Don’t Come—No, I’m Going

Ayano Mitsuki’s figure completely disappeared around the corner of the corridor.

Shioyaki Lemon remained standing exactly as she was, staring blankly in the direction Ayano had left, her eyes so dim that not a trace of light could be seen.

After a long stretch of silence, Shioyaki Lemon’s body suddenly swayed backward without warning.

“Hey!”

Imaizumi Keita called out instinctively, while Yanami Anna beside him had already stepped forward and pushed a chair behind Shioyaki Lemon.

Shioyaki Lemon weakly collapsed back into the chair and reached a hand toward Imaizumi Keita.

“Huh? Shioyaki, are you really joining?”

Imaizumi Keita asked, as Yanami had already taken out a blank club application form and placed it into Shioyaki Lemon’s hands.

“…Thank you, Anna.”

Shioyaki Lemon took the form and pen, leaned over the desk, and wrote her name down.

At the same time, she began muttering to herself in a voice loud enough for anyone to hear.

“How strange…

So… Mitsuki already has a girlfriend…

Ahahaha…

What on earth… have I been doing all this time…”

Those fragmented murmurs sounded less like a question to anyone else, and more like a belated explanation she was giving to herself.

Imaizumi Keita watched quietly.

Yanami Anna took out the paper crown labeled “New Member” from the cabinet and gently placed it atop Shioyaki Lemon’s short hair.

“Welcome to the Literature Club.

And… you’ve really worked hard, Lemon.”

Shioyaki Lemon raised her head.

Feeling the paper crown resting on her head, the forced smile on her face finally collapsed.

“…Yeah.”

She answered dully, then echoed Yanami’s words.

“I really did work hard.”

The moment she finished speaking, Shioyaki Lemon could no longer hold it in.

She suddenly wrapped her arms around Yanami Anna’s waist and buried her face into Yanami’s abdomen.

Suppressed, quiet sobs soon began to leak out from where the two of them were holding each other.

Before the crying could grow louder, Imaizumi Keita decisively grabbed the still-clueless Tsukinoki Koto and pulled her out of the clubroom, shutting the door behind them.

The corridor outside was much brighter than the room inside.

“Um… did I mess something up?”

Tsukinoki Koto finally realized.

She timidly glanced back at the tightly closed door, her voice filled with uncertainty and guilt.

“Yes.

You completely messed it up.”

Imaizumi Keita let go and leaned against the wall, answering calmly and decisively.

“Please reflect deeply on this, senpai.”

“Ugh…”

Tsukinoki Koto let out an innocent little whimper.

“Originally, Shioyaki was just gently friend-zoned by Ayano.

There was still a chance she could barely maintain surface-level calm.”

Imaizumi Keita looked at her and mercilessly pointed out the core issue.

“But then you, Tsukinoki-senpai, acted like nothing was wrong and enthusiastically invited her to join the club—so she could spend more time with her ‘girlfriend.’”

“This isn’t about reading the room anymore.

You were actively sprinkling salt into an open wound.”

Imaizumi Keita’s calm yet blunt analysis completely deflated Tsukinoki Koto.

“You didn’t have to say it so directly…”

She protested weakly, her eyes drifting away, not daring to meet his gaze.

“For someone like you, senpai—who won’t understand unless things are spelled out—I think it’s necessary to be direct.”

Imaizumi Keita sighed.

“Just like how I never directly ask you when you and Club President Tamaki are finally planning to officially start dating.”

“W-what?!”

Tsukinoki Koto’s body stiffened instantly.

A vivid blush spread across her cheeks at a visible speed.

She looked around in a panic to make sure no one else had heard, then lowered her voice and angrily protested at Imaizumi Keita.

“I-I’m not in that kind of relationship with Shintarō!

We’re just childhood friends!”

“Yes, yes.

Just childhood friends.”

Imaizumi Keita replied in a completely insincere tone.

Seeing his expression and recalling what she’d just done, Tsukinoki Koto’s will to argue vanished instantly.

She slumped against the wall, her face filled with regret.

“…I really am a terrible person.”

Just as Imaizumi Keita was about to say something more, a timid little head peeked out from the other end of the corridor.

Komari Chika seemed to have just arrived.

Seeing the two of them standing outside the clubroom, her face was full of confusion.

“Um… Imaizumi… senpai?

Why are you… standing outside instead of going in?”

“Ah, Komari.”

Understanding that Shioyaki Lemon shouldn’t be disturbed right now, Tsukinoki Koto quickly walked over to Komari Chika and explained.

“There was a bit of… um, a girl-related emergency inside the clubroom.

We won’t be going in today.”

Without giving her any room to object, she grabbed Komari Chika by the shoulders and started pushing her down the corridor.

“There’s nothing for us to do here anymore.

Didn’t you say you wanted to check out the new paperback releases at the bookstore near the station?

Come on, senpai will go with you.”

“Huh?

Huhhh?!

B-but—”

Komari Chika’s faint protests were quickly and forcefully suppressed by Tsukinoki Koto.

Watching the two figures disappear around the stairwell corner, Imaizumi Keita finally felt the world quiet down.

Leaning against the wall, he took out his phone, about to think through the next part of his novel.

Bzzz.

The phone vibrated lightly in his palm.

A message from Yanami Anna popped up on the screen.

『Lemon-chan and I are going to sit at a family restaurant for a bit.
Do you want to come too?』

A family restaurant?

Imaizumi Keita’s eyebrow lifted almost imperceptibly.

That was a place with quite a bit of sentimental significance.

He could practically picture Yanami right now—awkwardly comforting the newly minted losing heroine, while also distractedly sending him a message to invite him along.

Imaizumi Keita smiled and slowly typed his reply.

『Are you sure?
Shouldn’t you be focusing on comforting Shioyaki right now?
Is it really okay to invite me over?』

The message sent successfully.

Almost immediately, a reply popped up, the words filled with obvious fluster.

『Eh?!
Keita, you don’t want to come?!』

Seeing the message, the smile on Imaizumi Keita’s face deepened.

This girl really was still as honest as ever—in the worst possible way.

She was clearly worried that he’d get distracted by the new losing heroine, so she rushed to call him over to assert her claim.

And yet she still tried to disguise it as an innocent “we just thought we’d invite you too.”

『Are you going there to comfort Shioyaki,
or are you worried about me being alone with her?』

On the other side of the screen, there was a long silence—nearly half a minute.

Just when Imaizumi Keita thought she might be too embarrassed after being called out to reply at all, a new message finally arrived.

『…Hmph!
If you don’t want to come that badly, then forget it!
Don’t come!』

The message even came with a puffed-cheek emoji at the end.

Even through the screen, Imaizumi Keita could clearly imagine her flustered, indignant expression as she typed those words.

『No.
I’m going.』

Why go?

Of course, because what he liked most was seeing Yanami Anna like this—

clearly feeling wronged deep down, yet completely unable to do anything about him, forced to accept reality while puffing her cheeks in frustration.