The real reason for why Ninka didn’t outright confront Hakuta about him being spotted walking out of Shiuka’s house was that she wanted to confront her own friend about this matter first. Somehow she didn’t see her with him, so that either meant she had no clue on why he was there or she too was in on trying to keep private on his presence there.
If it was the latter, then it made her a bit angry. The absolute nerve of someone who would call themselves a friend if they were just going to go behind her back with a boy she already made obvious she was pursuing. Why would Shiuka do something like that, she wondered. It would be out of character after all the years they had known each other for.
Which is why she refused to attempt such a reality, but that meant the alternative made no sense. Why else would Hakuta be leaving Shiuka’s house without her? Where was she? Apparently as she walked into the classroom, her friend was sitting right where she expected her to be. From the way she acted and talked with Rouko, it seemed nothing was out of the ordinary. Well, outside of the strange choice of outfit due to the holiday.
“Oh my gosh, you look so good.” Shiuka greeted her, making a nice comment about her costume. “I hope you like what I did with mine.” She made a show of the red paint imitating blood as if it was realistic. Though to most it certainly just looked like red paint staining her gown.
“It’s good.” Ninka gave a simple response. She didn’t know when would be a good time to bring up the odd situation, but she couldn’t act normal while she knew this information.
“Aren’t you going to talk to Hakuta?” She asked.
“W-what? Why would I do that.” Even a simple question got her all flustered when it involved the boy.
“I thought you wanted to show it off to him.” She looked at her in bewilderment. “Don’t tell me you got all shy with him now.”
“Oh, actually I already did.” Ninka answered. “He liked it, but he just acted like it was no big deal.” She laughed, which got Shiuka to do the same. Though the latter only did so in a bit more of a fake manner. After all, she had gotten used to hearing her say this only for Hakuta to talk about it later and complain about the girl’s actions. “Anyway, what do you think about him?”
“Hmm? What do you mean?”
“About Hakuta? I mean, do you think he could be into me?” While this question sounded like asking for simple advice for a boy she was into. Ninka also took this opportunity to use it as bait for her friend. Depending on her body language, she might be able to ascertain a potential hidden relationship. At least that’s what all those magazines she read told her she could do.
“It’s not like you to sound so unconfident.” Shiuka laughed. “But sure, why wouldn’t he be into you? You already know you’re a cute girl.”
“Maybe he’s got different tastes in girls.” She replied, paying close attention to her friend. “You know, he’s probably a little scared to handle all of someone like me. You’re a lot more chill.”
“Yeah, I am.” She made no attempt to sound humble in response to the compliment. “Hakuta’s pretty laid back, so it’s not like he’s the adventurous type.”
“Sounds like you know him pretty well.”
“Uh, I guess?” Shiuka got a bit nervous, but her reasoning for so was different than what Ninka picked up from her. “I mean, sure we hang out sometimes, but it’s not like it’s any different than you two together.”
“Hmm, sure.” She couldn’t help but put a suspicious look on her face as she stared at the girl. Maybe she really was up to something after all. “But of course, I think everyone would say the class rep’s more his type.”
“Okay everyone.” Speaking of Ino, the classroom representative spoke up to get everyone’s attention. Not that she needed to try hard to do so as they all were ready for one thing. This being a fun day to enjoy some Halloween festivities and get rightfully scared. “We should have all the set pieces taken care of in less than an hour. Then we’ll be able to open ourselves up to the other classes.”
“Don’t worry, we can handle that.” Itsuki spoke up for himself, Yuusen, and Hakuta. “It should be no problem.”
“I don’t remember volunteering myself for this.” Hakuta complained. “Besides, I’m the supervisor so I’ll decide what I’m doing.” Which to him, was setting up the mood with lighting and music. What great horror venue would be complete without the right atmosphere?
“Heh, he’s so weird.” Rouko commented while also being dressed up for the horrors. Though she didn’t take the route of being a nurse like her friends and instead chose to be based on the famous character who had a strange pyramid head and giant blade. “Always complaining to us, but if Ino asks then he’s practically treating her like a queen.”
“I don’t know if he’s doing that much.” When she brought it up, Ninka began to feel that growing doubt within herself again about him. He really had acted much kinder to other girls without even trying to hide it. But at the same time, he also said some things to her which gave her hope, like back on the beach when he assured her about their friend group sticking together. Were those just empty words then?
“Anyway, do you need help with your costume?” Shiuka asked, pointing over at the big helmet Rouko planned on wearing.
“Obviously, this better not make me look stupid.” Before they were able to put on the finishing touches, Iruka rushed to the trio. She wore a giant pink bunny mascot type costume. The kind people would wear when they were working for some place which was popular with children. Those hers had red paint spattered over to again simulate blood. At this point it really had gotten unoriginal.
“Can you girls help me?” She practically was begging and couldn’t stand still after getting close. “I can’t get out of this thing!”
“Why would that be a problem?” Asked Rouko. They were going to start their Halloween set soon. So it made no sense to want to undress out of it now. “It looks great too, by the way.”
“Because I didn’t know I couldn’t get out of this on my own.” She explained, still shuffling her legs quickly. “So I haven’t taken care of a couple things, if you know what I mean.” She didn’t want to say out loud, but Iruka hadn’t used the bathroom in the morning. She had been too excited to try out her costume that when she realized the problem during her walk to school, it had been too late.
“Don’t worry, I got you.” Ninka came to the rescue and unzipped her out, which got her running off straight to the girl’s restroom in a near flash. After that small detour was taken care of and Iruka returned to her costume. They were able to set up how they’d be positioned to scare unsuspecting students.
“You guys are all doing great.” Hakuta announced from atop a ladder after he had pointed all the lights right where he wanted them to be. To him it had to be just right or else the illusion of a scary house would be lost. Everyone had told him they could just have made it mostly dark, but he didn’t accept it.
It would’ve been too easy to take away vision to make people scared. He wanted to give a sense of dread through the harsh shadows from some of the spotlights where some of the girls could use to hide in. Then he also put up some speakers in opportunity positions so he could play sounds which fit certain areas without relying only on so-called spooky music or classic startle sounds.
“You really care about this a lot more than you say you do.” Ninka commented as things were getting finalized. “You could be a movie director or something.”
“I did think about becoming a game designer when I was younger.” He answered, giving a laugh on his naive days. “But now that I’ve grown up a little more, I realize that all I’ll just end up doing is working in some office somewhere.”
“That’s kind of depressing.” She said as she stood in position.
“It’s called being realistic.” He responded, taking a sit on top of his ladder once more so he could get a full view of the set. “At least I can live out some fantasy today.”
“Well, I think you could make something really cool.” She told him. “You’re, like, really talented.”
“…” He paused for a moment. It wasn’t long, but enough to be noticeable to her. “Thanks, that means a lot.” Finally, Hakuta spoke again and beckoned them all to quiet down so they could get their show started.
