"What do you mean Senpai has a girlfriend?!" Rise asks, her voice filled with shock.
"I mean what I said, Senpai got himself a girlfriend. Some girl named Ai Ebihara, who's the same year as him." Kanji says to his idol friend.
"Yu-senpai... is dating her?! Out of all the girls he could date, he chose that obnoxious, stuck up rich girl?!" Rise screams out, seeming hysteric.
"Woah woah woah, calm down Rise-chan, there's no need to insult her. I don't really know the girl, but if Senpai chose her, then she must be special." Kanji says, trying to defuse her anger.
Rise's anger seemingly evaporated from her face, leaving only sadness. She looks at Kanji, and asks him "why'd you tell me this in the first place?"
Kanji raises his hands up and states "I just thought that you'd be interested in knowing. I know how much you're into him, so thought it'd be better to just tell you."
Rise simply looks down and mutters "just leave me alone..."
Kanji, not wanting to upset the girl any further, simply nods his head and leaves.
Rise, alone with her thoughts, begins bawling her eyes out. Though after a few minutes, Rise's phone begins ringing. She wasn't going to answer it, but she saw that it was Yukiko calling her. She tries to quickly dry up her tears, then answers the phone.
"Hey Rise-chan, are you okay? Kanji-kun told me what happened. Just remember, if you need someone to talk to, I'll always be there," Yukiko says, concerned for her friend.
"Yukiko-senpai, I... I'm fine, really. I appreciate you checking up on me, but I'm fine, truly," Rise says, trying her best to stop her sniffling.
"Rise-chan, it's not good to internalize your emotions. You say you're fine, but your sniffling says otherwise. That's it, I'm coming over to check on you after I get dressed. Don't go anywhere!" Yukiko says, setting her phone down as she begins to pick out clothes.
Rise pleads through the phone to Yukiko, "Yukiko-senpai, I... I... I'm fine! You're so busy, I don't want you to worry about me... ugh, you can't even hear me, can you? Ugh... why am I so useless?"
Rise hangs up, and thinks to herself. She knows that there's no point in avoiding her, Yukiko can be quite persistent. So Rise tries her best stop crying, to minimal success.
