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

Hearing this somewhat unfamiliar word, Kato Megumi tilted her head slightly, and a rare look of confusion appeared on her usually calm face.

That’s right—I just realized it now.

Kato is a complete marginal figure.

Whether this is the case based on her usual personality or what has happened recently, she has no idea of ​​the core causes of these contradictions and conflicts.

“…Oh no, how can I make this right?”

Xingjian felt a little troubled and had a headache in her heart.

Kato didn't know that Aki could predict the future, nor did he know the ins and outs of Eriri becoming smaller, and he had no idea about the difficulties that Kasumigaoka Utaha had encountered recently.

Maybe he could have gotten away with not telling her and using a rather lame excuse, but then Kato would have become a complete marginal figure in the club.

He knew nothing and noticed nothing. He was always being manipulated by the little tricks of the people around him without even realizing it (at least that's what Xingjian saw). He also gently forgave others for their offenses.

This is a bit unfair to her.

"Ok?"

Not to mention that although Kato was very confused now, he still showed a comforting and patient expression to herself who was unable to speak. She just blinked blankly and waited for the next step - this made Xingjian even more unable to come up with any nonsense to fool her.

But just as he was struggling with this, Shuangye beside him gently closed the book, and a crisp and subtle sound was made when the pages came together.

"Ah, that's about right. Don't be fooled by his current appearance. He once dreamed of becoming a writer. So I recommend that if he wants to start writing, he should first learn from and observe the works of other famous writers. That's all."

Futaba showed a frank and matter-of-fact look of "that's it". Seeing this, Xingjian, who was originally a little entangled and worried, restrained his somewhat scattered emotions, cheered himself up, coughed lightly and nodded.

He also realized that Futaba was trying to save face for herself.

I guess in her opinion, telling Kato all the things about puberty syndrome and so on all at once would only do more harm than good.

“Eh…I see.”

Kato didn't seem to think carefully about the truth and falsehood in the words. She just nodded confusedly and then gave Hoshimi a gentle smile.

"Then, congratulations first, Hoshimi-kun."

"Um... congratulations to me on what...?"

“Rediscovering your dreams and putting them into action is something worth celebrating more than any other achievement.”

She gently placed the notebook and textbook in her hands behind her back, and with her hands behind her back, she showed her sincere blessings to the boy.

"And this is also the first step for you to break away from your status as an ordinary passerby. Keep up the good work."

Ah——I just followed the excuse given by Futaba and came down like this, but I didn’t expect that Kato took this excuse seriously.

Hoshimi scratched the back of his head with a wry smile. The more sincere Kato's tone was, the stronger the sense of guilt that arose in his heart.

"........."

The gray-haired girl standing between the two of them didn't say anything, but she kept observing Kato silently with a careful gaze.

She pushed her glasses up silently, not letting the sharpness of her eyes that indicated observation fade.

How should I put it? I would definitely feel happy if I were praised by such words.

But seeing Kato praising Xingjian like this, she couldn't feel any happiness or relief in her heart.

“…That’s really bad.”

As Futaba Rio thought this, she suppressed the dimming in her eyes and turned her head away.

"So, what kind of work do you want to write about, and what kind of authors do you want to read? I can also help provide reference materials."

Kato smiled and reopened the topic, then stood on tiptoe and looked up at the tall bookshelf full of books, and began to give advice to Hoshimi in a serious manner.

"Oh, of course. That's if Hoshimi-kun really wants to write a novel."

Tsk - what's going on? I always feel that Kato's last sentence is a bit intriguing.

If this wasn't Xingjian's illusion, then things were going to get serious.

"Well, about this..."

Xingjian raised his eyebrows helplessly and looked away.

In fact, he went straight to the light novel section as soon as he entered the store, looking for the new work of teacher Kasumi Shiko - but he found the current foreign classical literature section from the light novel section next door, and still did not find the work of the author with the pen name Kasumi Shiko.

