Osananajimi ga Zettai ni Makenai Love Comedy Volume 3 Chapter 1 Part 1

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A trip begins with preparation

Part 1

Meeting Room 3 in the depths of the gymnasium was the headquarters of the Entertainment Appreciation Society alias “Ultramarine Alliance”, now officially recognised as a club by way of it having secured more than four members.

At present, tension hung in the air of the clubroom.

Inside there were six people in all.

The Ultramarine Alliance’s weapon, myself, Maru “Regrettably Too Straightforward” Sueharu.

The ringleader of the Ultramarine Alliance, Kai “In The First Place It Was His Fault” Tetsuhiko.

The second in command of the Ultramarine Alliance, Shida “Backroom Manipulator”¹ Kuroha.

The brains of the Ultramarine Alliance, Kachi “Clumsy” Shirokusa.

The Ultramarine Alliance’s golden rookie, Momosaka “Star Attraction” Maria.

Beyond that there was still Rena, but she alone was treated as more of a semi-member than an official one, and as she presently filmed with a video camera in one arm she had no title of her own.

The above titles had been proposed variously and jointly by the five official members, and decided upon by anonymous majority vote.

At present, acting as chairman, Tetsuhiko directed his gaze onto the four seated as he stood in front of a whiteboard.

“First of all, Maria-chan, our thanks to you for officially joining ‘Ultramarine Alliance’. You’re transferring here from next week, was it?”

“Indeed. Right now I’m making preparations and going through the formalities. But as for ‘Ultramarine Alliance’, starting from today I intend to officially join for real. I hope to get along with all of you.”

“Alright, applause please!”

We all clapped at Tetsuhiko’s cue.

As for Kuroha and Shirokusa’s fairly apathetic clapping – I decided not to point it out.

“So with that, here we have with us our five official members, but first of all I think I would like to once again explain our structure and system. From this point onward it is our plan to make an explanatory video for people who are watching the Ultramarine Channel for the first time, so please step in proactively if you think any point requires further explanation.”

Tetsuhiko continued after making sure everyone had nodded.

“The Ultramarine Alliance consists of both ‘Official Members’ and ‘Semi-Members’, the former having the below powers and duties: the three powers to ‘make’, ‘vote on’ and ‘veto’ proposals, and a duty to ‘participate’ in them. In a situation where an Official Member cannot participate by any means, he or she must convey his or her intentions at the outset and abstain from voting. Those are the conditions.”

As he explained Tetsuhiko recorded the things he was saying down on the whiteboard.

“So in other words, only “Official Members” can submit proposals, then vote on or veto them,” Shirokusa confirmed, probably out of consideration for the video.

“Yes, and in return in the event that a plan’s been decided on, “Official Members” will be obliged to participate…… so to speak. Well, it’s a part of club activities after all, so it only makes sense for everyone to participate in whatever proposal we decide on, right?”

“I guess,” I replied, but not without some unease.

For what kind of plan Tetsuhiko would lay upon us…… was still as yet an unknown quantity.

Tetsuhiko’s spiel continued.

“So someone will submit a proposal, upon which it will be voted on anonymously and its fate decided by the majority. In a case where someone uses their veto, however, the proposal is scrapped, regardless of what the majority vote decided. This is to provide for a situation where there is a proposal even one member absolutely refuses to do. Incidentally, indicating one’s name is compulsory when using a veto.”

“Well, I suppose having the power to veto is necessary if participating is going to be a duty.”

“Indeed, I agree too.”

Shirokusa and Maria each expressed their assent.

A veto, huh…… I couldn’t quite picture specifically what kind of situation I would have to use one in.

Tetsuhiko had probably provided it after considering various scenarios. I could sense as much that he had some deeper intention, but with no objections for the time being, I nodded sagely and pretended like I understood.

“We only got up to here when I explained before, but I hope you’ll listen now that a bit more of the specifics have been decided. As a supplement, it has been decided that the same proposal, or one with content similar to it, can only be submitted once per month. This comes in a set with the veto – it is intended that the latter be used only once per month as well.”

“What you’re saying, Tetsuhiko-kun, is in other words we’re not allowed to railroad our proposals?”

At Kuroha’s question Tetsuhiko revealed his white teeth.

“Exactly.”

“Oi, Tetsuhiko. Can you not give us a more concrete example of how this works? It’s kinda – no, pretty hard to visualise actually.”

“In that case, allow me to give an example for a change.”

Maria leaned her body forward and smiled pleasantly.

As always her hair was feathered and her aura charming. She cut an innocent figure in the Hozumino High School uniform I wasn’t yet used to seeing her in; a beautiful girl who would make you look back unconsciously if you passed her.

Maria spoke resonantly, perhaps as if to declare that here stood a responsible little sister.

“It’s simple, really, Big Brother Sueharu. In the event that Shirokusa-san writes a BL script for you and Tetsuhiko-san, and then submits proposals persistently in an effort to get a drama of it filmed, then without that limit in place, us three girls would be able to force it to happen if we were so inclined.”

“Oi, Momo! That delusion of yours is way too scary!”

“Hold on, Momosaka-san, would you mind not involving me in your hobbies? That was totally uncalled for,” Shirokusa threatened with a sharp look. The coldness of the look in her eyes would have given any ordinary male high school student no choice but to kneel.

