#2 Flag Established

"My glasses... ahhh, where are my glasses..."

I jumped out in front of the pink-haired girl and looked around the grass at the side while pretending to be short-sighted.

The girl still didn't notice me yet. Seems like I have to kick it up a notch. I didn't want to draw attention this early, but...

"A-aHHHH! MY EYES!"

I rolled around in my blazer, covering my eyes and yelling out in an exaggerated fashion. The students around were already starting to notice me, it was a matter of time before she did.

Notice me already. I'm burning in embarrassment here.

"E-Eh?!" It seems like this girl finally came to. She saw me dirtying myself, writhing with a look of pain on my face and she...

...hurriedly came over to me.

Success. I smirked in my mind. Using targeted mentalism, it was easy to read the girl's body language as someone who liked to help others. Incidentally, she also like cats. Don't ask me how, I'm a genius! Ahahaha!!

"My! This... a-are you alright?"

The girl extended out a hand towards me, her other fumbling around her pockets for something, probably a handkerchief. I didn't take it, and instead barrel-rolled my way towards the guy on the tree in exaggerated fashion.

"Aahh, my glasses... I can't see!"

When I had moved a fair distance away from her, the girl suddenly thought of something and hurriedly chased after me.

"H-Hold on, you! It's dangerous moving around like that! I'll search for your glasses, I'll search for your glasses, so don't run around carelessly!"

Using the corner of my eye, I made sure she was following me. And boy, her rack which was bouncing up and down as she ran was... quite a pleasant sight.

...Cough. Worldly desires, begone.

"Haah... haah... st...op... run...ning... you'll fall down a- ...Eh...? Where did he go?"

"Just a little bit more..."

Just then, the girl noticed the guy on top of the tree.

"...?! Hey, what are you... ah, a cat!" She cried out cutely. "H-Hey, please be careful!"

The guy noticed her, and yelled out to her.

"Great timing! Hey, please catch it?"

"W-What? H-Hey wait-! Kyaa!" The cat fell onto her arms, and was caught safely.

"Yo-tto~ Good catch!" The guy too, landed down onto the ground with a practiced jump. It seems like he's quite athletic too.

"M-Mou!!! That was dangerous!! You... ...Hm? I don't think I've seen you around before.."

"Ah, ...haha... I'm a transfer student, see. The name's Amano Yuusuke! I'm transferring in this year. You are..." Pointing a thumb at his face filled with cuts, the guy smiled sheepishly towards the girl.

"A-Ah... I am... Asuhara Ayumi, a second year. N-Nice to meet you..." Ayumi looked down bashfully. She's quite a reserved girl it seems.

"Oh so you're my senpai!"

In the distance, my smile gradually widened into a grin.

Hoho... A transfer student like me? Yuusuke-kun's also pretty good at subtleties, even if he's doing it unconsciously.

I see, I see... I jotted down even more notes on my candidate list. Seems like there are more qualities that Amano have now in my book for the protagonist role. But still, Asuhara? I think I've heard of that surname recently? Can't remember it off the top of my head though, oh well.

In any case, the boy-meets-girl scenario is now complete.

The two seemed to have a good mood going already, what a great start. The cat they took turns holding onto was obediently docile, and they had some fun petting it with smiles on their faces. This scenario surrounded by blooming, sakura trees is straight out of a scene in a galge! Is this how parents feel like when they see their children growing up?

In any case ...

The proper flags have been established, now the two know each other. Although my job is far from done, it's all can I do for the two of them at the moment.

Behind a tree, I watched the girl for a few moments, before acknowledging that I had finished the job. She's completely forgotten about me as planned.

A job well done if I do say so myself.

While smiling to myself for doing a good deed in the morning, I took off my wig and the prop glasses, and threw it into a garbage bin nearby.

"Asuhara-san?"

"..."

"Asuhara-san!"

"E-Eh? What is it?"

"You're spacing out like that, is there something wrong?"

"...No, it's nothing."

"Is that right... by the way, what do we do about this cat?"

The small animal in the girl's hands seemed to be trembling for some reason.

"ᴵ ᵈᵒⁿ'ᵗ ᵏⁿᵒʷ, ᵈᵒ ʷʰᵃᵗᵉᵛᵉʳ ᴵ ᵈᵒⁿ'ᵗ ᶜᵃʳᵉ."

"Eh? What did you say?"

"...Sorry, uhhm... ... Yoichi-kun! My family doesn't allow pets!"

"B-"

"-Ah, we're going to be late! Let's hurry to school!" The good mood was dispelled so suddenly, he had a hard time coming to his senses as quickly. When he did, he realized that he was now the only one left holding on to the cat. The cat looked at the boy, and furiously struggled to get out of his grasp, any traces of it's docile nature no longer visible.

The boy curses at the cat as he felt slightly disillusioned with the chemistry he'd felt just moments ago,

"... ...My name is Yuusuke though..."

Looking wryly at the girl's back fading into the distance, the transfer student regretfully put the cat down after a bit of hesitation, and slowly made his way to school as well.