Volume 4, Chapter 2: Boys' Hangout

*****

...

"..."

"..."

"...so?"

"So...what?"

"Why are we in the arcade right now?"

"Well...we're already here, so why not have fun, right?"

"That's not what I meant! Didn't we met up to buy beverages for tomorrow?!"

"Oh, about that, Takeshi and Yuudai got us covered"

"Eh? Why?"

"Oh? Didn't Ryuuto told you, Shun?"

"Yeah Shunicchi! Yuuchin's father runs a Soda business, while my father runs an ice business"

"What?! This dude didn't even told me anything about it!"

"Hehe, sorry man! I just forgot"

"You forgot?! *Sigh*..."

"If that was the case browny, why did we have to meet up today?"

"Because I miss you guys! Can't we just have a good time to bond with each other?"

"..."

"..."

"..."

"...Don't let this guy sway you. I bet he only did this because otherwise he'd be in his home, laying in bed with nothing to do"

"Hey! That's-"

"True, right?"

"-B-but! We still solved the beverage problem, so shouldn't you praise me instead?!"

"Dude, you didn't even do anything"

*Nod* *nod*

"Why are you three agreeing with what Shun just said?!"

Ryu, Yuu, Take, Masa, and I met up in near the bus stop in front of the arcade to supposedly buy beverages for tomorrow, but the moment that Ryu and I stopped at the arcade, I already knew that, that won't be the case...

As usual, Ryu didn't told me anything about Yuu and Take covering the beverages. Because of that, we all just met up with no goal in mind for today's meetup...

...I then asked for Yuu, Take, and Masa's MILE ID so that when something like this happen again, I could just ask them directly...

...

"I can see it now, thanks"

"No problem. You could've just got it from Ryu too you know"

"I rarely use my MILE app so I didn't bother to. Only Ryu and my family messages me there"

"Oh, so that's why..."

"Shun's lying! He's also got Hoshizawa san's MILE ID!"

"Oh, he does?"

"..."

"..."

"..."

...

"WAIT, WHAAAAAAT?!"

A few seconds later, Yuu and Take were surprised at what they just heard from Ryu, while Masa didn't seem to be that much intrigued...

I just stood there, glaring at Ryu, who couldn't kept his mouth shout from saying anything

"W-What's with the glare?"

"...*Sigh*..."

"Is that true Shun?! Since when?!"

"All this time, Shunicchi's been hiding something from us!"

"I didn't hide anything! It just happened recently okay?!"

"R-Recently?!"

"Urk! Masa-"

I looked at Masa, who was playing on his phone the whole time, not giving a care to what's happening right now

Its no use! I can't ask Masa to help me weasel my way out of this!

"Mind telling us the whole detail?"

"S...Sure..."

Grabbing both of my shoulders, Ryu, Take, and Masa made me explain everything to them about what happened without any excuse...

*****

...

We've gone and sat down to a nearby park near the arcade to talk about everything that happened last week...

...

"...and here we are right now"

"Oh yeah...I forgot that your family runs a Hot Spring"

"Grandma asked me about you last time. When will you pay her a visit?"

"Oma san asked about me? Well...I can't say for sure, but I'll definitely go there someday"

"You can come with me the next time I go there, how about it?" 

"Yeah, that seems good to me I guess"

My grandma hadn't seen Ryu ever since he was little, hence why she wanted to see Ryu so badly. She thought that we separated ways at first, but when she saw a picture of us two, she was glad and eager to see him again...

She always takes care of Ryu and his sister whenever Ryu's parents always go on a business trip. Hence mostly the reason why she's grown attached to Ryu, and although it might not seem like it, but Ryu also feels the same way to grandma...

...anyways...back with the topic at hand-

"-Hold on! There's a lot of things I wanted to say, but this question will do"

"? What is it?"

"You meeting Hoshizawa san at the hot spring was a pure coincidence right?"

"Huh? Yeah. Her father is a good friend of mine and he always stays there every year"

"Hoshizawa san's father?! The CEO of the ChokoChoko Company?!"

"Yeah, I was also surprised at first when I found out about it"

"We're even more surprised about this sudden information!"

Ryu, Yuu, and Take said that to me at the same time

"I can't believe Shun's way ahead of our diabolic plan!"

