"The two of us can't really stay here all night." Said Ishi as he prepared himself to leave.
"I can." Otoya disagreed as this place was what he viewed to be the best spot in the entire festival.
"I can live with that." Ishi was fine with leaving his best friend here. At least that meant he would be left alone for a period of time. Though, this time around, it wasn't because he wanted to be alone. Rather, it was more that the boy wanted the chance to find someone else to hang out with. "Just don't waste today being stuck backstage, okay?" There was the reminder to both Otoya and Rinse that everyone would like to see them have some fun. "And try to save me a spot for the concert."
With that, Ishi left the concert grounds to have some fun on the festival ground. For whatever reason, a lot of things in his life seemed to be fused for more things to do. Maybe that was a good thing, so that he wouldn't have to wait for stuff to happen. At the same time, there was no way he could do everything that was offered today.
Right now, there was no way he could be doing anything until he found someone he knew. Preferably that someone would be Youna, since the girl was most likely feeling lonely until one of them ran into her. As he scanned the area around him, the words that Ryugi told him before echoed in his mind. The ones that told him that their class representative was an adult who was able to take care of herself.
He remembered those words because there was a point that maybe he shouldn't be so eager to look for that one girl tonight. The memories also resurfaced because the gyaru was the first girl who his eyes landed on.
"Hey." She was with her friends, but that didn't stop him from coming up and greeting the girl. "Looks like the two of us are the first ones here."
"Ishi." Her mood sprang up from his arrival. "All right, now we can get the party started." She took his arm without permission. He wouldn't felt her pulling on him to lead the boy to where ever her whims desired. However, that wasn't what happened, as another hand grabbed hers. It was her friend, Ritsuko, who stopped her from doing so.
He wasn't a fan of the eyes on that girl. They certainly seemed rather harsh as she glared at Ryugi. It was rare of him to feel fear, but right now he was felt as those his life was at stake the longer he stood in this spot. There appeared to be a standoff between the three of them as time stood still. Things were really awkward for Ishi, since the two girl was looking at each other while he wasn't sure where to place his sights on.
"I'm calling a gal meeting." Finally, Ritsuko spoke up after what felt like an eternity.
"A… What?" Ishi was confused as to the meaning of this statement.
"What? Now?" While Ryugi was less confused about it, she was still a little upset that it was While he was unaware of what a gal meeting was, it seemed that it was something that couldn't be avoided if someone called for it. "Sorry Ishi." She said as her grip was released from him. "I got some business to take care of, so maybe we can see each other later?"
"Uh, sure?" He replied. "Then, I guess I'll just look for Youna and we can all hang out." The gyaru's hand clenched when he said that name and left. Another opportunity squandered now, it seemed.
"What was that all about?" Ryugi complained as the group of gyarus gathered around in a private area. "Just because it's Ishi doesn't mean the fun's going to be ruined."
"What has been up with you?" Ritusko confronted her. "Ishi Hirose is a loser, so stop spending so much time with him."
"What?" She looked over to the other two girls to get them to be on her side.
"Sorry, but I kind of have to agree." One of them, Nayaka, said. "He's such a stick in the mud. So if he's with us, that boy's just going to complain."
"Yeah, why do you care so much about him anyway?" The other one, Non, followed up. It seemed that her friend group hadn't been too pleased with her choosing to be with Ishi during these outings.
"Plus, he looks real miserable when he's with you." Ritsuko continued to air out her grievances. "So don't act like we're being mean to him. You're kind of making him suffer more than any of us."
"That's not true." Ryugi defended herself. From what he even told her, that much had to be false. "I'm just, uh, doing him a favor." She spoke, losing a bit of her composure. "If it wasn't for me, he'd just be a shut-in."
"Looks like he's doing a perfectly fine job on his own." Her friends continued to not believe her. "I mean, there's a literal idol that's one of his friends. Plus, it looks like he's cool with the class rep." Obviously, he wasn't someone that needed companionship if one looked at the people surrounding him. Not to mention that they've always known him as the boy who would rather be left alone.
"Yeah, what's gotten into you lately?" Asked Nayaka, who was a lot nicer about this conversation than the other two. "There's dozen of boys who want to be your boyfriend, and I don't even think you want that out of him."
"Well…" Nervously, Ryugi tested the waters. "What if… I did want him to be that?"
"Then I'd laugh in your face." Said Ritsuko. This girl was relentless. "Compared to all the boys interested in you, I'd rate him down near the bottom with the nerds." Of course, he might seem the most attractive compared to the not so handsome boys. The problem was his attitude with girls that she took issue with. "I knew that boy was lying when he said he wanted a quiet girl. Especially after he tried to make some moves on you." Of course, she gave them that rumor which ended up being circulated around the school rather quickly.
The side note about said news was that it even reached Ishi's parents. This time, they were in tears at the thought that their son got shot down. He really could never win with those people.
"Heheh, right." Ryugi laughed it off weakly. "After all, if I actually liked him, then I wouldn't have rejected him that night."
"I guess you must really pity him." Non commented on her continued efforts to hang out with the boy. "Now come on, let's forget that loser and have some fun of our own."
"Sure, I guess." Her uneasy response wasn't lost on Nayaka as the group returned onto the main festival ground to find some fun games for girls their age. Even though she put up a good act, it was clear that Ryugi was disappointed that more of this night was going to be spent away from Ishi.
Speaking of the boy, he was busy roaming the festival aimlessly as he searched around for Youna. Said girl was standing all along as well as she went about looking for anyone that she knew from school. It was hard enough for her to converse with people, but at least with other students, she could ask them if she had seen any of her friends.
"H-have you seen Ishi?" Yet another person she asked let her down as they informed her that they hadn't seen the boy. It seemed that he was more invisible than her on a night like this.
"I can think of one person who's seen him." A familiar voice got her to turn around. As expected, there he was behind her.
"Ishi!" She spoke out in excitement at being able to see him once more. Then the girl realized her continued blunder as she calmed her nerves. "I mean, it's nice to see you, Ishi."
"I'm glad to finally see you too." He replied, telling her about his experience so far.
"Wow, so I guess that means I'm the last one you've seen tonight."
"Well, I doubt it's the last time I'll see them." After all, they had made that promise. "Plus, the night's still young. So I guess that gives us plenty of time to wander around and play some games."
"Right, so where do you want to go first?"
"Beats me." Ishi hadn't been to one of these events in years, so the boy was not aware of what they had these days. "You can take the lead here, I don't mind doing what you want to do." His suggestion put a tremendous amount of weight on her shoulders. Now she felt the pressure of making the right choices. If he liked what she picked, then maybe that would help their relationship, but if he didn't…
"We should just walk around first. You know, maybe we might find something that'll catch our eye." She copped out on answering him properly as the girl walked by his side. There was already one spot that caught her eye, but it wasn't one of the festival stands.
Youna stole glances towards his hand as they walked. Ever since he held her hand when she was bleeding, there was only one thing dominating her mind that filled her with guilt for wanting it. She desired to be able to hold his hand once more, since not only was his touch so soft, but also to make him forget the first time.
Since he was doing it to stop her bleeding, surely he must've associated that moment with holding her hand. There was no way she wanted that at all. How else would he ever see her as more than a friend with something so unromantic? So to Youna, her goal tonight was clear.