BAREFACED

Chapter 9

"I didn't even invite you... yet you are here..." Aimi comments.

"Well, when you told Ren to come to the cafe, I was happy to come along." Hana smiles. Ren sighs.

"I apologize." he says.

"Wait... why were you two together...?" You ask.

"Yeah... that's a good question... why were you with Ren?... I thought you said Ren bores you because all he talks about is art and that you hate art..." Aimi comments.

"Yeah... Yeah... He's still boring to hang out with... so don't think anything weird... I just needed to ask Ren for advice about dying my hair again..." Hana says.

"Wait... why do you hate art?" Ren asks in confusion.

"Art makes my stomach hurt." Hana groans. Ren stares at Hana and then sighs. Aimi looks at Ren and then takes a sip of her iced coffee.

"Do you think that's why they are hanging around Eli so much...?" Aimi asks.

"What do you mean?" Ren questions. Aimi takes another sip of the iced coffee and then leans forward.

"Eli is a chatterbox... Like when he got caught... he just wouldn't keep his mouth shut. I feel like they know that he talks too much and are trying to get him to spill..." Aimi states.

"This is why we should've abandoned Eli when we got the chance..." huffed Hana.

"At the shrine?" Ren asks. Hana nods eating one of Aimi's biscuits that Aimi bought to go with her iced coffee.

"If we had left him he would of been beaten up badly..." Aimi comments. Hana shrugs and tries to take another biscuit but Aimi smacks her hand away.

"No... If I didn't walk out or had said anything he would've snitched on us... Eli is my friend and I care about him a lot but he's not good at keeping quiet..." Ren sighs.

"That's exactly why I can't stand him..." Hana groans. Ren nods. Ren's phone vibrates as he was about to speak. He pulls his phone out to see that he's gotten a message from someone. After he reads the message, he sighs and stands up from the table.

"I have to go... I guess we can't talk about it now then..." Ren says staring at Aimi. Aimi slowly nods. You get confused about what Ren meant when he said that. Ren grabs his stuff and leaves the cafe. Hana takes the last one of Aimi's biscuits. Aimi notices and sighs.

"You ate all 5 of the biscuits... I didn't even get to eat one... Hanaaaa... if you were hungry you should have boughten your own food." Aimi sighs.

"I don't have any money... I used up my allowance money to buy more hair dye..." Hana replies.

"What did Ren mean when he said that?" You ask looking at Aimi. Aimi looks at you and then looks down at her iced coffee. Hana looks at Aimi waiting for an answer.

"What... are you two dating?" Hana asks. Aimi's eyes widen and she shakes her head.

"N...NO..." She's blushing.

"mmm... okay..." Hana says eating the rest of the biscuit.

"What should we do about Eli?" You sigh, sinking down in your chair.

"Tell Eli to shut the hell up..." Hana responded.

"Hana... I don't think that will do anything..." Aimi comments.

"Actually, that sounds like a good idea... I should tell Eli to not talk about anything personal with them." You say, pulling your phone out to contact Eli.

"Didn't you say Eli was with one of the Toman guys?...Do you think he will really answer right now?" Aimi asks looking at your phone. You shrug, slowly flipping close your phone. Hana sighs loudly making you look at her.

"Of course he will... He likes Yuki... He will do anything for her..." Hana sighs. Her head is down on the table as she looks out the window. You look at your phone where you see Eli's contact and then back at Hana, confused on what she means. Aimi also looks at Hana.

"What?" Aimi questions, furrowing her eyebrows. Hana looks up at Aimi.

"What do you mean what? Was I the only one who notices it... Eli has always had a crush on Yuki... It's really noticeable..." Hana states.

"I never noticed it..." Aimi replies.

"mmm... Well I did... He's liked her for a long time but he won't admit it." Hana sighs. You furrow your eyebrows and then you continue to call Eli.

"Hello?" Eli says from the other end.

"Eli... I need to ask you something." You say.

"Who is this?" Eli asks.

"Yuki." You respond.

"Oh... Hey, what's up?"

"What have you been telling Toman..."

"What do you mean?"

"Why did that guy know what happened a few days ago? Why did you tell him you came across V... that was unnecessary..." You imply.

"If you are worried about me telling them who V is then don't worry... It's not going to happen..." Eli comforted.

"How do we know for sure you aren't going to blabber..." Hana asks, leaning in closer to your phone.

"Hana? Ugh... look... don't worry about it... I have to go. Bye." Eli hangs up on you. Hana scoffs and leans back.

"He's definitely going to snitch on you." Hana states. You look at Aimi who's on her phone, furrowing her eyebrows. You see Ren's contact name on her phone screen.

"Are you okay?" You ask. Aimi looks up quickly and nods.

"Yeah... I have to go..." Aimi says standing up and grabbing her stuff.

"Let me come with you." Hana says standing up preparing to follow Aimi.

"Not this time Hana... It's an emergency and I prefer to go alone..." Aimi says rushing out the cafe. Hana watches her leave and turns to look at you.

"She's been acting like this all day." Hana says. You slowly nod.

"Do you know why?" You ask. Hana shakes her head.

"I honestly have no clue... She won't even tell me..." Hana adds sitting back down and putting her head down. You slowly nod looking down at your phone.

"I saw her text Ren before she left..." You add. Hana looks up at you.

"Ren? Seriously? I would have thought she was texting her father because of what happened between the both of them earlier..." Hana says.

"What happened between her and her father?" You ask.

"Apparently her father wants to put Aimi in private school and Aimi is opposing it, so they got into a huge argument."

"What? Why?" You ask.

"She's barely passing, and her father thinks it's because public schools aren't doing enough... so he wants to transfer her." Hana adds. You look down at the table feeling kind of sad. "But she was texting Ren? What's going on between Ren and her that made her get up and leave like that?" Hana continues.

"I don't know..." You reply.

"WELL!" Hana shouts standing up. "There's only one way to find out." She bubbles, smiling at you.

"Which is?" You raise an eyebrow at her. She gives you a devilish grin.

"We follow her and find out for ourselves..." She purrs, giving off an evil look.

"Do you think that's a good idea...?" You ask.

"NOPE! IF WE GET CAUGHT AIMI WILL DEFINIENTLY BE MAD... BUUUUUUUT... It's still worth it." She says grabbing your arm and pulling you out the cafe.