Chapter 26: Encounters in the arcade (2)
"Ah... What brings you here, Ando-Kun," Okuma asked, slowly clenching the bag in her right hand.
Ryu turned around to her and slowly said, "I'm here with some friends..."
"Ah, friends..."
Last night till this morning, Ryu was with Okuma. In the evening, they had sex; in the morning, they had brunch.
Though Okuma never expected to meet Ryu until tomorrow, they just met again.
"Harumi-chan!" shouted a girl carrying tons of paper bags from branded shops.
Both Okuma and Ryu looked at where the voice came from.
And as soon as Okuma saw her friend heading towards her, she directly looked back at Ryu and said, "If she asks questions, just say we're from the same department at the University."
Ryu nodded.
"Harumi-chan," said the girl exhaustedly as she stood beside Okuma. "We've bought a lot of clothes already. Let's head home now."
The girl looked to her right and placed the bags down. "Who might you be?" she asked Ryu.
Ryu slightly bowed and stood up straight. "I'm from the same department as Okuma-san."
"Really?" She then moved to the side and whispered in Okuma's ear. "You didn't tell me you had tall guys in your department."
Okuma smiled at her and looked at Ryu.
"Since you're an acquaintance of Harumi-chan," she extended her hand, "I think it's best if we also get along."
Ryu shook her hand and started with the introductions. "I'm Ando Ryu. You can address me in the way you feel most comfortable with."
"Azuma Haruki," she said. "You can also call me anything you want."
"I'll just call you Azuma-san," Ryu said with a smile. "That's okay, right?"
"Eh? Just that?" She pursed her lips and mumbled to herself, "It would be better if he called me by my first name."
Okuma took half of the paper bags from the floor and carried them. "Let's go?"
"Not yet," said Azuma. She looked at Ryu and pondered for a second. "I can also call you anything, right?"
"Yes."
"How does Yu-Kun sound?"
The instant Ryu heard the name Azuma gave, he showed a gloomy expression for a brief second.
"Don't you like it?" Azuma hesitantly asked.
Ryu smiled as he unintentionally gritted his teeth. "No, it's great."
A voice suddenly came from behind Ryu. "... Are you guys done with your introductions?"
Yuki stood up from the chair after using up all the coins in Ryu's pocket.
Ryu lowered his head and sighed. "I forgot about this girl."
Both eyes of Okuma and Azuma drifted to Yuki.
"And who might you be?" asked Azuma.
Ryu looked at Okuma and said, "She's the friend I was talking to you about, Okuma-san."
"I'm Furukawa Miyuki," said Yuki. Despite the close distance between Ryu and her, Yuki said it louder for Ryu to know her name.
Since Koizumi only introduced them with their first names, Yuki wanted to know Ryu's full name. And with Yuki now knowing the name of Ryu, she made use of this chance to introduce herself.
But why just now did she introduce herself?
-
Minutes ago, inside the head of Yuki.
'Why did he give me this stuffed toy? Is it because he likes me? No, that can't be true. We just met. But if he likes me, I should introduce myself. But he probably hates me since I keep on accusing him of being a stalker.'
-
"Furukawa Miyuki?" Ryu said to himself in a low voice.
"Since you're friends with Yu-Kun, we should also get along," said Azuma. "Also, get along with Harumi-chan here."
Yuki smiled and said to Azuma, "I'll call you Haruki-san."
Okuma then greeted Yuki and said, "I'm Okuma Harumi."
"I'll also call you Harumi-san. No problem, right?"
As Okuma nodded, Yuki stepped closer to her and Azuma, then gave both of them a big, warm hug.
Hugging them thoroughly, Yuki cheerfully said, "I think we will be good friends."
Azuma had light brown hair that reached to her waist, with curls at the bottom. She was wearing a deep green long beige coat with a white sweater inside. She also had white sneakers on.
With her coat covering her back, you could still notice Azuma's slender legs through her skinny jeans.
As Ryu looked at Okuma, he noticed her clothes differed from when they last met.
Rather than the tight black long sleeve and the short white skirt, she wore a blue sweatshirt, denim shorts, and fishnet stockings. Her shoes were the same; black high heels.
Ryu thought he could spend some time with these hot girls, but he immediately remembered that they still had to go back to Koizumi. "Subw— Furukawa-san, I think we should go back to Koizumi-san."
Yuki released the two girls from her hug and looked stupidly at Ryu. "Huh? Earlier, when I told you we had to go back to Tomio, you said the arcade was meant for playing, right?"
