Chapter 6:

Senpai waited in anticipation for everyone to arrive. Just because he'd agreed to this didn't mean that he's not nervous.

Senpai: Knowing Nagatoro, she's going to burst in in 3, 2, 1…

The door slammed open as Nagatoro burst into the room with a flourish.

Nagatoro: "Sup, Senpai!"

Senpai: "S-sup, Nagatoro."

Nagatoro: "You excited to meet Takagi-chan's friends? What am I saying, you'd give anything to meet a bunch of cute girls, you per-vert!"

Senpai: "I-I'm not a pervert!" Dammit, I need to change the topic… "So w-when did you start calling her Takagi-chan?"

Nagatoro: "Well, we had a little chat last night and it was nice. Wouldn't you want to know, creepy Senpai?"

Senpai: "Oh, sup!"

Senpai had heard what Nagatoro had said but his train of thought was interrupted by the sudden arrival of an upbeat Takagi and a downtrodden Nishikata.

Nishikata: She teased me… 79 times… in class alone…

Takagi: "Sup, Hachioji-san."

Nagatoro: "Sup!"

Senpai: "So when is everyone arriving?"

Takagi: "Mano, Nakai, Houjou, and Hamaguchi will be here shortly."

Nagatoro: *noodle slapping Senpai* "Gamo-chan, Yoshi, and Sakura are on their way. Why do you care so much about this? Are there going to be too many girls for you to handle? You're such a virgin, Senpai!"

Nishikata/Takagi: What is she even saying?

Senpai: "Anyways, I think that's them now."

Senpai's statement was proved right as the door slid open to reveal 4 girls standing right outside the room.

Gamo: "Sup, Paisen!"

Yoshi: "Sup!"

Sakura: "Sup, Senpai-kun!"

Senpai/Nagatoro/Takagi/Nishikata: "Sup."

Nishikata: "Wait… Are you guys all from that Toro-cat video on youtube?"

Gamo: *smirking* "You got that right. I assume that you and the other person here are new members of the club?"

Nishikata: "Yeah. I'm Yuki Nishikata."

Takagi: "I'm Rie Takagi. Nice to meet you guys!"

Gamo: "So Hayacchi, how's the love nest with these 2 joining the art club?"

Yoshi: "Love nest!"

Nagatoro: "It's not like that! Besides, it's only been 1 day. It's nice to have some other people around to balance out Senpai's grossness."

Sakura: "Speaking of other people…"

Nakai/Mano/Hamaguchi/Houjou: "Sup!"

Nagatoro/Senpai/Nishikata/Takagi/Gamo/Yoshi: "Sup."

Soon, everyone was sitting on the floor enjoying their food and talking amongst each other. It wasn't long before Mano broke the silence.

Mano: Takagi-chan? Did you draw the pictures on the walls?

Everyone looked around at the walls of the art room which were dotted with still lifes and portraits of Nagatoro drawn by Senpai.

Takagi: *Putting her hand on Senpai's shoulder* "Oh, no. Those were all drawn by Hachioji-san over here."

Senpai lightly blushed at this physical contact while Nagatoro shot Takagi a death glare with her hollow, black eyes.

Takagi: *Removing her hand* "That reminds me, Why don't we share our names?"

As everyone was introducing themselves with their first and last name, Senpai took note of everything being said around him, only spacing out when everyone who he didn't know had already introduced themselves.

Nagatoro: "... but most of my friends call me Hayacchi."

Houjou: "Now that that's out of the way, I can't help but mention something. The portraits on the wall look a lot like you, Nagatoro-san. Also, you look a lot like that girl from the Toro-cat video and your name ends with toro."

Nagatoro: "Yeah, those are drawings that Senpai over here made. His first drawing wasn't like me at all! He was too embarrassed to even look at me for more than a few seconds at a time and he even smudged my thighs!"

Nagatoro then began to lightly blush at the next memory of her Senpai drawing her.

Nagatoro: "The next one… I'd just moved the couch here and Senpai was getting all flustered while drawing me and I ended up falling asleep on the couch. The drawing turned out well so… I rewarded him. Although to be honest, it was a little lewd because of how detailed it was!"

Nakai: "How'd you reward him?"

Nagatoro: *Blushing deeply* "I… uh… bought him juice."

This seemed to satisfy Nakai but everyone other than him and Senpai looked at her in disbelief. Senpai was too busy blushing to notice all the stares Nagatoro was getting.

A/N I'm using the manga's lore for Nagatoro and the anime's lore for Takagi-san.

Gamo: *Smirking* "I bet he loved your juice, Hayacchi!"

Nagatoro *blushing harder* "Shut up."

Sakura: "Senpai-kun's a good artist, though. He drew these portraits for the culture festival." *gesturing at 4 paintings next to each other* "He actually managed to beat the president of the art club with it!"

