Why wasn't I the one who got the male lead's script?

He took a tissue from the table and wiped the fine beads of sweat from his forehead. Then, as if he had finally solved a troublesome problem, he fell directly onto the soft and elastic bed, enjoying the feeling of the cool air from the air conditioner gradually filling the entire room.

Why do I feel like I've been busy all summer and haven't had time to sit down and rest?

The young man stared at the ceiling with a dazed look, blinked, and finally closed his eyes slightly as if he could not resist the sleepiness.

Although it is not yet one or two o'clock in the middle of the night, he is exhausted both physically and mentally and feels that this moment is no different from midnight.

Just when he was about to be captured by sleepiness and fall into a dream of playing chess with Zhou Gong——

The anime accompaniment ringtone from her mobile phone suddenly rang, startling Xingjian who was awakened and gave him a startle.

"Hello... Hello, this is Hoshimi..."

Still a little sleepy, he remembered to answer the phone. He put the phone to his ear with his head drooped. While responding to the call in some confused words, he rubbed his eyes and tried to cheer himself up.

"Hey, good evening, Xingmei."

A familiar cold female voice came from the other end of the phone, which made the boy wake up a little from his sleepiness.

"What's going on? It's not even time to go to bed yet, and you sound like you just woke up."

"Ah...Futaba."

Xingjian easily recognized the person who called her by his voice. She sat up from the bed sleepily and stretched lazily.

"Indeed, I was almost asleep when you called."

"Holiday isn't the time to slowly evolve from a primate to some kind of domesticated mammal, Xingjian. You're such a slacker."

"I'm sorry—I was just too tired during the day."

"Hmm? Xingjian, what else do you do besides lying at home playing games all day? I remember you didn't work this summer."

"Yeah, yeah, but my friends dragged me out to play games all afternoon today, and now I'm as tired as if I just finished a grueling 5,000-meter run—mentally."

"........."

Futaba on the other end of the phone paused, then slowly added.

"...Another friend I don't know about? I never knew you had quite the charisma."

"Haha, that's not the case."

Xingjian smiled and shook his head, then found another entry point for the topic, and made humorous jokes to make the conversation more relaxed.

"Why does it smell sour? Miss Futaba, are you jealous because I have other friends?"

"Xingjian, you are too narcissistic, and you think too badly of me."

Then he was mercilessly criticized by Ms. Futaba.

"I am sincerely happy that you can find friends other than me."

Her voice sounded particularly serious, so serious that she didn't seem like the usual lazy and somewhat impatient Futaba Rio.

"Okay, okay, I know you're not jealous. The one who asked me to play games was Shirogane Miyuki, a male student from Shuchiin. I'll introduce you to each other someday."

"No, I'm not interested in making friends widely. Let's get back to the point. I didn't call you to have a verbal fight with you."

She cleared her throat on the other end of the phone and then got to the point.

"You've actually been busy with Kasumigaoka Utaha's affairs these past few days, right?"

----

After a few days of celebrating my last birthday in the 10s, I’ll focus on writing like crazy~

Please let me update for the last two or three days orz

Kasumigaoka Utaha Can't Be Out of Ideas: Chapter 5: The Four-Person Club Exists in Name Only (Part 2)

"Indeed, you are right about this, Futaba."

The black-haired boy held the phone in his hand, stood up from the bed with sleepy eyes, walked to the side and poured himself a glass of cold water.

After the ice water went down his throat, he felt a little more energized by the stimulation. He walked to the balcony and opened the floor-to-ceiling window. While gazing at the night view of the residential area, he continued his conversation with Futaba.

"...Don't you think it's unfair to you to spend your free time helping others? I mean..."

Perhaps feeling that her wording was a little inappropriate, Futaba, who was not very good at expressing her inner thoughts, paused for a moment, and then spoke out her feelings awkwardly.

"...I'm not deliberately trying to think badly of them, but I think Xingjian, you've done your best."

They didn't show enough attention or even respect for Xingjian from the beginning - so there was actually no need to run around and care so much about the abnormal phenomena happening to them.

"Oh? So you're saying I should just sit back and watch when a capricious puzzle comes my way? That doesn't sound like something you, Ms. Futaba, who has such a strong thirst for knowledge, would say."

