Thanks for sticking around! I have some announcements at the end, so be sure to take a look at them! Thanks!
-Paladin
"Alright Yuri, your turn!" Monika called.
Yuri looked down, a look of bashfulness enveloping her features. She slid out of her chair, making her way to the front of the almost empty classroom as she clutched a piece of lined paper.
"A Haiku," Yuri muttered.
"Autumn covets spring
Her raindrops and halted breath
Never sees the rose"
The members of the literature club clapped quietly, but cheerfully, as Yuri skirted nervously back to her desk. Monika leaned forward in her chair to look at her timid friend. "Wonderful, as always Yuri! Again, every time that you read it always just seems so deep."
"That's true." Makoto chimed in.
Yuri looked away. "T-Thank you."
"No need to make this all about you." Natsuki chimed in sarcastically.
"I'm-" Yuri stuttered.
"Yuri," Natsuki interrupted. "That was a joke."
"Oh,"
"Next up, we have Sayori!" Monika cheered.
Sayori lept from her chair, dashing to the front with almost inhuman speed. She proudly held her wrinkled piece of lined paper in front of her. "A Haiku," she began.
"Love is amazing
I'm warmed by its sweet embrace
Always holding me close!"
She put her paper down, and while Monika and Makoto clapped, Natsuki chimed in. "Wait, are you sure that's a Haiku?"
"What?" Sayori asked.
"Your last line." Yuri stammered. "It has too many syllables. You're supposed to have five, not six."
Sayori frantically looked over her paper, her face turning a bright red. "But that's, like, an optional thing, right?"
"Um," Monika hummed.
"No," Natsuki finished. "It's really not."
"It was a good try-" Yuri responded hurriedly.
"Are you kidding me?!" Sayori exclaimed loudly, almost stomping back to her chair. "I totally blew it!" She dramatically sat down, burying her head into her arms.
Makoto leaned towards Sayori. "It wasn't THAT bad."
"I wanna explode," she mumbled.
"I still thought it was lovely." he continued, running his hand along the back of her blazer.
Sayori turned her head towards him, a relaxed smile replacing any sadness. "That feels nice…" she sighed peacefully.
"Yuri is right," Monika said, standing up. "A haiku is classified as a form of poetry that's set apart by its structure. It has three lines, with the first one being five syllables, then seven, then five again." As Monika was speaking, she grabbed a marker and began jotting the numbers on the board.
"It's also closely associated with nature," Yuri added. "Seasons, weather, and wildlife." She got progressively quieter as her sentence continued.
"That's also true," Monika agreed, writing the word "nature" on the board. "Anything else?"
"If memory serves," Makoto commented. "It was used at the beginning of a longer poem?"
"That's also right!" Monika noted the word 'Introduction' on the whiteboard. "And those longer poems also needed to be arranged by syllables."
"That sounds hard!" Sayori exclaimed.
"Yeah, I'm with her," Natsuki added. "Why spend that much effort?"
"The same reason that the people who make your Manga spend that effort," Makoto answered. "It's a way to express themselves."
"I guess," Natsuki replied.
"We all have our own ways of saying what's in our hearts." Monika continued. "The key is figuring out what that looks like." She glanced up at the clock, then placed the lid on the marker. "That should wrap up for today, but I will see you all lovely people next Monday. Have a great weekend!"
The seated friends began collecting their items. Natsuki turned to see Sayori grab Makoto's arm. "Can we get something to eat?" she asked.
"Sure thing,"
"Yay!"
"Hey, Natsuki, wait up!" Makoto called.
Natsuki paused by the doorway, turning back to look at the couple. "What?"
"Do you have a second? I wanna run something by you."
Natsuki took a few steps forward. "Sure."
"Have a nice weekend," Yuri said quietly, stepping past Natsuki towards the door.
"Hey! Yuri, wait up!" Monika called after her. "I need a favor-"
"Take care, you two." Natsuki said, smirking as the girls walked out of the room. As Natsuki walked toward Makoto, she could hear Sayori high pitched voice chirping to her boyfriend.
"What is it Makoto?" Sayori asked.
"Nothing, really, tell you what though," he said, pulling out his wallet. "Take this, go get yourself something from the vending machine outside."
"Score!" Sayori yelled, snatching the Yen from his hand, and dashing outside. Natsuki quickly stepped to the side to avoid being trampled.