"Dude, since when did we got involved in your chocolate scheme?"

"Even Shunicchi's got a hold of Hoshizawa san's father..."

"Yep...Shun's probably already got an approval from her father...I guess those rumors do hold some water after all"

"Wait, rumors?"

"You didn't know? You're quite famous around our school"

"Huh?"

Well...not being 'famous', but I guess they meant me wanted dead by both genders...

"Yeah, there's this rumor going around about you and Hoshizawa san. They think that you two seemed to be too close to each other"

"I also heard about that rumor within our classroom"

"Even you too, Masa?! Since when did this started?!"

"We don't quite know when it started, but the rumors started to spread suddenly..."

"Same here, Shunicchi"

"As for me, I didn't heard those rumors outside nor inside at school at first, only in our classroom"

"Hmm..."

...If Masa's right...then that means the one who spread it...must be one of our classmates...

...but who would do such a thing...?

...

"Hoshizawa san and I aren't even like that! Just what did this person even told them?!"

"I didn't believe in those rumors to be honest. I want to hear it from you instead"

"And besides, Shunicchi's the type who can't even hide those kinds of things!"

"As for me, I don't care about those kinds of rumors. They can gossip all they want, but I won't gonna believe unless there's hard, solid evidence"

"Thanks guys, but still, I might cause trouble for Hoshizawa san if the rumors don't stop"

"That's true...I wonder why Hoshizawa san hasn't said anything about it yet..."

"Maybe she and her friends had heard about it and just ignored the rumor?"

"That could be a possibility..."

"..."

If the rumors already spread this far, I'm sure she already knew about it. She could just deny it once and for all, but instead she just kept silent...

...

...because of me, Hoshizawa might get misjudged by other people...

...there's this social standing where commoners like me are at the bottom, while the rich people like Hoshizawa are at the top...

...I know that Hoshizawa is the type of person who doesn't draw enemies, but there's still a possibility where there's someone out there has in it for her...

...and if they get a hold of this rumor...who knows what those people will think of Hoshizawa if someone like me was in a relationship with her?

...

"...Ryu, who do you think it is?"

"H-Huh?! You're asking me?"

"Yeah-!"

...

...come to think of it...

...

...why's there no rumors going around about Ryu and Hoshizawa? Ryu always finds a way to get closer to Hoshizawa whenever he can...yet there's no rumors about them...?

...

...don't tell me...

"...Ryuuto Ito"

"Eek! Why are you suddenly calling me by that name?!"

"I don't want to jump into conclusions, but were you the one spreading those rumors?"

"Huh?! How rude! Its not rumors, I'm just telling to other people what I know!...or what I at least know-"

"THAT'S BASICALLY STARTING A RUMOR!"

"-I told you I'm not spreading those rumors!"

"Then, what you've been telling them this whole time?"

"Huh? Well, I just told them about you, Hoshizawa san, and I. About how you were close to each other than me to her, and how far you've gotten with her-"

"DUDE! WHY'S IT LOOK LIKE I'M THE ONE WHO'S TRYING TO GET CLOSE TO HER?!"

"Eh?! Aren't we on about the plan?"

"Don't lump me in with your plan! You're the one who came up with it! I was never in your plan to begin with!"

"But you're the one who helped me came up with it!"

"THOSE WERE JUST HALF ASSED SUGGESTIONS!"

"But the idea still came from you!"

After a few exchange of heated arguments between me and Ryu...Yuu, Take, and Masa, who stayed silent, said something

"So I guess...perpetrator solved...?"

"To think that all this time it was Ryuuichi, Shunicchi's best friend all along"

"And you call yourself Shun's bestfriend, huh?! Browny?!"

"Eeeeeh?! Why's nobody siding with me?!"

"Who would be?! Because of what you did, Hoshizawa san's reputation might go in shambles!"

"W-what?! I didn't meant it to turned it out in that way...I did something very wrong, didn't I?"

"You're realizing that just now?!"

"What should I do, Shun? If Hoshizawa san finds out about this-"

"She's obviously won't gonna forgive you of course!"

"-her father won't gonna forgive me! my plan of having an eternal supply of chocolates will be gone!"

"THAT'S WHAT YOU'RE WORRIED ABOUT?!"

...

