Episode 7: Nagi meets the Girls!
As the morning sun dawned over IS Academy, Ichika felt the bright rays on his face that shined through his window. As he lazily awoke from his slumber, he stretched his arms high and yawned in unison.
"Morning, Nagi" He said to his new roommate but to his surprise, Nagi wasn't sleeping on his bed and Ichika wondered where he had gone. He got up from his bed and looked in the shower hoping to find him, but he was nowhere to be found.
"I wonder where he we-...Huh?"
Ichika's thoughts were cut short when he walked to the center of the room and gazed upon the man in question upside down with weights attached to his body, performing a basic push up routine. Drips of sweat fell from his face along with his upper torso that was exposed as he wasn't wearing a shirt, only a pair of black training pants. Judging from the frustrated look on his face, it seemed the exercise was a lot harder than it looked and he panted every few seconds between reps.
"A-Amazing..." Ichika thought as he continued to watch the red haired youth.
"Ninety... seven... Ninety... eight... Ninety nine" His voice was cracking under the stress and just as he was about to finish his last rep-
"Yo, now that's impressive!" Ichika spontaneously cried out, causing the focused Nagi to lose his balance and tumble over with the weights falling onto his stomach as his eyes shot out of their sockets comically and he clutched his stomach in pain.
Ichika dashed towards him and bent down. "Are you alright!?"
As the pain subsided from Nagi's abdomen, he narrowed his eyes at Ichika with the intent to kill as Ichika threw his hands up with an awkward smile. Unfortunately, Nagi wasn't taking smiles today as he jumped up and smacked Ichika in the head. Ichika grabbed his skull in agony as he whimpered on the floor.
"Ow... that really hurt"
"Good, it was your own fault stupid for breaking my concentration" Nagi picked up the weights and returned them to his bag as Ichika got up off the floor and rubbed his poor head.
"Do you always train like that in the morning? Seems a bit reckless..."
After he zipped up his bag, Nagi grabbed a towel from the shower and threw it over his shoulders, scoffing at Ichika's last comment.
"What, you don't train at all? No wonder you're soft"
Ichika frowned at that last comment and put his hands on his hips. "We do training over here too, just not that kind where you're likely to kill yourself"
Nagi rolled his eyes as he stepped into the shower and closed the door. Ichika decided to get ready for school as he looked at the time and they only had half an hour before Chifuyu's class started.
"Yo, you want some breakfast? Ichika shouted to Nagi who by this time was already enjoying the shower to the fullest.
"Hell yea! That'll hit the spot after a nice work out..."
Ichika's lips formed into a smile as he felt the tense atmosphere from earlier dissipating. He was looking forward to Nagi meeting Houki, Charl, Cecilia, Rin, and Laura since yesterday, the rest of the girls pretty much hogged him and he didn't see him until it was time to turn in. Today, he was going to make sure all of them became friends.
Sitting in the main lunch room, Houki, Cecilia, Rin, Charl, and Laura sat as they all passed glares at one another. They all instinctively knew what the others were plotting, except Kanzashi who looked pretty terrified of the atmosphere going on and opted to drink her bottle of water in silence. Their plans were ruined today as they were hoping to be the first ones to invite Ichika for lunch but he said he promised Nagi he would show him around the school.
"I-Ichika sure is taking his sweet time showing that transfer student around" Charl said to break the ice.
"Y-Yea, I mean how long does it take to show him around the school?" Rin agreed as she put on an awkward smile.
"I guess it can't be helped, this is his second day here right?" Cecila tried to sympathize with Nagi's situation as she put her left hand to her face.
They frequently looked back and forth at the clock that sat at the top on the wall opposite of them. Time seemed to stand still as they were patiently waiting for Ichika to show up and just when they thought he'd keep them waiting forever, their thoughts were cut when a senior student with brown hair tied in a ponytail came up to them.
"You girls waiting for the new transfer student too?" She had a smile on her face as she looked in between them.
"No, I'm waiting for my wife." Laura said bluntly as her arms were crossed and her only present eye was closed.
"Yea, we're waiting on Ichika who is showing the transfer student around" Houki answered properly for the girl who seemed a bit confused by Laura's statement.
"Oh... well I guess I'd be worried too if I were you" Her voice seemed to trail off a bit, catching the other girl's interests.
"W-What's that supposed to mean?" Rin asked out of the blue.
"Well..." She began as a devilish smirk appeared on her face.
