Chapter 151: The 'P' in our Stars
The show was about to being as they entered the planetarium's biggest attraction. Their large and recently renovated projection hall. It hadn't started yet, so the room was brightly lit for people to come in and find their seats. Since this was a newly rebuilt experience, there were also a ton of people excited to come in and watch the show.
This proved to be a problem for Arata and his friends as there didn't appear to be five empty spots for them to stick together. There was a pair of open seats, which led to him taking the opportunity with zero hesitation.
"Akaki and Akiba, you two should sit together here." He told them. His reasoning being that they were the closest so it made sense and that the other three would find their own free spots. It worked and soon he was off with Erina and Yuriko to look for their own places. The boy was cool with these two, so there didn't seem to be any problems with this arrangement.
"This looks like an all right place." Yuriko pointed out a few seats towards the back where most people wouldn't notice them. Arata agreed, so he was the first one to sit down. Where he took one of the seats that were on the side.
"Um…" This was a problem for the two girls now. Only one of them could sit next to him like this, but neither one of them wanted to speak up and ask him to move to the middle. They'd have to suffer on deciding on who should take that spot without sounding too desperate.
"Erina, you should sit next to me." Or he could be the one to make that decision with little effort since the boy wasn't thinking of what was going on their minds. Apparently the one he wanted besides him was his best friend, unsurprisingly.
"I… Guess I can." She responded nervously. Akiba's words had echoed a bit in her head, perhaps she could be a little selfish and have to him herself. Even if it was only just sitting next to him, which she always did during lunch. Then again, Yuriko did like that boy too. Which is what the other part of her mind that was still apprehensive about her felling brought up. They weren't really competing against each other so perhaps… "Okay, let's sit next to each other." Said Erina, but she had went and sat on the opposite end from him.
"Uh, this isn't sitting next to each other." He noted as she giggled.
"If you want to be besides me, then it looks like you'll have to move." She spoke in a teasing manner. He sighed and moved over, not getting what the deal was with these two today. This allowed Yuriko to take his old seat and the two could sit besides him with no trouble at all. The red-haired girl silently mouthed the words, 'thank you' to her friend as she took her place.
Now it was time for the show to begin as the lights dimmed around them. It was nearly pitch dark until the lights from the planetarium itself began to project onto the roof. It was a stunning display of stars as the speaker began to explain cool facts about space.
This was an amazing experience that engrossed Arata that he forgot about everyone around him as he stared up into space. Erina was really wishing that she still had her camera to take a photo of everything around them. Though given the rules, she would've gotten kicked out the moment a flash was made. On the other hand, the night sky was the last thing on Yuriko's mind.
She was quietly thinking to herself about what to do now that she was right next to Arata. Sure, she had this opportunity plenty of times during their babysitting responsibilities. However, they weren't alone like they were now. At least, in the sense that no one could see her in the dark.
After their talk with Akiba, she did some thinking and settled on deciding to tell him the truth about how she felt. Even if it wasn't a proper confession, since she'd also inform him of her lingering feelings for Yogi. So it wasn't as if she was expecting him to answer her right away.
Her heart was racing in anticipation for that moment. She'd have to find a way to get some private time with him, away from everyone else. As well as do it in a manner that wasn't suspicious to tip them off to what she was doing. It wasn't helping that she wanted to lay out a hint for him in the manner of taking his hand right here. This boy wasn't as dense as her other crush, so he might get a decent idea of what was about to happen.
One would think that this should be easy, but now would be a good reminder that Yuriko is known as a tsundere. Her tsun side made a task like this nearly unbearable to perform because revealing her feelings, even if in a nonspeaking manner was hard to do. She didn't like people knowing how she truly felt because she was afraid of how they might respond. In this case, it would be a rejection.
The anxiety was getting to her so bad that it was getting to her bladder even… Wait a second, her bladder! Upon the realization, her hands slowly shifted down towards down to her crotch. The girl hadn't gone all day and now this nervousness was making the need worse. But what could she do? It wasn't like it was easy to excuse herself in front of him right now. Especially since in his mind, she just went not even 15 minutes ago.
