The door creaked closed as Yuki stood there. Her hands were gracefully flicking her hair. Her Eyes locked on me, and even though her face was blank…
…I could feel it. That weird, icy pressure. Like she just saw a crime scene and somehow knew I was responsible.
"Oh, look," Nao grinned. "Big Sis is here."
"Yeah, no need to state the obvious, I can feel her presence like she's some sort of boss fight." I thought to myself, keeping one eye on the book in front of me and the other on her.
Arisa tensed, like a girl caught doing something that she shouldn't be doing.
Reina lowered her book just enough to watch things burn.
"Hmph." Yuki scoffed as she strolled over, silent as a ghost, then sat down next to Reina like it was perfectly normal to drop into someone's date-study/trap session uninvited.
"Ohhhh~ didn't think you were into group study," Nao said with a teasing edge.
Yuki opened her textbook. "I'm not. Why would I need to study like certain people… I'm just here to make sure certain people don't get distracted."
Her eyes flicked to Arisa.
Arisa rolled hers. "Relax, Juliet. He's not drinking any poison for me. Yet."
I choked on my own breath.
"W-what do you mean yet?! And w-why are we fighting?! This is just a study session!!"
The girls stared at me.
Nao smirked.
Reina raised a brow.
Yuki sipped from her water bottle like it was wine.
Arisa leaned closer. "You're blushing, Souta."
"I'M NOT!!"
Arisa: 1 Yuki: Cold stare Nao: Full popcorn mode Reina: Silently storing blackmail
This study session was officially in a warzone… At least the game had good maps…
Yuki was now flipping through her history book as if it insulted her family. Arisa was scribbling notes with the kind of force that almost cracked the pen.
The tension could slice titanium.
And me?
I was between two ticking time bombs.
"This is fine," I lied internally. "I'm totally not going to die."
That's when I felt it, someone tugging my sleeve. I turned and saw Nao. She leaned over, her cookie breath very present.
"Pssst," she whispered.
"Yes?"
Nao's grin stretched wide. "Wanna ditch?"
"Excuse me?"
She leaned closer. "Come on, Souta. Let's sneak off. You look like a hostage between two crime bosses."
I nervously glanced between Arisa and Yuki. Yuki was glaring at the Roman Empire timeline like it owed her money.
Arisa had now broken her pen.
Hmmm, she's got a point to be fair.
"Okay, I guess anything is better than this… But where?"
She pointed with a dramatic flair.
"To the vending machines." She said quietly, which was still too loud.
Both Yuki and Arisa glanced at both of us.
"Shit."
"See, Nao, this is where you add and subtract the ducks," I muttered just loud enough for them to hear.
"Ducks?" She repeated.
"Yes, they're looking just act damit!" I whispered, shouted.
"Ohhhh~ Duckies!"
"No! No quiet quiet."
I could feel both their eyes glaring at me until finally, their agro had turned off. And we used that opportunity to slip away under the guise of 'getting water.'
Nao led us down the quiet hall, giggling like we were breaking out of prison. "You okay?" I asked, as we walked under the soft glow of the hall lights.
Nao didn't answer at first. Then, to my surprise, she complimented me out of nowhere, "You were really cool, y'know."
I blinked. "When-How?"
"Yesterday. With those creeps."
Her voice wasn't goofy now. It was softer, like a quiet breeze.
"I was scared… And you didn't even hesitate."
I mean, not true, but to keep my pride intact, I won't correct her.
She looked up at me, that usual sparkle in her eyes a little dimmer now. "Most guys would've panicked or let it slide, but you stepped in. That meant something."
I rubbed the back of my neck, suddenly feeling the heat crawl up. "I mean… Anyone would've done that, plus you helped me out, remember."
She giggled. "True, but still… You made sure we all were safe and even took them away from us… Even if it was with Yuki, too."
"Yeah, let's forget about that," I replied, not wanting to go down memory lane.
Nao let out a little giggle before she skipped ahead, twirling like a dancer. "Still, besides all that… thank you."
For a second, I was silent. Because that wasn't the bubbly Nao I usually saw.
That was someone a little deeper.
A little braver.
And before I could say anything else.
THUNK
The vending machine swallowed her money and gave her nothing.
"NOOOOOOOO!" She cried. "MY MELON SODA!"
I burst out laughing.
"See?!" She shouted dramatically. "The world hates cute girls!"
"You'll survive. Trust me"
"No, I won't! This is how tragedies begin! No melon soda, then no happiness, then I marry a boring dude with no sense of humour! Stupid, stupid machine." She said, kicking the poor machine… Though her kicks were more like if you were throwing feathers at the machine, really quickly.
I patted her head. "I'll buy you a soda."
Nao froze like a cat being pet.
Then she blushed.
"…You're gonna make me fall for you if you do stuff like that."
I choked.
She locked her gaze onto mine, a piercing intensity in her violet eyes that sparkled with an otherworldly light. It felt as if her very soul was laid bare before me, an electric charge crackling in the air between us, igniting a fire deep within.
Holy shit did she just-
"Just kidding, hehehe."
"Ah-" I froze as Nao giggled, skipping along before going back into the room.
"That... Evil girl... Playing with my emotions like that."
Back in the library, Reina had relocated to the opposite end of the table, quietly flipping pages. The others hadn't noticed we were gone, probably too busy mentally duelling each other.
