An Extra Watches from the Background
Kazuki Rena. Although she was still in her first year at Oumei High, she’d already firmly established herself as a running prodigy and the track team’s ace. Her slender and finely-toned body gave her a certain boyish charm, and she’d become a well-known figure at local track-and-field events thanks to her exceptional talent. Last but not least, her sporty persona was complemented by her thoroughly charming looks, earning her popularity from boys and girls abound.
I’m not exactly well-informed when it comes to track-and-field, but even I could tell how impressive her record was. Supposedly she excelled in short-distance running and broke a ton of records back when she was in middle school. I don’t know if you can even cheat in track, but it sure seemed like she had.
That isn’t to say that she was running off pure talent alone—her natural gifts were supplemented by an almost unimaginable amount of hard work and perseverance. Even on that dreary, rainy day, I saw Kazuki diligently running circles around the track from the counseling room’s window.
From.
The.
Counseling.
Room’s.
Window.
Yup! Again! I’m so, so sorry. I’d like to say it was a “three strikes and I’m out” situation, but in this case it was more like, “Oh crap, it’s my third strike and I’m literally in jail.” I tried to apologize! It didn’t work!
Of course, with an introduction like that, you probably assumed that I was about to introduce a new heroine. Betcha got your expectations up, right? Society may be cruel and those expectations might get betrayed with crushing regularity, but please, never let it take that optimism away from you.
“You think you’ve got aaaall the time in the world to just stare out the window and daydream, huh?”
“Eeek!”
“Even after I went to the trouble of printing out aaaall these worksheets for you too!” There was a devil in the room with me. A genuine incarnation of El Diablo himself. Forget society—there was an entire world’s worth of cruelty packed into the counseling room alone!
“So, umm, Sensei? People go to school to, like, learn, right? Not to get fed worksheets assembly-line style...?”
“Remind me—who was it that decided learning could take a backseat to chatting with an underclassman girl and skipped out on his classes?”
“Me! It was me! I’m so, so sorry!”
Daimon-sensei wouldn’t hear any of my excuses and had judged me guilty of the crime of cutting class, so I was once again coerced into resuming my (unpaid) worksheet-disposal side job. I really don’t know how that woman’s smile can exude so much pressure. A veritable mountain of worksheets sat in front of me, and there was no indication my teacher would be leaving any time soon. She’d looked like an angel in comparison to the student council president, but in isolation she was a devil indeed.
“By the way, you’ve got a pretty impressive variety of these things. Aren’t you supposed to be a Japanese teacher?” The layer of worksheet hell I’d been damned to that day had all sorts of subjects worked into it, and it was hard for me to believe she could’ve put them all together on her own. I felt an intense, invisible force behind them I couldn’t quite identify.
“Oh, you know... The other teachers quite readily gave me a hand. It’s pretty rare for kids to cut class at this school, so everyone went really all-out with it.”
“Why would that be the thing you people spend your energy on?! And that means you were blatantly expecting me to end up in here again, weren’t you?!”
“Less talking, more writing, punk!” Daimon-sensei, who at that point had assumed her mantle as the High Priestess of Worksheetdom, glared daggers at me.
“But, Sensei, isn’t wasting your time watching over me all day gonna mess with your own work? You’ll fall behind, right...?” I pleaded.
“Nope. Brought it with me.” She pulled out a laptop, which she set up across from me on the table. It was starting to sink in that she really did intend to stay there and monitor me all day long. “You’ll slack off in a second if I take my eyes off you. The vice principal’s been on my case about doing too much overtime too, and I’m sure as hell not giving him another chance to chew me out.”
“Overtime,” my ass! You went home early last time you shut me up in here! She wasn’t finished, though. “You’re pretty bright when you actually bother to try, Kunugi, so hurry up and get it over with. Think about it as a chance to suck up to the teachers whose classes you cut—not so bad that way, right?”
“A-And just maybe, if I suck up enough, could I work my way out of having to take remedial lessons over the summer...?”
“S’possible.”
“I’ll try my hardest, Sensei!”
