Honoka swears she locked her front door, but it doesn't matter because Eli is visibly excited and Maki is concerned which means they are up to no good, so she can't turn them away and have them trouble someone else. She ceases working and sizes them up suspiciously; the lighting in the diner is dimmer than during opening hours, casting shadows over the faces of her visitors. Honoka feels the tension rising with each second the silence extends, and the thought hits her all at once—she's got it! She know why they're here, and it should have been so obvious in the first place...

"Is Nozomi pregnant?" Honoka blurts out.

"Wha—!?" Eli sputters, pausing to glower at Maki's huff of laughter before continuing, "Are you crazy? What the hell gave you that idea!?"

Confused, Honoka says, "Because! Eli-chan only ever gets excited when it involves Nozomi-chan, and Maki-chan looks concerned, so..."

"Maki always looks concerned," Eli deadpans.

Maki scowls, jabbing Eli in the ribs with her elbow. "Then stop doing stupid shit. Speaking of which," she says to Honoka, jerking a thumb in Eli's direction, "you'll want to hear what she's got planned this time."

There's a soft clink as Honoka places the cleaned glass into the cupboard. "Sure! Hit me, Eli-chan."

"I want to set up Umi and Minami-sensei."

Honoka's eyes widen. "Eh!? You want to set up Umi-chan with Kotori-chan?"

"Kotori... chan?" Eli echoes.

Maki leans forward a bit more, suddenly interested in the conversation. "Honoka. You know Minami-sensei personally?"

"Huh? You didn't know?" Honoka asks, looking at the two girls oddly. "Kotori-chan and I have gone to the same school since kindergarten, but we're roomies now."

"What!" Eli slams down both of her hands on the countertop in an uncharacteristic slip of self-control. "Since when!?"

"Oops," Honoka laughs sheepishly, rubbing the back of her neck, "guess I didn't tell you after all. We've been in contact pretty much the entire time—she's my best friend."

"Well, this makes things a lot easier," Maki comments.

Eli breathes out what sounds like a sigh of relief and allows herself to ease back down onto the barstool. "It sure does." She's seen Minami-sensei pass through the diner to pick up coffee multiple times, so she knows Minami-sensei is acquainted with Honoka somewhat, but for them to know each this well? This is working out better than she had hoped: what better avenue to soften up Minami-sensei for Umi's arrival than her roommate and best friend?

"So?" Eli prods. "You in, Honoka?"

It's peculiar, seeing Honoka consider the proposition seriously—at best, her decision-making is spontaneous and erratic but always well intentioned. Maki's not sure if Eli sees it, but she wonders if Honoka is taking a personal gamble by getting involved with Eli's crazy matchmaking scheme.

She's hesitating...

"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Honoka starts slowly. "I mean, if the school finds out, it would hurt both of their reputations... more so Kotori-chan than Umi-chan. And you know Umi-chan," she continues, "she's probably just riled up because Kotori-chan gave her detention; I don't think it's because she harbours any romantic feelings for her teacher."

Maki supposes it's a reasonable excuse, and quite insightful on Honoka's part, but still...

What's she hiding?

Eli is undeterred and looks Honoka straight in the eyes, and from this gesture alone Honoka knows the girl is serious. "I understand where you're coming from, but I promise this isn't just some flimsy idea to cause some drama, or to use Minami-sensei so that we can get a kick out of seeing Umi outside of her comfort zone. From what I've seen, Minami-sensei is infinitely patient and treats even the most insolent—"

"Fuckheads," Maki supplies helpfully, along with Honoka's outburst of, "Hey! Where did you learn such naughty language, Maki-chan?"

"—students," Eli corrects, eyeing Maki pointedly, "with kindness. She's a little indifferent toward Umi, though, but on top of that, she's the only person that's been able to capture Umi's attention the way she does."

Maki adds, "We're not sure if Umi's feelings are platonic or romantic, or if she's just being an idiot, but she treats Minami-sensei differently, that's for sure."

"All right, you've made your point!" Honoka says, exasperated, throwing her hands up in the air. "I'll help, but only to a degree. Kotori-chan's my friend, too, so if you're gonna do something that will hurt her, I'm calling it off."

"That's fair." Eli nods, pleased with the outcome.

"OK then, Eli-chan, what did you have in mind?" Honoka asks. "There's not much we can do aside from bringing Umi-chan to the places Kotori-chan is going to be or vice versa, I suppose... but from what you're telling me, they might make a scene fighting."

Eli grins. "Right, but we'll deal with that later. So, you know that gym Umi goes to..."


"Honoka-chan, do you know where my pink workout top is?" Kotori calls as she sifts through her closet.

