“Eh?”

“Eh?” Tomori mimicked my response.

“Hey, it’s rude to make someone repeat themselves.” Azurie said as she turned back around to face me.

“Well can you blame me for being confused? What do you even mean when you say that you need me to be your boyfriend?”

“Well this is turning out to be more interesting than I thought.” Tomori chirped.

“Shut up.” I whispered at him.

“My father sprung an arranged marriage on me without warning. So if I show him that I’m already romantically involved with another person. He should back off with the preparations.” Azurie explained which reminded me of her situation.

I’ve heard the rumors that Azurie comes from a wealthy background. So if I take that information to be true and she really is a rich girl. Then it makes sense for her father to want to solidify a stable future for his daughter. Even if I doubt that her plan would actually work in her favor. What father would back off on a plan like that just because of a high school fling? She’d need to find someone of value that her father would at least aprove of for a certain amount of time to give her the leeway she wants.

“Even if that is the case, why would you ask someone like me? There are more guys than I can name that would kill for this opportunity.” I tried to start my argument.

“Well that’s the issue.” She stated as she began walking over towards me. “I don’t really want a real relationship. That’s why I’ve continued to turn down every confession I’ve gotten. But you?” She stopped right in front of me, pushing her finger into my chest. “You’re Sosuke Haruma. The notorious romance killer.” She grinned at the title.

“Ooo~ name drop.” Tomori added for some reason.

“Okay, so choosing me give you the opportunity for the perfect fake relationship. But what would that give you other then an extra set of problems, like making this believable? Not a soul here would imagine us together. On top of that I definitely don’t meet any criteria that your father would have to get him to back off.”

“You’re free tomorrow right?” She asked while taking a step back.

Of course this woman has a plan. The one thing I really didn’t want her to have. Plus it’s a little terrifying to imagine just how far she has thought about this.

“I might have something planned. It is the weekend after all.” That was definitely a lie.

“You’ll be free.” She said in a matter of fact tone. “After all you won’t be doing this for nothing. I’ll be paying you for each successful week this relationship lasts.”

“You can’t just buy me-”

“250,000 yen, plus additional payments of 100,000 yen per date.”

“Sold!”

That’s like having the easiest and most highest paying part-time job I’ve ever seen. These rumors are so true, Azurie is a rich girl. Oh I can just imagine the amount of gacha pulls I can do with this money. SSR tier Fauna Mura you’re so mine!

“See, this arrangement will be beneficial to the both of us.” She said as she made her way towards the stairwell. “I’ll see you tomorrow for our first date. I’ll send you the time and place to meet so you better check your messages.”

“Well I have a girlfriend now, so can you leave me the hell alone?” I asked Tomori once she was gone.

“As if that counts! The two of you are in a fake relationship. Not only that but I need you to turn your life around and fall in love. So until then I’ll be with you 24/7.”

“I guess you can do that since noone else can see you but me.”

“Huh, wow, you really figured that out already? I thought I was going to have to explain that to you.”

“You’re joking right?” I asked before taking Tomori off my shoulders and dropped him on the floor. “Who would actually miss a talking cat on my shoulders?”

“Fair point. So where you off to now?” He asked me as he followed me into the stairwell.

I left the campus and made my way over to Karoake Sunset where my friends were waiting for me. When I walked inside I saw them sitting on the couch just talking and drinking. The mics didn’t seem to be touched from the looks of things.

“Were you guys waiting for me?” I asked as I set my bag down and sat on the far end of the couch.

“Not for long no. We were just talking about how to back you up tomorrow.” Dazai said in his usual chipper tone.

“Rejecting Azurie as harshly as you do is going to cause quite the upset.” Toshi added while pushing up his glasses.

“Well I accepted.”

“See, Toshi. We were worried for nothing. He accepted.” Dazai leaned back into the couch as he spoke.

“The hell do you mean you accepted?” Both of them shouted.

“I mean I accepted. I’m dating Azurie now and we’re going on a date tomorrow.” I informed them casually as I picked up the tablet to select a song.

Toshi sighed as both of them sat back. “Only you would say that so casually.”

“And here I thought I was the only one with news.” Dazai shook his head.

“Hm?”

“Oh yeah, you wanted to talk to us about something.” Said Toshi as he turned to look at him.

“Yeah.” Dazai started in a downbeat tone which caught my attention. “My sister is going to be transferring to our school. She got kicked out of her all girls school for being in too many fights. She’s going to be joining your guys’s class on Monday. So I wanted to ask you guys to keep an eye on her.”

I could see Tomori glance up at me with a smug face from the corner of the room. I gave him a glare knowing what he was thinking.

“Does being a delinquent run in the family or something?” I asked as I turned my attention away from the cat.

“Come on now, I’m reformed.”

“Thanks to us.” Toshi added.

“Yeah, yeah, but I’m serious. Hoshi’s a sweet girl on the inside and I know how rough going to a new school can be. So I wanted to try and see if you guys would keep an eye on her, you know? Keep her out of trouble.”

Damn, these Morita siblings are something else. To think his sister was also a delinquent is surprising. I mean, I think I was the only one here that didn’t even know he had a sister to begin with.

“Sure, we’ll keep an eye on her.” I agreed with a shrug.

Dazai slowly turns to look at Toshi. “Toshi, can you please look after her?”

“Hey! Why am I the untrustworthy one here?”

“No offense, Haruma. But knowing my sister you two would fight nonstop.”

Toshi sighed as he crossed his arms over his chest. “I guess it can’t be helped. I’ll make sure that your sister and Haruma stay out of trouble.”

“Why am I included in that sentence?”

There was a pause where we all looked at each other before breaking out into laughter. We didn’t talk much about that topic or about my new relationship from that point on. Just enjoyed ourselves while we hungout in that Karoake booth. But whenever my eyes landed on Tomori. I had a sinking feeling that nothing about our last year of high school would be easy from this point on.