Wednesday, May 17th—Lunch break
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"Okay, everything's good, are you ready Sakagami-san?" After double checking everything in the plan, Ren asked Shigure for confirmation.
"Yes, sir!" Shigure said while striking a military pose, Ren just looked at her and sighed.
"Okay just to confirm that we have everything, Arisaka-senpai?" Ren looked at Michiru, who was holding a bento box on her hands with a smile.
"Of course Kanzaki-san, I brought the bento box, I believe it turned out absolutely good, I hope Mikagi-san likes it." Michiru held the bento box to Shigure, who was chosen as the person who will eat lunch with Sora at the rooftop.
"And that's basically everything." Ren concluded.
"Jeez Ren-chan, aren't you exaggerating a little bit?" Shigure mumbled to herself with a very Ren-like sigh. Michiru softly laughed.
"Sakagami-san, we can't go up there with you just in case she decides to go down the stairs, so we'll be waiting for you at the school cafeteria." After Shigure gave her okay and parted ways towards the school rooftop, Ren and Michiru went to the cafeteria. Since it was lunch break, they decided to buy some food, Ren choose curry bread while Michiru selected the melon bread. While eating, Michiru noticed that Ren was scratching his head while thinking of something, so she decided to ask him what's wrong.
"Um, is everything okay Kanzaki-san?" Ren looked towards his senior, shook his head.
"Yeah, I was just thinking of a backup plan." Michiru widened her eyes after hearing Ren's words.
"Oh my, why's that?" Ren just smiled complicatedly.
"We don't know much about Mikagi-san yeah? So I think it would be good to have a backup plan in case our actual plan fails."
Michiru was genuinely amazed at how much Ren had forethought this situation, she could only smile at this fact.
"Yes, I think it is a fantastic idea, Kanzaki-san." That said, she left Ren to continue his train of thought, and happily munched on her melon bread.
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'I can do this, Ren-chan and Michiru-senpai have their faith in me!' While the pair was eating at the cafeteria, Shigure was making her way towards the school rooftop, to where the blonde girl was eating. While it was true that Shigure was very popular among the students as a friendly person, she never tried to consciously befriend someone, she thought that friendship was something that should be natural, but well, that's another story.
'What should I talk about with Mikagi-san? Does she likes cute things? Anime? Frilly clothes?—She lost herself in her thoughts and unconsciously, Shigure reached the rooftop door.
'Oops, looks like we're here, okay let's do this!' She strengthened her grip on the bento box that Michiru prepared, and opened the door.
*Screeeach*
Once the door was opened, the wind could be felt and heard, the breeze was nice and the sun was not to hot, a really peaceful feeling. Shigure searched a across the rooftop for Sora, she spotted her and started walking towards her with a smile on her face.
Sora was eating by herself like she usually does everyday, when she heard the door being opened, something unusual, so she glanced at the doors direction, and she saw someone approaching her with a bento box on her hand. For a brief moment, Sora thought that said person, who looked like a girl, wanted to eat lunch with her, she felt happy for a second. That was until she saw "who" was that person.
"... What do you want?" Shigure was a little thrown back at Sora's grumpy behavior, but she decided to ignore it.
"Good morning Mikagi-san!" Shigure made the best smile she could, but Sora's demeanor didn't change in the slightest.
"Good morning." Sora thought that it would be the best to simply ignore "that" girl, so she politely returned the greeting, and resumed her lunch.
Shigure noticed that Sora didn't continued the conversation, so she decided to do that herself.
"Haaa, the weather's great up here, right? It's the perfect place to eat lunch!" While stretching and breathing the fresh air, Shigure tried to move the conversation to Sora, but said girl just continued eating without looking at her.
"If its not a problem, could I eat lunch with you, Mikagi-san?" Shigure asked Sora for permission, the blonde girl once again stopped eating and glanced at the purple eyed girl with an annoyed look on her face. Usually Sora, who's not a social person at all and doesn't have any single friend, would be overjoyed at the idea of eating lunch with another person, what's more, a girl her age, but that does not apply for "her".
