His retort to her seemed to work out rather well in Hakuta's favor. It was enough to get her to stop making any advances towards him. However this also had an unintended consequence for their relationship as well.
"Looks like we're finally here." He said as the bus pulled into their stop. He had spent the rest of their trip after their conversation in silence just watching out through the window. It wasn't bad to not have to interact with someone, but he did feel a bit strange with the usually talkative Ninka shutting up.
"…" She failed to respond to his words.
"Ninka?" He spoke again. "I said it looks like we made it." She simply stared back at him without saying a word. Then, she crossed her arms and turned away from him as the bus came to a complete stop. Nothing else was exchanged between them as soon the occupants of the bus began to trickle out of the vehicle.
Eventually, after a painfully long wait with her not even wanting to be facing towards him. The pair were able to get up from their seats and walk outside of the bus. Their friends would soon follow out with them, all of them relieved to have made it on the not so long trip.
"That wasn't so bad after all." Said Itsuki. "Hope I didn't take up too much space away from you girls."
"It was no problem." Said Rouko. To them, it didn't feel like they were cramped from him. "I hardly noticed you two at all."
"Ah, my back kind of hurts." Though that could be explained by the fact that Yuusen sacrificed a good amount of his own space for their own well being. The worst part for him would be the lack of attention and gratitude that earned him.
"We should be able to find some place to sit and rest." Said Shiuka. "Right, Hakuta?"
"I hope-"
"We're not going to be able to find it if we keep wasting talking out her." Ninka cut him off. Her tone was harsh, not at all sounding like the girl they all knew. "Now come on, let's go inside."
"She's right." He agreed with her, but it didn't do anything in getting her to want to talk with him. "We should just walk in and decide when we get inside."
Being close friends with Ninka for years now, both Shiuka and Rouko both knew something was up with her. As her friends, it was easy to react to a situation like this. This being to blame the only boy who was around her and make him out to be the villain.
"What did you do to her?" Rouko asked him quietly as they walked together as a group. "You better not have done something weird to her."
"I didn't." He replied. Hakuta knew she had to be aware of her pursuit of him. These girls barely kept secrets from each other outside of Shiuka's living situation due to obvious reasons.
"Are you sure." In true Rouko fashion, she had to turn this into another teasing moment for her to get one over him. "She's a cute girl, bet you couldn't keep your hands to yourself."
"Hmpf, I'd bet she'd rather I didn't keep my hands to myself." He retorted. "I don't know, is she really mad at me?"
"I know Ninka." She replied. "And if she's giving you the silent treatment, then you've royally messed up." He thought that was stupid. Hakuta hardly said anything to her to get her that upset. All he said was that he thought her flirting was bad because it only relied on being close and using her physical charm. Sure, that probably worked on pretty much most guys, but they should all know that a gyaru's appearance is something he would never fall for.
"Great, there's a vending machine here." Ninka spoke up for the others, still speaking in her frank manner. "I'm thirsty, we can just pick some things up here first."
"That's fine." He said, garnering no response from her. "Say Shiuka, can we talk?" He grabbed the girl's arm. "Alone?" She obliged as they went off to a place that had some semblance of privacy. At least their friends wouldn't be able to see or listen into their conversation.
"What did you do to Ninka?" Immediately she already knew what he had wanted to talk about and had her own question on that matter to him.
"Why are you guys always assuming the worst from me?" He understood they would take her side over his. After all, they were closer friends with her. Even then, it still hurt a little they seemingly hadn't gotten to know him well enough to realize he wasn't a massive jerk. "Besides, you both know what she's trying to do with me."
"But I know Ninka can handle a little rejection." It wasn't often, but at least she wouldn't be in the mood she was in now. "Unless what you said struck a nerve, I doubt you were being nice."
"I just told her that her flirting was bad, that's it." He answered. "I didn't even actually reject her, but I guess she could've taken it that way."
"You of all people said she was bad at flirting?" Shiuka stared at him with judgmental eyes. "I'm pretty sure she's the only one between you who's actually dated."
"That may be true, but I just happen to disagree with her methods." He countered. There was little Hakuta could say that would make sense in how he would be the one who understood courtship better than her. It was true that he had never even flirted with any girls. Not because he was too shy, but he had yet to have a reason to do so with any girl he knew.
"I might not know exactly why she's so angry, but I can see why she's a bit offended by your apparent assessment of her."
"That's not fair." He responded. "You girls judge me all the time." To be fair to them, he also was quite judgmental of them as well. So it was even. Though this wouldn't be useful to him at the time given Ninka's silent treatment of him. "Whatever, as long as it doesn't ruin today I can live with it for now." The pair broke off from their private conversation to join the others. Considering that Hakuta was the reason anyone was here, they had no idea on how to progress forward.
"So what exactly are we supposed to do at this gaming tournament." Asked Iruka when they saw the pair return. "I know you really like playing games, but most of us aren't that good."
"I don't want to spend my day getting my butt kicked." Said Yuusen.
"It's fine." He assured them things would still be entertaining for people like them. "You don't have to do any competing. This is a spectator event too. I'm sure there's going to be some exciting moments even for people just watching." Even Hakuta didn't plan on playing against most of the sweaty nerds here either. He wouldn't call himself that great at games just yet.
Though there was something about this gaming tournament that seemed a bit strange to him. There were an awful lot of people here. A lot more than just some normal gathering to enjoy a few games with people who were passionate about it.
Also, despite the bus they were on, there were also a lot of more normal looking people as well. The kind who likely enjoyed video games, but didn't make it their whole life like people like himself. This almost felt more like a mainstream event.
"Is something wrong?" Itsuki asked him, taking note of his confused look. "You did look into this before you made us all go, right?"
"I mean, I thought it was just going to be like all the other tournaments those gamer club guys keep talking about." Hakuta had gone to one before when he was younger. Though he was all by himself back then and there was one part which made the whole deal sour for him. He had assumed this would be just like that one, but at least he would have friends with him this time. "Why should this be anything special?"
However, he would be proven wildly incorrect in that assessment when they walked into the main part of the building. When the gamer club told him this was a big tournament, they weren't exaggerating. If anything, they had vastly undersold the event to him.
This was no mere gaming tournament, but rather one full blown esports event. The room was decked out with various colorful lights. The kind that people buy for their computers when they want to give themselves that rainbow puke array of colors for their systems. There were hundreds of people all walking around with plenty of booths of major companies known within the gaming space promoting their gear.
"Wow." The group was shocked to see where Hakuta had taken them, even if a bit accidental. This wasn't just some lame together of nerds in a quiet room playing video games with a slightly competitive twist. This had the level of fanfare to that of a baseball game or big sale at the mall. The energy was something none of them had ever felt before.
"Yeah…" Hakuta was the one who first formed a coherent thought to say. "You guys really shouldn't play against anyone here." Not unless they wanted to be beaten to a pulp by some of the finest in the world.