Harem of Side Characters [Rewrite]

Sayo Andou - Sideline

Me and Sayo exit the storage room together.

"...Sorry you had to see that..." the girl mumbles.

"Its fine. I'm just worried about Onodera. Does this happen often?" I decide to ask her.

"Occasionally. She's told some of us about it, unexpected loud noises will freak her out. There's usually no problem, but today I messed up my serve and I hit the metal doors when she was in there. I feel awful." She drops her head in shame.

"It was an accident, I'm sure she won't hold it against you. Is it alright if you tell me why she's afraid of loud noises?"

"...I don't know the details, but even if I did I wouldn't tell you. Its a personal matter, so she should be the one telling you, not me."

"I understand."

An akward silence follows.

"...So, this is a pretty unique first meeting huh?" She nervously says to me.

"I suppose it is."

"Anyway, my name is Sayo Andou from class 1-B. I'm a member of the volleyball club, nice to meet you!" She shifts the topic away from the uncomfortable incident that happened just a few minutes ago.

"I'm Kiyotaka Ayanokoji, 1-D. I'm part of the go home club."

"So Mr. Ayanokoji... may I inquire as to why you've been visiting the swimming pool every morning?" She fixes me with a sly smirk.

"First of all, I am the same age as you. Second of all, I don't come here every day. In fact this is just the second time I've been here in the morning. I just wandered here when trying to find a place to exercise, and Onodera has been pestering me to join the swimming club ever since then." I'm sure she was imagining a deeper reason to why I was here.

"Doesn't explain why you're staying here though." She questions.

"I'm not staying here out of my own free will. I am actually being kidnapped and threatened."

"Likely story. So, morning exercise was it? You look pretty buff, I can see the appeal of kidnapping you." She puts her hand on her chin while looking me up and down.

"...Is that a compliment or a threat?"

"Want to join the volleyball club?" And she ignores my question completely. What else did I expect.

"Pass."

"Worth a shot." She shrugs. Just at that moment, the girl from before approaches the two of us.

"Hey, just wanted to tell you that Onodera's fine. I calmed her down, and she went back to her room to rest." The girl states.

"Thanks, Minamikata." Ando thanks her before Minamikata leaves the two of us. We walk over to a shaded area, and I watch the other girls begin their practice.

"Are you not gonna join them?" I ask the girl next to me.

"In a bit. I'm just not in the right mind to play right now."

"Is it because of the incident?"

"No. Well... kind of. Its just, I missed my serve, which is bothering me a lot more than it should." Andou leans back against the wall.

"I've been playing volleyball for pretty much my entire life. I'm pretty confident in my physical abilities, but as a volleyball player I'm just average. I still think volleyball is fun, but at times it can get really annoying. Its like, you try so hard to improve... and yet you see everyone else getting better without putting in even half the effort you put in."

"I don't think thats a bad thing. Its just what makes humans human."

"I guess... doesn't make me feel any better about it though!" She lets out a slight self-deprecating laugh. I return my focus to the water volleyball game. There is a clear difference between the strength of the volleyball club members and the swimming club members. Even though it looks pretty one sided, everyone had smiles on their faces, having fun.

"You seem to be enjoying the view." She comments, obviously implying some ulterior motives. While I will not deny that the thought has crosses my mind, its hard not to when some of the girls have adequately sized chests that move a lot when they jump, but that is not my main focus.

"Yeah, the sport is pretty entertaining. Its a nice break from our usual boring school life."

"I can relate to that. Life is pretty boring sometimes, huh?"

"I wouldn't say its that bad. Coming to this school comes with its own set of fun." These are my true thoughts.

"Obviously, with your looks I bet you have a harem of girls at your side. I don't have that sort of power."

"That's not true. Though, what do you have to be bored of? Isn't highschool the prime of your life?" Or so they say on the internet. People seem to enjoy their highschool life very much.

"It's supposed to be. I just feel like everything I try doing I only do to be around other people. There's nothing I truly want to do, you know. A lot of the time I wind up sitting at my dorm reading or watching stuff." She links her hands behind her head to lean on them.

"Interesting, I didn't think you were a reader."

"Is that an insult?" She narrows her eyes at me suspiciously. Huh, I guess I did subconsciously link her to the sporty girl stereotype that I've seen on the internet.

"No, nothing like that. There's nothing wrong with reading."

"That's not what your face says..."

"My face always looks like this. You can't pin that on me. Well, what sort of books do you read?"

"Hmm... Well I don't really read books. I just sort of read magazines, or whatever I have lying around." She shrugs. After that, the conversation turned into less self-deprecation and more just random facts. I decided to leave after a few minutes, and she decided to rejoin the girls for practice.

Today was certainly interesting. I can't say I didn't enjoy it, just talking to other people and watching the girls play volleyball. I might come back and watch them again to see them bouncing up and down.

The ball. I'm talking about the ball bouncing, of course.