Senpai: "W-well I only won because the President got disqualified. She's a much better artist than I'll ever be."

Nagatoro was slightly annoyed at Senpai downplaying his own art skills and decided to help boost his self esteem in her own teasing way.

Nagatoro: "Yeesh, gloomy Senpai's feeling bad for himself again! Those paintings are so detailed that I honestly feel a little violated! Gross!"

Everyone in the room besides Senpai, Nagatoro's friends, and Takagi looked at her in confusion, and then looked at Senpai in confusion as he was just sitting there taking it. What confused everyone more was when Senpai began to smile.

Senpai: I should probably feel bad, but she did kinda compliment me. In her own, Nagatoro way.

Hamaguchi: "I mean, Hachioji's art seems pretty neat! I probably couldn't make anything anywhere near as good as the art you make."

Nakai: "Agreed."

Mano: "So what drawings have you made, Nagatoro-san?"

Senpai: "Oh, uh, Nagatoro isn't in the art club. She just comes here to hang out and models for me from time to time."

Nagatoro: "Jeez Senpai, I can answer for myself, you know!"

Senpai: "Wha- oh, sorry."

Nagatoro: "That was so gross of you! Gross! Gross! Gross!"

Gamo: "Yeah, Hayacchi only really draws in our art classes. She's not too bad at it, but Paisen's art is on another level."

This statement returned an idea to Nishikata's mind.

Nishikata: I remember now! All I need is for Hachioji-san to teach me how to draw and then I can beat Takagi!

Nishikata: "What's your secret, Hachioji-san?"

Senpai: Hmmm… What's my secret? I don't really know myself. What would the president say? Uh… Wait! I know!

Senpai's mind returned to a moment a few days before

President: "It's love."

Senpai blushed deeply as his mind returned to the present.

Senpai: "I-it's, uh, h-having an interest in a subject."

Senpai only became more nervous as he noticed everyone staring at him, Nagatoro staring especially hard.

Senpai: "O-or rather, it's important to like what you draw."

Nagatoro smiled at Senpai and blushed deeply at his words.

Gamo: *Noticing Nagatoro* "You must really like what you draw, eh Paisen?"

Senpai: "U-uh, y-yeah! Of course!"

Gamo: "hmmmmm…"

Sakura: "So Nishikata-kun, how'd you and Takagi-chan find the art club?"

Nishikata: "Oh, well, we visited the art exhibits-"

Nishikata's face went bright red as he remembered the drawing that the president had put on display. Takagi noticed this and immediately stifled a laugh.

Nishikata: "W-what was that, Takagi-san?"

Takagi: "Oh, nothing. Keep going."

Nishikata: "A-and Takagi said that she really liked all the paintings so here we are. I was looking forward to joining an athletic club, though…"

Mano: "You know, the swim club is always available. We got a few members like me and Nakai after the culture festival but we're still pretty small. Say, Takagi, didn't you do swimming at some point?"

Nishikata: Hmmm… I know that I'm stronger than Takagi so I should be able to swim faster than her. This is my chance for victory!

Nishikata: "What do you think, Takagi-san?"

Takagi: "I still need to reserve time to study and art club seems like it'll take up a lot of time. I'll pass."

Nishikata: Dammit! I guess that isn't an option.

Nishikata: "I think I'll pass then. I'm probably going to need to study extra hard if I want to get into a good university."

Hamaguchi: "I think I'd be down for it, though. I'm always open to getting a bit more fit. How about you, Houjou?"

Houjou: "I think I could join."

Mano: "So it's settled! I guess we'll be seeing each other later!"

Gamo: "Hayacchi's really good at swimming though so if you're looking to try to win a race or 2 then good luck!"

Nagatoro gave Gamo a quick glance before going back to spacing out.

Mano: "I've gotten way better at swimming so you'd better prepare yourself, Nagatoro-san!"

This got Nagatoro's attention like not much else could. A challenge in something she was especially talented at? This couldn't go unanswered.

Nagatoro: "You're on, Mano! Let's see who does better today at swim club!"

Senpai and Nakai looked at their love interests and smiled. It was rare for Senpai to see Nagatoro invest so much energy into anything but teasing him and it was rare for Mano to express so much competitive spirit in general.

Gamo: "Looks like you've got a challenger, Hayacchi!"

Nagatoro: "Heh. We'll see about that."

Nakai: "I'll be cheering for you, Mano!"

Nakai gave her a light peck on the forehead. Senpai said nothing but gave Nagatoro a smile and a nod of approval. Nagatoro responded with a "bleh" while sticking her tongue out at him.

Houjou: "You want to race too, Hamaguchi?"

Hamaguchi: "Sure. I won't take it too seriously seeing as I'll win easily."

Houjou: "Someone's confident."

Soon, the bell rang and everyone went back to their classes.