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

{Act 3} Æfťēŕ Ţhė āřğümēñț... (1/2)

Another day passes, and it's time for the club meeting already. I've gotten a little more comfortable here over the past couple days. Entering the clubroom, the usual scene greets me. "Welcome back, Z..." "Ah, hi Taeyoung..." I'm not sure, or if it's Taeyoung's expression... but the weight of yesterday's quarrel still hangs in the air a little. "U-Um..." Taeyoung glances over his shoulder looking around the room. Robaire is reading manga at a desk. And surprisingly, Jesse isn't here yet. Suddenly, Taeyoung takes my arm and pulls me to the corner of the room. "About yesterday... I... I really need to apologize. Nothing like that has every happened before... and...something just came over me, I guess... I wasn't acting mentally sound please don't think we're usually like this! Not just me, but Robaire as well..." "Taeyoung... I'm happy you were considerate and apologized you don't have to worry too much even though I've only been here for a couple of days, I could tell something was off yesterday... maybe we were just a little extra sensitive because it was our first time sharing poems. But whatever it was... it didn't make me think less of you I had already decided that there's no way you can be a bad person. And know that you're apologizing, I know you really didn't mean it" "A-Ah... Z... don't say those kinds of things so frankly... they make me a little too happy I'm really glad that you're such an understanding person. And I'm really glad you joined this club everything is a little bit brighter with you around, and- Ah- Sorry, what am I saying right now...? I just-" "Hey, have you guys seen Jesse?" "Ah-!" "No, I haven't... I was also kind of wondering where he was" "Man... Taeyoung, I'm guessing you haven't, either?" "..." Taeyoung is clearly taken aback by how calmly Robaire is addressing him. "N-No, I haven't..." "Jeez, this isn't like him at all. I know it's stupid, but I can't help but worry a little bit..." "..." "What? Why're you looking at me like that?" "U-Um... Robaire, about yesterday... I-I just wanted to apologize! I promise I didn't mean any of the things I said! And I'll do my best to stay under control from now on... so-" "Taeyoung, what the heck are you talking about? Did you do something yesterday?" "...Eh?" "Jeez... 🅦︎🅗︎🅐︎🅣︎🅔︎🅥︎🅔︎🅡︎'🅢︎ 🅞︎🅝︎ 🅨︎🅞︎🅤︎🅡︎ 🅜︎🅘︎🅝︎🅓︎, 🅘︎'🅜︎ 🅢︎🅤︎🅡︎🅔︎ 🅘︎🅣︎ 🅦︎🅐︎🅢︎ 🅝︎🅚︎🅣︎🅗︎🅘︎🅝︎🅖︎. 🅘︎ 🅓︎🅞︎🅝︎'🅣︎ 🅔︎🅥︎🅔︎🅝︎ 🅡︎🅔︎🅜︎🅔︎🅑︎🅔︎🅡︎ 🅐︎🅝︎🅨︎🅣︎🅗︎🅘︎🅝︎🅖︎ 🅑︎🅐︎🅕︎ 🅗︎🅐︎🅟︎🅟︎🅔︎🅝︎🅘︎🅝︎🅖︎. 