"You know who stopped me in the halls today?" Makoto asked.
"Who?"
"Kaito."
"Again, who?"
"Kaito Ryuta? He's in your chemistry class? Ringing any bells?"
"Oh, yeah," she said.
"He said he's been trying to talk to you, but can never find you."
"Yeah, that's kind of the point," she replied.
"Natsuki,"
"What? I'm busy." she huffed defensively. "It's due at the end of the year anyways. We'll get the time in, it's just that I've got…other stuff to deal with."
"Look, I believe you," Makoto continued. "You don't have to convince me. You may want to talk to him though, he seems like he gets a little wound up about this sort of thing."
"I know, he's kind of like Yuri that way."
"Yeah, I can see that. I'd argue that Yuri is a bit more anxious around other people than him though."
Natsuki looked into his deep, amber eyes. "You know him?"
"Kind of," Makoto replied. "Both of us transferred from our last school to this one, though he did it a year before me. It's more accurate to say that I know of him. The kid's basically a shadow."
"Sounds about right." Natsuki sighed.
"BUT, he's a nice guy." he continued. "When Sayori stopped coming to school last year, he was the only guy who asked me about it, wanting to make sure that she was okay."
Natsuki looked at him skeptically. "Did you tell him what happened?"
"No, no, I-I just mention that to make a point," he said.
"So what is your point?"
"I'm just saying, cut him some slack," Makoto stated. "He has a hard time being confrontational, and you're not making it any easier for him. I know you're not trying to be mean, but you'd really be doing him a solid by being a little…um…"
"Less of a b-" she paused, catching herself. "Witchy?"
"Less abrasive." Makoto reasoned. "Natsuki, you're not a mean person. You don't need to pretend to be."
Natsuki sighed, looking to the side. "So, you want me to go talk to him?"
"Among other things, yeah."
"And you want me to be nice?"
"That would be preferable." Makoto chuckled.
"And you're doing this because…?"
"Let's just say I'm happy that he was nice to Sayori last year, and I'm looking to pay it forward."
Natsuki groaned "Your altruism makes me sick, you know that?"
"Please?" Makoto asked.
She looked to the side again. You have no idea how complicated my life is. She looked up into his eyes again, noting the sincerity in their amber hue. She sighed. "You're right, sorry for being difficult."
"So you'll do it?"
"Yes,"
"Good, because I gave him your number and told him to meet you today after school."
"You WHAT?!" Natsuki yelled, smacking him in the arm.
"Hey!" he yelled. "Watch it! I need that arm!"
"Oh MC~" a voice chimed in the door. Natsuki turned to see Sayori holding a few bags of chips and a bottled drink. "I got the goods."
"Right on time," Makoto said, rubbing his arm. "Natsuki was just showing me her right hook."
"Oh, quit being a baby. I didn't hit you THAT hard." Natsuki sighed.
Sayori dropped everything and rushed over, seeming to fall all over her boyfriend's side. "Aww, poor thing."
"It's…fine," Makoto reassured, blushing and looking away.
"Don't let Ms. Grumpy-Gus get you down, she's just mad because she's short and she compensates for it with her poor attitude."
"Hey!" Natsuki exclaimed. "You're not exactly reaching the top shelf either, sweetheart!"
"Uh-Uh, I don't want to hear it." Sayori said condescendingly, "I want you to apologize to my man for your bad behavior."
"There's a spider on your shoulder," Natsuki replied in a deadpan voice.
"What! Where?" she said, jumping back and frantically patting her shoulders. "That's not funny!"
Makoto laughed, pulling his girlfriend in for a hug. To Natsuki's surprise, he reached his other arm out and pulled her in as well. "Thank you both for being who you are."
How long has he been waiting there? Natsuki wondered to herself. She was standing on the other side of a pair of doors on the side of the building. Each door had a small window at around eye level, or at least, at the eye level for most people. Natsuki could only barely see through the window, and needed to pull herself up slightly on the frame in order to look through the door. As she peered through, she saw Kaito standing awkwardly in the parking lot, looking almost nervous at his phone. She observed him reach his hand towards the screen, and then sharply pull it back. Let's just get this over with.
