Hakuta was fortunate that the planned out festivities would be done with their friends. He wasn’t certain what else he’d do, so for once he’d follow their lead on it. While he put on his yukata for the second time in less than an hour, the boy thought about what he would say to Iruka.

Omihiro and Shiuka both made it seem so easy and simple. Just tell her nothing’s wrong and that she’s a perfectly good girl. Yet he had his own doubts which he had kept from them. If they knew how he truly felt, then perhaps the two would get upset with him for feeling this way. He felt as though if he just told her she was a perfectly good friend to him, that he’d be lying to her.

And these conflicting emotions only made him feel worse as he put on his fancy clothes. A contrast to him feeling dirty as a person for somewhat being influenced by Masahito.

“Hakuta are you done yet?” His thoughts were interrupted by Shiuka opening the door to his room and peeking her head inside.

“Can’t you at least knock first!?” He scolded her. “What if I was still in the middle of changing?” Being indecent in front of her was one of the last things he wanted to have done to him.

“Clearly you look like you’re done.” She responded, acting all naive about the situation. “Now stop wasting time, we don’t want you in here when the others get here.” Shiuka had already told everyone to meet at her place. It would be easy to continue the facade by pretending he simply had arrived before they all did, but it wouldn’t work if he was still in his room.

“Yeah yeah, I know.” He finished all the small details to his outfit and exited his room. It was here where the boy got a full view of her and the stunning outfit she wore. Shiuka hadn’t been kidding him when she said she already owned a beautiful yuktata. It truly was a work of art from its fine details and the expensive looking fabric.

This was all accentuated by her makeup. While he had gotten used to her when she wore her usual makeup during class, as well as when she wore none. What she had on now seemed much more special with her paying attention to all her traits. It was impressive she somehow was able to get all this done in the time it took him to just put on his own outfit. “You, um…”

“Heheh.” She giggled from his messy delivery. “So even you get a little tongue tied at a pretty girl too.”

“It is nice.” He clearly his throat in a way to calm his nerve. “I’m sure all your friends probably did the same things too.” Said Hakuta, downplaying the magnificent sight he had been blessed with.

“Yeah totally.” She sighed as they walked down the step. She was so close to being able to share this moment with just him. That would’ve made tonight so much better for her. Though at least she’d be able enjoy the short time here for now.

“You know, I’m just curious about something.” He said while they idled at the foyer for the rest of their friends to arrive. “Are these festivals the kind of places to try and flirt with other people?”

“That’s a real sudden thing to say!” She responded with shock and awe from his surprisingly forward question. “What are you planning?”

“I’m not talking about me.” He clarified. “I mean, you and the gals are all going to be so dolled up. I’m sure you’ll get the ton of boys attention.” Hakuta was unskilled when it came to getting the attention of girls, but at least he could understand how boys might react to seeing certain things. “I always took you for the type to date around, but I’ve never actually seen you interested in any boys. Is there anyone you’d actually be looking to date?”

“It really just sounds like you’re just pushing me to date someone.” She replied. It was true that he did have his close friends in mind a bit for this conversation. After all, they were definitely interested in girls like her. However Hakuta was more curious about it, since he had concerns he might be holding back. “Hmm, let me just say that I’m looking for the right boy right now.” Shiuka told him. “I don’t know. Maybe there’s a boy I might like.”

“Really?” This was the farthest he had ever heard her to admitting something so sensitive. Hakuta wondered who it could possibly be as his mind scoured through all the more handsome boys in their classroom.

He didn’t get much time to consider this as their friends began trickling into the house and things became much louder and more crowed. Hakuta also had much more on his plate to distract him when Ninka showed up.

If he had thought Shiuka had dressed herself up for the occasion, then Ninka really came along dressed to impress. Somehow despite her obvious advances towards him, the boy still forgot she would do something special for this festival just to get his attention. Even though she should’ve figured it wasn’t looks he was searching for. Then again, it definitely didn’t hurt.

“There you are.” She said as she walked in through the front door. Ninka had on a fiery red yukata, matching her hair, but also struggling to contain her chest at the same time. A part of him wondered if she purposely chose to pick something a size too small just to accentuated what her mother had given her. “You’re looking real handsome.”

“Oh, thanks.” He was a bit pleased to hear someone compliment him for once. Usually it was him doing that unasked for the girls. Though he was aware she likely said this to get him flattered for some flirting. It was still very much appreciated. “You look… Good… Too.” He nervously returned the favor.

“So is Iruka not coming with us?” Rouko asked, now that everyone had arrived. “Sounds a little sad that she’s still avoiding us.”

“Don’t worry about her.” Shiuka assured her, which also was meant for everyone in the room. “We should be seeing her there. So it’s not really a problem.”

“Sounds good to me.” It didn’t take much to convince her. Though it didn’t sound like she was very heartbroken about missing one of their friends either.

“Now that we’re all here. We should get going.” As the one always wanting to get things done. Hakuta directed them to leave so they wouldn’t need to spend more time in this house than needed. Every second spent inside only served to stress him out more on them finding out the truth. Even if half the people here already knew anyway.

He wanted to take the lead and walk ahead of everyone. Mostly so he wouldn’t have to utter many words since the only reason he was going was due to Iruka. Unfortunately him going in front only caused Ninka to come along with him as well.

“I can’t believe you’re going too.” She struck up the conversation without waiting to see if he wanted it. Then again, when did anyone do thing because Hakuta wanted it? “I always figured you’d be the kind of guy to say that festivals are a drag.”

“That’s because I am.” He replied. Though it was also because he was the kind of guy to look at how much money was normally spent during these events and therefore decided home was a good alternative. “I’m only going for Iruka, so sorry to rain on your parade.”

“You certainly never learned how to charm a girl.” She responded, laughing a bit at the absurdity that he’d be so open about going for someone else when she continued to make her feelings known. “But I get ya, Shiuka told me about what went down. Her old friend was a real jerk, wasn’t he?”

“He was pretty mean.” Said Hakuta, as he got the feeling once more that he felt a bit suffocated by these girls. When it came to Ninka, he continued to allow her to come onto him despite him pushing back. It was little different compared to how he reacted to Iruka, except with more romantic undertones.

In a sense, he began to wonder if that so-called jerk was right all along. Was he just being too nice and accepting his fate with the girls because they weren’t outright mean to him or anyone? Sure, they were nice, but it was plain to see that he didn’t share much in common with them either.

Was this the struggle he had hinted at before? Was there a problem growing he was unwilling to face? But even if he did admit his issues, then where would that lead them?

“Are you alright?” Ninka asked him, bending over to get a better look at his face, which had been staring towards the ground ahead of them. “You don’t look so good right now.”

“I just had a scary thought.” He answered, sighing deeply. “Don’t worry about it. It doesn’t have anything to do with you.” He then lied to her just for the sake of trying not to ruin the mood.