Third chapter in a row where Saruyama takes a big role! How our idiotic monkey has grown!
Seems that most comments have shifted from hating on Nana to hating on Kotegawa. Funny how things change when new information is given!
Not sure whether next month's chapter will be early or late due to it being February. We'll just have to play it by ear, I guess.
Currently, the boys rested at a bench, drinking from water bottles that Saruyama had bought beforehand while they recovered from the first round of PE class. While Saruyama was lying on his back, one arm draped off the side of the bench and onto the ground, panting heavily from exhaustion, Rito was faring much better, laughing as he lowered his bottle to talk.
"You really aren't great with track, aren't you?" he asked. "Didn't you manage one extra lap last week?" Normally, he'd also be tired, but today, he had way more energy than usual, and so had barely broken a sweat despite the constant moving they'd been doing. The class was separated by gender, and he didn't really have any male friends besides the monkey beside him, so he didn't have to worry nearly so much about hiding his bandaged hand, which he simply rested on his lap, and with that concern gone, he felt a lot more at ease. Certainly, he wasn't as on edge as in the classroom.
Their sensei seemed to not have even noticed that their presence was missing, or that they'd come to class at all, so he didn't really have to worry about the old man paying any attention. Sometimes, it was nice to get away with things.
"I don't have your monster stamina!" the poor boy cried, turning his water upside-down over his head to pour some of it onto his face. "It's hot, I'm tired, and my head hurts from Kotegawa hitting me!"
Today was odd. Kotegawa normally didn't get violent, but she must have been in a bad mood already, and it didn't help that Nana has also been particularly trigger-happy that morning. Was there something in the air that made everyone go to their extremes?
At least Yami wasn't here to complete the trifecta. Considering her usual trips, she'd probably be in Hokkaido until late evening at least, so he had time to relax whenever the others weren't around.
"Earth to Rito." his friend said, and he blinked, looking next to him, where Saruyama had sat up, the water dumped on his face dried off in the air. "You've been spacing out a lot today. You okay?" He grinned. "Don't let Kotegawa get to you, man. She likes to shout, but she's not really mad at you. Probably she's always known that all your mistakes were accidents or my fault."
The brown-haired boy sweatdropped at the statement. "Should you really be saying that so proudly?" he asked, and Saruyama laughed, wrapping the hand not holding his water around his friend's shoulder.
"How about we have a little challenge?" the monkey asked. "A test to see what we'll be doing on our boys' day out this Saturday. We race for the rest of class, and whoever gets the least laps done in the time given has to pay for the group. It's only us and a couple of my first year friends, don't worry about it being too expensive."
Rito mused over the bet, before smiling. "Alright, you're on." he stated, and the two stood up to return to the track field.
~~~Later~~~
Rito had never been athletic despite his natural ability to run, but Saruyama had fared much worse, and now lay spread-eagle on the ground, gasping for air as his friend lightly kicked his side to make sure he was alive.
"So, about that bet." Rito said, and the boy groaned, staring up at the sky with glazed eyes.
"Y-You win…" he said slowly, huffing to regain his composure. "It wasn't even a competition...You could have...Let me win…"
Rito laughed, stepping back to let his friend sit up. "It's no fun to just let you win, isn't it?" he asked, holding his hand out and helping the boy stand when he accepted the gesture.
"Alright, fine. Have it your way. I just wanted to not have to spend my allowance!"
Rito smirked. "Well, I didn't want to either, and you made the bet in the first place!"
~~~In Class 1-B~~~
Nana had been staring at her desk for most of the first two periods, and it had not gone unnoticed by her friend, the recently revealed Trans swishing her long hair braid as she walked to the girl's table and leaned backwards over it, looking up to meet the downcast gaze of the middle princess.
"Nana? You've been so quiet, what's wrong?" Mea rarely stopped smiling, but she was smart enough to recognize when it was not time to be her normal annoyingly happy self, and right now was one of those times. "You've been gloomy all day."
The girl blinked in surprise at the sudden face in her field of view, jolting where she sat before she could process what was going on. "Oh, Mea. Sorry, it's nothing you'd care about."
The synthetic girl tilted her head, frowning as a strand of her hair lifted, forming a tiny dull blade to rest against Nana's chin, bringing her head up so that Mea could sit on her desk and look at her more comfortably. "You know I've wanted to get closer to you since all that happened with Yami and Master. Tell me anything! I'll listen!" Her usual grin returned as she held her hands up beside her ears to signify that she would hear her friend out, before blinking, and her expression morphed to one of mischief. "Hmm, unless...It has to do with Rito-senpai?"
At the shocked expression on Nana's face, coupled with the reddening of her cheeks and the frantic negative response, the other alien laughed, the blade holding her chin up vanishing as her hair returned to normal. "Looks like I got it right. Soooo, what happened? Did you guys fight again? I hope he didn't decide to lick you before me!"
The girl waved her arms, unable to speak for a moment before clearing her throat. "N-No, it's nothing like that!" She puffed out her cheek and frowned, looking away as she rested her head on her fist. "That idiot just went farther than usual today, and it's pissed me off. Seriously, he always acts so irresponsibly."
Mea was silent for several seconds, and her grin didn't change as she leaned forward, getting right up into the Devilukean's face as the girl backed her head up, reasonably creeped out by the motion. They may have reconciled after the mess a while ago, but that didn't means he couldn't recognize when Mea was being a little too friendly.
"Was it to do with the ba-th-ro-om?" she asked, and the girl's flustered expression returned in full force.
"No, what are you talking about? It's nothing like-" She was cut off as she noticed the small motion of Mea's eyes, narrowing just slightly as the gleam within them seemed to fade. "Wait, do you…"
The girl backed off, waving her hand in the air. "I Psycho Dived into your mind when you walked in. I thought you'd talk to me about it earlier, but I guess I was wrong. It is a pretty big deal, I should have assumed you wouldn't want to talk to me, who could be disastrous in that regard, about it."
The girl blinked, staring at her friend. "So you really...Wait! Don't spy into my mind!" She threw a weak punch, easily caught by Mea's Trance hair, and the girl laughed as she hopped off Nana's desk.
"I won't pry too much. I've been curious about Senpai ever since I first Dived into him, but I'm not the kind of person to go around spilling all his secrets." She smiled, tapping the side of her head with a finger. "I'm not going to read his mind, I want to see you figure things out along with anyone else who may be involved. I'm not interested in playing the villain anymore, after all."
