Aoi's POV
"Can anybody throw this away, please?" One of our classmates asked as she pointed to the trashcan.
"Oh, I can!' I replied as I waved my hands.
"I'll do it instead." My friend, Hacchi, offered instead as he walked up to our classmate and grabbed the trashcan. "You can't carry this, Aoi. Your sleeves might get dirty."
I rolled my sleeves up and tried to grab the trash can from him, but he kept moving it out of my reach. "Come on!" I exclaimed.
Hacchi laughed. "Keep me company." He said as he started to walk out of the classroom. I followed him and we walked to the back of the school where the students dump the trash.
"Hacchi, what do you think about that loner now?" I asked as he dumped the trash.
"You mean Koizumi? He's annoying, gloomy, and too timid. Why do you ask?"
"Hmmm... If you hate him so much, then why were you talking to him earlier?"
"I couldn't find you two, and he was the only one I saw."
"I see..."
I looked around, and coincidentally, I noticed the loner cleaning with, who I would guess, is one of his classmates.
A few boys approached who the loner was with and started talking to him. The boy stopped cleaning and they started joking around, accidentally bumping into the loner. None of them even turned back to apologize. Suddenly, the boy he was cleaning with looked like he was handing the broom to him. If I were to guess, it looked like he was going to leave the loner to do all the cleaning.
I looked back at Hacchi, and it didn't look like he was gonna be finishing anytime soon. I ran towards the loner and called his name. "Ko-chan!" I exclaimed as I bumped him from the back. "Why are you taking so long? I told you I wanted to check out that cafe."
"P-Pardon me?" He replied as he turned around to look at me.
I winked and looked at the boys that were messing around earlier. "What are you doing?" I asked. "Ah! Are you passing your work to my friend??"
"Shiraishi-san, he's your friend?" One of the boys asked.
"Yeah, he is. We're going somewhere later, so stop playing around and get to cleaning." I looked back at Ko-chan. "Hurry up so we can go."
I walked away, but looked back a few times to see if they were still bothering him. Thankfully, it looked like they left him alone.
"Hey." Hacchi called me. "Let's hurry up and go back. Wasn't there that cafe you wanted to go to?"
I smiled. "Yeah. Let's go." I replied as we went back to the classroom.
When we got back, everbody already finished cleaning and they were packing up their things to head home. Masacchi and Macchi were both sitting down and fiddling with their phones.
I jumped on Masacchi's back. "Let's go!" I exclaimed.
"Aoi??" He asked as he stood up and set me down slowly.
Macchi stood up and grabbed his bag. "Finally." He said. "I'm starving. Let's hope this cafe is worth it."
We headed downstairs, and while we were about to go to the lockers, I noticed the loner changing his shoes.
"Oh, it's Koizumi." Hacchi said.
"You guys wanna invite him?" Macchi asked.
I walked up to the loner from behind and tapped his shoulder. He flinched and frantically turned around. "S-Shiraishi-san!" He exclaimed.
"You look like you saw ghost." I said as I grabbed my shoes from the locker next to his. "Are you about to head home, Ko-chan?"
He nodded his head. "T-Thank you for earlier." He thanked me and bowed his head.
"Why? What happened earlier?" Macchi asked as they all changed their shoes too.
"I just became a good samaritan." I replied with a proud voice. "Oh, but anyway, you wanna come with us Ko-chan?"
"P-Pardon? You're inviting me?"
"You're the only one here with that name, so yeah. We're gonna go to a cafe nearby. Plus, I did tell those guys earlier that you were coming with me, didn't I?"
He looked hesitant, and it seemed like he was gonna decline the invitation. Not that I mind though. I just thought it was worth a try. To be honest, I don't like him, but my feelings for him aren't as strong as Hacchi's. I just don't like how gloomy and awkward he is. Those are the types of people I find difficult dealing with.
"If you don't wanna come, then that's fine." Hacchi commented. "But Masaru probably wants you to come, isn't that right?"