After looking at Shigure's beaming face, she sighed in annoyance and mumbled 'do as you wish'.
Shigure said 'thanks!' with a big grin on her face, and sat down across Sora to start eating.
"Let's see what's on the menu~!" Ignoring the blue haired girl in front of her, Sora was triying to eat as fast as possible, so she could leave the rooftop sooner.
"Ohhh, it looks delicious! What do you have for lunch Mikagi-san?" After taking a glance at Michiru's handmade lunch, she asked Sora for hers, who just replied with a 'salmon rice balls with steamed vegetables'.
Several minutes passed, with Shigure actively trying to make conversation with Sora, just to be ignored by the "Iron Maiden". Sora was noticeable annoyed by Shigure's presence, but she was holding it down:
'Just three more minutes and lunch break is over...' Thought Sora.
And as she thought, the school bell sounded, marking the end of the lunch break. Before both of them went into separated ways, Shigure decided to act.
"I really enjoyed eating lunch with you Mikagi-san, I would love to eat lunch together again, let's be frie—!"
"—Stop messing with me!" Before Shigure could finish her sentence, Sora turned to see her with an angry expression and shouted at her. Shigure jumped on her place clearly startled, she didn't understood why was she getting yelled.
"What? Just because you are so popular gives you the right to make fun of me?" Sora continued talking while the dumbfounded Shigure just looked at her.
"Wha- N-No that wasn't what I—" Shigure couldn't believe it, was it her fault that Sora didn't wanted to become friends with her? She didn't do anything wrong.
"I don't need your pity, leave me alone!" Leaving those last words, Sora made her way towards her classroom before the next period started, leaving an astonished Shigure on the rooftop.
"Ehh...?" Shigure couldn't say anything.
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"Oh, looks like the bell's chiming." Ren mumbled to himself after hearing the school bell. Michiru nodded.
"Looks like we are out of time Kanzaki-san, and Shigure-san never came back, is it everything all right I wonder?" Ren was fairly aware that maybe something happened, but he couldn't think of what. Before they could say their thoughts aloud, the person in their minds appeared.
"Sakagami-san?" Ren noticed that she looked somewhat depressed, so he asked her what happened. Michiru had a troubled face, but she decided to say something.
"Shigure-san, I think it would be for the best if you tell us after school at the music room." Shigure nodded and thanked Michiru for her thoughtfulness, leaving Ren confused, but he decided to accept anyways.
"Okay, for now we should return to our classrooms, next period should start in no time." Ren concluded, Michiru only nodded with a serious face.
"Let's go Sakagami-san." Ren took hold of Shigure's hand and started dragging her to the classroom.
"See you after school, Arisaka-senpai." He said goodbye to Michiru and after receiving a 'See you later, both of you', he made his way towards the classroom along with a gloomy Shigure.
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When the classes finished, Ren and Shigure walked towards the music room together, but there was no conversation, mostly because of how depressed Shigure was, but again, Ren decided to let her talk first before asking something.
"*knock, knock*—We're entering." Making sure to knock, Ren slid the door and entered together with Shigure.
"Good afternoon Kanzaki-san, Shigure-san." Michiru greeted them with a worried smile when she noticed Shigure's mood.
"Good afternoon, senpai."
"Good afternoon, Michiru-senpai..."
Both underclassmen returned the greeting, but Shigure was clearly depressed. Michiru decided to ask what happened.
"Shigure-san, could you be so kind to tell us what happened?" Shigure sighed and started recalling the events at the rooftop during lunch time. Ren just listened to Shigure's story, trying to draw a conclusion about Sora's behavior while Michiru just looked at the blue haired girl with empathy.
"—And that's what happened." Shigure finished and tumbled over the table while muttering 'what did I do to her?'. Michiru just patted her back and said 'there, there'.