I calmed down and thought about the situation once more...

...As I would like Ryu to reflect on his actions, I don't want other people to judge him differently if I told them the truth...that's why I thought of a solution...

"Alright I get it, there's nothing we could do after all, not when the rumor already spread this far"

"! Then that means-"

"Yeah, I don't know if Hoshizawa san will forgive you though, but I know how stupid you are. I should've expected something like this could happen. I'll let it slide this time"

"Why do I feel happy and insulted at the same time?"

"Hahaha! You're lucky that Shun's kind!"

"Yeah, Ryuuichi! If that happened to me, I would've ended our friendship!"

"Well, if Shun forgives you, I guess we'll have nothing more to say, Browny"

"You guys are so mean but, thank you!"

"But with that said, how are you going to solve the rumors, Shun?"

"...I'll talk to her about it tomorrow..."

"Her? Hoshizawa san?"

"S-Shun...you're not gonna throw me off the bus, would you?"

"..."

"...Shun...?"

"..."

"...right...?"

"...Who knows?"

I looked at Ryu with a smug on my face, he just turned pale and begged me not to tell Hoshizawa about it

"Calm down, I was just joking"

"Really...?"

"You know I can't do that to my best friend!"

"Thank you Shun! You really treat me as your best friend!"

"What do you think I treated you as before?"

I thought the topic about what Ryu had done was over, but it seems like it wasn't when Yuu, and Take said something afterwards

"But what about you, Shun?"

"Me?"

"Are you okay with it? The rumors and all?"

"I'm more worried about Hoshizawa san than myself, I don't even care what the others might think of me. It'll be even more harder for Hoshizawa san to recover what she had now if someone were to ruin her reputation..."

Her friends might think less of her if some rumor like that got manipulated and twisted by someone who hates her...

...I might be overthinking all of it, but its better to overthink everything than overlooking it!

"Shun..."

"..."

"..."

They went silent for a few minutes before I tried to break it

"Well I guess that's settled...for now-"

"H-Hold on! Aren't we gonna talk about what Shunicchi had just said?"

"About what?"

"He's gonna talk to Hoshizawa san tomorrow! TO-MOR-ROW!"

"Yeah...?"

"..."

"..."

"..."

...

"Wait...WHAAAAT?!"

The expressions on their faces says it all, looks like Ryu had another thing coming

"Ryu...don't tell me..."

"Ahaha...I forgot, tee hee!"

"DON'T TEE HEE US! TAKE, MASA AND I DIDN'T KNOW ABOUT THIS!"

"*Sigh*...you're on your own, Ryu"

"EEEEEH?! SHUN! DON'T DO THIS TO MEEEEE!"

Like what they did to me earlier, they also did it to Ryu this time. Ryu explained everything to them clearly and thoroughly, leaving nothing behind

*****

...

"I swear! That's everything!"

"I see...we thought that you and Shun would've cover the food and such"

"About that, Hoshizawa san said that they'll take care of it, so we didn't bother"

"And Hoshizawa san's also gonna take care of our place?"

"Yeah"

"Don't tell me that she's also going to take care of our transport?"

"I think she said so?"

"It almost as if Hoshizawa san was the one who invited us, Browny"

"What's your take on this, Ryuuto kun?!"

"Why are you suddenly talking like some narrator?!"

"Its all your fault to be honest, you didn't even told them that there will be girls coming with us!"

"I thought it would be a good surprise..."

"I thought that you forgot?"

"Urk!"

"But isn't it unusual for Ryuuichi? He can't handle hordes of girls right?"

"Yeah but, its not like he's allergic to them, he's only wary of them, mostly to girls that he doesn't know much. If he doesn't get too close with them, he should be fine...I think"

"Is that so?"

"Yeah, but he can't let his guard down at school"

"Because of the newspaper article?"

"I heard about that too. Ryuuto's still on the front page!"

"I sometimes see girls hiding from the shadows whenever Browny's tryna volunteer to practice in different clubs"

"Wait, someone's stalking me?! No wonder I always felt chill down my spine!"

"If you think about it, they're like your bodyguards, watching you from afar 24/7 when you're in school"

"Stop, Shun, that's gonna give me nightmares"

"That aside Ryuuichi, didn't we came here to play in the arcade?"

