Shujinkou yawned as he slowly sat up in his bed. Sparkling sunbeams slipped through his blinds as he scratched the back of his head. Though he didn't show it, he was still satisfied by his accomplishment from the day before. It took hours, but he was finally able to replicate a glitch in Sly 3's final battle that he had once obtained by accident.

Once his eyes were fully accustomed to the new day, Shujinkou reached for his phone and turned it on.

"Oh crap!" horror wasted no time grasping him in its grip as he was greeted by the device's internal clock. "I'm late for school!"

The startled young man swiftly jumped out of bed and sped through his usual before school schedule. Once he was ready, he grabbed his bag, ran down the steps and lunged towards the front door.

"I'm off to school, Mom!" he shouted as he opened the door.

As Shujinkou jumped through the front door, he heard a surprising response. "But, Shujinkou, didn't you tell me that you didn't have school today?"

Such a reply caused his entire body to freeze for a full minute, diverting all power to his brain to allow it to process what he had just heard. Shujinkou soon backtracked inside, closing the door behind him and turned towards his mother.

"Oh yeah…" Shujinkou said, scratching his red right cheek. "I totally forgot about that."

He then walked back upstairs to his room and changed into more casual clothing. Just as he finished getting dressed, he heard a knock on his door.

"Come in," Shujinkou answered.

He watched as his mother slowly opened the door, sporting a curious look on her face.

"Is something wrong, Shujinkou?" she suddenly asked.

"No. Why do you ask?"

"Well, it's just that students usually don't forget day offs from school and... Well… I just wanted to know if something was bothering you to make you forget."

"No, I'm fine."

"Okay then. Do you have any plans for the day?"

"Not particularly."

"Oh. Well, will you need me for anything?"

"Um… Not that I can think off."

"That's good, because I was planning to head out after you woke up."

"Head out where?"

"Well… Just roaming around town."

"Oh."

An awkward silence prevented any further exchanges of dialogue, something Shujinkou found surprising. There was never any tension when it came to his mother telling him her plans.

"Anyway, I don't really know when I'll be back, but if you need me, just call," she informed him.

"Okay," Shujinkou nodded his head. "Have fun."

"Mm." with a simple nod, Hiro departed from his room.

"Any plans today…" the young man spread out on his bed as he wondered what he could actually do with his time. He could try to write; perhaps he could draw, or maybe try and replicate another video game glitch he stumbled upon in the past. "Actually, I think I should go vis-"

Before Shujinkou could finish that thought, he heard the sound of the doorbell reverberate through the house. He once again travelled down the steps, reached for the front door and opened it to find Natsuki on the other side.

"'sup," Natsuki greeted him.

"Hey, Natsuki. What brings you around here?" he asked.

"Well, there's no school today which means I can't get to my manga and you said I could come over whenever I want so…"

"Oh…" Shujinkou awkwardly scratched his right cheek. The tone of her voice was similar to when they first met. No, it was actually worse. She genuinely seemed more annoyed with him now then she was then. "Okay… Come on in."

Not a word was said as she walked past him. By the time he had closed the door and turned around, she was already upstairs.

"She's still mad at me…" he imagined a small cloud of rain pelting him with hail as he slowly hopped up the steps. Once he made it back to his room, Shujinkou noticed Natsuki intensly looking though his collection of manga.

"Um, Natsuki…?" he said.

"Yeah?" her answer seemed calm, but Shujinkou could sense the anger hidden in it.

"Uh… You need help looking for something?"

"Nope."

"Okay…" feeling defeated, Shujinkou slumped down on his bed and reached for his phone. "It really is just like when we first met. But… I don't want it to be like that again. I wonder what I could do to make it up to her."

Shujinkou scratched his right cheek as he considered his position in this situation. "Actually, I know exactly what I need to do… Probably should have said it to the others too even if they didn't seem mad."

He took a deep breath and approached Natsuki. "I'm sorry."

She immediately looked up at him with a face of disbelief. "W-What?"

"I'm sorry for upsetting you."