She pushed the doors open, stepping out into the almost empty parking lot. She stepped towards Kaito who, upon hearing the noise, tucked his phone into his pocket. He looked towards Natsuki, smiling sheepishly as he gave a small wave. Natsuki looked towards the gate of the school nearby as she walked, trying to avoid his gaze for just a moment. As she stopped just in front of him, she looked up towards his bright green eyes. "Hey," she muttered.
"Hey," he stammered quietly. "I was worried you might not have been able to make it."
"Sorry I'm late…Makoto didn't tell me until just a few minutes ago that you were waiting for me."
"It's alright. I-I wasn't here for very long."
"So, where are we going?"
"Well, the school library is locked now that clubs are done, so I was wondering if it would be alright if we could, um, go to my place and study."
"Really?" Natsuki retorted skeptically.
"Only if you want." Kaito muttered. "I have my car, we can go somewhere else if you'd like."
Natsuki resisted the urge to call out the almost comically dubious situation Kaito was proposing she put herself into: A guy, who she barely knew, invites her to an unfamiliar setting by driving her to his house, wherein the two of them would likely be by themselves, and she would have no way to get out of the situation. If I didn't know any better, I'd brush this guy off as being either oblivious or sketchier than an unfinished manga. "That's your car?" she asked, pointing to the car that Kaito was reflexively leaning against.
"Yeah," Kaito straightened his back slightly, placing his hand on the back of the tan vehicle behind him. Natsuki noted particularly the cheap, plastic finish of the vehicle chipping off the back of the car. "It's my uncle's car, and he lets me drive it as long as I promise to run errands for him every now and again. It's not the prettiest car in the world, but it's certainly been helpful."
"Gotcha," she continued. "Alrighty then, let's go."
"Really?"
"Yeah, we might as well crank this out now." It's also good to know that there will probably be other people at the house, and I have that pocket knife from Yuri if things go bad.
"That's great!" Kaito exclaimed, almost a little too loud. His face reddened slightly at his outburst, and he fumbled into his pocket to pull out his keys to unlock his car. Natsuki followed to the left side of the car as Kaito pulled the door open for her.
"What are you doing?" Natsuki asked.
"I'm…opening the door for you?"
Natsuki paused. "Why?"
"Um…because it's polite?"
"You don't have to do that." Natsuki said, her voice growing quieter. "I'm more than capable of opening a door."
"I know." Kaito replied. "I just want to help."
Natsuki started, but caught herself again from snapping at him. She slipped past the open door, taking a seat as she pulled her skirt more fully into the vehicle. Kaito closed the door, watching as he stepped around the front bumper to get to the driver's side. She noticed, suddenly, the smell of the car. As she looked down, she noticed the car was almost immaculately clean on the inside. The carpets beneath her feet were exempt of any dirt, and the cupholders seemed to be free of any stains or garbage. She turned her head as Kaito pulled his door open and slipped into the car. As he slipped his seatbelt on, he didn't seem to meet her gaze. As she looked, she noticed the setting sun seeming to glance off his emerald green eyes. Those are just as bright as Monika's. Natsuki pondered. She immediately glanced away as Kaito pulled the car into reverse, and pulled out of the stall. He looked at her as she shifted gears. "Is something wrong?"
"No,"
"You were staring at me…do I have something on my face?"
Natsuki's face turned a bright crimson shade. She huffed as she turned her face away, folding her arms as she did so. "I-I was not!" she cried. The outburst caused Kaito to cower down slightly. "Don't be weird about it, okay?" she huffed.
"I-I'm not trying to be weird!" Kaito reassured, focusing all the more intently on the road. "I'm just checking to see if I have something on my face, that's all. I'm sorry."
"Whatever." Natsuki grumbled. She looked at the houses as they drove by them, each silhouette offering a slightly different color than the last.
It seemed like an eternity of silence before Kaito's voice picked up again.
"Um…" Kaito started. "If you don't mind me asking, how do you know Makoto?"
"Who, me?"
"Yeah,"
"I had classes with him last year, and we were in the same club."
"Which club?"
"The literature club,"
"Oh yeah! Monika runs that, right?"
"Something like that."
"What do you like about it?"
"It's nice to pass the time." It also keeps me out of the house while Papa is at home.
"I imagine Sayori goes with him." Kaito resumed. "Not that she's hard to miss."
Natsuki smiled. "Yeah, that's true."
"I think they're both great. I wish I could get to know them better." Kaito replied. Natsuki noticed a touch of sadness in that comment.
