After school.
Aya and Suzu eating ramen together at their favorite ramen shop where they usually go to. Though, Aya doesn't look like in her appetite, Suzu holds back her eating to look at Aya intently.
"Aya-chan, what's wrong? Please tell me. Let me help you." Suzu reaches out to Aya's hands and squeeze them gently. Aya still looks down at her untouched ramen while letting out a long, heavy sigh.
"Suzu-chan, i... i was... friend with someone. He was..."
"Is it Riku? The one who got suspended today?" Suzu quickly asks as she cuts Aya's words. Aya quickly lifts her head to look at Suzu with her eyes widen.
"So you knew..."
"Aya-chan, i know you too well. We've been through so much since our first day of high school. I don't know why you kept hiding it from me but you must've had reasons for it but i understand. That's why i didn't want to ask you about it." Suzu explains.
"I'm sorry for keeping it secret from you... we should always share with each other like always. I don't know what has gotten into me that day, but now I'm ready to tell you everything."
Suzu nods with a warm smile. "Of course, Aya-chan. You know I'll always understand you and your side."
Aya starts by taking a deep breath to prepare herself, and then she looks at Suzu intently. "So i met Riku when he accidentally hit me on a hallway during recess. He brought a lot of papers and then dropped them to the floor so i helped him collecting the papers back. After i helped him, he suddenly introduced himself to me out of nowhere. So i introduced myself back. He and i quickly became... friends. Yeah, friends. I was sort of like, like him..." Aya slowly reduces her volume of voice when she says the latter part. Suzu's eyes widen in shock.
"You did? Oh my!" Suzu exclaims, but Aya quickly waves her hands at Suzu to reject her words.
"Not anymore! After what he did to those girls, i felt so betrayed and kind of dislike him a little bit for hitting girls. I told him to never harm those girls who bullied me, but then he did it anyway after he got his chance to hangout with me again!" Aya explains.
"I see. That's why you looked so down this noon. I thought you got sick."
"No... i'm fine, Suzu-chan. I just- i thought Riku is a good person who could understand me. I mean he did, but then he didn't if he did something bad behind my back. I don't like it when people do that. I hate it." Aya says with a louder tone. Suzu gulps slowly while continue to listening to Aya's rants.
"Riku was a good listener, he understood me so well and made me feel so... loved that i never felt before. It's like I'm being treasured so much by him. But i thought wrong. He just didn't show his true self in front of me. I feel so stupid to ever melt to him like that." Aya facepalms hard when she explains again.
"I don't blame you. Riku looks so cute like a puppy. But i didn't know he could be so... manipulative and two-faced like that. That's disgusting." Suzu replies.
Aya quickly looks at Suzu. "You think so? Oh i feel worse now. I should never associate with him but he just kept coming into my life. He almost kissed me-" Aya quickly covers her mouth with her eyes widen.
"Eh?! He almost kissed you?! No way, Aya-chan!" Suzu leans back with her disbelief look on her face.
"No...! It was just a prank but he didn't kiss me! I swear!" Aya quickly grabs Suzu's hands to pull Suzu back forward so Aya can be close to Suzu.
Suzu knows what to do. She continues to egg Aya on and insults Riku as much as she can. "Aya-chan, he's super manipulative! Thank goodness your first kiss wasn't stolen by a two-faced psychopath like that!"
"I know, i know... I'm so embarrassed right now."
"And is that..." Suzu points a blue plushie keychain on Aya's bag that still looks quite new and clean. "Don't tell me that's from Riku cause i know you didn't get that with me!"
Aya gasps and quickly takes off the blue plushie keychain from her bag.
"Oh no! Yes i got this from Riku! He won it from a crawling machine." Aya then puts the blue plushie keychain into her bag to hide it in there. "I'll throw this later when I'm at home."
"And you... were you sad when you found out about what Riku did? Did you feel disappointed or more like heartbroken? Be honest, Aya-chan." Suzu glares at Aya while crossing her arms.
"It's... disappointment, absolutely. I don't know about heartbroken..."
"Do you still like him after what he did? You have to be honest." Suzu says with a stern tone that makes Aya gulps. Aya stays quiet for a while.
"I guess i am... He was so kind and gentle to me. He was like a new ray of sunshine in my life. I'm so disappointed and betrayed, but i..." Aya hangs her head low again.
This confirms everything that Naoki, Tetsu, Ryu, and Hirofumi need to know. They're gathering in the Student Council President Room with Naoki's phone on the table in speaker mode. They have been listening to Aya and Suzu's conversation since the moment Aya and Suzu sat on the ramen shop. Suzu set up the phone call under her bag to not be seen by Aya.
"This won't do. I hope your plan works better, Ryu." Hirofumi suddenly says in a faint voice. Ryu nods his head confidently.
"I'm positive. No more of that non-sense feelings in her. It will be gone in an instant." Ryu answers.
"If it won't work, I'll plan something more... dangerous." Naoki mutters to himself under his breath.
"Well, as long as we won't get caught, I'm all for it." Tetsu shrugs his shoulders.