The bus was traveling at a moderate speed, on the asphalt. There weren't many cars around and occasionally, the vehicle stops to let in or out other passengers. Grina and Bars were sitting next to each other, while Mirii was sitting on the seat behind.
Grina has her right leg on the top of her left one, looking around a bit. Bars was touching the screen of his smartphone and he's wearing his headphones. Mirii was watching outside the window, with her head leaning on her right hand.
Grina starts staring at Bars, then looking down at his big tummy with her eyelids a little down and the face a bit upwards: she smiled slowly as she moved all her fingers. Suddenly, she stretched her arms under the boy's shirt and kept moving her hands on his belly, with fast movements. Bars bursts out, in a loud laughter, while the girl giggles with clenched teeth and the eyes closed.
"Haahahahaha! W-what the kelp, Grina!" He took her hands, as he stares at the girl while frowning a bit.
"Ih ih ih, I knew that your tummy was ticklish!" She continues to chuckle.
The boy blushes a bit, as he was taking off his headphones, laying them on his legs.
"Why did you do that?! That was so random, man!" He folds his arms.
Grina stares at him for a bunch of seconds, then she gets back to her seat with her upper eyelids lowered down a little, frowning lightly, face a bit upwards and her mouth downturn, while still looking at the boy.
"Sheesh… I was just playing, you know…" She said.
Bars gradually unfold his arms and raises his eyebrows, slightly.
"Ehm… it's fine, really! I'm not mad or anything…" He said.
"… so, you want to be tickled again?" Grina asked with a smile, keeping her expression minus the frowning and blushing a bit.
"Eeeehhhmmm…" Bars blushed a little more than the girl and covers his belly with both his hands. "M-maybe another time…"
Grina giggles.
"What's that? Bars being scared of something?" She winks with her left eye, while catching out her tongue a bit.
"O-of course not! It's just… you know… I… I want to talk! Yes, let's talk about some funk!" He nods repeatedly.
"… ok, if you feel like it." She leans her hands behind her head, while looking at him with the corner of her eyes. "Anything fresh to tell?"
"Hmmm…" He looks up.
The boy took his headphones and places them, on his right: between him and Grina. Then, he opens wide his legs, stretching the left one and lays both his arma on his legs.
"You know, it's been a while since we played a match of Turf War… wanna join one later?" He scratches his nose, with his right hand.
"Nah, I'm not even thinking about it, in those days…" She closed her eyes.
"Yeah, same here… but after so much ship, I'm starting to miss the normal life." He tilts his head to his right, looking at Grina. "Where all I do is kicking butt around, looking fresh and beat high-scores. Man, that's like… paraside."
"Well, honestly… I'm quite enjoying those crazy adventures. They were so good, that it could be possible doing a movie, based on them."
"Whoa, cool idea!" He expanded his eyes, smiling wide. "I could play the role of the badkrak hero, that saves the world by punching the evil dudes and make them explode!"
Grina chuckled.
"That kinda sounds like an action B-movie… an epic one, though!" She shows her teeth, while smiling.
"Shell yeah! We're going to be so famous, that even the Squid Sisters are going to ask an autograph to us!" He rubs his hands.
"Ha ha, but wait: what about my role? I don't want to be some lame damsel in distress." She frowns, while lifting her right cheek and her right side of her mouth, opening it slightly.
"Heck no! That'd be awful!" He shakes his head. "You're going to kick butt too, girl! Maybe the one to save is… Mirii!" He raises his left forefinger.
Grina bursts out in a loud laughter, quickly joined by Bars.
"So, you think I'm useless…"
Both the Inklings look up: Mirii was looking at the boy with her upper eyelids lowered slightly, laying her head on her folded arms with her chin, on the top of both seats.
"How about the idiot, that does nothing but getting himself into trouble? He seems the one to save all the time." She said, without any changes in her expression.
"Ehm… ya mean Hunter?" He looks up.
A vein popped out, on Mirii's forehead.
"I was talking about you, imbecile." She frowns lightly.
Grina frowns more than Mirii, looking at her with a downturn mouth.
"Oh… didn't get the message!" He scratches his head, while grinning.
"… speaking of Hunley, I got news from Ana that he'll be out of the hospital, in the early afternoon."
"Ah, I see." He rubs his left eye. "Then, we are going to pick him up, right?"
