(I'm really sorry, it's not like I forgot... I was just a little busy and it was a bit of a lapse in attention...)
Shijo Maki!! In my previous life, we were close friends who would confide in each other about our love lives and often go out together. At the school festival... Shijo Maki gave me the push I needed to take a step forward. I had to watch my best friend and the person I had a crush on flirt with each other so many times, and each time I saw her looking at me with dead eyes...
Why is such a good person suffering?
Does God not exist in this world?
When will I finally be able to be happy?
That's what Ishigami had always thought.
(Okay, I need to calm things down first...)
I bought a hot cocoa milk from the vending machine and immediately handed it to Maki-senpai.
"Please, senior."
"Sniff... Hmph, not bad at all."
Maki-senpai tilted the can with gusto, gulped it down in one go, and made a loud slurping sound.
"Ahhh... I feel a little calmer now."
"That's good... Cacao polyphenols are effective in relieving stress. Tryptophan, a substance found in milk, is a building block for serotonin, a neurotransmitter often called the 'happiness hormone.' Hopefully, drinking this will help restore your drastically reduced happiness hormone levels."
"I'm gonna grab you."
"Can I ask your name first?"
"Oh, you don't know me? ...And that uniform means you're from middle school. I guess I'll tell you! My name is Shijo Maki! I'm a genius who's third in my grade and a legitimate descendant of the Shinomiya family!"
"Wow, that Shinomiya family..."
"That's right! The current student council vice president, Kaguya Shinomiya, is mine." *smug*Second great-auntHatoko Ooba
"That's why it's so far away."
"...that's why?"
"Oh, no, that's nothing. So, why were you crying, Shijo-senpai?"
"..."
"Well, I won't force you to talk about something you don't want to, but... if you have a problem, sometimes talking to someone can help solve it, you know?"
"...As a thank you for the cocoa, I'll tell you a special story."
10 minutes later...
"So... the Hoshinsai festival will be held at the senior high school next month..."
"Yes, sniff..."
"When I tried to ask out someone I like, I got embarrassed and ended up cursing them..."
"Uh...ugh..."
"In the end, I couldn't bring myself to ask her out, and I was feeling self-loathing."
"Uuuuh... sob..."
"..."
(Poor guy. If he just asked her honestly, he could easily become lovers with Kashiwagi-sama and the not-so-divine Tsubasa-senpai. Kashiwagi-sama and...not-so-divine...Aaaah!? That's right! They're not dating yet!!)
Ishigami notices.
(The previous Maki-senpai was in a situation like a hero with no equipment challenging a god alone, but now that she's not a god, this is a normal chance, isn't it...?)
But then! At this point, past memories flash through Yu Ishigami's mind like a kaleidoscope!
Nagisa... I love you...
Tsubasa... Me too...
(But if I give her advice and the tsundere senior ends up dating Tsubasa-senpai, wouldn't that mean that happy couple would cease to exist...?)
Guilt!! Having witnessed the seemingly happy couple Kashiwagi and Tsubasa together, Ishigami felt an overwhelming sense of guilt!!
(Oh no, I feel so guilty I could die... but if I do nothing, it would be cruel to my tsundere senior... I feel like crying...)
"Sniff... Sigh, there's no point in saying something like this to someone younger than me. I probably won't be able to say anything useful..."
"Sniff..."
"Oh, I'm so sorry! You went to all the trouble of listening to me, and yet I..."
(...He's a good person...Okay.)
"Um... If you're too embarrassed to ask me out on a date at the school festival, why don't you try saying it differently?"
"...The way you say it?"
"Yes, there's a school festival at the middle school at the end of this month, and I'm going to invite them. The way I'll invite them is... I'll say something like, 'It seems like some of the younger students are setting up a stall at the middle school, so I'm going to go check it out, and since I'm going anyway, why don't you come along?' I'll make it seem like the real purpose is just to check out the younger students..."
"W-well, that much is fine... but, but, what if I get rejected...?"
"It's okay, there's no guy who would turn down a girl's invitation. My class is actually going to be running a takoyaki stand, so that should be a good reason to check it out."
"R-Right... I'm the one who's going out of my way to invite you... There's no way you'd refuse!"
"Yes, please try your best to ask them out."
"...Hey, why do you go that far with someone you've just met, even if they're your senior?"
"...When you have someone you like, you want their feelings to be reciprocated, right? It's so nerve-wracking just talking to them, and you're so happy when you're with them, but then you start to worry if they like you back, and your head is a jumble of all sorts of emotions, but the feeling of liking them shines brightly. ...And when I look at my senior, I just want to cheer them on."
"Hmph! What a weirdo!"
"...That might be the case."
"What's your name?"
"My name is Ishigami Yu."
"So, Ishigami Yu...right. I'll remember that. Be proud! That I remember your name!"
"Hahaha. Thank you, Shijo-senpai."
"I'm going now, bye."
"Yes, please do your best."
I let out a sigh as I watched the retreating back of my tsundere senior...
(Well, in the end, it's up to Tsubasa-senpai to decide who she dates... I was just giving her some advice... It's not like I'm trying to shirk responsibility or anything like that.)
Ishigami shifted all the blame onto Tanuma Tsubasa.