"…Huh?"
Arae-san, who had been pretending to be deaf, immediately reacted to Umi's voice even though Umi was standing further ahead from Amami-san, who had been calling out to her.
She turned around to face us, not even trying to hide her anger,
"U-Umi! A-Arae-san, she was just—"
"Buzz off, Amami."
She shook off Amami-san, who was trying to hold her back, and approached Umi.
"Umi!…"
"Yuu, don't mind me."
Umi comforted Amami-san with a gesture of her hand before turning her face to confront Arae-san head on.
She had a colder face than usual, she was clearly angry. It was the first time that I've ever seen her like this ever since we started interacting with each other.
"You, what did you just say? You were too far from me, so I couldn't hear your words clearly… So, tell me, what did you just say to me?"
"…"
Arae-san moved closer to Umi, their forehead was about to touch each other, but Umi blatantly ignored her. She pulled out her phone and fiddled with it without even trying to look at Arae-san.
"What? Cat's got your tongue?"
"…"
"C'mon? Are you scared now?"
"…"
Arae-san kept pressing on Umi with enough pressure that a normal person would back down from, but Umi didn't even move an eyebrow under such pressure.
Well, it was Umi I was talking about, of course she wouldn't yield just from this much.
"Maki."
"Hm?"
"This fella over here has been yapping something I can't understand, do you know what she's saying?"
"…Huh?"
"Ah right, you don't understand what this fella has been yapping on about, huh, Maki? I mean, we've never studied monkey's speech… Hell, we've never even tried, huh? We probably should try studying it, what do you think?"
"Uh…"
A moment later, I heard the sound of Arae-san grinding her teeth. I had been focusing on the beautiful figure of Umi so I hadn't been paying attention to her, but I could guess that she was making a demonic looking face right now.
"Look at you… Aren't you Asanagi Umi from class 11? People have been talking about you… The pitiful girl who always pushed to the sideline because of Amami… That's you…"
"Oh was that what the losers who couldn't even surpass this pitiful girl had been saying? I wonder who's the pitiful one here, hm?"
"Huh? I thought you couldn't understand monkey's speech, why are you able to understand it so suddenly, hm?"
"Because I'm that good, unlike you. Also, can you get away from me? I'm sick of both your ugly face and bad breath. Oh yeah, regarding bad breath, try to go to the hospital, maybe your rotten insides is the cause of it, now shoo."
"…Grr…"
…Honestly.
Those two were scary.
Things would be bad if this escalated, so I probably should stop them, but would it be okay? They wouldn't rip my body to shreds if I did, right?
"Amami-san, Nitta-san."
""Mm.""
We took a glance at each other and moved to separate those two.
I moved to Umi's side while the two of them went to Arae-san's side.
"Umi, stop for a second. Calm down."
"But, Maki…"
"Take my hand, forget about her and take a deep breath."
"…'Kay…"
We had been arguing in front of the photo booth, so I decided to lead her to a less conspicuous place.
"…Maki."
"Mm?"
"Hug me."
"Yes, milady."
I embraced Umi closely to let her calm down. It became a habit for us whenever we got angry, depressed or mentally shaken, we would calm each other down by embracing each other like this.
We would normally do more things, but since we were currently in public, this should be enough.
She was burying her face in my chest and I could feel her slow breath.
"…Thanks, Maki, it's enough."
"Is that so? Okay."
"…Sorry, I was troubling you, wasn't I?"
"It's fine, I understand your feelings. It just doesn't feel like listening to someone badmouthing your friend like that."
"…Mhm."
For Umi, Amami-san was both her close friend and a rival. She loved her as much as she respected and trusted her.
It was obvious that she would get angry when her close friend was slandered openly for no reason like that. Well, one didn't even need to be Amami-san's close friend to be angry for her. I was actually really angry too. In fact, if Umi didn't burst out like that, I probably would.
But still, lashing out at Arae-san like that wasn't the right move.
I was on Umi's side, but she wasn't completely blameless in that exchange.
After all, even if she was angry, she shouldn't lash out in public like that.
"Umi, that was too much, so let's be the bigger guy here and apologize to her, okay?"
"Mm… Also to Yuu and Nina too…"
"Mhm. Let's go."
"Mm."
I took Umi's hand and went to the place where Amami-san and the others were waiting.
Other than Amami-san and Nitta-san, there were also Arae-san and her friends there. It seemed like they managed to calm Arae-san down. I could see an employer watching us from a distance.
I told Amami-san and Nitta-san that everything was okay, then I went to face Arae-san.
She was clicking her tongue, but she didn't spit any poison anymore, so I guess I could interact with her properly now.
"…Sorry about that, Arae-san."
"It wasn't your fault, why are you the one who's apologizing?"
"Not necessarily. If I stopped her earlier, things wouldn't escalate this far, so it is kinda my fault."
I shoulda stopped Umi when she first started acting strange, but I've never experienced a situation like this before that was why I faltered when it mattered.
"…Sorry, Arae-san… I lost my temper… Sorry…"
"So, you lost your temper and then you feel sorry after you got comforted by your boy? Tell me, who's the lame ass bitch now?"
"Araecchi, you!…"
"Nina, it's okay."
Arae-san hurled another insult at Umi, who was apologizing while bowing her head. Nitta-san was about to lash out at her, but Umi stopped her.
"I'm that kind of person after all, an immature person who couldn't get by without her boyfriend… That's why I admire you, Arae-san, who's so mature even when you're single."
"…Tch."
She probably figured out that she wouldn't get much reaction from Umi who had calmed down a lot, so she immediately turned her face away from her.
I didn't know if Umi's words reached her or not, but who cares, this would be the perfect time to end this affair.
"Ah… What a pain… It's holiday and I have to deal with this… Whatever, I'm going home. Let's leave, this place gives me bad vibes…"
Arae-san then got up from the bench she was sitting on and left with her friends in tow.
This was the kind of thing that worried me the most when we decided to hang out here, but at least we managed to avoid the worst case scenario.
We didn't know what kind of person Arae-san was, provoking her right now would be dangerous.
I was relieved to see her and her friends walk away from us. But at that moment, Amami-san went forward and called out to them.
"Ah, right, Arae-san!"
"…What? What do you want?"
"See you at school!"
"…Tch…"
Amami-san bid her goodbye and Arae-san just clicked her tongue in response before quickly leaving our sights.
Finally, peace.
"Let's go home."
"…Okay, Maki…"
"Right, as expected, Rep got me. I'm so tired…"
"As expected of Maki-kun~"
We took a rest for a bit there to make sure that we wouldn't bump into them again in the train before we left.
We were able to avoid the worst case scenario, but we still had to deal with her again later. There was also the matter of class match. Great.