- Rihona -

 

When I got home, I immediately looked up Orbeat's channel and opened a random video. Any song would do, I just needed to compare a certain voice to hers.

Let's go with her cover of "Bright Ignition".

It didn't take me long to confirm my suspicions. Orbeat's voice was just like that girl's.

"I knew it..."

Wondering if Ryu had already noticed that fact, I took out my phone and contacted him under the guise of working together on the deck Miyazawa would use against Fukuda.

Before I could steer the conversation in that direction, he brought up Orbeat:71 by himself.

Ryu: "Let's do this! I even put on one of Orbeat:71's covers to get pumped up."

Rihona: "You really like her songs (-.-)"

Ryu: "You bet."

"Speaking of which, I can't shake this weird feeling."

"It's as if I had heard her voice somewhere else today."

For a second, I loosened my grip on my phone without meaning to. I almost dropped it, but I managed to catch it with my other hand. What I didn't catch was a drop of sweat that slid across my forehead, until it reached my eyebrow.

He is gonna figure it out at this rate.

I told him that I must have been his imagination and changed the subject. We did have more important matters to discuss, after all. But first, we had to include Miyazawa in this conversation.

I created a chat group specially for our strategy meetings and invited her. She then added Kamihoriuchi and the other members of the TCG club. We made an inventory of all the cards we owned between us, analyzed the kind of decks that Fukuda frequently used, and called it a day. I managed to keep Ryu busy, but he wasn't going to forget that easily about that matter.

After a good night's sleep, I changed into my sportswear and stood in front of the mirror. These clothes were a bit tighter than the school uniform or the clothes I usually wore, showing my body lines more clearly. The first time Ryu and I went jogging, he had trouble looking straight at me, but with each passing day, he somehow got used to it.

Which is why I was wearing that today.

I headed outside and found him already there, waiting, wearing a red tracksuit.

"Maybe I should have worn blue clothes?" I thought, looking down at the purple jacket I was wearing.

Underneath it, I was hiding a secret weapon, in case he brought up that girl and I couldn't think of another way of derailing the conversation.

"Morning."

"Good morning," I replied with what I hoped looked like a normal smile, although my facial muscles sure didn't feel as if I was smiling.

"Nice weather today."

"Yeah."

We headed to the nearby park for our daily jogging session. Even though Ryu still had trouble keeping up with me, today his eyes showed an amount of determination that wasn't there in past days.

"Give me a sec."

He took out a pair of earbuds from his pocket and fiddled with his phone.

"Gotta put on some of Orbeat's songs to get in the mood."

"Ugh, listen to something else already!"

I raised my voice without meaning to. Ryu stared at me, his eyebrows raised. I was going to cover my mouth, but with the damage already done, I desisted.

"Sorry, I... Anyway, let's get started."

The moment I said that, I faced ahead and broke into a sprint.

"Ah, wait, Rihona!"

I had to keep his mind busy so that he couldn't connect the dots regarding that girl we met yesterday, and so, I made him chase after me.

We came here to run, to begin with.

Ryu's body wasn't used to jogging yet, so I had to pace myself. Just when he was about to catch up, I increased my speed and widened the gap between us just a bit. This went on for a while until I deemed he had exercised enough. Of course, I was also hoping that enough time had passed for him to forget about Orbeat.

Why does he like her songs so much, anyway?

"Finally," my classmate said as he stopped right behind me, trying to catch his breath. "Why, why would you do that?"

"Who knows? Hehe..."

"I already forgot what we were talking about."

"Really? What a shame..."

At that moment, Ryu's eyes glistened, and with a finger snap, he declared, "Orbeat! We were talking about Or-"

I'm sorry, but I can't let you do that, Ryu.

"It's getting hot, isn't it?" I said while fanning my face with my hand.

"Huh? I guess."

With my other hand, I grabbed the zipper of my jacket, and then, bit by bit, lowered it.

"I need some air."

"Eh? W-what are you..."

I didn't want to resort to this, but I'll have to use my womanly charms on Ryu.

As I slowly unzipped my purple jacket, a certain, erm, "valley" came into view. It was something that would make Ryu forget about that girl for sure.

You see, normally I would wear a regular T-shirt, but today, the only thing I'm wearing underneath this jacket is a sports bra that shows a bit of cleavage. I had to come prepared in case I needed to distract him.

"Rihona-san? You are playing with dangerous forces here," Ryu said while trying to avert his gaze, but after a while, his eyes once again found their way to my chest.

Just a little bit more, and then...

"Just kidding. I was just- Huh?!"

I tried to zip up my jacket, but I ran into a little problem. It wouldn't go up. I tried once more but got the same result.

"It's stuck! Stupid zipper!"

I pulled the zipper up and down, but it refused to budge.

"Wait, don't rush it! Let me- Ah..."

