Hopeful Days X – Lunch Break
It was like a dream.
To be talking, playing, spending time with Makoto like they did a year ago.
She could feel her heart flutter in her chest in a way no one else could do.
Well, Maybe Hajime, but the even the taller girl didn't make she feel like Makoto did.
The Ultimate Gamer never felt like this with anyone else, except for the lucky student.
Being apart from him for a year helped the mauve-haired girl to sort out her feelings, put her thoughts in order.
It may sound presumptuous but, being away from someone for over a year is a lot of time to evaluate your relationship and how you really feel about them.
To Chiaki's own surprise, she really didn't change how she felt about him, if anything, being away from each other for so long made her truly think about Makoto and how he indirectly changed her life.
Their last moments together always lingered in her mind, the moment at the hot springs especially.
Yet, there's always that little voice in her head that tells her that moment was nothing but a flight of fancy of two children and she can't really deny that fact. Still, now the he was here, at Hope's Peak, with her, maybe, just maybe they could sort it all out together?
"Chiaki-chan?" Makoto calls, taking the girl out of her thoughts. "Is something wrong?" He asks, handing her the portable console with the words 'Game Over' on screen.
"N-No." She blushes, then smiles softly and grabs the game console. "I was just thinking about stuff." Pressing to restart the game, she chuckles. "Nothing to be concerned about… I think!"
Seeing her smile, the brunette can help but do the same. "If you say so!"
The two friends go back to playing, joking and teasing each other like they never have been apart.
Nagito listened in from afar.
She was curious, what is it that Nanami sees in that piece of lucky trash?
The older lucky student had to resist the urge to slap the boy's mouth every time he dared to call Nanami by the first name.
Worse of all, she was calling him by a first name basis too! She wasn't like that even with the talentless bitch from the reserve course!
It infuriated the white-haired haired girl, but she couldn't do anything about, at least not directly.
Last time she tried to put that talentless girl in her place, Nanami exploded on her.
It was the first and last time that Nagito ever saw the Ultimate Gamer legitimately angry and she wouldn't dare to hurt her feelings like that again… at least directly.
Seeing that she got really angry when Nagito tried to take the talentless girl down a peg, how would she act if the lucky girl tried to do the same to her, supposedly, best friend.
She might truly lose Nanami if she did that, so Nagito would have to get creative.
Well, she already observed what she needed to, now to do God's work and separate the two… friends.
Chiaki pauses the game and looks towards Makoto, a soft smile upon her lips. "Makoto-kun? Can I… ask something?"
The brunette blinks slowly. "Of course!" He smiles. "Go ahead!"
"I-"
"Good morning, Nanami-san!" Nagito announces herself with a smile on her lips.
Makoto tenses up and Chiaki turns to face her white-haired classmate. "Komaeda-chan?" She asks and the other girl giggle. "What are you doing here?"
"Well, Yukizome-sensei wanted your help, so she sent me to get you." Replies the lucky girl, not taking her eyes off the shorter Ultimate.
"Oh, uh, I-" The gamer looks down at her console and bites her lips.
Chiaki obviously wanted to help her teacher, but at the same time, she just got reunited with Makoto and she really wanted to hangout with him a bit more.
Seeing her troubled expression, Nagito smiled softly to herself, if she just lied and said that it was urgent, then undoubtedly Nanami would leave the other lucky student.
Before the taller Ultimate can open her mouth to say anything however, Makoto puts a hand on Chiaki's shoulder.
"We can hangout later, Chiaki-chan!" The boy closes his eyes and smiles gently. "Go help your teacher."
Nagito had to hold back her urge to slap his hand. How dare he touch Nanami so casually?
The mauve-haired girl smiles and nods. "Thanks Makoto-kun." She gets up from the bench and turns her console off. "Well, I'll be off… I think!" Doing a little cute bow, Chiaki starts to head out of the courtyard, as she was passing by Nagito, suddenly she remembers something. "Oh, I forgot to introduce you two!" She turns around and points to the lucky girl. "Komaeda-chan, this is-"
"There's no need for introductions." Nagito interrupts the gamer. "We already met, isn't that right, Naegi-kun?"
The brunette gulps and nods slowly. "Y-Yeah. We met yesterday at our workshop."
Chiaki blinks, noticing the very clear discomfort in Makoto's expression, she didn't need to think much as to why. "I see." Offering the brunette a understanding smile, she turns to Nagito and says. "Let's go?"
The white-haired teen looks at her classmate blankly, before smiling widely from ear to ear. "Of course, I shall accompany you to Yukizome-sensei!"
Chiaki waves to her friend, before turning around and out of the courtyard with Nagito in tow.
Makoto lets out a breath he didn't notice he was holding. ' Guess I'm gonna have to deal with Komaeda-senpai from now on.' The growling of the boy's stomach takes him out of his thoughts.
Taking his phone out of his pocket, the brunette looks at the time and smiles. "Already lunch break huh?" He chuckles, remembering Chiaki's smile. "Time really flies when you're having fun." Getting up from the bench, the Luckster stretches a bit and then starts walking to his next destination.
The cafeteria.
