There are things in life that should never be combined: pineapple on pizza, socks with sandals, and a school-wide competition involving logical deduction, emotional chaos, and hormonal teenagers. The Puzzle Research Club apparently missed that memo.
"Announcing the first-ever Puzzle Festival!" Mitsuki Shiranui stood confidently at the front of the announcement board, arms crossed and her usual expression unreadable behind her glasses. Behind her, a huge banner flapped in the wind like a death flag for introverts everywhere.
"Why is this happening?" I muttered, sipping my vending machine coffee. It was bitter. Like me.
"Because school festivals weren't already weird enough?" Koharu deadpanned beside me, arms crossed. Her usual spunk was subdued today. Suspicious.
The rules were simple, deceptively so: two-person teams would compete across puzzle stations placed around the school. Each puzzle solved earned you a code. Eight codes unlocked the final mystery. The team that solved the mystery first would win eternal glory, bragging rights, and, worst of all, an article in the school newsletter.
Mitsuki approached me right after the announcement, her footsteps as silent as a boss battle trigger.
"You will be my partner," she said, eyes fixed on mine with terrifying calm. Not a question. A statement.
I blinked. "Don't I get a say in this?"
"No. You are optimal."
Flattering. In a completely robotic way.
Before I could formulate a sarcastic retort, Koharu barged in like a corrupted save file.
"Wait a sec! If this is a visual novel, I'm not losing screen time to the library route!" she snapped, pointing a finger at Mitsuki. "I call dibs on Senpai."
Pause.
My eye twitched. "Did you just call me senpai? That has never happened before. Ever."
"Shut up. It's for dominance."
Ami Tachibana appeared moments later, arms behind her back, tilting her head like a classic dating sim heroine who secretly orchestrated your downfall. "Um, if you're not already taken, I was wondering if maybe you'd want to partner up? I made matching pins!"
Minami Fujisaki dropped from a window.
Okay, not literally. But she might as well have. She jogged over, in gym clothes, wiping sweat from her brow. "I heard there's a challenge. I'm in. With him."
I looked around. Mitsuki. Koharu. Ami. Minami. And from the library window, the assistant girl I once helped shelve an atlas blinked at me and held up a sign. It read: Need a partner?
This was it. The endgame.
"You're seriously raising flags like a speedrunner again," Koharu hissed at me.
I sighed, pinching the bridge of my nose. "Look. I am not a protagonist. I am not even the love interest. At best, I'm the optional NPC who sells you healing items in the back alley of Chapter 3."
"Oh my god, shut up!" Koharu finally snapped, face flushed. "He's mine! I mean—my senpai! My… idiot!"
The entire courtyard paused.
Even the pigeons.
I turned slowly. "You okay there, buddy?"
She groaned and smacked her forehead. "Why is your whole vibe like emotional poison?"
"Genetics."
In the end, Mitsuki coolly declared, "We will decide partnerships through a logic challenge. Those who wish to team up with him must solve this." She held up a laminated sheet of pure evil. A riddle designed to ruin friendships.
And then she handed it to me.
"I already solved it. I want to see how they perform."
Minami scratched her head. Ami looked at it upside down. Koharu scowled like it personally insulted her fashion sense.
The riddle read:
"I am the beginning of the end and the end of time and space. I am essential to creation and I surround every place. What am I?"
Ami whispered, "Stars?"
Minami guessed, "Darkness?"
Koharu muttered, "Your social life?"
I coughed. "The answer is the letter 'e.'"
Mitsuki nodded once. "Correct."
Everyone stared at me.
I felt very naked. Emotionally.
Despite all chaos, I ended up with Koharu.
Not because she won the logic challenge. She actually wrote "eggplant" on the answer sheet and drew a sad cat.
But because Mitsuki, without explanation, withdrew. She simply said, "Your equation is incomplete without her."
Cryptic. Like a Final Fantasy plot twist.
As we prepared for the Puzzle Festival, Koharu seemed unusually focused. No impulsive declarations, no dragging me into random clubs, no setting off fire alarms for theatrical effect.
"You okay?" I asked as we waited outside Puzzle Station One.
She glanced at me, eyes narrowed. "You really don't get it, do you?"
"I rarely get anything unless it comes with instructions."
She kicked a rock. It hit a bush. The bush rustled like it judged me.
"Everyone thinks you're some stoic genius now," she said, voice low. "But I saw you before that. When you were a vending machine. When you only ever said the bare minimum."
I smiled faintly. "Wasn't I easier to deal with then?"
"No. You were boring."
Fair.
We moved from puzzle to puzzle. Each station had its own flavor of madness: word scrambles with hidden messages, number sequences with coded time stamps, and once, a box full of rubber chickens with morse code feet.
At Station Four, Koharu solved a lateral thinking puzzle before I did.
She practically bounced. "Ha! I win!"
"What do you want, a medal?"
"Nope. I want a wish."
Danger.
"You don't have that authority."
"I do now. That's how narrative momentum works."
I sighed. "Fine. One wish."
She paused.
Then looked at me, really looked. "Be honest with me next time. Don't just hide behind sarcasm."
I blinked. "That's more than a wish. That's character development."
"Darn right. Now c'mon, NPC. Let's break the game."
We continued through the Puzzle Festival, collecting codes and bickering in harmony. Other teams watched us like we were reality TV.
Ami and Minami teamed up. The library assistant had recruited three mathletes and formed a team called Silent but Deadly.
By the final round, we were ahead.
Under the sakura tree—our sakura tree—we solved the last code. Together.
And as the victory chime rang from the speaker system, Koharu looked at me, flushed and grinning.
"See? You're more than an NPC. You're my cheat code."
I groaned. "That was horrible."
She laughed. "I'll do worse later."
Mitsuki watched from the Puzzle Club's booth, unreadable.
Riku, in the shadows, smirked.
And somewhere in the distance, new flags were already being raised.