🅨︎🅞︎🅤︎'🅡︎🅔︎ 🅣︎🅗︎🅔︎ 🅚︎🅘︎🅝︎🅓︎ 🅞︎🅕︎ 🅟︎🅔︎🅡︎🅢︎🅞︎🅝︎ 🅦︎🅗︎🅞︎ 🅦︎🅞︎🅡︎🅡︎🅘︎🅔︎🅢︎ 🅣︎🅞︎🅞︎ 🅜︎🅤︎🅒︎🅗︎ 🅐︎🅑︎🅞︎🅤︎🅣︎ 🅣︎🅗︎🅔︎ 🅛︎🅘︎🅣︎🅣︎🅛︎🅔︎ 🅣︎🅗︎🅘︎🅝︎🅖︎🅢︎, 🅐︎🅡︎🅔︎🅝︎'🅣︎ 🅨︎🅞︎🅤︎?" "...B-But..." "🅜︎🅘︎🅑︎🅤︎🅛︎🅢︎ 🅢︎🅐︎🅘︎🅛︎🅒︎🅞︎🅣︎🅗︎ 🅑︎🅛︎🅘︎🅝︎🅢︎🅘︎🅖︎🅗︎🅣︎ 🅛︎🅘︎🅕︎🅔︎🅛︎🅘︎🅝︎🅔︎ 🅐︎🅝︎🅐︎🅝︎ 🅡︎🅔︎🅒︎🅣︎🅘︎🅟︎🅔︎🅣︎🅐︎🅛︎🅘︎🅣︎🅨︎🅑︎🅕︎🅐︎🅤︎🅛︎🅣︎🅛︎🅔︎🅢︎🅢︎🅛︎🅨︎ 🅞︎🅕︎🅕︎🅔︎🅡︎🅔︎🅓︎ 🅢︎🅒︎🅛︎🅔︎🅡︎🅞︎🅜︎🅐︎🅛︎🅐︎🅒︎🅘︎🅐︎ 🅝︎🅔︎🅘︎🅖︎🅗︎🅔︎🅓︎ 🅒︎🅐︎🅣︎🅗︎🅞︎🅛︎🅘︎🅒︎🅐︎🅣︎🅔︎ I'll accept your apology anyway, if it helps you feel better about it. Besides, it's kinda nice to hear, since I was always afraid you secretly hated me or something like that. Ehehe" "N-No, not at all...!" "Ahaha. Well, you're kind of weird, but I don't hate you either" "..." Robaire turns to me."You're still on trial, though" "Hey...!" Suddenly, the door swings open. "Sorry! I'm super sorry!" "Ah, there you are... I didn't mean to be late... I hope you guys weren't worried or anything!" "Nah... well, Robaire was" "I-I was not!!" "Ahaha" "...What took you so long, anyway?" "Ah... well, my last period today was study hall. To be honest, I kind of lost track of time... Ahaha..." "That makes no sense, though you would have heard the bell ring, at least" "I must have not heard it, since I was practicing piano..." "Piano...? I wasn't aware you played music as well, Jesse" Taeyoung says. "Ah, don't give me more credit than I deserve I guess I've been practicing for a while, but I'm still not really good yet" "Still... that must require a lot of dedication so, I'm still impressed" "Aw, well thanks, Taeyoung~" 'You should play something for us sometime!" "Ahaha, that's..." Jesse looks at me. "Well, I am working on writing a song, but it's not quite done yet... maybe once I get a little bit better, I will" "That sounds cool I look forward to it" I say. "Is that so? In that case... I won't let you down, Z..." Jesse smiles sweetly. "Ah... I didn't mean any pressure or anything like that!" "Ahaha, don't worry I was hoping that I could share it with you, anyway I guess that's why I've been practicing so much recently" "I see..." I'm not sure if Jesse was referring to the whole club, or just me... "In that case, best of luck" "Thanks~! So, I didn't miss anything, did I?" "No...not really" I choose not to bring up anything that the three of us talked about. Besides, Robaire bas already run off into the closet. "Z... Um... since your compliments put me in a good mood... I was wondering if you would like to spend some time together today I mean-in the club!" "Yeah, definitely I planned on it anyway" "Okay! Can we start now? Let's find a place to sit- A-Ah- I'm being a little forceful, aren't I...? I'm sorry! My heart...just won't stop pounding, for some reason..." "Don't worry about it if anything, it's nice to see you have so much energy" "Y-Yeah! But... I need to try to calm down I won't be able to focus on reading like this..." "Take your time" Taeyoung takes a deep breath, then pulls out a copy of the book out his bag. "Actually, I have a request... do you mind if I make some tea first?" "Not at all" "Thanks very much if there's one thing that can make my reading time here any better, it's a nice cup of tea not to mention for yourself, as well" Taeyoung stands up and makes his way to the closet. I follow and watch as he retrieves a small water pitcher from the shelf-the kind with a filler inside." "Can you hold this for a second?" "Sure..."