"You're sorry…?" she seemed surprised, as if that was the last thing she thought she would hear. But that didn't last long, as soon that surprise was replaced with anger. "You're sorry? What the heck are you sorry about?!"

"Uh… Well… For making you mad?"

"Mad? What do I have to be mad about? I just had to stand around and watch blackmail take place and despite the fact that its blackmail you seemed pretty eager to lock lips with a manipulative first-year. It seemed beneficial all around, so there's nothing really for me to be mad at. You're the one that should probably be mad seeing as it was just a tease."

"I wasn't exactly eager…"

"You say that, but usually when you're conflicted you escape into your head for much longer than it took you to that time."

"I just-"

"Wanted to satisfy your lust? I know. You don't have to explain that to me. Like I said: I don't have anything to be mad about! Especially when my first real friend would do something like that in front of me!"

Intense guilt sunk into Shujinkou after hearing that. He never even considered that as a possible consequence to his actions when he made his decision. At best, he just felt his instincts saying it was wrong and the one time he had ignored them, he upset everyone.

"I'm... I'm sorry…" he felt as terrible as he did the night before he had joined the club.

But Shujinkou was the not the only one who felt intense guilt. All traces of anger vanished from Natsuki's face as she watched her friend slump back in defeat.

"D-Dang it… I told myself not to do this and I did it anyway," she lamented.

"Do what?" he asked.

"Get on you like that… It's just…" she averted her gaze. "I know I shouldn't even be mad in the first place, especially at you. We finally got a clubroom, which was something I made no secret about wanting for us, and I know that you were only willing to kiss Mali because it would have been really hard to find another one.

But even though I know that, I can't help but be mad. And not only that, I took it out on you because it was easy to direct it b mad at you. Just… Seeing you being blackmailed into almost kissing someone… It made me angry and confused. I just wanted to jump in there and stop it myself while I telling Mali off for trying to do that. And if that wasn't enough, I told you that you shouldn't let her get under your skin and I've let her do just that every time she's around.

I'm mad about that. I'm mad about the blackmail and I'm mad that I directed that anger at you."

"Natsuki…" Shujinkou scratched his right cheek. He wasn't sure what he could say or whether anything he could would actually help.

"I'm sorry. I shouldn't really have blown up at you like that. Maybe it's because you're the only guy I'm friends with." A disappointed sigh slipped through her lips. "No… I'm just lying to myself. I know exactly why I did that."

Natsuki's cheeks grew rosy red as she looked up at Shujinkou. Soon, a crestfallen smile formed on her face. "But what's the point in telling you why? It's not like there would be a point to it."

"Natsuki… It's not like you to sound so defeated. You're usually a lot tougher," he reminded her with a small awkward grin.

"Yeah, well I kinda feel like I've been defeated by someone who takes great pleasure in teasing you so…" she crossed her arms, grimacing as she recalled all of Mali's interactions with Shujinkou. "I mean she just goes around, always in your face and invading your personal space and you're always so flustered like when she pressed her boobs on you."

"When she…" the young man's eyes widened with horror as he recalled that very moment; a moment that only two people should know about. "Y-You saw that?!"

"She snuck off and I figured she was up to trouble," Natsuki shot an annoyed look at her flustered friend. "I was right."

"Ugh… At least I handled that situation better than I would have if not for Natsuki's encouragement," Shujinkou thought. That consolation was the only thing keeping him from submitting to the embarrassment he felt.

"Hmph. Bet if I tried that, I'd get a more annoyed reaction," Natsuki continued.

"If you…? Why would you think about you doing that?"

"Urk-! I just mean-! She just has an easier time-! And she even has bigger… Almost as big as Yuri's!"

"Huh?"

"Dang it, Dummy! I know you're not dumb! Now ignore the contradiction and use your head!" Natsuki snapped.

"Um…" Shujinkou scratched his right cheek as he reviewed what he had heard so far. "Are you… Are you jealous of Mali?"