Making his way towards the cafeteria, the brunette finds out that the place is loaded with students.
As he walks in, the boy notices a bunch of familiar faces from the other classes, be it students who he had interacted before or just famous people overall.
It was still such a alien thought in his head that he was on the same level as all those famous people.
"Hey Naegi!" A voice calls, taking the brunette out of his thoughts.
"Oh, hi Kuwata-kun!" Makoto smiles and approaches the table where the redhead is sitting.
Across the table are some of the other boys from his class, namely, Yasuhiro, Mondo and Kiyotaka. "Sit down dude. Let me introduce you to the others!"
"Sure, just give me a minute, gotta grab something to eat first." Makoto replies and Leon nods.
Walking away from the table, the lucky student goes to the kitchen to ask for some food.
"Oh!" The same student from earlier locks eyes with Makoto, he smiles and approaches the brunette. "You're the kohai from earlier, aren't you?"
Laughing awkwardly, Makoto nods. "Yeah, name's Naegi Makoto." He extends his hand towards the smaller upperclassmen. "Ultimate Lucky Student from class 78-A."
The smaller boy looks him up and down, before muttering something silently to himself. "Well, we couldn't properly greet each other earlier, so allow me to introduce myself." He falsely coughs before shaking Makoto's hand. "I'm Hanamura Teruteru, Ultimate Chef."
The brunette blinks. "Ultimate Chef? Didn't Ludenberg-san say you're a co-" Suddenly the smaller boy squeezes Makoto's hand a bit more harshly.
"She probably was just flustered earlier, I'm definitely the Ultimate Chef!" Teruteru let's go of Makoto's hand and smiles innocently.
"Haha, Ultimate Chef… got it." He sighs. ' Note to self, Hanamura-senpai doesn't like being called a cook.'
"Now, what do you need with me Naegi-kun?" Teruteru says, crossing his arms.
"Uh, I was just going to ask where I could get some food." The brunette replies, scratching his cheek. "I didn't see any food outside like an normal cafeteria so-"
"No need to say any more!" The shorter boy interrupts Makoto. "Just go back to your table and wait a minute, your food will be out in just a minute!" Declares the Ultimate Chef, before turning Makoto around and pushing him out of the kitchen.
"Uh, but-"
"No, no, no, just go back to your seat and wait." Once Makoto is out of the kitchen, the shorter boy smiles and waves to him. "I'll be by your table in just a minute!" With that said, Teruteru closes the kitchen door, leaving a very confused Makoto behind.
"…" The brunette blinks slowly, before turning around. "Oooookay, I guess."
Making his way back to the boys table, Makoto sits down as Leon smiles and asks. "So, how was it?"
"Kinda weird." The brunette replies smiling slightly, his eyes wonder down to the plates of the other boys in the table, all full of food like you would see in a restaurant. "This looks more like an restaurant than a school cafeteria."
"I know right?" Leon nods in agreement. "I can tell ya, it tastes like restaurant food too!"
From the other side of the table, Mondo huffs. "This type of fancy food ain't my style." He crosses his arms and puts his legs over the table. "Name's Oowada Mondo, by the way."
"OOWADA-KUN!" Kiyotaka yells from the place on the table, opposite to Mondo. "Putting your legs over the cafeteria table IS AGAINST SCHOOL RULES!" The moral compass points to Mondo.
The biker simply shrugs. "Pretty sure yellin' is too, so chill out man." He nonchalantly replies.
Kiyotaka opens his mouth to retort, but soon notices that the delinquent is technically right. "Ahem." Turning to face the brunette, the Ultimate Moral Compass smiles softly. "I'm Ishimaru Kiyotaka."
Makoto scratches the back of his head and returns the smile. "Naegi Makoto, a pleasure meeting you." He bows politely, making Kiyotaka smile even more.
"So polite!" The moral compass clasps his hands together and laughs slightly. "That's great conduct Naegi-kun! I'm sure you're going to be great to work with so we can make a amazing school environment!" Kiyotaka then turns to face Mondo. "You could learn somethings from him, Oowada-kun!"
"Tsk, go to hell."
"Watch your language! We're still in school perimeters and-"
"And there they go again." Leon sighs, then chuckles. "So, how did you morning go?" The redhead turns his attention to Makoto.
"Well, it certainly has been something." The brunette replies and Leon chuckles.
"Here you go!" Suddenly, Teruteru walks up to their table and puts a plate full of food in front of Makoto. "Bon appétit!" With a wink to the lucky student, the Ultimate Chef walks away from the table.
"Say, isn't just me that thinks the chef is kinda weird?" Yasuhiro speaks up, watching as the smaller teen disappears back into the kitchen.
"Show some respect! He is our upperclassmen!" Kiyotaka looks away from Mondo and onto the Ultimate Clairvoyant.
Soon enough, the small table is filled with the boys talking and getting to know each other.
Makoto had a lot of fun getting to know his future classmates.
Heeeeey, it's been a while hasn't it?
Thanks to some stuff that came up and just haven't had the time to write recently, and when I did get the time, I ended up not being in the mood, so this chapter took a bit long to came out.
Anyways, hope y'all liked it and see you around!
Hopefully soon.