Thursday, May 18th- Kotori Gakuen 1st year's floor
"See you after school, nii-san." Rin stated while she made her way towards her classroom.
"See ya." Replied Ren accompanied by a hand gesture.
After leaving Rin at her classrooom, Ren started his way towards his own classroom. Thanks to his little sister, Ren knew what he had to do. Not literally because Rin didn't really told him the answer, she just "told" him to not give up and keep triying. Ren owes her one.
'So basically, we just need to find a way to approach Mikagi-san, huh?' While pondering to himself, Ren reached the second year's floor. While walking towards his classroom, he could hear a lot of people whispering things like "Again?", "What's happening?", "Why does she keep on calling my Ren-kyun!". Judging by the voices (except for the last one), he had an idea of what was happening. Or rather, who was happening.
"Ahem~ Good morning, everyone! Could I have your attention please? It will only take a moment." A strong willed voice sounded at 2-E class, making the girls curious while the boys gazed dreamily at the owner of that voice. None other than the student council president, third year-student Sugiwara Honoka.
"Is Kanzaki Ren here?" After hearing the president's voice, everybody shook their heads, only obtaining a sigh from said girl.
"Okay then, sorry for the interru-"
"Do you need something, Sugiwara-senpai?" Before she could finish and leave, the person she was looking for appeared behind her.
"GYHAAA! K-K-Kanzaki Ren?" Apparently startled, Honoka jumped a little after hearing Ren's voice suddenly behind her. Ren just tilted his head quizzically.
"Yes, Kanzaki Ren here. Do you have business with me prez?" Honoka's face started turning bright red, she didn't expected him to appear behind her. She was clearly bewildered.
"Ah! n-no, w-well yeah b-but, ah! I-I remembered something I have to take care of, h-have a good day!" Leaving those last words, the student council president, third year-student Sugiwara Honoka, escaped from the classroom, leaving everybody astonished except for Ren.
"...? Well, whatever." Ren decided to enter the classroom after watching Honoka leaving.
The reason why everybody was surprised (although is not the first time they see it.), is because Sugiwara Honoka, the student council president is a serious and responsible person, a role model student. But she also is a beauty: tall height, and an average sized chest (B-cup). She also has long messy black hair, a pair of glasses that hide a black eyes. But most importantly, and her most distinguishable trait: Her delinquent face. So, if she is such an important person at Kotori, and has a serious personality, why was she so flustered back then?.
Love is complicated, or so they say. Honoka had a crush on Ren since the latter's first year school entrance ceremony, when she was still the vice president of the student council, since then, she has been smitten with him.
"Haha, good morning, Ren. Already making a fuss this early in the morning?" Akira greeted Ren like he always does everyday. Ren smiled wryly.
"What the hell. I don't know what happened myself you know?" He brushed off his friend's comment and made his way towards his desk.
"Good morning, Sakagami-san." Upon arriving to his desk, he turned to see Shigure staring at the window. She was clearly different from her usual demeanor.
"Good morning, Ren-chan..." Like he thought, she is clearly depressed about yesterday's events.
"Hey, come on. I already told you to not worry about that." Ren tried to cheer her up, but she was still upset.
"How can I not worry? It's my fault that Mikagi-san got mad." It was really unnusual hearing Shigure saying such pessimistic words, one after another. Ren tried to choose his words carefully, he didn't wanted to make her more upset. After a couple of seconds, he replied.
"Yeah, you're right. In a sense, IT IS your fault."
"I knew iiiiiit~!" Shigure collapsed on top of her desk after hearing Ren's words.
"That being the case, you should try to take responsibility." Shigure turned to look at Ren with a confused expression on her face.
"What do you-" Before she could finish, Ren continued.
"So, what I'm trying to say is, let's keep working together until we make Mikagi Sora join the club, okay?" Shigure blushed heavily, but she nodded anyways.
'Ren-chan is so considerated with me... I have to do my best then!' Thought the blue haired girl.
"Ren-chan...?" Shigure asked Ren with a questioning face. He titled his head to his side, as if asking 'what is it?'.
"Isn't it supposed to be a circle?" Ren was taken aback by her train of thought.
"...Touché." He shook his head. They were clearly getting out of topic.
"Anyway, leave it to me Ren-chan!" With renewed resolve, Shigure got up and with a brimming smile, accepted Ren's kindness.
"Whoa... Did you see that, Miyako? Shigure suddenly cheered up!" One of Shigure's closest friends, Minosato Aoi, was talking to another friend of hers.
