Shun Kaido ran his fingers through his spiky hair in his (carefully practiced) imitation of a carefree pose. "Haha, I meant for us to get lost! Going to a class party is so uncool."

Saiki ignored him as the three walked back to the station. "So you want to go get some ramen instead?" Nendo asked.

Kaido scowled. "No, I don't want to get ramen. I'm just saying that the party had to have been a real drag. I mean, come on: Bingo? Eating and laughing and reminiscing with classmates? Who needs that?" His voice changed. "Making memories in a once-in-a-lifetime kind of way?" He laughed again, a bit more hollowly.

'As is completely obvious, Kaido is lying. I don't need telepathy to recognize how badly he wanted to go to the party. He's talking this way so that he can look and sound cool in front of us, but only an idiot would fall for the act.'

"Wow. I guess I'm glad we didn't go after all if that's what you really thought about it," Nendo said.

'Like I was saying. Only an idiot.'


After he got home, Kaido definitely did not wish the evening had gone differently.

'I really didn't want to go,' Kaido thought as he changed into pajamas.

'I wouldn't have enjoyed it if I had been there,' he thought as he brushed his teeth.

'I'd say that I should get over it, but what is there to get over?' he thought as he lay down and pulled the covers up.

'I'm a lone wolf. I don't need other people,' he thought as he closed his eyes.

'This is getting old. The "trying-to-convince-himself-he's-not-sad" technique is not enjoyable to overhear, especially not two hours of it. Hopefully he'll fall asleep soon and this whole thing can be forgotten tomorrow.'

'But even if I'm okay with it–and I am! Didn't I hurt my friends tonight?'

'Oh no.'

'Maybe Saiki or Nendo were really looking forward to attending the party. And it was my mistakes that stopped that from happening.'

'No. I didn't want to go at all and Nendou has probably forgotten the whole evening by now. It's fine. Just go to sleep.'

"I failed my friends. I'm… I'm a bad friend."

'It's getting worse. Now he's actually saying this out loud.'

"They wanted to go, but I disappointed my friends!"

'I'm neither disappointed nor your friend.'

"And… I kind of did want to go myself."

'So much for fooling himself into apathy.'

"I… wanted to go." Kaido's voice was choked.

'And now he's crying. His expectations were so high for such a stupid thing, that he's actually crying now.'

Kaido's body started shaking with sobs.

'Anyway, he's got no one to blame but himself for missing it. He was the one who couldn't follow simple directions, even after multiple tries, so getting lost was his fault. I was not responsible, because I didn't do anything wrong. "Not helping" isn't the same as misleading them. And in the end I did help us get there. So he has no business blaming me.'

"I'm… I'm a terrible person," Kaido gasped out between sobs.

'Frankly, it's starting to be embarrassing. I'll never be able to sleep if I hear his weeping all night. I didn't want to intervene, but this is getting ridiculous.'


When he heard the incoming text message tone, Kaido needed to wipe his eyes, blurry with tears, before he could read his phone's screen.

Hairo: Hey, are you available Sunday night?

Kaido typed back: "What for?"

Hairo: A bunch of us decided to have another party, so we're going out to a restaurant. Can you come?

Kaido's first instinct was to reply 'YES, OF COURSE,' with an excessive number of exclamation points, but that wouldn't have been very Jet-Black Wings of him. So he texted back, "I'll need to move some things around, but unless an emergency that demands my attention arises, I think I can come."

Hairo: "Great! This time we're meeting at the station at seven and we'll all walk to the restaurant together, so nobody gets lost."

Kaido grinned as he laid on the bed. His face was a mess from crying, but after just a few texts, and having something to look forward to, he felt almost giddy.


Class 2-3 chat

Hairo: Okay, Kaido is in. Does anyone have Saiki's number? Kuboyasu, you hang out with him a lot.

Kuboyasu: I do, but now that you mention it, I don't think I've ever seen him with a phone. Maybe he doesn't even have one.

Hairo: No matter, I'll talk to Saiki tomorrow in person at school.

Yumehara: And I'll talk to Mera!

Hairo: Great! This is going to be a lot of fun. I'm so glad I had the idea for another party!

Takahashi: Uh, excuse you, it was my idea.

Zolbe: No it wasn't either of you! It was me!

Yumehara: I distinctly remember thinking 'Class 3 should have another party on Sunday.' Almost like it was a voice in my head!

Sawakita: That can't be right–I remember thinking the exact same thing, word-for-word.

Hairo: Me too. Huh. I guess all of us had the same thought.

Teruhashi: What a weird coincidence! This sounds a little bit like what they call synchronicity. But that would mean something or somebody is behind it all, which couldn't possibly be.


'Yes, it could. Obviously it was me.'

'Now I don't want you to get the wrong idea. I did this completely for my own self-interest. I was tired of Kaido sobbing and this seemed like the only way to shut him up so I could get some sleep tonight.'

'That's absolutely the only reason.'

'It's not like I felt guilty about not helping him make it to the party on time. And it's not that him being sad bothers me.'

'It's definitely not like Kaido is my friend or anything.'


Author's notes:

Story begun: May 11, 2022
Story completed: May 15, 2022

The title is a reference to the Aesop fable, "The Fox and the Grapes."