A/N: Those summer breaks in game.


Chapter 28

Summer

It was nice eating at the table together.

Fuuka had prepared the kitchen and Yukari made breakfast for them all. It would be nice if she did that more often. Yukari wasn't a bad cook, and Fuuka had learned a lot from her. Minato's job in the cooking club might be less.

"I feed Koromaru leftovers. Usually beef bowl. It contains a lot of protein," Akihiko said. "Don't worry, I know what I'm doing."

"It is important that he eats a balanced and nutritious diet," Mitsuru said. "The Kirijo supports the necessary items for dogs, such as vitamin-enhanced dog food."

Koromaru ate his own dog food and barked. Aigis asked random questions. Yukari and Fuuka talked about things Minato didn't understand. Junpei was simply having that goofy grin all the time. That red haired girl, no doubt.

Minato thought of Pharos. That black and white kid would be as talkative as Junpei and as cheerful as Yukari if he existed outside of his head. Minato was quite sure it wasn't intentional that Pharos encouraged him to go for social links. Pharos always have strong instinct and knew what was right. If he said Minato should befriend more people, then he would try, but no one can truly replace Pharos.

Pharos who seemed to be avoiding him lately.


Minato returned to the dorm one day, and Koromaru whimpered. Aigis sat down beside the dog. Junpei was laughing and Yukari seemed depressed. "What happened?"

"Um," Fuuka glanced at the dog. "I know that Koro-chan didn't mean to hurt Yukari's feelings, but… I'm sure she's a little down. I don't know what to do in this kind of situation…"

"He wouldn't eat it!" Junpei laughed. "That's awesome! Hahaha!"

Aigis petted the white dog. "Yukari gave burnt food to Koromaru. He refuses to eat it."

"That bummed me out…" Yukari sighed. "I mean, I know I burned it but I didn't think it was that bad."

"Food so terrible even a dog refuses to eat... Ha!" Junpei kept laughing. "Sorry, Yuka-tan, but it cracks me up!"

The dog sat down and seemed sad, so Fuuka petted him. "Ohh, you're hungry?"

"Arf..."

Fuuka hummed. "How about... Oh, I could cook for you!"

Koromaru visibly flinched. He let out a sad whimper and backed away.

"Um, you don't want it?"

The dog whined and looked up at the android. Aigis nodded. "He says, 'Fuuka's food is sent from hell. It is a mysterious food with ominous energy and bad omen, tastes like a raw meat dip in oil, dirtied with dirt, and was thrown into the fireplace filled with ash. I will never eat it again'."

Fuuka looked down. "Ouch... I get Yukari's feeling now..."

Yukari nodded. "Being rejected by a dog... It hurts, isn't it?"

Minato was quite sure he wouldn't get rejected like these two girls.


At the second floor table, the juniors in 2-F were doing homework. Yukari sighed, seeing all the white spaces in her friend's sheet. "... You didn't do any of your homework, right?"

Junpei raised his hands in defense. "Alright, ya got me! I haven't done any of my homework yet!"

Yukari sent him a look.

Minato spoke up, "I could help."

"Really?" Junpei grinned.

"Both sword fighting and studies, yes." Minato looked at Yukari. "You too, with studies."

Yukari pointed at herself. "Me?"

"You are weak. Both of you are weak and stupid."

Yukari and Junpei exchanged glances. They had to admit, nothing they did was good enough.

Junpei was proud of being the Agi user, then Koromaru came up and steal his role. Aigis also used Physical attack like him.

Yukari could heal, but Minato was quite rich so he bought medicine instead. She later learned that Mitsuru, Akihiko, and Aigis could heal, too. Wind? Minato had Magaru gem, a lot of them.

Their grades were also depressingly low...


Junpei wandered around the station. He didn't feel like watching movies yet. He was hoping to find her again.

And he did.

She was at the same place, at the same time, alone, drawing.

Junpei moved closer to her. "We meet again huh, Chidori?"

The red haired girl kept drawing.

"I had fun on Summer Festival by the way. Thanks so much much for going with me." Junpei grinned. "And you're still drawing like that day. You like drawing, right?" Junpei kept trying. "It's good to know what you like."

"... It's no big deal," Chidori said.

"I think it is," Junpei said. "I like baseball, you see, and if I can make a career out of that, it would be a dream."

"This is only my hobby," Chidori said.

"Uh right. It's nice still, to have something you are really into. I want to see when it's done." Junpei grinned. "Oh, right! The weather's hot today. Wanna go grab ice cream?"

She kept drawing.

"Guess that's a no…" Junpei shrugged. "I'll keep coming back, don't worry."


Junpei invited Minato to his room for a homework session that night. Minato helped him with homework for a few minutes then Junpei started talking.

"There are some real weirdos out there, man…" Junpei trailed off. "Do you remember her? The girl that was with me and kept drawing in her notebook? She seems like she was living in a different world, dude."

"Are you interested in her?" Minato asked.

Junpei scratched his head. "Well, I'm not sure. She didn't seem like she wants friends, and we have no reason to be..."

"Go for it."

"H-huh?"

"If you think she's interesting, get to know her," Minato said. "To find someone interesting is not common, so go ahead. It'll be worth it."

"Really..." Junpei was trying to make her talk and feel comfortable. He wasn't sure if he succeeds or if he ever will be.

"You'll regret it if you don't even try. That's for sure." Minato shrugged. "Or keep trying, in your case, as long as she doesn't say 'no' right in your face and slap your hand away or something."

"She hasn't..." Junpei blinked. He thought again, then nodded. "Yeah. Thanks, dude."


One evening, Ken entered the dorm and headed right to the stairs. No one heard him talk that night. Akihiko also seemed frustrated.

"Ken-kun didn't seem well," Fuuka said. "Maybe he's exhausted from the heat, like Junpei…"

"Dude, he looks pretty down…" Junpei said. "I think he's got heat exhaustion. Poor kid… He should go outside and play. You know, have some fun, build up some stamina…"

"I don't care," Minato said.

"Ouch. You are so cold toward him. He's not that bad, ya know?" Junpei wiped his drop of sweat. "Kids are supposed to be outside in the yard, playing with the dog. Though there's no backyard here… Hey, we have a dog! I could be playing with him now!"

Minato invited Koromaru to the Film Festival.

"… Arf." Koromaru was not in the mood to go out…

Minato shook his head, trying to ignore the fact that he was being turned down by a dog.