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I don’t see what all the fuss is about.
In middle school, Tashiro’s life was the same as ever– happy and carefree. Everything was fun, and there were no worries. Middle school was friends, karaoke, and ping pong with the old people that went to the bathhouse on his way home from school. Life was lazing about with Shirahama as they waited for classes to end each day and hang out.
But, for some reason, Shirahama didn’t seem to be content with it anymore. Girls, girls, girls, was everything on his mind. And, quite frankly, while Tashiro did think the girls around him were cute, he couldn’t imagine being as desperate as Shirahama was. All the scenarios he came up with were simply improbable sometimes– probably the product of all the girl games he played in his spare time.
Having a girlfriend would be amazing, Tashiro had said, agreeing with Shirahama. Still though, he couldn’t help but be a little confused. Friendship and romance are both important, he decided. (Though that didn’t mean he didn’t want a girlfriend. Girls were cute!)
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If they’re not already together, they’ll definitely be together soon!
In high school, Tashiro noticed an orange-haired senpai bothering his new classmate Miyano almost everyday. It was almost like clockwork. He would come in exactly two minutes after the bell rang for break, practically singing Miyano’s praises with how many times he would call him cute. Miyano–or as Sasaki would say, Mya-chan– only seemed to get more and more flustered every time. Tashiro was so flabbergasted when he’d found out that they weren’t dating! (Was Miyano leading him on?? Tashiro sure hoped not. Sasaki was big. Like, really big. He really didn’t think that he, Miyano, and Kuresawa could take him in a fight.)
Miyano had said that they weren’t, but considering he was the BL fanboy, Tashiro really did not believe him whatsoever. He was loaning Sasaki his gay manga! What two guys did that but weren’t dating??
Yes, Sasaki was the one who had helped Kuresawa back then, when he was getting beat up. That’s maybe why Miyano spoke so highly of him. And yet, wouldn’t it make more sense for Kuresawa to be close to Sasaki then?!
Tashiro couldn’t help but shrug. Better to wait to see what would happen in the future than jump to hasty conclusions. (No, he knew he was right. Miyano was just in denial.)
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Please, let me escape this hell.
Tashiro wanted to leave. Like, really wanted to leave. Like, really really wanted to leave. Like, really really really wanted to leave.
Tashiro had only signed up for the ping pong club casually, and he had never planned on being a full timer. When seeing the commitment involved, he knew instantly: hell no. Shirahama had done the same, and he was able to leave the club for basketball. So, why the hell was Tashiro the only one being chased down to go to the meetings everyday?? (Favoritism. Bias. Unfairness. Disparity.)
The president and vice president of the club just would not let him leave. Every time there was a meeting, he would be forcibly dragged there, kicking and screaming all the way. (Not really, but if that wasn’t as embarrassing as it sounded, he would most definitely be doing it every time. Get him out of there.) And the terms for him to leave the club were for him to beat either of them at ping pong?? They were in charge of the club for a reason, and it certainly wasn’t for their scintillating conversational skills!!
When they wouldn’t let him dye his hair yellow again, Tashiro decided: this would be the moment his rebellion began. It was time to find better hiding places to skip meetings, and he would grow his hair out as long as possible. Then, he wouldn’t be dyeing it, but he would still have the yellow in his hair!
Apart from that, Tashiro couldn’t help but be bothered by the vice president, at least at first. His smile was somewhat (VERY) unsettling. He never opened his eyes, which Tashiro didn’t understand because Hanzawa never bumped into things. How was that even possible?! He must’ve been some kind of force of nature!
There was no way anybody could take up that many leadership positions in so many clubs without exploding! Disciplinary committee member up for consideration to be the next president. The vice president of the ping pong club guaranteed a spot as captain. And, rumor was, he was even the dorm manager! How the hell did he do it all?? Did the school administration check him for being a robot yet? Well, either way, it only sealed Tashiro’s fate. He wouldn’t be able to escape, would he?
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…This doesn’t make me gay, does it?
In the middle of his second year of high school during his class preparations for the school festival, Tashiro walked into the room to find…Miyano next to a total babe.
Tashiro quickly rushed to get her name, only to find out…she was actually just Kuresawa. He was NEVER going to live this down. How the hell had he mistaken one of his best friends for a girl? Maybe he had been single for too long and just delusional. Someone get him a girlfriend already!
Even worse, Miyano was already on his BL fanboy journey jumping to conclusions. For goodness sake, Kuresawa had a girlfriend! And Tashiro may be desperate for a girlfriend too, but he was quite desperate enough to go after guys just yet–he’d leave that to Shirahama. Besides, even if he was, Kuresawa would definitely not be his first choice if he was in fact that desperate. He was too in love with his girlfriend.
To be honest, if any of his friends were girls, Tashiro still didn’t think he would date them. He might date Hanzawa, though, if he was a girl. Cold and elegant, just his type. Maybe he just liked being scared of the people he was attracted to?? He was running away from Hanzawa after all, because he did NOT want to be captain of the ping pong team, and yet he was still thinking about how he would be as a girlfriend. (But, it still wasn’t like he’d date him now. Girls were cute!)
Tashiro decided that he had to sign up for a group date with Shirahama. They were both getting too single for their own good.
