Youna quietly slipped on her free water as she silently and awkwardly sat alone at one of the tables. She had been here a while now after Ishi informed her that he was also here. However, the girl was hesitant to tell him that she had arrived. Despite the fact that he essentially invited her, that boy was still on a date with a girl who wasn't her.
She lamented that as she finished off her drink. The crowd around her was loud and it was causing her to feel anxious just sitting all on her own. What was she thinking when she actually decided to come here just to meet with him. It wasn't as if she had any other friends to chat with, so this was only for Ishi. If he was busy with someone else, a girl no less, then what was the point in coming here?
Youna knew full well why she came here, but her cowardly nature disallowed her from even admitting it to herself. She came here in a futile attempt to 'interfere' with his date. Surely she shouldn't give up on fighting for him. At the same time, her nature didn't want to mess anything up between him and Chinae. Partially because the latter was kind of scary, but also because the former deserved to be with someone he liked. So even if that meant she would lose out on the end, then so be it.
Not that it wouldn't just break her heart out every time she had to see him afterwards.
"Class rep, you made it." There was one person who took note of her arrival. It was Ryugi, who had been really enjoying herself at this party. She had been chatting up with all the guests. Plus, she also had the excitement within of making an announcement when this came to a close. "Sorry, I don't know where Ishi snuck off to with Kamagata."
"It's fine though." She replied. "After all, they are on a date." It hurt her more to say it out loud to another person. The statement only served to cement the facts for her to confront.
"What a jerk though. He invited you and now he's not even going to greet you." She complained. It also hurt her a little that somehow he was able to convince someone to join one of her parties. Ryugi was the queen, people should be jumping at the chance to come hang with her.
"He probably just didn't want me to miss out on the fun." Youna would be majorly disappointed if she couldn't at least see him during this party. Otherwise she'd be spending the rest of today quietly sipping on her water. "Or maybe he forgot about me… Because his date's going so well."
"Doubt it." Ryugi giggled at her apparent ignorance. "He didn't seem all that interested in Kamagata last time I saw them." His lack of charm really had to make her laugh when she thought about it. How did that loser plan on ever getting married? "Plus, he told me that he was planning on asking you out, but Rinse wouldn't let him." That part was the most crazy for her. First because he seemingly had this strange interest on their class rep, but also that the idol somehow had control over his decisions.
"He said that… H-he'd ask me on a… On a d-date?" She stuttered out-of-control in disbelief. This girl had to be pulling a sick trick on her, right?
"Yep, he even said that to me right in front of Kamagata. Can you believe it, right in front of his own date?" To her, it seemed like classic Ishi to not care about the feelings of those around him as long as he was telling the truth. "Anyway, can't stick with just you all day, so I'm going to go hop on the stage." Ryugi left, but Youna's mood had entire turned around from when she first came here. Immediately, she went and told Ishi that she was here and began to wait to see what his response was going to be.
Her heart raced simply from the thought that he would've asked her out on a date. Sure it was an obligatory one as he mentioned considering what Rinse asked of him. Yet still, she was beyond happy to think that he actually considered her first of all people. Perhaps there was still a chance for her to finally confess her feelings to him. There was no way she'd repeat the mistakes of the past.
"Hope I didn't keep you waiting long." Finally, Ishi came to her and sat at the table. Now it felt a lot less empty with his presence next to hers.
"Not at all." She lied, taking a gulp of her refilled glass. While waiting for him after sending that message, the girl got them both drinks just in case he was thirsty. "Anyway… How's your date." She regretted asking the question the instant it left her mouth. Why should she submit herself to tormenting his romantic escapades that didn't include her?
"It was fine." His response sounded a lot more positive than what Ryugi suggested it would be. "Chinae's not a bad person when you get to know her." Youna's eyes widen upon hearing how he addressed the girl. This was already off to a bad start for her. Did she relax too early?
"Um, what were you two doing?" She asked, too upset to want to listen further. Yet also too curious to know just so she could prepare herself for any surprises down the line.
