"Wahhh!" Yume yelled, flopping on her bed.

"Another tie, right?" Koharu asked.

"Mm-hm... Seriously, it's been days now... So tired..."

Koharu smiled. "Well, keep on trying."

"Yep..." Yume glared at the ceiling. It was so frustrating! She couldn't beat Laura! Well, this time, she'd definitely win!

xxxxx

"Another tie!" Anna-sensei yelled. "The tension is thick enough to cut between these two rivals!"

Yume glared at Laura. Are you serious?

Laura glared back. Why can't I win?

Anna-sensei smiled sadly as she watched. I knew it... their friendship finally tore apart...

xxxxx

Mahiru set down her tray on the table and sat down. She took a bite of her curry rice.

"So Yume and Laura still aren't sitting with us?" she clarified.

"I guess not," Koharu replied.

"What's wrong with those two?" Ako asked. "Such good friends..."

"I'm glad you asked, babies!" Anna-sensei yelled.

Ako jumped away. Koharu scooted away a little. Mahiru continued to eat her lunch.

"So what's the reason?" Mahiru asked.

"First off," Anna-sensei said," they're in a tough competition they both want to win really badly."

"But why wasn't it like this for Mahiru and Koharu?" Ako asked. "Or Yume and Akari?"

"It's probably how close they are in terms of strength," Anna-sensei answered. "There was a bit of a gap between Kasumi and Nanakura, and Nijino and Fujita. But with Nijino and Sakuraba, they are neck to neck the whole time."

"That makes sense," Koharu said. "I didn't even make it to the semi-finals, and Mahiru won."

"This is too much, though!" Ako decided. "We need to stop this! Let's go get Subaru-kyun and Nozomu-kyun!"

"How are they going to help?" Mahiru asked, spooning another bite of her curry rice into her mouth.

"... Decide later...?" Ako said.

"That sounds like something Yume would say," Mahiru said.

"Yeah," Koharu added. "And Laura would say,' You can't just charge in! Make a plan first!'"

The three sat in silence.

"Yeah, let's go!" Ako yelled. "We need the friends to be friends again!"

Ako stood up and started to run to the door.

"I need to finish lunch first," Mahiru called.

"Quickly!" Ako yelled from the door.

"... I feel like they forgot I'm here," Anna-sensei sighed.

"They get excited easily..." Koharu said with this face 😅.

"Well, good luck," Anna-sensei said, walking away.

"Thanks," Koharu smiled.

"... you'll need it," Anna-sensei whispered.

xxxxx

"How do we find Subaru-kun and Nozomu-kun again?" Mahiru asked once all three of them were outside. "They aren't in the M4 dorms anymore."

"I'll text Kanata-kun and ask them to come over!" Ako said.

"You actually were kind of prepared," Mahiru nodded.

"What do you mean, kind of!"

"Now, now..." Koharu said.

"I mean you're too headstrong," Mahiru answered without hesitation.

"What?!" Ako's claws popped out, and she tried to scratch Mahiru.

"Let's all calm down..." Koharu said slowly.