Around 5 years later.
In their second year of high school, Aya turned into a very beautiful girl with a short hair and no bangs. Traumatized that Naoki and the gang will cut her hair and her bangs again, so she keeps it short around her neck but still looks very feminine.
She calmly packs her stuff into her bag in her classroom by herself after the rest of the students went home. She just finished having her extracurricular activities.
A sudden knock can be heard from her classroom's doorway. "Aya-kun. Come on, let's go home." Hirofumi's voice can be heard while he's resting his forearm on the doorway. He just finished with his Student Council activities as well since he's the President now.
"In a minute!" Aya still packs her stuff into her bag, Hirofumi hurries Aya in a playful way. "Hurry up! You're so slow."
Aya finally finished packing her stuff into her bag and runs towards Hirofumi with a glare. "You're the one who's impatient!" Aya yells. She then looks around the hallway and don't see anyone else besides Hirofumi.
"But, where's Ryu, Tetsu, and Naoki?" Aya asks with a curious face.
"They didn't wait for us. They went home already." Hirofumi answers calmly. Aya puts a disappointed expression on her face.
"Oh... i thought... Hmph." Aya pout while looks down. Hirofumi gently lifts her chin up to make her looks at him, and then pinches her cheek.
"Do you hate going home with me alone that much?"
Aya winces exaggeratingly when the pinch isn't that hurt at all. "Ouch ouch ouch ouch! No it's not that- it's just..." Aya looks away with another pout. "I thought they'll be waiting for me. For us, at least."
"Is that so?" Hirofumi narrows his eyes to look at her in a skeptical way. Aya glares at Hirofumi.
"Yes! Now let go of me!"
Instead of letting her cheek go, Hirofumi stops his pinches to caresses Aya's cheek while his eyes looking down to his lips. His hand following where his eyes go, and now he caresses her lower lip and pulls it down slightly. Aya just looks at Hirofumi in confusion with her eyes widened, not saying anything.
"Don't be sad. Tomorrow we'll go home together. All 5 of us. I promise." Hirofumi sudden words catches Aya off guard. She just says "Okay..." while still looks confused with Hirofumi's thumb on her lower lip, opening her mouth slightly and his eyes still lock onto her lips.
"Good. Now let's go home." Hirofumi pulls his hand away from her face and starts walking away from there. Aya tails him but then quickly stays by his side as they walk home together from school.
The next day.
In the morning, Aya's front house already bombarded by a bunch of boys' loud voices calling out her name.
"Aya-kun!"
"Hurry up!"
"Aya-kun~"
"Hurry, Aya-kun!"
Aya from her bedroom can see all four of them waiting at the front of her house while throwing small rocks to her window to make her panic even more. Aya puts her stuff into her bag in a panic way already, their actions not helping at all.
"Can they shut up?! They're disturbing the neighbors!" Aya finally puts her last stuff into her bag and runs out of her bedroom to go downstairs.
"I'm coming I'm coming!!" She then wears her shoes on the entrance, and runs out of her house in a hurry and annoyance.
"Aya-kun hurry up~"
"I'm right here!" Aya yells at them once she's behind them.
"You took so long!" Naoki yells back.
"I'm not even late! You guys must stop doing that!" Aya yells back at them, doesn't want to lose.
"And why should we stop?"
"Because you're disturbing the neighbors!" Aya shouts ironically that disturbs the neighbors. Then all 5 of them start walking on their way to school.
"You broke your alarm?" Tetsu suddenly asks.
"No, i was-"
"You ate too much breakfast?" Hirofumi cuts her words by asking another question.
"No! I was-"
"Oh, i know! You took your shit too long!" Naoki cuts her words with a bold exclaim.
"NO I DIDN'T! I SAID I WAS LOOKING FOR MY BOOK!" Aya explodes at them.
"Wahahahahahah!" They all laugh at her explosion.
"Look at Aya-kun getting so worked up!" Naoki enjoys her explosion the most.
"Heheheheheheh!" The rest of the boys just continue to giggle.
At school.
During afternoon recess, Aya sits in her seat facing her back seat to talk to her best friend named Suzu. But suddenly gets her face thrown by a pack of melon bread. Makes her yelp. "Aaak!"
Then the pack of melon bread falls onto her lap, she looks around to look at who just threw it to her face.
"Ahahahahahahaha!!!" Aya spots Naoki and Tetsu laughing on the doorway of her classroom after that happened.
"That was so funny! I hit her right at the head! Ahahahah!!!" Naoki still laughs his lungs out while pointing at Aya's face.
"Look at her forehead, it's getting red! Wahahaha!" Tetsu adds. Aya pouts while grunting in annoyance, a small red bump can be seen on her forehead after that smack.
"You guys are as noisy as usual." Suzu suddenly speaks to Naoki and Tetsu who just caused a scene in Aya and Suzu's classroom.
"Oh, Suzu! Perfect timing!" Naoki and Tetsu approach Suzu while ignoring Aya's presence.
"Aya-kun been acting strange lately. Does she have a crush on someone?" Naoki suddenly asks that makes Aya burst out in shock.
"Oh yeah. She's obsessed with Megu lately." Suzu nonchalantly answers Naoki's question.
"Megu? Who's that?" Tetsu asks.
"He's from anime Jujitsu Kaison."
"Oh, that popular anime?"
Suzu and Naoki and Tetsu's conversation starts getting Aya in panic. "Suzu-chan! Stop!"
Naoki turns to look at Aya with squinted eyes. "What's that? I thought it's a real guy." Naoki flicks Aya's forehead and then crosses his arms on his chest.
"Shut up." Aya wipes her forehead while munching the melon bread that was thrown at her face. Naoki suddenly turns again to look at Suzu and gives Aya his back.
"What about you, Suzu-chan? Do you have someone you like or maybe do you have a boyfriend already?" Naoki asks to Suzu. Aya lets out a shocked gasp.
"Eh? No... i don't have anyone i like right now nor a boyfriend..." Suzu answers with a bashful face that makes Aya looks at Naoki and Suzu's conversation in confusion.
"What's this...? Does he like Suzu-chan?" Aya can't help but wonders.
A sudden shout calling out Aya's name from a distance can be heard. A male student waving his hand at Aya. "Aya-chan!"
Aya quickly gets up to look at the male student. "Oh, Hikaru!"
"Are we going to discuss it right now?" The male student that Aya called Hikaru asks Aya. Naoki, Tetsu, and Suzu suddenly stop their activities and freeze in place while their eyes locked onto Aya.
"Yes! Let's talk on your desk!" Aya quickly moves to the desk at the back of the classroom across, far away from her seat to sit with Hikaru together all by themselves. Tetsu and Naoki glances at each other and then nod their head.
Tetsu and Naoki turn to look at Aya again with glareful eyes at the sight of Aya talking so cheerfully to Hikaru and even touching each other's hands. And then they glare at Suzu.
"I can explain..." Suzu says calmly to Tetsu and Naoki but with a worried look on her face.