♠ ♦ Alice in Borderland ♣ ♥

3

'I really don't understand why after such a miserable math exam, you would torture yourself with even more equations,' Asami mumbles incomprehensibly as she throws her backpack on the table and sits down next to me on the bench. 'Just don't take that physics book to the cottage this weekend,' Eymi grumbles, sitting across from me. 'Because we want to have fun.'

I pretend I didn't hear the two girls, but nod in acknowledgment of their presence as I finish my equation. Meanwhile, I tap my foot to the beat of the music, ignoring the semi-insulting things they say to me. 'Hello, earth to Kairi,' Eymi grumbles, as if I'm irritating them by doing my homework and not participating in the group, when in reality they're the ones disturbing me. I'm just finishing my last calculation and writing down the correct answer when Asami takes my left earbud and holds it to her ear. 'Are you still listening to that crap?'

'ONE OK ROCK isn't crap,' I say a little more sharply than I would have liked. I take the earbud back and doubt my next action. I prefer to put the thing back in my ear and continue pretending they aren't there. I actually find it very annoying that I can't do what I want, which is to do my homework in peace, but I'm used to them imposing themselves without any form of embarrassment. I turn off the music and put the earbuds away.

'What you want,' Asami says with a shrug, as if she doesn't care so much that she insults the music that has dragged me through my brother's grief. 'Well, what a shitty exam that was, wasn't it?' Eymi sighs dramatically. 'Absolutely!' Asami says. 'You're really insane if you're doing that for fun. Oh, no offense of course, Kairi.' She adds the latter pretending to be sincere. I decide to ignore it.

Chichiro also joins our table with a deep sigh. The table doesn't remain empty for long. Slowly, the others join in, until after spending almost the entire time on the exam, Soran joins us last and completes the group. I give him a questioning look to find out how it went, but not everyone is interested in that answer.

'Now that we're all complete,' Reo opens the meeting, 'let's talk about this weekend. My uncle has agreed to let us use his vacation home.' Eymi lets out an enthusiastic scream. 'Dibs on the jacuzzi!' She winks at Yoshua, who grins at her. 'No way!' Yui exclaims. 'You're not going to do dirty things in there! Do them in bed, if you'd like.'

'We'll certainly do that,' Eymi replies with a wink. Out of the corner of my eye, I see her secretly looking at me, but I don't respond. Yet my blood starts to boil again, especially after Yoshua's reaction. 'Yes, indeed,' he says with a grin. That he's not ashamed of his behaviour.

'Anyway,' Reo continues, 'the villa is big enough, so Yosh and I invited a few more people.' Asami looks annoyed. 'I thought we would be with just our group.' Yoshua shrugs. 'What difference does it make if there are a few more people?' At first Yui isn't exactly thrilled with the idea, but when the name of the boy she showed on her cell phone this morning is mentioned, she's suddenly very excited. Chichiro is the only one who openly disapproves of the plan. 'My parents didn't think it was such a good idea and were only just convinced when I said we would be with just us.'

'Don't nag like that, man,' Yoshua sighs. 'What are you? A pussy? They don't need to know anyway.' Chichiro raises his eyebrows, frowning. 'Are you really asking me to disrespect my parents?' Reo laughs. 'You're always such a boring saint. If you're going to be like that his weekend, you better not come.' Chichiro gives him a poisonous look, but says nothing back. Because that's how it goes: if you don't agree with how you're being treated by them, you're someone who makes a fuss. And they shouldn't have someone who makes things difficult in the group. As annoying as he sometimes finds them, it's still better to be surrounded by them than to be alone. My opinion is different.

'It's a shame Satiro couldn't keep his mouth shut though,' Reo sighs. 'He's invited two other friends over. Don't worry,' he adds quickly, eye-rolling Chichiro, 'they're nice guys, but we're just short of beds because of that. Who's bringing a mat?'