Played With Fire

Trying to support more than one person in the love game was tiring. As if one person wasn't hard enough, nor did it make it any easier with one of the targets being in love with the other.

The school's upcoming festival made things more complicated for him as well. Unlike last year, Arata was taking a much more involved position within it. Though compared to the running around of Misei and Misao, his load was minuscule.

"That should be the last of it." He said, putting down the last box he had to move.

"Awesome." Yogi had also just finished his work. "I'd say that's a job well done." He gave Akaki, who was working with them, a high-five. He held one up for Arata as well.

"Now that we're done, what should we do now?" His gesture was ignored.

"Maybe we can reward ourselves for our hard work?" Akaki offered that they find a place to eat, or maybe shop for some things.

"We should ask Erina and Shinshiro what they think then." Yuriko was stuck helping out at her sister's school for their own festival, while Misei and Misao had plenty of duties to take care of at the school. Arata was going to take advantage of that.

That's was exactly what they did, which was good timing, since the two had just finished their jobs. They were taking care of costumes for the upcoming play, so shopping for fabric ended up being the plan. Though it was also a good excuse for shopping for clothes from the girls' perspective as well.

They went into the nearby shopping mall, filled with many of the stores that held the items they needed. Fabrics, tools, and other supplies were easy. Thankfully these were covered by the school's budget. What wasn't was the sale that one of the clothing stores had on dresses.

"Are you sure we should be spending time in here?" Yogi asked. "We should have everything for the school now."

"Come on…" Erina tried to convince him. "A sale like this is too good to pass up. Plus, I bet I'll find something cute that you'll like." She said seductively. Something that was lost on him.

"I guess if that's what you want..."

"Fine, but can you least carry your own clothes?" Arata complained, since he was stuck with carrying the bags of supplies for the event.

"I can carry it if you want." Yogi offered.

"You can carry her stuff if she buys anything." Arata declined, knowing that Erina would like that. Even if a gesture like that was meaningless in this competition. "And Akaki's got Akiba's things, fair?" He received no protest, even if Akaki was silently doing so.

Looking at this sale, he couldn't deny that the deals seemed pretty good. If he was girl, then he'd be more tempted to buying something. Scanning the shelves while sitting on a bench, there wasn't much else he could to do pass the time.

"What do you think of this?" Erina showed him a red dress she was interested in. Imaging her wearing it, he was reminded of an anime character wearing it during her birthday. Seeing something like that in real life would be pretty wonderful to him. "Um, what are you doing?"

"Huh? Oh sorry, I was just reminded of something."

"You were comparing me to some anime character again, weren't you?" She accused him.

"So what if I was? Anyway, I think it'll look great on you."

"I swear, I'm not gonna get this, just so you can fulfill some dirty fan-"

"You look cute regardless of what you're wearing." He cut her off, then regretted his choice of words in his rush to stop her.

"Th-then... F-fine." She stammered. "I'll get it then." She quickly turned from him, and headed for the changing rooms. He sighed, wishing he was a little less honest about his sentence. Looking over at the others, seemed that Akiba found her own dress that she liked.

"Well, while they're changing." Yogi said as they entered the changing area to wait. "I'm going to head to a bathroom." He left the two on their own. A bit disappointing to Akaki, but another opportunity for Arata.

As luck would have it, he spied a hair ball on the ground. One that some might mistake for a spider if they didn't have a good look at it. Using a move from his otaku playbook, this was going to be risky. Making sure that no one witnessed him, he stealthily knocked it under Akiba's curtain, now was the time to wait for his plan to spring into action.

"Ahh!" It didn't take long for that to happen.

"What's wrong?!" Without thinking, or perhaps because Yogi wasn't here. Akaki rushed over to see what was wrong, opening her curtain. She was cowering in the corner, though she was decent. She had put on her dress before seeing the hair ball.

"I-I thought there was a spider…" She said, embarrassed to see that it was just a hair ball. However, Akaki could hardly listen to her, enamored with the yellow dress she had on. Even Arata couldn't deny that she look stunning in it. "Is there something wrong with my dress?" She noticed that he was staring.

"Oh, um…" He regained his focus. "Sorry, I just thought that… Your dress is really beautiful."

"You… Really think so?"

"I mean, I think that Yogi's gonna really love it." He saved himself. It was frustrating for Arata to see this sometimes. Why couldn't he just tell her the truth?

"Ahh!" Another scream took his attention. This time, it was coming from Erina. Unlike Akaki, he wasn't dumb. So instead he stood right outside her curtain, arms crossed to ask her what was wrong.

"Look, I'm not going in there until I know you're decent." He said. "So whatever it is, I'm staying-"

"Spider!" She leaped out in fear of what she saw. A real spider this time. With him standing right there, he had no time to react or dodge her. She fell right over on top of him. Unlike Akiba, she wasn't done putting on her dress.

She was still in her underwear, only her bra and panties covering herself. Even though he had already seen her with nothing but a bath towel on. Seeing her like this, it was too much for him.

