Now Hakuta was left alone with Ninka for the first time since they were on the bus together. Sadly, it resembled more closely to how it ended rather than how it started. Ironic, since the way it began with her trying to flirt with him made him uncomfortable and wishing it would stop. Now that he got what he had hoped for, the boy realized he preferred to how it was before.
So what was he to do now with them wandering aimlessly about through the convention space? From the way she acted, it seemed Ninka was attempting to pass time as quickly as possible so her friend could come back and she could just be with them instead.
This left him with time running out and very little options. If Hakuta didn't do anything now, then all that set up by Rouko would have gone to waste. Of course, this was on the basis she had done this to help him out to try and mend a broken relationship. For all he knew, she could've also just done this as some kind of sick and twisted joke to make him and Ninka squirm a bit.
"This is really some kind of event, isn't it?" Hakuta attempted to begin a conversation with her. So far they hadn't said a word to each other since the bus trip. Not to mention he had hardly heard her speak in generally ever since she decided to give him the silent treatment. He hadn't been with the girls when they all split earlier, so was she just in this sour mood or was this just with him?
"…" She continued to not speak with him by not responding to his question. That only made things more awkward between them. How would he even be able to mend the cracks between them if she wasn't willing to try and treat him like a person who exists.
"You know, I'm really glad you guys all came with me here." He tried again, using a different subject to get a conversation going. "It would've been lonely all by myself, so it's nice to have you seeing some of the things I like."
"You know you don't have to lie to me." Finally she said something back to him. Unfortunately this wasn't the positive interaction he had hoped for. "I know you don't really care for us girls. What was even the point in coming with you in the first place?"
"…" It was a start, but Hakuta knew he had to be careful with his words or else she would shut him out once again. Her being angry with him was already clear, but he wanted to know if it was simply because of him being somewhat mean on the bus. "But I'm not lying." He responded to her. "I can be a pain when you guys want me to hang out, but that doesn't mean I hate anyone."
"Don't act so dense." She snapped back. "We all know you have people you like. The rest of us are just there along for the ride."
"I mean, we all have our favorites." He thought that was a strange response by her. "I know you girls have each other's backs. So I don't know why it's bad if I do that." Hakuta would admit that he did like some of the girls more than others. Ninka and Rouko were more of Shiuka's friends than his own. But the only reason why he preferred Iruka and Shiuka was simply because they had spent more time with each other. Most of it forced.
"And I'm not one of them." Said Ninka. "So I don't see any reason for you to want to bother trying to make friends with me still." She made it seem like he had no reason to interact with her at all now. Despite wanting to be his girlfriend just earlier in the day. Clearly at some point, she thought he was worth having around. "Sucks to be honest. I thought you were a cool guy when we talked after my last breakup."
"I think it's good to try and have positive relationships." He answered. His plans on getting to talk with him seemed to be working fully now. Ninka was speaking with him like this was a normal conversation. It was as if she had completely forgotten about the part where she wasn't supposed to talk with him due to her anger. "Look, I'm sorry about saying that you were bad at flirting."
"Don't try and suck up to me now." She didn't accept the apology. "You can't tell me you didn't just mean it. They both knew he was honest with her on the bus. Not that it didn't hurt her feelings any less.
"There's nothing wrong with having an opinion." He answered. "Clearly the results speak for themselves. It does work on tons of guys." Despite knowing her for less time than Shiuka, he had an inkling of an idea of how many boyfriends this girl apparently had. The quick estimate would be that he couldn't count them all with both hands.
"Yeah, and it's pretty clear you don't get the dating scene at all." She targeted his lack of experience when it came to girls. "What type of person acts like they know everything when they haven't even done it once?" While she made a good point, Hakuta couldn't resist defending his position once more.
"I mean, I'm just someone who wants quality over quantity." He argued. "Like you've dated a ton of guys, but every time it ends the same way. With you breaking up with every single person you've dated." Hakuta then to facepalm as he realized he just put his foot in his mouth again. Now she should be fuming at him.
"Tsk, whatever." However, her response was much more muted than he expected. "I just do it my way, nothing wrong with it."
"Is there anything more to it?" He asked, hoping to draw in a little deeper to her.
"You wouldn't understand." She crossed her arms and looked away from, not wishing to divulge any further on her feelings.
"That doesn't mean you shouldn't tell me." He took her arm and stopped her from moving as they were still surrounded by all the people and booths selling games or services. "I wouldn't even dream of making fun of you. No matter what it is."
"Hmpf, fine." She relented and decided it would be okay to tell him the truth. "But you better not tell anyone about this, not even Rouko and Shiuka." Now he knew it was really serious if she didn't want her two best friends to know about it. "The truth is, I don't disagree with you on my flirting."
"Huh?" That shocked him. If she felt the same way, then why get so mad at him for pointing it out? It wasn't as if he said this in front of the others. So she could've just went lived with it.
"I mean, it's just easy, you know?" She wasn't wrong that a lot of boys liked it when a girl expressed interest in them. Maybe even try to get their heart racing by getting all close with their attractive body. "You're wrong about it not working, I bet you it works on, like, every boy that isn't you. It's easy fun when I want to mess around with some guy I think is cool."
"So what point do you agree with me then?" He responded, still confused with her behavior. There was no way he could ever understand what went on within the heart of a girl. It was no wonder that Hakuta never had a girlfriend once in his life.
"It's not an accident that I break up with all the guys." She told him. "I don't like getting too close to them." That seemed a bit strange to him. Wasn't the point of dating someone to get close to them? All she said just made him more confused on the matter of dating. Though to be fair, at least it seemed she was an isolated example.
"So what? You just want to date people and then break their hearts?"
"You make it sound like I want to hurt people." She seemed a bit hurt that he would insinuate she was mean. "No, I mean I just do it because it doesn't hurt as much. You know, the pain of breaking up with someone you dated for a year is different than a month." The amount of investment it took for a relationship did make sense to him. Especially considering they were teenagers, where one year felt like a lifetime.
"I guess I would be pretty sad if I did break up with someone after a long time." For some reason, he felt like someone similar to it nearly occurred not too long ago. Back when he thought he would have to move away from town and out of Shiuka's house when they thought his dad finally got himself into a better financial situation. While he wanted to say it was because he wouldn't be seeing Yuusen and Itsuki, who had been his friends since they were little boys. It wasn't because of them. Hakuta knew he would be sad to no longer see Shiuka anymore.
"To be honest, I was going to do the same to you." She admitted her plan to Hakuta. "I was planning on dating you for a week, then just breaking it off. Most of the guys I date are just those kind of dudes who are so full of themselves. So I just wanted to try out a nerd for once." The way she worded it made it sound like he was a menu item for a restaurant.
"And I guess after we broke up, you hoped I wouldn't be upset that all of us could keep hanging out afterwards." He finished her thoughts. Perhaps she wasn't wrong, but it did make him feel like he was about to be used just for her own fun and games.