I sat next to her this time.
"Mind if I…?" I asked.
Reina didn't speak, but nodded slightly. She was reading a romance short story.
The title?
"Two Souls and a Balcony."
"…Isn't that another Romeo and Juliet thing?" I asked.
She looked down. "It's… similar."
Reina wasn't talkative. That much I knew. But when she did talk, it was always thoughtful. Heavy, sometimes.
"You like romance?" I asked.
"I like the kind where no one dies."
Fair point…
"…But it's not real, is it?" she added. "People don't fall that deeply in real life. It's just stories."
"Maybe," I replied. "But sometimes stories are how people understand what they want."
She stared at me, then, out of nowhere.
"You'd be a good character in one."
"Eh?"
She looked away quickly. "Forget I said anything."
Cue silence.
And then, she offered me one of her candies.
"Here."
I took it.
"…Thanks."
"No problem," she mumbled.
Her cheeks had a faint pink to them.
And me?
I was losing my damn mind.
The study session spiralled after that.
Arisa, having finally stopped glaring daggers at Nao and Reina, slid closer to me with a heavy sigh, one so exaggerated it could've been nominated for an Oscar.
"Ugh, I hate this question…"She said, clearly setting the stage.
I looked over. "What's wrong with it?"
"Like just everything."
She batted her lashes. "So maybe… Souta-sensei, you could help me again~?"
But Yuki wasn't having any of it. Who looked up so fast from her book, it was like she'd been waiting for the cue. "Oh, how shocking," she said flatly. "Arisa needs help again. It's almost like she always needs help. Maybe she just wants attention… Or maybe she's just that incapable at anything…"
"Oh shit, what a bar…" I thought to myself, slightly amused. But then it hit me…
That was a hard dig…
Arisa's eye twitched.
"Excuse me?" She responded, her voice dripping in faux-sweetness.
"Nothing. Just funny how you conveniently forget how to think every time he's around. Oh wait… You just need help, right there's nothing else?"
Nao nearly choked on her drink, Reina calmly popped another candy in her mouth and watched the trainwreck unfold.
"Are you trying to say I'm dumb?" Arisa scowled, sitting up straighter.
Yuki grinned. "Oh no, Arisa. I'd never say that out loud. You just did it for me."
"Ohhh, it's on, you walking ice tray," Arisa snapped, slamming her hand on the table.
"Ohhh, it's on, you secondhand drama club understudy," Yuki fired back, not missing a beat.
Nao leapt in with the panic of someone about to witness a nuclear detonation.
"Okay, okay, okay! Let's take a deep breath!"
She waved her hands like she was fanning away the tension.
"We're here to study, right? Don't start a war!"
"But she started it!" Arisa and Yuki shouted in sync.
"Girls… Please, this is a library…" I begged, ready to crawl under the desk.
"I just wanted to know who invented printing," Reina said quietly.
"NO ONE CARES, REINA!" Arisa and Yuki barked at the same time.
Reina blinked. Then pulled out her earbuds and put them in without breaking eye contact.
Peaceful defiance, I'm taking notes.
Nao jumped to Arisa's side like a bodyguard. "Okay, deep breaths! Let's all hold hands and channel our inner otome heroines!"
But of course, that did the same as if I were to go over and say something...
In other words, it did jack-shit, and everything was falling apart. Arisa was on the verge of exploding. Yuki had that "smile before I commit murder" expression.
Nao was halfway through chanting a peace mantra she probably found on an anime forum. Reina was now eating her second bag of gummies like it was dinner theatre.
And me?
I was sweating harder than a mid-boss in Dark Souls, sitting there doing my best to act like I had nothing to do with them.
But then it happened, I think god himself had had enough, as this couldn't have been a better-timed intervention.
"OI, WHAT THE HELL IS THIS, A DATING SIM?!?!"
A voice boomed from across the library. We all turned, some with fear, some with shame, and Reina with the deadest eyes in existence. It was Mr Yamazaki, the 80-year-old librarian with a comb-over and war flashbacks from the '90s cell phone era. He was holding a broom like a katana, glaring as if we'd just committed treason.
"This ain't your personal love hotel! It's a LIBRARY!" He barked, spitting a little as he pointed at Nao.
"I-I was just making peace!" Nao yelped.
"Peace, my ass! I saw you waving your hands like you're summoning Pokémon!"
"How the hell does he even know they exist?" Arisa mumbled.
Reina calmly put her bag of gummies in her pocket.
"...I would never summon without a permit."
"I heard yelling, thumping, and now you're accusing each other of crimes against homework!" Yamazaki banged the broom once on the ground like a gavel.
"OUT! All of you! Before I start handing out detention slips like candy!"
"I want Candy!" Nao yelled with a gleaming smile.
"NO NAO HE DOSEN'T ACTUALLY MEAN IT!" I shouted, dragging her by the collar
"But we didn't even finish the Romeo and Juliet-" Arisa started, but was interrupted.
"I SAID OUT!"
We scrambled like our lives depended on it. Books were flying, chairs nearly toppled, and Nao tripped over her own bag.
"MY GUMMIES!" Reina shouted, scooping them up mid-roll like it was a scene from Fast & Furious.
As we burst through the library doors.
"I swear, Yamazaki's got boss music, and I swear he just swore," I muttered.
And just like that…
We were officially banned from the library for the day…