Nagase and Otaku-kun

Shibuya, 11:00 PM.

[Otaku-kun, are you surprised? lol]

[Yeah, I was startled to suddenly get a message from Nagase-san. How did you get my mobile email address?]

[Did you forget? Otaku-kun, you filled out your info when registering for the student council election. I peeked at it while standing next to you lololol]

[I see. I suppose that was my oversight.]

[What are you doing, Otaku-kun?]

[Watching the latest anime. I just finished the final episode and was discussing the plot with some friends.]

[Is that so? Is it the new one, <Bunny Girl Hair Tie, Met a Runaway Dog Boy on the Way Out>?]

[Whoa, you watch that too?]

[Of course. Don't you remember us talking about the plot before?]

[I forgot. Now that you mention it, you're right. Sorry.]

[It's okay lololol]

Nagase Kumari lay on her bed with a lollipop in her mouth, having already changed out of her school uniform into an oversized men's dress shirt.

She swung her long legs, painted with pink nail polish, while her damp hair draped loosely over her shoulders.

Looking at the emoji in the reply on her phone, Nagase Kumari curled her lips into a faint smile and hugged the phone to type back.

[Otaku-kun is always apologizing.]

[Sorry.]

[Ah, see? Apologizing again.]

[I'm used to it. Sorry.]

[It's okay.]

[Um, Nagase-san, what are you doing?]

[I'm preparing to draw our campaign flyer. We're running for student council president, aren't we? Such a fun thing needs to be prepared properly.]

Pulling out a notebook from beneath her chest, Nagase Kumari grabbed a pen and began to twirl it.

Her raised feet swayed rhythmically in the air.

She wasn't lying; there were indeed a few simple lines already sketched out on the page.

[Sorry, I thought you were just saying that.]

[Apologizing again? It's only natural for you to think that, Otaku-kun. After all, I give off the impression of being a bit flighty.]

[Th-that's not it. I actually don't think you're as frivolous as you appear on the surface.]

[...]

She paused, and the swaying of her feet came to a halt.

She stared at the phone screen, the dim light reflecting off the display illuminating her surroundings.

This wasn't a cozy home, but a rather cramped single room.

Everywhere in this room, one could see unwashed, messy clothes and clutter, with mineral water bottles filled with cigarette butts scattered carelessly in the corner.

Noisy, rowdy sounds drifted in from outside the window, and mountains of black trash bags occupied the hallway space.

Under a night sky polluted by the surrounding environment, the air was thick with the smell of mold and cigarette smoke.

Picking up a half-finished juice from the side, Nagase Kumari shifted her posture and held up her phone to reply.

[Let's stop talking about me. Otaku-kun, what kind of patterns do you think we should add to our flyer? I originally thought about drawing some anime stuff, but I'm not sure what kind of work would be appropriate.]

[I see. I agree. If it's an anime people aren't familiar with, they might not understand it, but if it's something popular, it might get more attention.]

[Then how about a magical girl? Or a dark executive?]

[Uh, that probably won't work. We'd likely get a warning from the disciplinary committee. After all, magical girls don't exactly have high defense stats.]

[How about using a Demon King and Hero theme? That's a classic, right?]

[That doesn't really have much to do with a student council election.]

[So what should we use?]

[How about using characters or motifs from anime centered on student councils? It would be best if we could highlight what makes us different from the other candidates.]

[Good idea! Aren't you quite capable, Otaku-kun? To think you could come up with such a great idea.]

[Hehehehe, it's just because I've watched a lot of anime. I'm just copying what the protagonists did in the shows, it's nothing special.]

[Even so, I think it's amazing.]

[Really? I actually think Nagase-san is the amazing one...]

Before Nagase Kumari could finish reading the message sent by Fukayama Midori, someone pressed down on her from behind.

Accompanied by the same smell of cigarette smoke that permeated this cramped room, the senior's voice echoed beside her ear.

"What are you doing, Nagase? Who are you texting? Let me see."

After saying this, Osawa Nobuhiko leaned in, wanting to see who Nagase Kumari was texting so intently that she hadn't even noticed his footsteps.

Seeing Osawa Nobuhiko leaning in, Nagase Kumari shoved her hand against his face to hold him back.

She smiled, refusing him in a tone that wouldn't easily cause offense: "Oh, don't go snooping through my messages. I'm just discussing something, that's all."

Pushed away by Nagase Kumari, Osawa Nobuhiko wrapped his arms around her waist and noticed the notebook with lines drawn on it sitting to the side, and he understood.

"Oh, is it that kid you met this afternoon? You aren't thinking of following him, are you?"

"No way? Osawa-senpai, don't let your imagination run wild."

Nagase Kumari laughed and swatted at Osawa's hands as they began to wander.

"We're just classmates, you know. If Otaku-kun heard you say that, he might get scared, don't you think?"

"Osawa-senpai, you just love overthinking things. Aren't I still right here?"

"Don't spend all day worrying about this and that. Instead of me, why don't you talk about yourself? You're back so early, Osawa-senpai? I thought you'd be back much later."

Listening to Nagase Kumari's voice, Osawa took off his jacket and hugged her tightly, somewhat roughly, pressing his face against her back.

As if he could finally relax, Osawa said in a lazy tone: "We really weren't supposed to be back this early; we wanted to pick a few more fights with some salarymen."

"But we didn't expect to run into actual yakuza. All those tattoos and bulging muscles were terrifying. They asked us if we wanted to go with them to make big money."

"My companions all wanted to go, and I wanted to go too, but it turned out they only wanted dropouts and the unemployed. Since I'm still a third-year high school student, I was out of luck."

"They all followed that yakuza group, and since I was alone, I figured I might as well come home. It's a good thing, too—I get to see if you're still here. If you ever left, I'd just hunt you down and lock you away where you couldn't go anywhere."

Feeling the scorching body heat from behind and the increasingly tight grip of Osawa-senpai's arms, Nagase Kumari chuckled to comfort him.

"Don't think so much, Osawa-senpai. I know you're someone who is very afraid of being lonely."

"Then you have to keep me company properly today."

"Ah, wait a second, Osawa..."

The phone originally held in Nagase Kumari's hand accidentally dropped, and before she could reach for it, her wrists were pinned down by Osawa from behind.

On the phone screen, the email address for Fukayama Midori was flashing with a notification for a new message.