"I was planning on hanging out with Youna." He answered, plain and simple.
"Huh? Hanada, the class rep, right?" Ryugi's response, specifically in her disheveled tone, caused Rinse to become much more interested in the conversation. When that girl asked him the question, she had no shock in his answer. Both because of his promise earlier, and that she was certain he didn't want to spend more time with the gyaru. "You're into that girl?" Her next question led to more curiosity.
"Honestly, I forgot about the dumb legend thing when I made the arrangement." His reply also cause Rinse to take a lot more focus onto this conversation. "She asked me to see her after the talent show, so I agreed."
"Eh? Don't tell me you're really that dense."
"I don't care about some stupid superstition, and I doubt Youna does either." As was the previous conversation, she did mention how little time they actually spent today. So it seemed fair in his mind since they were friends. "Besides, you just asked me if I had plans about the bonfire. Are you suddenly asking me out?"
"That a yes and a no." It was a no in the sense that she had no romantic motives for wanting him to join her. "I'm gonna look totally lame in front of my friends if they find out I wasn't with a boy tonight. Since I was stuck with you all day, it's only fair that you repay my presence with something." He was irritated. This girl was really full of herself to think that she had somehow blessed his day.
"I'll ask Youna if she doesn't mind some company." He relented. This girl was going to start begging if he continued to reject her advances and he'd rather not deal with that.
"W-wait a second." Rinse reminded them of her existence. "What's all this about a legend?"
"Right, you're not from around here so you haven't heard." Ryugi explained it to her that this was an average cliched romantic thing that most of the high schoolers talked about. It was stated that if one shared a view with someone of the opposite gender, that they would end up getting married.
"It's dumb because sharing a moment doesn't lead to something so serious like a marriage." He commented when she was done with her explanation. "Plus, you left out the part where it had to be sealed with a kiss."
"Ha, so you do care about it." She laughed. That was her plan to purposely leave that section out to see if he would correct her on it. While they continued to bicker about his feelings on it, Rinse was a little relieved now that she knew more about it. Perhaps he did really care, and that was why he allowed Ryugi to join in so that he wouldn't be alone with Youna.
"I guess that explains why so many boys asked me to join them in watching the bonfire." During her time with Youna, a lot of fellow classmates ended up approaching them. Every single one of them were only interested in the idol as they asked there questions. To which she rejected every single one of them and told them that she was going to ask Ishi if she could go with him.
"And I guess that explains why all the boys are glaring at me right now." Said Ishi. Those eyes were stabbing a lot of daggers into him at this moment. "Also, that was basically you asking me if you want to come with."
"That was my plan from the start." She defended herself. In fairness to her, as embarrassing as it sounded now, she had no idea about this so-called legend. "But, I don't want to be alone for tonight."
"I'm sure there's dozens of boys just waiting for you to accept their offers." He reminded her, which he also knew would be rather bothersome for the girl. "But, you're free to join us. Though only if Youna allows it."
"You really care about what the class rep thinks." Ryugi giggled teasingly. "Maybe you actually do want to land a date."
"Obviously not, or else I wouldn't be letting you two come with me."
"I bet that's only because Hattori is an idol, and I'm at least 10 times cuter than Hanada."
"I'm surprised you didn't say 100 times." He commented, referring to her arrogance. Unsurprisingly, she took it the complete wrong way as someone who fit his description.
"Are you hitting on me?" They argued while the three of them got up to meet with Youna at the agreed location.
"Ishi, there you are." The class rep smiled as she greeted him, only to then see the other two with him. "Rinse, Ryugi, it's nice to see you too."
"Yeah, they wanted to come with." He explained their presence. "Are you fine with it?"
"Uh, yes it's fine with me." This wasn't fine with her, but she was both too shy and embarrassed to speak up and tell them why. "Should we find a place to sit together?"
"Don't worry, I got the perfect place." His idea of the best spot apparently involved sitting underneath one of the trees, slightly away from the rest of the students who had gathered around. According to the boy, the weather report did warn of rain, though there wasn't a cloud in this deep blue night sky.
"This is kind of lame, don't you think." Already, Ryugi was whining about this situation. "How am I supposed to flaunt you around if no one's looking at us?"
"I prefer to both not be looked at by people, and to not be held by you like a trophy." He argued back.
"You chose this place because you didn't want to be bothered by all the jealous boys, right?" Rinse had him all figured out. This was all a selfish plan set up by him to not have to deal with anyone. Though perhaps it wasn't all that selfish since she was able to benefit from not having to worry about all the boys she rejected today.
"Yeah, everyone would be glaring over at us if we say by the fire. Since we're at a place that would take a lot of effort to look at, they won't do it regardless of their feelings on it." Just because he didn't care about the hate didn't mean he was unaware of how the other three would take it. If they were uncomfortable, then it would only ruin the mood and make him want to head home early for the day. At this point, most of the students left here on school ground were other third years. Since most of them were either adults, or about to turn into one, so it wasn't a big deal if they came home late.
"Well, I'm still glad about being able to see this with you." Said Youna, who was internally nervous about the other two girls being here. If they weren't here, then things would be massively different right now. At least, that was she was thinking, since it was impossible to make any mention of feelings with them watching. Then they'd know for certain what she was planning on doing alone with him.
"Bonfires are nice to look at." He replied. The crackles of the flames were barely heard through all the chatter of the young students spending time with those they cared about. "I wonder where Otoya's at?"
"Looks like he's got himself a nice girl for this little meeting." Ryugi pointed out his friend sitting on a bench with a girl from a different class. The sight was a little upsetting to him since he literally promised that boy he would get him a date with an idol. Though it really wasn't that big of a deal since things in romance at a young age were never a guarantee. It's not like marriage was deep into anyone's mind here.
"I already told him that I would get him a date with Rinse." He complained to them, which was major news for the two that weren't the subject of his topic. "Well, if this whole legend thing is actually real, then it doesn't matter if he doesn't kiss her."
"Speaking of." Ryugi got up from her spot, where she was sitting next to him. Rinse took the other spot, which left poor Youna to be the one farthest from him. "Who ya planning on kissing out of the three of us?"
"Don't know why you're being so forward." He responded while still staring her right in the eye. As expected she was the one unnerved and had to retreat from his face. "Besides, if I were to kiss someone, obviously it'd be with the girl I won the dating contest." Ishi was joking about it, since even that would make for a rather poor choice in his mind.
"Um, would you be saying that if she was here right now?" Rinse asked while she had her head tilted up towards the branches of the tree they were sitting under.
"Obviously Kamagata isn't here right now."
"Then I guess that means her hanging on that branch right there is just a hallucination, right?" When she mentioned it, the other three turned their heads up to look at what she was pointing at. As she described, there Chinae was. The girl was sitting atop a branch staring directly at all of them.