After arriving at StoreBucks, Senko found a table for us to share, where we both pced our bags under the tables.

  We decided I will be the one to order while Senko watched over our belongings

  “So what do I buy for you?”

  “Let's see… I want the turkey, provolone & pesto on Ciabatta, if it's not avaible buy me the tomato & mozzarel on Focaccia”

  “Uh huh, what else?” I wrote his lunch order on a sticky note.

  “For drinks, go buy me the Strawberry Crème Cappuccino, or the Matcha Crème Cappuccino.”

  “Alright, I'll be back in a moment.”

  After I finished writing down his order I headed to the counter and waited for a moment to buy our snacks, I bought Senko the Matcha Crème and the turkey, provolone & pesto on Ciabatta.

  Meanwhile, I ordered the Cheese & Fruit Protein Box, The crispy grilled cheese on sourdough, and I just bought the Cinnamon Caramel Cream Cold Brew for a drink.

  It took me about 10 minutes to finish buying our order and bringing them back to our spot.

  Senko and I started doing our homework while enjoying the lunch we ordered. At least until:

  “Yuuki, I have a question to ask you.”

  “If you're gonna ask me when I'll ask Kana out for the culture festival, it's a no so give it up.”

  “That wasn't the question.”

  “Then what is it?”

  “Why did you design your Kyoryu online Avatar to Look exactly like how you are in real life?”

  “That's a good question, I did it because I didn't wanna py someone that wasn't me or at least didn't have a resembnce to me in any way.”

  “That's understandable I guess.”

  “Kana's Avatar Looks a bit simir to how Haruka does in real life with the brunette hair, but she kept it short, and kept the vender eyes Your father had, while you kept your avatar simir to your real-life self too but you made your hair a bit brighter shade of orange and the vender eyes are more saturated.”

  “You pay attention to that many details huh?”

  “Of course I do, stly Haruka's avatar is completely different from her real self, She lengthened her hair, made her eyes a beautiful shade of purple, and stly made herself a bit taller and stly-” I tried to expin until I got interrupted

  “She made her Avatar's breasts rger.” Senko butted in.

  “That wasn't my point.”

  “It's exactly your point Yuuki.”

  “It wasn't.”

  “Whatever you say Mr I have a crush on the popur girl out of my league.”

  I was gonna say she made her ears simir to that of an elves… hold on did he just say “Have a crush out of my league?”

  “Eh?”

  “You thought I hadn't noticed huh?” Senko rested his elbow on the table and His chin on his palm.

  “How did you-”

  “You kept gncing at photos you guys shared together in the cafeteria earlier.”

  Was I really that obvious?

  “Don't you dare tell anyone!” I whispered hurriedly.

  “Rex, It's not like Haruka is the type to notice.”

  “Nah, she's definitely the observant type.”

  “Well, it's not like we're even in the same grade as her anyway.”

  “Apart from earlier, how else did you find out?” I started interrogating Senko.

  “You subtly wrote “Haruka + Yuuki inside a heart” in your notebook st week.”

  “Don't you tell her about this okay?”

  “Rex there, it's none of my business anyway.”

  I wonder if he actually means what he said.

  “Well you did say she's out of my league, so getting together with her is out of the question to begin with.”

  “I wouldn't be so sure about that.” Senko proudly whispered.

  “And why is that the case?”

  “You know how she's part of the friend group that included some of the most popur girls on campus?”

  “So you mean, Ichika, Kotoha, Mizuki, Nagisa, Mako, Ayaka, and Miku right?” I questioned.

  “It's exactly them!”

  “Yes? What about them?”

  “Well while I was walking past them a couple of days ago, I heard one of them mention they found their “Kohai: Yuuki-Kun” pretty cute,” Senko mentioned while he copied my homework.

  “You're kidding right?”

  “Do you ck self-confidence that much?”

  “I mean… kinda, I never really had a girlfriend before, I only had a crush here and there and that's it.”

  “What a hopeless romantic.”

  “Senko, we both know you're not one to talk about self-confidence when you struggled to decide To ask Chika-Chan out on a date st year.”