Macchi looked confused, but then he looked at Ko-chan and smiled. "You should come with us, Koizumi. It'll be fun."
For some reason, Ko-chan's face flushed red and he looked away. "I g-guess I can g-go for a bit."
Huh? I didn't expect him to agree. He looked like he was gonna decline earlier. I wonder what changed his mind.
"Hmmm. I don't understand."
"What don't you understand?" Masacchi whispered as he moved his face closer towards mine. We were already on the way to the cafe.
"What?"
"You said there's something you don't understand."
Huh? Did I actually say that out loud.
I smiled and pushed his face back. "It's nothing to be worried about. I was just thinking of something."
We got to the cafe and sat down on a table for six. The cafe itself looked pretty girly, and we were the only guys in there. I would say it's awkward, but I don't feel ashamed of eating in cute places. It's not my fault that the food in these places are better than others.
I looked at the menu and saw the strawberry parfait. Macchi tapped me on the shoulder. "Aoi, do you wanna split the vanilla parfait?" He asked.
"Sorry, but I'm gonna get the strawberry one."
"Then, Koizumi, do you wanna split the vanilla parfait?" He asked as he looked at Ko-chan. Just like earlier, Ko-chan's face was red again. He timidly nodded and Macchi smiled. "Hayate, what are you guys gonna order?"
"Masahiko and I are gonna split the chocolate parfait." Hacchi replied. "I'm gonna order everything, alright?"
"Oh, can you add a vanilla shake to my order?" I asked.
"Sure, sure. Don't go too wild on the sweets, okay, Aoi?"
"Yes, sir!"
Hacchi ordered our food, and it got served to us surprisngly quick. We didn't really have to wait that long. I took the pocky in the parfait and ate it first.
"Pffft." Hacchi laughed. "You really like those kind of stuff, don't you?"
"What's wrong with it??" I asked.
"Nothing. It suits you so well."
"Ah! There you again! Stop treating me like a child!" I pouted and looked at Ko-chan who looked like he was having trouble choosing which part of the parfait to eat first. "Ko-chan." I called his name as I took the other pocky from my parfait and put it in front of his mouth.
"U-Um, Shiraishi-san..." He called my name.
"Don't be shy and eat it." I said. "It's good."
He hesitantly opened his mouth and took a bite of the pocky. I let go of it and let him eat the rest. He started to blush again, and can I just say, this is very entertaining.
"Ko-chan, stop being so stiff with me." I said as I took a bit of my parfait. "Let's start by calling me Aoi."
"S-Shiraishi-san..."
"Aoi."
"Aoi-kun...?"
"Just Aoi."
"...Aoi..."
"That's better! No need to be so shy around me. The next time you talk to me stiffly, you'll be punished, okay?"
"Y-Yes!"
"What was that?"
"I-I mean yeah..."
Masahiko chuckled. "It looks like Aoi found a new toy." He said.
"Looks like it." Hacchi added. "Good luck, Koizumi."
It turns out, I like Ko-chan more than I was expecting. He's still gloomy, but he's fun to be around with. Maybe if I get to him adjust to me, he'd act normal around me.
When we finished eating, we parted ways to head home. Ko-chan and I walked the same way, so we ended up together again. He was still stiff, and it looked like he couldn't relax around me.
"Ah, I'm craving for something savoury." I said. "Ko-chan, buy me a meat bun."
"Y-Yes." He replied as he was about to run to a nearby convenience store, but I grabbed his arm and held him back.
"I was just kidding." I said with a serious tone in my voice. "I'll treat you to one instead."
"You d-don't have to."
"I'm offering it. You don't have to feel so shy around me. We're friends now."
"Friends?"
"Yeah. We hung out today, and you're even calling me by my first name. I don't let people who aren't my friends call me by my first name, so you should be grateful."
"Y-Yeah... Thank you, Aoi, for helping m-me earlier and inviting m-me to come with you guys." He lightly smiled. "I really appreciate it."
I guess this guy might not be so bad at all.
"Come on." I said as I patted him on the back. "I still wanna eat that meat bun."