The Helper

“Yamamoto-kun, thanks for coming today!”

With the day’s lectures done by fifth period, I was practically kidnapped by a group of party-loving guys who invited me to a group date. One of them slung his arm around my shoulder as we walked down the street.

Honestly, I never would’ve imagined a day would come when I’d get roped into a group date.

Well, they did hit me with a pretty steep 4,000-yen fee, so I was in the mood to eat my fill today to make it worth my while.

That aside, there was one thing about this group date that was nagging at me.

“You guys sure it’s fine to drag me along as your helper for this? Weren’t there, like, flashier guys you could’ve picked?”

“Haha! What’s that, Yamamoto-kun? You getting cold feet? Don’t worry, we’ll introduce you properly!”

“Huh? Uh, okay?”

The conversation wasn’t exactly clicking, and I tilted my head in confusion.

Where’s the answer to my question? This kind of dodge is the most annoying thing ever. What are they, politicians?

“…So, are the girls we’re meeting today from our school?”

“Yup, they’re from the literature department.”

“Oh, cool.”

“Same year as us, too. And get this—there’s a super cute girl among them! But don’t act all weird, okay? If you mess this up, we might not get to do another one!”

“Uh, got it.”

“Oh, we’re almost there. Just a heads-up, since we’re all underage, no alcohol, alright?”

Huh, a wholesome group date, I thought—until we arrived at a chain izakaya.

Well, I guess it’s fine as long as we don’t order any drinks.

I nodded to myself, satisfied with that logic.

The guys dragged me along, and we stepped into the izakaya.

We were shown to a private tatami room, set up for eight people—four seats on each side, facing each other.

The guys took one side of the table, sitting in a row.

“We can switch seats later if you want.”

“Oh, alright.”

The guy who invited me—let’s call him Brown-Hair—was surprisingly good at looking out for me, explaining all sorts of things.

But once we sat down, they started chatting excitedly among themselves, leaving me out of the loop. Well, whatever. It’d be worse to barge into their conversation and make things awkward before the group date even starts. These guys are practically my saviors for inviting me, after all.

With some time to kill, I pulled out my phone and started my daily ritual of browsing cleaning supplies on an online shopping site.

“Hey, evening!”

A high-pitched voice suddenly echoed through the room.

Moments later, the guys started getting hyped up.

One.

Two.

Three.

Girls who seemed vaguely familiar started pouring into the private room, one after another. After some quick chatter, they sat down across from us.

“Wait, where’s the last one?”

“She said she’s grabbing some cash and will be here soon. Probably any minute now.”

“Sorry!”

“There she is!”

A girl, out of breath, grabbed the door to the private room.

“Geh.”

I let out a weird noise.

“Hey, what’s with the geh? Rude much, Yamamoto-kun!”

Same university. Literature department. Damn it, I should’ve realized sooner.

The last girl who just walked into the room…

That person was…

“K-Kasahara.”

“Yup, good work today, Yamamoto-kun.”

“W-Why are you here?”

“Huh? I knew you were coming today.”

“How?”

“Because we were the ones who requested you, silly. We told them to invite Yamamoto-kun.”

I slowly turned my gaze toward the guys, but they all looked away, avoiding eye contact.

…I’m not trying to blame them or anything.

I just want to know what’s going on here… but it doesn’t seem like I’ll get an answer.

No, wait, if I think about it, it’s pretty obvious.

They must’ve had other guys they could’ve asked to be their helper for this group date. But for some reason, they zeroed in on me back in the lecture hall.

In other words, for whatever reason, I was absolutely necessary for this group date.

“Wait, are you two, like, friends or something?”

One of the guys asked us.

“Huh? …Haha, well, yeah.”

Kasahara laughed it off vaguely. Normally, she’d probably tease and say something like ex-lovers, so it’s kind of weird she didn’t.

“Eh, whatever, it’s fine, right?”

The one who backed Kasahara up was the girl sitting next to her.

Come to think of it, I’ve seen her before—she was the one asking Kasahara all sorts of questions when we were chatting in the cafeteria.

“Ooh, what’s this? Now I’m curious!”

“Yeah, spill the beans, Yamagiwa-kun!”

“It’s Yamamoto-kun.”

Kasahara’s voice seemed to make the air in the room tense up for a moment.

“…Right?”

Seeing Kasahara’s wry smile, everyone let out awkward chuckles.

Well, this one’s on them. Mistaking someone’s name like that would obviously rub some people the wrong way.

Me?

I’m not really thinking about that.

I’m just thinking…

Just thinking…

…I wanna go home.

I decided to post three chapters today, so I went ahead and posted the fourth one too.

Reviews, bookmarks, and feedback are much appreciated!!!