Chapter 15

"…" (x6)

The living room was silent, everyone refused to say a word, either because they were shocked, or because they were too deep into their own thoughts, or in Takeru's case, feeling as if he was almost dying from embarrassment as he tried to eat while he pouted his reddened cheeks to hide his embarrassed face

"… *Deeply breaths in* Takkun… How is Nanami-san like?"

"… … … Tall, beautiful, always gentle and smiling to me, with a pretty silver hair in a ponytail and… Big in certain places…"

"…" (x5)

Hearing that vague description, everyone began picturing a pretty close image of the real Yuriko, until Takeru dropped another bomb

"And today, I saw her beat the crap out of two different guys as they begged for help, with one of them even being sent flying out of a room"

"She what!?" (x5)

And with that, they all ended up imagining Yuriko as some sort of delinquent

"I-I see, well… Good luck with her, Takkun"

"?"

Takeru was slightly confused at why Ichiro said that in a way that took pity on him. But then, because of the talk about Yuriko, Takeru remembered something he wanted to ask them

"… Ah! That's right, can I ask you something, Ichiro?"

"Sure, what is it?"

"What should I do to talk with Yu- Nanami-san without making her angry?"

"Eh? Is she angry with you?"

"I don't know, but after seeing what she did to those two guys, I'm afraid of knowing"

"Makes sense… Well… What do you think, Sakurako-san?"

Ichiro turned his head towards Sakurako who went to take seconds on the kitchen

"Huh? Me?… Well, I think you should give her some time to calm down before talking to her, I guess"

Then Cicilia joined in the conversation

"Yeah, you should definitely give her some time to calm down, and when you talk to her you just start by apologizing to her, that much should help you avoid her beating you up"

"Yeah… Do what these two said"

"I see, that might work"

While the four were having their discussion, Kimiko was secretly taking notes so that she could use Takeru and Yuriko as references for her next characters. After filling themselves, they all decided to watch a movie before calling quits for the day

"So what do you guys wanna watch this movie?"

Kimiko showed them the box art of a horror movie that was quite famous for being really scary, that she had in her collection

"Sure"

"Sounds good for me"

"Eh, why not?"

"That movie looks interesting"

"HELL NO!"

Of everyone, Cicilia was the only one who disagreed

"Too bad, Cano-chan. It was Five against one, so we're going to watch this movie"

"Then I'll be leaving!"

Cicilia got up from the sofa and made her way to the entrance, but when she was halfway through, Takeru said something

"Eeeeehh… Are you scared, Carcano-san"

"… Huuuuuh? What did ya say?"

Takeru had said that in a very mocking way, which was enough to trigger Cicilia

"I said that you're scared"

"I am not scared!"

"Then why are you running away?"

"I. Am. Not. Running. Away."

"Then watch the movie with us"

"I don't wanna"

"… I dare you to watch it"

"… Oh? You think that will work on me?"

-

Minutes later

-

"…"

Cicilia was tightly hugging Yasu's left arm pressing her decent-sized chest on his arm, as she trembled while making a terrified crying face, and without changing his expression, Yasu enjoyed the softness of Cicilia's breast touching him alongside the warmth of her body

"…"

Meanwhile, Sakurako looked at the two like that, before she turned her head to look at Ichiro, then after thinking a little. She gently hugged Ichiro's left arm as she also gently held his hand. Ichiro who noticed it, looked at her, to which she looked back at him with her blank face before resting her head on his shoulder, Ichiro then simply made a sigh while he made a smug smile as he also held back Sakurako's hand

While two couples were flirting, Takeru and Kimiko had their heads laid on the opposite sides of the kotatsu as they both made empty faces and eyes as they watched the movie without getting impressed or scared by it… And also sometimes questioned the dubious decisions of the teenagers in the movie, and also feel some kinship with the killer for killing loud teenagers doing stupid stuff

After the movie ended, everyone gave their farewells to Yasu and Kimiko and returned to their homes, Sakurako by car with Ichiro accompanying her, while Takeru made his way to the station on foot, meanwhile, Cicilia returned to her home which was nearby, as she walked with trembling legs while being led by Yasu as she was too scared to walk alone because of the movie

As Takeru walked back home, his mind became busy with something, as he had the feeling he was forgetting something

"…" <I think I'm forgetting something, but I made sure to check if all my stuff was in the bag… … …> "Ah!… I never exchanged contacts with Yuriko-san… … … I guess, I'll wait until she's in a better mood to ask for her contact"

And talking about Yuriko, right now, she was…

"Aaaaaahhhh… Whyyyyy? Why did I forget iiiiiit!?"

Still agonizing from not having exchanged contacts with Takeru

-

The next day, after school

-

"…"

Yuriko differently from usual wasn't doing any of the paperwork assigned to her, instead, she was seating on her chair as she sprawled herself on her desk in the student council room with a clearly depressing atmosphere around her.

And seeing her like that, was somewhat worrying to the rest of the Student council members, who now also had to deal with Daichi's assigned paperwork as he was literally and figuratively kicked out of the student council for breaking a series of rules. He also got suspended for some days alongside Yamada

"Hmm… Yuriko-sama? Is there something wrong?"

