Hey guys Azure here. So I got a couple more favorite followers and reviews. Thanks for the kinds words guys it means a lot. Oh and before I forget no Ren is NOT the male version of Rin. For 2 main reasons. 1: Like the show has stated Muses is not Muses unless all nine girls are present. 2: I love her too much to kick her out of a love live fanfic that be Nico if anything...JOKING I could never write out any them. And now before I pissed someone off on with the new chapter. (I'm serious I don't hate Nico)
Chapter 3: Reconnecting
After a pleasant week at school it was the weekend as promised I was getting ready to hang out with the girls. We agree to meet at the train station at 11. I had on a pair of blue jeans, a blue t-shirt, a white button up shirt with purple on the outer edges, with a pair of black sneakers, and my favorite blue hat to finish it off. Just then there was a knock on my door.
"Come in." I said.
"Hey you ready?" Mom asked. I gave her a thumbs up. She gave me a quick look over.
"You know it's creepy when you stare like that." I told her a little embarrassed.
"Sorry. Though I must admit that new outfit looks better on you than I originally thought." She said with a smile.
I couldn't help but feel bashful. "Geez ma you're embarrassing me." I said scratching the back of my head.
Her smile soon turn to a sly grin. "Trying to impress the girls are we?" she said with a sly look.
My face grew an intense shade of red. "What!? No it's not like that. I'm not trying to impress as much as I'm just trying to show them I'm still the same guy, and I've been doing just fine. Last thing I need is them worrying about me." I tried to explain.
"I understand, but they're your friends so they'll worry at even the slightest sign of trouble." She said to me. She was in her mother-knows-all mode again. Yeah not doing this right now.
"Yeah ma I hear ya, but as much as I would love to stay here and listen to your know-it-all speech I'm gonna go. Bye." I said waving off and running down the stairs and outside.
After 20 mins of walking I arrived at the station. It was 11 exactly, but the only one there was Umi. Which makes sense she was the punctual one. She was wearing a blue dress, with a white sweater underneath, and a pair of brown boots. She noticed me and waved.
"Hey Taku." She said.
"Hey Umi. Where are the others?" I asked her.
She sighed deeply. "Best guess Honoka slept in and Kotori went to get her, which explains her tardiness." She said a bit irritated.
I laughed nervously. "Honoka doesn't change does she?"
"Nope, but I'm not sure if that's a good thing or not. However you certainly have changed at least physical. You're a lot taller now." She said.
I raised an eyebrow. "Really, that's what surprises you? I am nearly 2 years older than you 3."
"Yes, but you were shorter than most guys your age." She said proudly as if she won the argument.
"Meh growth spurt. Whatcha gonna do?" I shrugged.
"Fair enough." She giggled.
We waited for quite a bit, all the while I took occasional glances at Umi. I have to admit she definitely has more confidence in herself than when we were kids, and she's a lot cuter too. I could feel my face turn red from the thought. Umi notice me staring.
"Is there something wrong?" She asked.
"W-what!? O-of course not I just thought that outfit look cute on you." I blurted out.
It was her turn to turn red. "O-oh thank you." She said embarrassed.
"I'm making this more awkward than what it is aren't I?" I asked her.
"It was awkward before?" She asked.
"Well I mean you're an attractive girl and I'm a guy, so it just felt weird." I said.
She turn away to hide what I assume was a deeper blush. "Well you calling me attractive and over thinking this doesn't help." She said.
"Fair point." I laughed nervously.
"Oui." A familiar voice called. It was Honoka and Kotori. Kotori was wearing a beige button sweater, plaid blue skirt, grey socks and brown boots. Honoka outfit was similar to Umi's except the dress was grey, the sweater was black, and had on white shoes.
"Well you guys took your time." I said crossing my arms.
"Well most guys would be happy a girl took the time to look good." Honoka pouted.
I pointed to Umi. "What do you call this then? Cause Umi's wearing nearly the same outfit and she's on time." I said.
"So you're saying Umi looks good?" She asked with a sly smile.
"Yeah I'm not dumb enough to fall for that one." I said bluntly. We both glared at each other.
"Ok I think that's enough guys. So Taku-kun any suggestions on where to go?" Kotori asked me.
"Um I thought I let you girls choose." I said.
"Are you sure?" Umi asked.
"Yeah I'm still unfamiliar with place." I told them.
"Ok then let's just head to the arcade." Kotori suggested. We all nodded.
"Hold on." Honoka spoke up.
