Chapter Thirty-One.

Why do people even use animals to impress others?

"Are you guys… going to join my club?"

"Your… club…?" Shiraishi, Hitouji, Koharu and Gin exchange glances and look at Kenya.

Shiraishi steps forward. "Kenya, we haven't seen you since graduation. Just…" his eyes roam around the room once again before returning to question his friend. His forehead wrinkles as a concerned frown appears on his face. "… what happened to you?" There is a lot of changes he sees on his friend.

"I made a club," Kenya briefly replies as he slowly gets down from the table. The sight is unnerving for each inside the room as Kenya - or at least, the normal Kenya they can remember - would simply jump down from the table. There seems to be some kind of gentleness that developed within the previously coffee-haired boy whose hair is now partly bleached and partly jet black. "I recently found a liking to anime and manga, and I thought that I..." his words start to become mumbles, "... must dedicate my highschool life to showing my appreciation to anime and manga."

Hitouji frowns, "In other words, you decided to become an otaku."

Shiraishi sighs. "But why in this dark room? No one uses this room. Where are the other members?"

Kenya shyly chuckles. "I'm currently the only member of the club. You see, I just began this year," he explains, "I requested for this room from the administration office, and they didn't hesitate to let me use this old science laboratory. No other clubs wanted to take this old lab as their club room, after all."

"Kenya-han, you haven't been bleaching your hair, too, lately," Gin observes Kenya's jet black hair outgrowing the bleached parts of his hair at the bottom tip.

"Oh, this?" He runs his hand through his hair that has grown longer than the previous months. "I thought that bleaching has been a waste of my money, so I stopped doing it. I could buy more anime and manga merch with my allowance."

Hitouji frowns. "You're acting really weird, Kenya. You aren't the type to be this calm and gentle."

The other boy simply smiles as he looks at the floor. He scratches the back of his head. "I found out over the past months that watching anime and reading manga all day can calm me down. It's comfortable and there is no practice needed for these kinds of activities for me to enjoy."

Koharu's eyes begin twitching. He grabs Kenya's collars and begins shaking the other boy. "P-please come back to us before your abs get replaced by otaku flabs!"

"I think we're too late for that," Hitouji sighs as he glances at the other boy's stomach, "I think Kenya is starting to gain pounds."

Koharu gasps as he stops rattling Kenya. He stares at the boy's shirt before lifting it up. He shrieks. "Your abs are slowly fading." He pokes the stomach of the boy constantly.

Oddly enough, Kenya shrugs off Koharu's sudden lifting of his shirt despite the obvious discomfort painted on his face. "I-it's fine. There's nothing I can do about it. Abs aren't that all important."

"Nothing?!" Koharu gasps. "Have you no idea that you can attract pretty girls with simply showing your abs?!" He tries to convince the other boy to which Kenya responds by shaking his head.

"And I'm pretty much sure that is not how women work, Koharu," Hitouji also shakes his head in disagreement.

"I'm starting to be contented with two dimensional girls, anyway," Kenya replies.

"K-Kenya… why don't you join the tennis club again?" Shiraishi suggests after seeing the drastic changes on his friend. "Don't you believe that you need actual people around you again?"

Gin takes a deep breath. Before barging into the room and confronting their friend, the four have already devised a plan. He wants to get it over with so that their former teammate can finally come back to normal. He crosses his arms in front of his chest. "We are going to Tokyo this weekend to meet up with Yuu Mikata's voice actress." He catches Kenya's attention in a second. "Are you coming along?"


Ten minutes before one. The poor Yume has just been released from the school infirmary after her dizziness somehow subsided. She has eaten her lunch already and even popped a mint to her mouth to freshen her breath. Sengoku, on the other hand, is also done with his routine of flirting with girls from the upper classes. Despite his enthusiasm with every girl he tried flirting with, the girls have been largely tolerating him but have not shown any interest.

"Are you feeling better now?" Sengoku asks worryingly.

Yume gives him a thumbs up while her other hand is still patting on her stomach. "I vomited so much. I feel my mouth dry up. And there is this really weird aftertaste on my tongue even though I already brushed my tooth." Her skin has been really pale since morning, which catches the boy's attention. "Although, the nurse told me that I'm going to be fine by the end of the day."

"That's good then," the orange-haired boy replies. His brows furrow in the middle. "But will you still be able to come to club later?"

"Yeah, I think I still can do club activities later. I am no longer dizzy after all. I guess I'm just quite dehydrated right now. Maybe I'll feel very much fine when I drink more water."

He nods as he flips a page of the magazine he is currently reading. "So what really happened yesterday? Was it something you ate last night?"

She shakes her head. "It was my cousin's special drink. He was horrible. Very horrible."

Sengoku frowns.

"We were playing tennis yesterday when we accidentally tripped and he poured the drink inside my mouth," she further explains.

He snickers. "Yep. So that explains your stomachache."

"I sometimes think that my cousin wants to kill people who plays tennis." She takes a sip from her water container. "Even though he always claims that his special drinks have health benefits, just looking at his creations makes you cringe and vomit."

"And so the rumors say." Sengoku puts down his magazine on the desk. "By the way, do you have plans after club hours?"

Yume blinks. "Yes, I actually have." She opens her phone and scrolls down through her messages. "I am planning to meet up with a friend – Yuushi-kun, if you know him? He said he also played tennis in middle school."

He raises a brow and chuckles. "Yuushi-kun? Quite friendly, aren't we?"

She nods. "I don't really know his family name, but we met during a dinner with Kei-chan. He's charming, actually." Yume reads the message on her phone once again. "I agreed to watch over his pet iguana."

"Who is Kei-chan?" Sengoku raises a brow.

Yume smiles. "Oh, just a childhood friend of mine."

"But an iguana? That's a rare choice for a pet."

