Hakuta was more than glad about being able to turn things around with Shiuka. For the sake of their living situation, it was for the best. Unfortunately, when something good happened to him, it seemed something bad was soon to follow.

“Hmpf.” He made a deep disappointed sigh as the boy stared at his computer screen. Hakuta had sent a message to his online friend, ‘TheMaskedDemon’, but had received no reply from them. It was odd for both the reason that they normally always seemed to be available and that the message had been marked as read by them.

Therefore he knew they saw what he sent to them. So why was it they never responded? It had been a few days now, and while he didn’t want to seem desperate, Hakuta had sent a message at around the same time each day to get a response. Yet every time was the same result of it being read, but basically ignored. “What’s going on?” He got up from his desk and left his room. There was no point in sitting around waiting for something to never come.

“Wow, you’ve really not been isolating yourself lately.” Shiuka commented, seeing him out and about once again for the third day straight. She had been busy helping Omihiro out with some extra things from the last time their dads got back. So unfortunately, she didn’t get to enjoy this as much as she would’ve liked. “Did you just get bored with your new friend?”

“I think they might’ve gotten bored of me.” He answered, plopping himself onto the couch to lament. “It’s strange, things were going pretty well. But then they just suddenly stopped talking to me.”

“Well, you could be right about them being bored.” She sat down besides him, taking advantage of this time to take a break. Shiuka wrapped her arm over his shoulder to get uncomfortably close for his liking to explain her perspective on the situation. “Or maybe something just came up and they can’t talk or play games right now.”

“I can see them online playing.” It was because of this fact that he knew them avoiding him had to be done on purpose. But if they didn’t want to play with him anymore, he wished they would’ve just told him. Ghosting him so suddenly made him feel terrible.

“You do have to admit it’s a pretty unique situation.” She reminded him. “You don’t even know who they are at all and you’ve told all of us about how you want to figure that out. Maybe they just thought you were getting a little too close to the truth and needed to cut ties.”

“I thought I was being careful.” Obviously he was aware the masked gamer wouldn’t want their identity figured out. So Hakuta was careful to hide his intentions. But the worst part was that he was also genuinely glad to be able to have that person as a gamer friend. Even if they didn’t know each other on a personal level. “If they really left me, then I’ll really miss them.”

“It’s okay.” She gave him a good rub on the shoulder to console him. Were this just a few days ago, she might’ve been glad he had a falling out with this online friend. But now that she was aware of where she stood to him, it made her feel guilty for him to lose out on someone who would’ve been special. It was rare to see him have the chance to be passionate about his true hobby after all. “If it’ll make you feel better, I’m always here if you want a buddy to play games with.”

“Aren’t you a bit busy right now?” He asked, pointing over to Omihiro walking out the door with a bunch of ancient artifacts.

“Oh, right!” She was shook in remember her responsibilities. “Hey Noto those need to be bubble wrapped first.”

“I promise I’ll be careful.” The older man laughed in response. “And besides, I keep telling ya you should just call me Omihiro.”

“I think I can just help you two.” Said Hakuta. While he rejected the offer on having a bit of fun with video games. The boy did end up getting wrapped up into the family business for the rest of the day to keep him occupied.

It ended up taking so long that before he knew it, Hakuta found himself in the next day at school. While things were mostly normal for him, he couldn’t help but get the idea that something was missing.

It wasn’t until lunch time did he realize what it was. He somehow wasn’t asked by Ino to help her out with some paperwork. It hadn’t occurred in the past few days, and judging by the large stack she tried to pick up from the teacher’s desk, it wasn’t because she didn’t need his aid. “You need some help there?” He approached her, offering his support.

“I can handle this on my own.” She surprisingly rejected the offer, finally getting under things to lift it all by herself. “Anyway, just go enjoy your lunch.”

“Whoa, maybe you should be careful.” He couldn’t help but put his arms around here to try and keep a handle on the large stack. It seemed as though they were about to topple over with her along for the ride.

“I told you I can take care of myself.” She pulled away, nearly losing the papers. “Now don’t get in my way so we won’t have any problems.” Ino moved away from him to do her task, leaving him with nothing to do other than return to his desk. Hakuta couldn’t tell what he had done to her to cause the sudden cold shoulder. It seemed she went fully out of her way to avoid him for some reason unknown to him.

Hakuta thought about the last time he had a proper conversation with the girl. It would’ve been back when he asked to speak with her privately about his issue with Shiuka. Back then it didn’t seem like she was upset over anything. Though his mind did run back to the part where she admitted her disdain towards gyarus.

It put him a bit off guard to hear her speak so frankly. Especially of a nature that was kind of mean, but he wasn’t one to talk considering he had been the same way not so long ago. However, it was this point which caused him to wonder if this was why she no longer wanted a part with him.

After all, he did end up side with Shiuka and speak so highly of that girl. Perhaps she realized that they couldn’t be friends because of it. But if that were the case, then why did she talk with Shiuka in a way to benefit him when they girl had run away? He could never make sense of the actions of others.

“Sounds like you’re always getting into hot water with girls.” Iruka, who continued to sit behind him during lunch laughed. “I always thought people like you were the kind to be happy with everyone.”

“What do you mean by people like me?” He took slight offense to her statement. While he agreed that he might look like a stereotypical nerd. This didn’t mean he acted like them at all, whatever that would entail.

“It’s just that there’s always someone mad at you for some reason.” She responded. It was a fair assessment from Iruka’s point of view. Ever since she had come into his life, it did seem like he had bounced around who’s turn it would be to be upset with him. From herself to Ninka to Shiuka, and now it seemed Ino. “What’s next? Will be it Rouko’s turn to get mad at you?”

“I hope not.” He didn’t want to envision how that girl would be if he ever did cross her. Considering her personality, he felt she wouldn’t take the avoidance route. Instead Rouko seemed more like the girl to make his life miserable by playing tricks and humiliating him in front of their classmates. “Man, you girls really just don’t fit with me at all.”

Hakuta understood more why he held his previous position of wanting nothing to do with girls like Iruka. Drama seemed to follow all the time, but this time it was with Ino who was nothing like them.

“Come on, don’t say that.” She poked him as they shared lunch together. “I’m there for you both good and bad.” Iruka knew too well what it was like to lose a friend because of personal differences. She didn’t want to go through that again with Hakuta. He was like a second chance to make things right.

“That’s fine with me.” It wasn’t her he worried about. Hakuta was more concerned about his own reaction to this things. He had only been in high school for barely a few months. His first summer vacation would be coming right around the corner. Yet he felt as though he had been through a lifetime worth of adventures.

If there was one thing he could say about theses gals, would be that life certainly was more interesting with them.