Chapter 2 – The Trigger
Volume 1
During the lunch break, I waited for Nishikawa to finish her lunch, and then Fujisaki and I went on a suicide mission.
“May I have a word with you, Nishikawa-san?”
When Fujisaki called out to her, Nishikawa was overly surprised.
“Wa! What! You scared the hell out of me!”
She reacted like a cartoon character, raising her hands while saying that.
Kaede Nishikawa. She’s the most popular girl in the class and Enami-san’s only friend.
Her hair is curly and she wears fake eyelashes on her eyes. She wears light-colored contacts and has an overall flashy look. If she walked around in her casual clothes, no one would think she was a high school girl.
“It’s not just Shio-chan, there’s also Naocchi. What’s up, you two Class-reps?”
She opened her eyes wide and brought her face close to mine. I said.
“I have a favor to ask Nishikawa. Can you come with us for a minute?”
“Hee…Naocchi does? Sure. Where are we going?”
“The landing of the stairs. There aren’t too many people in front of the rooftop.”
“Okay.”
Nishikawa was light-hearted and helpful. We continue to move to the landing in front of the rooftop. The hustle and bustle of the lunch break are a little more distant.
” Perhaps this is about Risa-chan?”
Nishikawa said as soon as we reached the landing. As expected, she had noticed.
“That’s exactly what it is. I have a favor to ask you regarding Enami-san.”
“Hmm? I was called by the Sensei before, and this feels like it is related to that. If that’s the case, it’s impossible. I don’t want to ask her why she’s late or try to convince her to change her attitude towards life.”
She has a keen intuition indeed. If I remember correctly, she always ranked in the single digits in her tests.
Fujisaki gave a small nod.
“I’ve heard from the teacher that Nishikawa-san had rejected his request. The teacher indeed asked me to take care of Enami-san. But I didn’t talk to Nishikawa to find out why she was late or to try to persuade her”
“I see, that’s good to know!”
Though this late, it was good to let her know that we know that the teacher was rejected on his request. Otherwise, we would have been turned down without a second thought.
“It’s not just that the teacher asked me to do it, but I’ve always wanted to get to know Enami-san. We’re in the same class after all.”
“Oh, that reminds me, you had tried to talk to Risa-chan a few times in the first semester right? But she just brushed you off coldly.”
“Yeah…….”
After all, it seems that Fujisaki had already approached Enami-san several times. She has a wide range of friends as well. I’m sure she’s been interested in Enami-san even before she saw her at the mall.
Fujisaki continued.
“Besides, to be honest, Enami-san’s grades aren’t very good, are they? So I thought it would be nice if we could have a study session together.”
“Study session, huh?”
“Midterm exams are coming up, you know.”
Nishikawa was thinking about it. I think it’s not a bad suggestion for the other person and us. However, since we don’t know why Nishikawa is so uncooperative regarding Enami-san, it is unknown whether she will accept our proposal or not.
“Of course, it would be great if Nishikawa could be with us for the study session. The three of us are good at studying, so I think we can follow up on Enami well. The study group is only to deepen friendship, so as I said before, we have no intention of forcing you.”
“I see. …… Well, I don’t have a problem with that.”
She replied as if she’s hesitant.
“What you guys are asking me to do is to negotiate with Risa-chan right? It’s not always possible for Risa-chan to participate even if I ask her to. If you’re okay with that, I can tell her.”
“Thank you, that would be a great help”
We managed to come to an agreement. If it’s impossible with this, there’s nothing I can do.
“There’s just one condition.”
“Eh?”
Nishikawa raised her eyebrows and looked at us with a sly grin.
“Well, it’s no big deal. Since I’m going to do what you requested, why don’t you listen to my request well?”
“Ah, yeah, I guess so.”
I thought maybe I could buy her food or lend her a notebook. If that was the case, there was no problem. I’ve lent my notebook to Nishikawa many times. My notes seem to be easy to read, and she often asks me to make copies.
“I’ll try my best if I can. I don’t want to put too much pressure on Nishikawa-san alone. So, what is it, the condition…..?”
Fujisaki didn’t seem to think that she would be offered any conditions. Whenever Nishikawa is asked to do something, she often agrees. This is the reason why she is so popular in the class.
Then Nishikawa said.
“If we were to have a study session including Risa-chan, I’m sure she would do something that would upset the Class-reps. Please don’t get mad at her when she does.”
“Eh? That’s all?”
I was taken aback. I was expecting to hear Nishikawa’s request.
“Yeah, that’s all. That’s why I said it’s not a big deal.”
That’s right. We just misunderstood it on our own.
“All right. I’ll not get angry.”
“Me too.”
We answered immediately. But Nishikawa continued at the end again.
“It’s not a big deal ……. but it might be pretty hard to put into practice.”
That sounded very meaningful.
TN: that’s 2.. We all know where this is going…
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