“For the other teachers, I mean. You’re not getting out of mine no matter what you do.” From glorious hope to the depths of despair in five seconds flat! Why not yours?! You’re my homeroom teacher! Aren’t you supposed to be the authority figure who throws me a bone every once in a while?! “You wouldn’t believe how dull it gets at school over the summer with all the students out. Ha ha ha, look at me, doting on my kids so much I want them around, even during the summer! Am I a model teacher, or what?”
“You’d really quash your student’s summer vacation for a petty, personal reason like that, Sensei?!”
“What’re you being so dramatic about? It’ll only be a week’s worth of lessons or so.”
“A week’s worth of lessons for Japanese alone?!” That’s a quarter of my precious time off!
“I’ll get you nice and ready for the next tests, so don’t you worry your pretty little head.” I never asked for this!
“Well, I guess if it means being all alone with a beauty like you, Sensei, it might not be so bad. Oh, whoopsie-daisy~! Did I say that out loud? Tee hee, what a blunder!”
“You wanna die?”
“Kidding. If I don’t make at least one smarmy joke over the course of a conversation, I start feeling like I’m suffocating. Actually, y’know what, screw it! Lemme be straight with you: this sort of environment’s not fit for a growing boy! In fact, I’d go so far as to say that it’s poisonous! If I’m locked up in a room with my cool, unflappable Sensei, of course I’m gonna want to crack a joke or two and make her get all cute and flustered! Is there a problem with that?!”
“Too many to count. Don’t lust after your teachers, you horny ape.”
Oh god, what have I done?! I knew that running my mouth without thinking about what I was saying could only land me in hot water, but I went and did it anyway! There was nothing good about getting stuck with my teacher for company. Nothing at all! This is why she can’t find someone to marry!
That said, I was still making progress. I was gradually learning to read the stirrings of her heart, so I could say that with confidence. If I were a rom-com protagonist like Kaito, at this point I’d probably already be able to whisper a couple sweet nothings to her and convince her to give me some private, late-night (okay, technically early evening) lessons. Unfortunately, I wasn’t a protagonist—I was playing the role of a best friend sidekick in heat, and my options were limited.
“Y’know what, though, Sensei? Knowing that I’m all locked up in this tiny little room with you really does make it hard to calm down! It’s, like, my heart’s going all pitter-patter and I’m, like, just filled to the brim with pubescent impulses! My heart’s a chocolate fountain, and my hormones are the chocolate!”
If I can make her think that I’m an unstoppable lust-monster and creep her out as hard as possible, then not only will I be able to escape from this current situation, I might even be able to get out of summer school! Bring! It! Ooooon! Then grant me the sweet mercy of death because oh god, why the hell am I doing this?
I put my life on the line in an all-or-nothing blitzkrieg attack, and Daimon-sensei said...nothing. Not a word. Actually, she’s, umm...gone totally expressionless...?
“Phew, that was a close one,” she began, finally breaking the silence. “If I weren’t a teacher and you weren’t my student, I would’ve given in and literally beaten you to death just now.”
“Eeek!”
“None of your stupid plans are gonna work on me, so quit stalling and get working.” Wait, how’d she know?!
“Ha ha, plans? What plans? I don’t have any plans!”
“Besides,” she muttered, ignoring me, “making a pass on someone like me will bring you nothing but grief in the long term.” Sensei, no! I can still hear you, you’re not whispering quietly enough! Also, don’t say stuff like that! You’re just hurting yourself!
“I-It’s not like you’re that old, right? I mean, sure, you’re almost thirty, b-but that means you’re still technically in your twenties! You’re practically still a teenager! Still plenty of chances left to find love!”
“Oh yeah? Do you know what it feels like to get a wedding invitation from one of your old friends from high school or college, kid? Do you know how isolating it is to watch the pool of singles in your social circle get smaller and smaller until the married ones outnumber you?! Do you know how goddamn humiliating it is when they say shit like, ‘Oh, you’re still single, Kasumi? I’m jealous—you must feel so free and liberated’?! Do you?!”
“I’m sorry! I’m so, so sorry!” The darkness! It’s so very, very deep, and it’s closing in on me! Noooooo!