"Why are you saying that like you can't?" she said, looking at him.
"What?"
"Just saying, if you want to talk to someone, just go talk to them. If they like you, then they like you. If they don't, well, there's not much you can do about that."
"I guess that's true." Kaito muttered. "Sorry, I guess what I said didn't make sense."
Natsuki looked away again. "It's fine…it's your life anyways. Do what you want."
Kaito chuckled. "It looks like we're here."
Natsuki leaned towards the front window as the car turned slightly into a gate. The house had two stories, with some windows facing the street. The outside was stained with a dark brown with gray rims. What caught Natsuki's attention was the large garage that seemed to protrude to the edge of the lot, taking up a significant amount of space. "You don't pull into the garage?"
"No, my uncle's dojo is in there. He doesn't like to put the car inside unless he has to."
She turned back to him. "Your uncle runs a dojo?"
"Yeah,"
"What does he teach?"
"Kempo Karate, and a couple of other things too."
"Huh, he ever teach you anything?"
"Um, yeah, I know a thing or two. I certainly could never beat him though."
Natsuki tried to imagine the boy in front of her being in a white martial arts uniform, punching a bag and breaking boards. "Huh, go figure."
Kaito turned the car off, slipping off his seat belt and opening the door in one swift, seamless motion. Natsuki followed suit, pushing the door open and stepping onto the pavement. The doors had her facing towards the front of the house, where a set of concrete stairs led up to a small, gray-ish door. Natsuki hardly heard Kaito step past her, making his way to the house's entrance. "You coming?"
Natsuki reluctantly followed, cautiously following the steps of the boy in front of her. She noticed that Kaito was treading up the stairs two concrete steps at a time. They walked silently, Kaito pausing at the door to type in a code. Natsuki heard a small whirring of the automatic deadbolt, and Kaito pushed the door open shortly thereafter. This is a nice house. she pondered.
"Ren? You home?" Kaito called, stepping inside. He began slipping off his shoes in the front area, and placing them in a small cabinet by the door.
"What?" a female voice called back.
Natsuki watched as Kaito took a few steps forward to peek into what appeared to be a kitchen area. She slipped off her shoes, looking at the back of Kaito's head, noticing how close it stood to the top of the door frame. He's a lot taller than I thought. She rolled her eyes slightly. I guess that's what I get for not even being a full 150 cm, you begin to think all people are the same height. She looked at him more closely. He does slouch a lot though. She began following him quietly towards the kitchen.
"When will mom be back?"
"Beats me." the woman's voice said. "All she said was to take care of meals myself."
"What're you making?"
"Oyakodon, it'll be ready here in a bit." the voice continued. Natsuki took a deep breath in, feeling her stomach rumble as she took in the aroma of cooking rice, chicken, and simmering vegetables. "Who's that?"
Natsuki leaned back away from the door as Kaito turned slightly. "This is Natsuki, she's from school."
"A girl huh?" the woman continued. Natsuki peered around the boy next to her, noticing the woman's long black hair had a long, bright streak of red towards the front. The girl smiled and nodded her head slightly in Natsuki's direction. "Hey, I'm Ren, nice to meet you."
"It's a pleasure to meet you too," Natsuki replied formally.
"We'll be upstairs if you need us," Kaito assured, stepping fully into the kitchen, towards the stairs positioned at the back of the room, partially obstructed by the stovetop full of food.
"Alrighty, I'll holler when the food is done."
Natsuki followed cautiously up the narrow set of stairs. She turned to see Ren immediately get back on her phone as she passed from view. The stairs ended leading into a small hallway, with five doors on each side. Natsuki began to feel slightly trapped. How do you all deal with so many tight spaces? She pondered. Kaito opened the second door on the right, peering in. As Natsuki followed, she wondered if she stepped into a whole new building.
The wallpaper was a pale blue, with a small twin-sized bed shoved into the corner of the room. Besides it sat a bed stand with a small lamp, an alarm clock, and a small notebook. A tan, sliding closet door stood immediately in the next corner, and she noticed a small red patch of covering about where her head was. As she gazed, she noticed Kaito slide the door open slightly and place a couple of items on the floor of the closet entrance. "I'm sorry, I should have made sure my room was more clean beforehand."