"The two of us were just alone in one of the private rooms." That alone already sent red flags to her head. A couple on a date, all alone from the rest of their classmates? Did Chinae make any moves towards him, and if so, did he reciprocate? "We only just talked about some stuff. Stuff that she definitely wouldn't want me to tell you about, so how about we just leave my date out of our conversation?'
"That's good with me." She breathed a sigh of relief in hearing of the lack of action going on in there. "What about the karaoke machines?" Youna changed the subject to something more fitting of their surroundings. "Did you sing?"
"No, I declined all the offers to do so." He answered. "I don't feel like singing."
"That's fine." He was shocked to hear her response. Perhaps it was because literally everyone else was pressuring him to do so, but Youna not caring if he took the stage or not felt like a breath of fresh air. "It's really scary to go up there in front of everyone." Of course, maybe her reasons might not be what he was searching for. "And I guess if you don't want to do something, you shouldn't have to." Or maybe they were.
"Is it because of what happened at the start of the festival?" He asked. It was a painful experience that she wished not to ever repeat in her lifetime. Obviously it something that would influence her feelings.
"...I wish I was more like you." That was the second time anyone had ever told him that. The first being Koto who did so because of pride in an older relative. "I was too nervous to tell them no, but I guess if I could do that. Then going on stage to do a speech would be nothing."
"I guess that is a bit of a paradox then." He took a sip from the glass she gave him. "By the way, thanks for the water."
"And I wanted to thank you too." She responded with her own gratitude. "I mean, thanks for inviting me here after I declined Ryugi's offer." It was no big deal to him. He figured that she'd come along if someone she knew was there. "And I also want to thank you for everything you've done for me."
"What brings this on?" He asked, confused as to why she was doing this now. "We've known each other for years, and I'm pretty sure you've never once forgotten to thank me."
"I'm just saying that I'm glad we're friends. Because you've always pushed me to doing things, even when I get a little worried about the outcome." She couldn't count the number of times he did so on both her hands. "But, you're always tired of people making you do things, so I guess it makes us pretty different on valuing it."
"I'm not that different from you." He responded. "In fact, one thing that we have in common. If you ever think of going somewhere for fun, don't be afraid to try and invite me. I don't mind going places if it's with you."
"Ah… I see." Upon hearing his request, Youna immediately turned herself away from him and quietly thought to herself. What did this mean? Was he being shy and was trying to ask her out? No, that was impossible since he was the kind to not care about petty things like that. Would he really be willing to just hang out with her anytime?
"You know you're not the only person I do that with?" Rinse was certainly an example off the top of his head. Probably should've referenced Otoya since he knew that boy for far longer.
"R-right." She turned back to face him, now feeling stupid for thinking that way in front of him. "I'll… Keep it in mind." Even if he was fine with going out in public with her, that didn't mean much with this specific girl. Youna was not the type to just go out and enjoy herself. She'd much rather stay at home with her games or books or whatever else there was on the web. And good luck getting her to actually go and invite him to come over and spend time alone in her room.
"Hello, hello, is this thing on?" Ryugi spoke into the microphone, which caused everyone to stop what they were doing to pay attention to her. "Everyone, I got some big news."
"This should be interesting." He said sarcastically.
"As you all know, for most of us, this will be our last year together." It was the same thing he had heard from his classmates plenty of times. "And we're coming up to losing the nice Summer weather we've been enjoying. So I'm here to suggest that we should all spend one final day at the beach!"
"Now that's a real vapid plan." He commented out his opinion on the matter. "Guess we won't be going to that one, right?" Ishi assumed that Youna wouldn't want to go to this after what happened the last time they were on a beach.
"…" Meanwhile, she was struggling internally on saying what she wanted to say. This was the prime opportunity to ask him to come with her to a public place. Her mind kept repeating the same words over and over, 'say it, just ask him'. It continued to echo in her mind as she stared off into space.
"Are you all right?" He noted that she was unusually silent.
"I want to go to the beach with you!" She shouted out, which drew a lot of attention to them from the other students.
"...Sure." He accepted, and was unsure of why this needed to be said so loudly that they could hear it on the moon.