Why wasn't I the one who got the male lead's script?

Seeing Futaba's behavior, Hoshimi, who had already thought, "This guy must have something important on his mind again," straightened his sitting posture.

He was waiting for Futaba, who had never been frank about her feelings, to tell him her secret.

“…Or maybe we should just not travel.”

“………Hmm?”

But in the end, all he got was this somewhat ambiguous and very confusing sentence.

"Hmm... there's no particular reason. How should I put it... I don't think this is something that will guide the future in the right direction."

Futaba tried hard to express her thoughts in stiff and obscure words without being misunderstood, but the result of this explanation only made Hoshimi's already confused eyebrows raise even higher.

"Hey Futaba, are you also someone with puberty syndrome who can predict the future?"

"I just have a bad feeling, that's all. Don't take everything as foresight, Xingjian. This is a sign of PTSD."

"Oh...I understand then."

Looking at Futaba's uneasy yet clumsy appearance as she tried hard to pretend to be calm, Xingjian touched his chin and finally came to a conclusion with a smile.

"Futaba, you're lonely, aren't you."

"...If the thing in front of me wasn't tea but something solid, I would have slapped you in the face, Hoshimi."

----

I was delayed by the freshman party yesterday, orz, and I’m still thinking about the plot of the new volume, so it was delayed for a day. I’m very sorry!

This volume is the divergence point of the world line. I wonder if anyone can guess my plot (dog head)

A Never-Ending Week at the World Line's Divergence: Chapter 1: What Kind of Romantic Comedy Is This? (Part 2)

"I get it, I get it. It's that feeling of loneliness and frustration that comes with "my best friend is going on a trip with someone else without me." So I'm such a big part of your heart, Futaba-san. It's really annoying~"

“…………I can’t help it anymore.”

Looking at the teacup that Futaba had already raised above the table and the faintly visible blue veins on her forehead, the boy Xingjian simply waved his hand and admitted defeat, knowing when to quit.

"Well—alright, alright, I was just joking."

Well, teasing is not fun if it is overdone. Jokes should be funny to both parties to make the conversation more relaxed and enjoyable.

"But I always feel like Futaba gets angry easily over things like this..."

Thinking carefully back to the time when the two of them had communicated and interacted in the past, it seemed that every time the relationship between men and women was mentioned or jokes were made about it, Futaba would become very sensitive and irritable.

Maybe girls don't like being joked about this.

Xingjian could only shrug helplessly and secretly made up his mind to make fewer jokes like this in the future.

"But you were right about one thing just now, Xingjian."

Seeing the black-haired boy obediently put his hands that were supporting himself on the table back on his knees and sit up straight, Futaba's originally serious expression relaxed a little - at the same time, she also put her teacup that was originally hanging in the air back on the table.

"I don't quite approve of you traveling."

"Why, is there any reason?"

"There's no reason, I just have this feeling - if you travel, Xingjian, something might happen that's out of the ordinary."

Futaba spread her hands, looking calm and helpless, as if it was written on her face that "If you are willing to trust me unconditionally, just do as I say."

"Besides, can Miss Sawamura really plan this trip? I have serious doubts about it."

"That guy can solve everything with his money... whatever's missing can be made up for with the power of money, so I feel pretty safe."

Well, the source of security here is of course money.

"But seeing the look on your face, Xingjian... you really want to go, right?"

Futaba paused, and the look she gave Hoshimi became a little subtle.

"Ah... well, indeed, I don't deny that."

The black-haired boy, who was originally pouting and not very excited, nodded. Even though his thoughts were revealed by Futaba, he chose not to continue hiding them.

"After all, being able to travel with my favorite friends during the holidays (and for free) is really a rare thing for me..."

“…I see.”

As expected, Miss Futaba's expression softened, and her tone became much calmer - it seems that this guy really is soft-hearted and will not tolerate toughness.

"Speaking of which, I actually have a proposal that has the best of both worlds."

Seeing that Futaba did not completely deny this matter, and even seemed a little hesitant, Hoshimi took the opportunity to express his own suggestions.

"Futaba, if you're really worried, why don't you come with us?"

"...?"

“So I said – come on this tour with us.”

Hoshimi patiently repeated it to Futaba, who raised an eyebrow in confusion.

"If you come along, Futaba, with your usual ability to plan and see through everything, no matter what happens, you'll be able to control it, right? In that case, as long as you're here, I have nothing to worry about."

"...Idiot? I'm not as omnipotent as you think... I'm not a superman."

Futaba pushed up her glasses, and for some reason her expression seemed vaguely self-deprecating when she said this.

Even if he took off his glasses, he couldn't become the soaring and omnipotent Clark.

"It's just because I don't want to be looked down upon or looked down upon by others, so I usually like to pretend to be indifferent to others to pretend to be strong. To use your words, Xingjian, I guess I like to put on a sour face, but I don't want to admit it."

"Hey... Miss Futaba, there will be a day when you can honestly express your feelings."

The black-haired boy curled his lips in surprise at the scene in front of him, but his face showed more of a faint smile.

"But if that's the case, then this is a good opportunity, isn't it?"

"Hmm? What's just right?"

"Travel with us, make more friends, build stronger bonds with others—then you won't have this insecurity anymore."

The young man did not hesitate to show a gentle smile on his face at this moment.

"You, Futaba, and Kasumigaoka-senpai, Eriri and the others—that's how you proved it to me through your actions."

