"You want me to walk you home?" He replied, pretending that was her suggestion and not what he appeared to sound like to him. "I could do that."
"No." She corrected him, much to the chagrin of everyone else in the room. "I actually wanted to walk you home. It's kind of weird that you know where I live but I don't know where you live." It was ironic she would be saying this while standing inside the very house he called home. Not that she knew this to be the case and they'd all like for her to continue living in on that ignorance.
"Well, I was thinking of hanging around here for a little bit longer." For Obvious reasons, he couldn't simply take her to his house. Firstly because that had already happened even if she was unaware. And therefore it would be impossible for him to do as she asked without blowing the secret. "You know, you guys were the ones who showed up for now reason."
"I don't think you can just stay at Shiuka's place forever." If only she knew how wrong she was on this statement. "Doesn't you dad want you coming back soon? I doubt he'd just want his kid playing video games all day at some other girl's house." It was a bit odd she would care that much about how his parent would feel. Though this was likely due to her attempting to get him to do what she asked for. The knowledge of where he lived would've been useful in the future, after all.
"Actually he can't." Iruka stepped in between them to come to his aid. "If you don't mind, I'd like Hakuta to walk me home today."
"Really? Why?" Unsurprisingly it got Ninka a bit suspicious on what was going on. She was being clear about her intentions, so anyone going out of their way to stop her was going to need some good reasons for doing so.
"I kind of live a little far from here. So it would be nice to have someone escorting me." She explaining, making up an excuse. "You never know these days what can happen, right?"
"I guess…" She wasn't pleased with the reason, but it was one she had a hard time challenging. "Yo Hakuta, you gotta invite me over one day. I'd love to see your room sometime."
"Maybe…" He gave a halfhearted response. "We'll see about that." The boy wished he could've promised her he'd be able to show her. It only seemed fair after everything she had done for him. Not to mention that all the other girls in the room had already been able to visit him without any issues, for the most part. At this point, with her being the only girl here who wasn't aware. It almost seemed like they were excluding her on the secret for no reason other than for the sake of minimizing the number of people in the know.
For one single moment, he considered telling her the truth. But then that would waste all the work he and the other three had done so far for the sake of her not finding out. So Hakuta bit his tongue as they said goodbye to her and he pretended to leave with Iruka so she wouldn't get suspicious of them. "Thanks for helping me out there." He said to her as they walked down the street.
"It's no problem." She waved her hand to downplay it. "That's just what friends do, right?"
"Yeah, that's right." Hakuta was certain he'd do the same for her. Though it wasn't like neither of them had to bend over backwards in this example.
"But about Ninka." She took a pause in her step, putting both hands together with a tiny bit of tension behind her back. "Why do you keep pushing her back?"
"You too?" He got the same impression from Rouko, but it appeared the girls wanted him to date their friend. While he understood they wanted to be supportive of Ninka, it didn't seem like it would be a good idea to date along the friend group in case things went awry. Then again, he should be more of a friend to Iruka then she was with Ninka. So why would she wanted to the girl more than him?
"I'm just curious." She responded. "I know Rouko would be happy with it, but something about Shiuka makes me think she thinks it a bad idea."
"Then for once I agree with her." He said. "Is it just a gyaru thing? Or am I missing something that apparently all high schoolers just want to find someone to date?"
"It's just a precious time for us." She answered. "You know, we're not teenagers forever. And you can't tell me there's never been one single girl you've liked."
"No, there really hasn't." He told her, but in the moment of silence between them. Hakuta wondered just how true that statement possibly could be. "I don't know what I would do if I actually liked a girl."
"Heheh, you've always come across like the shy type to me." She giggled, poking fun at him meeting his appeared stereotype. "You're really lucky, you know that? You should listen to us girls if you want to get people's attention."
"I already said I don't want that." He beckoned her to start walking again. The sooner he was able to take her home, the sooner he'd be able to return to his own place with Shiuka. "I appreciate you're doing it because you care, but it's just not who I am. I guess if I wanted a girl to like me, then I'd rather not give them the wrong idea about who I am and stuff…"
"Who said anything about making you different?" She replied, now forced to walk so she'd be able to stay by him. "I think you're a real swell guy and Ninka already thinks so. It's just that we all think you're just always trying to be so cold."
"I think it should be obvious why." He never shied away when it came to voicing his dissatisfaction on matters. "Are you just trying to say I'm like that old friend of yours?" He remember she told him that he reminded him of her childhood friend. How as they grew older, they also grew apart where it seemed they became too different. At least according to her friend. Iruka was more than happy to stick together with that boy, but things didn't work out.
"But it's true though, isn't it?" She countered. "If you didn't have to live with Shiuka, then you wouldn't have anything to do with us."
"Maybe." Iruka gave him a good point he had no counter for. Before he was forced to live with that girl, they always had an abrasive relationship. Though he was a jerk about it, Hakuta wondered if she was always just messing around back then. Just trying to have fun at his expense. "But that's just life. You don't get a choice or a second chance to wonder if things would've been different. All the matters now is what's actually going on in reality." Though he did wonder those things. If things had turned out different, then he'd be a very different boy in this very moment. A boy who was nearly night and day compared to his counterpart just a couple months prior.
"Looks like we made it to the station." She commented as they reached a more crowded area. People were off on their daily commute, as the summer break only applied to those still in school. "Thanks for walking me here. I can take care of the rest." Iruka took his hand and shook it gently. "Just know you'll owe me after this." She gave him a wink, hinting about a potential favor to be called for her saving him from Ninka earlier.
"Yeah sure." He sighed, disappointed he was in the debt of someone else now. It seemed these girls always needed him for something.
"Great, then see you later then." She let go and headed off into the sea of people also making their travels here.
"I'll see you later…" He spoke quietly in bidding her farewell.
"Gyarus can be quite troublesome, aren't they?" An unfamiliar voice said to him. It caught Hakuta's attention and when he turned to look at who spoke to him, it appeared to be a boy about his age. They wore glasses similar to his and seemed to be a little taller with a more defined frame as well.
"I guess…?" He responded to the stranger. "I'm sorry, but do we know each other?"
"I should be the one apologizing." The other boy chuckled. "I was just making some small talk. But it seemed like that girl was bothering you a little bit."
"Oh, that's no problem." Hakuta wasn't sure what would make a stranger want to converse with him about people he interacted with. But it wasn't like that was a crime or anything immoral. "She's just a friend of mine. I was helping her walk to the station so she could go home."
"Hmm, the two of you don't look like you'd be friends." They commented. "Ah, sorry again. I'm just making an observation. Please don't take offense to that."
"None taken." He couldn't help but agree that perhaps the relationship would appear strange to others.
"Anyway, you have a nice rest of your evening." The boy said to him, where he then proceeded to walk away from the station and down the road. It seemed he had been coming from one of the trains which had dropped off some passengers.
"You too…" Hakuta said back to him, confused about his entire conversation with this stranger.