"It's not like I want to act like her but… And it's not just her, it's everyone… It's like everyone in school is hot and sexy and beautiful and what do I always end up being? Just 'cute'.

"What's wrong with being cute?" he instinctively asked.

"What's wrong?! What's wrong is that I'm always mistaken for a first-year student and I'm never ever taken seriously! And all just because I'm not as developed as everyone else. Even that weird cosplayer guy at the Royal Rumble took one look at me and thought I would be an easy opponent. You don't know what it's like to be thought of like that all the time."

Those words triggered something in Shujinkou, bringing memories of all his interactions with Mali to the surface. "I don't know what that would be like all the time, but I think I have an idea what it would feel like. Mali has a tendency to call me 'cute' when she teases me."

"I'm not surprised at that," Natsuki sighed. But despite her disitant look, she felt comfort at someone who could relate with her issue a little.

"Besides, I can't speak for others but… I never thought I couldn't take you seriously."

"I know. I know that."

"And the others don't look down on you either."

"I know. It's just… It's just…"

Seeing his friend in such a state reminded Shujinkou of a time he was distressed and down on himself. He hated himself and the only thing that could comfort him was his grandmother's embrace. Such a memory was what drove him to suddenly draw Natsuki into his own.

"Wh-?" Feelings of inadequacy were washed away as she tried to understand what was happening. "What are you doing?"

"The same thing Granny Hisa did when I was feeling down," Shujinkou answered.

Natsuki averted her gaze as she sunk into his warm embrace. "How's that supposed to help here?"

"Any guy would jump at the chance to hug such a cute girl."

"Ah" Natsuki's red cheeks grew even brighter as she processed what she just heard. Other than hearing it from Sayori, It was the first time she was called "cute" in a positive way. Spurred on by a rush of emotions, she slowly wrapped her arms around him. "…You jerk."

After their embrace, Natsuki looked up at Shujinkou with innocent eyes. "…Shujinkou…"

Once again spurred on by her emotions, she leaned forward and kissed him. Unlike the first time they kissed, there was no surprise to ruin it. She could-

"Mmph-!" Finally realizing what she had done, Natsuki immediately broke the kiss and instinctively pushed Shujinkou away.

Her eyes darted across the room, desperately looking for something to focus on before she shut them in a huff.

"…Now we're even," she finally said.

"Huh?! E-Even?" the young man was truly lost.

"Don't you remember when I first came over? You're struggling when I was trying to get back at you for the permanent marker thing ended up with us kissing, which was my first kiss."

"Uh…"

"It's not how I imagined it, but I didn't press the matter. But since you've shown that you're willing to kiss people for the right cause, I figured it should have been no issue for you to accept responsibility and let me have a proper first one."

Shujinkou scratched his right cheek as he blankly stared at her.

"W-What?" Natsuki replied defensively.

He averted his gaze and he thought about what he was just told "Well… it's not like I'm in any position to really say anything when I did something similar 2 days ago. It only seems fair that I was kissed under those circumstances. Even if I didn't, I guess it would still be fair."

"Hey!" Natsuki called.

"Um… Nothing. That's a fair point," Shujinkou nodded his head in agreement.

"It i- Right."

An awkward silent ensued as the two directed their gazes away from each other.

"Hey…" Natsuki finally said.

"Yeah?"

"Let me play, Stormy Ascent."

Shujinkou turned back to Natsuki, surprised by her sudden proposition. "Stormy Ascent?"

"Don't think I could beat it do it?" she said, shooting him an annoyed look.

"I wasn't implying that."

"Well, you got me fired up anyway, so let's make a bet. You got 99 lives?"

"Yeah. What are you thinking?"

"If I beat Stormy Ascent first then you have to draw me a picture of Crash Bandicoot and If you win, I'll bake you whatever you want."

"Anything…?" If his sweet tooth was a sentient being, it would be screaming at the top of its lungs to accept the challenge. "Challenge accepted!"

"Let's do this!" Natsuki excitedly declared.

For that point on, the two would spend the rest of the day competing to be the first to beat a very tough video game level.