"No problem," Natsuki responded absentmindedly. If this is his definition of dirty, I'm afraid of what he means when something is clean. The carpeted floor seemed recently vacuumed, the wooden structures seemed devoid of any dust. There was a small bookshelf standing on the wall immediately to her right, and besides that a small weight-set full of dumbbells with varying sizes.
"Excuse me," Kaito interrupted. Natsuki turned to see him holding a folded pad with legs, appearing to be almost as tall as he was. She ducked to the side, as Kaito placed the legs down on the ground, and then began clicking certain poles into place, extending the pad until there sat a moderately sized circular table on the floor. Moving silently, Kaito then grabbed two mats, placing one next to the other around the table. "Please, take a seat."
Natsuki obliged, leaning up against the bookshelf as she sat. "Thank you." she responded formally. Kaito sat down, groaning slightly as he sat down. He began rubbing his shins slightly. Natsuki looked at his hands puzzled. "You alright?"
"Me? Oh, I-I'm fine, sorry." Kaito replied. "I went running this morning, and my legs can sometimes get sore."
"You run?"
"I try to," he replied embarrassed. "I try to go maybe 2-3 miles at least on weekdays, though some weeks are better than others."
"You run that far almost every day?!" Natsuki cried.
"Um…yes?" Kaito replied with uncertainty. "Why?"
"I could never do that."
"Most people say that, but I think we often sell ourselves short." Kaito responded softly, looking away.
Natsuki began glaring daggers into Kaito. "And what, exactly, do you mean by that?" Natsuki replied defensively.
Kaito's eyes suddenly widened. "Wait, that wasn't supposed to be a comment about your height!" he replied quickly. "I'm sorry! I legitimately didn't have that in mind, I swear!"
Natsuki paused, noticing a desperation behind his voice that seemed to catch her off-guard. The inflection and emotion in his voice sounded familiar. He sounds like me when I say sorry to Papa. She sighed defeatedly. "Whatever, let's just get to work on the project."
"Of course," he said, leaning back to grab a small bag behind him. He pulled out a small notebook with a pencil crammed in it, and opened it to where the pencil was lodged. "I had a couple of ideas already, but I wanted to see what you thought."
"Sure, let's hear them." Wasn't the point of waiting to brainstorm so that we could count this as hours for the project? She exhaled softly. Of course, he probably doesn't trust me to think of any ideas he likes. At least I get to see now that he doesn't take me seriously.
"What do you think?" Kaito asked.
Natsuki snapped back to reality. "Huh?"
"I had an idea to do something with magnets, either studying the forces behind them, or hypothesizing if they attract some metals better than others."
"That doesn't seem like a good idea."
"Oh?" he asked. "What do you mean?"
"Well, putting aside the fact it's kind of expensive, I don't think you can hypothesize about that well. Remember how Professor Tokumei said we need to think of something to prove using a control group and an experimental group? That seems like it would be hard to do with just a couple of magnets."
Kaito nodded, scratching something into his notebook. "You make a good point, we'll skip on that idea for now."
She perked up. "You sure gave up quickly."
"What?"
"You're not gonna argue with me about it?"
Kaito looked at her confused. "Why would I do that? You made a good point, and as I thought about it, your position seemed more and more valid. Is that a bad thing?"
"No, it's just-" Natsuki paused. "It's fine, let's just move on."
"Do you have any ideas?" he asked. "I don't want you to feel left out of this process."
She looked at him. "You want to hear my thoughts?"
"Yeah, we're brainstorming, right?" he continued.
"Right," she said. "I was thinking about doing something baking related."
He nodded. "That might work…what would our variables be?"
"We can try adding and removing some ingredients, trying to see if that affects the flavor."
"I like that idea for variables…I'm not sure flavor would be an objective enough measurement for Professor Tokumei to accept. What about texture?"
Natsuki looked up. "That might work, we can have our independent variables be certain ingredients like eggs. We can see if the binding proteins will affect the final product, and have people write down if they noticed the different textures."
"I like that idea," Kaito said, scribbling in his notebook. "Do you have any other ideas?"
Natsuki paused. "Why would we need to keep going? We have an idea that works, why not run with it."
"Oh," he paused. "I guess we can stop now, if you'd like." Natsuki noticed that, again, Kaito got progressively quieter as he spoke.
She sighed. "Goodness, Kaito, you're a strange guy."
He tilted his eyes. "How come?"
"I can tell you have concerns." she continued. "Come on, spit 'em out."