"I know, I'm actually very curious about these paranormal phenomena, but - but..."

On the other end of the phone, the usually cool and calm Futaba's voice became a little unusual, and at the end, it even sounded unusually hurried.

But after calming herself down, she returned to her usual tone.

"...If you get too close to something like this, you might be the one in danger, Hoshimi."

One could sense worry in her words, even though she was the one who initially told Xingjian to "pay more attention to possible people with the syndrome around you."

"...So I understand that you are worried about my safety, Ms. Futaba?"

The Xingjian boy who was lying on the railing tilted his head with a warm smile on his face.

"It's a bit annoying, but it's okay if you want to think so."

Futaba's voice on the other end of the phone instantly turned cold - this guy is really not frank.

"It's okay, it's okay. I understand how worried you and I are about what might happen. But it's been several years since I last experienced this syndrome, and I've been safe and sound all these years."

He used a gentle tone to soothe Futaba's emotions. Even though the other party's opinion was contrary to his first one, he did not choose to confront Futaba.

"I understand your thoughts, Kasumigaoka-senpai and Eriri. They both treated me badly at first, and I understand that myself."

The boy gradually turned his gaze to the night sky, and his tone was calm and composed when he said this - as if this was not happening to him.

"But if we step away from our subjective emotions and look at the issue from as objective a perspective as possible—isn't this just a further impact of the aftereffects of my illness?"

Because I have always been an insignificant passerby in everyone's eyes, the first impression others have of me when they meet me will only be that of an insignificant passerby.

When I think about this, it makes sense.

"So to be honest, I wasn't surprised when they treated me like that, so I didn't get angry at all. Plus, when they said something excessive, I would just talk back, so for me, it wasn't a matter of being bullied and feeling so frustrated that I couldn't fight back."

"…Are you a little too calm and objective? Or is it just that you have a really good personality?"

"Haha, maybe they didn't hit the nail on the head, so I didn't take it to heart. Besides, they were just strangers I'd bump into occasionally in the beginning, and I'm used to being treated like that."

"........."

Futaba, who was always sharp-tongued, stopped talking when she heard this.

"Anyway, it's okay."

Xingjian could only use the gentlest tone to persuade the still somewhat uneasy Futaba. He rested his face on his left arm on the railing, and looked into the distance with a lazy raised eyebrow.

"Later, I observed carefully. At least Kasumigaoka-senpai isn't a bad person—she's just used to the arrogance of being the center of attention. And Eriri, you know her. She's just a bit foul-mouthed and a bit annoying, but overall, she's a good kid."

"One is a senior writer who wrote a novel I absolutely love, and the other is a cocky young lady who dragged me to play games without any hesitation. At least when puberty syndrome occurred in these two people, I couldn't stay out of it."

Xingjian pursed her lips and did not say the following words, but just put them back into her heart.

And he really couldn't stand seeing people he didn't dislike showing adolescent syndrome and looking at him with hope as if asking for help - this would almost make him subconsciously lend a helping hand to the other person.

Whether it is selfless dedication to emulate Lei Feng, or simply the comfort and satisfaction he gets from helping others because he was not helped by others before, he does not care what kind of spiritual packaging his actions will be given.

All Xingjian understood was that "this is what he wanted to do", and then he put it into action according to his own ideas - it was that simple.

"...Forget it. I never thought I could successfully convince you from the beginning."

A clear sigh from Futaba was heard on the other end of the phone, and Xingjian smiled helplessly and shook his head.

"I'm sorry, but it must be tiring to be around a guy like me."

"Ah, of course. After all, I have to be on guard all the time and not give my sincerity to someone who doesn't deserve it. After all, you're the kind of idiot who will pour your heart out to someone once you've set your mind on them. As a friend, you're really a worry."

"Hahaha, sorry, sorry. I've made you worry all this time. I promise I won't do that next time."

In this regard, Xingjian could only admit his mistake with a helpless smile.

However, just when he thought that this would dispel the resentment accumulated in Futaba's heart and that he could change the subject——

"So, in order to prevent you from getting involved in any dangerous situation without knowing it, I will act with you this time."

