Leaving the room, Akio felt a presence following behind him.
He stopped in his track and called out.
"Come out" he said.
Seeing that Akio had already know that she was there, she walked out from where she hid.
"...long time no see, Kirihara-kun" she said.
The girl that just came out was the one that had delivered the drinks earlier.
"Tsunagi Hime" he said.
Tsunagi Hime was the class idol in his former class, she was also quite sociable as she liked to get along with everyone she meets, aside from Akio, the class was quite fond of her due to her cheery attitude.
"Have you met anyone else other than me from our class?" she asked.
Akio figured that she was asking about their former class and answered honestly.
"Student council president, Kirishino Yuuki" he said.
"Really!? Where is she!?" she exclaimed, excitedly.
Tsunagi Hime have not seen anyone from her class ever since her reincarnation so she was joyful to finally found two from her former class.
As Tsunagi Hime was quite the extrovert, she had wanted to befriend everyone from her class, of course, that included Akio, however, Akio was always either asleep during class breaks or out from the room during lunch and as the only classmate that she had failed to befriend, she remembered Akio quite clearly.
"I'll meet her later, you coming?" he asked.
"Okay! Ah...…but I have work right now...…" she said, dejectedly.
Akio sighed in his mind as he followed up.
"Dinner, at the cafeteria" he said and turned to leave.
As Hime heard what he had said, she cheered up.
"Thank you, Kirihara-kun!" she said towards Akio's leaving figure.
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Dinner time arrived and the usual group had gotten together to eat at the same table.
Akio had told Ria about Hime, both were now waiting for her as they ate their meal.
After waiting for some time, Hime entered the cafeteria and started looking around.
Akio noticed her and called her over.
Finding who she was looking for, Hime walked towards their table.
Arriving at the table, the rest of the group besides Akio and Ria got curious at who was the newcomer.
"Akio-san, who is she?" Shiela asked, although she had seen her from class, she didn't know her name.
Akio didn't know Hime's current name so he answered vaguely.
"An acquaintance" he replied.
"Nice to meet you! I'm Hitsuki Mizono, Akio-san's friend" she interrupted.
Ayane heard this and was curious due to her not knowing Mizono, she asked Akio telepathically.
{Brother, is she one of those students I reincarnated?} she asked.
{Yeah} Akio affirmed.
Although, Ayane had the system, it was due to her connection to Akio so unlike the those that she had reincarnated, she doesn't get notified when she sees a reincarnated person from the class.
Chiyaki got close towards Akio and asked in a whisper.
"Kirihara-kun, where's Kirishino-san?" she asked.
"It's Akio, and she's sitting in front of me" he said.
Mizono looked at the person seated in front of Akio.
Ria saw Mizono look at her so she smiled.
Mizono saw that Ria was wearing the uniform for male students and thought that she was a man, seeing a pretty boy smile at her, her heart skipped a beat.
She hurriedly hid her flushed face and whispered at Akio.
"Eh!? Did Kirishino-san turn to a man!?" she asked while suppressing her surprised voice.
"She's pretending to be a man" he replied.
"Why!?" she asked but Akio just shrugged.
Jin saw the two being so close to each other and grinned.
"You sure you're just friends?" he teased.
The next moment, a heavy pressure came towards Jin as Ayane and Ria glared at him.
Jin felt the pressure and noticed that it was coming from the two, he immediately closed his mouth and refrained from talking, although, he thought that it was not surprising considering Ayane, he was confused as to why Ria was glaring at him.
Due to Jin's remark, a tense atmosphere was created, however, it was broken by a cough from Shiela followed by the introductions with their names and classes, they also got to find out that Mizono is from class A and a part of the student council.
"Hitsuki......." Shiela mumbled and gasped as though she realized something.
"Are you related to the student council president!?" Shiela asked.
"Eh? Yes, I'm her adopted sister..." Mizono replied.
Mizono had remembered about her past so she became gloomy, Shiela saw the change in Mizono's expression and felt guilty.
"Ah, I'm sorry, was that something bad?" she apologized.
"No, I just remembered something" Mizono replied.
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After dinner, the group had went back to their own dorms whereas Mizono came along with Ria and Akio towards their room so they could have some private conversations, however, Akio didn't enter the room and made an excuse to leave the two girls to talk with themselves.
Upon closing the door, Mizono pounced at Ria to hug her.
"W-Wait!" Ria was startled.
*Hic*
She was about to push away Mizono but heard her crying as she hid her face so she stop and started caressing Mizono's head to console her.
Ria understood why Mizono would cry.
She was living a normal life until she was sent to somewhere she didn't know all on her own, not to mention that danger lurked everywhere as rifts and reapers could appear anytime.
After crying for a while, Mizono finally calmed down and they started talking about what they had went through until now.
Hime reincarnated as Mizono born under a normal family as an only child, she lived a relatively normal life but when she was 6 years old her parents were killed by a reaper right in front of her eyes, fortunately she was saved by a hunter, that hunter was Hitsuki Kenji, Amane's father who adopted Mizono.
Finishing her story, she cheered up.
Mizono brought her face near Ria and whispered.
"Kiri- I mean, Ria-san, although, you are pretending to be a man, you're still a woman so be careful around Akio-kun" she warned.
Ria blushed on her sudden remark.
"N-No need to worry, Akio won't do anything to me" she replied.
Mizono saw Ria's expression and came to a realization.
"Ria-san.......you like Akio-kun?" she asked.
Hearing her question, Ria's cheeks became even more flushed and she nodded.
"Eh!!?? Since whe-mmph!?"
Ria was startled by Mizono's voice and covered her mouth with her hands.
"Shh! not so loud!" she said in a whisper.
Mizono nodded.
Seeing that she had calmed down Ria moved away her hands.
"So? since when" Mizono continued her question.
Seeing her excited expression, Ria could only sigh and answer.
"*Sigh*, since we were 1st years back in our world" she answered.
Mizono gasped.
"That long!?" she blurted.
Ria nodded on her remark, following which she told the story about the incident that happened when they were 1st years in high school.
Mizono listened and was greatly shocked, she started to see Akio in a new light which was different from how he used to look, a gloomy person with no friends.
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Finishing their conversation, Akio had come back and Mizono decided to go back to her dorm.
"Akio-kun, thank you!" she said towards Akio
She then looked towards Ria and spoke.
"Ria-san, I'm cheering you on!" she said and left.
Upon hearing Mizono's words towards her, she blushed.
Akio looked at Ria who was blushing and spoke.
"What was that about?" he asked.
"N-Nothing!" she replied, flustered and entered the room.
In truth, Akio had reinforced his hearing and heard their whole conversation, although he knew that it wasn't a good thing to do, gathering information was important.
Akio had already known about Ria's feelings about him since long ago but pretends not to know, he felt that it would be too troublesome.
He sighed and entered the room.