“Speaking of taking care of things.” Ino handed the controller back to the boys and stood up. “I can’t just sit around playing video games all the time. I’m not just here to have fun. The president did bring me here to see what I could do with responsibility.”

“Don’t forget you’re still young.” The boy told her as she made her exit. “And that you’re not the president yet. Try not to waste a beautiful day.”

“Isn’t it kind of weird you’re the one saying it?” Rouko asked, pointing out how he was the one who set up a gaming setup in the middle of a beach party.

“I said enjoy the day, not how.” He replied.

“You know we probably shouldn’t be mean to the guy who-” Hakuta was about to scold her yet again, but this time he got interrupted by a girl suddenly coming up from behind him and giving him a hug. It wasn’t just any girl either, but rather Ninka who had come with her ambush onto him. “Whoa!? What are you doing here?” He couldn’t believe it as he turned around to see she wasn’t alone either. All their friends had somehow made their way to this party. “Rouko!”

“Don’t look at me.” She put up her hands to show innocence. “I listened to her. I was going to message them we get close to evening.”

“We were wondering what happened after the two of you decided to ditch us.” Said Shiuka, who told the others about where they had gone. She was surprised to see Hakuta go to a party of all places, since he was the type to avoid those at all costs. “Plus we get an excuse to go to this popping spot too.”

“Yeah, ooh, and there’s so many people here.” Iruka was hyperactive like a child in a candy store as she looked all over the place, moving around as well which might’ve annoyed some of the guests.

“I thought I was going to be getting a break today…” The boy still sitting between Hakuta and Rouko lamented. “I swear it’s like there’s someone who just wants me to suffer or something.” He believed since his friends were the ones tasked with handling the upcoming idol performance that he wouldn’t have anything to do.

“Who’s this?” Asked Yuusen as the group look at the boy confused. He didn’t appear to be older than them, but why would someone who looked like a recluse in their first year of high school would be here?

“He’s the school treasurer.” Hakuta answered. “And more importantly, we shouldn’t be disrespectful when we’re not the ones who are supposed to be here.”

“But you guys won’t believe this.” Now that they were here, Rouko felt no need to keep the secret pent up inside of her anymore. The girl had certainly been done with major secrets after everything leading up to today. “There’s going to be a real popular idol having a concert later tonight.”

“Really!?” They all responded in shock, which got the boy to shake his head in disappointment.

“So much for minimizing the attention.” He quipped. “Can you at least promise me you’ll keep that to yourselves?”

“You betcha.” Shiuka gave him a thumbs up. “It’s more special when we’re the only ones who know. Well, at least among the first years.”

“You should count the class rep in on that list too.” Rouko informed her, and therefore everyone else, that Ino was here at this party too. “You know, she’s on the up-and-up.” She explained. “Not to mention it helps to have family on the board.” The girl would also add under her breath.

“She already knows about us, so don’t worry about her.” Hakuta made this statement mostly to assure Shiuka. They were both aware of her disdain towards gyarus now, even if it didn’t impact her treatment towards them in any way. Even so, this didn’t prevent either of them from worrying.

“Whatever.” Ninka didn’t care about any of these revelations. All she knew was this party gave her the perfect excuse to be close with Hakuta again. “I know you prefer quiet places.” She leaned in on the boy and whispered out of earshot from the others. “How about the two of us sneak off somewhere alone so you can get something you want?”

“Ninka, I think you should know me well enough that I’m not that kind of guy with a gal.” He responded, assuming she wanted something that couples would want to do when sneaking away from crowd. Albeit they were not a couple at all.

“Not that.” She answered to his surprise. “I’m serious, just want to get away for a bit and just hang? It was not an explanation he expected from Ninka in the slightest. The offer was very tempting for a boy like him and he had already spent more than enough time to last a lifetime with Rouko.

“It does sound like a good idea.” He took a glance over at everyone else who was standing besides them. It would’ve been a good opportunity to have another escape like before. His friends would’ve certainly preferred that, but the boy already had plenty of Ninka for the day. “But I think I’ll just go and grab that drink I wanted a while ago.”

Despite asking them to grab him some refreshments from before he went to the party. Hakuta had forgotten about it, which did somewhat annoy them when they came back and he wasn’t there to get what he told them to get for him.

“Good thing I saved that for you.” Iruka announced, grabbing about a bottle which she had kept for him tucked away in her bra. He had no idea how she had just been going about carrying it around like that. Not to mention she didn’t seem to think it weird to hand it to him after where it had spent for the past half hour.

“Thanks…” He took it from her feeling a bit strange on the inside just thinking that he would have to be putting this to his mouth after where it had been. As he took a sip of some much needed refreshment for his thirst. Hakuta thought to himself about Ino, who had gone away to mingle with some other strangers to work on her skills.

Her apparent skills in that fighting game was wildly inconsistent to him. From one moment she completely trashed him, then the next came and it was like she had two left hands. It made no sense, even if someone got lucky at first, there was no way they’d be that inconsistent, right?

“Huh, so that’s the face everyone always says I’m making.” The boy commented, reminding Hakuta that he was still a part of this group. “What are you thinking about?”

“I’m not making a thinking face, right?” He attempted to get the gang on his side, but everyone else just said they weren’t aware if there was any differences.

“When do you actually think?” Rouko also had to throw in a bit of an insult when explaining her point of view.

“It did look like something was bothering you.” Shiuka did take note of it, but didn’t want to speak up since she didn’t want to bother him herself. “If there’s really something wrong, go ahead and tell us all.”

“If it’s about your other friend, I’m sure everything alright between you two.” The boy assured him.

“It’s just the part where she beat me.”

“She beat you!?” The boys were both shocked to hear such a crazy event occurring that they didn’t see. “And you didn’t let her win?”

“I mean, I was going easy at first.” When they expressed their shock, it only made it more embarrassing to admit he had tasted defeated because of their class rep. “But the way she played at first, it reminded me of the masked guy.” Hakuta would never forget the time he played that masked figure for the first time. He had been confident walking in that he would take an easy win.

That dream would be shattered when the masked gamer completely and utterly destroyed him in front of everyone that day. He had never been more humiliated and the boy didn’t even get the chance to talk to the person who had humbled him. It was hard, but he was also happy to see someone who actually was better than he was at that time. It only drove him to become a better gamer. “And then she went and played like you’d all expect.”

“You mean like a toddler, right?” Ninka laughed. “Must’ve been pretty bitter to take an L against her, right?”

“Okay, you don’t need to rub it in…” He replied, regretting telling them his feelings.

“I got an idea then.” Iruka took control of the situation, grabbing him. “You just need a break from all this gaming. Clearly you need something else and I’ve got the remedy.” Without telling the others, she then promptly picked him up and carried the boy over her shoulder. “Bye everyone.” She gave them a wave and rushed off, basically kidnapping Hakuta.

“Hey, wait!” He cried out. “Where are you taking me?”