Immediately after they locked eyes, Jun became aware of the air around the classroom.
Noticing the hard stares from me and Emily and the girls, Jun quickly stood up and dragged us to the caferia.
I reluctantly followed along as I suspected that this might actually be an important matter.
Lo and behold, it actually was.
Irah was nervous at first when Jun asked why she was looking for him, this question also piqued the interest of the party.
She couldn't say anything at first and with how everybody was still oblivious to the whole thing, Jun was forced to start talking.
It was mostly coming from the insistence of Lily who was surprisingly irritated.
Urged by our stares, Jun recounted their meeting while also trying hard not to mention what exactly he was looking for in the library.
Obviously, it was still a secret from the rest.
Luckily Jun remembered it however he was a really lousy liar as Emily, Alice and Lily caught on quick.
The rumors about the skill books wasn't really a secret so there was only one good reason and conclusion that they could reach from observing and listening to Jun's story.
He couldn't maintain a natural and straight face and his expressions gave out the lie.
I was shaking my head.
'Jun, don't look at me for help, just lie better' I reprimanded while pretending to be unconcerned.
Halfway into Jun's story, Irah started to tell it from her perspective. Maybe because she had adapted after some time or maybe she wanted to tell it herself.
I didn't really care because I was glad that Jun had finally shut his mouth. I was worried he might let my name slip on accident which I believed that he implied some moments ago.
Although I noticed that Irah was wary of me the moment Jun had dragged me here and she glanced at me from time to time after she talked.
I was glad she wasn't saying anything about me because that would really make the dots connect for the girls.
And that would be really troublesome.
It didn't take too long until she finished and told us about her reason of looking for Jun.
"You really didn't have to come by. You would have just caught me at the library as always" Jun said as he looked at Irah.
"...You would still come to that place after that?.." she asked, failing to consider that notion.
Although it was understandable that anyone would avoid going there after encountering that type of trouble.
But Jun didn't really want to stop just because of a little mishap.
"Well y-yeah. I kinda like it there"
Irah looked down after his reply, she stayed quiet for a while, not knowing how to respond.
Seeing their interaction further unfold before our eyes.
Alice looked amused and excited, looking back and forth between the two. Emily just rubbed her chin as she contemplated.
As for the last one, I didn't need to be a genius to know what she was feeling.
"..I see. It seems like you like it there don't you Jun?"
Lily spoke with quite a force that Jun quickly turned his attention towards her.
"L-Lily. It's not like that. I just need somet- I mean, I just concetrate better there that's all"
"Oh do you now? Can't you concentrate when you're with me?"
"Ahh no, you're a really great teacher!" he hurriedly replied.
"Then why don't you join us? better yet, why didn't you just invite us. It wouldn't really matter where we study"
"...Ummm.."
Jun couldn't say anything back as he looked at Irah watching them argue all of a sudden.
Lily noticed that as well.
'...Dude stop digging your grave..' I lamented. He was doing everything you could possibly do to piss off someone like Lily.
"..At least tell us these things. C'mon say something.."
"I-" Jun was at the end of his rope and unexpectedly, Irah spoke up for him.
"P-Please stop harrassing him!"
"What? I'm harrassing him? I'm just asking questions here"
Lily turned to Irah with a sharp glare but Irah surprisingly didn't back down.
"Look at what you're doing. You're being quite forceful for someone who's a party member"
"I'm not...forcing him" Lily paused after Irah's statement. It seemed to be an effective blow to her.
"You sure look like you are"
"And you think you're not? Coming to our classroom without a clue of what's going on, you're overbearing, that's what"
"O-Overbearing?! I don't want to hear that from you, you violent woman"
"...Violent? Your mouth sure is loud for a librarian"
They were starting to heat up and at this rate they couldn't stop. This was their first time interacting and it turned into a full blown catfight.
"Guys, Calm down for-" Jun tried to deescalate the situation but failed in an instant.
""Shut up!"" both of the girls said in unison.
"...."
Jun clearly wasn't the person to bring down the hammer.
I looked for the two people left.
"Oh boy, this is great. I've never heard Lily talk like this before" Alice whispered.
"Yeah...I forgot you were like this.." I mumbled under my breath.
Alice wasn't the girl for the job either and that only left her.
"Lily. Irah" Emily spoke in a solemn tone but even with such a soft voice, she managed to take their full attention.
"That's not how ladies should behave. We are in a public space and such, please act accordingly"
She directed her eyes towards the people eating and the two noticed that everyone was looking at them argue.
Irah turned red after noticing the crowd and how loud their voices were. Lily on the other hand, sat down quietly but she couldn't hide her ears from turning red from my eyes.
And just like that, she made them calm down in a flash. There was a reason why Emily was the leader of the party and that even shows in mundane situations such as this.
Jun let out a sigh of relief and as everyone calm down, Irah spoke once again.
"...Jun can we talk for a minute? Alone.."
"Huh? Umm Irah, what is it?"
Jun looked at Lily nervously and tried to dance around Irah's sudden request.
"I'm afraid you don't want others to hear what I'm about to say..."
"What?"
"Ummm it's about...the books..."
Irah tried to explain but wasn't able to properly convey what she was hinting at.
However I quickly caught on when she mentioned the books.
'...What is she trying to do here?..' I thought, unsure of her motives.
Jun also tensed up a bit when he realized what she was meaning to say. He was also unsure of what was going on but Jun looked at me for a bit for help.
I signaled him to go for now. There wasn't much he could do and hearing what she has to say was also important.
"..Sorry guys. Excuse us for a bit"
Apologizing towards us, the two left the cafeteria while Lily just coldly looked at their direction.
It was kinda fortunate that she didn't snap back at Jun for that.
And when they were really gone, Emily turned towards me as she asked.
"...Ray, does Jun want to leave the party?.."
"What?"
I asked, not expecting her to come into such a conclusion.
-----
Alice and Lily were also surprised by Emily's question that they intently listened to her reasoning.
It seems she was already convinced that Jun was looking for the rumored skill books in the library.
It didn't need one to be a genius to realize that from Jun and Irah's story.
It didn't shock the other two as much but Lily seemed a little angry about that as expected.
Alice just nodded her head but I was sure she was just jealous she didn't do that in the first place.
It was quite interesting to hear Emily point out that Jun might have been burdening himself about the incident.
She pointed out that he might have been distancing himself from them and that included his refusal for the study group.
This explains why Jun would resort to searching for those books.
From their perspective, it might really look like that because Jun really was contemplating on avoiding them right as we returned from the clerical church.
Emily even noticed his mental state from her observation alone and connected the dots little by little as she heard Jun's story.
Alice and specially Lily looked a bit frustrated and saddened by this revelation.
As for me, I was really impressed that Emily was really close to the truth of the whole matter.
The only missing piece here is that she never considered my involvement whatsoever.
Only I knew that he was just doing my errands for me and their genuine concern just made me feel a little guilty.
'...How did it come to this?..' I lamented because I unintentionally created conflict between their party.
Looking at Emily's worried face, I knew that she was blaming herself for this because she believes her flaws as leader led to this.
Which was really far from the truth, if she was a bad leader then the standards for it are unrealistic.
I sighed and looked at the idiot in front of me.
"Don't jump to conclusions. That kind of mindset only breeds misunderstandings you know"
'Just like this one..' I retorted.
"Besides I doubt he would leave this party. Just wait and see for yourselves if what I'm saying is true"
"Since Jun's the one who's going to decide that. It's not anyone's fault nor should you be thinking about something as stupid as that. So you should calm down, Emily"
I said my piece while Lily and Alice were lost in thought. Emily just stared at me while she grasped her skirt with both her hands.
"..I'm sorry.., I was really hasty wasn't I.." her cheeks were tinted with red.
"Don't be, that's just how you are afterall. It's better that way, it just means your trying"
I quickly dismissed her apology as it rubbed me the wrong way since I was the root cause of all this.
"..Ray.."
"You actually say some nice things, that's a surprise, you never say nice things about me" Alice remarked, her eyes furrowed while staring at me.
"There's nothing much there to say on that aspect"
"What!?"
Irritated, Alice tried to lightly punch me but I just blocked it easily since she didn't really mean to do it.
While I was dealing with Alice, Jun and Irah had come back and I noticed that Jun was smiling.
'So there wasn't anything wrong then?'
"Guys, I'm sorry but let Irah join the study group!"
"""What?"""
'....Give me a break...'