"Don't you think Orimura is going to be spending more time with the transfer student than you girls? I mean, they are both guys ya know"
Her words had the effect of a jolt of lightning that penetrated their hearts as the realization hit them. Logically, it did make sense that you would spend more time with someone of the same gender than you would with the other in school, so they began to worry that this new student was going to "replace" them. The mere thought made some of them put on sorrowful expressions, except Laura who scoffed at the comment.
"Such nonsense... my wife knows his duties and I won't allow some foolish man to ruin that" Laura spoke on behalf of herself as the other girls seemed to relax and started to brush aside the idea of a new "rival" in the form of a male. Soon, laughs could be heard among the table as they started chewing down on their food while the brown haired girl shrugged and walked away.
"U-Uhm..." Kanzashi's soft voice spoke that was barely able to capture Charl's attention.
"Hm? What's wrong Kanzashi?"
A blush appeared on her face as she held her drink closer to her body and looked at the ground.
"It's just... what if what she said was right?"
Charl gave Kanzashi a giggle and smiled at her, poking her soft and adorable cheeks to draw her attention.
"No need to worry, Ichika will always belong to us" Charl's voice was clear and comforting and Kanzashi also smiled.
"R-Right, thank you Charl-san"
Seconds later, the girls started to hear sounds of gossip and murmurs coming from all around the room. Suddenly, a girl wearing a bunny outfit got up from her seat with a cheerful expression and pointed towards the cafeteria entrance.
"It's Nagi and Orimu!"
The girls immediately turned their full attentions to the door and sure enough, Ichika and Nagi walked inside of the cafeteria but to their surprise and some of the girls squeal, Nagi had his whole arm around Ichika's neck and was grinning as Ichika was also smiling and playfully laughing with him. It had been quite awhile since the girls had seen Ichika that cheerful, and it definitely wasn't with any of them which seemed to affect them the most as they watched the duo enter the room.
Nagi let go of Ichika's head as he looked left and right around the cafeteria, barely noticing that every girl in the vicinity had their eyes on him and whistled.
"Damn, this place is packed. Where do you usually sit, brother?"
Ichika walked up beside him and pointed towards the girls who saw Ichika looking directly at them with a smile. "Over there"
They slowly made their way to the group's table and practically had the entire room gaze at them with sparkles in their eyes.
"Yo, what's up guys?" Ichika said politely as the girls still seemed to be distraught at the sight.
"I-I-Ichika... how are you?" Charl said, trying to sound as normal as possible but it was clear as day that something was troubling her.
"Pretty good Charl, sorry I'm late... Nagi wanted to see every inch of the school"
Nagi wrapped his arm around Ichika's neck and grinned at him. "Aw come on bro, you can't tell me you didn't enjoy the sights"
Ichika gave him a questioning look before a blush appeared on his face and he shook his head. "N-No, I didn't enjoy it all"
Some of the girls narrowed their eyes at this remark, making them incredibly curious as to what implications were behind what they saw during their tour.
Trying to change the mood, Ichika coughed several times and stepped back.
"I-In any case, I'd like you to introduce you to Nagi, the transfer student." He pointed towards him as the girls then turned their heads and stared the boy.
Nagi didn't like some of the stares they were giving him but he put his hands in his pockets and tried to make a good first impression.
"Pleasure to meet you all"
Rin was the first to speak up as she scoffed. "Heh, and here I thought he'd look more like a stalker and a creep"
Ichika side glanced Nagi who seemed unfazed by Rin's rather rude comment and put on a peculiar grin.
"Well I'm sorry not all of us can look like flat chested saber tooths..."
The group went silent as they let Nagi's words sink in and they all slowly turned their heads towards Rin who emitted a frightening aura and glared at Nagi who didn't seem to care at all about what he said.
"A f-f-flat ch-chested... s-saber tooth you say..." She got up from her seat and marched towards him as Nagi didn't move an inch and Ichika tried to ease her anger.
"C-Calm down Rin, he didn't mea-"
Ichika was brushed aside like a rag doll as Rin continued to make her way towards Nagi and stopped right in front of him and put her hands on her hips.
"Mind saying that again?"
Nagi shrugged. "So what, you're deaf now too?"
That was it.
"Y-You...!" Rin exploded in a fit of rage and deployed a half transformation into her personal IS with her right arm and pulled it back to punch Nagi in the face.
Ichika frantically ran to try and stop her.
"Rin stop it!"
A/N: Oh my, looks like Nagi's in trouble. (Sigh) Rin has a pretty short temper.
