───● The Literary High School Girl’s Relationship Dynamics ●○●
“Wait, an anime movie?”
“Yeah. There’s a movie I really want to see, but I don’t really have anyone I can invite.”
It happened one day during our tutoring session.
Just as our lesson for the day wrapped up and Masato-san was about to leave, he asked if I wanted to go see an anime movie with him. A d-date invitation from Masato-san?!
“I see. So you figured if it’s otaku stuff, you might as well invite me?”
“No, it’s not really like that… Sorry, if you don’t want to, you totally don’t have to.”
“You guessed right!”
I cut Masato-san off with a smile and a thumbs-up.
He seemed to hesitate for a second there. I wonder what that was about?
Well, regardless of what Masato-san thinks of me, getting to go on a date with him is a total win in my book!
“Thanks! I’ll message you later, then.”
“Sounds good. I’ll make sure to do my homework on the series by then.”
“I appreciate that, but make sure you actually do your school homework too.”
“Gah—!”
After a good laugh, he said, “See you later,” and left my house.
I saw Masato-san off, watching his back until he was gone, and then returned to my room.
Without Masato-san here, my room felt like I had suddenly returned from a fantasy world back to my mundane, boring reality.
“A date, a date~”
To distract myself from the emptiness, I checked my schedule on my phone. I wonder which Sunday he’d be willing to go with me?
As I scrolled through my phone, his words echoed in my mind.
“I don’t really have anyone I can invite.”
…I was probably just one of several backup options.
It’s tough to invite girls to anime movies. Well, I’m sure anyone would be thrilled to go if Masato-san invited them, but he has this weird tendency to be overly considerate about things like that.
When Masato-san thinks about asking someone on a date, I’m definitely not his first choice. But then again, it’d be incredibly arrogant for a nobody like me to even dream of being his number one in the first place.
“…Guess I’ll tackle my gaming backlog.”
Thinking about that didn’t really distract me at all.
So I booted up a visual novel I’d bought but never gotten around to playing.
And One week later.
We nailed down a date almost immediately after that. Masato-san even secured the tickets for us, and so, on Sunday, we arrived at the movie theater.
We bought some drinks and headed to our assigned seats. I’m personally part of the no-popcorn-at-the-movies faction. If I’m too busy munching, I can’t focus on the film.
“Man, thanks for coming! I really wanted to see this one.”
“No problem at all. I heard from a friend who already saw it that it’s really good.”
“Oh, really? Now I’m even more excited!”
I glanced at Masato-san sitting next to me. He was as handsome as ever. I couldn’t even count how many times people had stared at us since we walked into the theater. They were probably all jealous. I get it.
…Suddenly, I remembered what my friends had told me just the day before yesterday.
“Must be nice, Shiori. You get to go on a date with that super hot, sexy older guy, right?”
“Stop calling him a sexy older guy!”
They were helping me pick out an outfit after school, and we were killing time at a food court in a nearby mall.
Ever since they saw Masato-san in the flesh at the school festival, my friends had been blatantly envious of me.
Hell, even classmates outside my friend group had started asking me, “I heard that guy who visited the other day is your boy toy, is that true?” The hell do you mean, boy toy? Who’s the disrespectful bastard spreading that rumor? Though honestly, thank you (?).
“But, you know… to be honest, I don’t think he really sees me as a woman.”
“Well, duh.”
“I’ll smack you.”
That’s the part where you’re supposed to deny it immediately!
I bared my fangs at them with a Grrr, but Mana and Hatsumi just brushed it off.
“I mean, does it really matter? Who cares if he doesn’t see you as a woman?”
“True. It’s a bit sad that you can’t bang him, but you should just be grateful you get to go on a date with a guy like that.”
“Well, yeah, you’re definitely right about that…”
“You better cherish this opportunity. If you do something to piss him off, I’ll do this to you.”
Hatsumi made a flicking motion, pantomiming pinching me and tossing me away. Well, I doubt Masato-san would ever do something like that, but…
Still, she had a point. If I tried too hard to act like a woman and ended up making him hate me, it would defeat the whole purpose.
“Right, Miaki? You agree with me, don’t you?”
“I mean… Shiori should just do what she wants. If she really wants to date him or be seen as a woman, she should just take the risk and make a move.”
Miaki muttered sluggishly as she filed her nails.
“Gah! Don’t listen to the girl with a boyfriend, Shiori!”
“Yeah, yeah!”
“Keep seething, losers.”
Ignoring the three of them squawking at each other, I pondered Miaki’s words.
Was I okay with our relationship staying like this, or should I take a step forward?
No matter how much I thought about it, I couldn’t reach a conclusion that day.
The anime movie Masato-san invited me to was simple but really fun. It was a pretty classic setup where the heroine wanders into a mysterious parallel world.
“Man, that was great!”
“It really was. The reviews were good so I had high hopes, but it definitely delivered.”
After the movie, we headed to a café.
I mean, the best part of watching a movie is definitely this post-viewing discussion phase! Although this was practically my first time going to the movies with someone else!
“I really liked how easy it was to empathize with the protagonist once she started growing on you.”
“Yeah, she had pretty low self-esteem at first, but she turned out to be a great main character.”
Masato-san and I shared our thoughts on the film. Lately, he had been reading the manga and watching the anime I recommended to him, so we had more and more opportunities to talk like this.
Still, Masato-san really was way too high-spec, being able to cover everything from hardcore otaku genres to lighthearted anime movies like this.
When I really thought about it, just being able to sit here and talk with him about different series was an insane privilege in itself.
Having seemingly finished saying his piece, Masato-san took a satisfied sip of his tea, stretched slightly, and then turned his gaze out the window.
Every single one of his movements felt, well… incredibly provocative.
