"Did.....I say something.....wrong?"
""....""
Keiko and Ren were feeling awkward about this atmosphere whereas Yoichi was dumbfounded.
He tried to recuperate the lively ambience they were getting into but that girl was bugging Yoichi.
He did not know if he said something offensive to that beautiful girl.
Exactly when Yoichi was about to try saving this situation from being uneasy, the girl just suddenly snapped back from her thoughts and realized what she said.
"A-Ah! I am very sorry! I did not mean to say that! I am terribly sorry."
Her worried face and her wavering eyes signified how much of an inconvenience she created.
Seeing her like that, Keiko tried to make the girl not feel guilty about herself.
"I mean, we understand if you do not want to sit next to us. We do not choose our seats."
The girl veered to Keiko and made a troubled expression. She immediately attempted to clear her misunderstanding.
"No No No No! That is not what you think it is! I was lost in my thoughts and spouted something like that."
Yoichi saw a ray of light to get back and set up a good atmosphere amongst them but he wanted to confirm something first.
"Then why did you blurt that out? Did I say something wrong?"
"No No you did not."
"....Are you unsatisfied with your seating arrangement?"
The girl was concerned about how to put her frustration into words and simultaneously not create any misinterpretation amongst themselves.
"I mean.... I am disappointed that my seat is here but-"
"I see so it was because you did not want to be in our company?"
"That's not it!"
Yoichi yet again seemingly missed the real reason for that girl not wanting to sit there.
He stubbornly brought himself to be a dense character that could not understand that girl's inconvenience.
"You are off the mark again!"
Seeing how desperate the girl was trying to clarify something, Ren made Yoichi calm down with his assumptions.
"Yoichi-kun. Calm down and let us hear what she has to say completely."
"....If you say so."
Ren then veered to the girl behind her and let her explain.
"Go on."
Seeing Ren taking her side, she was glad and breathed a sigh of relief. She steadied her gaze and adopted a calm attitude.
"I was not satisfied with this seat because it is in the far back. I wanted to be in the front so I could focus better. I was lost in my thought and suddenly blurted out my discontent with your greeting."
"....."
"I am sorry if I sounded rude."
She lightly bowed to Yoichi and stayed there until she could hear his response.
Even though she lightly bowed, it seemed elegant. Ren saw her face sideways and pondered on how beautiful her face is.
A little strand of her black hair slowly fell out from the back of her ear which made Ren's heart be entranced. Her rosy cheeks were blocked by the hair so it made him a bit irritated.
He did not look at her face so attentively when he first saw her but now that he did, it was captivating.
'How beautiful...'
If possible, Ren wanted to pull back her strand of silky hair on the back of her ear to see her face more clearly but he discarded that idea immediately.
'How did I even think about that!?'
If he had succumbed to his desires, then he could have been slapped by her and get ostracized by the whole class.
'Well, it is impossible for someone like me..."
Ren strongly established his position, choosing to be just a friend with her....
"So what you mean is that....."
Hearing Yoichi's reply, the girl tardily lifted her head to look at Yoichi.
".....you do not want to sit with us...?"
"Huh?"
Yoichi, equipped with puppy eyes and her fidgeting lips, was about to cry.
"E-Eh? W-Why!?" The girl was dumbstruck.
"UWAAAA!!! Keiko! She doesn't want to sit with us!!"
Yoichi veered back to his sister and could not contain the sadness from his eyes.
"Am I that gross!?!"
He brought his face down to Keiko's desk and wailed as the crying noise increased.
Keiko patted his brother's hair and stated casually.
"Yes. You are very gross, Onii-chan."
"No, you are not!"
The girl tried to stop Keiko but the damage was already done as the volume of Yoichi's weeping increased.
"Is he alright?" Ren was a bit astonished by his childish behaviour but he kind of expected it because of the way he talked to him earlier.
"You are being so exaggerated right now.....That was not what I meant."
The girl could not be asked as she spectated Keiko patting down the weeping Yoichi.
"Haaa..... As I said, I have no objection with sitting with you all."
".....*Sniffs*....Really...?"
Without lifting his head, Yoichi wanted to clear his doubts. And to his question, the girl confidently agreed.
"Yes."
"Then let's be friends!"
"What a fast recovery!" Ren exclaimed as he was surprised by Yoichi's behaviour.
"I am Yoichi! Morita Yoichi!"
The enthusiastic Yoichi was back. It was like he never was sad. Surprised by the fast turn of events, the girl could not keep up with them.
To make matters worse for her, Keiko joined his brother.
"My name's Morita Keiko."
Feeling that he had to follow up, Ren too introduced himself, "A-And mine's Sugiyama Ren."
Even though it was out of her hand, she was delighted of making them friends.
Looking at the 3 classmates that introduced themselves, the girl had a thin smile and contemplated that her high school life would be enjoyable for sure.
"My name is Miyazaki Kirika. I look forward to being friends with you all."
All four of them had smiles that cannot be erased so easily. This was the start of their high school life, and it started pretty well.
Ren was happy that he gets to be friend with such a beautiful girl. So he welcomed her in this small group of friends.
"Good for having you, Kirika-san."
Kirika was shocked as she quickly darted her eyes towards Ren.
"Eh? First name basis?" Kirika was surprised again by her classmates that seems to go on their own unusual pace.
The sudden turn of her head and question made Ren flustered. He realized what he had spouted and retracted his call.
"A-Ah I'm sorry! I thought you were alright with it. I guess I got influenced by those two."
He pointed at Keiko and Yoichi with his gaze for that reason.
Kirika looked at them with uncertainty.
