"This sucks…" Natsuki groaned.

Normally at the end of the school day, Natsuki and the other Literature Club girls would meet in their clubroom and participate in whatever activity was thought of. Today though, every afterschool activity has been cancelled on account of a chemical experiment gone wrong.

"It can't be helped, Natsuki. These things happen," Monika said in an attempt to console the petite club member.

But those words fell upon deaf ears as Natsuki sighed.

Soon, Shujinkou arrived; Surprise being the only thing he felt the moment he noticed Natsuki slumped against the entrance of the school.

"Shujinkou!" Sayori waved."Where you've been?"

"I kind went looking for Rei to make sure she got out of the school okay," the late club member replied.

"Well, I guess it's kind of obvious that we can't have our club meeting today, so I guess that means that everyone but Sayori can go home," Monika announced.

"Everyone but Sayori?" Shujinkou could imagine a giant blue question mark forming over his head as he pondered what he just heard.

"Monika and I have some club stuff to do and we decided to do it at her house since we can't do it here," Sayori explained.

"Oh," Shujinkou scratched his right cheek as he watched the two wave goodbye and leave.

"Well…" Yuri slightly fidgets as she glanced at Shujinkou. "I guess I'll take my leave too. See you two tomorrow."

"Right. See ya," Shujinkou nodded his head and watched Yuri leave. "Guess I'll leave too. I wonder what I should do with the extra time I have today."

Shujinkou began his trek home, pondering what he could do with his free time.

"I really don't want to go home yet."

Those few words were enough to cause Shujinkou's entire body to freeze in place. It was quiet, but just audible enough for him to hear it. He curiously turned around and was baffled to discover that Natsuki's disappointed face had changed into one of sorrow. His mind was then barraged with memories of the afternoon they spent together in the clubroom despite the fact the meeting was closed that day. He always wondered why she still went and still does to this day. Perhaps it was…

"H-Hey, Natsuki," Shujinkou nervously scratched his right cheek as he approached the his fellow club member. "Do you want to hang out at my house for a while?"

The petite student immediately looked up and shot him a look that only made the situation even more awkward for Shujinkou.

"What are you asking all of a sudden?" she asked, her voice layered with skepticism.

"It just that you seem disappointed that the club's been cancelled today and since you let me read your manga all the time, I thought it would only be fair if I let you read mine since you can't get to yours," Shujinkou sheepishly explained.

Natsuki looked away and silently stared into the distance, the serious expression she wore on her face prompting him to wonder if he shouldn't have made the suggestion.

"Fine," she finally said. "But only because the club is only cancelled."

"Well, I don't want you to feel like you have to come if you don't want to," Shujinkou replied.

"I-I'm not saying that I don't want to. I'm just making it clear that-"

Shujinkou's innocent and curious gaze disrupted Natsuki's train of thought.

"Uh… I'll go. Just don't make a big deal out of it," she said.

"Okay?" Shujinkou scratched his right cheek, confused by what he just witnessed. He couldn't understand why Natsuki reacted so strongly to his proposal when she had already visited his home twice before, a thought that would remain with him as they walked into the residence.

"Mom, are you home?" Shujinkou yelled only for silence to respond back to him. "I guess she's out."

"You sure it's okay for me to be here?" Natsuki asked. "Your mom seemed kinda weird the last time I was here."

"What? No, she's fine with you guys," Shujinkou scratched his right cheek as his face slightly grew red. "I… I kinda never got around to telling her that I was the only boy in the club so that's why she acted a little different."

"What?! How come you never told her before then?"

"Well, what's the first thought that would come to mind if a boy joined a club that was currently composed of nothing but girls?"

"…Yeah, I see your point. But you should have told her before then. You could've created an awkward situation for all of us. Besides, we all know that you joined because of Sayori." Natsuki crossed her arms as she diverted her gaze.

"That's true, but she's only part of the reason I stay," Shujinkou replied, his eyes scanning the area.

"Wha?!" Natsuki's cheeks changed shades to match the color of her hair. "D-Don't just say stuff like that out of nowhere, dummy!"

"Huh?" Shujinkou's eyes stopped scanning the area and landed on Natsuki. "Sorry, I guess I was saying things while slightly dazed."

"Yeesh. You really need to think before you say things. Can I just see your collection before things get more awkward?"

"Good call."

Shujinkou led his fellow club member to his room and motioned her to where his own personal collection of manga resided.

"Really nice to have your collection at home…" she muttered.

"That reminds me… Why do you always keep your manga in the club room?" Shujinkou asked.