"You two go first: I have to meet my brother and take a look around my house, after school." Mirii looks both her friends.
Suddenly, Bars looks left and right with his eyes.
"Oook, boss! … ehm… why do you need to go back home, anyway?" He stretched his back, while raising both his arms.
Mirii backs her head a little, avoiding Bars's right fist.
"I…" Mirii looks to her right, as she sighs softly. "… I don't remember what I did tonight. So, I want to read quickly my notes and I can't do that right after this trip, because we have school to attend, today."
Grina and Bars look at each other. The girl lifts her left leg and lays it on her right knee, as she leans her arms on both the legs: the left arm is under the right arm.
"… ehm, Mirii…" She looks at her friend, with the corner of her eyes. "Actually, I don't think that we'll make in time for school."
All the sudden, Mirii frowns while expanding slowly her eyes, as her mouth reaches both her cheeks.
"Y-you must be kidding…" Mirii said.
"Nope! Now the time is…" Grina watches the bus's digital clock, located above the driver. "1:12 PM. The bus will reach Inkopolis in a hour or so… maybe even more."
Sweat comes down, from Mirii's forehead.
"N-no… i-it can't be!" She raises her head up.
Grina shrugs.
"Oh well, guess we don't have to sit behind a desk, for today." She smiles, while closing her eyes, face tilted upwards slightly and leaning her hands behind her head.
"No no no no NO!" Mirii slams the top of the bus seats, with both her fists: her eyelids were raised and pulled together, while she opens her downturned mouth. "THIS CAN'T BE HAPPENING! WE MISSED ONE FULL DAY OF SCHOOL?!"
"Not really, Mirii." Bars speaks, while looking at the girl. "Come to think of it, this is your second time missing school!"
"W-WWWHHAAAAAAAATTTTTT?!" She tilts ahead, bending her back down while grabbing both the seats with her hands, as she looks closer at Bars.
"Oh, right! He says the truth!" She opens her right hand and moves it up and down, lightly. "Yesterday you fell asleep in front of us at the school courtyard. So we decided to get you back home… and that was the last time, we saw you. Until recently, you appeared out of nowhere!"
Mirii's head raised lightly, staring at an empty point. Then slowly, she falls back on her seat. The two friends didn't say anything, limited only to look at each other. Swiftly, a voice was heard sobbing softly. Bars immediately gets up, watching behind him.
Mirii was sitting down, with her hands both on the upper sides of her head and the elbows were laying on her legs. She sobs, as she looks down on the legs. The boy quickly moves near Mirii, by taking a seat near her. He wraps his arms around her, tilting his body towards the girl's position.
"No, man… don't cry please!" He looks at the girl, bringing her hands down on the seat.
"W-what are you doing, Bars…?" She didn't turn her face.
"I'm comforting you! We know how much you care about school… but you shouldn't worry about it, at all!" He caresses her head.
"Y-you…" Mirii blushes slightly, while crying. "Sniff, you don't have any idea… how much damage, sob, those absences are doing, to my perfect school status… I-I ruined months of h-hard work… sigh…"
The girl starts crying.
"Don't say that, pal: your status is still awesome! You can even save it, quite easily." He shakes her, softly.
"N-no… it's too much, this time… s-sigh! I took a note, some days ago… a-and now, sob, I lose v-valuable credits with those missing school days… s-sniff, I-I'll never get that scholarship, now…"
"Stop this, man! I still think you can get it! Come on, girl… d-don't get down… don't start thinking awful things, please…" Bars clenched Mirii, a little more.
"… w-why are you hugging me? S-sniff, I-I don't need any… t-those tears are just impulsive r-reactions… s-sigh, I-I'm not sad…"
"Mirii… thinking about weird ship is something common you do, especially when you are depressed. But seriously, your rad results are still enough to earn any scholarships! Come on, man… don't give up, now! I know I'm saying the truth…"
The girl didn't say anything, only sobbing…
"Y-you… with all the people…" She rubs both her eyes, with her left hand.
Slowly, her head lays on Bars's left shoulder and keeps crying loudly. Bars strokes her head gently, with his right hand, while looking at the bus window outside. Grina, on the other hand, was kneeling on her seat, facing her body against the backrest and staring at the whole scene.
She was watching Mirii, frowning a lot and squeezing strongly the top of her seat, with both her hands. She was gritting her teeth visibly and was breathing heavily, yet silently.