Their haunted room setup went about just as Hakuta would've expected. Well enough to scare most of the students who dared walked in without being too overbearing. Not only that, but he did a good enough job with the atmosphere that some people were already scared off before any of his friends popped out to give them that solid jump scare.
From Ninka's side, she had managed to give some good frights to about a dozen people. Though Hakuta was right about her outfit, it really was more appealing than horrifying to some. Specially to the boys she tried to scare who might've been a little aroused and therefore confused when seeing her.
"Wow, do you want to hang out together sometime?" One of them had shot their shot and asked her out.
"No." She soundly rejected him. "Now move it along." Fortunately they did not attempt it again as they left her alone to resume scaring others.
"You guys are doing wonderful." Hakuta called out when there was a lull in people coming by. At this rate he was confident they wouldn't have anything else to worry about once lunchtime rolled around.
When he spoke, it reminded Ninka yet again about the elephant in the room she had yet to address with either him or Shiuka. She just couldn't figure out why he would be seen walking out of her house without her. What had they been doing? Was she overthinking things? It would be easy to come up with a reasonable explanation, such as him coming around to help her with her costume. But that still wouldn't explain them being separate in the morning.
It ate her up inside to think about it without a release. Things were made worse when she took a closer look at Shiuka's actions and had to wonder if that girl had actually been hiding this from her longer than she would've expected. She didn't seem to act any different than usual, but her newfound suspicion based on seeing what she saw only meant she was seeing this girl in a brand new light.
This frustration would bleed out into her own acting as she went a bit far in yelling to the students walking by. "Ninka, I don't want to sound rude, but that's not really how the nurses act." Hakuta scolded her when he felt things were heading in a bad direction. She wasn't the only one who caught his attention, as he had been a bit too controlling on the others when it came to their behavior.
This would be the last time they let him take the lead on something he was passionate about. "Okay, and that's a wrap." Finally, after most of their morning had goe by. Everyone was able to find a break from the work to pass it on to their classmates so that they would be able to enjoy some of the things the rest of the school had set up for Halloween.
"Nice job." Ino congratulated them on their hard work. "I've heard some good things about this exhibit from the other students. Sounds like we've got ourselves a real solid idea thanks to you."
"Well, it's thanks to everyone else that this worked so well." He brushed off the credit to his friends. Ninka stared at him from the shadows as he talked with Ino. She had always been a little jealous their class rep got his attention better without trying, but with Shiuka in the mix. She really had no clue what Hakuta thought about her or about anything at all.
Finally after he had finished his conversation. She took advantage of this short interlude to ask him out.
"Hey, we should go explore some of the other classrooms." She said to him. "You know, just the two of us?"
"Actually, I kind of already promised Shiuka I'd be with her." He replied, much to her surprise, but not at the same time.
"What? When?"
"Yesterday?" It wasn't actually yesterday when he had determined that with her. Hakuta still felt a little bad about standing her up back during the festival for the sake of Iruka. So he figured now was a good time to pay back that favor, even if the atmosphere wasn't as beautiful, to put it lightly.
"Okay…" She didn't believe him. In her mind, she bet he had actually agreed with her this morning when he was at her house. "But can I just tag along anyway?"
"I guess you can ask her." He wasn't against it, but Hakuta was worried if Shiuka would be willing to take another sacrifice. Then again, it was only just hanging out with him. The boy didn't consider himself to be a great prize considering all the stuff she had to put up with him on.
"Well Hakuta?" Speaking of the girl, Shiuka showed up right on cue as she had already been ready for their plans. "You ready to go?" She didn't think much of seeing Ninka standing with him considering all her past actions. Though this didn't make her any happier to hear the suggestion.
"Can I come?" She said to her.
"Really?" Even though her words indicated surprise, it didn't come off as one based on the circumstances. "I kind of already promised him we'd hang." Shiuka acted as if he was the one who wanted to join her, which was the opposite of reality.
"But we're all friends, right?" Ninka pleaded her case. "Nothing wrong with one more."
"I guess not…" She didn't want to argue about it, despite not wanting to allow it. Meanwhile, Rouko stood in the back listening in. She had initially came over to ask Ninka to join her with screaming loudly at some of the scares people would most certainly send their way. However she paused when she saw the scene unfolding before her.
"Rouko, where should we go first?" Iruka came up to her after struggling to walk with her costume. "And maybe you could-" She received a hand to the face to shush her as the other girl continued to stare at the others.
"We should follow them." She suggested.
"What? Why?" Iruka would've liked to hang out with Hakuta, since that was her best friend. But she wasn't naive enough to be unable to realize he was busy with other people. "Wait, you want us to spy on them?"
"Obviously." She couldn't hide away her mischievous grin. "I bet we'll see some great drama!"
"I'm not sure if that's what we want with our friends." Iruka was hesitant on the idea. "Wouldn't that be bad?" She'd hate to see them get upset with each other, so she had no idea why Rouko would get excited over her own best friends getting into trouble. "Also why would there be any drama?" She also had no clue for what problems could even occur.
"Your little innocent brain just wouldn't understand." Rouko spoke in a condescending tone as she gave her a pat on the head. "Now come on, this will be way funner than going into everyone else's lame haunted rooms where there's some girl with long black hair."
"Aww, but that's my favorite part." Iruka whined, but was pulled along with her friend as they sneaked behind the numerous objects placed thankfully for the event to hide from their targets.
"This wasn't how I expected to spend my day." Hakuta commented as they walked down the hallway. It was a bit of a strange feeling for him to be accompanied by two cute girls while the rest of his fellow students were able to see him plainly. This caused a few stares sent his way as most were likely envious of his position. Either that or upset that someone such as himself could even find himself in such a place.
One person who stared at him intently was Ninka. While he just assumed she was enjoying the view, she had a good reason for being so attentive. The girl wanted to examine his actions when compared and contrasted between herself and Shiuka. While she was already aware of differences, she had to wonder if it wasn't just simply how he treated them. Perhaps he had done more than just fall for her friend and now dated her behind her back. "All these rooms just look the same from the outside, what do you think, Shiuka?"
"Hmm, I'm not sure." Shiuka replied. Ninka would take this as more than just plain coincidence that he went to her first.
"What about you, Ninka?" He would follow up, but the damage had already been done. Despite only having one piece of evidence to her name, Ninka was certain there was trickery from these two.
"How about we go there?" She pointed to one random room. "Seems alright to me." Ninka had no plans, but she had an idea of getting to them now that she believed herself betrayed.