Cupid's Game

Haruhi leaped from her seat, "Seriously?"

"Sit down!" I yanked her arms, causing her to plop back onto her chair. "You almost knocked the food over."

"So? What did you say?~"

"I was planning to say yes, but my stupid alarm woke me!"

"Yep. That's typical life for you..." she sighed. "By the way, did I say something about having a boyfriend in that dream?" An evident wave of excitement was radiating from her.

"Nope. It was all about me and Ayumi." I burst her bubble.

"Awww~" she pouted, her smile fading.

"You shouldn't be that bold," Jin added, pulling out a chair from a nearby table and joining our conversation.

During lunchtime, he often joins us after finishing his meal with his friends. It's a bit of a mystery as to why he does that.

"Where's the food?!" Haruhi's immediate concern is about food.

"I wasn't doing it on purpose. You're here today too." I responded, somewhat ignoring her.

"Is it a bother?" Jin replied to me, seemingly overlooking Haruhi himself.

"Not really...but don't you have friends?"

"I do." He glanced at Haruhi, "Ayano's bringing mine from the cafeteria." He then looked back at me, "I come here because these two-"

*bang*

A sandwich flew towards Jin's head, thrown by Ayano.

"What are you guys talking about?" She asked. I'm pretty much sure she heard it. Why is she asking?

"Why'd you throw it?" Jin asked rubbing his head.

"We were talking about Yun-Yun's dream," Haruhi explained, filling her in on all the details I shared with her, leaving Jin's confession part out.

"Let's do this" Ayano suddenly exclaimed.

"Do what?" I raised an eyebrow.

"Let's get those two together. Then you won't have to worry about Kimura trying to cling to you." She outlined her seemingly grand plan, gesturing toward Kimura's seat. As we all glanced over, to our surprise, Kimura was sitting there, observing us with a perplexed expression. I offered an awkward smile and then whispered to the guys, "He's watching us. Let's go somewhere else to talk about this."

We all agreed and left with our lunches.

As we wandered in the hallway, Jin finally spoke up, "Where to?"

"To the lover's garden," Haruhi instantly announced. I could imagine steam coming out of her nose. She's kind of strange today.

. . .

We arrived at the entrance of the Lover's Garden, where an arched gate of roses extended overhead, resembling an entryway to a botanical paradise. It was called the 'rose tunnel'. We stepped inside, making a left turn, then a right, followed by another left, which led us to a charming hut constructed from ivy vines. Inside, a round table was surrounded by six chairs.

"Perfect spot!" Haruhi exclaimed.

"Why is there a six-chaired table in the lover's garden?" I queried.

"Who cares" Ayano brushed off my question, giving me a gentle push. We all took our seats, settling in for our discussion.

Haruhi rhythmically tapped the table with both hands, "What's our plan?"

"We must have a plan A, B, C, and a backup plan!" Ayano proclaimed.

"Yun-Yun's dream tells us that Kimura will confess to her no matter what, so within these four weeks we have, let's try our best to change Kimura's feelings!" Haruhi was now bouncing her feet nonstop.

A brief silence hung in the air. The truth had hit them hard, though I seemed to be the exception.

"Haha..." Jin chuckled. "...To think that the top three would be playing Cupid's game..." he continued laughing.

"And what are you? The last?" Ayano mocked.

"Well, he did almost flunk the entrance exams if not for his cold," Haruhi chimed in with a feigned innocent tone.

"Also the reason Ayumi got into our class" Ayano scowled, her eyes narrowing and lips curving downward.

"What's so bad about that?" I asked, genuinely curious.

"Everything including now." She frowned again, glancing away. "I heard she cheated on the exam while the teacher was busy escorting Jin to the nurse's office," she added.

"You shouldn't believe in rumors...She was sitting next to me and she did nothing of the sort. Though she was doing badly on her test. I saw her trembling and struggling a lot with the test." Haruhi paused, an odd innocent look on her face. "In my opinion, she bribed the school." She added the cruelest statement possible. She's like a bully...

"Oh" Ayano snapped her fingers, "I heard that too..."

I couldn't help but make a sour face.

"Still you shouldn't believe in rumors." Ayano wagged her finger from side to side.

"Says the two who doesn't miss on a single rumor," Jin interjected, his brows furrowing.

"Haha..." Ayano pretended to laugh in an exaggerated manner, playfully patting me on the back, "Did you hear that, Haruhi? He's accusing us..."

Haruhi smiled with a nervous expression, "Yeah.."

"Ummm...Can we get back to the main topic?" I asked. They're way off-topic. It's making me worry...

*Ding Dong Ding* The bell rang. Haruhi and Ayano exchanged glances between themselves.

"We went off topic," Haruhi admitted.

Rubbing her neck, Ayano added, "Let's...maybe talk tomorrow?"

I nodded. Jin seemed like he was holding his laughter for a long time and Haruhi packed her lunch. None of them ate... I'm going to eat during period intervals...

. . .

As the sun dipped low, I settled onto the steps near the football court, right by the basketball arena. Football practice had wrapped up, and some teammates were assisting the coach in tidying up. A pair of guys lugged a bag filled with balls, while another one gathered up the zigzagged field cones. My practice had ended early too, thanks to a two-on-two match Ayano and I aced. My towel clung to me, soaked from the workout. Leaning on my hands, I gazed up at the sky, and the distant squeaks from the basketball stadium told me the game there was still going strong.

"Hey!" A voice echoed behind me. I tilted my head up a bit to spot the source. A guy in spiky shoes, a sleeveless blue shirt, and shorts stood there, grinning and waving. He is standing upside down from my point of view. I straightened back and turned around, it was Jin.

"Hey!" I greeted. "what are you doing there?" I asked.

He plopped down next to me. "I went to keep the balls inside the storage. I was looking for you, guess you were here. I didn't see you come."

"Yeah, I just arrived. My practice ended early."

"Oh. Some of them are still playing. Two on two I think."

"Yep."

I stole a glance at him; the sun's descent cast a reddish glow upon his face. His eyes glinted with brightness, and his lashes clung together from sweat. He monitored the busy boys ahead leaning on his hands. As he fanned his face, his silky wet hair swayed from side to side. He turned his gaze over me, our eyes locked on each other. I don't know whether it was the sun or what he saw in me, but his face was getting more red.

"S-so we play Cupid's game tomorrow?" He asked out of the blue.

I scanned around and answered, "Y-yeah!"