"Kotarou!" a sweet female voice called out at the school gate under a cloudy sky.
"Coming, Mio!" Another femme voice responded, yet this one belonged to a male.
The two joined up at the school gate and turned, hand in hand, towards Mio's house. Kotarou and Mio often walked home together, besides on days where basketball practice kept Kotarou too late, on which days Mio would merely say hello and walk home alone, much to Kotarou's dismay.
"So, my big basketball star," Mio began in a singsong voice, "What've you been up to today?"
Kotarou heaved a deep sigh. "Ugh, same stuff. Avoiding the Tatsuki glare. I swear, Mio, the closer we get, the farther apart we are. I don't get it!" Kotarou throws up his right hand in exasperation, still clutching Mio's hand with his left.
Mio tried desperately to suppress a giggle. This was a normal response for Kotarou to her question. What doesn't normally happen did, though.
"I really wish that I could come to your house today and escape from him. He wouldn't mind having the house to himself at all."
Mio's eyes enlarged almost double and fear struck her face very suddenly. "Uh… Umm, s-sorry, Kotarou, I d-don't really think that's a good idea. We're, um, pretty busy tonight, so, uh, yeah. In fact, I think I should hurry home today. I-I'll see you later. Bye!" And with that, she ran off towards her house, breaking the connection between her and Kotarou's.
"Huh?! Wha-what was that?!" Kotarou said out loud. "Did I do something stupid again? Oh, don't tell me I have something stuck in my teeth again!" he yelled up at the sky.
It responded by starting to sprinkle and giving off a roll of thunder.
"Crap."
"Tatsuki!" Kotarou called out through his house. "Hey, Tatsuki! Could you bring me a towel? I'm soaking wet!" When there was no response, He growled under his breath and pulled off his shoes in the doorway. "Fine, if that's how it is… I wish I did stay at Mio's place tonight…"
He trotted quickly through the house up to the bathroom, where he grabbed a towel from the rack and began to dry himself off. He pulled shirt off after concluding that it would be much easier to just let his clothes dry and to dry himself off.