"Uh… Just so I don't have to constantly move it back and forth between home and school. Besides, dad hates it when things are cluttered around the place."

"Really? Jomei didn't care about that much."

"You call your dad by his first name?"

"Did I? I didn't notice."

"Man, you can be really weird sometimes."

"I think that's one of my better points though. Or at least that's what Granny Hisa said I should think."

Natsuki searched through Shujinkou's collection of literature, her eyes glowing as she thoroughly sifts through each volume.

"I never realized you had such an impressive collection," Natsuki said. "You even have some really old classics."

As she continued to search through the sea of manga, one title immediately caught her eye.

"Queen's Blade: Exiled Warrior...?" she read aloud as her fingers gripped the title.

Shujinkou's entire body tensed up as Natsuki inspected the cover. She then flipped through a couple of the pages, each turn causing her face to become more and more disturbed.

"Shujinkou… I never knew you read gross stuff like this…" she bellowed.

"It's not like that!" he sheepishly replied. "I don't read it for the fanservice."

"Really?" Natsuki shot him a look of skepticism and annoyance. "Then what's the story about?"

"Well…" Shujinkou scratched his right cheek as he felt the oppressive atmosphere lean on him. "It's about a young woman that's a princess of a small area that's dissatisfied with her royal life. She longs for adventure but, depending on the version, circumstances prevent that until one night a bandit that goes by Risty tries to rob her home. Risty's kind of a Robin Hood figure and a strong warrior who opens Leina's eyes to how the world works outside of her castle home and inspire her to get stronger and see the world.

How things progress from there differs by the adaptation but the story revolves around Leina's involvement in a tournament known as the Queen's Blade, a tournament that is held every four years where the strongest female warrior becomes queen. Throughout the journey Leina has to deal with self-confidence, her own strength, her relationship with her family and the many people she encounters.

In fact, even though the adaptation you have in your hands is lighter in tone and despite all the fanservice, the entire story of Queen's Blade is a very dark story that explores a lot of themes with its characters."

Natsuki simply stared at him, dumbfounded by what she just heard.

"Yeesh, you really didn't want to be called a pervert did you?" she said.

"No guy likes that," Shujinkou chuckled awkwardly.

"But you know, despite all the in your face fanservice, the designs are actually really cute. I guess I shouldn't be surprised that you would find something good in something that's unashamedly gross."

"Is that a compliment?"

"Of course it's a compliment, dummy. Are you that surprised that I can be nice and give out compliments like the others?"

"When you put it that way, no."

"Eh?"

"I wasn't surprised that you gave out a compliment, I just wasn't sure if it was or not. But that doesn't mean that I don't think you're not nice. I actually think you're a really nice person."

Complete shock circulated through Natsuki as she processed what she just heard.

"Y-You really think I'm nice?" she asked with longing eyes.

"Why wouldn't I? I mean, you always lend me your manga, always let the entire club taste whatever you bake and look out for us in your own Natsuki way."

Natsuki looked down at the book in her hands as her cheeks grew red.

"You must really like teasing me, you jerk!" she snapped.

"I'm not teasing. I just didn't want you to think that I didn't think you were nice," Shujinkou replied.

"Shujinkou…" Natsuki looked into his eyes. "…Forget it. You're just trying to get my mind off of this Queen's Blade stuff. There's other ways than trying to get me all riled up."

Shujinkou scratched his right cheek, and then shrugged as he accepted Natsuki's response to his words. He then watched as she opened the book and started reading the contents inside. Not too long after, Natsuki started to laugh as he began drawing in his sketchbook.

"Okay, I have to admit, this thing is a lot more than just fanservice," she chuckled. "The character interactions are pretty genuine and funny. But does Elina really-?"

"Yep," Shujinkou nodded.

"And Claudette li-?"

"Mm-hmm. There's actually another manga series that give some focus to that."

"If I had a sister that invaded my personal space like that all the time, I would probably want to leave too. I can really sympathize with Leina there."

Natsuki gently closed the book.

"But before I continue, I want to know… Did this series get cancelled too?" she asked.

"You're never gonna let that go, are you?" Shujinkou chuckled.

"Of course not. I kinda like dangling that thread over you," she grinned.

"Right…" an amused smile appeared on Shujinkou's face. "Anyway, you don't have to worry about not getting an ending for that adaptation."

"Great! So I can borrow this and the others right?"

"Yeah. You can borrow all three."

As Natsuki gleefully collected the other two volumes, she noticed something on the floor that completely grabbed her attention away from the books.

