Jaku-chara Tomozaki-kun

「The kind of miracle where the sword you’ve equipped coincidentally has the attribute that is the boss’s weak point, and the shield you’ve equipped is coincidentally resistant to the attribute that the boss uses, huh.」

Sat.u.r.day. After reporting the incident with Izumi to Hinami via a brief mail, I had received the reply「Tell me the details in person」. This had resulted in the abrupt scheduling of today’s meeting.

「There really is some incredible miracle at work here.」

As I spoke, I stayed dumbfounded by the enormous parfait on the table.

「By the way, I’ve been thinking. Haven’t there been a lot of awfully convenient things cropping up lately? Like, the matter with Izumi. As well as the matter with Kikuchi-san.  Hinami, are you sure you haven’t secretly been laying any groundwork?」

Incidentally, for whatever reason, today’s meeting place was a famous cafe within the Tokyo Metropolitan area, a fair distance away from Saitama. Here, at the present time, Hinami was calmly eating a weapon of extreme sweetness; composed of strawberry, banana and melon topped with a much too generous amount of whipped cream and condensed milk.

「Just what are you saying. I haven’t done anything. The one who’s been laying the groundwork is you.」

「Ha? Me?」

「That’s

right. After all, if you hadn’t always visited the library when the time came to move cla.s.ses or hadn’t borrowed tissues from Fuukchan, then she wouldn’t have approached you in the library. And if you hadn’t beaten up Nakamura Shuuji in AtaFami or hadn’t continued to talk to Yuzu every day for a week, then even if you had still come across Yuzu walking unsteadily yesterday, it wouldn’t have developed into you visiting her house. Everything that’s been happening has been a result of things that you have done.」

So said Hinami while, in the name of halfsies, she tucked into what represented eighty percent of a parfait that I had ordered as a result of her pointing at it and saying ‘I recommend that you order this one’. It sure is impressive how she’s managing to eat all of that. I had already reached my limit after eating my twenty percent. Incidentally, this one was called a Peach and Whipped Cheese Milk Parfait or something like that.

「Well, I suppose that’s true……」

「Pretty stoical, aren’t you? Can’t you appreciate your own efforts a little more? Well, if by not doing so you can preserve your motivation, I suppose it’s fine.」

Just how is this person able to speak so smoothly and clearly while having food in her mouth?

「I am appreciating them…… to a certain extent.」

When

extent.」

When I said that, Hinami stopped moving the hand that she was using to eat.

「……Really?」She seemed rather happy. I couldn’t tell if it was because of the parfait being delicious.「That’s fine then. How does it feel to have tried it out? Don’t you think that changing your life for the better through your own efforts is beautiful?」

Grinning, Hinami peered into my eyes. Slightly fl.u.s.tered, I averted my gaze.

「……Kind of, yes.」

「Heeh, so you can get embarra.s.sed because of things like this, huh.」

「Shut it.」

「Well, whatever. With this, you should have drawn even closer to your medium-sized goal.」

「……Were you even listening to me? Izumi’s trying so hard because she likes Nakamura, you know?」

「Nevertheless, you wouldn’t expect Yuzu to have a conversation with Nakamura Shuuji containing the same level of depth as the one she had with you yesterday. Moreover, you were in possession of something that Yuzu was lacking. Well, be that as it may, her coming to like you due to just that isn’t very likely. At the very least, if it’s the current you.」

「The current me?」

「You may have grown somewhat, but there are still many aspects of you which have a long way to go. Though considering the long term, if you keep up your efforts and continue to grow, then there’s enough of a possibility that it might just barely

just barely happen by the end of this year.」

「……Seriously?」

It’s that Izumi Yuzu we’re talking about here, you know? The riajuu one. Well, I guess she did kind of describe it as a rather fragile possibility.

「Yes.」She finished off the parfait.「Well, it’s what could happen.」

「I’m impressed you actually managed to finish that……」

「Anyway, have you decided? What you’re going to do about Kikuchi-san, I mean.」

「Ahh, well, I’m still slightly hesitant, but I’ve more or less decided.」

「……Is that so. Well, I won’t ask for specifics regarding that. Report to me after you’ve put it into practice.」As she said this, she took out her wallet.「However, if you’re going to try asking her out on a date, I recommend that you use these.」

「……Movie tickets?」

「Yes. For this Sunday’s preview screening of Mary Jone.」

「Preview screening? ……Are you recommending that I invite her to see a movie?」

「Well, yes. But more importantly, it will be your first invitation to go out and have fun together, and you should bear in mind that if you’re too forceful it will leave a bad impression. With that being the case, you can invite her under the pretense of having had these tickets fall into your hands, but having no one to go with. Also, since the date is fixed, should she not want to go, it will be easy for her to decline on thedecline on the basis of her having things to do. If she does end up going, note that for a date in a movie theater, it doesn’t matter as much if the conversation is spa.r.s.e. Besides, after you’ve both seen the movie, won’t you then have something in common to talk about?」

「I, I see……」

「On top of that, if she truly is into you, then even if she really can’t make it that day, there’s a high chance that she ends up inviting you to go out on a different day instead. Anyway, the point is that there’s very little risk involved.」

「I see……well, it’s not like I had already had everything planned, so I suppose I might as well accept these. Thanks.」

「Don’t mention it.」Then, with her purse still in hand, she stood up.「Excuse me, I have to get going. I too have a number of things to take care of. As for the bill, most of what we ordered was eaten by me, and there’s also your travelling expenses to consider as a result of me calling you all the way over here. So I’ll be paying.」

I was about to refuse her offer with a, ‘It’s fine, I’ll pay’, but I realized she wasn’t likely to change her mind about it. So with a meek ‘Oh, really? Thanks’, I let her do as she wished.