March 2, 2017

- Hi, I just updated this chapter. I only added/revised some stuff, nothing major.

Rin just lied there on her bed, her face beaming with happiness. She really didn't expect everything that happened today to be just so… great! To be alone with him in that rooftop, with no one else to interrupt, enjoying the pleasant view together, with their bodies almost touching each other… she couldn't help but squeal, but at least the pillow she had been hugging minimized it enough once she brought it to cover her face. Even so, her roommate would've been so pissed off right now. Luckily enough, no one had to suffer through that since she had the room all to herself, even if there were two beds.

Maybe that bed's for Ichika… She giggled. Her current excitement was making it hard for her to resist the temptations. She imagined Ichika right there on the next bed. No, no, imagining this was wrong, so wrong! If he was on the same bed with her… now that was the right way of thinking!

...What am I thinking?!

She shook her head rapidly in embarrassment.

Putting that matter aside, she just felt so victorious right now, with a confident chuckle emanating from her mouth. Take that Houki! Who's the REAL childhood friend now?! She laughed maniacally, and with the way she was hugging her pillow tightly, one would probably assume she was insane.

Ichika woke up to an unusual sight.

Laura's not here…?

A good sign to start the day. He stood up from his bed, preparing himself to take a shower, until he heard someone in there, much to his dismay. Those good signs faded quickly.

"Laura, why are you taking a shower here?" He didn't even show hints of being annoyed. Perhaps it was too early in the morning to freak out.

The intruder herself shrieked, getting flustered at the boy. She covered herself with her arms and the shower blinds. "W-what are you doing?! Suddenly barging in like that…"

Ichika chuckled nervously, scratching the back of his head. "B-but Laura, you're the one who barged into my room without my permission since I was sleeping, and even took a shower."

Her blush only deepened. "The shower in my room was broken, so…" She was telling the truth! It's not like she broke the shower head on purpose just so she could make an excuse and take a shower in his bathroom, right? No, no way! She noticed him still staring at her, making her groan. "S-stop staring you pervert!"

Either he woke up too early or her voice was just too loud to take in this morning, as his head was hurting a little again. His nervous chuckle could be heard again. "W-well, you're the one who runs into my room almost everyday and sleep on the same bed with me without wearing any clothes, well most of the time, because sometimes you wear the academy's swimsuit, just like yesterday." He turned around and waited by the door instead of awkwardly watching her which he has been doing the past few moments.

She was left speechless. She hated how he was so blunt about it. He's been like this since yesterday, and she had a clue why - her. It was her fault, for being annoying and intrusive. Those exact words that he said yesterday still stung her, but it was thanks to that that she realized it was her own doing that caused this.

Yesterday… what was up with that day? It's as if so many things happened. Ichika's changed somehow, and not to mention that rooftop scene-

Wait…

How could she forget that event?! Oh yeah, she was too busy planning to make it up to Ichika and apologize, but now, it seems she was having second thoughts.

That scene, oh how she wished that never happened. She was just there, behind the door, witnessing how her wife was flirting with someone else! It made her blood boil so much. And the way they both looked so happy in each other's company infuriated her. Apologize? He was the one who should apologize, right? Wives should be loyal!

Ichika flinched a little when Laura ran past him. "L-Laura?"

"Idiot…" She slammed the door.

The boy was confused. Very confused. "W-what's with the sudden shift in mood?" That wasn't his only source of confusion. "And how did she change to her uniform so quickly?!"

Nothing much happened during class, with the flow of the subjects not getting interrupted by any transfer student or the outcry of the girls' jealousy due to a certain guy.

Talking about the certain guy, he was able to survive the day without any interruption, until…

"Ichika, would you mind going with us?" It was the four girls who approached him, namely Houki, who asked the question rather sternly, Laura, Cecilia, and Charlotte. Both blonde girls smiled as innocently and sweetly as they can at the boy, but deep down, they just wanted to unleash all their rage at him after witnessing what happened yesterday.

Laura, however, was frowning. I failed to apologize again… She shook her head. No, he's the one who should apologize!

"Hmm? Where are we going?" His smile however, was just as genuine as ever, and showed just how clueless he was to these four beautiful girls' destructive nature.

'Oh you know, to the place where you betrayed us!' That's what they wanted to say, but they were too embarrassed to even utter it in front of him, and not to mention how it may cause a ruckus here in the classroom.

Cecilia slammed her hands on his table making him flinch a little, all the while still displaying that "sweet" smile on her face with her eyes closed. "Just go with us, alright Ichika?" Because if you don't, you will regret it.

Ichika just gulped in fear. What's up with her smiling while slamming the damn table? He just didn't get it at all. "A-am I in trouble for no reason again?" He chuckled nervously.

Charlotte pulled his arm as gentle as she can to let him stand up from his seat. "It's alright Ichika, you're not in trouble." Because she wanted to save up all her energy for his coming punishment later. "Well, at least not yet…" She muttered ominously while looking down.

"W-what?" Was all Ichika could say.

They finally arrived at their destination, but for Ichika, it could be his final one. "This is where you guys wanted to go? But why'd you literally drag me along?" The pain was still there in his arms. Those girls really had a strong grip.

Houki went straight to the point, crossing her arms. "You know exactly why! You were looking for Rin yesterday right?" She could see the boy nod in response. "And what actually happened when you met up with her here huh?" She trembled in anticipation of his response.

"Hmm, well…" He was about to answer, but he suddenly realized something. "Wait, did Rin tell you guys about this? That's the way you knew, right?" He asked rather in an innocent manner, like a clueless kid. Yet this clueless Ichika was taking a toll on the girls.

That is, to make them blush in embarrassment, because they knew they just got exposed of stalk -er- watching. But they can still be saved, right? Besides, he didn't even suspect them of that at all, he really was just asking nicely.