'That's strange, I don't know why would Mikagi-san reacted like that, from what I heard, Sakagami didn't do anything bad.' Ren pondered the situation over and over, but he couldn't find the error on their plan, maybe Sora was especially mad today? Maybe she didn't liked her lunch? A bunch of questions of possibilities passed through Ren's head, but none of them seemed to click.
"Well don't worry about it Sakagami-san, you definitely didn't do anything bad." Shigure wanted to protest but Michiru intervened.
"Kanzaki-san is right, you did great Shigure-san, it is not your fault." Michiru conformed Shigure with a big and warm smile.
"S-Senpaaai~!" Shigure comically started sobbing onto Michiru's shoulder, earning a complex smile from Ren.
"Anyways, it seems like today was a no good, we need to re-think our strategy." Michiru and Shigure raised her heads at Ren's words, they were both impressed that the boy was enough calm and collected to continue thinking of a plan.
"But how we are supposed to do that?" Ren shook his head.
"I don't know, but I'll think of something at home, so let's call it a day." Michiru and Shigure nodded at Ren's words, they were in agreement, it would be no good to keep thinking now, they needed to cool down first.
*Bzzz, bzzz*
"Sorry, it's my cellphone" Ren took out his phone to check it. Michiru and Shigure curiously glanced at Ren's phone.
'H-How can he check F***book on that...?' Shigure glared daggers at the phone.
'Oh my, it seems that Kanzaki-san is really old fashioned.' Michiru giggled.
Ren sighed after noticing the two females glancing over his direction and decided to let them be.
'It's from Rin, let's see—he opened his sister's message:
'Nii-san, I'll be waiting for you at the usual place, don't be late or I'll get angry!'.
"Was it Ricchan?" Shigure asked curiously after Ren put his phone on his pocket. Michiru raised an eyebrow.
"Who is Ricchan?" She asked genuinely confused.
"It's my little sister, her name is Rin, but Sakagami-san likes to call her 'Ricchan'." Michiru looked extremely amused.
"Oh my, oh my, Kanzaki-san has a little sister? What a surprise~." Ren scratched his head after hearing someone else talking of his sister.
"Yeah, and she is like suuuuuuper cute! She looks like a doll" Shigure detailed Rin's appearance to Michiru, making the latter's eyes sparkle.
"Kanzaki-san, you have to introduce me to your sister!" Ren took a step back when Michiru came too close to him.
"She is a first year of our school, class 1-A" Not wanting to add anything more, he told her Rin's class.
"Oh my, she must be really smart if she is Kanzaki-kun's sister, right?" Ren smiled when he heard Michiru somehow praise Rin.
"I'd rather say that she's the clever one." Michiru was amazed, not only Ren was really smart (although his grades told people otherwise), but also his little sister, maybe all of his family were smart people?
"I also have siblings, Takeru my younger brother, and Hikari my younger sister." Michiru looked really happy talking about her siblings thought Ren, maybe he also looked like that while talking about Rin?
"Oh, oh, I also have a sibling, her name is Kaguya, she is my older sister!" Like it was a competition, Shigure raised her hand and started jumping. Michiru and Ren laughed at Shigure's display.
"Okay, okay, I'll introduce Rin to you someday, senpai." Ren concluded their talk, and parted ways with the girls. After leaving the school building, he met Rin at the entrance.
"Ah nii-san, you're finally here." Rin said with an annoyed voice when she spotted her brother walking towards her.
"I'm sorry, it took a little longer than I expected, 'sup?" Ren apologized to his sister, and briefly after, they started their way back home.
Today Nagi didn't walked home with the siblings due to work, usually Thursdays are really packed with paperwork, so she tends to stay longer, and usually Ren goes to pick her up at school, even though Nagi lectured him about going out when it's dark outside. However, she feels really happy that he cares for her.
"Is it something wrong, nii-san?" Ren glanced at Rin's face, she had a worried expression.
"Why do you ask?" He feigned ignorance, but Rin could see through his mask.
"I know when you are thinking really hard of something, can you tell me about it? Maybe I can help you." Ren looked Rin with a surprised expression, pretty rare for him, until that expression turned into a warm smile.
