That was the moment I realized that Amami-san was angry. She went through a lot because of him, even more than what I had to go through. It was completely understandable that she'd explode in anger like this.
Everyone called her an angel and such, but in the end, she was just a normal girl. Whenever she found out that her friends were wronged, the tone of her voice would become more stern than usual, just like what happened with Arae-san.
I always thought of her as the kind of person who wore her expression on her sleeve. But, the current her was…
"Ooyama-kun, let me ask you something. What made you think that you and Maki-kun were similar? Because you thought you had a similar personality? Height? Face?"
"T-That's…"
Quiet anger. That was the closest expression I could use to describe her current state. Sensing that there was something in Amami-san's smile, Ooyama-kun stumbled on his words.
This situation felt more like an interrogation than anything.
"Y-Yuuchin, what's wrong? Y-You're scaring me."
"Yuu, I understand how you feel, but calm down, okay?"
Sensing her mood, Umi and Nitta-san immediately rushed to her side. But, after saying "Don't mind me," to both of them, she continued on.
"You two are completely different people. The only similarity that you two have is your atmosphere and that's it. At your core, you two are completely different. Even that similarity has changed since last autumn. Maki-kun, who had been working hard since then and you, who had only been trying to drag other people down to your level, do you think that you'll grow the same way as him?"
"T-That might be true, but–"
"But what? Are you still trying to say you're similar to him? In what sense? Sprint time? Grades? He beat you in both regards. He has a girlfriend who he cherishes while you don't. Now, tell me, why do you think that you're similar to him? What makes you think that he's 'lower' than you?"
"…"
Unable to answer, Ooyama-kun just shrunk down on the spot.
He probably knew that our positions had become completely different since long ago, but he was blinded by his jealousy and pride.
Amami-san likely knew this as well.
This situation reminded me of back when she confronted Arae-san on her own. Except that back then, she was by herself, meanwhile right now, we were right behind her.
This alone gave her more authority as we could back her up the moment Ooyama-kun tried to argue against her words.
…But this shouldn't go any further. As I said earlier, our goal was to solve the problem as soon as possible, not trying to get our revenge on Ooyama-kun and his friends.
Revenge would only bring us temporary peace of mind.
"I understand your feelings, Amami-san, but let's just stop. He won't dare to do anything else to us and honestly, who cares about what he and everyone thinks about me."
"But, Maki-kun…"
"Yuu, please. None of us want you to go this far, okay?"
"Yuuchin, this is enough. Rep is right, any more than this and we'll become the bully instead of the victim."
"Umi… Ninacchi…"
When the three of us managed to calm Amami-san down, Ooyama-kun let out a sigh of relief.
"Ooyama-kun, just go. We don't need you anymore."
"B-But…"
"Just go, and forget about what Amami-san said earlier. Don't forget about what I said earlier either… Also, good work for the backboard."
"…Sorry, Maehara-kun."
After confirming that Ooyama-kun left the vicinity, we brought Amami-san to a nearby chair and sat her down there.
"Here Yuu, drink some water, then take a deep breath."
"…"
Amami-san obeyed Umi's instructions, gulped the water she gave her and took deep breaths repeatedly.
For a minute or so, she remained silent with her face leaning on Umi's shoulders. After a while, her breathing became calmer. She then muttered a few words,
"…Are you kidding me? What the hell was he on about?"
"Yuu?"
"He made light of you and Maki-kun… The people I hold dear, the ones that always stood by my side whenever I needed them. He thought he was the same kind of person as Maki-kun? Seriously, don't make me laugh…"
Her impulsive actions must be a result of her guilt over the ongoing bad rumors about us. But more than that, it was the result of us being the people that she cherished.
While I was happy that she was thinking about me that way, what she had done just now was a little out of line.
In any case, since there was still time before the assembly, we decided to take a rest inside the student council room.
"Oi, I saw that Ooyama guy just now— Ah, you guys already talked to him?"