She gasped and panted, winded from her outburst. “Get the picture? If you do, then hurry up and do your damn worksheets! My free time’s riding on this!”
“Sir, yes, sir!” I wasn’t about to let her blame me for the fact that she can’t get a date to save her life! People like to joke about how getting married’s the same as getting buried, but those people clearly aren’t considering that there are others out there who get left to waste away by the roadside without even the dignity of a grave to be buried in.
If you ask me, judging by outward appearances alone, Daimon-sensei was easily attractive enough to get attention from any number of suitors. She had a certain aura of coolness that would totally make me yearn for her affection if I were only a decade older or so—heck, maybe even if I wasn’t! Though actually, on second thought, maybe that coolness is the problem? Some dudes have such incredibly fragile egos about that sort of thing. Like, they want a damsel-in-distress type of woman, instead of a strong-and-independent type. What a pain.
Anyway, I blitzed my way through worksheet after worksheet and by the time it was finally over and I’d earned my freedom from the counseling room, the sun had long since set. Is this just my life now? Please, let me escape from this “get scolded → get sent to worksheet jail → rinse and repeat” cycle as soon as possible! This is all Yuuta’s fault to begin with. If I hadn’t fallen for her honeyed words, right now I’d already be...doing nothing of any particular importance, actually. Aaaah, whatever. I’mma go right home and pass out.
“Huh?” As I plodded my way through the shopping district on my way home, I happened to see a familiar silhouette ahead of me. No way I could mistake him; there’s only one guy I know who has that intense of a mild-mannered aura. “Kaito?”
It was him for sure. Ayase Kaito in the flesh, and Kotou was with him. He was carrying a plastic bag, so I assumed they’d just finished shopping and were now heading home. Gotcha! You’ve been spotted, Kaito! Could it be? Are you...on a date?!
I was pleased and thoroughly impressed to discover that Kaito was racking up lovey-dovey events with his heroines, even when I wasn’t around to wingman for him. Pleased, but also just a little bit sad to see my boy leave the nest. And mildly skeptical too—should he really be out playing around with girls when his little sister’s refusing to leave their house?
“Hmm... I was positive he had a sister complex, but maybe he’s actually surprisingly laissez-faire with her?” Are you absolutely sure about leaving her alone like this, Kaito? Jerkwad protagonists are not in style these days!
At the rate things were going, there was a real danger of some supporting character diving in and revealing himself as the true protagonist, making off with both Kaito’s heroines and his popularity in one fell swoop! He’d lose his protagonist status in an instant, and my best friend status would get caught up in the blast as collateral damage!
If it ended with me getting the metaphorical crap beaten out of my social status I wouldn’t particularly care, but a super weird development like that could easily result in me getting way too much time in the spotlight, and there was no way I was gonna let that happen! Getting that much attention would be way too humiliating! For the record, I think that sidekicks who get ahead of themselves and use chances like that to act like some sorta main character are wildly disgraceful. Those degenerates have no pride in their positions whatsoever!
“Hmm, do you think this’ll be enough?” asked Kaito, glancing in his bag.
“Yeah, should be plenty,” replied Kotou.
And so, naturally, as they walked off like a happy little couple, I went ahead and stalked them. What’s that, dear readers? You want to know how that’s “natural” at all? Excellent question! Listen up, it’s lecture time!
To put it plainly: as Kaito’s sidekick and best friend, I am bound by duty to both make sure he doesn’t make any terrible life choices and to convince him to return to the path of righteousness if he ever seems to be straying! The two of them might be putting out major nice-couple vibes right now, but the world’s a dangerous place and you never know what might happen. Anyway, no need to worry—they don’t call me the Demon Stalker of Meiou because I’m bad at it! Sure, a wild Kiryu spoiled my efforts the other day, but there’s no way anyone’s gonna disturb me this time...
Bzzt! Bzzt!