  “Don't you start with me.”

  “Sigh… Whatever.”

  “Still though, You gotta believe me that you're more popur than you think you are.”

  Senko crossed his arms at me.

  “I'll keep it in mind, thank you.”

  “I'm more popur than I thought” I only hope that was true. If I get popur enough would that make Haruka see me as an equal and not as just a Kohai?

  Senko and I continued working on our homework while enjoying the lunch we got and after some time passed we left the StoreBucks

  “Senko, did our club pn anything for the culture festival?

  Usually, our clubs held a BBQ or mahjong tournament, but tely, our senpais discussed trying out other new activities, so it was a fresh idea for me.

  “I overheard Ayaka-Chan discussing a stage py with Kazuya-Senpai.”

  “I didn't know about that, when did you hear that?”

  “Shortly before we met up outside of css.”

  “No wonder.”

  Our club included Myself, Haruka, Senko, the aforementioned Kazuya and Ayaka, and several other students from our Grade and Haruka's grade.

  Unfortunately, Kana hasn't been part of our Club since she joined the volleyball, basketball, kendo, boxing, and Karate clubs. I respect her diligence.

  “Anyway, is it confirmed they want to do a stage py or?” I interrogated

  “As far as I heard there will be a meeting after css regarding the pns for the culture festival so we might hear about it tomorrow.”

  I remained silent.

  This stage py might be a blessing disguised as a curse or is it the other way around? Because I don't really mind doing stage pys, I'm quite fond of them since my older sister Akane and I did a lot of them back in middle school.

  “Hey Yuuki.”

  I don't mind doing main lead roles as long as the people who are also in the main leads are people I'm close to or comfortable with, and the only people I'm really close to on the club is Senko since I'm really not sure if Haruka would consider us close. We're definitely friends and close but it always felt distant.

  “Yuuki can you hear me?”

  So if they ever announced a romantic stage py, and if I randomly got chosen as main lead then the only person I preferred to py the main lead was Haruka. Not only because she would be the only one I'm comfortable with but it might be a way for us to actually get closer together.

  “Yuuki?”

  But knowing how clubs work they would probably choose someone they consider her equal or at least higher than her in status. A man could dream right…?”

  “YUUKI!” Senko grabbed my shoulders and started shaking me.

  “GRAAAGH! WHAT!?”

  “We walked past your house, already.” Senko ughed.

  “Oh, right… I'm sorry.”

  “It's cool, just don't forget to log on to Kyoryu online ter alright.”

  “I won't forget that.”

  “Well take care then.” Senko gave me a pat on the back.

  While I was entering my house, my phone rang and it was a message from Senko saying:

  “Don't forget that you're more popur than you think you are.”

  “What a dummy.” I joked to myself.

  I entered my home where I spotted Akane who was studying in the living room.

  “I'm back.”

  “Welcome back, Aunty said our food is in the fridge, heat them up in the air fryer or microwave if I wanted,” Akane answered

  “Thanks.” I sat across from her and pced my bag under my chair.

  “How was school today?”

  “You gotta hear this.”

  I told her what happened with Senko all day and how he found out about my thing for Haruka.

  “Well Little brother, the best thing for you to do is just ask out Haruka-chan.”

  “Does that even work?”

  “Of course it does!” Akane nodded to herself.

  “I'll keep that in mind.”

  “Also better make it quick, we both know how popur she is among the boys in your school.”

  “Right…”

  Akane was completely right about that, Haruka usually did become the center of attention whenever she walked past boys.

  A lot of the guys in both the freshmen and sophomores did have interest in Haruka, it was like men simply became allured by her.

  “Need help Yuuki?”

  “I can manage, and besides Senko and I are pying Kyoryu online ter, so I'll probably have him help me.”

  “Have some faith in Your Onee-chan.”

  “I do have faith in you, I just don't like relying on your help

  all the time, kinda feeling guilty about it.”

  “Aww don't be like that!”

  Akane sat on my p and gave me several headpats like I was supposed to be a puppy.

  “Are you teasing me?”

  “Only a bit.”

  How funny.