"You're right! How long have we've been here?"

"2 hours"

"2 hours?!"

"Yeah, it's already 3pm"

"And we're here sitting in the park?!"

"Not like playing in the arcade's gonna change anything, Ryu"

"It indeed changes something when I'm here!"

"...?"

...We all looked to our left side...

...only to see Maria standing 

"Um...why are you here?"

"Huh?! Didn't Fuji here told you?"

"F-Fuji?!"

"? What of it?"

"N-Nothing..."

Yuu, Take, Ryu, and I were surprised but we kept our mouth shut

"Didn't I told you to not bother coming, Pinky?"

"If I told you I'm coming, then I'm coming!"

"*Sigh*...Sorry about this, Shun, I told Pinky here that we guys met up here today"

"Oh, okay...wait...you have Maria's MILE ID?"

"? Yeah"

"...Since when?"

"Sometime before summer vacation"

"...Okay then..."

I wanted to ask more about that matter, but I ought not to pry any more further...

"By the way Shun, I heard from Fuji that you're going to the beach tomorrow"

"? Yeah, what about it?"

"You're cruel! Why didn't you invited me?!"

"...Ah..."

...

To be honest...I forgot about Maria, that's why I forgot to invite her...

...besides, I don't have Maria's MILE ID to begin with

"Sorry Maria, we forgot"

"You've forgotten about me?!"

"Why do you want to come anyways, Pinky?"

"I haven't gone to the beach in ages! And since its only you guys going, I figured that I, a girl should accompany you so that you won't be alone!"

"..."

"..."

"..."

"..."

...

Oh boy...who's gonna tell her?

"Um...Maria san, Hoshizawa san and her friends are also coming"

"...Eh? Hoshizawa san is?"

"Yeah, they're also coming"

"H-H-H-Hold on! You didn't told me anything about this, Fuji!"

"Don't blame me! I also learned about it just now!"

"I-I see...so that's how it is..."

Looks like Maria's teasing backfired at her...she couldn't even look at us now

"But Maria san, you can come with us if you'd like"

"Stop right there, Browny, I'd rather not go if Pinky here's coming"

"Now, now, Fuji! It would be rude of me to refuse Ito's offer, wouldn't it?"

Uwa- now she's taking advantage of this

"The more the merrier. You can come, Maria"

"Thanks, Shun!"

"Tsk, you're lucky Shun let you come with us"

"So when it comes to Shun, you don't even object?!"

Maria shared her MILE ID to us and we added it to our contacts afterwards. She also suggested something else 

"We should create a group chat!"

"Huh?"

"A group chat! It would be even more convenient to chat in one place where we could all see it at once, right?"

"I guess you're right"

"Then I'll set it up for us, okay?"

She then did what she said and added us in the group. We then exchanged some messages here and there to test it

...

"This is far more convenient, Shun!"

"We should've done this way earlier to be honest"

"I told you its convenient! Hehe! Glad that I'm here huh?"

"Yuuchin, Masacchin, let's change our nicknames here!"

"I'll pass"

"Same here"

"Then I'll do it for you!"

"Hey! Who gave you permission?!"

"I don't need permissions from anyone!"

"We told you we don't want to!"

"D-Did you really just ignored me...?"

I'm seeing Take, Yuu, and Masa like how Ryu and I interact with each other. Its like we're seeing ourselves in third person...

...

...After a few minutes of them customizing and setting up stuff in the group chat, Maria asked us something

"Anyways, aren't you guys gonna play?"

"Play?"

"Eh? Didn't you come here to play in the arcade? I also came here with that reason"

We all looked at each other then seemingly looked back at Maria and answered her in unison

"I think I'll pass, I don't feel like it anymore"

"Same here, Ryu"

"Me too, I'm out"

"Me three, I'd rather go home now and play this game on my phone"

"Me four! Yuuchin, Masacchin, and I always walk home together. If they're out, then I'm out!"

"EHHHH?! I CAME HERE FOR NOTHING?!"

It was kind of rare for Maria to pout like a child. It was cute and funny at the same time that we couldn't help but laugh at it and agreed that we'll play for a little while before we go home...

...The day ended with us nothing better to do but hang out at the park and at the arcade...

*****

End of Chapter 2