"I-" he paused, looking away. He took a deep breath. "I guess, we run into that price issue again. Buying ingredients, finding time to cook, in conjunction with other supplies we'd need…if we thought magnets were bad, then baking leads to more issues.
Natsuki pondered. "Yeah, that makes sense, I suppose." she added. "Why didn't you just say that before?"
"I, um, didn't want to discount the idea. With brainstorming, we're supposed to just think of ideas, objections notwithstanding. If we distract ourselves on the logistics of each item independently, we lose track of that creativity we need to generate the best ideas."
She squinted at him slightly. "Oh," she started. "I guess I've heard that too."
"We don't have to do it that way," Kaito assured. "I know it's been helpful for me, but I don't want to be so rigid that I can't accommodate different styles of doing work."
"Yeah, yeah, I get it."
"Alright, so do you-" Kaito was interrupted when he heard a voice yelling from downstairs. "Oh, food must be ready, I'll be back in a moment."
"I'll keep thinking of stuff we can do." Natsuki chimed in.
"Sounds good," he said, standing up. "Let me know what you think." He slid silently out, and closed the door behind him. Natsuki leaned back, resting her head on the bookshelf behind her.
What's his deal? The kid acts like I'm about to beat him up or something. I mean, it's nice to get some respect, but I'm not- She paused, realizing she wasn't sure how to feel about the way she was going to finish that sentence. She shook her head. Whatever, he's probably just patronizing me. It's not like he actually cares about-
She paused, glancing at the edge of Kaito's bed. Near the center, she noticed a small book cover poking out from under the frame, with a noticeably pink shade. She squinted as she looked. It couldn't be… She leaned over, reaching as she could for the book, using her fingers to slowly pull the book towards her. Her eyes widened as she grasped the book, pulling it to look at the cover: Parfait Girls: Volume 2
"No way, is this real?" she mumbled, astonished. She began flipping through the pages briefly. Sure enough, each page was lined with familiar portraits, poses, and pictures of each of the heroines of the story. "He reads Parfait Girls? He actually does?" She noticed a page folded down, marking a specific spot in the book. She flipped open to it, noticing the scene in play was one where Minori was discussing with her friends on how to best help Alice prepare for her baking competition." Whoever seems to be reading this doesn't seem to be skipping to the romance parts. How funny. She heard the door begin to slide open, and she immediately sat back up.
"I'm back," Kaito announced.
She looked up at him, noticing that both of his hands were now holding bowls with steam emanating above cheap glass. "Why do you have two bowls?"
"It's for you," he said, placing the bowl in front of her. He placed a pair of neatly wrapped chopsticks next to the steaming noodles, taking a seat as he did so. The intoxicating smell brought her eyes down to look at the vegetables, broth, and meat. She could feel her stomach rumble, her mouth watering as she looked down at the meal before her. I can't remember the last time I had something like this. She looked away from Kaito, blushing slightly.
"You didn't have to do that." she muttered.
"Oh, if you don't want it, I'm happy to take it back-"
Natsuki immediately looked back to the boy next to her. "I never said I didn't want it!"
Kaito chuckled. "It's like my uncle says…you can make friends with just about anyone if you can give them a good meal beforehand."
Natsuki thanked Kaito for the food, placing her bowl of Oyakodon in front of her. As she blew on the noodles, Kaito took a seat, still avoiding eye-contact. "Natsuki, I'm-"
Natsuki held her finger up, slurping up a bunch of noodles, and chewing for a moment. Upon swallowing, she sighed defeatedly. "I think you have some explaining to do."
"What?"
Natsuki practically slammed the cover of the Parfait Girls booklet on the table in front of them. "This." she continued. "You read Parfait Girls?"
Kaito's eyes widened. "Oh, you know that series?"
"Of course I do!" she retorted. "It probably has to be one of the best written stories out there right now!"
Kaito nodded in agreement. "The writing is excellent. Volume 2 is one of my favorites for just that reason."
"Oh yeah?"
"Yeah, though admittedly, I'm a little biased." he continued. "Alice is one of my favorite characters, and she gets a lot of attention throughout that volume."
"Oh sure, and you're certain that has nothing to do with the ample fan service she receives in the following volumes?" Natsuki jeered.
"What? No!" Kaito retorted. "I don't even have the full set!"
Natsuki leaned back. "Really?"
