บท 153: Train Shot
It was now the time for Arata to finally take his plan into action. He felt bad about fooling Ichiri to join Matsu without realizing that him and the others would be joining in. The thought that this was all necessary repeated in his mind to try and calm his nerves.
"So, you ready to head out?" Ichiri asked as they entered the station. It wasn't a long trip to go to head to the next town over. Her aunt was expecting them to come, so things should go rather simple.
"Actually, I had a few friends that also wanted to join us." Matsu maintained her usual cheerful attitude as they spoke, despite very rarely ever acknowledging the other.
"Uh, sure." It seemed weird to have so many people going to pick up some seeds. Even one person could do that on their own, but Ichiri accepted because she wanted an excuse to try and get out of the house. Even if that girl was friends with Arata, she felt it was safe enough to hang out with her to try and move on from her broken heart. "Is it just the rest of the gardening club?"
"Not really." Matsu uneasily admitted. It didn't seem like a good idea to mention that Arata would be joining them on this trip.
"Hello." Speaking of him, the boy appeared to them along with the rest of the library committee and Yuriko. When Ichiri laid her eyes on him, her heart sunk beyond the floor. She froze as the group greeted her and Matsu.
"It's good to see you all again." She politely responded. However, on the inside the girl was already thinking that there was no way she could come with them and help out. That would mean having to see Arata the entire day. There was no way her heart could take the pain of being constantly reminded of how worthless she was to him. Compared to the other girls in his life, whether or not they were even romantically interested in him, it was clear to her that she was at the bottom of that list.
Not only that, but she was also on thin ice with Yurime and Hifumi. After quitting the committee, their relationship also took a massive hit. This past month had been the worst of her life.
"Looks like everyone's here now." Hifumi announced. "So let's board the train before it leaves us behind." Now it was too late for anyone to back out now as they got on together. While this day wasn't marked on the calendar for Yurime and Hifumi, they certainly couldn't complain about getting the opportunity to go out with friends for the weekend.
Once they were on, Arata took the chance to make his first step in getting back close to Ichiri. That being to sit besides her on the way there to chat. He waited for her to take a spot first, and once she finally sat down there was another problem. It seemed that this girl wasn't in the mood to be with her 'friends'. Since she chose a spot that didn't have any free space on either side.
On the bright side, he was able to take a handle and stand right in front of the girl instead. This might have made him seem like a weirdo, seeing as there were free seats around for the boy to sit at during the train ride.
"So, how have you been?" Arata began with the small talk now that he had her cornered. The more this situation was thought about, the worse it made him seem to the outside world. "Has school been going well for you?"
"Um, I've been fine." She answered, refusing to meet his eye contact. If seeing him was already an issue for her, then talking to him was even more bothersome. Ichiri didn't have any words she wanted to say to him other than to tell him to leave. To her, she was a girl he should no longer be wasting any time on anymore.
"That's good." She left little room for him to keep this up without making it awkward. "Um…" Now that he thought about things, what was there for him to bring up with this girl? The only stuff he knew about her was how arrogant she was about herself and her accomplishments. Actually, that did give him an idea. "I heard that you also helped out the students who were setting up the student council speeches. That was nice of you, and it certainly couldn't have been easy while also running your own campaign."
"Yeah, I guess it wasn't." She responded in a near disinterested tone. Even hyping up her status didn't do anything for the girl. "Um, I'll just stand by the door." Ichiri got up and walked passed him as she went for the exit.
"That went so well." He sarcastically quipped as the boy sighed in disappointment. Perhaps it would've been better to not bring up the student council races. Arata gave up for the time being and returned to Yurime to talk things over. "What am I doing wrong?"
"How am I supposed to know?" She replied. "Just because me and Hifumi know her better than anyone else, doesn't mean we can fix this." If they did, then the group wouldn't be on this train heading to a different town.
"If you just apologize to her, than she'll forgive you, right?"
"But I didn't even do anything wrong." He defended himself.