"Fufu, yes, I did see it, Aoi-chan. Certainly, Kanzaki-kun is amazing." Fuuka Miyako, who completed the trio alongside Shigure and Aoi, smiled gently at the sight before her eyes.
"Good morning! It's time to take attendance. Please go back to your seats~" With god-like timing, Nagi entered the classroom and stated that homeroom was going to start.
'For a person who doesn't like to attract attention, you sure are a chick magnet. You siscon.' Akira thought for himself with a grin on his face while the class started.
*RING, RING* "—And that's everything for today, make sure to study what we covered this week. That's all." After hearing the chime announcing lunch break, Endou-sensei finished his lecture with a smile.
"Haaah, talk about difficult..." Akira, who had just finished taking notes, sighed and turned to talk with his 'best-buddy'. Ren smiled complexly and nodded.
"Yeah, Math it's really difficult to understand." Akira glared at him.
"Shut up! Are you really not understanding this things? You always know the answers when the teachers ask something!"
"I'm sorry?" Ren apologized(?) confused.
"You don't mean it at all, right?" Akira's mood sunk considerably.
"Well, I'm not lying when I say that I don't really study that much at all. Just a quick review before tests." Ren tried to cheer his friend up, but he only obtained the opposite.
"Damn geniuses like you and your sister! We average people study like crazy, even putting all-nighters sometimes. And we end up barely passing anyway, talk about unfair." Like a child throwing a tantrum, Akira crossed his arms and pouted.
"Haha, good to see you guys get along as always." While Ren and Akira were talking, two boys approached them. One with his hands on his pockets and the other one waving at both of them.
"Hey, Kiriyama, Shirada." Ren greeted both of them with an inexpressive face but with a friendly attitude, talk about strange.
The taller guy, Kiriyama Tamao (one of Ren's classmates) is your typical sporty guy who likes to do any kind of sport or physical activity. He also happens to be the captain of Kotori's male basketball club. He has a toned body from all the exercise, and his dream (from his words) is to win the nationals.
The one who greeted Ren and Akira, Shirada Touta on the other side, is just a regular member of the soccer club. But, just because he is not the captain like Tamao doesn't mean he is bad at soccer, all the opposite, he is one of the best prospects of the male soccer club, even winning the local tournament at Tsukigawa. Unfortunately, the team never passes to the nationals.
"What are you two up to? you can hear Nishina's complains from the hallway." Tamao, who is usually a calm person, was interested in the conversation.
"Listen! Ren says that he doesn't really study for the tests."Akira's words left both males awed.
""H-HUH?! How is that possible? What are you, a genius?"" Touta and Tamao spoke in sync, both in disbelief.
"No, I'm not. I would say Rin is the smart one. Besides, this things are easy if you just do a little review." Ren's logic was correct, but logic doesn't apply for a trio of young high-school boys.
"Kuuuh... Damn geniuses!" This time, the threesome fell onto their knees and cursed the unfairness in the world.
"Why does this siscon has to be so smart?" The boys muttered in unison.
"Eh?" Ren was tilted his head confused. The world is full of unfairness.
Meanwhile...
*Knock, Knock* "Pardon my intrusion..." With a discouraged voice, Sugiwara Honoka went straight to the student council office after lunch break started. Judging from her expression, she looked utterly dejected.
"Am I the first one to arrive?" Talking to herself, she scanned her surroundings searching for another student council member, but just like she just said, she was the only member in the room at the moment. Shortly, after making sure that she was all alone, she let herself drop on her chair.
"Haaa~ Today was no good again..." Honoka sighed heavily. She was obviously referring to her business with second year Kanzaki Ren.
"And just when I mustered the courage to invite Kanzaki Ren to eat together..." She pouted childishly, frowning all the while.
"Well, it's not like it was assured that he was going to say yes." She started doubting herself.
"He must dislike me for my delinquent face, right!? Kuhhh~ Damn my DNA!" Certainly, some people were scared of Honoka's delinquent face. But until now, she has never acted like one. Thanks to this, a lot of students respect her as their student council president.
"Maybe if I invite him to the office pretending there is something I need his help with..." Honoka started thinking of a plan to invite him on an indirect way.
*Slideee~*
"'Well, since you are here, why don't we eat lunch together?' No no no, that sounds too convenient! Maybe something like, 'Sorting documents really makes me hungry, shall we eat something?'" She didn't noticed the sound of the door being opened.
