A New Masterpiece (COTE x OC)

Chapter 4 - An Unusual Outing

"I don't have any preference, I've never been to the mall yet, so I would just like to look around."

"Alright then, to the Pallet!" And with that, Karuizawa dragged Hirata towards Pallet, and all the girls followed close behind. Leaving me behind to try and catch up with the group. 

Project new friends is definitely starting off badly. 

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We arrived in front of the famous Pallet.

It looked to be extremely crowded on the inside, specifically crowded with females. 

The cafe seemed to be a frequent meeting place for the opposite sex, and trying to find a table for 6 would definitely be a hassle. 

Nonetheless, our group walked into the busy cafe. 

"Alright, should we all order our drinks?" Hirata asked. 

A collective "Yes!" Sounded from the girls as they headed to the line first. 

Hirata and I trailed behind the girls staring up at the menu for drinks. 

These are expensive, most of the drinks were ranging around 600 points. Considering the instability I felt with this school's point system, I opted to find the least expensive drink to conserve my private points. 

"What do you think you'll get?" Hirata leaned beside me so I could hear his question in the buzzing cafe. 

"I was thinking of getting green tea, seems to be the least expensive. What about you?"

"Ah, trying to conserve your private points, I see. That's smart. I was planning on getting a regular coffee, nothing too crazy."

It seemed all the girls in front of us ordered extravagant and expensive drinks, but that couldn't be helped. This school seemed like paradise with the facilities and allowance, so they probably didn't care about spending more points than usual. 

As everyone collected their drinks, we turned to face the seating in the cafe in hopes of finding a table for 6. 

"Ah! There's one in the corner!" The girl named Sato pointed to the back corner of the cafe in excitement at the achievement of finding spots for everyone. 

As we all took our respective seats, I sat in between Matsushita and Sato. While across from me sat Hirata, sandwiched between Mei-Yu Wang and Karuizawa.

The girls immediately broke out into conversation about the latest fashion trend or trivial gossip within the school. Oftentimes, they would rope in Hirata or me to comment about their opinions, but the majority of the time I spent sitting in silence listening to their conversation. Nothing in their conversation really piqued my interest to get me to comment on it out of my own volition, but when you're out relaxing with friends, there was no need to talk about any heavy matters. 

"Uh... Fukumoto-kun..."

I turned to face my right, where Matsushita sat. She looked up at me, probably slightly nervous to initiate a conversation with someone new.

"I wanted to get to know you better since you're new and all, and I'm sure everyone else here would like to know more about you."

The atmosphere around the table quieted down as everyone waited for my response. 

"Well, what do you want to know?" I asked Matsushita.

"How about the basics. Like what you like, if you joined a club, your favorite food, your family... You know that sort of stuff?"