Ryu tried to help me, but his hand stopped short of reaching the zipper. He closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and opened them. Raising his head, he looked straight into my eyes and let out a battle cry.

"Here goes! Ahhh!"

With a calm yet intense expression, he took my zipper, lowered it just a tiny bit, and then raised it all the way.

"There, I did it. I... Boobs!. Wait, no! I'm sorry, I-"

"I-it's okay! It was my fault for teasing you like that. I got ahead of myself and paid for it, that's all."

What's wrong with me? Why did I think that was a good idea?

Now I really felt hot. My face was burning up, so this time, fanning my face with my hand was actually required.

Ryu cleared his throat. "I gotta get ready for school, so... I'll see you later."

"Yeah..."

I took one last look at Ryu's red face before we went our separate ways. Somehow, I felt this was gonna be a long day.

 

 

- Ryu -

 

I headed home without looking back. As soon as I got there, I went to the bathroom. I had to do something about this sweat, after all.

Nothing like a bucket of cold water to wash the shame away. The sweat, I mean.

Once I was finished with that, I dried myself and put on my clothes. After that, it was time for breakfast. I sat down at the table, across from where Dad was.

"What's wrong, Ryu? You seem kind of... How should I put it?"

"I'm fine. It's just, uh, youth, or something like that," I replied.

"Uh-huh. If you say you are fine, I won't try to pry further, but if there is-"

"What is one supposed to do when a girl tries to seduce you?"

Dad grinned as if saying "I knew something was bothering you", then he crossed his arms.

"Hmm, that's a tricky question. On one hand, you should strive to be a gentleman, but, on the other hand," Dad reached for his cup and took a sip of coffee, "no one likes herbivore men. So you must strike a balance between lust and..."

Mom raised her voice from the kitchen, "Dear, what are you teaching our son?"

"Linear algebra, honey," he replied, then he got close to me, "Now, as I was saying..."

"Look, I kinda have to get going, or I'll be late. We can continue this chat later. Or not."

I was hoping for the second option, personally. I knew it was a bad idea to ask him.

After leaving the house, I stopped by Rihona's place, as I had become accustomed to. After what happened this morning, I wasn't exactly itching to see her again so soon, but at the same time, avoiding her was only going to raise suspicion.

Right then, the front door opened and my friend came into view.

"I'm heading out."

She faced ahead and noticed me. With some hesitation, she waved at me.

"Hello again."

I chuckled, "Our reunion has been a long time in the making, hasn't it?"

"...What's with that?"

"C'mon, at least pretend to laugh."

Seeing my joke fall flat, I slumped my shoulders. Once Rihona made her way to the sidewalk, I straightened my back and we took off toward another day of bountiful education, youth, and anxiety.

During the first half of the way, neither of us dared say anything, but after a while, I found the courage to break the silence.

"There's only three days until the big match."

"Yeah. I would like to decide on which deck she should use before tomorrow."

"I asked Daisuke and Nicole for their help. They said they were going to bring some of their cards to school today."

"Really? That's going to be a great help."

I had told them the gist of what happened yesterday, although I said nothing about our trip to the library, nor did I mention that mysterious girl who spied on us twice.

"Well, no matter the deck we put together, Miyazawa is bound to pull through."

"Even so, I said I would take care of her deck, so I want to do my best in that regard."

"Just, don't push yourself too hard, okay? You can count on me... Ahem, on us, for anything."

"Thanks. I really appreciate it," Rihona said, smiling.

This girl made me blush for the second time today.

If only I didn't fumble it the other day, I could be (fake) dating her right now. I really gotta stop thinking too much about things.

Once this TCG club business is done with, I'll try to come up with something to fix this, but for now, I have to focus on supporting Miyazawa and Rihona.

 

 

- Rihona -

 

It was lunchtime. Today, Sugihara and Niko rejoined us. Did that mean we discarded Tanaka and Kowasugi? Of course not. If anything, they were in their own little world.

Ryu and I invited them once again to have lunch with us, but as soon as we all gathered, they began chatting about the light novel Tanaka had previously borrowed from her and soon forgot about us.

"What happened yesterday?" Sugihara asked, while Niko put her hand on her cheek and commented on them.

"How cute."

Ryu shrugged, "Love is in the air, I guess, but I would rather stick to oxygen."

While my friends were busy with various things, I picked up my phone and texted Nakajima. Since she and Miyazawa had acquaintances in the first-year groups, I wanted to ask her a favor.

"Could you please look into someone? Here's what she looks like:"

I attached a quick sketch I made on my phone of the girl from yesterday. Nakajima replied soon after.

"Oh, a love rival or something?"

"Yes."

"(O.o) I was only trying to tease you... But, I like that honesty! Leave it to me!"

After that message was a sticker depicting some kind of mascot character doing a thumbs-up.

What animal is this supposed to be?

Now I just had to wait. I wasn't sure what to do about her, but I knew I couldn't let Ryu fall for that girl.