Aya walks with Riku with a teddy bear plushie in her embrace. Giggling at Riku's victory at gaining it from the crawling maching, Aya seems happy.
They walk towards the place they got their burgers yesterday. Apparently it has become Aya's favorite now. Aya orders the same burger that makes Riku orders Aya's burger to tries it himself.
They get their burgers and sit on one of the tables inside the joint. Aya starts eating it with a big smile.
"Senpai, i have a few questions for senpai." Riku starts a conversation after he took a bite of his burger. Aya looks up at Riku across her seat.
"You seem... close with a few male students. Are they..."
"Who? You mean, Naoki, Tetsu, Ryu, and Hirofumi?" Aya asks.
"So those are their names, huh? I see. Who are they to you if that's okay for me to ask?" Riku asks carefully.
"They're my childhood friends." Aya answers nonchalantly while taking another bite.
"That's interesting. You have such interesting childhood friends', senpai."
"They're noisy and annoying, but they're nice too."
"I'm sure they do. That's why they're still your friends, right? Do you... perchance like any of them?"
"I like them. They're good friends."
Riku scratches his head. "I mean, like them in a romantic way."
Aya quickly realizes what Riku meant. "Oh... no. Not at all. I haven't think about romance or that stuff. I rarely ever get close to other boys beside them because no other boys ever approached me. That's why i found it weird when you thought i'm cute."
Riku raises his brow in disbelief. "You think it's weird that i find you cute? That's even weirder for me because you're seriously cute. Don't ever underestimate your appearance because you rarely approached by other boys."
Aya shakes her head and explains more, "Not just that. It's because i was often mistaken as a boy since i was a kid. Even Naoki, Tetsu, Ryu, and Hirofumi mistook my gender when the five of us met for the first time."
Riku still has this disbelief look on his face. "No way. You must be a very cute 'boy' when you were a kid. How did they even mistook you as a boy?"
"My hair was shorter than theirs. My face looked almost like Ryu's face, and my voice was almost sounds like theirs too." Aya explains more.
"If i met you back then when we were kids, i don't think i'm going to mistaken you as a boy." Riku winks at Aya. Aya's eyes widen with her cheeks blushing a little.
"It's okay. I'm used to it anyway. That way, i started to try to look more feminine. But it's so hard for me." Aya starts open up more to Riku.
"You can do it, senpai. You can always ask for my advice from a boy's perspective even though i think you look feminine already." Riku cheers on Aya's effort, finding it cuter that she wants to look feminine.
From a distance, outside of the joint.
Naoki, Tetsu, Ryu, and Hirofumi has been watching the entire event unfold. Feeling even more determined to run their plans on them soon.