What's going on? Is this adolescent syndrome so irresistible?

"Well, if Hoshimi-kun feels that there's no ideal reference, wouldn't that Kasumigaoka-senpai, who's very close to us in real life, be a good choice?"

Kato smiled and walked naturally to the next section, then slowly and methodically searched for the works of a certain Kasumi Shiko in the huge light novel section.

Originally, Hoshimi predicted that she would never be able to get what she wanted, but something unexpected happened - Kato easily found Kasumi Shiko's work in the corner of a bookshelf, and then handed it to her with a smile.

"Here, I finally found it—if you're interested, please read it carefully."

"...?"

What's going on? Why isn't Kato affected by the syndrome?

----

I'll update once my birthday comes!!

I started writing well today and updated it.

Kasumigaoka Utaha is unlikely to be out of ideas: Chapter 6: They each have their own concerns (Part 1)

Even during the summer vacation, you can occasionally see young boys and girls who look like students in casual clothes walking back and forth in the corridors of the library.

Some of them came alone to prepare for the new semester, while others came to review old knowledge actively or passively because their final grades in the previous semester were not ideal.

Well, of course, there are also so-called young couples who go to the library to date under the pretext of studying, calling it "learning and making progress together", but in fact they spend most of their time flirting while reading.

——But unfortunately, none of the above points apply to the three people gathered in the library.

Sitting in her seat, Hoshimi frowned, kept supporting her cheek with her left hand, and gently opened the first volume of Kasumi Shiko's new work with her right hand.

Just now, thanks to Kato, he found the work of Kasumigaoka Utaha - although he had no idea why she found it so easily after he had been searching for it for so long, now was not the time to dwell on this problem.

Futaba, who was sitting next to him, raised her eyebrows, glanced at him, and then casually began to flip through the "Physics and Philosophy" she found on another bookshelf.

Kato, on the other hand, obediently followed the rule of keeping quiet when borrowing books. He sat opposite the two of them and opened the cover of a romance novel for women.

There was no doubt that she came to the library to borrow reference books, but after all, Kato was just an ordinary girl of sixteen or seventeen, and she couldn't concentrate on studying materials when she was with her friends - so she simply chose a romance novel that was easy to read and didn't require much brainpower.

After the three of them had each chosen their favorite works, they came to the reading area together. Everyone tacitly stopped talking, leaving each other with quiet space to read.

"........."

Although Miss Futaba doesn't know why, she is completely unable to concentrate on immersing herself in the ocean of books like before.

She glanced at the text in a rather impatient manner, then quickly turned to the next page - in fact, even she herself didn't know why she was so impatient.

As for her, the source of her restlessness was probably the short-haired black girl sitting opposite her, reading the novel patiently and calmly.

It's not that serious to say that it's hostility and disgust.

Ultimately, what spread throughout her heart was just a feeling of discomfort that "someone who shouldn't be here showed up" and the helplessness of the completely unexpected development of the situation.

Futaba didn't like this passive feeling.

So almost subconsciously, the gray-haired girl glanced at the boy sitting next to her who always gave her a sense of security with a hidden look——

"call……"

For some reason, he went from resting his chin on his hand to his head swaying precariously, his entire body teetering on the edge of sleep and wakefulness, like a sleepy high school student who only gets five hours of sleep and has just picked up his textbook in second-period math class when the teacher launches into a lengthy lecture. (laughs)

"Did this guy not sleep well last night, or is this novel just too boring?"

A rare look of surprise flashed across Miss Futaba's eyes - she wouldn't doubt that Hoshimi would become so drowsy after reading textbooks, but wasn't it a bit too exaggerated to say that he would become like this after reading a novel?

"Shhh."

Although Futaba had no intention of waking up Hoshimi, Kato, who was sitting opposite her, still stretched out his white index finger and placed it in front of his mouth, making a gesture of silence, and then shook his head with a smile.

