As Hakuta followed along Iruka as she directed him towards where the other girls were. He felt himself gaining more anxiety. It had nothing to do with her grip on his hand leading him like he was some kind of children out in public. The problem came from the last time he spoke with Ninka. Which was a lot longer ago than what one might expect considering they had been together up until the group broke up.

Admittedly Hakuta felt bad about what he had said to her. It was mostly just to get her to stop pestering him with this strange flirting business. This wasn’t the time for him to want to deal with it and the boy always figured she was simply not serious on the matter. However her reaction to his somewhat harsh words seemed a bit extreme.

Thinking on it now, this wasn’t much different compared to Iruka crying when he said he didn’t want to be friends. These gals always seemed to get way too emotional or overreact to things. Which was funny seeing as Iruka herself had said guys like him react in comedic fashion whenever she would throw in a tease like she had done earlier.

But on the matter with Ninka, he couldn’t tell why she would be so upset about him telling her she was bad at flirting. First off, Hakuta couldn’t deny that he was completely honest in his feelings. So it would be a challenge to say that he simply didn’t mean what he had said.

That said, even he didn’t think his opinion would hold much weight. Shiuka told him how strange it was for someone like him, who had absolutely no dating experience, to act like he knew better. Hakuta would agree, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t or didn’t have any opinions when it happened to him.

Isn’t the whole point in flirting to try and get someone’s attention? Specially in a positive and romantic way. While the boy couldn’t deny that she did get his heart racing a few times. That didn’t mean he was falling for her or would’ve wanted to start being a couple. It wasn’t how he viewed being with a girl at all.

Maybe he was the one who didn’t understand people at all. Not like Hakuta ever bragged about being in the know when it came to these things.

“There they are!” Rouko spotted the pair and waved to them. “Yoohoo, we’re over here.” Iruka heard and spotted her from a long ways away. This got her to run over, with Hakuta having to give chase as she had yet to release her tight grip on him. If he hadn’t chased that masked figure halfway through the convention, then Hakuta would’ve not felt absolutely exhausted from needing to sprint just to keep up.

“Hi!” Iruka gave them all an energetic greeting when the two groups reunited. “You should’ve seen it, we got to be in this cool VR thingy.” She told them about the immersive experience. Though she did keep out important details such as the part where he got a bit too handsy with her. There was no telling how they’d react.

“That’s fun.” Rouko replied, but quickly stopped caring to point out something more important in her eyes. “But anyway, looks there’s some popular streamers hanging out here.” She pointed them to one of the booths which had gained a fair number of people gathering around.

“Wait a second.” Hakuta’s eyes lit up when he scanned along to see who was there greeting the guests and signing some autographs. Most of the people there he didn’t care about, but one did catch his eye. “No way, is that Eclipse?”

“Who’s that?” Asked Shiuka. The girls did know some of the other popular people here. They were more fitting in terms of gaining an audience that the gyarus would care about.

“He’s only one of the best shooter players out there.” He told her, moving himself forward towards the booth. “The dude’s aim is incredibly insane. Some people swear it’s like using aimbot.”

“I don’t understand half the things you just said.” She looked at him with a bit of disappointment as she witnessed him getting caught up in the hype and moving in to talk to the man.

“Eclipse, I have to say I’m a big fan.” Hakuta made it to the table to say what it was that had been on his mind since seeing the man. Which wasn’t much at all.

“Oh, that's nice to hear.” Eclipse, which would be his username online, replied. “Always a joy meeting fans in person.”

“I can’t believe you’re even here. Have you ever thought about coming back to the pro scene?” He asked.

“Eh…” He gave a bit of a shrug in response. At this point, even his fame and popularity, he had heard this question numerous times throughout the day. “I don’t know. If the right opportunity came along, I think I’d give it a shot.”

“I would be so excited to see you on the stage again.” Even a non answer like this was enough to get Hakuta flowing with energy with just the thought of it.

“Hey, we need to get going.” A man grabbed Eclipse’s attention. It was another person whom Hakuta recognized online.

“Oh my gosh, it’s Mr. Mean!” He spoke with more enthusiasm. This was easily the most excited any of the gyarus had ever seen the boy.

“It’s nice to see a fan.” He responded to the obvious fanboying. “Sorry that we can’t talk though. Gotta go somewhere soon.”

“Yeah, it was nice meeting you.” Eclipse got up from his seat to leave with the other man.

“Huh…” Now seeing them standing next to each other. Hakuta had now seen something he never expected at all. “Eclipse is really short compared to Mr. Mean.”

“Okay, didn’t have to use the word really.” It definitely struck a nerve with the man as they walked away.

“Oh, I didn’t mean…” It was already too late to try and apologize for saying something so insensitive. Before he was even able to finish his sentence, Hakuta watched the two men leave with the rest of the streamers. “Ugh, really put my foot in my mouth there.” Now he knew how someone like Ninka could be mad at him. He really did find a way to get to people’s weak spots, even if accidentally.

“Man, you gamers really are a bunch of weirdos.” Said Rouko when he returned to the rest of the girls. “It’s no wonder why you don’t have a girlfriend.”

“That’s not true.” He responded to the blatant bullying. “I don’t have a girlfriend because I choose to stay single.” For a second, perhaps because of what was on his mind, he glanced over at Ninka. She only returned his gaze for a single moment, then quickly turned her head to avert her gaze of him.

“Hmm, anyway.” She quickly changed the subject faster than a speedrunner trying to beat a game. “I need to use the bathroom, come on Iruka, Shiuka. Safety in numbers.”

“I’m coming too.” Said Ninka, who thought it was strange to be left out of that listing when Iruka was put in it.

“No you’re not.” She put a hand to her face to stop the girl from following them. “Someone needs to stick around Hakuta. We can’t leave him alone.”

“What? Why?” He was surprised that she viewed him of all people as needing a babysitter. “I’m way more mature than any of you.”

“You all saw how he acted with those streamer guys. If we leave him alone for too long, I think he might start harassing some of the cosplayers around here.” It was rather disrespectful of her to think he would go after people just because of how they were dressed. Even if there were an above average amount of girls in relatively scantily clad outfits around.

But there was another point that she wanted to point out to really get them to be placed in this situation. “Also, I heard there was some guy running around chasing someone else.” There were people who saw and gossiped about Hakuta’s chase of the masked figure. Obviously they didn’t know who he was, given that he wasn’t from around here. But it was enough to leave an impression considering the actions were strange. “Sounds pretty dangerous. I’ve heard he’s some normal looking dude with glasses.” The way she looked at him made it seem like she figured out it was him.

“Yeah…” He gave a nervous reply, knowing exactly what she was talking about. “That does sound like a pretty bad individual.”

“Wow, I never even heard of that.” Iruka was shocked to hear of a man chasing someone dressed up. “Then we should all be careful. No one should be by themselves while we’re here.” It was at this point there was no chance of arguing against what Rouko wanted. Ninka had no other choice but to be left behind alone with Hakuta.

While it all sounded rather logical, it was plain as day that this was what Rouko wanted. Hakuta didn’t know what she had in mind, but clearly she wanted him to be alone with Ninka for some reason. Perhaps this was meant as a joke to make his skin crawl from the awkwardness of being with someone who hated his guts.

Or maybe this was her giving him a chance to right his wrongs.