"........."

The gray-haired girl's pupils froze for a moment, then quickly calmed down.

"Is this so?"

She brushed aside her emotions with this casual remark without giving a clear answer.

It seems that he is still hesitant.

"There's no need for any extra burden."

Xingjian smiled and shook his head, then met Futaba's still hesitant gaze.

"My friends are your friends, Futaba, so don't worry about me leaving you behind to make new friends."

The young man smiled and stretched out his hands to make a fist gesture, the smile on his face was warm and sunny.

"——I plan to be friends with you for life. I thought so before, and I still think so now."

“…Really.”

The gray-haired girl's eyes gradually came back to their senses after a brief freeze. She raised the corners of her mouth, smiled bitterly, and shook her head as if she was helpless.

"You really are an idiot, Xingjian."

Then, seemingly reluctantly, he also raised his hand, clenched it into a small fist and gently touched it with the boy's.

Unfortunately, she just couldn't do anything with the idiot.

"If you change your mind in the future, remember to tell me immediately and I'll immediately stay away from you. Stupidity is contagious, after all."

"Haha, no, no. Does that mean, Futaba, you agree to travel with us?"

"Ah, well. I'm just worried."

"Great! I knew you were the most reasonable person, Futaba Amon."

"Don't think too much about it. I just want to go with you because you're so unreliable and I'm worried that something might go wrong."

Futaba gave Xingjian a ruthless look, and then began to speak in a sarcastic tone with a somewhat intriguing tone.

"If a fool like you takes advantage of a girl on your trip without realizing it, I'll be in a bad spot as your friend."

"Hmm... then Futaba, why don't you take advantage of the boys traveling with you? That way everyone will say we have similar tastes."

"—Do you think your face will get swollen if you pour this pot of tea on your head, Xingjian?"

"Okay, I surrender."

----

----

At this point, after Miss Futaba Rio tacitly agreed to Hoshimi's travel and even joined the team, the last obstacle to the trip was removed.

"Hmm... Then the next step is to inform my family and start packing for the trip."

It was early autumn, and the afternoons were still a bit hot.

A black-haired boy was running around the playground in a physical education class, maintaining a rhythmic pace while his thoughts wandered and he began to think about his travel plans for a week later.

Well, there's nothing particularly outstanding about Xingjian, but when he's particularly concerned about something, he'll still plan ahead and double-check.

"I don't think there's any need to tell Dad about this... He's not usually home to take care of me anyway."

Xingjian curled his lips, a storm of thoughts brewing in his mind.

Instead of telling her dad, she might as well inform Hayasaka directly - anyway, her dad only spends the whole day hanging out with Aunt Hayasaka and doesn't care much about Hoshimi's personal life.

"Okay, when you have some free time later, send your sister a text message to let her know."

He made the decision in his mind very quickly. After completing the fifth lap of jogging, he slowly stopped and walked to the edge of the playground at a slow pace.

Today's physical education class was for independent exercise. After the physical education teacher organized the group and took roll call, he went back to the teacher's office to slack off and enjoy the air conditioning. Only the students were still complaining in the playground under the scorching sun.

There were some clever kids who ran away after the teacher left, but Xingjian still ran five laps around the playground honestly, and then slowly dragged his sore legs towards the canteen.

However, that's about it.

"Senior is really honest... Wouldn't it be much easier if you ran one or two less laps?"

A girl who had almost passed by him and was in the shade of a tree suddenly spoke, which made Xingjian pause for a moment as she was about to leave.

A little head popped out from the side of the thick tree trunk. A flaxen-haired girl wearing women's sportswear tilted her head and looked at the black-haired boy with an indescribable strangeness in her eyes.

"He looks like a cunning person pretending to be a pig but is actually surprisingly honest in his dealings with others."

Do you think this is a compliment?

Upon hearing this, Xingjian raised his eyebrows with interest, raised his head and touched his chin with some confusion, then met the gaze of the flaxen-haired girl with an innocent and blank look.

"Um...excuse me, what's your name, junior?"

"I thought you'd say something interesting, but all you opened your mouth was asking for the name of a girl you've met more than once before—a guy who's so ungentlemanly and has a bad memory isn't popular with girls at all, senpai."

"Sorry, sorry—it's because we haven't seen each other very often."

Looking at the flaxen girl in front of him who was so angry at his actions that she puffed up her mouth and started to mutter incessantly, Xingjian, who had achieved his goal, waved his hand and raised the corner of his mouth to smile in the same way as usual.

Well, the sense of accomplishment that comes from teasing this little devil junior who likes to tease others is quite pleasant.

"Isshiki-san—right? May I ask what you are doing here now?"

"If you didn't add the uncertainty at the end, 'Is that right?', you'd still get some points from me, Senior."

The girl named Isshiki Iroha pouted her cute little mouth in annoyance and glanced at the players in football uniforms running on the grass on the football field.

"Well, as you can see, it's training time for the first-year students in our soccer club."

As he spoke, Isshiki took out the roster and miscellaneous reports that he had been holding in his arms.

"I'm not very talented, but I happen to be the manager of the soccer club—so today I have to sacrifice my gym time to arrange training for everyone in the club."

“Oh…I see.”

"Senior, didn't you expect that the seemingly playful and immature first-year would be the manager of the soccer club?"

Isshiki Okihisa blinked, and the words that were as sweet as honey were tinged with a hint of mischievous teasing.