17 Lunch Time / Bringing Instruments!
Ayano and Susumu return to Takashi and Fumio with two boxes in each hand after collecting up all the bentos on the ground. Takashi is looking at Mari, who is now rubbing the dust off her skirt.
He shakes his head and returns his gaze to his three companions, specifically Ayano and Susumu, adding, "Sorry for making you guys pick all of that up, I'm still a little... shaken, by what occurred earlier."
"I suppose we should go have our lunch now, we've spent up... twenty minutes of our free time playing around," Susumu says as he looks at the utility closet.
Fumio agrees and pats Takashi on the back, saying, "I'm pretty hungry, so let's hurry up!" He then sprints ahead of the group, instantly entering the utility closet.
Takashi follows soon after, and Ayano turns to Susumu, whispering, "I'll tell you what you need to bring when you get home, is that okay with you?" Susumu nods, and Ayano walks off toward Mari.
Mari is shown tightening her tie, looking up, and waving to Ayano as the two of them enter the utility room, leaving Susumu outside alone, and he begins walking toward the closet.
After entering the room, Susumu closes the door behind him and looks around, Ayano and Mari have returned to the green padding he saw them sitting on earlier; Takashi and Fumio are arranging the bentos on another green pad stack.
He walks up to his best bros, Takashi turns around and looks at his held bentos, "Could you give me those?" Susumu hands the two bentos, and Takashi takes them gratefully, "Thank you."
"Oh right, you can just wait, we're still fixing the bentos..." He looks back at the line of bentos he made, he sighs in dismay and shakes his head.
…This will take quite a long time, I'd give it six minutes, though, I'm not wasting a time skip use for such a short amount of time, I hope Susumu does something interesting...
…
(+ FIVE MINUTES LATER +)
…
...I forgot about Susumu's personality trait: he's exceedingly boring; because his main hobby is playing the guitar, he can't relate to anything else, such as sports, technology, and so on.
Huuh... I've been sitting on this green padding for a long time now; when will Takashi and Fumio finish organizing their food?
"Alright, I believe that's good!" Fumio exclaims, clapping his hands, Takashi grabs his bento and turns around, and— holy crap, that's a mountain of food.
Tempura, Karaage, small cuts of Wagyu... It appears to be a smorgasbord! That's a fun word, smorgasbord! Haha... Takashi looks at his food, and Fumio looks over his shoulder, sarcastically stating, "It looks like you don't want to eat it, why don't you simply give it to me?"
Takashi scoffs, "I already gave you your helping; that's your meal, and this is mine, end of the dispute." Fumio slouches his shoulders and sighed heavily after hearing that.
Susumu approaches his black bento and blinks twice, thinking to himself, "Wow, that's a lot of food..." …RIGHT!? Why did the underclassmen believe Takashi could consume all of this in one sitting, that's just impossible... unless you're a big eater, then go ahead.
He takes his bento and a pair of chopsticks; before sitting down beside Takashi, he asks, "Can you actually eat all of this, Fujikawa-san?"
Our red-haired friend looks at his bento, and then at Susumu, saying, "Yeah, I can eat all of this." Susumu chuckles. While snapping his chopsticks into two, he says, "You must have a big appetite, huh?"
He then inserts a little piece of wagyu into his mouth using his chopsticks. Takashi responds, "I've always had a big appetite as a kid, but my metabolism is fast, so there aren't any physical changes in my body."
He pauses to take a bite of the tempura before continuing, "But I always make sure to start my day with a five-minute jog across the estate grounds."
Susumu compulsively nods; Fumio then sits himself alongside Takashi, he had also already begun eating his food before he sat down, indicating how hungry he was.
Fumio then looks at the two of them, saying with his mouth full, "What are wyou gwuy's twalkwing abwout?" Susumu looks past Takashi and turns to Fumio, raising an eyebrow, "Can you repeat that, but without any food in your mouth?"
Fumio swallows his food, before repeating, "What are you guys talking about?" Susumu straightens his back as Takashi takes the conversation over, "We were just talking about how big my appetite is..."
"...But it's nothing compared to your appetite, Moriyama-san," Takashi grinned, and Fumio added, "I'm delighted you finally acknowledged my strong appetite."
Susumu giggles quietly, he then looks at the two girls eating their lunch, they look like they're having fun, telling jokes and stories about last week, and a faint smile forms on his face.
He looks back down at his food and takes a karaage before chomping down on it, he swallows the chicken before taking another bite of it.
...They'll be eating from now on, so this will get boring really fast, and even worse, classes will be going non-stop after lunch, so I'll just skip to the end of the school day...
(+ TIME ADVANCE +)
We see Susumu sitting on a bicycle, he waves goodbye to Takashi, who is seen getting into a black car with tinted windows, and Fumio, who is walking in the opposite direction.