"What now?" I asked.
"Well since I'm sure Taku was telling Umi-chan she was cute what do you think of me and Kotori-chan?" she asked.
The 3 of us went red.
"You have no proof of that." I told her.
"You kinda admitted to it a few seconds ago." She stated in sarcastic tone. I had no response. "So…?"
My red face grew deeper in shade. She's not wrong they both look really cute. Leave it to Honoka to tease me. I pulled my hat down to hide my face. "You both look cute." I said in a low voice.
"T-thank y-you Taku-kun." Kotori stammered. It was obvious she was embarrass.
"T-thank y-you." Honoka stammered as well. Wait is she embarrass? She's the one who made me say it.
"Anyway before this gets any more awkward let's get going." Umi said.
"Good idea. I said my treat, but you guys are gonna be paying for your train tickets." I informed them.
"K." they said in unison.
After the long train ride we made it to the arcade. I'm still amazed at how much Akiba has changed over 5 years. The lights, the building, and especially the people. Everyone and everything is changing and moving forward. My face took on a saddened expression. I doubt I can do the same though given my past.
"Taku-kun?" Honoka snapped me out of my thoughts.
"H-huh? What's up Honoka?" I asked her.
"You tell me. You were spaced out." She said worryingly.
"My bad. I was amazed at how much things have changed that my mind wondered." I reassured her.
"If you say so." She said. I could tell she wasn't gonna let this go.
"We're here." Kotori said excitedly.
As expected of an arcade on a weekend it was packed. Several of games were occupied with a few exceptions. That's the electric city for ya.
I sighed. "Well that figures."
"There must be something open let's just walk around for a bit." Umi suggested. After a few minutes of wondering around we found that the dance machine was open. "There's something we can play."
"Yeah you guys enjoy this one, I'm terrible with this type of game." I said. I notice a shooter game opened up. "I'll go play that one over there."
"Eh, but we're supposed to have fun together." Honoka whined.
"I'm just gonna be right there." I told her. Geez she can be childish, but that's one of quirks I guess.
"Well if you're gonna play that one how about a match?" Umi challenged me.
"Oh you are so on." I accepted.
"I'll show you how much my archery training has paid off." She said picking up the gun controller.
GAME START! The machine said. The goal of the game was to shoot as many enemies as possible on the screen before your opponent. It started off slow, but soon picked up. I'm used to these types of games but even I was surprised when I saw Umi keeping up with me. She wasn't joking when she show me the fruits of her training. Towards the end we were neck and neck with only 5 seconds left and the final enemy popped. We both fired at roughly the same time, so we had to wait for the games results. On the screen popped up PLAYER 1 WINS.
"Looks like I won this one. Although it was way too close for comfort." I said exhausted.
"True, but it was definitely fun." Umi said with a smile.
"You bet." I returned the smile.
"That was so cool." Honoka said with awe in her eyes.
"Wait did you guys watch us the whole time?" I asked.
"Mhm. We didn't want to do something without you guys." Kotori said.
"Ok then since I played a game with Umi how about I play one with each of you? Since it's so packed." I asked.
"K" Kotori and Honoka said in unison.
Honoka ended up challenging me to a fighting game, and she won. Never knew she was good at those. Kotori wanted me to help her win a stuff animal from a crane game. After all that it was around 2 now.
"So how about we head to the photo booths for some pictures?" I asked.
"Sounds great." Honoka said excitedly. Umi and Kotori giggled and then nodded in agreement.
We made our way over to the booths and went in. We took a few normal photos as well as some goofy ones.
"These came out great." Kotori beamed.
"Yeah." I agreed. "So how about we get some food? I'm starving."
They nodded and we headed to the nearest fast food place. I told the girls to find a table while I paid for the meal. They were against it, but I insisted since I did say it was my treat. I place my order and waited on the side when I felt a tap on my shoulder. I turn to see a girl with crimson hair and purple eyes. She was wearing a white button-up shirt, a black jacket, a light blue skirt, black stockings, and black shoes.
"Yes? Can I help you?" I asked her.
"You dropped this." She said holding out a black wallet.
I checked my pockets and realized I did drop my wallet. I laughed embarrassingly.
"It seems I did. Thanks I appreciate it." I said taking the wallet from her hands.
"You're welcome." She said and then stood there waiting or her food.
"Random question. You go to Otonokizaka High School right?" I asked her. She was startled and looked nervous. I should've of been more careful with my words.
