Weekend Trip

Today was saturday, an off day from school. Students from 2-C had still gathered at the school because they were heading out to visit the Imperial Palace.

Everyone was dressed in good outfits, some were casual, some were excessively dressed. When Yui arrived in a pale blue dress, everyone's head turned. Soon Red arrived on his bike. He was wearing casuals, but he looked good in them.

However, the other students noticed that there was someone they didn't recognize at all.

"Is it someone from another class? Who is it?"

"Perhaps it is a friend of Red?"

At that moment Red went and slapped the strangers back. "Aito kun! You look so different now! Good!"

"What? That's Aito?"

"Holy crap!"

Rin saw that the person was Aito, who smiled at Red and nodded. His eyes looked confident and his gait was straight. His glasses had disappeared and his hair looked stylish now. He looked totally different from before. Rin suddenly had flashbacks from her time at middle school when she idolized this boy.

But she immediately felt guilty. "Am I so vain that my perceptions changed because his looks changed?" She asked herself.

Red was laughing inside. "Humans are indeed vain. It seems Rin doesn't find this Aito as displeasing to the eye as before. Either way, it is fun!"

The students all gathered around Aito, complementing him. After everyone gathered, the group left for the Imperial Palace. There were too many people and the Palace wasn't too far from the school, so they walked the way.

Red, Rin and Yui were walking together. Red seemed to be checking the map, while Yui and Rin were talking to each other.

The other students were nudging Aito. "Bro, I saw Rin looking at you. Your confession got her attention, you need to be more proactive and not give up."

Aito heard the encouragement of others and was bubbling with enthusiasm after his makeover. Red looked at the situation and bent over and whispered in Yui's ear. Yui immediately blushed from the sudden closeness with Red.

"Yui, it seems Rin and Aito need to have a private conversation to sort out the issues between themselves. How about we give them some space?" Red asked Yui.

Yui tried to calm down, but she could feel Red's breath in her ear and smell his male scent and it made her heart rate rapidly increase. She controlled her voice. "Let's do as you say." She replied.

Red nodded. He suddenly looked at a stall on the road selling Dango. He turned to Yui and said loudly. "Yui, is that Dango? I am interested in trying out street food. I wonder is it good?"

Yui looked at the stall. "That is indeed a dango stall. But it is basically meant for little kids. I have never had such food before."

"You haven't? Let's go try it." Red said enthusiastically and dragged Yui by the hand to the stall. Everyone saw that and were stunned. But then they saw Red winking to Aito.

Everyone immediately understood, he was clearing the path for Aito! They raised their hands in a thumbs up motion and pushed Aito forward. Red meanwhile whispered to Yui.

"Sorry, I grabbed your hand. I couldn't think of another way to stun Rin into not following us to the stall." Red apologized. Yui was indeed surprised and slightly angry, however when she heard that she understood and forgot about the matter. Still she could feel the heat from Red's palm in her own.

The two began eating the Dango, and Red saw Yui's face color with surprise. "You really haven't eaten before!" He exclaimed.

"My parents never allowed me to have such things. But it... isn't bad." She said after a struggle.

"Haha, it seems you fell in love with the Dango. Do you want more? I'll get another stick." Red laughed.

At this moment, Aito walked up to Rin who was stunned by Red holding Yui's hand. When she saw Aito, she was filled with complicated feelings.

For a few minutes, the two did not speak. Eventually Aito clenched his fists and spoke. "Rin, I'm sorry for putting you in such an awkward position yesterday."

Rin turned even more complicated. "Aito, why did you suddenly confess?"

Aito looked at the sky. "At that moment, when Red cross questioned me, for the first time I felt you actually pay attention to me in a long time. I suddenly had an intense fear that it was my only moment to confess my deepest feelings, or I would never be able to in the future."

Rin shook her head. "I... I am sorry. I don't have feelings for you at the moment."

Aito did not reply. He changed the topic. "Remember in middle school, when we used to walk to the book store and you told me to read the shoujo light novel? Do you still read it?"

Rin nodded. "I do. I didn't expect you to still remember about it."

"How could I forget?" Aito quietly replied.

Meanwhile, everyone was watching the two talking and slowly walking ahead. Soon Red and Yui joined the walking students, somewhat behind, with dango sticks in hand.

"You really love dango, huh?" Red teased Yui.

Yui ignored Red, while munching on a dango, while looking at Rin and Aito talking, walking in front of everyone else.

At that moment,three roguish figures who were full of tattoos and had dyed their hair blonde walked up to the two and began irritating Rin.

"Hey girl, you are pretty good looking. Want to hang out with us?" One of the rogues asked.

Rin was stunned and disgusted. "Get lost." Suddenly Aito stood in front of Rin, telling the rogues to back off.

"Hey brat, you better step to the side before I beat you up real good." The rogue tried to intimidate Aito.

However, Aito stood firm in front of Rin. "Do you know where you are? You'll be arrested for misdemeanor! You better not trouble her!" He yelled.