I am that male friend in the harem story-Chapter 216: Personal space

"You made a deal?!" 2x

As the three returned to the clubroom once again, Oreki and Chitanda couldn’t contain their curiosity and quickly asked him, as they could see how respectful those members of the Wall Newspaper were, and they even helped them move all of their anthologists.

"Yes."

While Satoshi was quite curious about the anthologists, he knew that Oreki and Chitanda wouldn’t let him go if he didn’t tell them everything.

"We will keep everything we see there a secret, but in exchange, they will help us with an advertisement."

"Advertisement? What kind of advertisement? What are we going to sell?" Oreki was confused, but Satoshi held one of the anthologies, "We might write an anthology in the future, so their help to promote our anthology is good, right?"

"Anthology? Are we going to write one?"

While Oreki was dumbfounded, Chitanda nodded. "That’s a great idea. This club is too empty, after all."

"....."

Oreki wanted to say something, but in the end, he was too lazy to fight this arrangement. Chitanda was also correct since their club did nothing except stay quietly. Either he read a book, or she just had nothing to do.

Humans are weird creatures. When they have something to do, they will complain that everything is too tiring, but when they have nothing to do, they will get anxious as they can’t become productive.

It was the same case as those people who quit their jobs to follow their passions due to a toxic environment before realizing that society wasn’t so simple and it was impossible for them to return to their old jobs before they became unemployed, who were anxious about their future.

Regardless, if people had nothing to do, they would be prone to overthinking, which made them stressed.

Still, this deal, which Satoshi made with the Wall Newspaper Club, was probably something that he made to calm down the members of the Wall Newspaper Club as they had kept cigarettes within their club.

"While I know that it might appear wrong, can you two keep what is happening there a secret?"

"Sure." Oreki nodded since he didn’t like trouble, and unexpectedly, Chitanda also nodded. "Yes."

Chitanda might appear naive, but she wasn’t a normal young lady who would follow her justice, especially when she was someone with a high position and the only daughter of the Chitanda family head, which made it natural to make her more mature than others.

"But you are amazing, Fukube-san. You can pacify the situation so calmly like that and even make a deal with the Wall Newspaper Club."

Chitanda thought that Satoshi was amazing!

As her eyes shone brightly, like stars in the night sky when she was staring at him, Satoshi couldn’t help but glance at Oreki, who was also looking at him, but Oreki’s expression wasn’t that of jealousy, but only helplessness.

"...."

Wasn’t the spell of love that Chitanda worked on Oreki?

Why did Oreki look at him with such a pitiful gaze?

As if.... as if Oreki was thinking that his life might be in danger due to his relationship with many women.

"....."

Let’s think of that later!

Taking a deep breath, Satoshi said, "It isn’t something so amazing, but then again, I am sorry to make my own decision without discussing it with you two earlier."

"No problem."

"Yes, you don’t have to worry."

A human relationship is a critical and delicate subject. One wrong word could lead others to become an enemy.

Those words above might appear exaggerated, but then again, it is better to be careful than sorry and always be polite, as people have their own boundaries.

Yet, there was no need to be afraid as people were also social animals who longed for others.

Regardless, everything was solved, and that was what mattered the most.

"With that said, are all those the anthologies?" Oreki asked as he looked at the many anthologies that were moved by the members of the Wall Newspaper club.

"Yup." Satoshi nodded. "There seems to be 45 of them."

"45? Isn’t that a lot?"

"Yeah, it’s amazing that they can make them in an age where there are no printers, photocopy machines, and other technologies."

"You said that again."

Regardless, the three checked the anthologies, which had a unique cover that had a picture of a rabbit that was chased by a wolf.

"What a fearsome cover."

"Maybe it was cool at that time? But then again... Hyouka... I wonder why did our predecessors name the anthology with this name?"

Oreki was a bit curious, but as he was a believer in the "Energy Saver," he knew that he didn’t have to search for the meaning behind "Hyouka," and as this "little outing" had taken a lot of his time... he wanted to go home, he thought.

’However, if I leave...’

If Oreki left, he knew that he would leave Chitanda and Satoshi alone in the room, but then again, as he had reminded Chitanda about Satoshi’s girlfriend and how good they were to each other, she shouldn’t have a strange thought toward his only friend, right?

’Is love really that good?’

Somehow, that question couldn’t help but emerge from Oreki’s mind, especially when he thought about how gentle Satoshi’s smile was when he faced Kaho and how happy and beautiful Kaho’s smile was when she looked at Satoshi.

Yes, Kaho’s impression in Oreki’s mind was that of a slightly thin and gloomy girl, but somehow, under the nurture and love of Satoshi, the charm of Kaho emerged like a butterfly emerging from a cocoon.

That said, Chitanda was also pretty cute, Oreki thought, but as he had said before, a romance wasn’t something that he longed for, and if possible, he wanted to get away from it.

Probably due to Satoshi, who was interested in love, Oreki also started to read a romance novel to understand what love was. Many authors had their own understandings, but all of them had a similarity, and that similarity was uncontrollable. It came all of a sudden, and it brought tension, happiness, and a feeling that an individual couldn’t control before. In the end, it left everyone in a mess.

It was like a dark hole that sucked every matter within the space and destroyed them.

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Still, while Oreki was too lazy to be in love with someone, he didn’t mind becoming the observer, the viewer, sitting in the front seat as he wondered whether the feeling of someone would bear fruition or end up in a tragedy.

’No, I can’t be so cruel.’

However, watching Satoshi, who read the book quietly, and then Chitanda, who glanced at Satoshi from time to time, seemingly hesitated, Oreki took a deep breath and said, "I will go back first."

"Huh?"

While Chitanda was startled, Satoshi was speechless and asked, "Are you tired?"

"Yup." Oreki held his back and prepared to leave. "I can leave the rest to you, right?"

"Yes, Oreki-san!"

Chitanda nodded eagerly as if to say that everything was okay, but Satoshi hesitated since he knew—

"See you tomorrow."

"Yes, see you tomorrow, too, Oreki-san."

As Oreki said so, he left, leaving Chitanda and Satoshi alone.

Then, as expected, when Oreki had completely left, Chitanda quickly approached Satoshi, so close that she might kiss him.

"Fukube-san, this is the book that my uncle showed me ten years ago!"

".....’

While Satoshi understood Chitanda was anxious, he hoped she would understand the meaning of personal space.