Stop It Shinnosuke!

Chapter 51

While Nene was unaware of the relationship that was going to be formed between Kazama and Shinnosuke, she was dead set on stopping any love flowers from blooming between Masao and Ai.

And she didn't know why.

Seeing Ai and Masao talk to each other normally was weird enough. So much so that her legs somehow took her to Ai's car, having a mind of their own. Her mind did take control back right after she was settled inside the car, besides Masao, who was now sandwiched between her and Ai.

"Hey, uh," She stuttered at first, obviously nervous as to what reasons she could give them for just barging in like that.

"Nene-chan?" Masao was the one who spoke, seemingly more surprised than anything. And then Nene's eyes fell on Ai. She wore an expression of distress. It looked foreign on her face. And Nene could tell that she didn't seem happy with her presence.

"Mind dropping me off?" She said nevertheless.

Masao shifted uncomfortably and whispered, "Oh, I don't know if Ai-chan would-"

"Kuroiso, take the route to Nene-chan's house," Ai's voice was monotonous as she instructed and was now wearing her usual smug face, "Nene-chan, how were your exams?"

"Oh they were good, how about you?" Something inside Nene itched to ask what in the world was Masao doing with Ai, so before Ai could answer, Nene blurted, "What is Masao doing with you?"

Her awkward laugh towards the end wasn't convincing enough. It definitely was crystal clear that she wanted to be all up in their business.

"Masao-kun was coming over to my house," was Ai's simple reply.

A pause, then.

"Why though?" Nene could feel the faux smile on her own face fade slowly. Masao attempted to answer this time, "I actually had some work stuff there, so..."

Nene frowned and scoffed. Was he seriously going to drop that vague excuse on her right now?

"What kind of work do you have?" She didn't mean to sound mean but it just came out that way.

"His manga is going to get serialized," Ai spoke on Masao's behalf, a proud smile on her face, "My family is acquainted with a famous editor at a publishing company. He has a meeting scheduled for today."

Masao nodded in agreement, leaving Nene silent for a few seconds.

"I-I had no idea?" She turned to Masao, "What the heck! Why didn't you tell me? This is such great news! Wait, do the others know?"

"You are the first to know, besides Ai-chan," Masao spoke, "Plus, it's not a done deal yet. Nothing is confirmed, so I wanted to wait for something solid before telling you guys."

"But you could've atleast told me?" Nene knew exactly why she felt ten times more hurt by this than she should've. Because Ai knew. If Ai can know, can't I?

"I tried," Masao fiddled with his fingers as he looked down, "But I thought you weren't interested."

Nene rolled her eyes in good intentions as she chuckled, "And what gave you that impression?"

"I think you know."

The smile on Nene's face was dropped in an instant. Masao chose to not say anything more. It reminded Nene of all the times she did interrupt Masao when he was in the middle of talking about the plot of his story. Or the times she refused to proofread Masao's comic drafts till he stopped asking anymore. But she didn't mean it like that.

Or maybe she did.

"But I love your Mangas! You know that, don't you?" Her vanished smile made an appearance again. The look on her face must've seemed similar to desperation. Because Masao could only return a concerned expression and awkward smile back to her.

"I know that, yeah," He said, "I'm sorry for this. I really was going to tell you after getting the greenlight from the editor."

It was a sweet gesture, not letting his feeling get to him. Masao was always accommodating everyone. Always. And the gesture messed with Nene.

But before she could say anything, the car came to a halt. Ai looked out and said, "Seems like we have arrived at you house, Nene-Chan."

It was a cue. Nene understood how it was an indirect way to say that she should get off the car and leave the two of them alone. Even if that wasn't the intention, it seemed like it.

"That's me, then. Thank for the ride," Nene shrugged and got off, "Congratulations on your comic, I guess. I hope it gets serialised. I won't tell anyone till then, I promise."

All she got was a nod from Masao and a blank smile from Ai. Both of them were acting like two entirely different people. It threw Nene off.

"See you around," She said, and turned around to walk inside. While reaching for the front door, she could hear the car zoom off from there.

And then she remembered how she was supposed to go and treat herself with some good food before all of this happened.

A sigh left her.

"What a day."