Chapter 2: The Allocation of One's Leisure

Part 1: Violet and Lotus' Fruits

It's Thursday yet it remains nauseatingly painful the amount of joy there is. On any corridor that you find students in their free periods, they gleefully gossip away with one another. The subject of the gossip didn't concern the police presence soon to surround Shujin at all times, nor did it concern the kinds of questions they might ask. It didn't concern the restrictions that would be put into place for student life such as the likely imposed bans on external facilities for clubs, social media usage and exciting prospects that usually bolster the treasury funds such as the culture festival and school trips. The feelings of the victims as the acts are brought up like horses at the bookmakers? Please. Not even the constant, haggard and intrusive harassment from the media left the mouths of the students. It was the minute possibility that they could end up earning some sort of fame or having more followers or other useless shit. The saner students were a minute few. It shouldn't need saying because any idiot would understand this if they were paying attention but one must not be deceived by the sudden clear skies around my cloudy world. The laughter on their faces will soon turn into contempt and it will be back to the usual joy of their lives: hot gossip. The balcony was no longer an option for my favourite respite of the day and in its place resided something slightly different: a second ponytail wearer and the rooftop as the backdrop.

"Hey Ren."

"Hi, Senpai."

"Hi, girls. What brings you here today, Sumire?"

"We've put a meal together." …They did that. What can I look forward to? Both girls gestured towards their bento boxes of equal sizes. Opening up both, my eyes met the glistening smells of two sets of lunches: one poultry focused lunch and one seafood focused lunch.

"So…you did the poultry one, Sumire?"

"Not telling." she teased. Guess I could get an honest answer out of Shiho instead?

"Uh…did you do the fish one Shiho?"

"Not telling." she teased also. So that's a no then...what have they got to say for themselves?

"It's a blind taste test. We asked for Oracle's advice and she made this decision. Apparently, it's a surefire way of testing us both. She really got into her explanations though…" Shiho explained. From the sore looks of the two, I had no doubt that she went on and on. At least she's taken seriously.

"How else will Violet know whether she's improved enough? Better yet, whether she's taken my pointers seriously?" Shiho followed after. As the few sprinkles of sunlight continued to power through the clouds to shine on us, I walked over to the gardening club's plots to see if there was any noteworthy changes in the produce. These bell peppers are looking really good…they're almost ready to harvest. And these strawberries…no doubt, the person who looked after these ones could use some more practice.

"The food is over here." Sumire aggressively chided.

"I just got a little curious with the plots. You guys ever thinking of growing your own bits and bobs?" I asked to which I had similar answers from the two ponytail donning ladies.

"I don't really have the time to." she responded back.

"I wouldn't really know where to begin. Can you please come over before the food gets cold?" Obliging Shiho's request, I sat back down and observed the two dishes in front of me while Sumire got into an explanation.

"It would be too obvious if we did mixed dishes so we agreed on a particular element to focus on. We've already let Futaba know who did what so she'll be able to provide us a recommendation what to focus with." I got my chopsticks ready and handled the poultry dish first. A Kaarage bento with some black pepper rice, dried apricots, tamagoyaki and spinach. The presentation was appealing and as I began propping each element of the box into my mouth, I was highly satisfied nothing was wasted in this attempt. The only critique would be the slightly heavy seasoning, not that it was overwhelming. I felt this box could be put together at a convenience store, wrapped in plastic film and sold as is. I then turned my attention to the seafood dish. Now this has inspiration all right. Laid out in the right way, you could eat this at a restaurant - the salmon was grilled flawlessly. Not to mention, the skin on the layer wasn't too slimy so I knew this was fresh. The diced okra was a cute touch and the spring onion scented rice was not to be dismissed. I knew Shiho was a wiz in the kitchen but Sumire seriously levelled up her cooking game…

"My god…you've really come a long way Sumire. I really can't differentiate who did what." I uttered thinking nothing of it. She had a sour look on her face when she heard my thoughts though and from her next words, I didn't realise just how it hurt her.

"Were you expecting me to fail this task?"

"...I think a helping of that curry mush will make him a lot more grateful."

"That doesn't help at all, Shiho!" Sumire complained. I ruffled her hair and apologised sincerely.

"I'm sorry - I'm treating this like you haven't taken everyone's advice on board when that's not been the case at all. I can't find much fault in either dish and a lot of love has gone into whichever of the dishes you made. I'm going to try and appreciate your effort for this task a lot more going forwards. If I don't, then it will serve me right if you want to drop the task altogether."

"...Amamiya-senpai, the only thing to stop is you teasing me over my cooking. I don't mind genuine criticism though." She instructed, a golden smile on her face.

"I wouldn't have tolerated this snob, Sumire." Mona piped in. He was provided a small sample of the seafood box and loved every bit of it.

"Was this all that was prepared?"

"Yes, senpai."

"I could've had some advance warning or something if these were the only two dishes you both prepared?" I questioned. It really wasn't fun knowing I'd scarved half each.

"Well…we were nervous and wanted to see if we were ready for Oracle to assess us." Sumire managed.

"She figured you could take the hit if they were awful. We needed your approval first, apparently." Futaba, you don't get to go around deciding if my woman can cook meals for me! And making me the bait for your bad food…that's just shitty. Watch when I make a curry for you next time…

"It's fair, really. I agreed to this task as much as Sumire did. I'm fairly confident we'll succeed if you enjoyed it this much." Shiho proudly puffed. Placing the boxes of half-eaten lunches away, it seemed a topic change was in order. The said topic regarded the expulsions and the uncertainty surrounding whether they actually were rescinded or not.