"Isn't that…" she reached down and picked up a small case that depicted a familiar orange marsupial on the front. "Crash Bandicoot?"

Shujinkou glanced up from his drawing and noticed Natsuki holding Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy in her hands.

"That's a remaster of the first three Crash Bandicoot games," Shujinkou informed his guest.

"So this where the character came from, huh?" Natsuki looked down at the box with curious eyes. "Alright, pop it in."

"What?"

"I want to play it."

"You do?"

"Why not? You think just because I'm in a club about literature that I don't know how to play video games?"

"No…" Shujinkou did not think that, but he soon remembered how nervous he was about the other members reacting to his interest in video games. His immediate response to that thought was to scold himself: "I stereotyped them while I was afraid that they'd stereotyped me…"

Suddenly, Natsuki pushed the game into his hands, snapping him out of his thoughts. No words were said, but the look on her face made it clear she was determined to play the compilation. Shujinkou removed the disc from his case and slid it into his game console.

"What kind of game is this anyway?" Natsuki asked as she reached for the controller.

"It's a platformer," Shujinkou answered. "Though some of the levels are really hard. Some of them can actually induce rage-quitting."

"They can't be that hard," Natsuki replied as she searched through the levels. "What about 'Stormy Ascent'?"

"That's… probably the hardest level," Shujinkou answered. "You probably don't want that to be your first level."

Without saying a word, Natsuki hit the start button and would soon find herself regretting the decision. Her various responses to the trials of the level were: "No! No! Crap! MakeIt! Make It! Dang it! Yes… Yes… NO! Where those come from?! CRAP!"

She angrily threw her hands up and fell back on Shujinkou's bed.

"So many spikes in places that don't make sense… So many pit falls… Too many one-hit kills!" she groaned.

"Yeah, it's a hard level," Shujinkou slightly chuckled as he scratched his right cheek. "It was cut from the original game and only those who have mastered the mechanics and have gotten used to the physics of the game can beat."

"You could have said that in the first place!"

"What? But I told you that it was the hardest level."

"Well, if you've been as specific as you are now. That probably would have convinced me not to play it."

"I guess, but you played the level out of curiosity right? Even if I was said what I just said earlier, wouldn't you have still played it to see why it was known as the hardest level?"

"Uh…" Natsuki immediately looked away from Shujinkou. Disappointment and sadness was all her face conveyed.

"You don't have to get down, Natsuki. It's just a matter of practice and getting used to the level" Shujinkou said in an attempt to comfort her.

Natsuki's gaze returned to Shujinkou; her face now conveying surprise.

"That's a weird thing to say to someone who lost 15 of your lives," she said.

"That's not a problem. I can grind those back easily," Shujinkou assured her.

"You really can be weird at times."

No other words were said as the two continued to stare at each other; this act soon bringing back the memories of the last time they gazed into each other's eyes in this manner. Shujinkou awkwardly scratched his red right cheek as he tried his best to not let that memory make the situation any stranger.

"So… "

"You're not going to draw whiskers on my face again are you?" Natsuki quickly interjected.

"What? No. Why would you ask that?" Shujinkou asked.

"Cause you have the same look on your face when you did that."

"No, I'm not thinking that at all. But I only did that because you drew a mustache on my face."

"And I only did that because you made a mark on my face."

"Which was an accident."

"Because you couldn't even open a simple pen cap."

"…Okay, you got me there."

A satisfied smile planted itself firmly on Natsuki's face as victory was conceded to her. She then drove her left fist into Shujinkou's right arm.

"What was that for?" he asked.

"For a lot of things," she smirked.

Once again, Shujinkou imagined a blue question mark over his head as he rubbed his right arm.

"Probably best I don't ask…" he thought.

Just then, an idea popped into his head.

"What's on your mind?" Natsuki inquired.

"Huh?" Shujinkou flashed his guest a surprised look.

"Your face kind of gives away that you got an idea."

"Well, I do have an idea. Follow me."

Natsuki followed Shujinkou out of his room and into the kitchen. She watched as Shujinkou reached into the freezer and pulled out two light blue treats for them.

"I just remembered that we made sea-salt ice cream the other day," Shujinkou chuckled as he handed one to him.

Natsuki curiously inspected the frozen desert and asked, "What kind of ice cream is this?"

"Sea-salt ice cream," he answered.

"You already said that. Is there really such a thing as salty ice cream?"

"Sorta. Try it."

Natsuki brought the treat closer to her mouth and took a small bite.

"It's salty, but kind of sweet," she said, her eyes lighting up with happiness. "You really made this?"