"What are you doing, Sugiwara-san?" Someone called her over.
"A-Ah! M-Makise-kun?! G-Good morning!" The person who had just entered the room happens to be the vice president of the student council, 3-A Makise Shuuri. Also known as the "perfect senpai" by the underclassmen. He's just like the name suggests, the epitome of the word "chivalry". He is a kind hearted person, and an extremely good looking man, basically, the personification of a "bishounen". Thanks to his good traits, Shuuri has the hearts of almost every girl on Kotori Gakuen.
*Bishounen literally means "beautiful youth(boy), a young man whose beauty (and sexual appeal) transcends the boundary of gender or sexual orientation (Thanks, Wikipedia-sama).*
"Good morning, Sugiwara-san. You okay?" He decided to brush it off like it was nothing, that being another one of his good traits.
"Y-Yeah, everything is okay!" Still agitated, Honoka vehemently waved her arms. Shuuri just laughed it off.
"Oh, are you the only one who has arrived?" Noticing that there was no other people, he asked. After taking several breaths, Honoka settled down.
"Toshie and Koga-kun said that they have had to attend some class rep matters, so they will not come." Shuuri nodded while mumbling 'I see'.
"Oh, Akiba-kun said he'll come, he said we can just start eating ourselves." Honoka started splitting her chopsticks after that, preparing to eat lunch.
"Oh, then I'll join you." Said Shuuri with an enchanting smile. Honoka returned the gesture.
"Sure." With a polite smile, she started eating. The "perfect senpai" charms don't have any effect on Sugiwara Honoka. She already has the "Kanzaki Ren" disease, she's seriously ill and it doesn't look like there is cure.
The student council for some coincidence ,was formed by class representatives. First of all, the president: Sugiwara Honoka. The vice president: Makise Shuuri. The secretary: 1-B, Koga Masayuki. The treasurer: 2-A, Ogura Toshie. And last but not least, a regular member: 1-E, Akiba Nori. These five people together form our current student council. By the looks, they are liked by most of the students due to their hard work and good management of the student council.
""Itadakimasu."" Shortly after they started eating. Sorry, president Sugiwara, looks like today is no good again.
Class 1-A
"Kanzaki-san!" Rin heard her name being called.
"Keita-kun? What is it?" The boy, Horii Keita is a classmate of Rin. They seem to be in good terms due to Rin using his first name. She looked at him intensely.
"*Stareee~*"
"W-What is it? Why are you looking at me, Kanzaki-san...?" Keita suddenly got nervous from being under Rin's "cold gaze". Obviously she was not mad at him or the sort, that's just the way her face looks when she is staring at someone or something, 'gives me goosebumps' or so Ren says.
"How do you do it Keita-kun...?" Rin squinted her eyes a little, like trying to have a better look of the boy.
"D-D-Do what?" He was becoming more and more nervous. Her "cold stare" didn't stopped.
"How can you have such a silky hair?! And what the hell is wrong with your skin, it's like touching cotton!" She suddenly started complaining. Women are complex creatures.
"I know, right!? I wonder how does Horii-kun take care of his skin." Suddenly another girl appeared.
"Yes, yes, I wanna know too!" And another one yet.
The persons who have just joined the conversation are Rin's bests friends, Higuchi Kana and Tomiko Shizu. Kana is a redhead with amber colored eyes who is considered a tomboy because of her strong and rough behavior. Her classmates (boys) always say that she doesn't have a piece of femininity, much to her annoyance.
On the other hand, Shizu is a short but with a curvy body girl, with long greyish hair held down in a braid, brown eyes and glasses. Despite being what you'd call a 'bookworm', being the light novels her favorite genre (especially fantasy ones), she is quite feminine in comparison to Kana when talking about looks and Rin when talking about behavior.
Rin really likes and appreciates both girls, considering them her best friends, but there is just one subject that should not be touched.
"Hey hey, Horii-kun. Don't you have some tips for back pain? You know, I think mine's became a little bigger this year." Said Kana while scratching her head embarrassingly.
"..."
"Ah, I know what you mean Kana-chan. My back was hurting these last days and I thought the same!" Replied Shizu.
"..."
"A-Ahaha... I'm sorry, but I don't have any of the like. I-I'm a boy you know?" Keita laughed awkwardly while shaking his head. Little by little, the temperature was starting to decrease.
"Too bad! It really hurts like hell, you tell him Rin!" Kana passes the conversation on the wrong direction.