"Isn't it fine? It's just a step closer to deepening our friendship." Keiko happily expressed his thoughts.
"Oh? Spoken like a true friend." Yoichi somewhat supported Keiko.
All three of them waited for Kirika's response. The spotlight was on her and it did not take much time for her to decide.
"That would be great."
Her bright smile made them also smile unintentionally.
Their meeting was faced with misunderstandings and was sometimes hectic but it all went well in the end.
.......
The gymnasium was full of freshmen and the podium was occupied by only one person.
The principal of the school.
On the sidelines below, next to the podium were teachers that observed the many freshmen that were lined up but were still talking.
The principal walked to the front of a mic and tapped it which made a screeching noise that caught the students by surprise.
As they saw who was responsible for that, they all kept quiet. Part of the reason was that the principal had a smile that looked at the students.
It was scary for them.
And so, the principal gave his speech without any hitch.
It was pretty much the same as in other high schools. He talked about the curriculum, discipline, their future and so on.
That went for about 1 hour.
Mumbles of boredom and irritation flew over the heads of the freshmen. They wanted to leave immediately.
Well, they got their wish after 15 minutes as they were dismissed into their respective classroom.
Keiko, who was separated from Yoichi and the others due to the crowd of students, tried to find them.
'Seriously, this crowd is going to make me rage.'
They were heading towards their classrooms, passing through the corridors.
As she frantically tried to detect her friends on the way, she caught the sight of one familiar tall guy.
He was a bit easy to spot since he was a bit taller than the average freshmen here.
And that was Sato Asahi.
Keiko's cheeks flushed red as she saw him. She tried to skitter through the crowd, reaching towards him.
"Excuse me.....Excuse me..."
In the process of walking towards Asahi, she bumped with others and said sorry.
But she did not feel apologetic at all. The people she bumped with annoyed her so she could not care less about them. All she wanted was to go to Asahi. The students were only in the way.
She wanted to jump and hug him. She wanted to kiss him on his cheeks. She wanted to smooch him on the lips.
Those thoughts jumbled around her head as she became so impatient.
'Asahi-kun~'
As she approached him, she noticed that he was talking with someone else. That brought her back to her senses as she continued to rush through the moving crowd.
Keiko tried to find who was Asahi talking to but it was hard.
After a few seconds, she was almost near Asahi. The moment she saw Asahi's face, Keiko's cheeks reddened once again.
'Ah, Asahi-kun.....You are so handsome...'
She stepped closer to his location and wanted to call out to him.
'-!?'
However, Keiko's abashed expression died down.
The one who was talking with Asahi was a girl.
'Is she flirting with him?'
She was angry.
'Is she his friend? An acquaintance? A stranger?'
Her assumptions ran wild.
She did not know what to do. She doesn't know the identity of that girl.
The girl had short black hair with a bob hairstyle. Additionally, she had a red ribbon tied on top of her head which enhanced the cuteness of her round face.
She had big round brown eyes that suited her face nicely and small rosy lips. She was a bit smaller than Keiko but her body was curvy and well proportioned.
The mere presence of that girl near Asahi was annoying to Keiko.
If Keiko could, she wanted to go in front of that girl and slap her but she contained herself.
If she did, then Asahi would look at her otherwise.
'I mean I wouldn't slap a girl without a good reason.'
Keiko calmed herself down with a little breathing exercise. Her head cooled down which was better.
Although she was calm now, that girl was still bugging her.
'Who is she?'
Keiko's curiosity peaked and wanted to directly ask who she was. But then, that also was not a good idea.
Right now, what mattered is that she wants that girl to stay away from Asahi.
But how?
Just then, her brother's voice resounded in her head as if it was a whisper from God.
'...You have to let people know that Asahi has a girlfriend already...'
Keiko grinned in her mind and knew what she has to do.
'I just have to simply let them know, right?'
Keiko jogged towards Asahi and by surprise, she grabbed him by his arm.
"Asahi-kun~"
"A-Ah! Keiko-chan?! You scared me."
Keiko's arm tangled around one of Asahi's arms and she leaned closer to him.
Asahi's cheeks flushed as he felt a soft sensation on his arm. He could not keep a straight face and told Keiko.
"K...Keiko-chan...Everyone is looking."
"Huh, why are you being so shy?"
Keiko's smug face confronted Asahi. She was teasing him and it worked very well. Asahi veered his head away to hide his embarrassment.
Other freshmen that were trying to get to their respective classrooms, watched those two.
They all saw how Keiko was clinging onto Asahi and he did not mind that type of skinship.
There was definitely something between those two.
*Coughs* *Coughs*
Fake coughs came from the other girl that Asahi was talking to previously. Keiko and Asahi turned to the girl that they forgot at that moment.
"Ah sorry, I did not notice you."
Keiko still had her arms around Asahi's and kept her smiling face.
To that the girl replied.
"I hope I am not interrupting anything."
"Oh no. Don't mind us being like this. Asahi-kun, is she an acquaintance to you?"
Keiko looked at Asahi who was still lightly blushing.
"S-She's my childhood friend."
"Childhood friend?" That clarified their relationship. But it was still nagging Keiko.
"My name is Ando Yui." The girl, Ando extended her hand towards Keiko with a smile.
There was something about her that Keiko still was uneasy about. She doesn't know what.
Keiko reached for Ando's hand and grabbed it.
"My name is Morita Keiko."
At that moment, it did not matter if Ando was just a stranger or an acquaintance or even Asahi's childhood friend.
It is because Keiko was Asahi's....
"I am Asahi-kun's girlfriend."