~ Sidelines ~

Kanae hadn't really interacted with Tsuruga or Tsuruga's manager much, but it stood to reason that that would end up changing. With the common factor between them being Kyoko, the more time Kanae spent with her "best friend" the more likely she was to end up being forced to interact with Tsuruga and Yashiro.

Of course it had to happen while the girls were in the middle of a Love Me section assignment, wearing those cursed pink coveralls. Kyoko no longer became embarrassed about being seen in the Love Me uniform, but the humiliation of it was constantly smoldering within Kanae whether she was seen by anyone or not, and being seen by someone who actually knew her (or even sort-of knew her, since she wasn't really that well acquainted with Tsuruga anyway) sent those feelings boiling over.

Tsuruga politely greeted the girls, addressing them by their surnames. Kanae managed to return a polite greeting with a straight face, although she was internally screaming.

Yashiro also greeted the two of them, and although at first it seemed as though he was only planning on speaking to Kyoko, he belatedly added "...and Kanae-chan."

Having known nothing of the girl's general temperament beforehand, Yashiro appeared quite shocked when Kanae subsequently lost her shit.

"Who are you calling 'Kanae-chan'?" she shrieked. "You don't even KNOW me!"

"M-moko-san," Kyoko whispered fearfully, plucking at her friend's sleeve.

Tsuruga and Yashiro were both staring at her in shock over her outburst.

Wait, his first name is Yuki-something, right? Yukihiro or Yukihito... Kanae's rage visibly subsided, and she merely looked slightly annoyed as she pointed at Yashiro and declared him: "Yuki-chan."

Having somewhat recovered his wits, Yashiro responded, "Um... would you prefer if I called you 'Moko-san' like Kyoko-chan does?"

"Then I'll call you Yu-chan."

"Moko-chan?"

"Y-chan."*

"Mika-chan?"*

"Ii-chan."*

~oOo~

*when she calls him "Y-chan" she's pronouncing it "why" like the name of the letter. When she calls him "Ii-chan" she's pronouncing the Y as if it were a vowel. He got "Mika" by combining the last syllable of her last name with the first syllable of her first name. (At this point he was just continuing to tease her to see what she would call him next, since she couldn't make his name any shorter after shortening it to "Y".)