4★town | DDLC au | PLEASE READ THE INFO CHAPTER!

{Act 1} - Planning..Part 2

"Aw man... I'm the last one here again!" "Don't worry, I just walked in too." I say to Jesse. "Were you practicing piano again?" Tae asks "Yeah.. Ahaha..." something seems off. "You must have a lot of determination. Starting this club, now picking up piano..." Tae adds "Well, maybe not determination... but I guess passion remember that the club wouldn't be here if it wasn't for all of you. And I'm super happy that you're all willing to help out for the festival, too!" "Aaah, I can't wait for the festival! It's going to be great!" "Eh? Weren't you complaining about it just yesterday, Robaire?" "Well, yeah I'm not talking about our part of the festival. But it's a whole day of school where we get to ay and eat all kinds of delicious food!" "You sound a bit like T all of a sudden..." I say. "Jesse! Do they usually have fried squid?" "Squid...? That's a pretty specific thing to look forward to..." "Oh, come on. Are you saying you don't like squid? You, of all people?" "Eh? I didn't say I didn't like it. Besides, what do you mean by 'you of all people'?" "Because!(isn't a line like saying the last e as eew-)" "Eh?!  That's not how you say my name at all! Also, that joke makes no sense in translation!" "...?" "Ah...never mind! Let's just focus on our own event for now, okay?" "Ehehe. Fine, fine. Your reactions aren't as fun as Tae's are T's, anyway." "Excuse me..." Tae says. "Where is T, anyway...? Oh, there you are." T is sitting at a desk in the corner of the room, looking down at nothing. I walk over to him.  "Hey, T." I wave my hand infront of his face. "Eh—?" "You're spacing out again" "A-Ah... ehehe, sorry... don't mind me. You can go talk to everyone else." "Huh... is everything alright?" "O-Of course! Why wouldn't it be?" "It just feels like you're a little off...  sorry for assuming things." "Jeez, you worry to much about me. I'm fine, see?" T shows me a big smile. "Don't let me distract you from having fun with everyone" "Well...alright if you say so." I worriedly glance at T before turning back toward everyone else. But the conversation has already dispersed, with everyone back at their usual activities. Maybe I should ask Jesse if he's noticed anything about T recently... since they've been preparing for the festival, they must be spending a lot of time together. I timidly approach Jesse, who is shuffling through some papers at his desk. "Z! What's up?" "Hey, this might sound a little strange, but... have you noticed anything up with T recently?' "Anything up with him...? In what way do you mean?" "Maybe I'm reading into it a little too much, but he seems a bit downcast today..." "Oh? You think so? I can't say I've noticed anything about him..." Jesse peers across the room at T, who is idly dragging a earner up and down his desk. "Maybe there is something on his mind... but I'm surprised I'm not the one asking you, Z. You certainly known him a lot better than I do." "Yeah, but he's never usually like this... he's always talked to me about things that bothered him. But this time, when I asked him, he was really dismissive...Sorry, I know it's not your problem! I just wanted to ask if you knew anything, so I'll drop it now..." "No, no...it's important to me, to I mean, I'm so friends with him... and I also care about the well-being of my club members, you know? Maybe I'll try talking to him myself..." "Eh? Are you sure about that...? He seemed like he wanted to be left alone...:?" "Are you sure? Maybe he just has a hard time bringing it up with the person of interest..." "Person of interest...? What do you mean by that?" "I'm saying that maybe the thing on his mind is you, Z." "Me...? How on Earth would you come to that conclusion?" "Well... I probably shouldn't say too much, but... T talks about you more than anything else, you know?" "Eh...?" I am still confused what does he mean. "He's been so much happier ever since you've joined the club. It's like an extra light was turned on inside of him." "What? No way...T...is always like that. He's always been full of sunshine. It's not any different now than it always has been." "Ehehe. You're so funny, Z have you thought that maybe you've always seen him so cheerful...because that's just how he is when he's around you?" "..." "Ah...I said too much. I'm sorry...what do I know, anyway? I didn't mean to jump to conclusions, so you should just forget about what I said. I'll try to talk to him, so try not to think about it for now." "Ah...Alright..." Jesse smiles meaningfully. I know he said to forget about it... but I already know that I won't be able to get his words out of my head. Jesse stands up from his desk and walks across the room to where T is sitting. I watch him kneel down next to T and gently talk to him. But he's keeping his voice so quiet that I can't hear him from here. I sigh and sit myself down. I know T told me not to worry about him, and to have fu  with everyone else... but that's impossible to do when he's behaving like this. Exactly how much do I care about him, that I'm letting this weigh me down so much? Now it feels like i'm the one behaving out of the ordinary... but there's nothing I can do besides wait for Jesse. ... "Okay, everyone!" After some time passes, Jesse calls out to the clubroom. "Why don't we share our poems now?" Before I knew it, everything was back to normal. Everyone goes to retrieve their poems, and I do the same. I made ete contact with Jesse, and he smiles at me. I wonder what he was talking about with T...