If Maria was cute, Shirokusa was beautiful. With her silk-like, bewitching black hair and refined appearance, she had a beauty enough to – though I was more or less used to it – make even me nervous on occasion.

None of it, however, got through to Maria in the slightest.

“…… Really?” Maria whispered meaningfully, as she sent Tetsuhiko and I a sideways glance.

Shirokusa’s gaze followed Maria’s to linger between Tetsuhiko and I…… which made the fire in her eyes waver.

“I’ll say that I’m not completely disinterested.”

“Right?”

Fear ran across my body causing me to stand up abruptly.

“‘Right?’, my ass! Oi, Momo! Just saying, but if that kind of proposal ever makes it out then I’m gonna use my veto for real!”

“In the end we’re only talking about hypotheticals, Big Brother Sueharu.”

“Don’t lie to me! I can’t see anything ‘hypothetical’ about that look in your eyes!”

Maria tilted her head to the side and broke out that charming smile she always used to disarm people.

“Uh uh, I’m telling you, you’re not fooling me with that smile!”

“Alright, alright, we won’t get anywhere at this rate! Shut up!” Kuroha clapped her hands and brought an end to the conversation. It was a reasonable point, so we could only fall silent reluctantly.

Using a marker, by this time Tetsuhiko had already written about the “Semi-Members” on the whiteboard.

“So, the official members are the five of us here, but separately we’ve also created the concept of a ‘semi-member’. These are members who may participate in each proposal, well, kind of like provisional members, so to speak. They have neither the power to submit or vote on proposals, which means of course that they cannot veto them either. In other words, ‘semi-members’ are not obliged to participate in proposals, but instead will be asked if they wish to after one has been decided upon, and if they do their participation will be limited to that proposal alone. Of these ‘semi-members’, there is currently only Rena.”

As she was filming, Rena simply waved to us silently.

Only that mere vibration and her boobs were wobbling. Incredible.

I expected no less from Hozumino High School’s acclaimed ultimate weapon. As a semi-member, her outstanding talent was wasted……

“–Huh?”

Feeling cold stares from around me I regained my senses.

…… Had the fact that I had seen it been exposed?

“I didn’t see anything, okay?”

“You know, Big Brother Sueharu, it would’ve also been fine for you to just not admit it.”

“…………”

“…………”

Everyone’s (but especially Kuroha and Shirokusa’s) eyes were painful.

I despaired.

“Please, hear me out! This is a man’s instinct! Erotism isn’t evil!”

“…… I’ve said it before, paisen, but sexual harassment is a crime, you know?”

My throat closed with a gulp – and then I lowered my head.

“S- Sorry……”

“Yeah, yeah, it would’ve been so much nicer for you to’ve just apologised sincerely like that from the start. What a loser.”

“Hey, that last line of yours was totally unnecessary, wasn’t it?! Respect your seniors like any good underclassman would, alright?!”

Having tepidly watched over our exchange, Maria shrugged her shoulders.

“I feel like Rena-san could be an ‘official member’ too, but I guess she has her work as a jack of all trades after all.”

I could feel Tetsuhiko’s exasperation as he pressed on.

“Right. And incidentally, as with proposals, whether we choose to accept people hoping to join, and then if we do, whether to make them into official or semi-members, will be decided by voting amongst all ‘official members’. The power to veto, of course, applies here as well. But I do think that it would be better to treat the latter differently with regards to potential entrants, and make it such that it can be used unlimitedly.”

Maria nodded.

“I see, so if for example there was someone whom I wanted to join us by any means, who Tetsuhiko-san didn’t want to by the same amount – in such a case they would make it in if I squeezed in a vote at a time when Tetsuhiko-san couldn’t use his veto. You can’t accept that, so you want to prevent it. Am I right?”

“Yes.”

Ahh, I see. Unlike with proposals, voting on new members seemed likely to happen at any time, with the opportunities to do so possibly being a lot more frequent. It was thus a serious restriction having a veto which could only be used once a month, and it would suck to be caught out by someone else taking advantage of when one couldn’t.

“But you know, Tetsuhiko, is it really alright for us to act like we’re so carefully hand-picking all these people who were kind enough to say that they wanted to join us? It’s all just a part of club activities, right? I mean, it’s not like we’re really that great or anything, and doesn’t it just feel wrong?”

I mean, for the time being I honestly couldn’t so much as think of anyone I disliked enough to use my veto on. In the first place…… I wasn’t so sure about doing something like turning someone away immediately just because they weren’t a little to my liking. After all, there were probably any amount of examples of people getting along even after making a bad first impression.

“It’s true that what you’re saying also makes some sense, Haru, maybe……”

“Even if it does, I honestly think that it would still be better for us to have a veto.”

At this point Kuroha and Shirokusa’s personalities revealed themselves a little.

Kuroha was sociable, so she was of the type that could get along with anyone, but Shirokusa was more insular if she had to pick a side – the type for whom getting along with someone they didn’t like was completely out of the question. It was probably thus that Shirokusa was more eager about using her veto.

“Tetsuhiko-san…… how many people have said that they want to join the Ultramarine Alliance at present?”

Tetsuhiko snapped his fingers at Maria’s question.