"I can't hide something from you, huh?" Rin also smiled when she heard Ren.
"You shouldn't in the first place nii-san." She softly hit him and sighed.
"Thanks, Rin." She blushed a little after hearing her usually stoic and un expressive brother, wholeheartedly thanking her.
"*cough, cough*—A-Anyway! What about you tell me about your problem?" She changed the topic to prevent her brother from seeing her embarrassed.
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"I see...—Rin thought over what Ren told her—certainly it looks really strange from a common point of view." With her thumb and index finger on her chin, she analyzed the situation.
"Right? I thought that was weird too, even Sakagami-san didn't know what did she do." Ren nodded after hearing her sister's thoughts on the matter.
"Is Sakagami-san absolutely sure that she have never talked to Mikagi-san before?" Ren nodded.
"Yeah, today was pretty much the first time they talked to each other." The situation was really confusing, Rin couldn't think of something while walking, so she decided to ask Ren:
"I would like to play chess nii-san, can we?" For an outsider this question would be out of place, but Ren knew exactly what does it means.
"Sure, it's been a while." They continued their walk home, stopping at the supermarket to resupply their fridge. Finally, they arrived home.
""We're home"" After taking off their shoes, Ren started to prepare dinner while Rin listened to the radio.
After eating dinner, which consisted in some leftovers of Nagi's food and some other stuff mixed in, Rin brought the chess board to Ren's room.
"I'm really curious about something Rin, why do you prefer chess over shogi?" Ren had the right to be confused, Japanese people tend to play Japanese games, Rin being an exception. Without taking her eyes off her hands, which were setting up the chess board, she answered.
"I think that chess uses a lot more strategy, you don't have more pieces than the ones that are on the board, so you have to think more on your tactics." Ren nodded and mumbled 'I see'.
Rin it's really different than your average girl when it comes to hobbies. Some people could say that she is old fashioned, other people can say that she is extravagant, everybody has their own criteria. Rin loves every single game that consists in strategy, and her favorite hobby is to play chess, but she also likes to listen to the radio. This is mainly because she hates anything that she considers too loud or noisy. Because of this, the Kanzaki siblings don't have a television at home, although she likes to read her brother's manga sometimes. Rin, much like her brother, doesn't have a smartphone, she says that she only needs a cellphone to make calls, send texts and stuff, so she doesn't have social media accounts like most of the young girls.
"It's all ready nii-san, you go first." Ren smiled lightly while saying 'please go easy on me'.
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"*Toc*—I was thinking nii-san." Several minutes have passes since the siblings started playing, so Rin decided to start the conversation.
"*Toc*—Yeah?" Ren glanced at Rin's direction.
" *Toc*—Maybe you should change your methods a little." Ren raised an eyebrow when he heard the word "methods".
"*Toc*—What do you mean?" Rin continued.
"*Toc*—Instead of you trying to approach her, you should let her approach you." Ren shook his head.
"*Toc*—I don't think it's possible, she doesn't like Sakagami-san, besides she rejected me not so long ago, she would not want to approach us herself." It made sense, she didn't have any friends for a reason. Rin smiled.
"Exactly, so what you need to do, is keep pressing—*Toc*." Ren was in check.
"Crap!—*Toc*" Ren escaped somehow but—
"And keep pressing—*Toc*." Ren was in check again.
"Wha—? Come on... *Toc*." He was getting cornered.
"And keep pressing until... *Toc*." Checkmate.
"It's my loss, you are insanely good at this Rin, it's almost unfair." Ren giggled after being beaten by his little sister.
"Don't be such a crybaby nii-san, besides you already know what to do, don't you?" Rin smiled.
"Yeah, thank you Rin, you really helped me." Rin nodded with a satisfied look on her face.
"It's time to go pick up Kanasuke-sensei, I'll be back in a couple of minutes Rin." That said Ren left the house, leaving Rin on his room.
"As expected of my big brother." A soft mumble left the girl's mouth.