“Hmm?” No sooner had I thought that than my phone vibrated in my pocket. Hah, nice try, world! I’m the sort of guy who keeps his phone perpetually set to vibrate! I’d never let myself fall into that played-out given-away-by-a-ringing-phone trap! I checked my phone, and sure enough, the call was from exactly the girl I was expecting. I hesitated for a moment, unsure whether to pick up or not, but I knew that if I didn’t she’d give me crap for it later. I had to bite the bullet and pick up. No, really, I was forced to, okay?! I had no choice!
“Hello?”
“Good evening...Senpai.”
“Whoa, somebody sounds pretty down in the dumps.” Needless to say, the caller was Ayase Hikari. Her tone was a lot more restrained than usual, though.
“It’s been a sort of tiring day, I guess...”
“No need to call if you’re already tuckered out. I’m actually pretty busy right now, myself!”
“No, calling you’s part of my identity now! If I’m not going to school, I have to at least keep this part of my routine going. It feels like I won’t have a presence in the outside world at all if I don’t...”
She was picking a really weird routine to get all stubborn about—I wished she wouldn’t form her identity around me without at least mentioning it beforehand. Also, would this really help her have a presence outside? It’s not like she was talking with anyone other than me! Having a presence in the eyes of a best friend character like me would only gain her a minor role in a spin-off written from my perspective at best! And considering I’m one of those background extra best friend types, the odds of me getting a spin-off were hilariously low in the first place.
“Not to mention everything that happened yesterday,” she continued.
“Yesterday? Why, what happened yesterday?”
“I knew it...” she sulked. “You don’t remember after all...” These millennials, always getting upset about stuff without explaining why. “I called you yesterday too, didn’t I?”
“Uhhhh, maybe?”
“But you didn’t even say anything! You spent the entire conversation groaning and moaning into the phone like a zombie. It was so stressful, I thought my heart was going to burst to pieces!”
“Ahhh... That’s my bad.” Considering I’d spent pretty much the entirety of the day before in idle slumber, I figured she’d caught me while I was half asleep. I only had a slight, hazy recollection of the conversation happening at all. Ayase brought this upon herself by calling me on the holy day of the Sabbath, though!
All that said, I decided to be a gentleman about it and apologize, even though it was totally all her fault. That would bring the conversation to an end quicker, thus saving me precious energy. I’m a focused man who knows how to stick to his objectives!
“So that’s why you’re tired today?”
“No, it’s not.” Okay, got that one wrong. She sounded weirdly upset about it too. “You see, Tsumugi-chan came over to my house.”
“Already?!” But I thought I was right behind them! I was confused for a moment, but then I figured it out. “Oh, I get it—you mean she was over at your place before, right? Yesterday, maybe?”
“Yeah, that’s right—wait, ‘already’? Did you know that she was coming over to my house again today, Senpai?” Her question carried an implicit undertone of “is this all part of your plan?” Man, am I really that untrustworthy?
“I’m both a pacifist and a sidekick to the bitter end! Don’t think for a second that I have anywhere even close to the ability to set up an event of that scale between the protagonist and his heroines!”
“Every once in a while you say stuff that I can’t follow at all, Senpai.” She let out an exasperated sigh. “But honestly, I would’ve actually felt better about this if you were involved somehow. I don’t suppose you’d be willing to come over too?”
“As if me being there would make things any better.”
“Tsumugi-chan’s been going way out of her way to be considerate of me, and Kaito’s...Kaito, so of course he’s been doing the same and also trying his hardest to cheer me up. It’s ridiculous! It feels like I have two weirdly polite houseguests to entertain! You wouldn’t bother trying to be considerate of me, right, Senpai?”
“That might be a good quality in your mind, but it’s a bad one in pretty much everyone else’s!” And for the record, anyone (including me) would normally try to be considerate when talking to someone who’s been driven to truancy too!
“Well, you’re doing it right now, aren’t you? You’re not being considerate at all!”
“Okay, yeah, but still!” Ayase was a special case—our relationship itself was a special case, to be honest. I was still doing my best (by my standards, anyway) to help her go back to school, so I’d give myself a passing grade overall! Judging by how she was complaining, though, she was half annoyed by her brother and Kotou’s attitudes towards her, half embarrassed, and yet also not completely unhappy with the situation, surprisingly. This is low-key obnoxious.