Honoka pops her head around the doorframe, revealing enough of her face to appear attentive but not so much that anything potentially thrown by Kotori would hit her. "Oh! Um... the mothballs got to it, so I chucked it out." It's a poor excuse, and it shows in the quiver of her voice and Kotori's expression of disbelief, which quickly transitions into one of realisation.

"I'm guessing mothballs ruined the rest of my workout clothes, too?" Kotori doesn't mean to pose that as a question—it sounded a lot more intimidating in her head—but she sees the tip of Honoka's toes wiggling nervously underneath the fabric of her slippers so she lets it slide.

"Man! Those mothballs are persistent, aren't they...!? Don't worry, though!" Honoka cuts in before Kotori can point out all the evident flaws in her explanation, "I thought this might happen, so I bought you a really cute outfit yesterday!" She doesn't give Kotori time to argue that this wouldn't be an issue if she hadn't thrown out all of her friend's workout gear in the first place.

Kotori sighs. She's told Honoka about Sonoda-san—how her student frustrates her to the point that she's the only person in the class to be assigned detentions, how these detentions usually end with Sonoda-san emptying a pack of cigarettes and her with a perpetual cloud of cigarette smoke in her face, and ever since then Honoka's been a little restless and incredibly suspicious.

"Come on, Kotori-chan!" Honoka says hurriedly, ushering Kotori into the bathroom, "go finish getting ready—we need to leave for the gym in ten minutes!"

Kotori looks at her skeptically; if it wasn't obvious before, then it's obvious now she's being set up for something. "Honoka-chan, the world's not going to end if we're not there in ten minutes."

"Uh, yeah, I know!" Honoka laughs nervously. Keep your cool, Honoka! "The sooner we finish our workout, though, the sooner I can show you the spa!"

"Spa?" Kotori's eyes light up, snatching the clothes from Honoka's hands. "That's all you needed to say!"

Honoka hears the rustle of clothes as her friend changes in the bathroom, and it's not long before she hears sounds of discontentment coming through the closed door.

"Honoka-chaaaan," Kotori whines, "these clothes are way too tight!"

Honoka slinks downstairs so that her friend doesn't hear her cheerful: "I know."


Kotori's eyes widen as the doors to the elevator open: the gym houses an elaborate weight room, various sporting facilities and, of course, an area sectioned off for the spas and massages. She turns to Honoka to gush about how incredible the place is, but she notices her friend scanning the room for something. Following Honoka's line of vision, her breath catches when she sees Umi on the bench press with enormous weights piled on the bar. The younger girl is decked out in tights and a crop top, showing off chiselled abs and lean muscles.

Sonoda-san is really strong, Kotori thinks, tracing the contour of her student's muscles. She must work out a lot...

Honoka observes Kotori's reaction with great amusement. Eli-chan and Maki-chan might be on to something here. "If I had to guess," Honoka teases, "I'd say you were checking out Umi-chan."

"I'm not checking her out," Kotori protests half-heartedly. "She's my student," she adds, as if admitting it excuses her actions. She's too busy rotating between feeling embarrassed and goggling Umi's lithe form on the bench press that she misses the way Honoka calls Umi's name so familiarly.

Honoka snickers. "Then why are you staring at her?"

"I... don't... know..." Kotori breathes, watching intently as Umi finishes her set, sitting up on the bench to wipe her face with a towel. She fails to notice Honoka leaving her for a treadmill, and starts to panic when she sees Umi making her way over to her. OK, time to go

"Are you stalking me now, sensei?" It's only when Kotori has to look up to meet Umi's eyes does she realise that her student stands about half a head taller than her—it's not so much intimidating as it is captivating, especially now that Kotori knows what lies beneath the uniform.

"No," she replies defensively, crossing her arms, "I was just..."

"You were watching me, weren't you?" she notes coolly. Umi's only taking a guess, but with the way her teacher's shifting uncomfortably, she knows she's spot on. "Well, was it a good enough show?"

"Hoenstly? I think you might need to work on these," Kotori remarks, poking a finger into her student's firm stomach. Focusfocusfocus! she thinks desperately.

Umi frowns, confused as to why that comment stings a little. "If it was that awful a sight, why were you staring at me for five minutes?"

"Please," Kotori says, waving a dismissive hand, "it was more like five seconds. Maybe if you attended maths class more often, you would be able to accurately gauge lengths of time, Sonoda-san."

Before the girl can respond, Kotori walks away as quickly as her dignity allows. She finds Honoka in the cardio room and attempts to drag her off, but to great resistance.

"All right, all right, I'm getting off!" Honoka pants, frantically pushing buttons to slow the treadmill down. "Sheesh, Kotori-chan, what's gotten into you?"

"I want to go to the spa."

"Eh? You haven't even exercised yet!"

"It's all right, my heart rate's already really high."

Honoka laughs, placing both of her hands on Kotori's back and steering her toward the spa.