"Now that I've found you, shall we go with them?"
Otsuki didn't hesitate to suggest gathering the fitipandi, passing by her back in the blink of an eye, blowing away the strands of hair that are normally on her chest.
I don't know how that works... Do you just let a bit grow and that's it? And doesn't it sometimes end up on your back? I can't tell if they're on the sides or the back.
That they were frontal was out of the question. Imagining Otsuki with two long strands sticking out of her bangs amused me. She couldn't see my smile.
I kept pace with him.
The whole school was busier than ever, with students milling about in the hallways, the courtyard, and so on. The courtyard seemed deserted, but I think some football club activity is taking place there. If there even is one, I'm not sure.
There will have to be at least one sports club.
I'm talking about the hallways, but we didn't have to go into them to meet Hina and Tsukiyomi.
"Hello. You did come after all. You can't scare Otsuki like that. Standing a woman up is very wrong."
Hina greeted me 'reproachfully,' if you can call it teasing.
It hasn't even been a week since I met her, but from what I can see, she doesn't take much of what she says seriously. Or perhaps she takes it so seriously that people somehow let it slide. I think I'm applying the negative-for-negative-equals-positive principle very wrong.
"What scare or anything?" the accused replied.
"Boo," what a scare.
"I-I told you… no scares."
"Did that scare you?" Otsuki's eyes widened in shock.
Tsukiyomi intervened, noticing Hina's sudden, almost startled reaction. I wasn't really looking at her, but I'm pretty sure her hair stood on end for a moment.
It's impossible for him to get scared so easily.
I tried to find an explanation for his reaction, which I wasn't even sure was the case, and I couldn't find anything.
Zero.
Like my exam grades.
I got depressed.
"Excuse me… but you didn't tell me you were going to wait for me at the entrance either. I'm not a mind reader."
I chose to play it safe, without overdoing it. You could say I was testing the waters.
"What matters is that we are all here."
"Yes, and now that we're alone, all that's left is to have fun."
"Having fun with you is the last thing I would expect."
"If you keep ruining the fun, I'll cut your wrists."
Hasn't the conflict escalated too quickly...?
For those wondering, I don't consider the cultural festival to have started yet, as the stalls still need to be set up. All the stalls will open in about half an hour. If any are ready beforehand, they can open earlier.
Therefore, we have nothing better to do than wander around like fools.
Now I can say that there were a lot of people in the hallways. Certainly a pleasant atmosphere for most. Not for me.
It's inevitable that a group of three girls and a boy would stand out, especially if I ran into people from my class. I don't know when that other incident happened.
Everyone seemed to be doing their own thing, either in their respective groups or alone. There were also the few who had to stay in their classes to handle whatever it was they had to do. Poor things.
"Riku, did I tell you what our class was going to do?"
"Uh, if I remember correctly, a gem exhibition."
"Ara, I don't think Otsuki has said a word to us about it."
"If I said it like that, you must have forgotten."
"…" Tsukiyomi finally said nothing.
I don't blame you. I don't think it stands out at all. Will anyone even go see it?
"Oh look, auntie, there are gems!"
"How cool!"
"Look, this one is super precious and cute, just like me!"
I burst out laughing at my impersonation of two girls in a terribly derogatory tone. And that was with three girls standing next to me.
I could never have predicted such a situation.
"We could go and take a look. I doubt a couple of kids would take that long to put up colored stones."
"That's fine by me, but will they let us in?"
"It's fine if we go in early. And if for some reason they haven't finished, we can help."
Han, or ha?
As far as I remember, nobody was with that boy when the teacher told him to prepare the class.
But he had friends, I must be getting the wrong idea… LIE! He doesn't have friends, let's save his life by helping to place some colored stones, I mean, gems.
It was decided, we went to my class to see the exhibition before everyone else.It didn't take us long to get there since we were on the first floor, and close to it.
Inside were three boys, who were still placing the gems. There were only a few left, and the one who had brought them was sweating profusely whenever anyone other than him touched them.
"Let me take that one."
"Ah, okay. Well, I'll take this black one. What is it?"
"That's… Bort. It's way back there."
With the diligence of a fifteen-year-old boy, the boy placed it in its corresponding display case.
We concluded that they hadn't finished fixing everything yet.
"I think it would be best to wait until they finish instead of spying."
"Be quiet, I can't hear what you're saying."
"Tsukiyomi, Riku, you'd better stay away from her, if you don't want people to look at you badly," Hina said as she took two steps away from us. Tsukiyomi followed her, worried. I followed her indifferently.
Let it be known that nobody was looking at Otsuki.
Because she also followed Hina.
"I'm not going to spy on them!"
"Good girl."
"…"
Otsuki's eyes lost all their sparkle, and his mouth twisted along with his eyebrows. Hina reacted as if it were her usual expression.
He took the opportunity to talk to Tsukiyomi.
"By the way, what time do you want me to come to your house tomorrow after all?"
The recipient responded once she understood what was meant, lowering her head. "I'd say her gaze too, but she almost always looks at the ground. She's a step above me when it comes to not looking people in the face."
"…At ten o'clock."
"Okay, I'll be there."
Something's brewing here...
And what was going on was just a simple get-together at Tsukiyomi's house. Nothing I needed to interfere in.
I suggested taking a walk instead of waiting for them to finish next to the classroom. It would still look strange. Hina agreed. "Shall we see how they've set up the theater in our classroom?" she suggested.
We accepted their proposal and went up to the second floor.