“That is precisely the reason why I have provided a veto. Oi, Sueharu. Of the people wanting to join the Ultramarine Alliance, who do you think most of them are?”

“…… Let me see. Well, I guess there’d be no shortage of people wanting to get closer to Momo.”

I deliberately brought up Maria as an example, because in terms of popularity amongst the masses she was a clear first.

But…… wait. If we were just talking about within our school alone, weren’t there honestly probably just as many aiming for Kuroha or Shirokusa……?

“Hm……? Could it be that……”

Both Kuroha and Shirokusa were, after all, beautiful girls themselves who didn’t compare unfavourably even next to the celebrity Maria…… Not to mention that furthermore because more ordinary folk got to know them through the commercial contest, naturally their popularity was in the process of skyrocketing even outside of school…… So considering that it wouldn’t be strange at all for there to be droves of people wanting to join even if they had to quit their present clubs, so long as they could get close to girls like these, then……

“Tetsuhiko…… of those who say they want to join…… are more of them guys?”

“80 percent of them.”

“I see! We need it then, the veto! I expected no less from you, Tetsuhiko, you did well to provide one!”

Man, thank goodness Tetsuhiko was thinking!

To me the girls of Ultramarine Alliance were all people I was close to and thought of as important.

Which meant that I really couldn’t tolerate them being catcalled by those people of doubtful origin!

Men who I could legitimately trust were one thing, but those who came close with nothing but ulterior motives were absolutely disgusting!

In other words…… you know. Yeah, this isn’t at all about me wanting to monopolise them for myself or something, alright? All I want is for them to be physically safe and happy, alright?

………… Sorry yeah what I really want to say is that I don’t want to think about some handsome dude I’ve never seen or heard of before coming in from the side and stealing them away seriously please no.

“…………”

“…………”

Hm? I sensed that Kuroha and Shirokusa were watching me, but……

For a moment, I thought that by treating Maria special and saying that “there’d be no shortage of people wanting to get closer to” her, I had perhaps soured their moods of the two with whom she was on bad terms with. The air that they gave off was a little different, however, like they were being tentative or something, uneasy perhaps, or maybe even shocked. Whatever it was, I couldn’t quite grasp their true intentions.

“So 20 percent are girls.”

At Maria’s words, Kuroha and Shirokusa’s shoulders trembled slightly.

I brought my hands together in an audible clap.

“Ahh, I see. There is a possibility that they might be coming from other schools to go after Tetsuhiko.”

Tetsuhiko might have been universally hated by our school’s female population, but his looks alone were good. Just his looks, though.

Thus I could understand it if a girl from a different school going after Tetsuhiko said that she wanted to join the Ultramarine Alliance. He too had appeared in both the commercial and music video, so his popularity was dramatically rising.

“Oi, Tetsuhiko. Are we going to accept students from other schools too?”

“It’ll probably be tough with travel time in mind, so for now I think that if it’s as semi-members then we can accept them.”

True. It did seem like it would be hard to oblige someone from a different school to participate in plans.

“Erm, that’s not it……”

It was as Maria began to speak that Shirokusa placed a hand on her shoulder and stopped her.

“Momosaka-san, is there really a need to say it?”

“Of course there isn’t an absolute need to, but he’ll figure it out eventually after all, so……”

“In that case, there isn’t a particular need to say it then, is there?”

“Sigh. Alright. By your advice, Senpai, I shall remain silent.”

Shirokusa made a pair of scissors with her middle and index fingers, emphasising to Rena that the present segment should be cut such that it wouldn’t remain in the video.

“No, no, no, I don’t get it, though?!”

Maria grinned when I urged her with my eyes to elaborate.

“If you will, Tetsuhiko-san, please continue.”

“As usual you never listen to anyone!”

Be it Tetsuhiko or Maria, neither talked even when pressed to. Her acting like she had something to hide made me uncomfortable, but…… she said I’d understand eventually, so perhaps I shouldn’t let it bother me too much.

“So, starting again – let the First Planning Meeting begin!”

Tetsuhiko’s crisp voice brought the tension back into the room.

From the start this was the main focus of our gathering today.

“The proponent of our momentous first proposal – is none other than I, yours truly.”

Tetsuhiko gestured at himself with his thumb before distributing a printout to each of us.

“So, since the day the commercials were released, I’ve been collecting proposals through the Ultramarine Alliance’s official Twitter account. This is a graph showing the results of a poll asking which proposal the Ultramarine Alliance should do. As you can see, the proposal coming in first was–”

Tetsuhiko ran his marker briskly across the whiteboard, slapping it emphatically when he was done.

“–Filming a promotional video with our three official female members! With swimsuits thrown in, by the way.”

Ooh……

I see, I see……

So this time around our girls would be placed front and centre, huh……

Our members were an assemblage of beautiful women. I was grateful that everyone could appreciate it.

“By the way, Tetsuhiko…… it’s already October, so what of the swimsuits?”

If we were talking about details, this was probably the most important.

“We’ve got some connections in Okinawa, actually. We can still swim there so we’ll be fine.”

“What about money?”

“There’s the profit we made off the commercial contest before. We won after all, and we could probably go all out and use the money for the next proposal too. Therefore I intend for the Ultramarine Alliance to foot the entire bill for our transport, lodging and food.”