"What are you doing…" He slowly said the words. He had never had an almost naked girl laying on top of him. Especially one that looked as beautiful as her. They looked closely into the other's eyes. Unable to say or do anything.

The short moment felt like an eternity. Her pink bra and underwear with a little bear face on it, Arata never figured her to be the type to wear this. He didn't want to look, but there was nowhere else he could try and avoid doing so.

"Um, what's going on?" Yogi had returned to witness this sight. He was blushing from seeing this right in front of him.

"Y-yogi! I-it's not what it looks like…" She held her arms to cover herself. "There was a spider." She tried to explain.

When they got the cleared up, she returned back into the privacy of the changing room. Her body on fire from what she just experienced.

Arata also had to take a lot of time to calm himself down. This girl was going to be the death of him. He looked down to his hands, they were trembling. The image of her outfit, or lack there of, he couldn't get out of his mind.

"Now that we're done here." They had paid for their items, this shopping trip was over. "I guess we should go home."

They all agreed, it was starting to get late. With the Summer closing out and entering into Fall, the days were getting shorter. The sun was going to set fairly soon now. However, there was one last thing that Arata wanted to get done before he was finished.

"You know, I think the school's still open." He motioned the bags that he was carrying for the festival. "But it's probably going to close soon, so some help would be nice."

"Yeah, I can help" Yogi offered.

"Well, I was thinking that I only need Akaki and Shinshiro." Arata explained. "After all, she's responsible for the things that we've got. Plus he's carrying her stuff, so it's convenient if he comes with us." Arata was going to use simple facts to get the advantage here, and have Erina with Yogi alone. Much to her glee.

"Yeah… I guess so." Akiba's tone had no energy in it. Much different than how she had been all day. He just figured that it had been a long day, and she was getting tired. Good thing she wasn't carrying anything then.

The group separated once they left the mall. Yogi and Erina headed towards her house, while Arata and the other two went to the school. This was going pretty well for him so far. If this kept up, he believed he'd succeed in no time. Maybe even by the time this festival was over.

This part was probably the easiest thing he had done so far. It wasn't really hard to handle how the groups separated to him anymore. After all, it was just simply finding the small details that he could use to influence them, Yogi most of all. Even if that boy would probably fall for anything.

Once he had delivered these items back to the school, then he could leave the two to be on their own. He really wished that Akaki would take advantage of those moments, instead of just accepting that things would never work between the two. While Arata might not know what a relationship like that might hold, it was foolish to not try. Even if she rejected him in the end.

He looked over to Akaki, giving a small, smug smile to him. Signaling the plan for him, which was not met with positive reception. This time, it was Akaki who had a plan to counter this.

"Hey Kashimura, Akiba?" He stopped the two. "It's getting late, and the school's going to close soon." He handed her the bag that contained her dress.

"Yeah, so we should hurry-"

"Here." He took the things that Arata had on him. "I'm the fastest of all of us, so I'll go by myself." Before Arata could even protest, he was already jogging off away from them. "Don't worry about me, you two should just go home." He yelled back at them.

"I guess we're alone now…" She said. He was speechless, this guy really just wiggled out of his grasp.

"I guess so…" He sighed. "I wonder where Yogi and Erina are now?" He wondered aloud, trying to keep a conversation with Akiba. He had never really talked with her alone like the others, so he hoped this was the best thing to say to her.

"Maybe they've already made it to her house." She responded plainly.

"Maybe." Knowing where her house was, it wasn't far from the mall. "He's probably on his way home now." He continued. Except knowing Erina, it wouldn't be that easy. "Or she could be making him dinner…" The crinkling of a plastic bag being gripped tighter. "You know, like how she makes him lunch-"

He was interrupted by the sounds of a bag being thrown to the ground. He turned his head to look at her. The dress lay sticking out of the bag, on the ground, her head hung down.

"Is something wrong? Was there a bug on the bag or something?" He asked, a feeling of unease entered his body. Something was wrong. She stomped away from him, before turning to face him once more.

"Why won't you just leave me alone?!" She looked up to face him, tears in her eyes. "Ever since you showed up, it's been one thing after another." She yelled at him, anger filled her every word. "I know what you're trying to do, we all do!"

"What… But… I…" He struggled to say anything to her. This shy and reserved girl was acting anything but. What he was seeing scared him.

"I don't know why you're helping that crazy girl." She continued her rant. "I don't know what makes you think spending time with some mean girl, or someone that thinks she's better than everyone else is going to achieve. I don't like seeing you, I don't want to hear your voice. I hate you!" Those word, they cut him deep.

He couldn't respond to anything that she just said. Mostly because of his shock, but also because the second she was done talking. She instantly turned and ran from him. Presumably back home.

"I… I…" He was speaking as if she was still there, but nothing of meaning came from his mouth. All that Arata could do, was just stand there. It felt like a dream, no, a nightmare. It felt like a completely different person just yelled at him. There was only one question running through his mind, as he stood there on the street alone.

What just happened?