It's the Monday back following the weekend outing with Yua, and honestly I'm not feeling the class grind. 

Thankfully, it ended relatively quickly as it seems the prof wanted to leave early. With that being said I left the classroom and began to walk to the bus stop.

"Damn dude you look like you just came back from your third world war."

"Private Ryan will not be forgotten."

"He died again?!"

I almost forgot, the class I met him in actually occurs three times a week. I just didn't realize since I had no friends prior.

Of course, the person in question is Naven.

He was right about me being tired, and that's because it took me that long to kill the emotions I had on Saturday. 

But I can't let this get to me, so I'll end it with a conversation about something completely random.

"Would you fly to 'my'?"

"Where's 'my'?"

"My balls."

"I'll kill you."

"Don't do it, you'll need me to progress the story."

"Are you an npc?"

"'Stop, you have violated the law.'"

"...Dragonborn, keep that up and you'll remain maidenless."

"Damn-"

This was supposed to be a filler topic but I got countered better than I expected?

"Anyway, where are you going?"

"What do you mean? I'm heading home obviously."

"Did you not check the group chat?"

"What groupchat?"

"I'll say you forgot about them then."

"What?! Hold up, I'll check right now."

It's not my fault I swear, I'm just not used to checking my phone for messages since I don't get them often anyway.

Though maybe I shouldn't have checked it.

"13:00, bubble tea place, plaza. Be there or else"

Well it was short enough to pop up in my notification so I didn't bother opening it…

I won't die, right?

"You think I can say something came up or I'm sick to avoid going?"

"You probably could, but she'll still kill you next time you meet."

"Damn"

Guess that's it then.

"Hey, can you do me a favor?"

"Depends on what it is."

"I'll get you some fried ice cream ."

"At your service!"

Dignity? Pride? What's that? I only hear the sizzling of the dessert that could single handedly control my life.

"Nice! But first I need to verify something."

"Okay what is it?"

“What do you think about them?”

My heart froze for just a moment at the sudden question, but I regained my sense of composure pretty quickly. 

“What happened?”

“Nothing, I just need help with something.”

“What?"

“Do you talk to Nuri often?”

I staggered over nothing before pretending like what he said didn't faze me.

"Not really. Why do you ask? Do you like her?"

"Well, honestly I'm not sure. But something about her personality makes me feel happy to be around her and somehow draws me in. And honestly, it's pretty cute."

He said all of this while looking at me for my reaction. Not sure what you're expecting of me to be honest.

"I just wanted to let you know so there's no surprises. Since you seem pretty close."

"How? We haven't even talked outside of our group chat one on one"

"Really? Sounds good, that makes me feel less guilty then."

I was a bit glad it wasn't Yua… otherwise it would be pretty awkward since we hang out often.

"So why do you need my help?"

"...Could you set up a situation where we can talk one on one?"

Okay, that doesn't sound too difficult. Though making it natural will need creativity.

"... Alright, but I'll only do this once because I see a whole chain of requests happening otherwise."

"Really?! Thanks, and don't worry this is a one time thing."

It better be.

We made our way to the bubble tea place at the appointed time. To our surprise we saw no one there.

"Well I guess we live to see another day"

"Had the audacity to threaten us and isn't even here herself, bruh."

We decided to sit at an empty table for four as we waited for the others. 

Eventually they arrived together. Yua was wearing what looked like a white shirt tucked in black shorts with an opened up gray zip up hoodie. On the other hand, Nuri was wearing a black shirt tucked in denim shorts with an opened up black zip up hoodie.

Upon scanning for a while they eventually found us and made their way over. 

Yua, who was previously smiling when talking to Nuri, instantly hardened her expression after making eye contact with me briefly.

…Did I piss her off?

“Wow look at you guys coming in on time! I am thoroughly impressed.~”

“Yeah and look who came in 10 minutes late despite threatening us.”

“Hey it wasn't my fault! My tutorial had me stuck there longer than expected, because the instructor got carried away talking about being engaged. Congratulations and all, but why are you holding us hostage?”

“Okay, well Naven is going to get fried ice cream for us so you should help since you're late"

"What the?!-- Oh right I did say that I guess, let's go then!"

"What? I wasn't the only one late though?"

"But you're the main reason no?"

"...Damn I guess that's true, alright then let's go Padawan!"

With that they both left for the cafe selling it. So Yua and I were left here to wait in the silence…

Wait this isn't good is it?

Alright no worries. I came up with filler topics for this occasion!

"The weather looks pretty good today doesn't it?"

"...It's raining outside though?"

"Oh wait actually?"

I really did have one job. But it's not over yet.

"...Would you rather burn to death or freeze to death"

"...I guess freeze to death."

"Why?"

"I prefer the cold over the warmth"

"Ooh same, with the cold you could always layer up but with the warmth you can still feel hot even when you're naked"

"...Yeah I guess that's true"

"Yup"

"..."

Wait, the conversation's done already? That should have lasted long enough for them to come back?! 

I do have one idea left that I really didn't want to use, but I have no choice at this point.

"...Knock Knock."

"...Who's there?"

"Atch"

"Atch who?"

"Bless you."

…

Silence? I thought that was a pretty good joke?

Wait, she completely turned around hiding her face…

Oh she coughed.

"Bless you"

And I said it twice.

Okay so it was bad. But I have one more.

"...Knock knock"

"..."

"...Knock knock"

"..."

"...Please"

"...Who's there?"

"Hawai"

"Hawai who?"

"I'm good, how are you?"

"..."

A few seconds passed until she put her elbows on the table and placed her hands on her face like a facepalm.

Alright I guess it's over.

"...ha-"

"Hm?"

"…..HAHAHAHAHAHA!"

She suddenly laid her head on the table with her arms wrapped around it and began laughing. It was so unexpected, I actually jumped a bit from my chair and people briefly looked at us.

"Seriously?! How can you say those jokes with such a straight face?! They're so corny but I ended up laughing anyway!"

"It can't be that b-"

"Bless you? Bless you?! You even said it twice! I'm so blessed I might actually ascend at this rate!"

"Oi those were high quality jokes though!"

"Maybe among Dads HAHAHA!"

She continues to laugh while I sit there taking the abuse for my sense of humor.

Eventually, she sat up straight after a few minutes.

"...Seriously, you…"

She looked in my direction and made eye contact with me. I noticed that her face had already softened from her previously hard expression. 

Then suddenly-

"...completely ruined my resolve"

She began to smile.