Then Chiyoko, the stucco treasurer, approached Yuriko and asked that simple question to Yuriko

"Ta…"

"Ta?"

"Ta…T-Takeru ignored me in my all attempts to talk to him!!!"

Yuriko shouted that as she had tears in her eyes, revealing that the reason why she was feeling depressed was because of Takeru ignoring her

.

.

.

Early morning

-

Yuriko had just left her apartment building, she had waited for Takeru to leave his apartment but after waiting for a quite amount of time, she decided to leave, so that she would not arrive late to school for her duties as the president of the student council

"Takeru probably overslept or woke up earlier than me… I hope to have the chance to talk to him at school"

As she made her way to school, she noticed a certain person walking ahead of her, in the same direction, then she noticed that person was Takeru

"Ah! Takeru!"

"!"

When Yuriko called him, Takeru shuddered and stopped walking, only for him to start running away without looking back

"Huh?"

Yuriko was left confused at why Takeru did that

"… I-I'm sure, he's still just embarrassed from that day… *Nodding* Yeah, i-it must be that"

Yuriko told herself that in an attempt to not feel dejected and because she didn't want to accept the fact that Takeru just ignored her

-

Lunch time

-

Yuriko had left her classroom and was making her way to the rooftop as she always did, then on her way there she noticed Takeru

"Ah! Takeru!"

And just like in the morning, he shuddered and stopped walking, but this time he looked at Yuriko with a trembling smile as he heavily sweated… And then he broke into a run

"Wait!"

Yuriko tried to go after him, but he had turned one of the corners and had disappeared from sight

"… I-it's fine… It's not like that… It's not like that… Uuuuuuhhh"

Seeing that she wouldn't be able to find him on time, Yuriko gave up on going searching for Takeru as tears formed in her eyes

-

Minutes earlier

-

"Tak-"

Without even waiting for Yuriko to finish calling his name, Takeru simply dashed away

"…"

And this time Yuriko just stood there in silence, as she pouted and made an angry tearing face

.

.

.

And now we were back to the present, as Chiyoko made a concerned face as she looked at Yuriko who was basically throwing a tantrum

"I-I'm sure, that Takeru person has a good reason to be… Avoiding you… … … Do you have anything that you might be aware that you did to him?"

"… Ah!"

Yuriko then remembered what happened on the rooftop a few days ago

"Yuriko-sama"

"…" <Considering it's Takeru… He's probably feeling embarrassed and mad at me for doing that> "… Wait…"

"Huh?"

"I just have to wait and ignore him back! And Takeru will definitely come to talk with me!"

"I-I see, it's good to see that you're motivated"

Yuriko had managed to get herself motivated, and because of her renewed motivation, Yuriko was quick to finish the paperwork assigned to her, and even help with the paperwork of the other members

-

Some time later

-

"…" <Maybe I overdid by running from Yuriko-san every time she called for me… I should apologize to her the next time I see her>

Takeru talked to himself inside his mind as he paid for the ingredients that he was buying for dinner. Then as he left the grocery store, he ended up meeting with Yuriko who was passing by as she returned home

" "Ah!" "

Their eyes both met and they said the same thing at the same time, but then Yuriko looked away in a way that clearly indicated that she was mad at him, and she continued making her way home

"…"

Takeru just stood there in silence after he saw Yuriko doing that to him

"…" <Fufu, what do you think, Takeru? I'll ignore you and leave you alone for a week>

"…" <She's definitely mad at me!!! Alright, let's do exactly what Kogane-san and Carcano-san told me and completely avoid Yuriko-san for a week or more, and wait for her anger to lower>

Both of them were led by wrong assumptions, and with that a week passed with both of them avoiding each other for different reasons

-

One week later

-

" " " "…" " " "

Everyone in the student council room was looking at Yuriko with very concerned faces, and the reason for that was the fact that Yuriko only had her head slumped on her desk as she made the face of someone who was losing her soul from the mouth

"Yuriko-sama…"

"Yes?…"

Yuriko didn't even make an attempt of looking fine to Chiyoko calling to her

"Hmmm… You can go home, we'll take care of the paperwork, including yours"

"… … … Okay…"

"…" <She didn't fight back!?> (x4)

Yuriko would usually insist, and win, on finishing the paperwork assigned to her by herself and helping the other members without them asking. And seeing just giving away her paperwork was extremely surprising and worrying to them

"…"

Yuriko got up from her seat, picked her bag up, and walked away in a clearly depressed manner. Yuriko made her way back to the apartment in an absent-minded way, but when she arrived in front of her apartment building, she was greeted by two people who came running toward her

" "Yu-chan!" "

"…"

Yuriko looked at them but she didn't say anything, as they came to her

"… Yu-chan? What's wrong?"

The dark green-haired girl asked so to Yuriko, and then she…

"… Buwaaaaaaaahhhhhh!!!"

" "!?" "

Broke into tears as she cried while hugging both of the girls, leaving them slightly confused