"Yes. What's wrong with that?" Ryu said.
"If the arcade is meant for playing, what is the mall meant for?"
"Shop--"
"It's a place where girls like me are supposed to enjoy their time with new friends!" Yuki interjected. "If you want to go back, go by yourself."
"But..." Ryu cocked his head up and let out a deep sigh.
He looked at Okuma for a second and said to Yuki. "If you want to spend more time with them, they can come with us."
Ryu then asked Okuma and Azuma, "Is that all right?"
"But as you can see, we have a lot of bags," said Okuma.
Yuki dragged both of their arms towards her and started walking. "No need to worry about that. Yu-kun will carry everything."
With Ryu carrying all the bags from the floor, he said to himself, "I didn't agree to be their bag carrier."
--
After walking straight and heading to the corner, they eventually met up with Koizumi.
"That's them," Koizumi said.
"It's about time." The man glanced sideways at the girls approaching them. "You sure are a lot."
"But there are unfamiliar faces..." Koizumi mumbled.
As Yuki hurried her way to Koizumi, she said, "Tomio, we've got some other people with us."
"That's nice," said Koizumi, smiling. "But where di--"
Yuki glanced to her left and slowly took a step back.
The man walked towards her, his hands in his pocket. "There's nothing to be scared of, little girl."
"Ah... yes." Yuki lowered her head, avoiding eye contact with the man who spoke to her.
"Hey, what did you say to her?!" Azuma rapidly stepped out for Yuki as soon as she saw a change in her attitude. "Don't come closer."
The man stopped and smirked. "You're a feisty one, aren't ya'?" he said to Azuma.
"And who might you be?" Fixing her posture from leaning against the wall, Koizumi placed her foot down and looked at Okuma and Azuma.
Okuma strode her way closer to Koizumi. "So you're the other friend Ando-kun was talking about."
"Ryu said that?" Koizumi touched her chin and gave a sharp look at Okuma. "But despite him and me just being friends, I think we're more than that."
"What do you mean?" Okuma asked.
As the man heard the conversation between Koizumi and Okuma, he turned around, assuming that someone else would arrive other than the girls. "We have a boy coming along. I see..."
"More than that...?" Yuki raised her head, looking at Koizumi. Not only that, but Azuma did the same.
Koizumi noticed Yuki and Azuma staring at her, so she smiled at them.
"But what do you mean by 'More than that'?" Seeing that the man backed away while facing the other way around, Azumi walked closer to Koizumi.
With her hands inside the pocket of her coat, Azumi made a somewhat bitter tone towards Koizumi.
She stood to the right of Koizumi, making her haughty attitude fade away. The height difference between her and Koizumi was nothing far apart; they were the same.
"I'm Azuma Haruki," said Azumi, then she took out her arm from her pocket and placed it around Okuma's neck. "This is Okuma Harumi."
"So, Haruk-- " Before Koizumi could finish her sentence, Akuma rolled her eyes as she interrupted.
"I think it's better if we stick with formalities since we aren't that close." Akuma pulled back her arm and placed it back in her coat pocket.
"Ah, sorry." Koizumi smiled. "I thought we could be friends because, you know, any friend of Yuki-chan's will also be mine."
"Mine? That's a strong word to use in a sentence," said Azuma as she scoffed.
"Guys, you shouldn't be fighting." Yuki immediately walked closer to them and said to Koizumi, "Tomio, Haruki-san was only being cautious. So don't worry about what she said."
Okuma then whispered to her right, "Haruki, why are you being rude to her?"
Azuma whispered back, "It's best if we don't get too attached to that friend of Yuki-chan's." She paused for a second and continued, "She's dangerous."
Okuma immediately looked at Azuma in the eyes and said, "Dangerous?!"
Just as Koizumi finished her conversation with Yuki, she innocently glared at Azumi. "Hm? What's dangerous?"
'Did she hear us?' Azuma immediately changed the topic. "Where's Yu-kun? He's probably having a hard time with those bags."
"Yu-Kun?" Koizumi raised her eyebrows. She didn't know that the person Azuma said was none other than Ryu.
"Were clothes ever this heavy?!" said a voice behind Azuma. "They need to pay me after letting me carry these."
Okuma looked back, and Azuma spun around to find Ryu exhaustedly placing the bags down after finally reaching them.
"There you are, Yu-Kun," Azuma said, heading towards him as a man approached his back.
"Since we're all here, shall we go?" said the man, wearing flashy clothes as he took out his sunglasses.