#18 2nd day
"Well, I didn't expect you to tell me right away, after all, we know each other only a few hours." Yuichi nodded his head with his hands behind his head, replying with a relaxed smile.
"Huh? That's not-" Ayanokoji wanted to correct Yuichi but he was interrupted.
"Ayanokoji-kun...every action we take, everything we do has its reasons. We eat because we are hungry, we drink because we are thirsty. Every action has its reason hidden behind it." Yuichi said with a bright smile, showing off his white teeth.
"..." Ayanokoji kept walking in silence without responding.
"It's alright, we might appear as friends now but we still can't trust each other, right? Don't act awkward now, I also won't tell you my reason if that will make you feel less awkward, haha" Yuichi reassured him.
'Ever since Nakada-kun disappeared, Yuichi-kun began acting weird, more...mature? more...mysterious?' Mei thought while listening to the conversation of two with an intrigued look.
"Oh?! I almost forgot, here you go, Yuichi-kun." Mei suddenly held out 1 plastic bag filled with a few things from their earlier shopping.
Yuichi accepted it and looked at the content of the bag just to find a few essential things as shampoo.
"Hm? ...Lemongrass? Why Lemongrass of all?" Yuichi asked which caused Mei to widen her eyes as her cheeks became slightly red.
'?! I can't just say that the time he showered at our place and used that shampoo, his hair smelled really nice.' Mei suddenly started panicking.
"Um, you know, I think it might smell nice!" Mei just blurted out, forcing out a smile.
"Oh? I see, well, thanks, how much was it?" Yuichi asked while taking out his phone to transfer the points.
"Nonono, no need to. I picked this fragrance so I don't want any points from you." Mei started waving her hands in front of her to make Yuichi stop whatever he was doing.
However, suddenly, her phone made a sound so she took it out and noticed that Yuichi wants to send her 2.500 points, the only thing she needs to do is to accept it. She looked at Yuichi with a frown.
"Just accept it, I bet it's not even full price what you spent on all those things." Yuichi said with a serious expression, if he were to estimate the price of the things Mei just gave him, it would be around 4.000 points so he wanted to give her at least half of it. He had no idea why would she spend her points so carelessly even for him.
Seeing his serious expression, Mei knew better than to refuse, so she accepted, 2.500 points were immediately sent to her account.
[Private Points: 96.980 points]
'Well, whatever, those things last for a long time so there is no problem buying them even though they aren't cheap. Once I join the club and start playing at tournaments, I believe the school will reward me with points or something similar.' Yuichi thought with a faint smile before putting his phone back inside his pocket.
For the rest of their way, they mostly walked in silence, occasionally asking each other regular questions, and even Ayanokoji sometimes joined the conversation, albeit a bit awkward, he still managed to talk to both without any problems.
.
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"Whoa...this looks more like an apartment building than dorms" Mei exclaimed when they walked in and saw quite a big reception room in front of them.
"Em" Both boys hummed and nodded to acknowledge her statement while looking around the luxurious room.
They were quickly done with looking around and went straight to the reception desk where they received their keycards and guidebooks.
"They even have a pair of elevators with the monitor inside..." Ayanokoji muttered when they boarded the elevator.
Both boys exited the elevator once on the 4th floor, saying goodbye to Mei who had a room at a higher floor.
"They apparently don't subtract usage of water and gas from our points." Yuichi said while slowly walking down the hallway while also reading the guidebook.
"Unhealthy intimate relationships are also prohibited...Ah, this is my room" Ayanokoji muttered, reading out one paragraph aloud and both stopped at the door with a sign [401]
Yuichi frowned and looked at him with a raised eyebrow and Ayanokoji looked back at him with oblivious expression.
Yuichi blinked a few times while shaking his head, before taking a deep breath and going ahead.
"Good night, Ayanokoji-kun." Yuichi said while waving at him with the back of his hand.
"Ah, yes, good night to you too, Iwamura-kun."
'...Did I say something unnecessary?' Ayanokoji thought while looking at Yuichi's back before turning to his own room's door.
.
.
*Beep* When Yuichi pressed his keycard to the lock, the door was unlocked and he opened them, revealing quite a cozy room with everything essential for daily life.
