Chapter 2

The second chapter of the *Oresuki* manga.

## Synopsis

Amatsuyu Kisaragi has just arranged to meet with Sakura Akino. He puts on a set of new clothes and leaves the house with a sense of victory, certain that Cosmos intends to confess to him.

Joro arrives at the park where Cosmos is waiting on a bench. She tells him to sit down next to her, which he does, and she says that she has someone she likes. She talks about her feelings for this person before revealing that their identity is, not Joro, but Taiyo Oga, Joro's best friend. In the panel, there is a figure standing behind a tree behind the bench wearing a girl's school uniform.

Joro is shocked by this unexpected reveal as Cosmos continues, telling him that she had started to like Sun ever since last year's Koshien baseball tournament. Sun's team had lost the match, but he was consoling his teammates with a smile, putting the blame on himself, the pitcher. Cosmos then explains that she had walked up to the stadium's north exit from the east hallway to find Sun exiting the players' waiting room and crying by himself. Cosmos says that she had to hold herself back from embracing and comforting him, and that this was the moment she fell in love with him.

Cosmos continues by requesting Joro, who is still shocked, to help her and Sun with their relationship. In order to maintain his dense persona, Joro agrees to help her, and she hugs him before leaving. After Cosmos is gone, Joro slumps over and holds his head in his hands, laughing softly. It finally sinks in that he had been mistaken the whole time about Cosmos's intentions, and his laughing becomes maniacal for a while before he settles down. Joro becomes confused, as he doesn't know where he might have messed up in his facade.

As Joro walks home, his phone buzzes as he receives a message from Aoi Hinata inviting him to meet with her. Joro becomes excited as his Hyde persona takes over, and he becomes confident that Himawari is going to confess to him. He turns around and walks back to the park.

Himawari tells Joro to sit down next to her on the bench and starts to tell him that there is someone that she likes. Joro notices that she is doing and saying exactly what Cosmos did just before. Himawari talks about her feeling for the person before revealing that it is, as Joro had feared, Sun. Once again, the figure in the school uniform can be seen in the background behind the tree.

Once again, Joro is shocked. Himawari continues by telling him that she had started to like Sun ever since last year's Koshien baseball tournament, shocking Joro again that it was the same event as Cosmos. Joro is in disbelief at the fact that both of them told him the same flashback as Himawari tells him she had gone up to the players' waiting room after the game, except she took the west hallway, to see Sun crying by himself as he left the waiting room, and how that was the moment she fell in love with him. Himawari then asks Joro if he could help her get closer to Sun, which he agrees to, again. Himawari hugs him before leaving.

Once Himawari is gone, Joro slumps over. He yells out in frustration. He is at a complete loss why his plan has gone awry. He recounts what has happened, where Cosmos and Himawari are both trying to use him to get closer to Sun. His internal voice goes crazy with frustration about how Himawari didn't love him.

Joro admits his plan has failed, asking when the world had switched from pure nice guys to hot-blooded cool guys. He sees to reason to keep up his Jekyll persona and decides to kill him off. Suddenly, Joro sees hope. He realizes that, in this situation of one guy and two girls, one of the girls will end up heartbroken regardless of who Sun chooses, which would allow Joro to swoop in as her confidant and gain her affection. With this, he formulates a new plan, where he will help both girls get closer until Sun chooses one to be with, and he would settle for the other.

## Characters in Order of Appearance

* Amatsuyu Kisaragi (Hyde)
* Sakura Akino
* Amatsuyu Kisaragi (Jekyll)
* Sumireko Sanshokuin (background)
* Taiyo Oga (flashback)
* Aoi Hinata (fantasy)
* Aoi Hinata