(Un)Fortunately the Yandere is Not After Me

Train Shot

It was now the time for Arata to finally take his plan into action. He felt bad about fooling Ichiri to join Matsu without realizing that him and the others would be joining in. The thought that this was all necessary repeated in his mind to try and calm his nerves.

"So, you ready to head out?" Ichiri asked as they entered the station. It wasn't a long trip to go to head to the next town over. Her aunt was expecting them to come, so things should go rather simple.

"Actually, I had a few friends that also wanted to join us." Matsu maintained her usual cheerful attitude as they spoke, despite very rarely ever acknowledging the other.

"Uh, sure." It seemed weird to have so many people going to pick up some seeds. Even one person could do that on their own, but Ichiri accepted because she wanted an excuse to try and get out of the house. Even if that girl was friends with Arata, she felt it was safe enough to hang out with her to try and move on from her broken heart. "Is it just the rest of the gardening club?"

"Not really." Matsu uneasily admitted. It didn't seem like a good idea to mention that Arata would be joining them on this trip.

"Hello." Speaking of him, the boy appeared to them along with the rest of the library committee and Yuriko. When Ichiri laid her eyes on him, her heart sunk beyond the floor. She froze as the group greeted her and Matsu.

"It's good to see you all again." She politely responded. However, on the inside the girl was already thinking that there was no way she could come with them and help out. That would mean having to see Arata the entire day. There was no way her heart could take the pain of being constantly reminded of how worthless she was to him. Compared to the other girls in his life, whether or not they were even romantically interested in him, it was clear to her that she was at the bottom of that list.

Not only that, but she was also on thin ice with Yurime and Hifumi. After quitting the committee, their relationship also took a massive hit. This past month had been the worst of her life.

"Looks like everyone's here now." Hifumi announced. "So let's board the train before it leaves us behind." Now it was too late for anyone to back out now as they got on together. While this day wasn't marked on the calendar for Yurime and Hifumi, they certainly couldn't complain about getting the opportunity to go out with friends for the weekend.

Once they were on, Arata took the chance to make his first step in getting back close to Ichiri. That being to sit besides her on the way there to chat. He waited for her to take a spot first, and once she finally sat down there was another problem. It seemed that this girl wasn't in the mood to be with her 'friends'. Since she chose a spot that didn't have any free space on either side.

On the bright side, he was able to take a handle and stand right in front of the girl instead. This might have made him seem like a weirdo, seeing as there were free seats around for the boy to sit at during the train ride.

"So, how have you been?" Arata began with the small talk now that he had her cornered. The more this situation was thought about, the worse it made him seem to the outside world. "Has school been going well for you?"

"Um, I've been fine." She answered, refusing to meet his eye contact. If seeing him was already an issue for her, then talking to him was even more bothersome. Ichiri didn't have any words she wanted to say to him other than to tell him to leave. To her, she was a girl he should no longer be wasting any time on anymore.

"That's good." She left little room for him to keep this up without making it awkward. "Um..." Now that he thought about things, what was there for him to bring up with this girl? The only stuff he knew about her was how arrogant she was about herself and her accomplishments. Actually, that did give him an idea. "I heard that you also helped out the students who were setting up the student council speeches. That was nice of you, and it certainly couldn't have been easy while also running your own campaign."