She raises both her shoulders. "We have our own tastes, I guess. It'll probably be a good experience, so why not? Besides, it should only be for the weekend. Yuushi-kun said he will be out of town but he'll be back after."

"I see." He sighs as he looks at the ceiling. "I was just wondering if you could help me approach this girl I always see whenever I go home."

"I'm not going to pimp for you," she deadpans, "just so we're clear here."

"It's not like that." Sengoku laughs. "She's simply interesting. I always see her reading a different book everyday on that specific spot inside that certain coffee shop. Her hair is always tied in a bun and she seems to order the same cappuccino every time I pass by that café. And that's… I guess, interesting."

"Really? Someone who does the same thing everyday is an interesting person to you?"

He glances at Yume who has been smiling. He snaps out of his thoughts. "I-I just thought she is the type to not talk to men and get uncomfortable when a guy approaches her. That's why I want you there, too."

She leans back against her chair. "Oh, you must be so interested in her."

Sengoku smiles as he looks down at his desk. "Well, she is interesting.

"Well… I still have to pick up my friend's iguana. I'm not sure about the girl's timeline, but if it's okay for you… can you wait?"

He winks. "I think we're lucky enough today to see her on her usual spot even if we get there late."


Club hours have just ended. The orange sun is still in its place in the sky but is already preparing to bid its farewell any minute soon. The air feels humid as the wind is brushing against their skins. People fill the streets.

Yuushi calmly sits outside a café as he sips on his cup of tea while reading one of his romance novels. Under his table is an iron cage in which an iguana inside is calmly rested. The gentleman is accompanied by a short-haired girl, who is similarly absorbed in reading her book.

He flips another page of the novel. Yuushi is currently reading on the part when the protagonist of the story has finally realized her feelings for her own brother. The conflict is stirring inside the character's mind, but Yuushi can already predict the plot twists waiting to be revealed in the future chapters. As usual, the protagonist is not really blood-related to her brother, therefore, opening a way for the two to become together. Her brother is actually a hired guardian by her parents. Eventually, the two will become lovers. Everything can be easily foreseen in a story like this. Nevertheless, Yuushi enjoys such romantic clichés. He holds on to his belief that a happy ending for two lovers is always worth waiting for. The only remaining questions will be how, when and where.

"Yuushi-kun!" His reading has been interrupted by a familiar voice calling him.

The gentleman puts his book down and looks towards her direction. His company puts her book down as well and glances towards the voice's direction. "Is that your friend?" the short-haired girl asks.

He smiles. "Yes."

Yume approaches their table. She gasps for air. "I am very sorry that I'm late." She bows. Behind her is Sengoku, who simply waves a hand to him as a greeting.

Yuushi stands up. "I see that you've brought Sengoku-san here as well."

She blinks. "You know Sengoku-san?" Yume asks.

"Of course." Being the gentleman he is, Yuushi offers them a seat. "Please sit down."

"Thanks."

The tables outside Lemon Kiss Café are round in shape and each has four elegantly-designed metal chairs surrounding it. There are six table sets outside the café entrance in which only two tables are occupied. One of the tables has been occupied by Yuushi, Yume, Sengoku and a girl.

"Do you want something? Coffee, tea, or probably... softdrinks?" Yuushi politely asks.

Yume shakes her head. "It's okay. I'll be leaving shortly anyway."

"Okay then." Yuushi looks at the girl sitting across him, who has just closed her book and sipped her tea. The girl looks at him intently, waiting for a formal introduction. "By the way, may I introduce my friend here?" he says, referring to the unidentified woman within the group.

The girl has short hair and round eyes. She has two or three inches more around her waist than Yume and wears a plain blue shirt, long denim pants and a black ribbon as a headband. She bows and politely introduces herself. "I am Shinozaki Minako, a good friend of Oshitari-san."

Yume raises a brow.

"My name is Sengoku Kiyosumi!" the orange-haired gentleman introduces himself. His eyes are sparkling as they stare into Minako's face.

"Right," Minako replies as she averts her eyes somewhere else. "You've been staring at me the whole time, Sengoku-san. Don't you think it would be a shame if I melted from your intense gaze?"

Yuushi chuckles. Sengoku blushes.

"You're that guy who always stops in front of this café every afternoon but does not enter nor sit on the tables," Minako says. She looks at a flustered Sengoku. "You always seem eager to enter the café. Why haven't you tried entering?"

Yume glances at her friend. "She's the girl then," she softly mutters to herself. She looks at Minako and introduces herself. "I am Kurumizawa Yume. I met Yuushi-kun at an optical store."

"I've heard about you." Minako smiles. "You're the one to watch over the iguana, right?" Yume nods. Minako chuckles. "Just in case that Oshitari-san is using the iguana to impress you, the iguana is not actually his." Minako glances at Yuushi.

"I was not trying to impress Yume-chan just so you know."

"The iguana is his cousin's," Minako continues.

Yume blinks. "Right. About that..." She immediately turns to the blue-haired gentleman. "Yuushi-kun, you're… uhm, an Oshitari?" He nods. "You don't happen to have relatives at Osaka, do you?"

"As a matter of fact, I do."

Minako chuckles. "The cat's out of the bag this early?" Yume looks at her in confusion.

Sengoku smiles as he dreamily stares at Minako. "You're beautiful when you laugh."

"Thank you." Minako leans forward nearer to Sengoku. "Would you like to see more beautiful things?" She stares at his eyes likewise.

"I'd love to. How 'bout we talk more over a date?"

Yume clears a throat, interrupting their small chat. She looks at Yuushi. "You don't happen to know…"

"… Kenya?" Yuushi sips from his cup. "He's my cousin, actually." He looks at her. "And I heard you went to the same middle school as him."

~End Chapter~