“If it’s going to be the three girls, then for the song we’re going down the idol route?”

“That’s what I’m planning, of course. This isn’t a corporate request; it’s a plan aiming to raise the Ultramarine Alliance’s degree of recognition. Frankly, even if the song or dancing sucks there’s no issue as long as we get a lot of attention. To fulfill that purpose, I’ve already had a song and dance choreography prepared.”

“Tetsuhiko–”

I stuck my hand out swiftly.

“I’ve always thought you were a genius.”

Tetsuhiko grinned and shook it.

“I already knew from the start, though.”

“Hmpf, the nerve.”

“What are you boys getting all excited abouttttt?!”

Blowing up our moment of camaraderie in a loud voice – was Kuroha.

“Do the two of you know what you’re saying?! Us, wearing swimsuits?!”

“What about it, Shida-chan?”

“I won’t! It’s too embarrassing! Form a line and get on your knees, both of you!”

Yeah, she was in full lecture mode now……

…… Well, of course she was. It was a natural reaction.

Though pressed by Kuroha, Tetsuhiko asserted himself without a hint of discomfiture.

“But you really aren’t in a state where you would have to feel embarrassed about showing off, are you, Shida-chan?”

“Provoking while praising at a time like this – your trashiness really is most handy in these sorts of situations.”

My eyes unconsciously turned to Kuroha’s significant bulge of a chest, which she hurriedly concealed with both of her arms.

Then while red-faced – she raged.

“That isn’t the issue hereeee! It’s absurd for girls to have to expose their flesh to the public eye!”

“Don’t all gravure idols do that?”

“We aren’t gravure idols, are we?! Momo-san might be different, but I’m an ordinary high schooler! I already feel reluctant about having videos of me being made public, so swimsuits are completely out of the question!”

Oof, Kuroha clearly had a valid argument here.

But – this was a battle we definitely couldn’t afford to lose.

I mustn’t back down……! I had to convince her…… at all costs……!

With that in mind, I opened my mouth.

“Kuro…… please understand. Swimsuits are a man’s passion.”

“Huh? ‘Please understand’?”

I knew I had screwed up as soon as I had finished talking.

At present that kind of phrasing was really way too dangerous.

“Say, Haru…… you just asked me to ‘please understand’, did you……? You’re going to use that phrase after I did so many times, only for you to tell me that you ‘wouldn’t know unless I told you’?!”

“Err, no, that wasn’t my intention, see……”

Shit. Although there had been a lull after a day’s passing – I had well and truly set everything ablaze once again.

“That wasn’t your intention?! Then what was your intention?! To giggle happily like a weirdo or something while looking at us in our swimsuits, I’m sure! You’re a creep, Haru!”

“No, wait, I won’t say I didn’t have any evil intentions, but they weren’t to that extent……”

“Forget about looking, you want to film a video of us and display it to the public? You mean you can’t be satisfied just looking?! Pervert! Pervert, pervert, pervert!”

“Wa…… huh? Me, a pervert?!”

I’ll admit that I’m horny. I’ll also admit that I want to see girls in swimsuits.

These are, however, emotions experienced to a greater or lesser degree by any healthy high school boy.

But being called a “pervert”…… now that was a baseless accusation I had no choice but to refute!

“Now why should I have to take being called a pervert by you?!”

“Because you’re a pervert, aren’t you?!”

“Hmpf, I wonder if all that hiding’s really worth it.”

I snorted exaggeratedly.

To that Kuroha’s reaction was naturally to snap.

“Huh?! What’s that supposed to mean?! What did you just say?!”

“Oh, no, I didn’t say anything, really∼.”

“What’s with that way of speaking?! Now listen here, Haru! You’re going to look Big Sister in the eye and say that again!”

Our cacophonous conflict was looked upon with cold glances from the other members.

“Honestly, I’m a little against this too. I think swimsuits are really…… but……”

As Maria so mumbled, Shirokusa replied.

“Have you ever sung or danced before, Momosaka-san?”

“At the end of the day, I was an actress, so I’ve done something similar once as part of the job. I’ve had foundational lessons in singing and dancing though, so I’m confident that I can perform pretty well if I have to. Do you have any experience doing those, Shirokusa-san?”

“How could I possibly?”

“So you object then?”

“I do.”

“In that case it seems like we can vote this down with three ‘No’ votes without having to use a veto.”

“…… Not quite.”

Shirokusa’s eyes sparkled.

“I’m sorry, but I don’t trust you or Shida-san all that much, Momosaka-san. You could be saying all these things with your mouths now, only for you to turn around and approve the proposal at the very end – in which case since Suu-chan and Kai-kun are likely to approve too, there’s a possibility the proposal could pass. Therefore–”

Looking askance at the battle between Kuroha and I, Shirokusa beckoned toward Tetsuhiko.

“I want an amendment to the proposal. Remove the portion about the swimsuits. Or else, I’ll use my veto.”

“Ugh.”

Tetsuhiko made a show of furrowing his brow.

“It’s your fault for bringing in a proposal someone would probably veto from the start. You want us to at least have a vote on this, don’t you? Then surely you can accept this much. I don’t wish to waste my veto either, you know?”

“…… Tsk, ah well.”

Tetsuhiko sighed and erased the portion of the whiteboard with “With swimsuits thrown in” written on it.

