Stop It Shinnosuke!

Chapter 2

"Uh, a party?" said Kazama with an awkward smile as he walked towards the group in slow strides.

Everyone was stunned, they didn't expect him to be there already. Nene had told him to come to the rooftop when he arrived to school but no one anticipated him to be this early.

"K-Kazama-kun? What are you... doing here so early?" asked Nene as she desperately tried to hide the big bag of party supplies behind her and signaled others to do so as well. Kazama couldn't notice this as he was focused on trying his best to avoid the water puddles on the floor while walking towards them.

"I guess I wanted to be here early. It was raining a while ago so I had to stay in for a long time. It was bit awkward so I came up here as soon as the rain stopped," Kazama said and scratched his neck.

Then the conversation settled down. The odd silence grew between them as all of them glanced at each other with much awkwardness. It had been so long, after all. On top of that his early appearance was so unexpected that no one could think of what to say to him. Though Kazama's eyes wandered to find another person that wasn't present there at the moment.

"Uh... you guys don't need to be so awkward. I mean it really has been a while, right?" said Kazama as he tried to break the awkward silence.

"Yeah, it has. But we are so glad you are finally here! We were so excited for today!" Masao said grinning ear to ear as Bo and Nene nodded enthusiastically.

Bo also showed intense enthusiasm, "I'm glad you are back. I really want to show you this new rock collection I have been working on!"

"But it's not fair! Why didn't you tell us you were coming this early? We were so surprised to see you!" Nene said, her playful frown and smile back as she punched Kazama's arm lightly.

"What? I had to tell you? You were the one who told me to come early though." Kazama replied while rubbing his fake injured arm.

"Not this early." responded Nene.

"So, what were you talking about before? Is there a party today? I thought the ceremony for new students was already over?" Kazama asked, totally off point and seemingly unaware. Nene was deeply relieved that Kazama had misunderstood the situation. It was perfect because she could ask Masao to distract Kazama while they completed their preparations.

Nene nodded and agreed, "Y-Yeah! The ceremony is over but there are still students like you who came in a week a late. I heard that there was going to be a second ceremony for them. Y'know, just formalities and tour stuff. Not that you need it, you already went here. Oh! I know, why don't you go with Masao to check the office to see if there is any news of it."

"What? Is there such a thing going on?" Masao asked, also out of the loop.

Nene glared at him but laughed loudly, "Haha! You're sooo silly Masao-kun, if i say I heard it, then it must be true, right?"

Seeing Nene's classic death glare Masao quickly tried to play along.

"Yeah! Now that you talk about it, I guess I did see a notice like that on the bulletin board. Let's go Kazama-kun!" Masao said as he grabbed Kazama by his arm and started to drag him, "We have so much to catch up on!"

Kazama stopped him and said, "Yeah but wait! I don't think I would want to go to the ceremony. It's been so long since all of us met. As Masao-kun said, we have to catch up and I want to stay here and talk to all of you."

Hearing this, Nene panicked and started pushing Kazama lightly as Masao started to drag him again.

"Oh you don't need to stay. We will be together everyday from now on. We will have plenty~ of time to catch up. Just go and check about the ceremony. You shouldn't miss it," Nene said as she tried to force an unsettling smile on her face.