'This is actually quite nice' Yuichi thought while putting his school bag and plastic bag from shopping on the table.
There was a mini kitchen, shower, desk for studying, and next to it laid comfy looking bed, not too big nor small.
Yuichi stopped looking around and started getting ready to shower before going to bed early today.
.
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It was already past 10 PM
'This actually might be quite nice...Living all alone for the whole 3 years. The only thing that troubles me is this school's behavior. It's like they don't want to reveal anything to us, like they want us to suffer in ignorance before they reveal other essential things. Well, as long as I can have a relaxed life here, who am I to complain?' Yuichi thought with his hands behind his head while lying on the bed, looking at the ceiling with a faint smile across his face.
'Some of the classmates also look like they would make a good friends however for some reason I feel uneasy being near some of them. For example, Ayanokoji, his behavior is like the one who has no idea how to interact with people. As if he was kept in a cage his entire life just to be suddenly put into society. Well, aside from his awkwardness, he seems cool to befriend. To be honest, I don't really care for other people's "defects" as long as there is no bullying, I will be fine with whatever. It might also be good idea to befriend him as he seems like the type of guy who repels those girls who love guys like Hirata.' Yuichi thought before slowly closing his eyes.
Yuichi was aware that his friendly personality and athletic body would attract the attention of many girls but he didn't want to be bothered too much. He doesn't mind being friends with anyone but being approached just because of his personality and looks simply seemed weird to him. Plus, he heard that girls in Senior High Schools tend to be more forward and bolder. This is the problem with meeting new people for only 3 years...there isn't enough time to get to know each other very well so people tend to confess or develop feelings too quickly for their own good.
.
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The second day of the school and 1st official day of classes quickly arrived, however they mostly only went through the course objectives. A lot of students were surprised by warm and friendly most of the teachers appeared, most likely due to Chabashira-sensei's first impression she made on them.
And as expected, a few students already began sleeping despite the fact that classes weren't exactly that boring yet. What made Yuichi frown, however, was the fact that those teachers chose to completely ignore those antics which gave birth to very relaxed atmosphere as it made even other students lose focus during the classes.
The classes went on and on until lunchtime arrived.
Yuichi looked towards Mei and saw her looking at him while being near a few girls from their class.
Yuichi immediately understood the meaning of her look and shook his head with an apologetic smile. Seeing his reply, Mei flashed him a reassuring smile and shook her head before leaving the classroom with her friends.
'I am lucky that Mei is so understanding towards me...' Yuichi thought with a smile before focusing on his current task.
He moved his legs to the side at the gap between his seat and person sitting next to him.
"Hey, don't you two find the behavior of those teachers suspicious?" Yuichi turned at Ayanokoji and Horikita, asking them with a furrowed brow.
However, before anyone could respond to his question...
"Well, I was thinking of going to the cafeteria, is anyone interested in going with me?" It was Hirata who tried to gather as many students as he could who still remained in the classroom and make them interact with each other.
"I will go!"
"Count me in, too!"
A few girls immediately left their seats and went towards Hirata to join him. Hirata was scanning the classroom for more people until his eyes landed on Yuichi's group.
"Yuichi-kun, do you want to join us?" Seeing where he was looking, girls immediately asked with an excited tone.
"Ah? Haha, I am sorry but I have something to do first, I promise that I will join you next time." Yuichi responded with an apologetic smile.
"I see, that's alright, good luck!" Seeing his apologetic smile, girls seemed to be even more disappointed but hearing him say that he will join next time made them cheerful once again. With that said, they started dragging Hirata out of the classroom despite him still looking at us as if he wanted to ask us something.
"How troublesome...being popular. Well, at least you get invited to lunches, not like someone else here." Horikita said while reading her book.
"You weren't invited by anyone either." Ayanokoji replied.
"At least I didn't look like I wanted to be invited." Horikita counter-attacked.
"Guys...I hate to ruin your lovey-dovey moment but can you focus on my question?" Yuichi asked with a blank expression.
"Lovey-dovey?" Both Horikita and Ayanokoji turned at Yuichi with blank expressions.
'Well, how easy it is to gain their attention...' Yuichi thought with a smile.