“All the same, I guess it would be a bad omen for a veto to be used right off the bat. As such, I’ve gone with Kachi’s suggestion and fixed a portion of the proposal. Now we won’t have to pull out the vetoes, will we?”

“But this doesn’t change the fact that we’ll become exhibits in a promotional video, does it……?!”

Tetsuhiko gestured grandiosely in order to pacify Kuroha.

“Now, now, calm down, Shida-chan. With this kind of reception, won’t the proposal be voted down anyway? Won’t you just be satisfied with that? Or what, instead of voting, you wanna continue fighting with Sueharu?”

“Tsk…… fine. Let’s vote then.”

And with that voting commenced.

Tetsuhiko distributed paper, on which we each drew a circle or a cross. Voting was anonymous, so that was all that we wrote.

The papers were folded and went into a box prepared earlier. The five folded pieces of paper were then unfolded by Tetsuhiko, who pasted them onto the whiteboard in turn.

“Next is a cross, which makes two crosses and circles apiece.”

After counting four votes, it was now two against two.

Tetsuhiko and I were clearly in favour of the proposal, but, well, it would probably be voted down this time around with three votes against it.

As that thought crossed my mind Tetsuhiko unfolded the last remaining vote.

“Last is a…… circle. As such, this round’s proposal is approved.”

In that instant a peculiar hush consumed the premises.

“…… Eh?”

“…… Huh?”

“…… Really?”

“…… You’re joking, right?”

It was a shocking turn of events to all – but indeed there were three affirmative votes.

“Who was it?!”

Kuroha stood up and glared at Shirokusa and Maria.

Anonymous voting. Surely it could be said that its fearsomeness had been plainly illustrated.

Among the three girls someone had voted with a circle. It was unclear, though, who that person had been.

“That’s my line, Shida-san. Are you sure you’re not now raising a fuss to try to play off the fact that you secretly agreed?”

“Huh?! What’s that supposed to mean?!”

“After all, how else am I supposed to think?”

“Now why would I have to do that?!”

It was true that Kuroha had no motive.

Shirokusa, however, refused to back down. Combing her beautiful black hair with her fingers, she replied with the cold look so highly appraised by a portion of her rabid fanbase.

“I mean, after all, weren’t you just fighting with Suu-chan? Doesn’t it seem possible that after calming down a little, you wanted to find a way to patch things up, and so you tried buttering up the boys?”

“I see…… Personally I do find Shirokusa-san’s words quite persuasive……”

To be also thus eyed suspiciously by Maria had probably been beyond Kuroha’s expectations.

Her behaviour turned fishy.

“Wa- wait, what?! I’m telling you, that’s……! No…… it wasn’t……!”

“Alright, alright, stop!”

Tetsuhiko cut in.

“Sorry, but we decided this by vote, so there’ll be no further investigation, alright? Honestly, I personally could care less about which one of you girls voted yes. In the first place, if we identified who voted then there’d be no merit in voting anonymously, would there?”

“Ooh……”

Kuroha grinded her molars.

“Right then. About Okinawa…… we’ll be heading there this Saturday and staying for a total of three days and two nights.”

“That’s fast!”

I really couldn’t help but quip.

Today was Wednesday, after all. To go in three days was crazy.

“It’s already October, Sueharu. Since we’re going to Okinawa after all, don’t you wanna swim? Only it’s Okinawa, you might say, but even then we can only swim in the sea there for another one to two weeks. You don’t think we should hurry?”

“Well, I guess so.”

“And since we’re going there, doesn’t it feel unsatisfying just staying for a night and two days?”

“That I agree with.”

“As such, it’s best we do it on the three consecutive rest days we have this weekend thanks to Health and Sports Day.² Well, we’re not working this time, after all, and the plan itself is for our cute girls to show off their singing and dancing as just a kind of fanservice, so it’s fine if we don’t spend so much time improving the quality.”

“That may be true, but……”

Hearing about making a song and dance into a video to be publicly released roused me unconsciously into thinking that they had to be executed perfectly.

Well, this time I had no part to play, though.

“Wait, Tetsuhiko-kun, wait! Those days are really bad for me!”

“What is it, Shida-chan? You’ve already got plans?”

“My dad’ll be overseas for a conference over the long weekend, and my mom’s planning to follow him too, so…… my sisters’ll be alone at home if I’m not around.”

“Sure they’re all girls, but they’ll be fine if there’s three of them, right?”

“No, it isn’t. They’re all in middle school.”

Tetsuhiko briefly assumed a thinking posture.

Without doing much of that, however, he quickly arrived at an answer.

“In that case, Shida-chan, you should bring your sisters along too.”

“Eh?!”

“Honestly, we could use some help. Sueharu and I – Rena too’ll probably be going around behind the scenes, but when it comes to filming or sound effects, or who’s going to be in charge of cooking, basically we’re short on manpower. We’ll treat them as semi-members for the time being, and pay for them to travel et cetera too.”

“Oi, are you sure about this, Tetsuhiko?”

“Hiring staff locally’s also an option, but honestly I want to find out how much ability the Ultramarine Alliance has at its base, and work towards improving that. That’s why I intend for us as much as possible to do this on our own.”

