Yanaimi, You Really Can’t Be Doing This

The dismissal bell after school became the period at the end of the classroom’s noise.

The daytime restlessness faded, replaced by the quiet unique to dusk.

Imaizumi Keita slowly placed the last textbook into his bag, moving without hurry.

For him, waiting until the classroom emptied had already become a silent habit.

Just as he zipped up his bag and prepared to leave, a familiar figure stopped beside his desk, accompanied by the faint fragrance of shampoo.

“Um… Imaizumi-kun.”

Yanaimi Anna absentmindedly twisted the hem of her uniform shirt with one hand, her gaze deliberately drifting out the window as she spoke in a tone that feigned nonchalance.

“I think I saw… during lunch, a girl with reddish-brown hair came looking for you outside the classroom? Is she from a neighboring class?”

Her tone sounded like casual gossip between friends, but Imaizumi noticed she didn’t even dare look him in the eyes.

He paused, leaned back in his chair with amusement, crossed his arms, and stared at her repeatedly sneaking glances at him.

“What’s this? You’re only pretending to be my girlfriend, and you’re already monitoring me like this?”

His voice wasn’t loud, but it carried an obvious teasing warmth.

“Yanaimi, this isn’t good behavior.”

“If your future boyfriend gets interrogated like this every time something happens, he might get tired of it and leave you, you know.”

“Hah?! T-that’s not what I meant!”

Anna reacted like a cat whose tail had been stepped on, instantly raising her voice. Her cheeks flushed with a mix of embarrassment and irritation.

She took a step forward, placing both hands on his desk as she leaned in, trying to regain the upper hand.

“I was just… just fulfilling my responsibility as your ‘partner,’ okay?!”

She quickly turned her head aside, scrambling to justify herself. “If you get misunderstood with another girl and ruin all our previous efforts, wouldn’t everything go to waste? All the work I did would just—”

The more she spoke, the more uncertain she sounded.

After all, their so-called partnership had no strict rules. It depended entirely on trust.

“Alright, alright.”

Imaizumi had no interest in watching her struggle for excuses. He waved his hand and answered directly, “She’s from the Literature Club. The president wants all registered members to come in because of some activity.”

“Literature Club?”

Anna blinked, straightened up, and looked at him incredulously.

She examined him from head to toe.

“You… actually join a club? You don’t look like the type at all.”

Her eyes held surprise, confusion, and a sense of “you, the loner type, actually have a group activity?”

“…Even someone like me attends a club occasionally.”

Imaizumi replied helplessly. He stood up with his bag in hand and added, “Anyway, aren’t you going home? Karen and Kousuke already left, right?”

The moment she heard that, the aura she tried so hard to maintain instantly crumbled. Her face twisted into a troubled expression.

“That’s exactly why I don’t want to go home now…”

Anna muttered, frustrated. “If I go now, I’ll definitely run into those two on the way.”

“And then Karen will drag me off and ask a million questions again — ‘how are things with Imaizumi-kun,’ ‘how far have you two gotten,’ stuff like that… I can’t deal with her.”

After complaining, her eyes suddenly brightened as an idea struck her, and excitement spread across her face.

“Oh right! Imaizumi, aren’t you going to the club activity?”

She leaned close again, so close her face nearly touched his, overflowing with anticipation.

“Can I… go with you?”

This unexpected suggestion made Imaizumi raise an eyebrow.

Taking Yanaimi Anna to the Literature Club?

He instinctively evaluated the idea in his mind.

Their “couple status” was currently effective only in front of Kousuke and Karen.

If he could expand this relationship into another social circle, it would give him more legitimate opportunities to approach Anna and absorb energy.

And if not, according to Komari Chika, the Literature Club barely had any people anyway…

A quiet clubroom would be a perfect place for some necessary “lover-style practice.”

More importantly, seeing her voluntarily want to stick to him filled him with a satisfying feeling of being needed.

“I don’t see why not.”

After a moment of thought, Imaizumi gave a deliberately vague answer.

He looked at Anna’s eyes sparkling with anticipation and then asked casually, testing her reaction:

“What’s this? Are you interested in the Literature Club too? Want to join?”

“Eh? Join?”

Anna clearly hadn’t expected that. Her expression froze with hesitation.

She knew nothing about literature, and sitting quietly reading or writing sounded more painful than dieting.

But the idea of “going to club activities together with Imaizumi” was strangely appealing.

“I-I’m just curious, that’s all!”

Anna deflected awkwardly, gaze drifting away. “C-can’t I just… take a look first? See what you guys normally do?”

“Sure.”

Imaizumi knew it was already decided since she hadn’t refused.

He grabbed his bag and walked toward the door. “Let’s go.”

“Okay!”

Anna beamed brightly, slinging on her bag and following behind with light steps.

“Oh right,”

She caught up to him and walked beside him, curiosity bubbling in her voice.

“What are the Literature Club members like? Are they easy to get along with?”

“No idea.”

“What?! You don’t even know and you’re inviting me? That’s so irresponsible!”

“Don’t you have me? It’s not like I’ll quit the club if you join. What’s there to worry about?”

“…That’s true.”

Anna nodded after thinking about it. In that case, there wasn’t anything to worry about—

Wait.

If anything, Imaizumi was the biggest problem, wasn’t he…?

A conflicted expression crossed her face as she glanced at him again and again, struggling with her thoughts.

The sunset streamed in through the windows at the end of the hallway, stretching their shadows long and overlapping closely.

Anna looked at the shadows, then secretly at Imaizumi’s calm profile, feeling something quietly growing inside her — something she herself had yet to notice.