But Houki couldn't hold it in anymore and just burst out of her built up anger, finally proving that Ichika had somewhat guessed it right. "T-that doesn't matter! Actually, we…" She was fidgeting too much, telling him the truth was draining her confidence quickly. "W-we followed you alright?!"

The three other girls gasped in horror. W-what are you doing?! It was over. Now they were gonna be labeled as the IS of IS Academy – the Infinite Stalkers of IS Academy. What will Ichika think of them now?

"Right after you asked, we followed you… but…" She clenched her fist, getting angry for another reason. "How did you know Rin was here without looking anywhere else?!" She reached the painful conclusion.

The trio in the background instantly realized what she was trying to say, and they soon all gave their death glares to Ichika.

Cecilia frowned, she couldn't take that fact, that her "teammate" in her mission to getting Ichika's attention would betray her. "A-are you saying that y-you're that much closer to R-rin than the rest of us, s-so much t-that you know her f-favorite place?!" That girl, I'll make her sweet and sour pork taste salty and bitter! And she was the perfect girl to do just that.

"Ichika! How dare you betray me! You are my wife and we should be the closest to each other!" Any other more revealing information, and Laura could unleash all her charged up strength to hit that boy she lov- liked so much right now. She didn't want to believe it, but it's really happening. Rin was winning against her. She was too pumped up to even think about apologizing anymore.

But the worst of all, was the blonde with the violet eyes. Ichika just shook in fear seeing the dark aura surround the girl. Charlotte was definitely not happy, and even smiling at this moment was too difficult to do anymore, as if there was some force trying to stop her mouth from forming it. "Ichika... it must've been fun… didn't it?" Her chuckle could send a shiver to anyone's spine, in a not so good way.

W-what's up with them?! Why do they look so angry anyway? I didn't even say anything yet… Or maybe that's exactly why! But what do they want me to tell them?! Come on, just give me a clue!

And his clue was given. "TELL US THE TRUTH ICHIKA!" One voice from the four was already loud enough, but to have all of them shout at the same time was another level, and not to mention how perfectly synchronized they were when they shouted it, as if they rehearsed it before.

Ichika sighed in relief. He had to thank them for that, as it made things easier. "Yes, I knew Rin was here, because I do know it's her favorite place," he smiled.

The girls gasped in horror, but Ichika continued talking.

"I saw her here, looking sad," he frowned, remembering that expression Rin had on her face. "I really felt terrible, it was my fault she was like that, and I had to apologize. So I did. This is how it went…"

As Ichika continued his storytelling session, the girls were just glaring at him, ignoring the words coming out of his mouth. Their minds were just too occupied with anger, and it was pretty noticeable, yet he didn't seem to notice. But it only took one word to snap them out of their angry trance.

"… I called her cute. And that's when we hugged each other." No, make that two, but the second word only turned their anger into a raging monster that wanted to destroy everything in its path. It was the embodiment of rage itself. H-HUGGED?! The second word – it really caught them off guard.

Yet the dense and honest Ichika just kept talking. "After that, we just enjoyed the view for awhile. We were really close to each other," he chuckled. "And she even made a promi-"

They just couldn't take it anymore. Houki was the first to launch her fist at Ichika. "You're the worst!"

"Eh?! But I didn't even do anything wrong." Ichika really didn't get these girls at all.

"B-because you called Rin c-cute, and you said you even h-hugged her!" The girls were in disbelief. Calling someone cute and hugging them after; something was definitely happening between them!

All signs of emotions left Ichika's face, leaving him with a poker face. "But you just told me to tell the truth…" His poker face was replaced with a face of being annoyed. "So why are you getting mad at me for telling the truth when you told me to do exactly just that?!"

However, silence only came after. None of them can answer that, if they did, that would just reveal… ahh, it was too embarrassing to even think about it! So, they replied with the usual thing. They all materialized their respective IS' arms, ready to pulverize the boy in front of them. "Just go die you pervert!"

Ichika took some steps back. Fear was clearly evident on his face. "D-don't call me a pervert when you're the ones at fault!" Perhaps that issue was more important to him than the whole dying thing. He saw the girls getting closer, and when they finally tried to hit him, he was able to dodge all of their attacks. His victory, however, was short-lived. "W-wait, I mustn't move that much…" It was coming back again, those painful white flashes in his mind. He fell to his knees. His head was hurting again, making him clutch it.

But the girls were oblivious to it, still in their rage mode. They were ready for their final swing at his head. However, once they executed their move, they were all blocked by a familiar materialized IS arm.

Ichika only saw the outline of its owner as the sun blinded him, but once that source of light was blocked by the figure, he recognized who it was. "Rin!"

"Rin?!" They didn't expect this sudden appearance.

Rin looked back at Ichika and kneeled beside him, giving him a concerned smile. "Don't worry Ichika, I'll protect you." She went and hugged him, much to the other girls' jealousy. Just like I promised…

She stood up and turned around to look at her other fellow rivals- friends rather, and placed her hands on her hips after dematerializing part of her IS. "First of all…" She cleared her throat with her eyes closed before saying, "WHAT THE HECK ARE YOU ALL TRYING TO DO?!"

I'm so sorry for taking so long to update! I didn't have any idea what to write back then, and the ideas only popped up now, probably sometime last week. But the thing is, college is getting busy and I might not be able to update in quite awhile again. Again, I apologize for that.

Umm don't expect a fight scene between Rin and the Infinite Stalkers. I've never written one before so it might end up terrible anyway, but we'll see.

I might change the ending for this chapter, if I do, you'll be notified when I update the summary. Why? Because I have another idea, though I'm still not sure if that's better.

- 01/28/2017