ii. the hunt for the silver stars (1)

"Minacchi, look!" Yui unfurled a poster and put it on Aoi's desk. The girl in question lowered her gaze to examine it. "They're introducing Star Bread to the cafeteria!"

"Uh, yeah. I can see that. What about it?"

But Yui had spotted Iwaizumi coming in, and was waving him over. "Ah! Iwaizumi-san, excellent timing. I need your help for this afternoon."

"Okabe-san? What's all this about?" Iwaizumi asked, stopping in front of Aoi's desk.

"Star Bread's coming to the cafeteria. And it's limited sale four per person, so I'll need you guys' help."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Aoi interrupted. "What exactly do you want to do with so much bread?"

Yui flapped a hand at her dismissively. "I don't really care about the bread. It's what's inside that matters."

Aoi and Iwaizumi exchanged a glance.

Then Iwaizumi asked tentatively, "What do you...?"

"It's called Star Bread for a reason." Yui grinned impishly, steepling her fingers. "Each packet comes with a golden star sticker. But some very rare packages have silver star stickers. The first to collect seven gets a wish!"

"Is this Dragon Ball?"

"No, this is Okabe's Seven Deadly Stars!"

"Stop making stupid references," groaned Aoi. "Fine, I'll help you, but don't force Iwaizumi-san to buy you bread..."

"Actually," Iwaizumi said. "I was planning to buy some for myself and Oikawa. So we can give you the stars if you want, Okabe-san."

"That'd be very excellent," Yui said approvingly. She beamed at him. "Thanks a lot, Iwaizumi-san!"

"No problem." Iwaizumi gave her a thumbs-up before going a bit further back to his own desk. The bell rang just as the homeroom teacher walked in, officially commencing class.

"I! Wa! Chan!"

"Stop yapping, I already know what you want," Iwaizumi snarked as they lined up at the cafeteria line. "You're gonna get fat from eating so much bread, Shittykawa."

Oikawa gasped. "Don't say such a thing!"

"Uh huh." Iwaizumi dug his wallet out of his pocket as they got closer to the front. Like a long, lazy cat, Oikawa had draped himself over Iwaizumi's broad shoulders.

"I miss Mako-chan," Oikawa bemoaned when the freckled-faced boy in front of them was counting his change.

"She's on her end-of-year club field trip, right?"

"Guuuhhhh..."

Iwaizumi brought his hand up to smack Oikawa's cheek. "Oi. Stop whining already. She'll be back next Monday. Also, get off. You're heavy."

"You really don't know how to comfort people, do you, Iwa-chan? You're supposed to offer sympathy."

"You make it hard for me to offer any sympathy."

"Iwaizumi-san!" Yui's voice rang out across the cafeteria, making both boys turn. She had already gotten a table. She signed something to them that left Oikawa perplexed, but Iwaizumi nodded.

Oikawa blinked. "Iwa-chan, you have friends besides me?"

"What was that?"

"Ehh, I didn't mean it that way! Who is that girl? She's cute. Is she your girlfriend?" Oikawa's voice became muffled when Iwaizumi palmed the brunet's face in a forceful attempt to stop him from blabbering.

"Be quiet. We're just classmates, okay?"

"Seems like more than classmates to me—"

"Next waiting!" the lunch lady shouted.

"We'll talk about this later," Oikawa promised in a whisper.

"Like hell we will."