"Indeed." Hifumi agreed. "Her own stupidity was that girl's undoing, and Yurime's inability to say no only dug that grave even deeper." It was harsh of her to say so about, and to, her friends, but the honest truth was needed to be understood. Not to be misunderstood, she did care deeply for the two and wanted Ichiri to cheer up about her circumstances. The problem was that things were getting rather frustrating for the quiet librarian girl.
"Yeah, but I need an id-" Arata spoke up, then froze when he heard a clicking noise. Among the crowd, it stood out to him as something from a camera phone. In a location like this, he could imagine a specific cause for it. Quickly, he scanned the area where he heard the sound. His ears were good enough to pinpoint the spot, which is another reason why he cared so much about it.
Sure enough his ears didn't deceive him. Right where Ichiri had placed herself, there was another person standing right behind her, holding a hand in a spot that he couldn't see behind her, but he knew exactly what was going on.
"W-where are you going?" Yuriko asked as he abruptly ended their conversation to leap out of his seat and walked right for the lone girl.
"Hey." He kept himself silent until the moment he grabbed the perp's hidden arm. Unsurprisingly for him, there really was a phone being held under Ichiri's skirt taking pictures.
"Eh?" The man was caught and in his shock, responded a bit too loud. "What do you thinking you're doing?"
"Don't pretend you're innocent." Arata's heart was racing as he made this confrontation. This person was a lot bigger than him, and he'd certainly lose in a proper fight. That's why he needed to make a scene to get the people around them to be on his side. "You pervert." With a slight-of-hand, he snatched the phone from the man's hand and faced it towards Ichiri's face, who had turned around to see what was going on.
"You thief, that's my phone."
"Ichiri, is this what I think it is?" He pointed the screen to her face while ignoring the man. Arata had timed his move at the right time, using his ears to match with eh small sound of the clicking of a the camera to ensure that a picture was taken and displayed on screen.
"Arata, what's…" She was still confused as to why he was arguing with a man. However, her eyes widened she saw the image of her panties on the phone. The girl's cheeks turned a rosy red in embarrassment. "It… It is."
"Wow, what a pervert." What he was hoping for was now happening. The people were made aware of who this person truly was and were moving in to aid the boy and girl.
"Thanks everyone." Arata's job was done as he deleted the pictures from the phone and let the others subdue the criminal to hand over to the proper authorities. Even if it was considered destroying evidence, he knew that the girl would despair over having anyone catching a glimpse of her panties, especially since she wore her favorites again, which were also her embarrassing pair of bear children's underwear.
"Wow Arata, that was really brave of you." Matus was singing his praises after they got off at their stop. "I can't believe you even noticed it."
"It's nothing special." He played it off. "I was just helping out a friend, that's all." Arata made sure to say it that way to try and get to Ichiri, but she seemed to continue to be distant from him and the others.
"Let's get going to my aunt's shop now." It was nearing the lunch hour, so she wanted to be able to have free rein of the shop when they were technically closed. Off they went, all except for one person.
"Ara… Kashimura." Ichiri spoke up to stop him from following the others. She wanted to talk with him privately, something that the others knew immediately to allow and moved away to give them space, while also sticking around to keep an eye on the situation. "Can we talk for a moment?'
"Yeah, what do you need?" He spoke nervously, as this seemed as it would be his best shot today.
"I just wanted to thank you for what you did." She bowed her head in humility.
"It was nothing." He responded. "I know how you feel about people knowing what panties you wear, so I couldn't let him just snap pictures of you." Aside from the obvious point that the man would use it for inappropriate activities. It was also possible that those images could get posted online for the world to see.
"…Right." Something stirred within her when he mentioned that being his main motivation. Of course, it was bad enough for someone to commit such a perverted act to her, but he even remembered something so important for her. Ichiri's heart raced as she felt herself falling even more for him, only for it to also be reminded of the pain once again. This was why couldn't be his lover. There was no way she deserved it. "Anyway, we should catch up to the others."
"Right, how about we…" She simply walked passed him without bothering to listen to his offer of walking next to the other. Arata watched as she rounded the corner and was met with the rest. It seemed that he still had a lot of work if she was going to be his friend again.
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