There's no way a side character like me could be popular, right?

Chapter 2

“Sigh... I don’t know if that’s something you should be saying to my face, Ike,” Makiri-sensei replies coldly.

“Aren’t you happy that people think you’re younger than you actually are?”

“That sort of thing isn’t such a perk in today’s society. There are many people who associate a baby face with a lack of maturity, and I really dislike that.”

Huh, that makes me think... Maybe that’s the reason she tries so hard to be all harsh and serious at school? That would make a lot of sense.

“Oh, come on—I bet those people are just jealous of you, Teach,” Touka tries to assure her.

Makiri-sensei smiles a bit. “You two are still too young to understand, I suppose. Anyway, don’t mind me. Let’s continue.”

“Okie dokie!” Touka replies cheerily.

We finally arrive at our first checkpoint—a Shinto shrine. There’s a formidable staircase leading up to the temple. Once we finally scale that behemoth, we’re greeted by a sign that holds our first mystery.

“How many steps are there in total?” it reads.

That’s not so much of a riddle, I guess, rather than a simple question. All we have to do is descend the stairs and count them as we go down. Hopefully the other riddles are a little more challenging, because otherwise, this’ll be a complete cakewalk. Plus, I’m not really sure which part of that was meant to foster a team spirit or anything like that.

Once we count the stairs, we continue the trail and head in the direction of the next checkpoint.

☆

After an hour or so, we manage to finish the course without any issues.

Yamamoto is waiting for us with steaming-hot cups of tea. Once he’s ascertained that we’ve finished, he hands them over to us.

After a short wait, the student council team arrives, as well. Yamamoto hands each of them a drink.

Each team presents a slip of paper containing our answers to Yamamoto. He scans each sheet and then declares that both teams got the questions right.

“Okay, now I’ll announce how long each team took to complete the challenge. Team Makiri took exactly one hour, 28 minutes, and 48 seconds. Very impressive!”

“Damn!” everyone exclaims.

I wasn’t expecting us to be done in that amount of time, to be honest.

“But the student council team was even more impressive—they took exactly one hour and 30 minutes! Therefore, they win! Congratulations!” he cheers with a hearty clap.

Damn, Ike is a monster. He didn’t have anything on him, and yet he managed to make it here right on the dot. Wow. He deserves the praise, so I clap as well. I guess the student council really is on another level.

☆

Dusk approaches, and the sun is setting. We move into the building’s main courtyard and listen to Makiri-sensei announce our schedules.

“Okay, everyone, it’s time for us to prepare dinner,” she states. We need to cook our own dinner—curry with rice and a salad—so everyone has a different task to fulfill. “We have all the ingredients we need, as well as the wood for the campfire. The logs still need to be chopped first, though, so be careful whenever you do that. If someone doesn’t know how to light the fire, then please ask Yamamoto.”

“I’ll be watching over you guys, as well. That way, there won’t be any issues,” Yamamoto follows up.

“I hope your curry lives up to my expectations,” Makiri-sensei says with a smile.

With that said and done, we all gather up.

Touka looks a little worried. She crosses her arms and pouts, “I never actually chipped in back when we did this in elementary school, so I’m kinda at a loss here.”

“It will all work out with some effort, hard work, and determination,” Tatsumiya says, trying to reassure her.

“We should divide our tasks evenly. Does anyone have a preference?” Ike asks.

“I suggest splitting into several groups,” Tatsumiya says. “For example, one group can focus on preparing the curry, while another takes care of the other tasks. Tanaka-senpai and Tomoki could be responsible for chopping the wood, Suzuki could wash the rice, and—once the fire has been lit by Tomoki and the curry checked on—Tanaka-senpai and Suzuki could prepare the salad. That means the president, Touka, and I will be the ones responsible for cooking the curry. What does everyone think of this?”

“I’m good with that,” Tanaka-senpai says.

“Same,” Suzuki agrees.

“I don’t know...” Touka mumbles, seeming rather unhappy with the proposition.

“What’s wrong, Touka?”

There’s no way she’s worrying about her ability to cook. I mean, she’s made me some pretty damn good lunch boxes before, so I know she’s good at it. Then what’s bugging her so much? Is she really that reluctant about being around Tatsumiya?

“Never mind,” Touka says after some hesitation. “I’m fine with your idea, yeah.”

“Let’s get going, then.”

“Well, President, Touka—I do hope I’m not a hindrance,” Tatsumiya says, clearly ecstatic about her proposition being accepted.

I feel she’s been the one happiest with the pair-ups and such so far. She’s certainly crafty and knows how to get her way. Hats off to her.

In any case, we get down to business. Under Yamamoto’s supervision, Tanaka-senpai and I start to chop the logs and light the fire.

“Damn, Tomoki-kun, you’re pretty good with fire. Do you do these things often?” Tanaka-senpai marvels.

“Nah, I learned about it from random manga and YouToob tutorials. I’m actually just as surprised as you are that I managed to pull it off this easily.”

Never would’ve guessed that Yurui Camp and Camping with the Boys: The Movie would’ve helped me so much—Tanaka-senpai is even praising me. Thanks, anime!

“Oh, really? Wow,” he replies.

“Of course he’s better than you—you’d die trying to get out of your own house, Tanaka-senpai,” Suzuki jokes as she carries some utensils toward us. She places a hand on his shoulder and looks at me. “My condolences, Tomoki.”

“Hey, cut me some slack. Ah well. Guess we’ll start on the salad over here.”

