It had been a wonderful week of relaxing and blissful student life at Seihei High School. The club activity was planned to start next week, and the captain, Ito Toru managed to reserve the public gym every Wednesday with the club funding. From this moment onward, the Muscle Wednesday would be in session exclusively for the rugby club members.
"Emi-chan, Misaki-chan." A silver-haired casanova greeted the two beautiful juniors with a bright smile as they ran into each other on the first floor of the main building. Ito Emi was a tall and elegant girl. Next to her, Ishikawa Misaki was a medium-height girl, and as many proclaimed, the prettiest girl in the first year. Despite major differences, both girls shared a similar feature, namely E-cup-plus breast size.
"Good afternoon, Aoyama-senpai, Seito-senpai." The tall girl bowed to them respectively.
"Shou-senpai!" The sweet girl quickly leaned in closer to her boyfriend, linking their arms together.
"Misa-chan!" He greeted her casually before turning to wave at Emi.
"Is it alright to cling on to me like this at school?" Shouichi spoke to his girl softly. He was a bit too conscious about this thing.
"I don't care. The girls have been eyeing you since you've become number 1." Misaki gave her reason with a hint of jealousy in her voice.
"Sorry about that," Shouichi replied.
"It's not your fault, senpai." She beamed at him sweetly and sincerely. "They should know that you are mine and mine alone!" She loudly added. Misaki's free-spirit personality could be terrifying sometimes.
"You haven't been to my mother's shop, right?" Shouichi asked while walking along the hallway side by side.
"Um! I wanted to visit it someday." She replied and smiled.
"Would you like to hang out with me today?" Shouichi asked. Shinji and Emi were following them behind but somehow there was tension between the two.
"I wanted to but I can't." Misaki refused politely, twirling her twin tails with a dark purple hue.
"Oh, you got plans already?" Shouichi asked, raising his brow, "What a bummer." He was a bit let down but tried his best to hide it, he needed to be a reasonable boyfriend.
"I need to go to the clinic. But let's hang out next week, Shou-senpai." Misaki suggested, noticing her boyfriend's sad expression so she tried to cheer him up.
"Clinic? Are you okay, Misa-chan?" Shouichi wondered.
"Are you worrying about me? I'm so happy." Misaki replied gleefully. "It's nothing serious, just a regular check-up, senpai."
"Oh! Right. Misa-chan if you have something to vent, please feel free to lay it on me. I am here for you." Shouichi confidently stated his mind. His words tugged Misaki's heartstrings. "Man, I almost forgot that Misaki's mental health is still recovering and requires a lot of care. I always get tricked by her cheerful appearance." Shouichi contemplated deeply.
"Senpai, I would kiss you right now if we're not at school. Fufufu." Misaki lightheartedly teased him. It sent him flying to cloud nine.
Even though Misaki video-called him almost every night, he barely got to see her in person lately. As a boy, he simply craved physical interaction like a normal couple. However, Shouichi was fully aware of how things work for his fragile girlfriend.
"My ride's here, Shou-senpai." Misaki appeared to be looking around quickly for teachers before sneaking a kiss on his cheek. She really knew how to make him fluster.
"I love you! Bye-bye!" The cheerful girl ran to the European black sedan, and the female driver opened the door for her. She mentioned her driver's name was Wendy or something.
"Emi-chan, please hang out with me. I'm lonely." A pathetic plea came from his tall friend, Shouichi overheard the conversation between Shinji and Emi. And it sounded dreadful.
"Sorry, Aoyama-senpai. I had to go to the gym with my brother after this." Emi replied, impassive in her voice.
"But…" Shinji's mouth opened but no sound escaped as he gave up trying to convince her.
"And I thought that my love life was a bit sad, Shinji was way worse." Shouichi thought. "Misery loves company." He muttered under his breath.
Soon after the dazzling duo were left in front of the school gate by their girls. Two lonely boys stood melancholically.
Shinji turned to his friend, Shouichi, with sad eyes. "Bro, boba time?" Shinji turned to plead.
"Nope, I don't wanna have too much sweet. You are just eating your feelings right now, Shinji." He flatly refused. "You can visit my mom's store if you like." Shouichi proposed.
"Sigh... Nah I don't wanna bother your mom too much." His friend objected. Shinji opened his mouth as if he wanted to say something but changed his mind.
"Bro, you can talk to me." Shouichi consoled him with a wink. "Relationship advice?"
"Kind of… it was fun back then when we hung out together but now the girl rejects me." Shinji finally opened up.
"Do you like Emi-chan, Shinji?" Shouichi looked him in the eyes.
"Yes. I like her. I thought it was obvious." Shinji rubbed the back of his head. "As suspected!... Still from what I've seen, Shinji was an outgoing type, so he seemed to be flirty to all females. Even when he was not actually flirting, so Emi-chan could feel confused by his actions," Shouichi speculated.
"Why don't you just ask her out then?" Shouichi straightly asked his friend.
"You mean, I should confess my feelings to her?" Shinji asked to reconfirm, rubbing his chin in contemplation.
"Why not? The worst she can say is no, right?" Shouichi tried to convince his friend. "It's better to be clear than to be vague. It gets you nowhere." He added as if he was an expert in love advice.
"I will sleep on this for a bit then. Time to go home and play some games. See ya!" Shinji told Shouichi, his usual cheerfulness was absent.
"See you tomorrow then." Shouichi waved and soon they parted ways.
***
The next morning, Shouichi was enjoying a delicious breakfast with his bewitching mother.
"So you have been busy recently, right?" He asked.
"Yeah, I got quite a lot of new customers from the Fire Festival." She replied and took another bite.
"That's awesome," Shouichi responded with a bright smile.
"Oh! By the way. Officer Akiyama visited the store the other day." Yoko spoke up, her complexion stiffened as though something gnawed at her, something unsettling.
"Huh? What about her?" He asked, unblinking eyes widened as he studied Yoko's grim expression.