"Good morning, Nozomu. Is that your cheering outfit? It looks good on you."
"Hm? Ah yeah, thanks. It's old and smells a little, but it still fits me."
It seemed like he immediately rushed to us after he changed his outfit. He was wearing the school's cheering squad outfit. From the length and the embroidered names on the back of the outfit, it seemed like they had been using this same outfit for generations. With that in mind, it made the outfit look even cooler.
Because he just got back from his practice, he hadn't been involved in the previous squabble. Thanks to that, he was still acting cheerful like always. That cheerfulness was pretty infectious as it relaxed the tense atmosphere in the room.
"…You know, I had been racking my brain, trying to come up with something to drive away this bad atmosphere and you came here cluelessly, but somehow did what I couldn't do. Also, what kind of couple play were you two doing? 'It looks good on you'? 'Ah, thank you'? Are you trying to feed us BL?"
"What? What the hell are you on about? We're friends! Don't make it sound weird!"
"But you were blushing when I gave you that compliment."
"Why are you encouraging her?!"
As we made that silly exchange, everyone's expressions started to loosen up.
"…Hehe."
Amami-san, who had been watching us, giggled. It felt like it had been a while since I last saw that expression of hers.
"Is everything okay now, Yuu?"
"Mhm. Thank you, Umi. Sorry, Maki-kun, I took Umi from you just now… It should have been you who monopolized Umi's shoulders, not me…"
"…Can you stop talking as if he has the exclusive rights for my shoulders? …I mean, it's true, but we don't do it all the time, you know…"
A few minutes before the assembly, Amami-san had returned to her normal mood.
Although the thing that happened just now would affect her in some way or another, she should be able to focus on the festival now that everything is over.
If we were to do our best, we should be able to drive the bad atmosphere away.
"Ah, right, since the five of us are here, let's do a quick huddle! I know we can do it later, but this is the only time we could do this with only the five of us."
"Sure, let's do it! It's a good way to get into the mood."
"Ngh… It's embarrassing though… Well, whatever, no one is watching us anyway, doing it once in a while should be fine… Alright, I'll be in your care, Rep."
"I haven't said anything yet… Whatever, you up for it, Nozomu?"
"Sure. I'm in a different group, but you know what? Let's just do it for the hell of it."
I never thought that I'd do such a normie thing in my life, but here I was.
This would be added to the list of our good memories together.
"…Uh, everyone, put your hand out."
I moved my hand forward and everyone followed suit.
Umi, Amami-san, Nitta-san, lastly Nozomu.
I could feel the weight of their hands on the back of mine.
The warmth of the friends that I'd always cherish.
"By the way, how should we do it? Should we call out our team name? 'Blue team, hurrah!' something like that?"
"I don't know… It isn't like our group has a name… Even our group chat doesn't have a proper name…"
The group started with Umi and me by ourselves. Then, the number increased one by one. Since we had no plan to add anyone else to the group, I guess it was time for us to decide a proper name for the group.
However, I couldn't think of a good name.
"Here's an idea! Let's name our group 'Umi-chan's' because she's the one holding our reins!"
"Nina, I swear… Whatever, don't use my name. Maki's the one who made the group, so we should use his name instead."
"So, 'Maki-kun's'? Hmm… That doesn't sound right to me…"
"Is that so? Then, how about we take a little bit of both and call the group 'Maki-chan's'?"
"…"
Somehow, I became the leader of the group even though in reality, the three girls were the one who decided on everything that our group did. Whatever, we could just leave it as a tentative name. We could always change it later.
Though it seemed like everyone settled on keeping that name. Whatever, I'll just accept this as my fate.
"Alright, one, two–"
"""""Three!"""""
'Maki-chan's! Fight! Hurrah!'
…I didn't know if it was because of the mood, but it felt like everyone was pumped up. Then again, this was how our usual group was.
Now, all we had to do was enjoy the festival.