Hakuta felt bad about his argument with Shiuka. That girl might’ve been close to him, partially due to living circumstances, but she also knew how to get on his nerves the most. Whatever her problem was, he hated when she’d get like this. That girl was also getting hot and cold where the cold rarely came up, but was annoying.

He wondered if it was something he could never understand. Such as the fact that she was a gyaru, or even the simple fact that she was a girl and he a boy. They never denied they weren’t different, but it would’ve helped him if she tried to help him see the issues without getting fussy.

Though perhaps he was at fault too, Hakuta thought. While his pride made it hard to want to admit this to Shiuka. It wasn’t like she didn’t outright state what it was he had done to get her upset. The boy just couldn’t understand why she would be against it. So far nothing bad had happened as a result of his actions. Therefore there shouldn’t be any problems, even including the angle about him keeping their secret locked up.

As he sat in class, Hakuta’s eyes couldn’t help but wander in her direction. There she was, the sunlight from the outside window providing a spotlight for him to see her. The way her pink hair glimmered and her eyes glowed from how it hit her just right. Shiuka truly was a girl of beauty. For a moment, somewhere in the back of his mind, he felt like a boy trying to sneak a peek at a girl they were crushing on.

But he was not a boy in love, probably. Instead he was more akin as being in the doghouse, so to speak. Someone who longed for an opportunity to make things right with her. His only issues were finding the time to be able to do so as well as questioning on what words he would say.

Speaking frankly, he was inexperienced. Speaking meanly, some would call him an idiot. Enough so that he was discouraged on making the move towards talking to her while they were at school. It was clear to him that he needed to seek some help first before making any attempts.

Unfortunately Hakuta wasn’t known for having many friends he could go to for help. So he had to scrape the bottom of the barrel and ask the guys for some help.

“Hey, do you guys have some time?” He asked once lunch arrived for them. “I want to ask you two something in private.”

“Are you sure you want to do it now?” Asked Yuusen in slight hesitation. These two boys were hoping to spend some time with the girls like they normally did.

“Yes.” Hakuta spoke bluntly, grabbing them both by the collar to drag them out. “Now come on, I just need to talk to you about something.” He pulled them along and outside of the classroom where no one would eavesdrop on their conversation.

“Must be pretty important if you wanted to do it alone here.” Itsuki commented. It was indeed rare of him to want to pull these two aside for a meaningful conversation. In fact, meaningful conversations were quite rare for this group of lads in the first place. Most of the things they talked about was of random matters that only meant something to one of them. The other two were just there to provide snarky commentary.

“So what troubles our friend here?” Yuusen asked in a manner that showed neither of them were that worried about Hakuta’s issues.

“Well I just wanted to ask if I happened to get into some deep water with someone.” Hakuta began, not giving away too many details. Aside from the usual excuse of wanting to keep secret about him living with Shiuka. He also didn’t want to deal with the embarrassment that would come from their inevitable teasing if they knew she was involved. “But I don’t really understand what I did wrong. What should I do about it?”

“Depends, is this a boy or a girl?” Asked Itsuki.

“Uh, girl?” He didn’t know why there would be a difference in how to handle the matter. But he did want to solve it, so Hakuta was honest about that.

“Ooh, does Hakuta have a crush on someone?” Though this only led to the teasing he was worried about from his friend. “I can’t believe our friend is finally growing up.”

“I know.” Yuusen agreed. “It’s about time he saw the light.”

“It’s not that!” Hakuta yelled at them, giving his two pals a good bop on their heads. He continued to talk to them, though now he had a flushed expression. “I’m not trying to date anyone, but I did do something wrong to make them upset.” While he was grown up enough to understand an apology was in order, he didn’t know how to fix things so they wouldn’t happen again. “Apparently it has to do with me playing with that masked gamer all the time.”

“Oh yeah, you have been doing that a lot lately.” It wasn’t a fact neither Yuusen or Itsuki were ignorant towards. Even they had noticed him spending less time with them ever since he met again with that person. “I hope you weren’t planning on throwing us away.”

“I would never.” He responded, taken aback by their suggestion. Unlike their normal joking selves, it seemed they were speaking quite seriously on this matter. “Why does everyone keep thinking that?”

“Anyway, if you got one of the girls mad at you for that. Maybe you should stop playing so much of those video games.” Itsuki suggested. “I mean, you should get out more and touch grass from time-to-time. You know, keep connected to nature and your friends.”

“Gee, thanks for the advice.” Hakuta sighed, then they returned to class. Even though he understood where they were coming from. He was unhappy with the thought that he was the one who had to make changes in his life just to appease everyone. The boy already did this enough, why couldn’t he have something to himself that didn’t have to bother someone else?

None of what he got helped him in the slightest. There had to be something else he could do that could fix things without him suffering. Hakuta only wished he knew how, but perhaps there was someone who could solve the problem.

The class’s representative, Ino, could be that someone. He knew she was smart, responsible, as well as someone somewhat close to him relatively speaking. At least compared to everyone else who weren’t his best buds or the girls. So by the time the end of school rolled around, he made a beeline for her desk. “In… I mean, Saito I’d like to talk to you.”

“Now?” She was shocked to see him make such an effort to see her. While Ino was always telling people to not be afraid to approach her should they have any issues or concerns. This rarely had an effect and he certainly was not one of the people to come to her. Funny enough, despite being the supportive one, she usually went to him for help more often.

“Yes.” He answered, leaning on her desk. “I want to ask you something privately. And even though it’s because you’re the rep, I want to hear your perspective of it as… Someone who’s not talking to me because of formalities.” Surely she already had her views as someone who’s supposed to be impartial. But right now he needed the help of a girl. Someone who might be able to understand Shiuka’s viewpoint so he could make the best decisions.

“Like that?” She bit her lip and turned gently towards the window to consider his suggestion. Then Ino shook her head as if trying to calm some nerves before giving her response. “Of course, that is my duty after all.” Again she took it to a formal matter even after he told her not to. Not that it ultimately mattered to Hakuta, who simply did want to talk to her. “Since school’s over, we can just wait for everyone to leave and chat privately here.”

“Great.” He breathed a sigh of relief and looked around to watch the others leaving for the day. Most students were not important to him, except for one. This being Shiuka, who had just gotten up from her desk. As she walked towards the door, she took one glance in his direction. Their eyes met for one tiny moment, but the image of her would become ingrained within his mind as she turned her head back to where she walked.

In that single moment, he couldn’t tell what went on in her mind. Judging from how she left without her friends, not only did she truly feel upset, but he also knew she would be heading home alone. Hopefully once his talk with Ino gave him clarity, he’d be able to set things straight.

‘Wait for me’, those were the words he thought silently in his mind. That she would just be patient for a tiny bit longer until he got things figured out for himself.

Finally, after he spent time waiting with Ino for everyone else to leave the classroom. They found themselves all along in privacy for him to be able to speak freely.

“So, what is it that you wanted to talk about?” She asked, still seated at her desk.

“It’s about Shiuka.” He spoke up after taking a moment to collect himself. The matter was a serious and delicate one, so he wanted to make sure to do things right. “I think I messed up and made her upset. So I want to know the right thing to do.”

‘Hmpf, it’s pretty simple.” Ino spoke up quickly and in straightforward manner. “Stop being her friend.”