“Well that’s true……”

We had been actors in the commercial and music video, but their filming and editing had been entrusted to professionals. We didn’t know the level of product we were currently capable of making on our own – and whether it could be deemed to meet the required standard for the Ultramarine Alliance to continue operating into the future.

I see, apparently Tetsuhiko hadn’t proposed this completely jokingly.

In that case, however, there were probably too few of us as Tetsuhiko had said. Or otherwise if we haphazardly assembled more members it could only lead to a gathering of players.

Kuroha’s sisters were not a bad compromise. I knew Midori and company well, after all, and things could surely be done a lot more smoothly with them than with a bunch of randomly sourced members trying to throw their weight around.

Kuroha spoke.

“Erm, my second sister Midori’s taking her entrance exams and she’s got a mock paper on Saturday. My third sister Aoi should have her club activities too. Well, I think Akane’s free and it would be fine even if Aoi skipped club, but…… Midori can’t.”

I see, Midori did say before that her mock exams were close.

“Then it can’t be helped. Shida-san, you and that sister of yours’ll join us on Sunday. We’ll film on Monday, so on Saturday please practice on your own.”

“Eh……”

Kuroha was aghast.

“Wa- wait, Tetsuhiko-kun. You’re not going to postpone it……?”

“If we do there aren’t any long weekends for a while, are there? Besides, who knows if the sun’ll still be shining in November?”

“Th- That’s true, but…… in that case, can’t we go somewhere a little closer then? We don’t really have to force ourselves to go all the way to Okinawa……”

“You don’t get it, Shida-chan. I’ve planned this now, at this time, for the sake of our ‘summer memories’.”

Tetsuhiko cut in like a stream.

“It’s already autumn in Tokyo, but because we formed so late, we never got to share any summer memories together. The summer of our second year of high school – the last summer we’ll have without having to take exams. This proposal is our last chance to take that back. Don’t you have things you still want to do, Shida-chan?”

“That’s……”

For an instant I felt like Kuroha had looked at me, but perhaps it had been my imagination.

“I do, but……”

“So it’s decided then.”

“Ooh……”

“Tetsuhiko-san.”

This time it was Maria who raised her hand.

“I do also have some things left over at work I have to take care of this Saturday and Sunday, though……”

I see, Maria had quit the agency fairly abruptly. She had probably been putting her affairs in order for a while now since she had been prepared to quit if the opportunity presented itself, but even so she surely had some things left to deal with all the same.

“So you’ll come on the last day then?”

“…………”

Maria surveyed the expressions of all of us present, before announcing: “…… I’ll do something about it, so I’ll be participating from the first day.”

“Oi, Momo. Are you really going to be alright? You’re not pushing yourself too hard?”

“Through willpower, I’ll find a way to do something.”

“You’ll find a way to do it through willpower, huh…… Wow……”

Just how much power did Maria possess? She was a terrifying being.

“I swear…… I would’ve liked a little more leeway, but I suppose it can’t be helped……”

It seemed that Shirokusa’s plans were unaffected.

Mine too, by the way. From what I could sense, Tetsuhiko and Rena were probably fine too.

“Oh, Kai-kun. If you’re saying you want more help, what about Meiko?”

“…… Huh?”

It was for the briefest of moments, but Tetsuhiko’s brow had furrowed.

“Like I said, my friend Mine Meiko. She’s a good girl, and very domestic, you know. If it’s help you want, there’s no talented person more suited to the task. …… That’s right. I think that girl could be an official member too. Or a semi-member, if that’s not possible. Shall we not have a vote?”

Tetsuhiko covered his eyes and sighed.

“Just saying, Kachi, but have you confirmed her intentions yet?”

“Eh?”

“We can’t let someone who doesn’t want to be here in, you know. Go find out what she wants, and if Mine says she wants to join then we’ll have a vote.”

“She isn’t in a club, so if I ask her I think she’ll say she wants to join, though……”

“At any rate, just call or text her and try to find out. After that we’ll talk.”

“…… Alright.”

Shirokusa made a call on the spot.

Mine picked up immediately, but as I watched Shirokusa’s expression clouded.

“…… Eh? You won’t……? Why……? …… Oh, I see…… mm…… alright…… too bad…… …… No, it’s fine…… see you tomorrow, then……”

I could surmise the outcome just from the parts of conversation which filtered out.

Locking her smartphone, Shirokusa announced vexedly: “It was no good. She said she had other plans.”

“See? We may be operating on a system of recommendation, but ignoring their wishes is still a big no-no.”

Kuroha swiftly raised her hand.

“In that case, what about my sisters?”

“For this time alone it’s a matter of you not being able to leave your sisters at home, right, Shida-chan? Then, well, we’ll only be treating them as semi-members, not official ones. Though of course they won’t join the trip if they say they don’t want to.”

“Got it.”

I stretched my back out unreservedly.

“But damn, Okinawa, huh……?! I never thought I’d get to go to the ocean! I’d given up on that completely!”

In the first place I had no recollection of having a proper family vacation since my mother passed away. If I had taken a trip with my father it was just about to a relative’s house.

Until about middle school I went on group vacations with the Shida family, though Kuroha and I had stopped going last year when we got too busy with studying after entering a college-preparatory high school.

