Senri Nakao sat on the couch glaring at the screen and mashing buttons determined to finally beat this level. She muttered under her breath when she began running dangerously low on ammo and what the bloody— happened to her other med pack? She was too busy scrolling through menus to notice someone else entering the lounge to join her groupies. A smirk crossed Senri's face when she found a sure way to kill that two dimensional pixilated piece of…blood spray.
"Should you be playing a game with so much carnage?" Nanba Minami looked disappointed in the five boys although his question was directed at Nakao.
"The blood is pink." She passed the controller to Honda because he didn't get it sticky. "It's unrealistic and therefore deemed acceptable for our age group, Minami-Sempai." Senri stretched her arms flexing her fingers wanting another go, yet also wanting to get closer to Nanba now that he finally approached her. She didn't notice that she was beginning to talk like Shotaro.
"The difference between light pink and dark red shouldn't be the determining factor."
"It's a good way to relax. You should try it sometime."
"I'm a lover, not a fighter."
"I suppose you would prefer role playing games anyway." A quest to find a girl with perfect hair, right?
"What do you know about role playing?"
"I have two RPGs, medieval European and sci-fi with less killing and better graphics if you want to try." I don't recall any hotties with suitably long thick curls, though.
"Maybe next time, I prefer real girls." Nanba went trolling for girls as he usually did Saturday nights.
It was the longest conversation Senri had with Nanba in weeks and went nowhere just as fast. Wait, did he confuse RPG with a dating sim? Noob. Getting into Osaka Gakuen was easier than hacking into Nanba's heart, but she'd find a way around his personal firewall yet. Ashiya's optimism had definitely rubbed off.
Mizuki Ashiya was too stressed to sleep well. She went to use the restroom around midnight then pulled the plaid curtain back and plopped on her bed. She was too tired to close the curtain hung on the bunk beds let alone crawl under the covers. Because Sano usually slept later than she did on weekends it shouldn't matter, especially if she faced the wall. Mizuki rolled to her left side and promptly fell asleep because her bed was suddenly so much more comfortable than before.
Izumi Sano froze with Arthur MacHen's latest release in his right hand and his left arm pinned by his roommate. His alarm clock ticked away for several seconds while he looked at her curled against his left side fast asleep. "Don't you have any sense? Wake up, your bed is on top." The only thing his whispering accomplished was making her shift her right arm to the other side of his chest. It was quite obvious that she didn't wear a vest under her pajama top. He placed his left hand on her head holding her against his shoulder while he put his book on the shelf above his head board and turned off the little reading lamp.
Mizuki woke feeling warmer than normal. That was because her left hand was clutching the back of Sano's shirt and she panicked. The moment she let go of him he turned to look at her so there wasn't a way to sneak out of bed like this didn't happen.
"You're awake." He sounded like he'd been waiting for her to get up.
"Sorry for taking up half your bed." Now she panicked because she wasn't wearing a vest to hide her top. She didn't have a rack and she was facing his back so he probably didn't notice. Please don't notice.
"You tend to sleepwalk when you're overly stressed so tell me what's wrong." Sano stared when she sat up letting the covers slide to her lap and he realized she was naked underneath her boys' pajamas.
"That sports reporter, Karsuma Kinuko, won't leave me alone. She wants some kind of inside scoop, but she found out you are representing Osaka Gakuen in the district competition before I did. When it comes to you I don't want to lose to Kinuko-San, but everything I learned about you came from reading her articles so I've already lost."
"You are by my side, aren't you? You have me, don't you? It isn't a matter of winning or losing." He could almost see the gears in her head turning as she thought about what he said so he distracted her to prevent a third panic attack before breakfast "Go take your shower already."
"Okay." She grabbed her towel determined not to think about that reporter anymore.
Shotaro Kadoma paused while rolling up the blue mats to watch Itsuki Kujo head to the showers with the rest of the upper classmen. He was taller than most of the guys with high cheek bones and piercing eyes. She found him attractive, no doubt about that, but he also has a strong sense of honor and discipline. He didn't try anything in the shower and left as soon as he finished rubbing her back with a soapy washcloth, except that he stopped going to the secondary shower room with her six club meetings ago.
There was no point taking the risk of being caught by someone else so Shotaro slung her gym bag over a shoulder and went to clean up in her dorm room. The hot water felt so good on her overworked muscles she stayed under the spray recalling some of the ways Nakao accidentally bumped into Minami-sempai and picked the more reasonable ones to try tomorrow. Shotaro was looking forward to a positive outcome as she opened the bathroom door. He was leaning against her door.
"Kujo-senpai!" She bowed respectfully "To what do I owe this honor, sir?"
"I came to apologize for misusing my authority and putting you in a compromising situation for my own benefit. It was deplorable conduct that will bring shame to the team and betrays the principles of karate." Itsuki dropped to seiza position sitting on his heels with fists pressed to his knees "I am sorry and am willing to endure whatever punishment you deem appropriate."
"Kujo-senpai, sir, I don't understand what conduct you think should have offended me. Please explain how ignoring me for six consecutive training sessions is a misuse of your authority, sir." Shotaro watched his eyes move up slowly from her feet to her face.
Itsuki didn't keep his eyes on her face for long before following the contours of her white clad form damp from a bath. "Two months ago I looked through last year's school newspapers for photos of the prefecture competition and saw the rival team I was looking for. A girl sat in the background eerily similar to one of the new club members and I shamelessly used any means at my disposal to get closer than appropriate."
"Sir, do you mean to imply that I am naïve and weak minded enough to let any man scrub my back, sir?"
"No, Sho-kun. No, I should have asked you to call me Itsuki instead of jumping so far ahead."