“But if you didn’t set this up, that must mean...” She paused, taking on a more suspicious tone. “Senpai, were you tailing my brother and Tsumugi?”
“Geh!”
“That noise just told me everything I need to know. I’m right, aren’t I?” How the hell did she know?! Is this girl psychic?! “In that case, you need to come over after all!”
“Nope, not happening.”
“Think of it as doing me a favor!”
“I told you, didn’t I? I’m busy.”
“Busy with nothing, I bet. You were totally about to go home and sleep.”
“Rude, much?” I would’ve showered before going to bed! I’m not an animal, and I take great care to not be obnoxiously smelly! “You know Kaito and Kotou are worried about you, right? No brother could ever keep his cool when his little sister stops going to school!” He certainly seemed worried earlier that morning, after all. I wanted to punch myself for doubting him for even a second! “It’s the same with the problems in your class too. Running away from all this stuff isn’t gonna solve anything.”
“You know why I don’t want to go back to school, huh? I should’ve known you’d figure it out, Senpai...” I wanted to question why she thought she “should’ve known” that, but moving the conversation forward was more important.
“Yoshiki spilled the beans. So much for your gag order, eh?”
“I never put one out in the first place! I haven’t even spoken with her.”
“Your whole situation’s getting to her, y’know? I’m pretty good at telling when people are lying, for the record, and I’m not getting that sense from her at all. She’s truly worried.”
“Is she...?”
“Yeah, it’s just that risking getting ostracized’s pretty rough. Makes it hard for her. You’ve still got plenty of people who can support you at school, though, right? Like Yoshiki, Kaito, and Kotou—plus everyone else on the student council, I’m sure.”
“Plus you! Right, Senpai?”
“Of course.” Not that I expected I’d actually be of help in any capacity. Still, though, if it made her feel better, I’d try to help as much as she wanted. “This is just between you and me, but I think I might have a plan to deal with the other problem too. Came to me after I spent all of yesterday sleeping like a log.”
“Wait...really?”
“Really.” The other problem, of course, being the pervy creeper who caused Ayase and me to meet in the first place. Truthfully, it was an idea I’d had on some level since the very beginning. I just wasn’t sure if it was really possible, not to mention whether or not I had the guts to go through with it. Considering her current circumstances and the situation at school, though, I didn’t really have the leeway to drag it out any longer. “If you’d just go to school already, you might be surprised how easily that problem could get solved. Our school’s focused on college prep, and we don’t have many troublemakers. I doubt it’ll last for all that long.”
“I’ll...think about it.”
“Yeah, you do that. Ah, whoops—out of time!” At that very moment, I was witnessing Kaito and Kotou step through the Ayase household’s front door.
“Wait, what? Senpai?”
“Good luck; have fun! Later!”
“Senpai?! No, wait just a—”
I hung up. You wouldn’t know it just by watching them, but I was well aware that neither Kaito nor Kotou were as dumb as they looked. They’d take good care of Ayase, and I had my own business to deal with in the meantime.
I pulled out my cell phone and tapped out a text. I really didn’t want to be in her debt, but considering the circumstances, I knew that if she couldn’t help, nobody could. I could deal with her constant, snide jabs, but if she wanted something concrete in exchange for her help, I knew I might be in trouble.
I sent the text, then spent a moment watching the lights come on in the Ayase household. Soon enough, our daily phone calls would come to an end. I couldn’t help but feel a bit sad about that, and in turn, that sadness made me feel like a loser. I’d made up my mind, though. Even if it made me feel lonely in the end, I wouldn’t hesitate. I had one goal in mind, and one goal alone:
“I’ll make Kaito and Hikari happy, whatever it takes.”
It sounded so incredibly cheap and conceited when I put my resolve into words that I almost had to laugh at myself. It was an oath I swore without telling anyone, at nobody’s behest, that nobody was expecting of me. And yet, ever since I met Kaito, a small part of me deep down had always secretly hoped that as long as he was happy, I might come to understand what meaning there could be to me living on in this world. That hope was what kept me going—it was what kept me alive.
