Chaper 3 – New Girl and Advice!
I gaped at my reflection. "This is…I've never…" felt pretty before. I turned to Louis, "Thank you. I've never felt this pretty before" he smiled, "your welcome. Have a good day at school alright?" he said waving as he left.
I grabbed my stuff and went downstairs and saw yusuke, ema, Tsubaki, azusa, and Wataru all gathered at the table. Ukyo was in the kitchen cooking. He smiled when he spotted me, "ah, reiko-chan good morning. Would you like some breakfast?" he asked. I nodded and took the plate he handed me full of food. "Thank you." I went to the table and sat on the end away from the others.
"Rei-chan why are you all the way over there?" asked ema pausing from eating her meal. "Eating." I answered simply. That's true but really it's cause I can feel those guys' glares. They don't want me near them nor ema. Whatever not like I care. I was still a bit ticked off at her.
Tsubaki's eyes narrowed at my response, "But why not come sit with us?" she asked pointing at the seat beside her. I ignored her and kept eating. "she asked you a question" said Tsubaki glaring at me. At first I thought they would just leave me alone if left them alone. But whenever it involves ema they get all defensive and start glaring at me. Especially Tsubaki and yusuke. I'm starting to hate it here more and more.
"I heard her, I just don't feel like answering." I finished eating and stood up, "Wait, rei-chan are you leaving already! Let's go together!" ema said reaching a hand out to her sister. I glared at her you're the reason I'm getting so many problems. "I have stuff to finish before school starts" and with that I left.
Ema frowned as her sister rejected her again. No matter what she did reiko seemed to dislike her more and more. "Am I a bad sister?" she muttered sadly. Tsubaki frowned and patted her head, "No, that robot with no feelings is. Ema is the bestest sister in the world." He said with a grin trying to cheer her up.
Ema frowned and pushed his hand away, "Reiko is not a robot! She does have feelings! Why are you so mean to her!" ema yelled at him. Everyone's eyes widened. Ema had never raised her voice like that before. She looked at the table her hands clutching the fabric of her skirt,
"I…I really want to be closer to reiko-chan. Mama said that when she first met reiko she seemed lonely, remember? Maybe…maybe reiko is rude because she doesn't know how to interact with people! Maybe she's just shy so she lashes out so she won't be put in situations she can't handle" ema said and looked up at them hoping they understood.
"Precisely what I was thinking, baby sister~"
"Kaname-san!"
"I agree with you, imouto. As a skilled people reader I can tell you that reiko is just uncomfortable around people. At least that's what I think."
Ema smiled brightly at him, "You think so too! Then how should I approach rei-chan so we can be friends?" Tsubaki sighed, "even if she is like that I'm still not interested in her. I only want you, imouto~" Tsubaki said embracing ema. Azusa slapped the back of his head, "it's too early for this Tsubaki!" he groaned. Tsubaki pulled away with a pout on his face. Kaname got ema's attention again, "well, first you have to get her to relax." He said holding up a finger.
"Relaxed? What do you mean?" "I've noticed that reiko always seems tense around us. If you put her in a place where she can relax then she'll put her guard down and talk to you freely. When you do this make sure these guys aren't here" kaname pointed at yusuke and Tsubaki,
"She has a bad impression of them that she'll try to push on to you if you approach her with them" he explained. Ema nodded, "oh, okay. So should I take her out with me one day?" ema asked tilting her head.
He shook his head, "foreign places makes a person more alert since they're in a new place. Maybe go to Natsume's place? Or ask her what her favorite places to go are at?" he suggested. Ema pondered this advice, "Oh, she went to the park the other day! Is that a good place?" kaname smiled and nodded,
"That's fine. People always say that nature is soothing. Now step 2." He held up 2 fingers, "Try to avoid talking about sensitive topics unless she initiates them first. For example, the past. Most people don't like talking about their past so avoid it. Ask about hobbies or favorite type of music. Goals for the future. Stuff like that" ema nodded. She was impressed with kaname. Usually he seemed like a bit of a flirt instead of a monk but he was giving her good advice.