Futaba's unquestionable voice came from the other end of the phone.

“………Eh?”

This time, the boy's smile froze on his face.

"Wait... Miss Futaba, what did you just say—"

"I think you can understand standard Japanese, Hoshimi. If you can't, I'll speak slower."

Futaba slowed down her speech a little, and added to the story word by word in a clear and melodious voice.

"I—say—this time you help Kasumigaoka deal with the syndrome, and I'll get involved too."

“………Eh.”

----

Tomorrow is my birthday! After September starts, I have to hurry up and write some updates orz

Then I'll open a bounty in September (funny)

Kasumigaoka Utaha's Impossible Lost of Talent: Chapter 5: The Four-Person Club in Name Only (Part 3)

It was about three-quarters of the summer vacation, and it happened to be a Sunday.

Today is an unexpectedly cool and cloudy day. Although the temperature is still around 27 or 28 degrees Celsius, it is much more comfortable than a sunny day that makes people sweat profusely.

A black-haired boy, wearing a thin black vest with a simple white short-sleeved shirt on the upper body and knee-length sports shorts and white sneakers on the lower body, stood at the door of the largest library in the city. He looked at the passers-by who were hurrying in front of him, and occasionally lowered his head to check if there were any new messages on his mobile phone - it was obvious that he was waiting for someone.

He originally planned to come here alone today, but before he could put it into action, things changed slightly.

There were still about two or three minutes before the agreed time, but at this moment a figure walking out from the crowd had already attracted Xingjian's attention.

She was a high school girl with beautiful fluffy gray hair, but her clothes were a bit too dull.

Her inner layer was obviously a thin short-sleeved black shirt, but she still wore a khaki jacket on the outside that was thick enough to cover her figure, and her lower body was also loose and somewhat baggy gray sweatpants - it didn't look like something suitable for midsummer at all.

Perhaps even she herself was aware of her incompatibility with the passers-by, and there was always a hint of displeasure and irritability on the gray-haired girl's face - until the black-haired boy appeared in her field of vision, the annoyance in her eyes behind the glasses subsided a little.

"Yo, looks like you've been waiting for a long time, Xingjian."

She extended her hand and casually greeted Xingjian who was standing at the door of the library.

"But unfortunately, I won't give you any compensation. Don't even think about getting any ice cream or drinks from me for free."

"Haha, Futaba, you don't have a chance to make amends. After all, I just got here."

Xingjian smiled and shook his head, then stepped aside very gentlemanly, indicating that Futaba should go into the municipal library through the automatic door first.

"Ms. Futaba, please go first."

He even made a "please" gesture seriously, which made Futaba narrow her eyes slightly in disgust.

"Xingjian, what's wrong with you... Did you take the wrong medicine and try to disgust me on purpose?"

"Haha, don't say that. It's just that I think it's not easy to ask you out on vacation, Futaba, so of course I have to treat you well - it would be bad if I make you unhappy."

"I don't know where you learned those sweet words, but I don't mind your flattery."

Despite complaining like this, Futaba still gently hugged her right arm with her left hand, put on an indifferent expression, and slowly walked into the library.

In response, Xingjian just smiled and didn't take it to heart. Then he quickly followed her and walked side by side with her.

"So, Hoshimi, what are your plans for today?"

After entering the hall, Futaba kept her eyes on the passers-by who were either coming and going or concentrating on reading books, and at the same time, she unconsciously tightened the grip of her right arm.

"If your answer is summer review, I'd still feel quite relieved - but this behavior is like writing an essay and getting the wrong question, but not getting a high score."

"Haha, of course not."

Xingjian also responded with a low laugh - this city library is actually a place that combines book borrowing and purchasing. There are even beverage shops selling coffee and other beverages on the odd-numbered floors, so there are a lot of people coming and going, and it is also noisier than ordinary libraries.

Of course, some of these people are just looking for a place to sit and enjoy the air conditioning. (Laughs)

"I'm going to look for Kasumigaoka-san's new work that just came out. To be honest, it hasn't been discussed much, and I haven't paid much attention to it recently. If she hadn't explained it herself, I wouldn't even know about it."