"It's better not to disturb his sleep" - this is probably what she meant.

"........."

In response, Futaba simply withdrew her gaze wordlessly, then revealed a cold expression on her face, and continued to focus her attention on the pages of the book, flipping through them lightly, out of boredom.

"Although it was Hoshimi-kun who suggested we go to the library to read, and then he fell asleep on his own, it's a bit bad...but he seems to be very busy lately, so it's understandable that he's so tired."

Kato smiled and spoke to Futaba in a low voice, her tone smooth and natural - so Futaba also raised her head slightly and met her gaze.

It seems that Kato really knows nothing about what they are doing in private.

"But it's a little surprising. I originally thought Hoshimi-kun didn't get along well with Sawamura-san and Kasumigaoka-senpai, but last time he even brought Sawamura-san home for dinner—and it seemed like the two of them got along pretty well."

A puzzled expression appeared on Kato's little face. She lowered her head, pouted her lips, and gently turned another page of the book.

"When did things get better... I'm a little curious."

"...Well, that's why these two were always together during summer vacation."

"Eh? Always together?"

"I mean playing games, please don't take it too seriously."

"Hmm, I see... But I didn't think much of it."

Kato smiled, and also gently held his cheek with his hand, looking at Futaba with a friendly face, who had a cold and indifferent expression.

"I feel like the atmosphere between Hoshimi-kun and Sawamura-kun is more like family... Maybe my description isn't quite accurate, but it's probably more like brother and sister, right?"

That's definitely not accurate. Aren't these two father and daughter?

"That's about it."

Futaba nodded nonchalantly. To her, the conversation with Kato was just an insignificant and dispensable matter, and it didn't matter if it ended at any time.

Kato didn't show any embarrassment or helplessness because of Futaba's cold reaction. He continued the conversation as if he didn't care at all.

"But, wouldn't Futaba-san feel uncomfortable?"

"……Um?"

"I do have a few same-sex friends, but if they hang out with other girls without me, even I sometimes feel a little uncomfortable."

Kato said this with a smile.

"So... I think selfishness is probably the worst quality in humans."

"...That's based on possessiveness, but unfortunately, I don't have that kind of boredom."

A summer breeze blew in gently from the half-open window. The gray-haired girl turned sideways with her back to the window, reached out and smoothed her hair behind her earlobe, and looked at the boy's drowsy profile quietly and peacefully.

Then, he moved his lips softly, as if mumbling in a dream.

"I'm happy that he has a friend besides me."

Perhaps it was because the girl's fluffy gray hair looked particularly pleasing to the eye in the breeze, or perhaps it was because the slight warmth revealed under her cold appearance at this moment was too dazzling, and Kato couldn't help but pause when looking at her.

She seemed to have never shown such a gentle expression when the boy was awake.

"........."

Kato looked at Futaba, who was calm and gentle, and then looked at Hoshimi, whose face was about to fall on the book because her hand could not support her cheek, and finally withdrew his gaze indifferently.

Only this time, the twinkling light in her eyes seemed to dim a little - and then quickly adjusted to its normal state.

"Ah, that's a bit unfair... Futaba-san is really a good girl."

Then, Kato raised his little head and smiled, with no trace of the subtle change in expression just now on his face.

"Now, I want to become friends with Futaba-san too."

----

Today's basic update is complete, and I'll update it for you in the afternoon and evening! (*?√?*)σ

Kasumigaoka Utaha is unlikely to be out of ideas: Chapter 6: They each have their own concerns (Part 2)

"...?"

Instead, Futaba was stunned when she heard this. After receiving the first friend request from the same sex since high school, she showed some rare panic.

...Why doesn't Miss Kato Megumi play by the rules?

"I think it's really rare to have someone like Futaba-san. After all, in today's society, whether it's adults or children, the selfish mentality is becoming more and more obvious, isn't it?"

Kato smiled lightly and pursed his lips, without a trace of hypocrisy on his face.