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Chapter 68 – Request for Cooperation
I was on my  way to another classroom for the fifth period when it happened.
I was blending in with the crowd while watching Umi and Amami-san, who was ahead of me, chatting and laughing like usual.
“Maehara, after school, can you come to the back of the club building?”
“Huh?”
Seki-kun suddenly wrapped his hand around my shoulders and asked me that question.
This guy was Seki Nozomu, a member of the baseball club.
He was the only boy who interacted often with Amami-san’s group. I think everyone called him ‘Nozomu’ or ‘Non’.
In my boredom, I occasionally overheard my other classmate’s conversations and  he was often the topic of the conversation. So, even though he wasn’t my friend or anything, I knew plenty about him.
When I did that and a funny conversation came up, I would usually curl up on my desk while holding back my laughter.

I know it’s a strange thing to do, but give me a break, I was a loner for the longest time and that was my only pastime in class. Of course I stopped doing that ever since I befriended Umi, so instead of doing that, I was on my phone more often than not.
Well, that aside, let’s deal with Seki-kun first.
I wonder if this is that cliche where someone would summon another guy to a deserted place and surround him to make him know his place? I saw it happen back when I was in middle school, will I be the victim this time?
Aside from actually witnessing it, I know that this kind of thing is pretty common. Some upperclassmen would do this to discipline their misbehaving juniors and stuff.
But, he should have no reason to do it to me, right? 
Wait a second, that isn’t true. There was a rumor of me and Amami-san dating. That should be enough reason for him to do something like this to me.
“
i
 Oi, Maehara?”
“Y-Yes? W-What is it?”
“Oi oi, relax. I’m not going to do anything to you, there’s just something I want to tell you. I don’t want anyone to overhear it, you see?”
“I-I see
”
As soon as Seki-kun, who was 6 feet tall wrapped his hand around my shoulders, I got unnecessarily anxious, but it seemed like he really didn’t want to do anything to me. His expression looked sincere after all.
However, what kind of secret would he even tell me? 
Wait, could it be?
“Uh
 Are you, maybe?”
“Anyway, please meet me after school, okay? And if you can, please don’t tell Asanagi about this for now.”
“Got it. After school at the back of the club building?”
“Yeah, sorry for the trouble
 I’m counting on you
”
After a few more words, he left me and went back to his usual group and pretended like nothing happened.
I was surprised since his request came out of nowhere, so I unconsciously agreed to it. Well, it seemed like he really needed me, so it wouldn’t hurt to hear him out. If I couldn’t help him, I could just say so, no big deal.
I hope that his group won’t gang up on me if I refuse his request though

*  *  *
After school, I headed to the meet up location alone. Before I headed over, I notified Umi about this.
Seki-kun told me to not tell her about it, but I knew that even though she appeared like she was giving all her attention to Amami-san, she was actually paying close attention to me. Even if I kept silent, she was bound to find out about this and I don’t want to cause her unnecessary worry, so I decided to let her know.
[Maehara: Umi.]
[Asanagi: What is it?]
[Maehara: I can’t go back home together today.]
[Maehara: Got some business to take care of.]
[Asanagi: Hmm
]
[Asanagi: Are you meeting up with someone?]
[Maehara: Well, yeah
]
[Maehara: I can’t tell you about it though.]
[Maehara: They told me to keep quiet.]
[Asanagi: Got it.]
[Asanagi: It’s Seki, isn’t it?]
She knew.
She probably saw Seki-kun talking to me
 I felt a shiver run down my spine.
[Maehara: I don’t think anything weird will happen, don’t worry.]
[Asanagi: I know, but still
]
[Asanagi: Fine, I won’t do anything, but please take care of yourself, okay?]
[Maehara: Don’t worry, if anything happens, I’ll let you know.]
[Asanagi: Okay.]
Umi was being overprotective. It was proof that her past still tied her down somehow.
It wasn’t like she doesn’t trust me or anything, she’s probably feeling uneasy about this somewhere in her heart.
Well, there wasn’t a lot I could do about it but to help her get over her past little by little.
Anyway, I went to the promised place. Seki-kun was ahead of me since he left as soon as the class ended for his club activities.
I’ve never gone to the club building since it was always crowded, and it was also on the opposite side of my favorite spots at school.
There were two buildings there, one for keeping the sport’s equipment and one was the actual club building. I went to the former building and saw that Seki-kun was already waiting for me there when I arrived.
“Yo, Maehara. Sorry to call you out to a place like this, but I had to take care of the equipment or else the coach and the upperclassmen would scold me.”
I guess they assigned chores like this to the freshmen. He was polishing the dusty pitching machine and some balls. It seemed like he didn’t cut any corners since everything that he cleaned looked as good as new.
In class, he looked really lazy, but he seemed to take his club activities very seriously.
“So, what’s up?”
“Right. I still have more work to do, so I’ll just get straight to the point.”
He bowed to me.
“Maehara, please. I need your help so I can get closer to Amami-san before the Christmas party begins!”
“
I knew it
”
I knew that he liked Amami-san, so I kind of expected this.
Well
 Let’s hear him out at least.