A Supporting Character’s Love Story - Chapter 55

POV Shinji Makoto

“Does anyone want to be a part of the sports festival planning committee?”

It was only the start of the day when a bomb was dropped on me by Nishi Sensei, our homeroom teacher.

It’s time for that again. The sports festival. The event in which the physically adept assert dominance over the others by the use of pure force. It is one of the times where I am glad I am never in the spotlight. I still remember that time in middle sc-

“No one? We have to choose at least one from every class. So decide among yourselves who wants to be a part of the planning committee. Also, the class representatives are already part of the it so they can’t be selected for this.”

My thoughts were broken by sensei speaking.

The class also broke out in hushed discussion on who to choose. Nobody themselves wanted to go. I mean it was obvious that being selected meant doing extra work and who would want that? There was one plus to it though. The people of the planning committee didn’t have to participate in as many events as others.

I was tempted by this condition but after thinking about it for a bit longer I felt the trade-off was way too much. There were still 20 days left till the festival. If I became part of the committee that meant working a couple of hours after school for all those days. Unpaid labour for three weeks vs running and jumping on the field for a few minutes. The result was obvious. I did hate sports and anything of the sort but I could always do the easier ones to fill my quota. Working on paperwork and chores for three weeks on the other hand felt like too much effort.

Just as I was having this internal debate a sharp voice called out, “How about you become the committee member Kanade.”

Boom.

At once all eyes were on the person who spoke instead of on Kanade. As the person who led the biggest clique in the class it was very rarely when you got to see someone go up against her.

It turned out the one who spoke was a girl called Kaname Akatsuki, another girl who held quite the influence but had a different group from Kanade. I tried to remember more details about her when an incident popped up in my mind.

It was last year, but there was this drama between those two. I don’t remember the exact details since at the time it wasn’t really relevant to me and I dismissed it as a minor event, but maybe I should have paid more attention. All I can remember is that it seems to be related to Seiji Nakamura. It was also him who caused the drama to end as well but clearly he hadn’t resolved it in its entirety. Maybe being in the same class was the reason for the tensions to spring up again?

“Unfortunately, I have a part time job I need to do after school so I won’t be able to do both my job and committee work at the same time.” Kanade said in a flat voice, the next second her tone changed as she continued, “How about you Kanade? You seem to be free after school, no?”

Here it was. My absolute perception automatically revved up as I felt Kanade using her trait. She was one of the few people I knew with a Hypnosis type trait which I had named Automatic Agreement.

“I…” Kaname tried to speak but no words came out of her mouth.

She was unable to deny what Kanade had said. This was the ability that Kanade’s trait provided and was also the main reason she was able to lead the biggest clique in not only the class but across the grade.

With her not responding the dam broke and whispers started spreading across the class.

“Yes, Kaname san is a good option.”

“She can do the planning committee job perfectly.”

“I think Kaname san is the most suited among us.”

Seeing the situation around me I could only shake my head at Kaname’s actions. This is what you call digging a trap for yourselves. Trying to get back at Kanade which such a half assed tricks is bound to backfire on you like this.

It was unfortunate for Kaname san but this was not the end. Things would only get worse from here on. She had tried to attack Kanade and lost but from now on Kanade would be the one on the offense. I had seen her do this to others before all the way until her opponent completely fell to the bottom of the hierarchy, abandoned by all friends they had.

And with that small confrontation Kaname Akatsuki was chosen as the committee member from our class.

.

.

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“Hey, Shinji can you come with me for a sec?” Nakamura called me during lunch.

It was obvious he wanted to talk about the thing that happened this morning.

“What happened? It’s rare for you to call me.” I said in a light hearted manner.

We were standing in the corridor on the second floor overlooking the sports field.

“I have a favour to ask of you.”

This really was a rare moment. I had known Nakamura all the way from middle school and he had only asked me for help like this only a couple of times. But if he was like this, it must be a really serious request, something he wasn’t able to do on his own.

“Is it something related to this morning’s incident?” I asked trying to confirm my suspicions.

He nodded, “Yes. I guess I should explain the whole situation.”

After fifteen minutes a lot of my doubts were cleared. It turned out I was right, Nakamura Seiji was involved in the incident between Kaname and Kanade last year, but it was not in the way I had expected at all.

“Wait. So you are dating Kanade’s elder sister?”

I knew Kanade and Seiji were closer than normal. That is why I had thought maybe they were a couple in secret or something like that, but her sister? That would explain why he almost acted like a big brother to Kanade and they even fought like siblings sometimes. But then…

“Why do you want to protect Kaname?”

From what he had told me Kaname Akatsuki seems to like him and had even confessed to him in the past. Unfortunately, she was met with rejection and this was the reason why she hated Kanade. She thought that it was because of her that Seiji rejected her. But if she was just someone who liked him why did he ask me to protect her?

A popular person like Seiji received a confession per week on average, and obviously all of then were rejected the same way. Then why was Kaname Akatsuki special to him?

At my question Seiji’s face turned awkward, but after a pause he replied, “That… Haah… She is a family friend and I have known her from a long time.”

“Don’t try to beat around the bush. Just say she is a childhood friend. Am I wrong?”

He didn’t reply but his silence itself was acceptance.

Thinking about it for a moment this guy was also living a protagonist’s life.

Dating an older woman, the most popular guy in the grade, he even had a childhood friend who had a crush on him for god’s sake.

“Haah…” I sighed as I realized his situation. Although he was a protagonist he was also facing issues that protagonists face. He had to choose between his girlfriend’s sister and his own friend. In such a situation no matter what he did he would come out as the loser.

“So. Will you do it?”

I thought about his request for a while. Seeing what happened today will definitely deter Kaname san from doing anything similar soon in the future, so the main thing now is to stop Kanade’s payback. It could be done if I tried but,

“Why are you asking me? If it is about breaking up fights you are the best at it.”

I was referring to his own suppression type trait, the Peaceful Buddha. It had a very strong suppression affect, almost on par with Akari’s inborn superiority, but it had a very severe requirement. The Peaceful Buddha could only be used when there was a conflict between people and you were on neither side of it.

The suppression effect it produced could even lock down other people’s traits from being used and therefore stopping any sort of conflict. Clearly, his own trait was much more suited than mine for this situation.

“That is correct. I can do that. In fact that is how I stopped them last year. But clearly it was only a short term solution. Stopping them from going at each other is not enough. I want you to resolve the problem.” He paused and looked me in my eyes before continuing, “Also, I know how much you can do. I have seen you do manipulate the situation so many times over the years.”

“Haah…” I sighed before replying to him. “You have helped me so many times in the past. How can I refuse?”

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