Lonely No More
by Cyberchao X

Disclaimer: We're on the 30th chapter; I think the message has sunk in.

Chapter 30

*still February 14*

"So why the gigantic chocolate? I had to detour home because I wouldn't be able to fit that in my locker."

"Ah, I'm sorry, Shun…I guess I went a bit overboard," Mayu said.

"Surely you couldn't have gotten that one over on your parents."

"W-well, they do know that there's an older boy that I like…but not that he likes me back, or that he's already in high school."

"My little delinquent." He scooped her up into a kiss.

"What, just because I'm sort of seeing someone behind my parents' backs?"

"'Sort of' seeing?"

"Well, it's not like we can really go out on dates…"

"…You busy?"

Mayu smiled. "Nope."

"…You've been avoiding sweets. Did I mess up?"

"Not at all. Rather, I'm avoiding sweets now because I've got a giant Valentine's Day chocolate waiting for me at home," Chura reassured her.

"…Why are you doing this?"

"What?"

"I'm being completely foolish, trying to date a high schooler in my first year of junior high. And you're letting me go on like this."

Chura gently stroked her hair and kissed her on the head. "I'm not just humoring you, Mai-tan. I really do like you."

"Hanna-chan says the only reason a high school boy would want someone so young is so they can take advantage of them."

"That's ridiculous. Well, okay, yeah, maybe some guys, but we're not all like that. Besides, I don't think you'd just take it lying down. …That came out wrong."

Mayu laughed. "I think she was referring to emotions, not pure force."

"I know. Yeah, I guess you can handle yourself physically, too, but you're definitely too willful to be taken advantage."

"That sounded like an insult…"

"It wasn't meant to be."

"I know."

"I would like to be more than just 'sort of seeing you', though."

Mayu wrapped her arms around Chura. "I'd love that… but…"

"Would that still be a problem? It's been long enough that there's no reason to connect me to that party…"

"But that would only bring up more questions as to where I met you."

"…True."

"So then why do you like me?"

"I beg your pardon?"

"You're obviously not dating me, or trying to date me, because you think I'm an easy score. So why are you dating a 13-year-old? Are you perhaps more pathetic than you look, and can't get a girlfriend in high school?"

"W-what?!"

Mayu smiled. "Those girls don't know what they're missing."

"That's not it. Probably. Y'know, most of the time, it's the guy who asks the girl out."

"…So you've never tried asking anyone out?"

"I asked you out."

"Besides me."

"…Not many. I asked Tsukimura-san out at the start of the year, but so did every other boy in our class, and a good many from the other first-year classes as well."

"She's not that pretty."

"Well, it's more than just looks. She carries herself like, well, someone of high class. Which she apparently is."

"Oh, right, that was her family holding that party. Nice mansion."

"But no one's really caught my eye. You did."

Mayu blushed. "R-really? I'm not…I'm nothing special."

"Don't be so modest. It doesn't suit you."

"You'd rather I be stuck-up?"

"I'd rather you be confident. You've got a very mature demeanor as well, and you seem like a bright girl. You could be going places, too."

"I thought you liked me because I was rebellious."

"You? Rebellious? I thought you were a good girl!" Chura mocked.

Mayu snuggled up against him. "The best."

*another day in February*

"What's got you down, Shu-kun?" Nitodaki asked.

"Trying to figure out how to make it work with Mai-tan. We can't really do much in the way of dating because she doesn't want her parents to find out that she's dating a high schooler."

"You probably could get a date just fine if you tried. Why are you going after this kid?"

"She's…very mature for her age."

"Oh? Developed early?"

"I don't mean physically. I just enjoy being with her. She's very sweet, and smart. Speaking of sweets…I've been brushing my teeth twice as frequently ever since Valentine's Day thanks to her."

"Your girlfriend's chocolate turned out nicely?"

"Nichi-san?" (CCX: I didn't even realize until I looked over the list of OCs and saw that there was a name on the list in between Chiharu Keigo and Kyusai Gabi that the female student in Class 1-A that first speaks in chapter 21 had received a name upon her initial appearance, even though she was never referred to by it.) "Yeah, it's good."

"Th-that's good. I'd hate to think you missed out on iincho-san's giri-choco for nothing."

"Case in point," Nitodaki said.

"What?" Nichi asked.

"N-nothing, Nichi-san. Don't pay any attention to him."

"I-I wasn't going to…" She blushed.

"I swear…how dense can he be?" Nitodaki muttered.

"You're one to talk."

"What was that, Shinamori?"

Kanna pulled him aside. "He's not oblivious to her feelings; he just doesn't feel the same way about her. Or any of the other girls in our year, apparently. This is his decision, y'know?"

"He could easily get a girl if he wanted to."

"Well, maybe not everyone just wants to get 'a girl'. Obviously Chura-san has some standards. Not like it takes very high standards to need something better than Nichi-chin."

"Kanna-chan, I thought you'd resolved to stop being such a bitch," Suzuka interjected.

"…You know, if you don't see why he doesn't like her, maybe you should ask her out. I'm sure she'd accept."

"…I have a girlfriend."

"And I don't see what you don't like about Nichi-san," Suzuka said.

"Oh, there's nothing offensive about her. She's…harmless."

"…In other words, you think she's a loser. I thought you'd stopped being so judgmental."

"I've become more open-minded. I'm starting to even consider Ichirei-san a friend."

"I'm not surprised that you two get along, actually…" "She's lightened up quite a bit, but even when she isn't angry at the world, she can still be pretty bitchy herself. She's not mean-spirited, though."

