Episode 12 – Oshi

……It had been a long time since I had joined any kind of club activities.

[Hey Kitagawa san, please do it properly]

[I’ve taught you so much, but you still can’t do it?]

I joined the badminton club when I was in the first year of junior high school, but I had a dispute with a member of the club and quit after a few months. From that day on, I thought, “I’ll never join a club again.” ……

“Hey, Kitagawa-san.”

When I came to the club room, Nakahara welcomed me with a smile.

I can’t smile as well as Nakahara, but I don’t want to ignore him, so I try my best to reply with a “hnn”.

In fact, I’d like to cheerfully reply, “Good morning, Nakahara!” but I can’t help but stutter when I try to say it…..

I’m not even sure how to say hello properly, but Nakahara still welcomed me with open arms.

“H-hello……, Kitagawa-san.”

And then there is Nishida, who also greets me when I come to the clubroom.

She is always nervous and seems to be in no good spirits at all, but I don’t mind being greeted by her.

Somehow, I felt the same smell from Nishida as from me. She was clumsy and not good with people (I’m not just not good with people, I hate them), but …… she still seemed to be a lonely person.

So I didn’t dislike Nishida that much. I sometimes get annoyed when she’s too jumpy, but that’s about it.

“Yahhoo, Kitagawa-san! Good job~”

The …… problem was this woman.

This woman is called Higashino Madoka.

I hated her so much that I couldn’t help it.

Whenever she greeted me, I never said a word back. I had no intention of ever returning her greetings.

I didn’t know why.

For some reason, this woman didn’t suit me. Just looking at her face annoyed me. Just hearing her voice makes my ears prickle. And just being with her …… makes my heart race.

This woman seems to be a nice person on the outside. She is cheerful, energetic, and doesn’t say mean things in an obvious way.

But there is something about this woman that is often irritating. I’ve spent a few days with her as a counseling department, and every time I see her, I get creeped out just by looking at her.

(What is it? What is this feeling?)

Why do I hate this woman? I was wondering to myself

…It was on the 10th day after we joined the club that I found out why.

Of the new members, Higashino was already able to counsel clients normally, but I and Nishida still did not have the courage to talk well with them. Therefore, when Nakahara or Higashino is working with someone, we are supposed to be the chaperones.

So, there are always two to four people in the counseling department for every one client. Sometimes, however, we are told that we only need one counselor, so in that case, all the other members spend their time in the library, which is closest to the counseling club.

On that day, Nakahara was alone with the client, and the other members, myself, Nishida, and Higashino, were all in the library.

At first, we tried to study by reading books on psychology or other books that might be useful for counseling, but as the day went by, we grew tired of that and decided to spend our time in the library on our own.

Everyone spent their time in their own way, listening to music, reading manga, sleeping, and so on.

“Hey, Nishida-san. Kitagawa-san.”

But that day, Higashino started talking to us.

We took a place at the end of a long table in the library, Higashino sitting alone and me and Nishida sitting next to each other.

“What is it? Higashino-san?”

When Nishida asked that, Higashino looked around to make sure no one was there but us, and then she said to us

“What do you two think about Nakahara-kun?

Nishida asked back, “About Nakahara-kun?” Higashino nodded happily.

“What do you think of him? What kind of person do you think he is?”

“W-What do I think…… umm………?”

Nishida blushed and didn’t answer for a while. her eyes were darting here and there, and I felt like she was in a bit of a rush.

“G-gentle ……?”

“Yes, I think so! Nakahara-kun is very kind, isn’t he? I’ve never seen such a person.”

“…… yes.”

Satisfied with Nishida’s answer, Higashino smiled as much as she could and then turned her attention to me.

“What about you, Kitagawa-san? How”

“………”

“What do you think of Nakahara-kun?”

“……, nothing special.”

“Eh? Really?”

“……Well, I don’t hate him.”

“I see! Fufu, I see

Higashino is on her cheekbones, smiling meaningfully. What is this person, she is so creepy.

“Why are you asking me all of a sudden? What’s the point of that question?”

When I asked that question, Higashino said, “Well, I don’t know how to say it,” and then began to talk.

“Nakahara-kun, I think he can become more and more popular.”

“Popular?”

“I mean, don’t you think there’s really no one out there who can stand by you and be so good with words other than him?”

“……………………”

“Nakahara-kun, I think I need to spread his charm to the whole school.”

..When I saw Higashino saying such things as if it were something obvious, Nishida and I couldn’t help but make eye contact.