Furthermore, my relationship with Kuroha had turned awkward this summer. Thus when it came to my memories of summer vacation, there was just about the brief trip I went on with Tetsuhiko, followed by summer courses and ending with dull daily life.

Damn, with that in mind I started to get excited.

A cloudless sky! Sun-baked white sand beaches! Emerald-green seas!

Not only that – I’d even get to see Kuroha, Shirokusa and Maria – cute girls in their swimsuits……! The extremely rare sight of Shirokusa in her swimsuit especially, which hadn’t once been published even in gravure……!

“Hehe, hehehe……”

There was no option here but to bring all the SLRs Dad owned……

“Wait, Haru.”

Called by Kuroha, I turned around.

“What is it, Kuro?”

We had been fighting just a while ago, but I didn’t particularly intend to reject having a normal conversation with her.

Only my voice came out a little raised, which I regretted as soon as I had finished talking.

“Aren’t midterms next week? Isn’t that bad?”

“Ah……”

Until she mentioned it I had completely forgotten.

“Your previous test was terrible, wasn’t it? Aren’t you going to be in trouble if you don’t turn it around in the next one?”

“Oh, yeah, about that……”

I had gotten a horrible score on the proficiency test the week before.

Speaking of last week, that was when we had been swamped with filming for the commercial contest, so to a certain extent my result couldn’t have been helped. Tetsuhiko, Kuroha and Shirokusa’s grades had always been in the top 50, however, so while they all had apparently experienced more or less of a drop, the overall effect on them had been minimal.

For me it was different. Ranking in the 300s out of four hundred students to begin with, this time I had fallen an additional fifty places.

It was bad. Pretty bad, to be honest.

I wasn’t particularly good at studying, and I lacked both concentration and motivation. Despite that I would study for about an hour or two a day upon feeling the danger I was in, but in a top school that wasn’t enough for me to attain the average. It was only with Kuroha’s extra-tough training that I had been accepted into Hozumino High School in the first place.

My grades fell immediately if I slacked off just a bit. I truly detested how dumb I was.

“Are you sure you can afford to play around?! I’ll tell Uncle, you know?!”

“Wa- Kuro! You can’t seriously be telling Dad!”

“He’ll find out anyway, won’t he?! There’s no way Mom won’t tell Uncle about the trip, is there?!”

“W- Well, that’s true, but……”

Her words were so accurate that I couldn’t counter them.

“–Alright, too bad! For all the kids with bad grades, this trip will be a study camp guided by Big Sister! You don’t mind, do you, Tetsuhiko-kun?”

Kuroha glared sharply, at which even Tetsuhiko had to make a sullen face.

“I mean, if you do that then we won’t have the people to set up and……”

“But if Haru has to take supplementary lessons he’ll have no time for club activities either.”

“Ahh, that’s true…… fine. Alright. If you’ll work hard for the video, Shida-chan…… then I’ll accept your condition.”

“…… Alright. That’s fine with me.”

“Well, I’m sure you get it, Shida-chan,” Tetsuhiko prefaced, before reminding her: “But as much as possible I’d like not to shave off what time you three have to practice together, so make sure your singing and dancing’s more than settled by the time you get to Okinawa. I can’t have you being the worst prepared and still playing teacher, alright?”

“…… Fine, I’ll accept that. I’ll make sure that I can do them properly by the time I join you all on Sunday.”

“Okay. It’s settled then.”

“Speaking of which, by ‘kids with bad grades’, you mean just me, right? In other words it’ll just be me at the study camp?”

“Relax, Haru. I’ll be making Midori join too, regardless of how she does in the mock exam.”

“I suppose she is taking her entrance exams, after all……”

“That leaves just one strange kid, though……”

At the end of Kuroha’s gaze – was Maria.

“Momo-san, did you take a transfer exam or anything when you entered this school?”

“Nope. I forced my way in with money and power, but what of it?”

“Momo, could you please not say ‘money and power’ so blatantly while making that kind of face?! You’re seriously making me feel just how filthy this world is!”

It was terrifying how mismatched this cute little sister-type character was with the words which came out of her mouth!

“By the way, Momo, how were your grades in your previous school?”

“I had the bare minimum for attendance and the bare minimum for grades, so that’s not something I can really mention to people.”

“Well I guess so!”

Maria was popular, after all. She was an actress capable of refusing offers once she had decided she was going to school. She probably hadn’t been so much as free to study.

“I’m sure you’re pretty smart, though. You just really didn’t have the time to study, maybe.”

“I’m confident that I’ll catch up, but where I have to’s kind of skewed.”

“For example?” I tried asking out of curiosity.

“Like how I got a Meiji-era role and studied the period for it, for instance. Then I’ve also thoroughly read The Tale of Genji.³ If we’re talking about subjects, my Japanese and Social Studies really aren’t that bad.”

“What about math and the sciences then?”

Maria swiftly averted her gaze, then tilted her head to the side and grinned.

“Like I said, you can’t fool me even with that smile!”

“What about you, Big Brother Sueharu?”

“I’m actually better at Science and Math, in fact. Above average too.”

“Other than that?”

I attempted an adorable smile in imitation of Maria’s.

As I did I received a gut punch from Tetsuhiko standing off to the side.

“Ow, Tetsuhiko! What was that for?!”

“Nothing, I was just kind of pissed off.”

“About what?!”