“Yup. See ya in a bit, Tomoki!”

They both head off to work on the next task. Those two get along really well, huh? I wave at them as they leave and then turn my attention back to the fire. It’s not long before Ike arrives with the curry.

Eventually, Yamamoto and everyone else gather around the fire and help themselves to a generous plate of curry. Time to dig in.

“Whoa!” I shout the moment a spoonful touches my tongue. This curry is so good that I wouldn’t have expected it to be cooked outside in the sticks. Ike just has that magical touch.

“Your cooking is superb, President... You’re perfect...” Tatsumiya whispers dreamily to herself as she ogles Ike.

☆

After we have our fill, we take a shower.

We have a little free time to kill before we have to go to sleep, so pretty much everyone is gathered in our room, playing a board game Tanaka-senpai brought. I, on the other hand, am outside.

It’s pretty silent out here, that’s for sure; especially compared to the hustle and bustle of this afternoon. The only thing I can hear are crickets chirping. I look up at the twinkling night sky and spot three particular stars—Altair, Deneb, and Vega, the Summer Triangle.

As I sit there and stargaze, I start to feel the exhaustion from the day’s events creeping up on me. I’m not physically tired, but this is the first time I’ve ever been out here doing something like this with others. I’m mentally exhausted more than anything. I think back to a camping trip in elementary school. I was left alone to do my own thing, so I’d never experienced what it felt like to collaborate with others until now.

“Boo!” Touka suddenly shouts next to me, pressing a cold can against one of my cheeks. “Did I scare you half to death, Senpai? Have this; hopefully you like orange juice.”

“Yeah, I’m fine with it. Thanks,” I reply as I accept the drink.

She sits down next to me and clinks her can against mine. “Here’s to us, Senpai!”

“Sure,” I say, watching her down her own drink. I quickly follow suit.

“Are you tired, Senpai?”

“A little, yeah. You sure you don’t wanna be with everyone else?”

She smiles. “It’s fine. It’s not like I’m part of their student council group anyways. Plus, I’d be lying if I said that I didn’t want to be alone with you. I’ve been hoping we could spend some more ‘quality time’ together, if you catch my drift.”

“Heh,” I snort. So even Touka gets tired of socializing. Happens to the best of them, I suppose. “You didn’t look very happy while making dinner earlier. I knew you weren’t a fan of being around Tatsumiya, but I didn’t know it was that bad.”

“Oh, you saw me, huh? I mean, I can tell you why I don’t like her that much,” she answers while looking at me.

“If you’re okay with it, sure.”

“I’ve been trying really hard to get some alone time with you today, but every time I try to pair myself up with you, someone has to butt in. She’s done this a couple of times now, so yeah...” she grumbles. Then she gives me an impish smile and asks, “Happy to hear me say that?”

“The only thing I’m taking from this is that you don’t necessarily dislike being around her.”

“Oh my god, Senpai, you’re so tactless! Can’t you just say that you’re, like, super happy and leave it at that?! Okay, fine! I don’t hate the girl, but still...”

We grow silent, peering up at the night sky together.

After a few minutes, Touka breaks the silence. “I’m actually happy that I was able to come here with you, Senpai,” she whispers. “We’ve never done this kind of thing together before, so I’m still pleased with this arrangement. I’m genuinely having a lot of fun.”

I look at her, and she returns my gaze. Our eyes lock.

“What about you, Senpai? Has this been fun for you?” she asks with a smile.

The look in her eyes and her cheeky smile make my heart skip a beat.

“Yeah, I am having fun. And it’s all because you’re here,” I reply.

My answer makes her grin, and her gaze intensifies. “Holy crap, Senpai! I’m super familiar with the whole Casanova act—you’re trying to capture my heart with your sweet little nothings. Have you fallen for me already, perhaps?” she asks in a flirty tone.

“That wasn’t my intention, no. I’m not trying to flirt here,” I answer with a shrug.

“Huh...”

She quickly grasps my hand and places it on her head. I can feel her silky strands of hair.

“What’s wrong?” I ask her.

She gives me another cheeky smile. “We’re in a relationship, remember, Senpai? Now’s the perfect time for head pats while we watch the night sky together!”

Oh, okay. I guess this is her newest idea of getting closer to me. It’s obvious that she’s trying her hardest to get me to fall in love with her, as she’d proposed earlier. Well, that’s fine by me. I’m just happy about the fact that she trusts me enough to do this in the first place.

“Oh, well... I guess I will,” I reply.

Too bad we aren’t really a couple. But her hair feels nice and I’m okay with this, so you won’t hear me complaining.

“Whoa, I wasn’t expecting you to agree so quickly! You okay up there, Senpai?!” Touka shouts, her face turning some weird shade of crimson I’ve never seen before.

“I knew you wouldn’t like me doing this! Why did you even try?!” I yell back, quickly yanking my hand away from her head.

“Hey! Wait, wait! I didn’t mean it like that!” she cries.

She reaches out, catching my hand mid-air. Our faces end up incredibly close to each other.

We look into each other’s eyes for a few seconds, then quickly avert our gaze.

There’s a deafening silence. I’m pretty damn embarrassed by what just happened, and I bet Touka feels the exact same way.

We end up spending some more time together gazing up at the stars. It’s silent, though I wouldn’t consider it awkward at all. I figured Touka would continue to tease me some more, but I guess she"s had her fill for the night.

Remember when I said that I was mentally exhausted? Well, forget about that—I feel like I’m on cloud nine right now. I wonder why?