By the time I reached the Acting Club, it was mostly empty. There wasn't anyone that was hanging around the door, and the chattering earlier couldn't be heard from anywhere. But the door was still opened, though.
Taking a closer look inside the club, it was mostly empty. There weren't much tables laying around, but that's what I expected, since the Acting Club always does rehearsals. But there was a lone table with a person writing something in a paper.
"Hana-chan's skills are more of a match for the side character, and Yayoi-chan is much more suitable for a leading act..."
A girl was in that lone desk, muttering some random words. The girl in question was Ayane Matsumoto, Senpai-san.
"Yo, Senpai-san," I said, calling out to her.
There wasn't any reason for me to come here. But for some reason, when I was running, my feet just ended up running to this specific club.
"Kouhai-kun? What are you doing here?" she asked. She stood up and immediately went towards my direction. "Did you get spotted by the girls outside? It would've been quite disastrous, you know?"
"Well, only one. Seems like they were quite understanding of what would happen to me, and decided to help me out. She said her name is Kasumi Ibott-san."
"Kasumi Ibott...," she muttered as she put of hand on her chin. "Ahh, that's right!"
"What?"
"I hadn't assigned a role as to what Ibott-san is supposed to play!"
"That's surprising. Most of you are already on with your new play, though."
They did a play that was pretty much unforgettable for the first-years. The club went and made a welcome play for the first-years, and it was absolutely splendid. This time, although early, Senpai-san started creating a new script for their new play.
"Well, Ibott-san is new to the club and school, and because of her incredible appearance, it made it pretty hard for me to come up with the perfect character for her role. It's a real mess right now," she said as she scratched her head and giggled.
"She's new to the school?" I asked.
"Yeah. I heard she transferred just awhile ago from a different school here in Japan. I'm pretty sure it was in your class though. Haven't you seen her there?"
"In my class...?"
Af far as I remember, there isn't a single foreigner that got transferred in this school, much less our class.
"Wait, you seriously didn't know that?" she asked.
"Well, I must've been really out of it lately...," I said. "I haven't even been listening to my teachers well these days..."
"That's some serious case of too much daydreaming. Is something wrong?"
I tried to answer, but all that I got was a rumble from my stomach. It seems that I was hungry.
"Oh, that's right, Shimamura-san has been eating your lunch nowadays, hadn't she?" she asked.
"Yeah..."
I hadn't been eating my lunch these days due to Shimamura-san eating it, and I'm not sure if I've even been eating right these days.
"That girl, just barging into your classroom and stealing your lunch... Has she got no lunch for herself?" Senpai-san reached down to her bag and pulled something out. "Here. It feels like you need it more than me."
She handed me a lunch box wrapped in pink cloth and some eating utensils, mainly a spoon.
"But..."
"Don't worry, it's fine. I was kind of planning on going on a diet, anyways."
"You don't seem to have much weight to lose, though."
She was already frame perfect for every single guy in this school, and her title of the Three Deadly Beauties also proves my point.
"A girl can never be to cautious about her weight!"
I reached out to the lunch box, unwrapped the cloth, and opened the box. What appeared before me was a chunk of yellow stuff just packed into this one box. And taking a closer look at it...
"...Omelette rice?" I asked.
"Yeah," she said, nodding as she smiled. "For some reason, I just wanted to make that. I guess it was right, since this is what you usually eat every lunch, right?"
For some reason, I was somehow taken aback by this texture. The yellow color that was back then kind of dull to see whenever I opened my lunch, suddenly became nostalgic, even to the point of surprising me.
I sheepishly nodded, and then took the spoon and ate a spoonful of it.
"...It's good," I said. "It's really good, Senpai-san."
"Oh, really? I guess it was worth making it then!"
I couldn't stop eating. Even though it felt like I was rushing to gulp the entire contents of the box down, I was taking the spoonful one step at a time.
"It really is...so good..."
"Eh? Kouhai-kun?"
I kept eating and eating. Every single bite that I take feels out of this world. I'm getting hit by a blast of nostalgia for every bite that I take, like I was some time traveller who went back to their high school days.
"Kouhai-kun...," Senpai-san called out to me. This time, the usual cheerful tone changing to that of worry. "If it's that delicious, then...why are you crying?"
"...Eh...?"
I was focused on eating that I never realized my surroundings. I was ignoring my entire being, and only chewing and biting as I savoured the taste of Senpai-san's omelette rice. I was only focused on that.
