Both of them smiled as they walked down the hall, away from Otoya. Isuke was glad to be away from her and she felt like she'd won over her by proving she'd moved on. Haruki wasn't even sure why she was smiling, but parts of her suspected it was because Isuke did. Seriously, that smile of hers was contagious.

Haruki kept stealing quick glances at her as they walked. She couldn't get enough of that smile. When she made a genuine smile, one out of happiness, she looked even prettier than usual. And because she rarely smiled like that, Haruki found it impossible to keep her eyes off her when she did.

"Thanks for helping me out," Isuke's voice broke the silence, making Haruki jump slightly. At first, she'd thought that she'd been caught gazing at her.

When she heard what the pink haired girl had to say, her shoulders loosened up again and she let out a small sigh of relief.

"I'd be a shitty girlfriend if I didn't," she chuckled playfully, bumping into her side. Isuke spent a second or two regaining her balance after Haruki's push, which had turned out rougher than the strong girl had initially intended.

"Enough with the girlfriend jokes already. It's getting old." Quite honestly, she just wasn't sure she enjoyed the teasing and joking around all that much. Sure, it could be funny sometimes, but parts of it made things seem a little too real to her.

Was she starting to get along with this annoying girl?

Did she want that?

"You know you like it," she argued, but then determined to drop the subject.

"Someday, you'll have to tell me the entire story of you and Otoya."

Isuke nodded absentmindedly. If she happened to remember it long enough to ask again, she could just get Nio to tell her. She didn't feel like telling Haruki such a painfully long story, but she was sure Nio wouldn't mind. She loved listening to her own voice, after all.

"The classroom is this way, right?" Haruki confirmed with her as she started to feel familiar.

"Yeah, just around the corner."

They arrived at the door and Haruki extended her arm to open it. Just then, she noticed she was holding something else in her hand. During the entire walk, their fingers had been intertwined, and neither of them had noticed. They quickly let go of each other and let their hands fall to their sides. Isuke could feel a slight blush creeping onto her face and turned away to hide it.

"We should probably go inside." Haruki was the first to regain her composure and break the ice. She waited for the other girl's reply before entering the classroom.

"Wouldn't want to keep them waiting any longer," Isuke agreed silently, still not looking in her direction.

As Haruki placed her hand on the metal doorknob, she felt cold. She hadn't realized it while they were holding hands, but now her hand felt cold and empty. It was like there was something missing, like she'd been holding her hand her entire life and had just let it go. Not a minute had gone by, yet she already missed holding Isuke's hand in her own.

She shook her head to rid herself of the thought and twisted the doorknob.

"Oh, there you two are," said the dark haired teacher as they entered the classroom.

Some of the other students threw quick glances in their direction, some perhaps wondering how the two knew each other, others looking to see if Otoya had returned as well, and the rest for no particular reason. Mizorogi-sensei also noticed that they were still missing a student.

"You didn't find Takechi?" He directed his question towards Haruki, who shrugged nonchalantly. In truth, she wasn't sure she should mention that she did run into her. If she did, the young teacher would most likely ask why she didn't return there with them. She wanted to avoid unnecessary questions if she could.

"I see…" he muttered, knowing there wasn't much to do about it. His students weren't the most disciplined group; most of them came and went as they pleased. A couple of times, he'd tried giving the shirkers detention or talking to them about it, but it hadn't done much good in any of the cases, so he decided to cut them some slack. They were old enough to decide for themselves how they wanted to spend their time, after all.

"Well, I have a meeting to attend, so that's it for today, everyone. See you tomorrow," he smiled, dismissing the class. With that, he grabbed his books and headed out in a hurry.

After he left, the Black Class students slowly started getting to their feet, some packing a couple of books into their bags, others chatting casually with each other.

"Hey, Nio, what was that message about?" Haruki asked as she strolled over to the blonde, rudely interrupting her conversation with another redhead. Haruki thought she'd introduced herself as Ichinose Haru, but she might have been wrong.

"Dunno, I kinda spaced out," she waved dismissively, obviously more interested in talking to Haru or whatever her name was.

The snack-loving girl turned away, deciding to let them continue their conversation in peace.

"Seems we missed that one," she shrugged, trying to strike a casual conversation.

"Who cares," Isuke muttered uninterested. School wasn't the most exciting topic the wild-haired girl could have chosen, in her opinion.

"Excuse me Inukai-san and Sagae-san," said a voice. The two turned around, looking into the blank face of Kaminaga Kouko, the representative of the Black Class.

"Mizorogi-sensei made us aware that the school's culture festival is coming up, and he wants our class to make a contribution to the festival," informed the girl with glasses. The way she spoke was formal, making it obvious she was talking to them more out of obligation than personal interest. Kouko was a good class rep and student, but communicating with her fellow students wasn't her strongest trait.

"Like a café or a performance?" asked Isuke grumpily, "How bothersome."

The class rep decided to ignore her complaining.

"Yes, something along those lines. We haven't decided what to go for yet, though," she explained coolly.

"By the way, I advise you to participate, seeing as you're in dire need of the extra credit."

Isuke rolled her eyes as Kouko made her leave.

"Yeah, yeah," she yelled after her before lowering her voice so only Haruki could hear her.

"So lame." Haruki offered her an encouraging smile. She was already looking forward to it. It wasn't something she'd gotten to do before.

Because of her family situation, she had been absent a lot. It had affected her relationship with the other students as well as her grades. She'd always wanted to join a team, which one she wasn't sure, and make friends with someone who had the same interests as her. But having to work so many part time jobs, she'd never found the time.

"I don't know about that, Isuke-sama. I think it sounds like fun," she disagreed, to which Isuke only snorted stubbornly.

"Take it from someone who's already been at a culture festival; it's not. So don't get your hopes up."

Even at her words, Haruki's smile didn't fade. She didn't really care what they did. If it was a play, a maid café or a concert was all the same to her. She just wanted to do something together with her new classmates and make lots of friends in the process. If she was able to do just that, it was more than enough for her.

Or well, there was one more thing she hoped for. She wanted Isuke to have fun at the festival too.

"It'll be fun, trust me," she said as she promised herself to make the festival memorable for both of them.

They may not be dating for real, but that didn't stop her from wanting to make memories.

On the way home, Isuke found herself taking a detour, stopping outside the convenience store. She wasn't sure what had possessed her to go there, but one way or the other, she'd ended up there anyway.

She was conflicted about what had happened earlier. Sure, it was a good thing if Otoya laid off from now on, that she was certain about. What bothered her was how her brain kept bringing up images of a certain pocky-eating tomboy. She could still feel the warmth of Haruki's hand in her own, but when she clenched her fingers together, they gripped on nothing but air. It felt empty.

She went inside the shop and looked around the shelves for a long while. At last, she ended up getting one item. She paid for it and exited the store again.

Then she headed back home with a piece of pocky in her mouth, holding the package in the same hand that had held Haruki's hand less than an hour ago.

So, here's a super short chapter! When I was writing it, I thought of making it longer, but then I figured it'd be better to part it into two chapters, and this is how it turned out.

Anyway, I finished my exams today (only have one more test before the vacation starts xD) so I'll have plenty of time to write, I think and hope.

Now, let's cross our fingers and hope Isuke won't be expelled this week, even though it's looking kind of dark. I don't wanna see her go just yet…

Bye for now!