“….umm Higashino san?”

“Yeah? What’s wrong, Nishida san?”

“”Does that mean you like …… Nakahara-kun.”

“Eh!? No, no, no! I don’t like him! It’s unthinkable for me to like him!”

“……………………”

“I don’t know, I mean, respect? like that…”

“Respect. ……”

“Ah, wait! It’s more like an oshi!”

“Oshi….. something that refers to a favorite idol or a favorite manga character, right?”

“Yes! that!”

“So you mean …… Nakahara-kun is your “Oshi,” Higashino-san?”

“Yes, that’s right! When you say it like that, it makes a lot of sense to me!”

Higashino took out her phone from the bag she had left on the seat next to her.

“Hey Nishida san, Kitagawa san. Here, listen?”

Grinning as she said this, Higashino activated the recording app.

[….The most important thing in counseling is to be sincere.]

What flowed out of that phone was Nakahara’s voice.

“Is this …… from the other day, when Nakahara-kun was teaching me all kinds of things?”

“Yes! Nishida-san, you got it all figured out!”

[What I mean by sincerity here is that you don’t lie. No matter how beautiful the words are, if there is no heart in them, they are meaningless.]

Hearing Nakahara’s voice, Higashino looked enchanted.

“This is soooo good~~………! I went home and listened to it over and over.”

“”…………………….””

[It doesn’t matter if it’s an ugly word or a simple, easy word. Speak words with your heart. I think that’s the most important thing.]

“Hmmm! Lovely! I want to hang these words on my wallpaper!”

..The way Higashino was saying that and having fun, it seemed very… strange to me.

It is hard to put into words,……, but I felt something was wrong with this woman.

Nishida seemed to feel it too, her face frozen and unable to move properly.

“Hey, Nishida-san, Kitagawa-san.”

Higashino held the phone in her hand and continued to talk more and more with a smile on her face.

“I, this Nakahara-kun’s words, you know? I’m thinking of having them broadcast during lunch breaks at school or something.”

“D-during lunch break ……?”

“Yes, yes! So tomorrow, I’m going to go talk to the broadcasting club about it~.”

“……………………”

“I’m sure everyone will be impressed! When they find out that there is a person who says such wonderful things, they will rush to the counseling club!”

“Ha-haha …… I guess so.”

Nishida seemed to have no choice but to laugh. I, on the other hand, could no longer bring myself to do anything but keep quiet.

Broadcasting Nakahara’s voice during lunch break? What is she talking about?

“……Eh, uh, well, then it’s something ……that, isn’t it?”

“Yeah? What is it? Nishida-san.”

“To Higashino-san, Nakahara-kun is already an …… idol.”

“Eeh! I’m a little embarrassed when you say it so clearly!”

“P-perhaps…? What would you think if there was a girl who confessed her feelings to Nakahara-kun?”

“Confession? I don’t think anything at all. I think it’s only natural that Nakahara-kun is popular, and if anything, I’d like him to be popular.”

“I see…..”

“……………………”

At that moment, one question occurred to me. I posed that question to Higashino as it was without processing it at all.

“Then Higashino, what will you do if you find someone Nakahara likes?”

……That was the moment.

The smile that had been on her face just a moment ago suddenly disappeared, and she suddenly became expressionless, turning her glassy eyeballs towards me.

And even her voice suddenly lost its accent, and she said in a machine-like voice

“It can’t be true. Because it’s Nakahara-kun.”

“”……………………””

Both Nishida and I were speechless.

To be honest, I couldn’t help but get goosebumps on my back.

I had gotten into trouble several times before because of what I had said. Each time, I always felt self-loathing, thinking, “I shouldn’t have said that”.

But I had never thought “I shouldn’t have said that” as much as I did this time…… I should never have asked such a question.

Higashino’s face was so strange that it made me think so.

“Oh, hey, Nishida-san, Kitagawa-san.”

Higashino’s expression changed from the blank expression she had shown earlier, and she looked at her phone again with her usual cheerful smile and said, “Nakahara-kun just finished counseling.”

I also checked my own phone and found that Nakahara had indeed contacted the counseling club group Lime, saying, “It’s over now.”

“Let’s go back to the club room, shall we?”

Higashino said to us and got up from her seat.

……………………

On the way back to the counseling club, I kept looking at Higashino’s back.

I felt the creepiness all over again, just as I always do.

I hate this creepy Higashino after all. ……

I’m scared out of my mind.

(TL/N : Wow…the first sick one)

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