Protagonist (Remaster)

Chapter 4

'Double dates are lame.' is what I always thought to myself. Especially now.

Sandwiched between a wall and a certain brown-haired teen was me, facing my very own target, Shiho Manabe. Next to her was her boyfriend which I did not have the intention of remembering the name of after this shitshow. Yaoyorozu, or something? Manabe stared at him lovingly while he went on and on about the dumbest things he could possibly conceive. Love finds the strangest people, I guess.

The one thing I will remember is how weirdly comfortable it is to be next to Ayanokouji. The red jacket that came with our school uniform felt warm when he wore it, and his amber-brown eyes brought even more needed comfort when he happened to look at me.

In which, he was doing that right now. A familiar calm to my heart began.

They were slightly light and held a sort of indifference that at least didn't make me feel unwanted, holding something I needed now more than ever. 

Bringing his face close to my ear, he whispered: "You doing, okay? Seems like this isn't your scene."

"You're telling me. Her boyfriend hasn't stopped speaking for the past five minutes." Which wasn't completely truthful. It was more like ten. That guy could talk the head off of a giraffe if given the choice. Ayanokouji chuckled and looked back towards the two.

But anyhow, how'd we get here? Well, we need to go back to the beginning.

* * *

Today I was greeted with the sun beaming down on me. Birds of different species chirped as I walked by, and flower petals fell as if on cue with them.

Unlike everyone else, I was stressing the hell out.

It'd been 4 days since I had gotten my assignment, and I had zero luck in finding out anything about Manabe. Quite literally off the map in terms of gossip. Ironic that the one most in tune with school gossip is the most innocent of them all.

All I heard was gripes about her behavior, slut-shaming, and other stupid perceptions of her from the student body. That info would be useful if there were any actual proof behind it, so as you can guess I found nothing.

An exasperated sigh escaped my lips.

"Hey, Matsushita."

A familiar voice called out to me. Oh, I forgot the most important part. Ayanokouji.

"H-Hey, Ayanokouji! What brings you out here?" Amazing job Chiaki, losing it in front of your boss? Perfect, just great even.

Ayanokouji was dressed in some grey sweatpants, and a black compression shirt which I just now realized is hugging his body. Very noticeably hugging it as well.

"Nothing much, staying inside all day felt kind of boring so I came out here. You up to anything at the moment?"

"Working for you," A nervous giggle somehow slipped out of my mouth. Why now of all times?

"...But let me tell you, this girl has ZERO info on her, off the grid."

"Really now?" His eyebrow quirked and his hands finally left his pockets.

"As real as can be," I said while his eyes poured into me. "It's...rough. Sorry."

"Hm? What're you saying sorry for?" Ayanokouji asked, tilting his head at me. You can't just look at me like that, I'll die of guilt.

"W-Well, you said you wanted information, right? And I failed to get it to you..." Looking down, I stared holes into my feet. Disappointing him, no, anybody would be the death of me, and imagining the look on his face felt like spitting on my grave.