Drops fell into the table. Tiny water drops which was separated from by at least an inch away were falling down, making the table wet. Before I realized it, I was already dropping tears that I'd never show to anyone.
I wanted to wipe them away, but for some reason, the only thing that I wanted to do was eat Senpai-san's lunch. I didn't care about my tears, about my feelings, and kept eating away.
"...Is everything alright, Kouhai-kun?" Senpai-san asked.
When I looked at her direction, she had a gentle smile on her face, as if a mother comforting her little one. Not only was the food nostalgic, but her tone of voice, her gentle words, they really take me back.
The only thing that I could do was stare at her with my face stained with tears as I munched her lunch. With my attention focused on her, my throat suddenly got stuck with food and coughed vigorously.
"W-Water...!" I pleaded.
Senpai-san reached for her bag rather calmly as she pulled out a bottle of water, handing to me as I quickly took the cap off and started drinking. By the time I finished, I began to feel a warm sensation, slowly enveloped my entire back.
I put the half-drunk bottle of water down on the table and, as I sniffled, asked Senpai-san a question while my voice sounded husky.
"Senpai-san, why are you hugging me right now...?" I asked as I tried to conceal the pain that I was feeling.
"Kouhai-kun, you've always been so nice to people."
That wasn't true.
"You've been carrying the burdens of many people, and trying to solve them on your own, comforting them as you go on."
Those weren't true.
"But I imagine that all of it must've been too much, wasn't it?"
"..."
I couldn't respond.
I couldn't think of any way to deny those words she had said. It would've been better if I didn't know her, but I did. And right now, when I'm gaslighting myself into thinking I'm the worst, Senpai-san is using her time to try and comfort me.
"Remember your mom's words?" she asked. "'Whenever you feel like someone is feeling troubled, say this to them. 'I can give you hugs and headpats.'', wasn't it?"
Finally receiving the final blow, I couldn't contain my feelings any longer. My cries became louder, my tears rushed faster, and my body became more limp that it already was, making me lean in on Senpai-san as she gave me what I gave her three years ago.
"Have you calmed down now?" Senpai-san asked after about a few minutes of me crying my eyes out.
I let out my emotions in front of my friend. The burden that was placed upon me that was feeling rather heavy, suddenly became much more balanced as Senpai-san shared to me what I gave to her.
I was rather dumbfounded. I couldn't believe myself that I did all of that in front of my senior, and yet I was impressed that I somehow managed to do it anyway. That didn't matter now, though, as I kept my somewhat bottled up feelings escape me. All that could be heard from me now was just tiny little sniffles like a child who just finished crying.
"Thanks, Senpai-san," I said. "Seems like I really needed this."
She unwrapped her hand around my head and took a seat in front of me as she placed her head on her hand, smiling at me while in a comforting voice.
"Your welcome, Kouhai-kun," she said. "What happened that made you cry that much, anyway?"
"Well..."
Though a little hesitant, I managed to somehow explain it all in one go, explaining in detail about what problems I had, how much trouble I was having to fix it, so on and so forth. Senpai-san patiently listened to me, sometimes nodding her head to encourage me to continue speaking.
After quite some time spanning most of the lunch break, I finally finished speaking. The heaviness of those words lifted, kinda like how it felt when I was bawling my eyes out earlier.
"So this all happened because of Aki-chan, huh...," Senpai-san muttered.
I had no way of denying that, so I just nodded.
"...Well, I guess you can do this, Kouhai-kun," she said with a smile. "You've helped me before with my problems, especially when I was in rock bottom at the time, so if anyone can lift you up again, it's gonna be you."
I looked at her in the eyes, and they seemed to say that everything was going to be okay. They assured me that everything will eventually work out.
"...But that's not all, isn't it, Senpai-san?"
"Hm?"
"Without you by my side today, I would've been in crumbles. Shaping myself would be incredibly difficult. So for that, I really do owe you one."
Without realizing it, my hand slowly moved towards her head and placed it on top. I started petting her. Thankfully, her reaction seemed to be neutral as I kept petting her.
"You're welcome, Kouhai-kun," she said, as if granting me permission to pet her more. "Remember that there are people that are also willing to help you with your problems, and that I'll always be that part of people."
With that final message in mind, the reminder bell rang, indicating that lunch break was almost over.