"Ah~" "Oh my..." "Now she did it..." Simultaneous voices could be heard at the same time.
"Khh..!" Rin was trying to contain her annoyance with a crimson face. She looked like steam would pour from her ears at any moment.
"Oh dang... m-my bad Rin. B-But hey, don't worry! I'm sure they're going to grow bigger! Maybe a C-cup?" Kana tried to cheer up her friend.
"Y-You think so..?" With a hollow look on her eyes, which had lost all brightness, she turned to see Kana, her last hope.
"Probably... Sorry..."
"Was it really necessary to add that 'sorry' at the end?!" Rin looked like her face would explode at any moment from the embarrassment.
"There, there." Shizu patted Rin on her back trying to comfort her.
"Leave me alone!" Rin brushed off Shizu's hands and regained her cool.
"Umm, Kanzaki-san?" Keita asked shyly.
"What?!" Rin replied aggressively.
"Why are you mad at me?!" Keita retorted with a scared voice.
"Sorry, sorry. And?" Rin urged him to elaborate.
"Well, what I was trying to say was-" Before he could finish, someone passed through the door.
"Good morning Rin. Are you mad because they are talking about breasts? Come here, you poor thing." Before her sister could reply, Ren hugged her from behind and placed his chin on her head all the while maintaining his face unfazed.
"N-Nii-san?! W-What are you doing all of a sudden..." Rin tried to break out from her brother's embrace without putting much force. She didn't really disliked to be hugged by her brother, she was just embarrassed of being held like that in public.
"-your brother came to see you, is what I was going to say." Keita finished with a sigh.
"Ohoo~ Ren-senpai. What do you need?" Kana was curious of the reason of Ren's presence. Shizu just looked expectantly.
"Sup girls. Sorry but could you let me borrow Rin? I just need 5 minutes." Ren smiled gently and asked for their permission.
"Of course, she is your sister after all, Ren-senpai. Right, Shizu?" Kana turned to see the 'meganekko'.
"Yes, I don't have any problem with that, onii-san." For some reason, Shizu liked to call Ren "onii-san". She says that's because she doesn't have an older brother, so she wanted to call him that. After almost pleading to Rin, she accepted (much to her annoyance).
"Alright, thank you." Ren dragged Rin to the hallway.
"W-What was all of that, nii-san? Think of the time and place first..." With a light pink on her cheeks, Rin looked at the floor while talking. Ren smiled.
"Here." He extended his hand towards Rin.
"Huh?" Rin looked at what was in her brother's hand.
"Take it, I bought it for you. Think of it as thanks for listening to my problems yesterday." He gave Rin a sincere smile of gratitude.
"...Y-Yeah." Rin just looked at his brother's face for a couple of seconds and after that, she accepted the gift, which was a melon flavored bread filled with strawberry jam.
"Whoops, break is almost over, gotta go. See you later, Rin." That said, Ren parted ways with his sister, leaving her on the hallway with an entranced look on her face.
"Hey hey, what did Ren-senpai gave to you?" Kana who apparently listened to the whole conversation asked her about the gift, but because Rin didn't replied, she just looked by herself.
"Uh? Melon flavored bread with strawberry jam? Boooring. You are such a brocon, Rin" Apparently bored by the gift that Ren gave her, Kana decided to return to the classroom with Shizu. Rin was left alone at the hallway once more.
"..." Rin silently opened the wrapper of the bread, and shyly took a bite. When the sweetness flooded her mouth, her face turned deep crimson and her eyes looked more bright, she had a delighted look on her face.
"Delicious..." It was strange. This is the exact same bread that Rin bought everyday, but not once that bread tasted this delicious. She couldn't understand it, so she just decided to enjoy it and bask on this "fluffy" feeling she was having.
"Okay, now we gotta plan something after school. I need to think of something too." Once Ren returned to his classroom, he started pondering about what to do about the whole 'Sora issue'.
"Well, we'll come up with something I guess." Ren ultimately decided to not think too much about it.
What's up people, Neru here and I hope you liked this chapter just as much as I did. I introduced many more characters (and there's more)to expand the setting of the story, it would be ultra boring to just read about the same characters again and again, so that's what I did on this chapter.
I already bought my laptop's battery, so I can return to write on my PC. Writing on my phone was not that bad, but I prefer to feel the 'tap tap' that a PC gives you, you know.
Edit: Same.
~Neru-san