Thorns and Roses

Chapter 8

"You look all smiley today. Let me guess. It's about your personal bodyguard." Aya, one of Yui's best friend and block mates, said upon seeing her friend all giggles early in the morning while waiting for their first class.

"We had breakfast together and I even met his brother who happens to be studying here."

"What?!" Aya squealed that caught other students' attention, so she cutely bowed her head in apology before grabbing her best friend's hands.

"Tell me what happened!"

"You're being too nosy and noisy early in the morning, Aya." a good-looking guy named Souta interrupted and sat on the next chair to Aya. He's also the other best friend of Yui.

Aya just rolled her eyes on him. "And you're being annoying early in the morning! Yui, don't mind him. Tell me, come on!"

Yui leaned towards her, all smiles. "He dropped me off after we had breakfast and his brother happened to see him outside. He's a senpai in our department. I asked to be friends with him."

Another squealed came out from Aya, but she tried her best to keep it low this time. "Really?! How does he look? I'm sure he looks cute, too!"

Souta rolled his eyes on his friends talking about guys with a pretentious disgusted look on his face.

"He is kind of... cute. Yeah. He's cute, too."

"Gosh! Can we meet him? I want to be friends with him, too!"

Souta jokingly knocked Aya's head. "You're always going on about guys! At least pass your classes first."

Aya glared at him. "Yui, I don't want to be friends with him anymore. Kick him out of our circle, please!"

Yui laughed at her exaggeration. But Souta replied. "I was her friend first!"

"What are you? Kindergarten?"

The two started bickering again, so Yui just sighed at them. She was so used to Aya and Souta snapping at each other most of the time. But they were also very nice friends to her and to each other despite the contrasting personalities. They've known each other since middle school and agreed to take the same course on the same university. Yui isn't good with other people, but thanks to her friends, she could enjoy a fun social life having them around.

"How was our term paper?" Yui asked after the two calm down.

"Don't ask me. Someone is not doing her part on time." Souta glared at Aya, narrowing his eyes on her.

"Hey! I'm trying, okay? I'm going to finish them soon!"

"How about... we ask Sakai-senpai to help us with our term paper?"

Aya's face lit up. "Oh my god! Can we?"

Yui grinned. "I will ask him."

_._._

It's only been a week since Jiro met Yui, but thanks to her, he was able to see his brother daily whenever he dropped Yui at the university. It eased him somehow that his brother's job isn't as dangerous as he thought. It also meant him seeing Yui almost every day at the school gate and the unexpected request from his new 'friend' to help her out with their term paper. Maybe it was out of respect for her as his brother's boss, but also as a senior to her that made him agree.

Some of his friends even teased him that Yui might like him for asking him to be her tutor. Although he just shrugged them off, he somehow speculated why the famous junior asked for his help – his brother.