Chapter 152: Resolve
"So you tell me to meet you in the library and then what?" Yuriko asked as they sat alone at one of the tables. "What kind of favor is this supposed to be?"
"Look, I know you know that me and Ichiri are kind of on thin ice right now."
"I think it's more like it's already been melted." She responded. "Why are you even bothering with her? The girl's an idiot for trying to run for student council president." It was even worse for her, since he literally did this right after she kind of confessed to him as well. Though at this point, she wasn't aware of the other girls feelings for him. That didn't meant she didn't have her suspicions.
"She's still my friend either way." Compared to the other stuff that people put him through, she was fairly light on irritating him. "And if she continues to act like that." He pointed over to the girl in question, who was sitting all by herself at a table. Since Ichiri didn't have any other friends, she turned to studying as hard as she could to pass the time. Perhaps they might even allow her to skip the third year so she could end her misery. "The rest of her time in high school is going to be very lonely."
"Fine, but why ask me?" Arata had plenty of other friends that would be willing to help. "I don't see how I'm so special with her."
"Because…" He had kept that a secret from her until they finally met up in the library during school. "You used to be friends with Yurime, and well… I figured we could kill two birds with one stone?"
"Really?" She gave him a disappointed glare. "Look, we used to be friends but… I just don't have time when you think about everyone else." Indeed, they had different friend groups. She had the main gang, while Yurime was with both the journalism club and library committee. "And I don't know why she wants to hang with me again. I kind of abandoned her back when we were kids." Along with the rest of her regrettable actions as a ten year old.
"Look, I'm just saying. Maybe this is the time to finally bury the hatchet and move on from that time." Even though he had forgiven her for beating him up back in the day, there were still some lingering demons from her past. If Yuriko could move on fully, then she'd be able to figure out her true feelings.
There was another important factor as to why Arata just had to help out Ichiri get out of this funk. He knew that he could no longer continue to delay finding out his own feelings for the girls. Someone among them had to have captured his heart and he intended to return those feelings back to them. But he couldn't do it with that girl sulking about, especially knowing how she felt about him. "I know we kind of hung out on Sunday, but do you think we can set something up with everyone here for the weekend?"
"You're lucky when I turned over a new leaf, that also meant I take care of all my homework before the weekend." She accepted and now it was time to set their plan into motion.
"Hello Yurime, Hifumi." Arata came up to the only members of the library committee. "Are you two busy?"
"Yes, very." Hifumi replied in a rushed manner. "Ever since Ichiri quit, we've been stacked with all the work." She was irritated since it was partially Arata's fault about things. Her tone also came from hearing her grandma informing her that he went on an apparent date with Akiba. Even with all that, she found it difficult to truly get angry with him since despite her feelings, the two weren't a couple. Hopefully she could find a way to remedy that.
"If there's anything you two need, can you make it quick?" Yurime also had a lot of work to do since she also had her responsibilities with the journalism gig.
"Just wanted to ask you two if you wanted to hang out after school on Friday." Said Yuriko. Immediately, the other two knew that this was Arata's idea.
"Look, I doubt you can get her back." Hifumi scolded him. "Ichiri's got this dumb delusion that she can't be good enough for you, it's too late for her."
"I still have to try." He argued for his case, a bit too loud given the setting they were in. Yurime took note of his determination. His eyes had a fire behind them she had never seen before. This boy was more than prepared to work hard to aid a friend in need. "I just need you two to convince her to come join you for something during the weekend without saying that I'll be there." His attempts at talking to her normally all ended in vain as she simply walked away without saying anything.
"We can try, but she doesn't want to talk to us either." Given their relationship with Arata, it was a bit too difficult for her to want to be with anyone associated with him.
"Ah, what am I going to do now?" He asked out loud.
"How many times do I need to remind you we're in a library?" Hifumi scolded him once more. As they talked, a certain someone else came up to return a book.
"I just wanted to return this book you gave us." It was Matsu, giving Hifumi a flower book that they had borrowed for the club. Since it was February, that meant Spring was just around the corner and they'd be able to get back to the fun part of their activities. She also came here even though the other members were in the library as well because Arata was standing here. "And hello Arata, how are you doing?"
"Fine." He answered without considering her presence all that much, until an idea hit him. "Matsu, are you busy after school on Friday?"
"B-busy?" His question caught her by surprise. If a boy was asking this to a girl, then did this mean? "I mean… I'm usually with friends but…" She turned to look at the rest of the club, who were watching and encouraging her in the background. "I can spend time with you… If that's what you're asking of course."
"I need your help with Ichiri." Hearing him say that was a massive disappointment after the hype she received. He explained the entire situation to her, leaving out the part where the young junior had fallen in love with him. "Oh, I get it now." She totally didn't get it, but if it meant being with Arata. Matsu was going to do it. "Hold on, I can take care of this."
"Seems like you really like roping a lot of people into your schemes." Hifumi had grown a lot of harshness towards him. Arata couldn't tell if it was because she no longer liked him, or if it was because he kept hanging out with all these girls in front of her.
"You don't know the half of it." Yuriko followed up. While he could accept that she was a bit of a tsundere, it really did make it difficult to know if she really liked him or not. And that wasn't speaking in terms of love or anything serious like that.
"It worked." Matsu made her gleeful return. "She said she'd love to join me and help me on something." That was a lot easier than he was expecting out of her. Except there was something odd about how Matsu worded her sentence.
"Um, what exactly did you ask her to do?" While it came as little surprise that Ichiri would want to help someone in need. After all, she still had that arrogance of being high and mighty, even though that was why she was so depressed in the first place.
"Well you see, I just remembered that I did have something to do after school on Friday." As it was nearing Spring, there were also going to be deals on good seeds for growing plants and flowers. She had an aunt living in the next town over that owned a flower shop and she had agreed to pick up some for the club this weekend. "Thanks for asking for my help, it turned out to be helpful for me too."
"I see that we're all taking a trip to the next town over then, aren't we?" Said Hifumi. With all the girls glaring at him now, Arata sighed. He really should've made sure this plan was completely prepared before going for it.
Time went on by for the week as they all waited patiently for the day to arrive. Arata was the one most anxious about this whole deal going down. This was most likely his only shot at fixing his relationship with Ichiri. If it failed, then that was goodbye to what he considered to be a relatively good relationship.
Still, that didn't stop him from feeling bad for involving all the other girls with him. Sure, they accepted and were willing to aid him in his time of need. But how much of that came from wanting to win his heart? The boy felt scummy for taking advantage of their feelings just so he could get one of his friends back. Who also happened to be another girl who had fallen for him.
Once this was all over, he resolved to finally determine how he felt once and for all. No matter what happens later in the future when they're all adults, Arata refused to have them stuck in this limbo of high school romance for any longer. Especially not when they're about to turn into third years. They were more than halfway done with school and he wasn't going to let it turn into one of those manga that he read which drags things out.
He thought about all the girls he knew that had romantic feelings for him. Mesei, Hifumi, Matsu, Ichiri, and Yuriko, Even though right now, his own feelings for them had yet to be discovered. Perhaps he truly didn't feel the same way and should reject them all. But no matter what, he wasn't going to back down now.
It would be challenging without a plan on how to determine each one, but he certainly was going to try and figure it out. To begin that first step, he needed to work towards getting the Ichiri he knew and loved back.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone