"Oh, it really does look like the two of us are sitting together." He cursed this situation. If only he was a little faster, then maybe he might be one of the five sitting in the back and safe from her. At least if she joined him there, they would be surrounded by the others and he could have some semblance of safety. At least assuming all the other girls weren't already on her side.
"Isn't that great?" She replied, fully taking advantage of the situation and enjoying every second of it. "I mean, there's a lot of sus dudes on this bus. So surely you're not going to tell me to sit somewhere else on my own."
"Wouldn't dream of it." He responded, lamenting his own words of insulting all the people around here. Sure, he wasn't incorrect in his assessment on them. Surely a bunch of them would be interested in talking to a pretty girl like her. It would be the most action they've seen in months.
Though despite the fact that most others would enjoy her company. Hakuta couldn't agree with most everyone's assessment in wanting her time. To him, he was more worried about her continuing her advances for his affection. It seems so out of the blue from his point-of-view that a part of him almost felt like she was making fun of him and his feelings.
At the same time, it seemed she was pretty serious in this pursuit. When he had talked to Shiuka about it, she had explained to him that she was certain this was no joke. While she had her own doubts about this girl having genuine feelings. She at least knew that this chase was the real deal and she really did want him to be her boyfriend.
Though regardless of whether to not she was being genuine, it didn't cause him to forget the main problem he had about this. That being Hakuta didn't want to date her at all. He was being nice about rejecting her advances, but even being harsh about it wouldn't deter her in the slightest.
"How long's this ride?" She asked. "You think maybe, 30 minutes? Maybe an hour?" As Ninka said this, she made sure to scoot herself towards him. Given that Hakuta had no where else to move, not unless he wanted to jump out of the window. She knew he would have to be close to her body.
"I think it's closer to the former." He answered, squeezing himself as best he could to have some space from her. All this succeeded in doing was remove the amount of room he would have for himself. "Good right? Don't want to be stuck on a stuffy bus forever."
"I don't know." She leaned over him. "I think I could live with this arrangement for a while." The girl took a good look at him, peering right into his eyes, straight through his glasses as he stared back at her. "Your company's not bad at all."
"I guess yours isn't so bad either." He replied. Hakuta could feel her breath from their short distance from each other. It was enough to get him feeling something he had never felt before sitting this close to a girl. Quickly, he realized this must be a part of her plans on getting him to fall for her. He wouldn't allow that so easily, so he turned his head towards the window.
"Hmpf." Unseen by him, she smiled. His reaction was enough for her to consider her current plans to be working out just fine. So Ninka continued her assault as she wrapped an arm over his shoulder to pull him towards her body. "Good thing the two of us are together." She commented, turning her head to see obscured they were to being seen by most. "Our friends can't see us over these chairs. And unless there's a real creep here, it looks like no one can tell what we're doing here."
"Something about that just makes me more worried." He responded. There was nowhere for him to go and it was practically impossible for anyone to come save him like the time Iruka did. Then again, maybe some of them wouldn't try to stop her. Not even Yuusen, who told him after their get together that day that he would no longer attempt to pursue her. According to him, he could tell it wouldn't work out from what he saw when they walked home together that night.
Hakuta felt bad. It seemed that her pursuit of him might've turned his friend off. There was no way he would ever consider getting between one of his best friends and someone he was interested in. But it seemed he had failed in that and now was paying a rather hefty price for it all the while.
"This is a pretty cute act you're putting on." He realized that nothing he had done to give her a cold shoulder was working. Instead, it only seemed to make her want him more. "Going all shy and stuff, I never realized how little experience you had with girls."
"I've literally never dated anyone before." Hakuta answered. "I mean, you don't want someone like that, right?" He knew someone who was a bumbling mess with others shouldn't interest her. From the boys he had seen her interact, Ninka appeared like someone who would prefer to hang out with more outgoing boys. Usually the kind who had a lot of confidence in themselves, nearly to the point of arrogance.
"Nothing wrong with changing things up, right?" She shot down his attempts to counter her courtship of him. "You know I've broken up with tons of guys before, even way back from when I was a junior high. If I don't change up my targets, maybe things will never work out."
"And you really think I'm the cure to that?" He would disagree with her assessment. Not only did he believe she would be bored by his hobbies and personality in less than a week, but Hakuta didn't think he would have much to offer as a person who didn't return her feelings. "We hardly know each other deeply."
"Can't say I've known a lot of boys I've dated deeply before going all in." She put a hand on the window, her arm ran across his face so that there was nothing else in his view that wasn't Ninka. "That's the fun of it, I think. How we go through these phases of learning about each other. Then maybe things get a little more interesting if I like them enough." She pursed out her lips, making a kissing motion to indicate to him where things might lead if he accepted her. Perhaps there might even be a bit more than just that. "Ever since I was a third year in junior high, some boys have even wanted to go pretty far with me."
"Really?" Hakuta didn't know where he stood when it came to matters of relationships and romance. He was still young, as his dad would put it, but it was quite clear his viewpoint was much more naive compared to that of his peers.
The boy still hadn't reached the point in his life where he knew what he wanted in a girl. There were simply too many variables to consider, especially for someone who already didn't want to hang out with many people as it were. His heart hadn't found the part where it was head over heels for someone else. At least, he wasn't sure of it from his time with all them. Not only that, but his heart also knew little of the pain of a break up.
He had seen a break up before, of course. When he accidentally spied on her breaking up with that one classmate whose name he couldn't recall. It looked pretty painful for the guy who thought she was a special person to him. Not to mention even she was affected by it, despite being the one to call it off.
"I think I could be a real special person to you." She took his hand gently. "You're probably a little scared, since you've never dated anyone. But I could be real good to you."
"…" He stopped, for a single moment, not longer than even a split second. Hakuta genuinely considered her as a girl for once. But it was only for a fleeting moment which ended when he tore his hand from hers. "No." That was the answer he gave to her. "To be honest, you're not really good at this"
"What are you trying to say?" She glared at him. Finally, something he had said or done had gotten her to react in a poor way. Now she had put a pause to her efforts in winning his heart. "I know a lot more than someone like you."
"You're hardly doing anything to get me to like you." Hakuta saw the opportunity and pressed on harder. This was going to work, he could sense it. "All you've done with get close to me and get me all nervous. You're just trying to manipulate me."
He had read about this somewhere in a book. Where if someone goes through a scary event, then they might attribute their racing heart and others things associated with their fear and confuse it with romance if they were with someone else. While he had no idea on if she did this with that knowledge or if this was how she normally flirted, it didn't matter. "Ninka, just because some random bozos might fall for it doesn't mean I'll fall for it."
"Hmpf." She backed off from him. "So rude." Ninka finally gave him space, if anything it looked like now she wanted nothing to do with him after his insults. Perhaps he might've gone a bit too far considering her new mood.