A/N: Has anyone else noticed how in anime, friends and group are usually in threes? Like the freshman trio in Prince of Tennis. Or the genin teams in Naruto.
Oh the irony of me finishing editing and posting this on White Day.
"Minami-chan! Hanako-chan! Wait for me!" Misaki placed her hands on her knees and caught her breath. Shadow skidded to a stop beside her shortly after.
"I-I wanted…to see if…you wanted to have lunch with another group…instead of just us three," Misaki panted.
Hanako and Minami looked at her curiously. They glanced at each other and shrugged simultaneously. "Sure."
"The boys are having guy time anyways," Hanako added, "They hit right off on our double date on Valentine's Day. There was so much bromance; it was suffocating! And that was only three days ago! It's gotten worse!" Hanako waved her arms frantically to emphasize her point.
Misaki laughed as they made their way to the fountain. "What? Afraid your boyfriend is gonna cheat on you with Kenta?" Misaki teased. "And you're being awfully quiet, Minami-chan. You're not having one of your yaoi fantasies now, are you?" She poked playfully at Minami's side.
The lavender-haired girl let out an indignant squeal and squirmed away with a blush on her face. "N-no! I wasn't," she shouted, her voice cracking.
"And there you have it! Minami the yaoi fangirl strikes again," Misaki and Hanako announced, dashing towards the fountain before Minami could strangle them.
"What's yaoi?" Shiemi asked curiously as Misaki approached her.
"Nothing that your innocent mind should learn of, my dear~," Misaki snickered, patting Shiemi's head gently.
Shadow whined, jumping up on the fountain ledge beside Shiemi, and waved his paw at Misaki.
Misaki smiled and pat Shadow's head as well. "You are such a baby, you know that." Shadow merely wagged his tail happily in reply.
"I've been wondering. I thought no pets were allowed on campus. So how come none of the teachers have asked you to leave your dog at home?" Ryuji questioned, glancing at Shadow.
Misaki opened her mouth to reply but Hanako beat her to it. "Misa-chan's granny is reeeeaaaaally scary and persuasive sometimes. She came with Misa-chan during the freshman orientation and totally told off the administration when they said Shadow wasn't allowed in. From then on, the teachers never bothered trying to stop Shadow from coming on campus," she explained enthusiastically.
Misaki sat down beside Shiemi and took Shadow into her arms, smiling gently at the canine. "I named him Shadow because he really is like my shadow," she began. "Ever since I could remember, he's always trailed after me, no matter I went. I find it strange how he's never seemed to grow that much in all these years, but I suppose it's just a birth defect of some sort."
Shadow growled and nipped lightly at her fingers in protest.
"Hey! I never said it was a bad thing. At least with you this small, I can carry you around," Misaki reasoned, tapping his nose affectionately.
"Awwww~! Isn't it cute how close they are?" Hanako squealed, latching tightly onto Minami's arm and jumping up and down excitedly. Minami quickly peeled the bubbly red-head off before her circulation could be cut off.
"Oh yeah! Everyone, these are my friends and dorm mates Yamada Hanako and Minami. They're step-sisters, but I swear they sometimes act like they have twin telepathy! Hanako-chan, Minami-chan, these are the guys that ambushed me on Valentine's Day," Misaki stated cheerfully, introducing each person present.
"You're very blunt, aren't you?" Ryuji deadpanned. Everyone else in their group seemed to silently agree with his statement while Shima made his way towards the sisters.
"Man, I thought it was hot outside but you girls just proved me wrong," Shima smirked, eying them both and wrapping an arm around each of them.
Before Shima could even figure out what happened, Misaki swiftly jabbed him in the gut and tossed Shadow at him. Shadow anticipated this, smoothly landing on Shima's stomach when they hit the ground, and automatically went into attack mode.
"Didn't I already mention that they had boyfriends?" Misaki snarled, stepping protectively in front of her friends.
"That's our Misa-chan!" Hanako giggled, tackling Misaki in a hug. "And you and Shadow always seem to have that telepathy too! You didn't even have to tell him what to do!"
"That's because we've been together for so long that we just understand each other," Misaki huffed, holding her arms out. Shadow stopped chewing on Shima's ear and leapt into Misaki's waiting arms. "See?"
"Can we all just eat?" Rin shouted suddenly, catching everyone attention.
"U-um…s-sure, Okumura-kun," Misaki stammered. "Let me just go buy my lunch."
Rin caught her wrist before she could walk off. "No need. Here," he said, handing her a bento.
Misaki's jaw nearly dropped inelegantly. "You can cook?" She squawked.
Rin tried to cover his embarrassed blush at her reaction with a glare. "Yeah. What's wrong with that?"
Misaki realized that her words came out wrong and corrected herself. "Nothing! I think it's great. I've always thought that more guys should learn how to cook, instead of leaving it to the girls." She opened the bento and, with a quick thanks, dug in.
Her eyes lit up instantly. "Wow, Okumura-kun! This is amazing!"
Rin turned his head away to hide his red face. "Thanks…and I told you before to call me Rin," he muttered.
"Oh right. Thanks, Rin-kun."
Neither of them saw the mischievous grins on the Yamada sisters' faces.