With the ability to turn towards Shiuka as well during the little study session with all their friends. Hakuta felt much more confident he would be able to deal with the night. Since he wouldn’t have to worry so much about being stuck with Ninka the entire time. Not that she didn’t try, of course.

“Yo Hakuta.” She called to him, tapping the boy hard on the shoulder. “How do you do this?” Ninka asked, forcing him to abandon Shiuka for a little bit. He would have no other choice but to offer his aid, which would eventually annoy the other girl after it seemed he had been pointed away for a little too long.

“Hakuta, what’s this about?” She grabbed his shoulder to direct his view towards her homework. Of course he would again turn towards her to help the girl out. This would then repeat with Ninka taking his attention and Shiuka doing it in return.

“Wow.” Yuusen commented on the display he and Ituski were given. “Those girls really needed his help. Good thing Hakuta’s smart or else we wouldn’t be able to see them during summer break.”

Hakuta sighed as he was made to go back and forth between the pair. Eventually it reached the point where he hadn’t even gotten the chance to tutor either of the two anything. They simply were pulling him back to them as soon as the other had pulled him to them.

“Okay!” He had finally lost his patience and put a stop to their bickering. “I need to do my work too. It would kind of suck if I was the one who got stuck with summer work.” This appeared to be enough to get the girls off his back for now. Hakuta took another deep sigh now that he got some freedom and began looking over his own homework.

This finally gave him reprieve from their pestering, but the boy knew it wouldn’t last forever. There was always bound to be something from someone.

“Well, I might as well go use the bathroom then.” Said Ninka as she stood up. “Hakuta, maybe you need a little bit of a break before you get finished with your own stuff.”

“I don’t really know why that’d means I need to use the bathroom with you though.” He replied, confused.

“My.” She crossed her arms and bent down to his sitting level as she stood above him. There was a smug smile on her face as she stared him down. “Aren’t you being a bit presumptuous? Thinking we’d go to the bathroom together. That is unless you want to watch me-”

“Just shut up.” He cut her off before she could continue to embarrass him in front of all their friends. “Anyway I guess you got a point. I could take a short break here while you’re gone.” She giggled, content with her method of mocking him as the girl left her room unattended with everyone else inside.

“Good thing we’re taking a break now.” Rouko spoke, stretching out her body as most of them got up from their seats. “I’m so tired, this stuff is boring.” She then laid herself out on Ninka’s bed and basically took a nap.

“You know, I haven’t had the chance to say this yet.” Said Iruka, as she shut her notebook despite taking a grand total of zero notes. “I’ve never been in Ninka’s room before and its so cute!”

“It’s certainly interesting alright.” He agreed, scanning their surroundings. Ninka definitely had a room fitting of her style. It was bright and colorful, which reminded him of Shiuka’s room back at home. Yet at the same time, it had some of the edge he had come to expect from her given her dating experience compared to that of her friends.

Her bed, while having some bright colors on it, lacked any stuffed animals. On her desk, there was a bunch of magazines scattered about. And judging by the pile of clothes hanging out by the corner, he was certain this place normally was a mess and she only prepared it because all of them were coming. “I wonder what she normally does here when she’s alone?”

“That’s a weird thing to ask.” Said Itsuki. “Why would you care?” It did appear uncharacteristic of him to say so, but the circumstances did lead to him being rather curious.

“What’s wrong with wanting to know what any of you do during your alone time?” He responded. “Don’t you guys ever wonder what I’m up to when I’m not with you?”

“Playing video games.” They all spoke in unison to answer his question.

“Okay fine, I might be a little predictable.” He was hurt, but only because they weren’t wrong. “But I’m just wondering because we all got things we do by ourselves. I’m just a bit more open about it.” As he spoke, Shiuka simply stared at him listening. It may not have seemed like she was attentive, but the girl was paying attention to the subject.

She wondered if there was a reason for him to be talking about what he had been discussing with the other guys. Normally he didn’t appear to be curious about what the girls were up to. Knowing they lived together, she also thought he might’ve been wondering what she did in her room. After all, they both agreed to not pry too deeply into each other’s private lives. They were teenagers after all and needed some space like they would with parents.

But even with that distance between them, she did learn many things about him. Nothing major, but real minor details that even the boy himself might not have noticed. Such as how he’d adjust his glasses when lying, which fortunately no one else seemed to have picked up on. Or that single dimple he’d have on his cheek when smiling, one which she got a plain good view of as she continued to look at him as he chatted. “Whatever, I’m the only normal guy here anyway.” He chuckled, completing his debate with the other boys.

“I’m pretty sure that’s because you’re the only weirdo out of all us.” Yuusen replied with the two boys just looking at him in slight disappointment. The way they looked at him was completely different from the way Shiuka looked at him. And she wasn’t the only person watching him in a more than attentive manner.

“All right, hope you all didn’t have too much fun without me.” Ninka announced her return, which prompted the return towards their school work. Despite all the complaining, Hakuta was glad to be able to have some time set aside with finishing the rest of their work before the break was to come. The last thing he needed was getting his game time cut in by being assigned this stuff. And it wasn’t himself that he worried about, but rather Shiuka coming in his room to pester him to do it so she could get to shopping with her friends as quickly as possible.

“Good with me.” He prodded Rouko back to waking up so she wouldn’t end up missing out on finishing their work. Then he sat back at his spot to intently do his homework. Because of all their distractions, he had fallen a bit behind the pace. So Hakuta entered what he called ‘gamer focus mode’ in order to block them all out and complete things quicker.

He normally used this form while gaming, hence the name. It was great when e needed complete focus in order to complete a difficult level or to win a multiplayer game. Of course, since he was completely focused on the one single task meant he was oblivious to everything else around him. So they were free to essentially do whatever it was they wanted to do.

In Ninka’s case, it meant she was able to look over at him without the boy noticing. Being able to sit besides him gave the girl a close peek at him in full detail. With him not paying attention to himself at all meant this was a real look at what he was like without putting on a different face.

Hakuta was a lot cuter than she ever thought he was. Sure, when they weren’t friends she thought he looked like a loser nerd who spent all his time playing video games. The latter part was certainly true, and admittedly he wasn’t exactly a winner when it came to the social ladder. And the boy was on the smarter side, despite always downplaying his brains.

So in essence, she wasn’t incorrect in her assessment on the boy. But he was also more than just that. Hakuta wasn’t some socially awkward person who got all blushy with girls. He could hold a conversation and she felt like she was just wanted to talk to him more and more.

Yet at the same time, he wasn’t emotionless either. There was something about him that hit the right notes when it came to reacting. It was funny, but genuine. He was reserved, but confident enough in himself to speak.

“You know...” she finally spoke up, trying to give him a bit of a flirty hint. “Glasses are kind of cute on boys.”

“Huh?” This was enough to break him out of his concentration. “My glasses? Well, they are new so I’d hope they’d be current to fashion.” It was rare for anyone to compliment his glasses, mostly because they did make him look a bit geeky and less cool to pretty much everyone else in school. Only someone like Yuusen, in his eyes, could pull them off to grab people’s attention. “Th-thanks.” He turned away to hide his flustered face as he realized her intentions more. “That’s a kind thing for you to say.”

“Heh.” She giggled, pleased with herself on taking more ground. Finding victories on the battlefield of romance. “No problem.”