After the two of them leave, he begins cycling back to his house, passing through familiar landmarks; as he passes by the maid café, he stares through the window and sees Ayano taking the order of a customer, he chuckles.
He arrives at his house after thirty minutes of pedaling, hooks the bike to the railing, and walks to the front door, letting out a short sigh.
"I'm home!" he said as he walked through the door, shut it, and removed his black leather shoes; his mother greeted him at the door, "Susumu-kun, welcome home!"
After hearing a 'ding' sound from his phone, he looks down in his pocket and pulls out his phone, pressing the power button and staring at the notice.
The sender being Ayano, it reads, [- Shinsato Ayano: Ishibashi-san, could you please bring your guitar to school tomorrow? -]
Susumu raises an eyebrow, thinking, "Why is she writing so formally? Is this a thing she always does?" He sighs and unlocks his phone; before typing on his phone.
[- Me: is there a special thing happening tmr? -]
Susumu starts walking to his room, and a text notification pops up, [- Shinsato Ayano: There's music class tomorrow. -]
He closes the door and stares at his phone, he places his bag down while mumbling, "Wait, music class is tomorrow? Ah, I must've forgotten the schedule..."
Susumu types with a smile, [- Me: ahaha i must have forgotten about that, i'll make sure to bring it tmr, thanks for reminding me -] After sending the message, he started changing out of his school uniform.
A new message pops up, [- Shinsato Ayano: No problem! -] He had started unbuttoning his shirt as he reads the message, pondering, "Holy crap, she's a fast writer and reader..."
…No offense, but... Susumu is a pretty boring individual, I imagine he is just gonna spend the rest of the day in this house, not doing anything of importance, so I think I should just...
[+ TIME ADVANCE +]
…A new day starts as we see Susumu walking onto the school campus, he is also carrying a black guitar case over his shoulder, and holding his school bag in his right hand.
He tugs up his left sleeve and looks at his watch, muttering, "Early again..." As a black sedan with tinted windows approaches the school gate, Susumu turns around with a deadpan expression.
Takashi gets out of the car while facing the driver, saying, "Thank you, Nakatani-san!" He locks the door and smiles at Susumu before waving, "Morning, Ishibashi-san!"
His eyes widen as he discovers the black guitar bag hung over Susumu's shoulder, pointing to it before saying, "Did you bring your guitar to music class today?"
Susumu responds with his customary direct response, "Yeah," pauses, and looks at Takashi's school bag before raising an eyebrow and asking, "Where is your instrument?"
Takashi approaches the trunk of the car, and Susumu wanders up to observe as his red-haired companion opens the lid.
There is a black briefcase placed in the middle of the trunk; Takashi brings the briefcase closer to himself before turning to Susumu with a grin and asking, "You want to see it right now, or later in music class?"
Susumu, being the curious cat that he is, nods compulsively while still peering intently at the case, "Show it right now, please," Takashi then returns to his case and unlatches it.
He opens it slightly and golden rays come flying out, and Susumu's eyes widen; Takashi opens it even more, albeit slowly, and reveals the thing... wait, it's... magnificent... It's a... It's a..!
It's a trumpet.
Susumu's awed expression abruptly shifts as his widened eyes return to their usual tired look, and he says depressingly, "Wow, that's a trumpet..." He finishes his sentence in his brain, "...I was expecting something more cool-looking..."
Takashi smiles and nods, "Yeah, it's a trumpet, and I'm proud of it!" He then closes the briefcase and grabs the handle before closing the trunk.
As the two of them approach the school gate, Takashi asks, "Should we wait for Moriyama-san while we're still here?" Susumu nods, "We can do that."
The two of them come to a halt in front of the school gate, now waiting for their friend's arrival. A perplexed voice then says, "You guys arrived pretty early than normal..." The two of them look to their left and see Fumio approaching them.
Takashi grins and says, "Well, I managed to fix my sleep routine." The three friends walk past the large gate, and Fumio asks his black-haired friend, "How about you, why are you so early?"
Susumu shrugs as he replies, "No idea, actually..." He glances forward and stares at the school building, "...Perhaps I got eager for music class today."
After hearing that, Fumio has a big grin on his face and adds smugly while impersonating playing the guitar, "Oh? Are you maybe trying to show off your guitar talents to the girl you like?"
"Eh... Why would you assume that?" Susumu remarked, Fumio started uncomfortably laughing, "Sorry about that..." He then bends down and whispers into Takashi's ear, "Did I annoy him?"
Fumio casts a peek at Susumu before whispering back, "He's the sort to not get upset early in the morning, you're alright..." He casts another quick glance at Susumu before returning his gaze to Fumio, "...I think."
Fumio straightens his back and looks forward, and the three of them continue walking toward the main school building,