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Am I…just making life harder for him, then?
Tashiro was the luckiest person alive!! Somehow, Hanzawa had not yet caught and forced him to be the next ping pong captain. It must’ve been his masterful disguise skills! (Well, hiding behind cardboard boxes hadn’t failed him yet. Maybe Hanzawa having his eyes closed all the time did have its disadvantages??)
Well, anywho, it wasn’t like Tashiro was going to be the one to complain about it. He already didn’t want to be a member of the club. Captain? No thanks! That sounded like way too much of a bother. Better if he could avoid Hanzawa altogether and the scolding that would surely come with it.
Not like Hanzawa even had the time to bother him nowadays, anyways. Dealing with the transfer of all his club positions took a lot of time, even after the school festival. With the policy of stalking the predator before it can stalk you, Tashiro had noticed just how much of Hanzawa-senpai’s time was taken up with each thing.
During the school festival, not only was Hanzawa the person his class’s fortune teller cafe was centered about, but he had also taken the time to help Tashiro’s own class with the crossdressing competition. And now, given his graduation, he was running around helping the disciplinary committee pass things on, but that would be done pretty soon too.
Hanzawa seemed to be constantly on the move, with everybody relying on him in some kind of way. Maybe he was the sweet and sour kind of guy, because he seemed to be constantly scolding Tashiro for something or the other while being so nice to everyone else. (How unfair! Blatant favoritism.) But…by making Hanzawa run after him to convince him to be captain, was he only being a nuisance?
Tashiro was careless, but even he couldn’t stand to think about the brunette having to work any longer than he already did. Hanzawa-senpai had done enough! He needed to rest for once before that fake forced smile of his was incapable of becoming real! Or before his batteries ran out. Either or.
Well, that decided it, Tashiro supposed, letting out the largest sigh of his life. Did he want to do this? Hell no. Did he want to help Hanzawa out? Yes.
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Well, wouldn’t be the first time he said something crazy.
After school, Tashiro would sometimes work at the bathhouse. Not for money or anything, unless the treats the old people there would give him counted. Just for the experience. Back before he was captain, he would practice here to get better at ping pong so that he could finally leave the club. How ironic it was now.
Mr. Yamada, the old coot, was once again giving him a run for his money. He could never quite seem to beat him! Not that Tashiro would ever give up.
While they were playing, the topic of their conversation had drifted, and Tashiro was now denying the most heinous allegations he had ever heard against himself. And he was friends with MIYANO.
For some reason, Mr. Yamada seemed to be adamant that Tashiro choosing to be captain for Hanzawa’s sake meant that they were in a gay relationship. Which they very much weren’t, and Tashiro didn’t enjoy being compared to Mr. Yamada and his wife. When Tashiro had told him that Sasaki and Miyano had finally gotten together, it seemed it had more negative consequences than positive ones.
Well, whatever. Who cared what that geezer had to say anyways?
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It’s really nice to see Hanzawa-senpai again.
Tashiro still couldn’t believe that Shirahama somehow didn’t believe Sasaki and Miyano were lovey dovey all the time. It was the Sasaki and Miyano. Of course they were cheesy all the time! (But Shirahama was lactose intolerant, so Tashiro supposed it made sense how he was reacting.)
So, Tashiro came up with the amazing idea to tail them on their date, and drag Kuresawa along with him and Shirahama. It was the perfect plan–they’d just look like they were just hanging out if anyone looked at them! (Hanzawa had seen through them at first glance–but nevermind that now. He’d joined their group!)
They’d gone around to stores together, and Tashiro realized how much he had missed the older one’s company. Even his nagging somehow! Who would’ve thought? It really had been much too long since he had heard his voice.
It was really nice getting to catch up with Hanzawa after he’d gone to college, and Tashiro couldn’t seem to take his eyes off the other. Were his eyelashes always that long? If Tashiro asked, would Hanzawa let him count his piercings like the college student had suggested through text a few weeks back? Tashiro didn’t even notice what Hanzawa was doing until Shirahama pointed it out– he was intentionally driving them away from Sasaki and Miyano. How sneaky!!
Well, it was to be expected, Tashiro could only chuckle. It was Hanzawa, after all. He could do just about anything he put his mind to, at this point.
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If he really thinks he can take all our candy, he’s got another thing coming!!
It had been almost a year since becoming ping pong captain for Tashiro, who was currently running the stand for the club during the school fair. Everything was going great– except for the fact that Hanzawa was destroying his carefully thought out game by beating everyone who even tried playing against him in ping pong. They barely had any candy left! And Tashiro was fed. up. How dare Hanzawa do everything to make him captain only to mess with him after he did! Was all the hard work Tashiro had put in worth nothing to him?
The people that didn’t get to play because the former captain kept winning needed to be avenged! Tashiro couldn’t let all the candy Shirahama had just brought in fall into the school festival grinch’s greedy pockets! He might not have been able to beat Hanzawa before, but considering how Tashiro had been practicing constantly while the other hadn’t, it might work!!
At least, Tashiro hoped it would work. This was his last chance to exact retribution for all the people who had lost their chance to play and all the candy he himself lost to the greed of the purple robotic stealer of school festival joy. Tashiro had to win.
Game on!