"Step 3. If you manage to get information try to give some back. Also, make sure to not make this outing a onetime thing. If its successful then don't just go back to the way you were before. Try going out again like asking her to help with shopping sometimes. Or purposely joining in what she wants to do." Ema nodded, all of that had been great advice and she was eager to try them all out.
"Well, this was great and all but you two should start heading to school if you don't want to be late." Ukyo said handing ema and yusuke their bentos. The two nodded and thanked ukyo then headed out.
"Everyone please welcome our new student Asahina Reiko-chan." The teacher said motioning to the stoic girl beside him. "Hello." Was all she said with a bow. The class stared at her curiously.
But she ignored them and turned to her teacher, "sensei, where should I sit?" the teacher smiled at what he thought was an eager student and pointed at the back, "why not sit by Yusuke-san?" the girl didn't answer and headed to sit by the spiky red head.
Yusuke groaned this was just his luck to be assigned a seat beside the girl he didn't get along with. Did kami-sama hate him or something? Yusuke kept sneaking glances at her, she didn't seem too interested in the lesson. In fact she was just doodling on her notebook.
Yusuke found himself looking at her skeptically shouldn't she be paying attention? It IS her first day of school. Yusuke snapped his head away from her direction when she glanced at him. Damn! Almost caught. Why did she look at me anyway? Did she notice me looking? Who cares anyway? She's just some weird chic. But ema seems to like her. I should be nice so ema doesn't get mad.
Yusuke nodded to himself and turned to peer at ema across the room. He felt himself smile, I'd do anything for her. Even tolerate this girl for her.
After class was over yusuke walked over to ema. The two always ate lunch on the roof together, well ever since they became family. But it looked like that was about to change, "Rei-chan! Would you like to eat lunch with us?" yusuke heard ema ask the silent girl.
The girl stood up with a bento in hand, "sorry but I was thinking of checking out a few clubs. Besides it doesn't look like your friend wants me to tag along" she said glancing at the red head who was lightly glaring at her.
Ema glanced at him and then back at her, "oh! He just doesn't trust you yet! Ah! That's not what I meant! I mean he just needs to get to know you better…umm, nevermind. Tomorrow then?" she asked hopefully.
Reiko tried to reject her but ema was just so pushy! Plus the looks she was getting from both her and yusuke told her to accept the proposal or face the wrath of yusuke. She sighed and nodded, "tomorrow. Umm…" ema looked hopefully at her.
"yes!?" she asked eagerly. Reiko felt a tiny embarrassed blush spread against her nose, "d-do you know any good clubs? Like do we have a martial arts club? Or music club?" she muttered staring at the wall. Yusuke rose an eyebrow is she blushing? Maybe she's not as emotionless as I thought. Hmm.
Ema stared at her happily. This was it! Reiko was finally confiding in her! I won't let you down kaname-san! "o-oh! Yes, we have a martial arts club and a music club! Are you thinking of joining?" ema asked curiously. Did her new sister know self-defense and how to play an instrument? "yes. I'm not sure which one though. Excuse me" she said and left the two alone.
Ema smiled happily, "Yusuke did you hear! Reiko finally talked to me!" yusuke smiled at her excitement but couldn't help feeling like she shouldn't get use to that feeling. "ema don't get to attached to reiko. I don't trust her. It feels like she'll easily push us aside if we get in her way or something." The boy said with a worried frown.
Ema's smile fell and she looked at the ground sadly, "I…I don't think so. I think reiko will slowly warm up to us. This confirms it!" ema said confidently.
"Tadaima!" the two teens greeted when they arrived home after school. "welcome you two. How was school?" asked ukyo. He was watching tv with kaname and masaomi. Kaname noticed one person missing, "Hmm, where's our newest imouto-chan~" kaname wondered aloud.
The other two looked as well, "Oh, reiko-chan said she was thinking about joining a club at lunch. Maybe she stayed with them?" ema said setting her stuff down.
"but how will she get home? She's still new here you know" said kaname a worried frown on his handsome face. "who cares. Uh, I mean she'll be fine. She did get that tour from Natsume last time right?" yusuke said noticing the look he got from ema.