The Biting Thorns

The next day at school during afternoon recess, Aya suddenly spots Naoki talking with a bunch of girls in front of his class when she walks around the school. After she stole a glance at Naoki, she quickly runs away from there, but Naoki won't stay put. He runs after Aya, and manages to get to her after Ryu tackles her from behind a wall that got her fall to her face and got her all bleeding from her nose.

"Aaak!"

Instead of showing pity, Naoki aggressively grabs the back of Aya's uniform and drags her to the rooftop while her nose still bleeding. Ryu follows along while Tetsu and Hirofumi join in a few seconds later after they witnessed the whole scene from a distance as a part of their plan.

Naoki throws Aya to the wall on the rooftop of the school aggressively while Tetsu throws a handkerchief to her face so she can wipes the blood running from her nose. She picks up the handkerchief and starts wiping her nose while being surrounded on all sides by Naoki, Tetsu, Ryu, and Hirofumi.

"Hello there. How are you?" Hirofumi asks Aya a basic question but in a deep, sinister tone of voice while holding back his anger.

"H-hello... I'm good." Aya greets Hirofumi back nervously while continues wiping the blood from her nose.

"It's been a long time isn't it?" Ryu's turn to asks Aya with another basic but exaggerated question while he looms over her, casting a shadow to her entire body.

"Uh... I-it's been a while..." Aya answers with another stutter from the constant nervousness that gotten worse.

"You know... i'm not doing so well these days. Do you know why?" Naoki's turn to asks Aya this time while dropping hints about his anger.

Aya stops wiping her nose while thinking seriously. "B-because you lost in your game?" Aya answers with an innocent look on her face. It makes Naoki smirks sinisterly at her.

"You're right. I lost to this cat and mouse game where a certain someone has been avoiding me for 24 hours. It really pisses me off." Naoki's hand slowly grabs onto Aya's collar and gripping it tightly. It makes Aya even more nervous while she gasps and looks around for escape.

Naoki won't let that happen, he quickly gets all up on Aya's face while grips onto her collar tighter. "I wonder why I'm being avoided..." Naoki asks in a deeper, huskier voice while holding back his anger. Aya starts shaking in fear while closes her eyes tightly.

"I-i'm sorry..." Aya says faintly.

"Oh you're sorry? Did you now?" Naoki asks in a sarcastic tone while letting go of her collar since she shakes so much.

"I-i was just... trying to get out of your way in getting a girlfriend." Aya speaks in a shaky voice at the revelation. The boys got their eyes widened in surprise.

"Huuhhh????!"

Aya slowly opens her eyes to look up at them with her glassy eyes like she's about to cry while still shaking. "I thought you rejected all the girls that confessed to you because of me... like, you'll feel bad at me if you start dating them..."

"Are you dumb?" Naoki flicks Aya's forehead that makes her yelps. "Ouch!"

Naoki then crosses his arms to his chest while staring at Aya in disbelief. "I rejected them all because i'm currently not interested in dating! I don't want to be committed in a relationship right now. It's too much work. I still want to play around." Naoki explains. Aya gets speechless at the revelation while blinking her eyes many times while processing all of the information she just got.

"Idiot. Why would i feel bad at you if i start dating someone?" Naoki flicks Aya's forehead again and her releasing another yelps.

"Oh... is that so?" Aya asks to make sure she heard it right.

"I already explained to them all why i rejected them. They understood me right away. While you're here..." Naoki glares at Aya again.

"Aaahh, is that so? S-sorry for avoiding you all!" Aya bows multiple times at them while keep apologizing.

Hirofumi quickly slams his palm to the wall to corners Aya again. "Don't do that ever again. Even to the rest of us. Understand?"

Aya widened her eyes in shock at Hirofumi's sudden behavior. "Yes, i understand."

"Promise us." Tetsu adds. Aya nods.

"I promise."