made me feel a bit lonely. Or maybe not so much.
“Would you be sad if we were in different classes, Nukumizu?”
“N-No, not really. We can still talk in the club, right?”
“Yeah, I suppose. I look forward to next year, mister club president.”
“I’ll do my best.”
As I sipped my tea, I enjoyed how it had cooled down just enough.
A peaceful silence fell over us.
It seemed the rain had stopped at some point and I’d be able to get home before dinner.
Eventually, Yanami spoke up.
“Thank you, Nukumizu.”
“Huh?”
“You really did get dragged into all of this, and even though you didn’t get anything out of helping us, you still supported me and Lemon and Komari and so many other people. Thank you for that.”
I was about to say that it was nothing, but I found myself speechless after looking into Yanami’s eyes.
Her gaze was brimming with so much sincerity, it was almost dazzling.
“When we become second years, let’s do a lot more things together, okay?”
“… Sure thing, Yanami.”
We both laughed a little.
Yanami and I had met at that family restaurant, and so many things had happened since then. Even if she didn’t know, Yanami had helped me, too
I was truly glad we became friends.
My phone buzzed, and I saw that Kaju had sent me a worried message.
I replied the rain had stopped and that I’d be heading home soon.
“Is that Kaju? She really cares about you, doesn’t she, brother dearest.”
“Oi, don’t call me that.”
“By the way, you read manga, right, Nukumizu?”
“Yeah, I buy and read quite a bit. Here’s my library.”
While I preferred physical books for my light novels, I read a lot of my manga digitally.
I handed my phone to Yanami.
Maybe I could recommend some manga to her. It’d be nice to have another person to talk to about favorite series.
As she scrolled through my phone, Yanami let out a strange, “Oh.’
“You’re looking at something else, aren’t you?”
“Nope. Not at all.”
“That’s way too suspicious. Give it back.”
When I reached over to retrieve my phone, Yanami dodged out of my grasp.
I caught a glimpse of her looking through the photos on my phone.
“Hey! That’s an invasion of my privacy!”
Yanami stood up to tease me and went to make her escape.
“Come and get it, Nukumizu!”
This woman… she’s underestimating me.
Even if I didn’t exercise much, there was no way I was losing to her.
Just as I was about to catch her, Yanami slipped on a cushion and lost her balance.
“Watch out!”
I tried to grab Yanami before she could fall, but we both ended up falling together.
It felt like time had suddenly stopped.
I found myself on top of Yanami, her face right in front of me.
Yanami made a strange noise and instantly turned bright red.
She quickly pushed me off.
“A-Are you okay, Yanami? You’re not hurt or anything, right?”
“Y-Yeah…”
Yanami fanned her face with her hands. “Wow. That was surprising. It was so sudden, I sort of panicked.”
“Y-Yeah, it was.”
Though, I didn’t want to dwell on what just happened too much, it seemed Yanami’s way of dealing with this situation was to brush it off with a joke.
“Sorry about the phone.” She handed it back to me. “Come to think of it, we’ve gotten really chummy, haven’t we? We’re even at the point of stealing each other’s phones.”
“It is kind of strange how close we are, huh?”
“Should we change how we address each other, too?”
Yanami, who seemed to have recovered from her prior embarrassment, grinned at me.
I usually referred to her as Yanami, so…
“Like calling you Yanamin?”
“That works, or you would always try calling me by my first name.”
Her first name, huh? I didn’t think I’d ever done that with anyone but my sister.
“So, like… Anna?”
“Yeah, like that.”
“Anna… It feels so weird.”
“… Hehe, I guess it would be a high hurdle for you, Nukumizu.”
“Yeah, Yanami feels the most natural.”
Yanami seemed happy with that, and that made me happy, too.
I felt like this distance between us, however wide or little, was just right.
The rain had finally stopped, and after thanking Yanami again, I went home.
Kaju immediately noticed that something was up and bombarded me with a trillion questions, but that was a story for another time.