Then she'd just have to endure it for the rest of the show. Then perhaps come up with an excuse to leave the group to go else where to relieve her need. But things were really bad now, she had put it off for longer than she normally would. Not to mention that she really wanted to confess to him after this show was over. All these thoughts were making it worse for her as she tried to quietly squirm in her seat.
Drip… She can't wait any longer. Quickly, she stood up in her seat. Fortunately, they were in the back, so she wasn't bothering anyone but Arata. Unfortunately, he was the only person she cared about seeing this blunder of hers.
"Is something wrong?" He whispered to her, but she didn't say a word back to him. Instead, her body language was the only thing spoke to him that explained it all as she dashed away while holding herself. This was absolutely humiliating as she made her way back to the restrooms to release the impending flood before it would ruin her skirt and underwear.
Luckily she was able to get there in time. Though she was dry, her face wasn't from the tears on her face. This was the worst moment of her life. She believed that he must've thought she was some little girl who couldn't control her bladder. Once she had taken care of business, she wiped her face as best she could to return back to the show. On her way out of the restroom, that was where she ended up running into Arata.
"Ah!" She gave out a small yelp from the shock. "Wh-what are you doing here!?" The blush on her face gave away how embarrassed she already was about this situation. "Are you a pervert or something?" Her tough girl side had to maintain some air of actual strength, so she went right for an insult preemptively.
"I just wanted to make sure you were all right." He had left the projection room after her in concern for her health. "You went earlier, so I hope you're not sick." His eyes averted a bit from the awkwardness of not wanting to mention specifics. "If you are, then I can help you get home."
"I didn't use the bathroom before, so this wasn't anything serious." She answered, really wishing that this conversation could end so she didn't have to talk about her bathroom habits to a boy.
"Oh thank goodness." He let out a sigh of relief. "I thought you really were sick, so that's good." She pouted, but on the inside she was really glad to see how much he really cared about her. This boy didn't think for a moment that this was something embarrassing, and regardless of the topic, it didn't stop him from going after her.
This had to be the time for her to speak up about her feelings. The two of them were alone with no one to bother them. There was no way she'd get a better opportunity than this. But the words were hard in getting out of her mouth. It was difficult to actually confess her feelings, especially after what just happened.
"Arata…" She spoke out one word before pausing. That piqued his interest as the boy waited for her to finish the sentence. "Arata I…" Come on, she thought. Yuriko just had to get the words out there and deal with the consequences as they happened. Now was not the time to chicken out. "Arata I… I love Arata."
"Huh?" For a brief moment, he couldn't believe what he just heard from her. He wanted to believe that he had misheard her, but that was impossible. "Did you just… Confess to me?"
"Yes!" Her face was bright red, her heart was beating at well over 200 beats per minute. "I mean, I like Yogi too. I like you both as boys." It took her every bit of strength to say each and every word.
"What? But how come you're confessing to me?"
"To be honest, I actually did confess to Yogi. But he's so dumb, he thought I said that I liked pajamas."
"That… Does sounds like something he would do." His seatmates stupidity knew no bounds. "But I don't understand why you're telling me this now." To Arata, this came out of nowhere. What was even the defining factor that led to this anyway?
"I know about the others, especially ever since Misei confessed to you." All the girl wanted was for him to not forget about her. Even when he was struggling to pick on who he really loved, that she was part of it too. "Obviously it's not an easy thing to do, but I hope you... Think about me…" Yuriko couldn't bring herself to say that she wanted him to pick her, no matter how bad she wanted to.
"I see." He replied. This day that he wanted to have for him and Akiba. The day that they wanted to have to themselves to not worry about romantic drama ended up leading to a confession to him. At some point, he was going to have to make up his mind. There had to be some girl out of all of them that had captured his heart.
"Anyway, we should get back before they miss us." She walked past him to get back to the display.
"Wait." He had resolved to make up his mind soon, but there was one final important thing for Arata to take care of first. "Can I ask a favor from you?"
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