“If a girl smiles, it’s?”

“Cute.”

“If a guy smiles?”

“It’s gross.”

“There you go.”

Damn, I was sold.

Maria raised her hand wordlessly, at which Tetsuhiko prompted her to speak.

“You mentioned having connections in Okinawa, Tetsuhiko-san, but what about our scheduled accommodations? I do have some connections myself.”

“Oh, we’re fine if that’s what you’re talking about. You see, Kachi’s dad has apparently got a villa and private beach in Okinawa. It’s been decided that we’re going to be borrowing those for free.”

“………… Eh?”

Kuroha’s eyes became circles and she was like a broken tin doll as she turned to look at Shirokusa.

“Man, I’m really grateful, you know? Isn’t it crazy that we’re just high schoolers but we get to go to a private beach?”

“You’re kidding, Tetsuhiko! Wow! Souichirou-san’s always so generous!”

“I went this year and it’s a great place. I really hope you see it, Suu-chan.”

Kuroha spoke in a chilly tone just as we were getting excited.

“Kachi-san…… that’s……”

Shirokusa replied smiling smugly.

“What’s the matter? I’m just happy that it looks like I’ll get to show Suu-chan one of my favourite places.”

“……?! Could it be that you even checked on my family’s schedules……?!”

Shirokusa shrugged her shoulders and deliberately shook her head from side to side.

“I swear, I wish you’d stop with these false accusations. Why would I have to check on your family’s schedules?”

“Which means that you also added the requirement for swimsuits to deliberately remove it, all so you could force the proposal through……! Hehe, that’s right…… that’s exactly it……! So you’ve joined forces with Tetsuhiko-kun, have you……?!”

“Would you mind stopping all this unjust suspicion? Me, teaming up with Tetsuhiko-kun? Our relationship is as bad as you can see. How could that ever be possible?”

“…… I see. Well done. That was awfully deft of you, Shirokusa-san,” Maria whispered, but her voice was too soft for me to hear clearly.

“G…… Grrrrr!”

Kuroha slumped over a table in total defeat.

…… Hmmm, I tended more to agree with Kuroha’s viewpoints in developments like these, but this time I felt like she had jumped the gun.

“Cool your head, Kuro. I’m telling you, you really view Shiro too unkindly.”

Kuroha gave off a feeling of annoyance as she turned around, so I tried to speak as calmly as possible.

“Tetsuhiko’s been in touch with Souichirou-san for the Ultramarine Alliance’s accounts and such, so it wouldn’t have been particularly strange for him to have asked about the private beach in that time, would it? And in the first place, is it even possible to investigate your family’s schedules? It wouldn’t be if you didn’t at least hire a detective, right? Would Shiro really go to those lengths? And don’t you think Tetsuhiko and Shiro teaming up’s just a little unrealistic too? They’d hate it and stop even if they tried to, wouldn’t they?”

“Wa-…… Haru…… huh?!”

Kuroha contorted her face and glared at me, as if to say she was incredibly, incredibly upset.

“What are you saying?! You don’t trust me?!”

“…… It’s not about whether I trust you, it’s about whose story seems more believable, isn’t it?”

“And?! What then?! You’re going to believe that losing dog instead?!”

“…… For the time being stop calling Shiro a losing dog, Kuro.”

“Wa-…… you’re going to say that only to me?!”

I knew that they were both equally guilty of calling each other horrible things, but here Kuroha had just clearly called Shirokusa a losing dog. Of course I had reproached her.

“What, was it bad of me to?”

“Of course it is! That’s it, isn’t it?! You’re saying this because you’re mad at me, aren’t you?!”

Dragged back to that again, my rage exceeded its boiling point in an instant.

“So what if I am, huh?! Just saying, but this time it was you who came in looking for a fight, Kuro!”

“Me?! No! It was you who did, Haru, wasn’t it?!”

“How did that happen?! There’s no way I’d want to fight with you, Kuro!”

“In that case why won’t you believe what I’m saying?!”

“Like I said, logically–”

“This isn’t about what is or isn’t logical, it’s about whether you can or can’t trust me, isn’t it?!”

Ah, Kuroha was once again thinking the same things I was.

We didn’t trust each other, did we? I thought, and if I did there was no way the sharp Kuroha didn’t either.

“In that case, what then?! Do you trust me, Kuro?!”

“Ooh……”

Kuroha clammed up unconsciously.

Yes. She was aware of it herself.

That we were each demanding the other’s trust, but not trusting each other in the first place.

It was no good. We were both completely lost – in a maze of mutual distrust.

“…………”

“…………”

“………… Hmpf!”

We ended our staring contest and turned away at the same time.

The other members present looked at each other with shrugged shoulders.

Without anyone trying to touch us or arbitrate, the meeting ended.

All that remained was the reality of us going on a trip to shoot a promotional video, and lingering discomfort in my chest.

*

¹Japanese: kuromaku, another pun on Kuroha’s name.

²Also known simply as Sports Day, a Japanese national holiday held annually on the second Monday in October. Commemorates the opening of the 1964 Tokyo Summer Olympics and exists to promote sports and an active lifestyle.

³11th century classic centred around the life of Hikaru Genji, the son of an emperor demoted to a commoner who, among other things, kidnaps and raises one of his wives.