"Hey. You seem distracted. What's on your mind?"

"Hey, Haru-chan. One of my friends is having girl problems. He can't be with the girl he wants to be with because her parents probably won't approve of her dating a high schooler, and there's a girl in our class who obviously likes him whom I'm trying to get him to notice, but apparently according to our class's alpha bitch, anyone with any kind of standards wouldn't bother with this girl and I don't see what the problem is. I mean, she's not as smart or as pretty as you, but…"

"Why are you making this your problem? This isn't your problem," Kaminari replied. (CCX: Yeah, usually I go with "name introduced by—name referred to in narration", but when the character who's doing the introducing is a third-stringer themselves, you're pretty much stuck on last name basis. Nitodaki's girlfriend's full name is Kaminari Haruko.)

"You're right. It isn't."

"It's almost the end of the school year, though. Can't he just wait until April?"

"She's…not a third-year."

"Ah. That's a bit tougher, then."

"So…how was it?"

"How was what?" Suki asked.

"Th-the chocolate. It's okay; you can be honest with me," Katsura said.

"It was…the best honmei-choco I got this Valentine's Day."

"…So then you're not getting anything from Arisa-san until White Day?"

"…"

"That's disappointing, though. You specified honmei-choco, which probably means that the overall best of the year was a giri-choco."

"In name only. There was nothing subtle about that gift."

"…I guess that's to be expected. Why should I be the only fan to outright fall in love with you?"

"No, it…it wasn't another member of my 'fan club'. And that would be honmei."

"Don't tell me Arisa-san's downgraded you."

"No, but you're getting close. It was actually Suzuka-chan. It was…quite impressive. I like to fancy myself fairly good at this, but I taste-tested my own work and it's nothing compared to hers."

"…And that's to be considered an 'in name only' giri? Was there…something going on while you and Arisa-san were together?"

"…That's right; you weren't actually there when Hanna-chan tricked Arisa-chan into letting Tatsu-kun find out about our threesome."

"…No, I wasn't. When was this?"

"At the Christmas party. Arisa got her back later that night; you most certainly were there for that."

Katsura thought back to the party in question. "Yeah, except that amounted to nothing, so I think she got a raw deal."

"Well, Tatsu-kun got over it, so now everything's fine."

"…It's weird. You'd think that being bisexual and having a girlfriend who's also bisexual, it would be the perfect setup for a threesome, but…I'd feel awkward if the three of us did that. And I don't think Hayama-sempai would really be comfortable with it, either."

"Hmm…you certain that you're bi?"

"How far are you willing to let me go to test it out?" Katsura replied. "Because there are some boys whom I've gotten a bit closer to lately, and I'm sure they'd be happy to let me get even closer…"

"I'd be a hypocrite to say no…but the idea of sharing you still bothers me."

"Well, it's not like I'd do that…"

"…I …guess so. It really would only be fair, unless I were to break up with Tatsu-kun and become yours alone."

"You didn't actually suggest a foursome to her, did you?" Arisa asked.

"I thought you wanted me to do that," Suki replied. "But no, I didn't…though, the topic of threesomes sort of did come up. I told her that I considered Suzu-chan's chocolate to be giri 'in name only', and she managed to figure out the threesome thing on her own. Then she remarked on how odd it was that she wasn't interested in bringing up the idea of a threesome to Tatsu-kun, since she's bi too. But…even without asking, I'm going to have to say that it's probably not going to happen."

"I figured as much."

"No, you didn't…because it's not about her feelings. It's about mine. Even knowing that she was never as innocent as she appeared, my initial feelings towards her haven't changed. I don't want to share her, and…I'm considering exclusivity. Complete exclusivity."

"R-really? You'd break up with Tatsuke-san over what to him would be absolutely nothing?"

"I'd be a hypocrite if I demanded exclusivity from Katsu-tan without practicing it myself."

"Well, if you're looking for support, you're not going to get it from me. I think you're making a big mistake here."

"Of course you do. You'd be losing out."

"I'm with Arisa on this one. By the way, how much influence do you have over your flock, anyway?"

"What are you getting at?"

"The aftereffects of your followers' appearance at my New Year's party are still being felt."

"Tell us something we don't know," Arisa said.

"I'm not talking about Suki-chan's decision to kiss Himiya-chan instead of you or Hayama-san at midnight. I don't want to directly interfere in a relationship that I have no stake in—well, not on the breaking up end; I suppose I did sort of interfere to help get Miki-chan and Izei-kun together—but given the circumstances that got them together in the first place…"

"Huh. Now that I think about it, I have seen less of Mayu-chan the past couple of months. So she's been seeing one of your friends?"

"Something like that. I invited my whole class, because I'm class rep, so it's not necessarily someone I'm that close with, but by the same token, being class rep, I'm sort of friends with everyone."

"So what about the circumstances?"

"The three of them got in there because Aoba-chan stowed away in her father's police car."

"Oh. Yeah, that could make having a real relationship tough. Does he know?"

"Yes. That much, I told him."

"Well, I agree; it's not our place to interfere. Though, keeping it a secret from her parents could only make things worse when the truth does come out… Do you know if it's a secret on both sides?"

"What?"

"They're obviously keeping this a secret from her parents. What about his?"

"…No, I don't know."

"Well, I don't really know what I could do. They're their own people."

"Yeah, I figured as much."

CCX: …I have no idea where this is going. Hopefully next chapter will be a bit meatier. CCX, signing off.