"Kind of," Shujinkou replied. "My mom helped me with this batch because she wanted to see how a person would make salty and sweet ice cream. Plus, it's actually from a video game franchise I play and I decided to try my hand at making some. I failed a lot of times before I was finally able to get it right… And then I found out that it was actually real and could be bought from a Disney establishment."

"Wow… I can't believe you went through all that trouble to make something you thought was fictional. That's pretty impressive."

"Really?"

"What? Is it really so strange that I'm impressed because you actually showed some dedication? Anyone would be impressed with that."

"Oh. Like how me and the rest of the club are impressed with your dedication to your baking."

"Exactly. Dedication and passion are two out of the four that are needed for bakin- Wait, What?!"

A look of shock of landed on Natsuki's face.

"What's with you today? Handing out all these compliments… Inviting me over... Are you trying to get on my good side for some reason?" she asked.

"Not really," he shrugged. "Just stating a fact and… it's not like it's that weird that I invited you over."

"It kinda is. It was really out of nowhere and it's not like you needed to do it."

"Well, that's true… I guess I wanted to."

"Why?"

"I guess because I didn't like seeing you so sad."

Natsuki simply stared at Shujinkou.

"How can you be so nice, Shujinkou?" she asked.

"What do you mean?" he wondered.

"You're always willing to help others like when you helped me win that game during the Cultural Festival, or carrying Sayori home and looking after when she was sick or whatever you said to Yuri when she was worried about Akuma or continuing to look out for Rei even though she should be used to our school by now or making those invitations for Monika."

Shujinkou shot Natsuki a perplexed look.

"She's Monika, Shujinkou. There isn't many examples where she gets help and the invitations were pretty good," she replied. "The point is, you do nice things and act like they're not a big deal, you jerk."

"Uhm…" Shujinkou scratched his right cheek as he wondered what to say. "I guess I don't really think about me doing nice things. I just do things. Besides…"

The sound of the front door opening quickly cut Shujinkou off. The two students walked into the next room and watched as Hiro walked in with several grocery bags.

"Shujinkou, Natsuki, what are you two doing here so early?" Hiro asked, immediately realizing her mistake after the fact. "I mean, Shujinkou what are you doing home so early and you brought a friend home."

"All afterschool activities were cancelled and I invited Natsuki over," Shujinkou explained in the most casual manner he could muster.

"Pardon the intrusion," Natsuki said.

"It's no trouble," Hiro assured her. "It's not like I have a strict rule about my son inviting people over. Don't mind me; I'm just going to be in the kitchen before I slip into the standard embarrassing mom routine."

Hiro walked into the kitchen, leaving a puzzled feeling in Natsuki.

"Does she actually do anything you consider embarrassing?" she asked Shujinkou.

"Not really," Shujinkou shrugged. "But I think she's just worried that she'll do something that she thinks will embarrass me."

"Huh."

That single word was the only thing she said before leading the walk back to Shujinkou's room.

Later that evening…

"You know, watching you play the game and then reading the manga, it's kinda clear that they gave Crash a major overhaul in personality," Natsuki noted. "I can't imagine game Crash acting the way his manga counterpart does."

"Well, it got the cartoony aspects down," Shujinkou replied.

"I'm not saying manga Crash isn't a good protagonist, but I think they could have done this adaptation with the original personality."

"Maybe they'll do that one day."

"I guess. But I really wish that this series didn't end on a cliffhanger."

Her eyes trailed down and expanded as they focused on the time displayed on her phone.

"Oh crap!" she exclaimed.

"What is it?" Shujinkou asked.

"This is the time when the club usually ends! I got to get home!"

"Oh. Okay."

Shujinkou escorted his guest downstairs and opened the door for.

"Well… I guess I'll be going now," Natsuki said with a disappointed face. "Today was… uh…"

"Better than nothing?" Shujinkou concluded.

"I guess so. It was a pretty rare occasion so of course it was better than nothing. Still… Thanks for inviting me over."

"You don't have to thank me. It was pretty fun having you over. In fact…" Shujinkou scratched his right cheek. "You can come over anytime, if you want."

"Um…" Natsuki stared at Shujinkou with an intense expression. "Do you really mean that?"

"Yeah. Anytime you want."

"Uu..." Natsuki bit her lip, desperate to keep her slight smile hidden. Her rosy cheeks grew even brighter than before as she struggled to maintain eye contact. "I really had fun today too, Shujinkou, so… I would really like to come over again."

"Anytime," Shujinkou restated.

"Okay… See you tomorrow."

"See ya."