"I'm asking cause I've seen you around since I do attend it as well." I explain.
"You look a bit too old to be a freshman." She said.
"That most likely cause I'm not a freshman. I'm a junior. My name's Takuto Yuuji. Nice to meet you." I introduced myself.
"I'm Maki Nishikino. Nice to meet you too." She said. "Wait Yuuji? Do you have a younger brother named Ren?" she asked.
"Oh you're one of Ren's classmates?" I asked her. She nodded. Just then my order was called. "Hey Maki are you eating with anyone?"
"No. Why do you ask?" She gave me a puzzled look.
"Wanna have lunch with me and friends? They're right over there." I said pointed my head towards the girls.
"I'm fine really." She said her cheeks flushed.
"Come on they don't bite, and be nice to make some new friends. Two birds with one stone." I said cheerfully.
"I'm not sure." she said reluctantly.
"Come on one meal isn't gonna kill you." I pleaded.
Her cheeks were still flush. "Fine, but only cause you asked me. I really don't care either way." She said face turned. Wow a real life tsundere. Who knew?
After she got her meal we walked over to the girls.
"Hey guys I hope you don't mind I brought over a new friend. This is Maki." I said then turned to Maki. "This is Honoka, Umi, and Kotori." I introduce pointing to each one of them.
The girls said hi and we all began to dig in. Maki was quite nervous through most of it. Thankfully Kotori comforting personality ease her troubles. While Honoka and Umi were arguing over trivial matters. The 5 of us chatted for a bit, and walked around for a bit till it started to get dark.
"Well it's getting late we should call it a day." I said.
"Aww really?" Honoka whined.
"Yes really." Umi scolded her.
"Well we'll see you then. Nice meeting you Maki." Kotori said starting to walk off.
"Yeah nice meeting you. Later Taku-kun." Honoka said and ran after Kotori.
"See you both at school." Umi said and followed the others.
"Well we should get going to." I said to Maki. "Come on you're gonna lead the way."
"Huh? What do you mean by that?" She asked.
"Well I'm not gonna let you walk home by yourself. That would be rude and honestly I'm just not that type of guy." I said with smile.
Her face flushed again. "That's fine. You don't have too." She said starting to walk off.
I followed her. "You're right. I don't have to but I want to. After all we are friends." I told her.
"We only met a few hours ago." She argued.
"True, but to me that doesn't matter. Once I make a friend I want them to know I'll be there whenever they might need me." I argued back.
She turned away and mumbled under her breath. "Thanks."
I could have said you're welcome, but I decide not to tease anymore. Instead I put my hands in my pockets and chatted about random topics. After a few minutes of talking we reach her house, which was an understatement. Her "house" was actually a mansion. This explains quite a bit.
"So guess I'll you around, k?" I asked before making my way home.
"Wait you're not shocked at my house?" She asked completely shocked.
"First that's one hell of a reaction. And 2 no, I am shocked but this doesn't really matter to me." I told her bluntly. "I'm friends with you not your money. So if you're loaded big whoop doesn't change anything."
"I see. Normally people would start wanting things, but you're different." She said with her head down.
I smiled and patted her on the head. "Yep, I'm as different as they come. Anyway see ya around." I said and ran off home.
When I walked mom greeted me. "Hey Taku. How was your day?" she asked.
"Great I even made a new friend as well." I told her.
"That's great dinner's on the table." She said.
"Thanks. I'll eat in my room." I said. I grabbed my meal and went upstairs. After eating I took a shower, and started to head to bed. As I laid down my mind wandered.
I'm still hiding my true feelings. I'm trying so hard to hide behind a mask of happiness that I feel like I'm still lying to those around me. I took out my phone and look into my photos till I found one with me and my dad. A sad smile form on my face. I really wish you were here to give me some answers. Dad I could really use some guidance right now. I could feel the tears start to run down my face. It's my fault that your gone dad, and I can never undo what I've done. I ended crying myself to sleep that night.
AND DONE. Holy crap that was tiring. Now I really wanted to get this chapter up for the sheer fact that Valentine's Day is coming up. So I wanted to get the 3 main girls introduced before then so I could do a pure romance chapter for that day. I'm still debating on which one though. You guys can leave replys or votes or I can throw straws or something I don't freaking know. As always favorite, follow, and please leave reviews I really could use them. It doesn't even need to be extravagant just a simple "nice story" or "needs grammer adjustments" anything really just no hate. Thanks again I'm Azure and I'll see you all next Sunday.