Bathroom Break
After a long winded rant onto why she would never confess to Hakuta, mainly due to her only liking him as a friend. Iruka finally calmed down to a state where he was able to say something back in their conversation.
"You didn't put anything in her drink, did you?" He asked the bartender.
"This is an underage party, why would I do that?" His response unsurprisingly stated he had nothing to do with that other than being the one to set her off. "I swear, people always think I'm doing that. You guys are kids!"
"Sorry, that was a bit rude of me." Hakuta took a step back and understood it was his friend who were the rude ones in this world. "Geez you don't need to get all worked up so easily." He scolded the girl, who gave the people around them a good show.
"I'm sorry." She hung her head, begging for his forgiveness. "I just don't want you to get the wrong idea of me."
"I don't think the world would end if you actually had a crush on me." He replied. While it would throw a wrench in his life, Hakuta could always reject her. Then again, this was Iruka he was talking to. His heart would feel terrible if he had to actually break her heart.
"Well there's no worries about that anymore." She laughed, returning back to her usual mood once the air got cleared up between them.
"Yeah, but speaking of worries." He got up from his seat. "I need to go use the restroom real quick here." She had handed him a drink earlier that had been saved, then bought him a smoothie shortly thereafter. It was no surprise all this had to go somewhere for the boy.
"You could just run into the ocean really fast." She suggested, which he shot down in an instant.
"The restrooms are just over there!" He pointed them out. "And I was hoping you weren't one of those people." Hakuta commented on her suggestion. There was no way he'd ever consider using the sea for a place to relieve himself. Especially not after she just suggested he do that in front of all the people around them. Then they'd definitely know what he was up to.
He left her alone with the idea that he'd be returning soon after taking care of himself. Which at first seemed like what would occur as he went into the restroom, used them, washed his hands, then walked out.
It was after this point that things began to no longer follow the plan as his eyes spotted Ino walking by. Hakuta was faced with a difficult choice before him. He shouldn't leave Iruka waiting for him at the bar. If she was alone there, then perhaps someone might bother her.
At the same time, she could take care of herself. However there were not many opportunities for him to have the ability to talk to Ino, especially not alone with her in particular. It was nice before, but they were also saddled with that boy and Rouko at the same time.
This time would be different. If he could, then maybe Hakuta could get something done between them. If not, then maybe it was time to give up.
He took one deep breath and made his choice. "I'm sorry, Iruka." He muttered under his breath, as if hoping she might've heard his feelings among the loud noise surrounding them at this party. "Ino!" Hakuta called out to the girl, which got her to stop moving towards her original destination.
"Oh, it's you." She didn't sound happy to see him as he approached. "I noticed the rest of your friends found their way here. So I'm surprised you're just not bothering with them seeing as they want to actually be with you."
"Because I want to be with you, is that so hard to understand?" His frustrations on the matter had bubbled up from her constant coldness towards him. Hakuta didn't mean to, but it had come out that way from his voice.
"Wow, that's very forward of you." She was slightly taken aback by the behavior. Ino took one step away from him, worried he might go beyond just raising his voice.
"Sorry, but it's just that…" He struggled to find what it was he wanted to say to her. The situation between them was unlike any other he had been through. It also didn't help that he had little help from the others when it came to the moment right now. "Does it really have to be like this? Just because I want t be friends with them doesn't mean I don't want to be friends with you."
"It's not just because of those friends of yours." She answered, though it did play a role in her decisions. "You've clearly changed a lot these past couple months. I don't think anyone can deny that."
"I have?" He only now began to realize the truth. For him it seemed like he had been his normal usual self. From Ino's point of view, he most certainly was a different person when it came to most of the choices he made in regards to her and the others.
"It's not like you to be so pushy in wanting to spend more time with me." She explained. "Honestly, a part of me wonders if those newfound friends of yours are putting you up to the task."
"Task? They're not making me do anything." Even though he might be different, Hakuta was still acting within his own volition. "I really do want to be friends with you. What would the others have to do with this?"
"You know I can't trust them." She still hadn't gotten the peace of mind that the gals were not troublemakers. "If I let my guard down because it's you, then maybe they might try to humiliate me. I am what some might view as an easy target."
"Please, that's not what's going on here." He plead his case. "There's nothing stupid like that going on. Please, just give me a chance here."
"The truth is though…" She paused for a moment. Her eyes looked back and forth behind him to see if anyone they knew was nearby. "I want to believe you."
"You do?" His body tensed up from her admittance. This was as close as he had gotten so far and it seemed his efforts were not going to waste. "But, what's keeping you back? Because you have my word I would never do anything to hurt you." Hakuta knew this was a precious moment he couldn't afford to lose out on. He was so close, there just needed to be something he could do to seal the deal.
"I just don't know if I should." There was an internal battle within her trying to determine what would be best for her. "The truth is that I like you, but…"
"How about I show you they're perfectly fine people." He took the initiative and grabbed her arm. "Iruka's waiting for me by the bar over there. I shouldn't keep her waiting, but I think it's a good idea if you actually talk to her. You'll see, she's a really nice girl."
"I'll try." She accepted and allowed him to lead her along through the dense crowd to make his return to Iruka. There she had been doing little else other than converse with the bartender on unimportant matters in life.
"I'm back." Hakuta announced as he approached. "And look who I brought."
"Ah, it's the class rep." Iruka smiled for a warm greeting. "Oh my gosh, your swimsuit looks so cute! Where did you buy it?"
"My mother got it for me." Ino was a bit taken aback by how forward this girl was. They only just formally began talking and already she was talking about appearances. "I just wanted to wear my school swimsuit today, but she insisted I wear something more casual." She hated her two-piece bikini which in her mind showed off too much skin. The girl was much more at home wearing something that covered up a lot of her body parts, but her mom practically left her with no choice.
"Wow, your mom sounds so cool." Iruka continued to be impressed talking with her. It was as if she could do no wrong in her eyes. "It's funny. We see each other everyday, but I think this might be the first time we're actually talking to each other."
"I believe you're correct in that assessment." She replied, taking a look towards Hakuta. This girl's conversation with her seemed to have begun quickly and suddenly. A part of her continued to hold suspicion there may be something else going on afoot with him. Yet he simply shrugged his shoulders to her as if he hadn't expected Iruka to be this way.
"Since this is a senior party, you should stick with us." She continued on. "We're all in the same class. So we should all have each others' backs, right?"
"That doesn't sound like a terrible idea." She responded. "But I am here because of the school president, so I'm not worried about anything bad happening to me."
"But it's not like we're so bad that you can't stick around with us?" Hakuta finally spoke up after the conversation was dominated by Iruka. His words were a question leading to see how she had felt about them.
"No, I suppose there's nothing keeping me from sticking around with you." She answered.