"Have either of you heard anything from Principal Kobayakawa?" Sumire asked.

"Nothing…I think he'll have to announce it and then let our parents know."

"He's dragging his feet as per usual." That man was still as stubborn as a mule and no doubt, he'll end up caught out by the wrong person in the right place at the right time.

"Even you can't convince him overnight to change who he is as a person. Not without stealing his free will." Mona added, happy to have roamed around the building rooftops for a bit.

"S'pose not. I guess I can see if Kawakami's heard anything unofficial." Opening up my phone, I'd found a notification from the woman in question. She'd gotten a burner phone instead so I could freely respond to her now. Rumours that could go around if we were found out would range from the bizarre to flat out dangerous and cost this guest her entire livelihood so the caution was appreciated greatly.

Becky: "I'm free tonight, master. I've got some important things to tell you."

Becky: "I have the suspecting feeling you'd prefer to hear them in your home."

You: "Well, let's make it a date then."

…

typing…

Becky: "Phrasing. And alright…I'll see you at the usual time." Seems maid-sensei's hitting the marking of work or something else in the classroom…

"Shiho. Sumire. Thanks for the food."

"Are we still on for tonight?"

"Yeah, see…here's the thing-"

"You're pushing it again?" Sumire pondered.

"What's come up that's so urgent?!" Shiho barked.

"My room's a state. We can't do any study session the way it is right now. I'm gonna sort it tonight."

"Ugh…can't you just let us come later then?"

"Just think what poor Ramie would say if Ryuji couldn't sleep." And with that, there was no more room for debate. Hearing two sighs and one tongue click just before the front of the door, Sumire asked the question that should've left their mouths when I ate the food.

"Don't you want to know who did what?" she asked.

"You did the fish dish. Shiho did the meat one." I predicted. Sumire was the type of person to pay attention to her surroundings and use them as inspiration for her own while Shiho…I had no clue. It was kind of the only reasoning I had and it seemed it paid off.

"Are we both just boring cooks?" Sumire moaned, a little down.

"Chalk it up to the fact he stays at a restaurant." Shiho tried to reassure her, not doing herself any favours.

"It just means you'll try a little harder the next time, right?" Mona provided some encouragement to the girls which seemed to boost their morale. Before I knew it, the day came to its eventual end and I happened to head back home to enjoy the night. Along the way, the comments just had to be made…

Ann: "So…it's come to my attention we're pushing the study session AGAIN?"

Ryuji: "Dammit…I freed up today!"

Ann: "We've got to at least have a semblance of being students...thanks a lot, Ren!"

You: "Whatever do you mean, Ann? We ARE students."

Shiho: "It feels like we may not even have this session at all."

Sumire: "Please don't say that. Ren, I know you sometimes help out at Leblanc with Sakura-san but surely you could ask for a shift off."

Futaba: "What shift? He's not done one since Monday." Not helping!

Ryuji: "That so?"

Shiho: "So it really begs the question. WHAT do you do in your evenings?"

You: "Is that really any of your business, everyone? I don't go around prying into your evening activities, do I?"

Shiho: "I'll rephrase. What's this evening's endeavour?"

You: "Sorting out my room and meeting with someone."

Shiho: "A friend?"

Ann: typing…

You: "Don't try worming the answers out of Futaba either. And Futaba, I trust you'll do the same."

Futaba: "Oh, really? Do you know who you're talking to?"

You: "Ku-hu-hu. Shall I bring up the missing curry incident with Sojiro again?" Yeah…this was a real oddball moment that happened the other day. Futaba felt like a little extra curry wouldn't hurt her so she used some of the ingredients from the fridge for tomorrow's guests. Sojiro naturally blew up into a tirade at having to shell out more to get the ingredients for next week. He probably knew the truth as to who did this but looking over at Futaba and seeing the utter worry on her face, I decided to make the one person who I couldn't welch out of a deal from owe me. Taking the blame, I had to fund the replacement ingredients and go without breakfast, lunch or dinner for a few days. Not to mention, a very stern warning not to raid the fridge or cover for Futaba again. Not that she knew that.

Futaba: "You're all on your own, guys!"

Sumire: "You changed your tune fast!"

Shiho: "So she does know. Or at least has an idea."

Ryuji: "Well, shit then. What're we gonna do?"

You: "Studying alone is an option."

Ryuji: "…I'll get distracted and go off playing COD. At least when I'm in front of others, it's less likely."

Shiho: "Same. Not everyone can keep focus like you do, Ren."

Ann: "And not everyone has a cute genius on hand to help out."

Ryuji: "Right! I forgot about that!"

You: "We're not like that."

Futaba: "Not at all!"

Shiho: "So it seems…"

Futaba: "It just means for the procrastinators that there's a chance you'll be distracted regardless."

Sumire: "I hate to admit it but after training and cooking, studies…it's been a bit neglectful, shall we say?"

Ryuji: "Tomorrow evening a better date instead? I kinda want a long chill after Saturday."

Ann: "…I can make that work. I've got a shoot on Saturday evening so that's the only day this week."

Sumire: "I concur. I've got a mock meet on the Saturday after school and I'll be really exhausted afterwards."

Shiho: "So Ren, we've all pretty much decided and voted for this study session tomorrow. I can assume that this is what we want?"

Ann: "Exactamundo!"

Ryuji: "Yep!"

Sumire: "Absolutely!"

Shiho: "See you tomorrow evening, Ren. No more pushing back."

You: "Fine, fine. I'll see you all tomorrow then."