Kaito stood up, taking a step towards the bookshelf, and reaching towards the highest level of books. He pulled down several books with the matching, pink-striped covers. He placed them carefully between Natsuki and himself. "Check it out: I have volumes 1, 2, 3, and 4". Kaito accentuated each number by placing a specific book onto the table between her and himself
"You've read all of these?" she asked, looking at the stack. "How come you don't have the others?"
"Well, Ren bought these a long time ago back when they were still producing these. They only had 8 volumes at the time, so I was stuck with these hand-me-downs. I was told that Ren accidentally lost the others, but if what you say is true, my mom could very well have gotten rid of the books she didn't like."
"Huh, I guess that makes sense."
"Look, I like Alice for other reasons. I get the whole being shy, and I like how she grows as a character. She becomes more confident, and I think that's cool."
"Well, Alice is good." Natsuki commented. "I still think Minori is better."
"She is cool." Kaito added. "Not as cool as Alice, but everyone is pretty great."
"Well, I'll concede that Alice is probably in the Top #3."
"I think we can both agree though that Jade is the worst though."
"I dunno…" Natsuki contested. "I think she gets a bad rap, but I think the hate is unjustified."
"Are you kidding?" Kaito asked, surprised. "She bullied the entire club senselessly!"
"In reality, I think she was just desperate." Natsuki answered. "How much do you know about what happens after Volume 4?"
"Admittedly, not much." Kaito replied, scratching the side of his head as he spoke.
"It makes more sense as you progress through the story." she continued. "I think it's a bit more complicated than meets the eye."
"You're probably right." Kaito conceded. "I'm sorry."
"No, don't be." she continued. "It's nice to find a fellow Parfait Girl, you know?"
Kaito rolled his eyes. "I really hate how that's used to describe fans of the series. It puts me in a weird spot."
"Well, like Minori says: "I'm sure it'll grow on you like a blossom in the spring!"
Kaito sighed. "I don't know about that…" he hummed. He suddenly paused, looking down. "Natsuki! That's it!"
"What?"
"Blossoms!" he continued.
"What about them?" she sighed. Her eyes lit up. "Oh! For the science project."
"Yeah, we could track how sunlight affects plant growth." he continued. "We could control for water, pot size, and that stuff, and have one plant in the sunlight, and another plant in the dark. If we can do that, we'll have plenty of time to log for the project, and we have a decently designed experiment."
Natsuki looked up thoughtfully. "It would be nice to not have to stress about it. We'd have to take pictures though."
"That's not an issue, at least on my end. We can track the progress according to specific weeks, with both of us taking a picture at a specific time and comparing them in terms of height at the end of the year."
"We cover photosynthesis in the syllabus, right?"
"I think so," Kaito continued. "We can ask Professor Tokumei tomorrow to be sure. All we'd need to do is buy seeds, my uncle has some pots he'd probably let us borrow, so that won't be a problem."
Natsuki nodded thoughtfully. It's a decent experiment, it probably fits with the class, and most importantly, it's both cheap and not time consuming. "I like it."
"You do?"
"Yeah, I think it'll work."
"Awesome! I can draft a proposal if you'd like."
"Good, I'll do some research on different plants we can use." As she talked, she noticed Kaito began smiling faintly. "What?"
"One might even say…you'll be doing some digging?"
Natsuki looked at him, any trace of humor vanishing in her face. "That was horrible."
"I wouldn't go that far."
"I would."
"Who knows," Kaito smiled. "It might just grow on you like a blossom in Spring."
Natsuki rolled her eyes. "Come on there Minori, let's get to work."
"Right, sorry." As Kaito began scribbling away in his notebook, Natsuki noticed an eager smile on his face. It didn't take long for her to realize that he wasn't the only one feeling just a little bit better about the day.
Hey everyone! I hope you enjoyed this chapter, I can assure you that there are more to come. My life is pretty busy, between me starting up school again, dealing with work, and also volunteer efforts, so I'm not sure how often I'll be able to update. I'm going to see if I can do at least every other month, so feel free to keep me accountable. Feel free to leave some reviews, I promise I do read them, and I appreciate any feedback. Also, I'd be interested in hearing if you prefer longer chapters like this, or if you all prefer shorter ones. Either one works for me, but I'd appreciate your thoughts. The more you interact with the story, the better I think it will turn out.
All the best,
-Paladin