My mind flashed back to what Miaki had told me. “If you want to be seen as a woman, take the risk and make a move.” That was what she had said.
Right now, maybe I could actually make a move?
“UUm..asato-san, you live alone, right?”
“Yeah, I do.”
Alright, strong start.
Operation “I Kinda Want to Hang Out at Your Place” was a go. He always came to my house for tutoring, but I had never been to his. Plus, he lived alone. A beautiful college boy living all by himself. Just the phrase alone was enough to get me excited.
If I managed to invite myself over to his bachelor pad, a little “mistake” might just happen! By the way, I hadn’t thought of a single plan for what to do if I actually got in.
“O-Oh, wow. Do you cook your own meals and stuff?”
“I try to when I can, but I usually give up if I get home late.”
“Yeah, that makes sense…”
U-Uh oh, I didn’t know how to steer the conversation from here. Do they sell insurance for this kind of conversational train wreck?
“I’m actually really good at cooking, you know.”
“Oh, really? I had no idea, you didn’t really seem the type. What do you make?”
I’m sorry, I don’t cook at all. I was a complete idiot for thinking a little lie like that would get me an invite to his place.
“Meat and potato stew… mostly.”
“Wow, that’s impressive. It’s a classic home-cooked meal, but I’ve heard it’s actually surprisingly hard to make.”
Wait, it is? I’m sorry for underestimating you, meat and potato stew. And I’m sorry, Mom. Thank you for always making it for me.
The guilt was starting to eat away at me, so I desperately needed to change the subject!
“W-Well, putting that aside, living alone just seems like a lot of work.”
“Hmm? You think so? Oh, are you thinking about living on your own when you get into college, Shiori-chan?”
“Ah, no, that’s not it—”
I want to see your house, maybe? Yeah, saying that would be way too obvious, wouldn’t it…
I took a sip of the orange juice I’d ordered to calm my racing heart.
“If you ever do think about living alone, let me know if you need any advice. I am your senpai when it comes to living solo, after all.”
…Looking straight at Masato-san as he offered me a bright, genuine smile, all my wicked ulterior motives were instantly purified… It happened again. Lately, I’d been feeling this exact same way all the time.
“Well, see you next week! Make sure you get your homework done, alright?”
“Yes. See you.”
…In the end.
My hilariously poorly planned operation was, unsurprisingly, a complete failure.
He walked me home, and that was the end of our day together.
“Well… I guess this is fine.”
Once again, I’d failed to get him to see me as a woman today.
If anything, it almost felt like today just reaffirmed the fact that he really didn’t see me that way at all.
But with my weak willpower, I was already starting to think that maybe that was okay too.
Just like my friends had said, for a girl like me, just meeting Masato-san was incredibly lucky, and getting to be this close to him was nothing short of a miracle.
I looked up at the chilly sky, noting how much earlier the sun was starting to set.
Faint stars twinkled around the beautiful moon, illuminating the night sky.
“I’m home~”
“Oh, welcome back.”
I returned home and poked my head into the living room, spotting Mom in the kitchen as usual.
Given the time, she was probably prepping dinner.
After my conversation with Masato-san reminded me of how much work cooking could be, I thought I’d take a moment to express my gratitude to her. But before I could, she spoke up first.
“By the way, Shiori, have you been getting any exercise?”
“Huh? No, not really.”
“Exercise” was a concept light-years away from the life of a gloomy loner like me.
“I figured. So, apparently Masato-kun likes basketball, right? He was looking for a gym to use, so I was thinking of renting out the Gymnasium my company manages.”
“Oh. Sure, that sounds nice.”
Come to think of it, I felt like I’d heard Masato-san mention something about that before. I had no right to stop her, and I was totally fine with it, but…
“You should tag along with him.”
“Huuuuh??”
How the heck did we arrive at that conclusion?
“Because you literally never exercise. It’s bad for your health. Plus, you get to spend more time with Masato-kun, right?”
“Y-You’re being weirdly annoying right now…”
If she had just told me to go play basketball, I would’ve refused with every fiber of my being, but using Masato-sama as bait was just playing dirty.
“But wait, doesn’t Masato-san already have friends he plays basketball with?”
It’s not like he’d be playing all by himself, and abruptly crashing his group of friends would be super awkward. Or so I thought.
“From what I hear, he’s actually teaching a middle school girl. So jealous~”
“…!”
A middle school girl?
Instantly, a hypothesis sparked in my mind.
Could this middle school girl be that same loli who was with Masato-san at the summer festival?
“…Maybe I will go.”
“Oh, wonderful! I’ll let Masato-kun know, then~”
With that settled, I slumped into a chair in the living room and sank deep into thought.
If it meant getting to see Masato-san, I didn’t mind doing a little physical activity. Besides…
If the girl coming with him really was that loli from the summer festival…
“Then she’s the one who was doing this and that with him.”
The memory of that night was still burned clearly into my brain. I honestly got super turned on watching them, ngl.
If that was the case, then…
“If I ask that loli, she might teach me the meta for making a move on Masato-san…!”
She was undoubtedly leagues ahead of me at this point. Was there any way I could get her to share her strategy guide?
If I could do that, it might just solve my current dilemma of ‘not being seen as a woman.’
I mean, honestly, I just wanted to casually flirt and be lovey-dovey with Masato-san too! I’m a woman, so obviously I’d want that!
If he was letting a middle schooler do all that to him, then a high schooler like me… should definitely have a chance!
Just as I threw my fists in the air at this faint ray of hope, Mom walked out of the kitchen.
“You’ve been muttering to yourself this whole time. It’s creeping me out.”
…Yeah, I’ll save expressing my gratitude to Mom for another time.