Love Live! Sparkling Future!!

Chapter 11 ~ The Unexpected Star

"Th-That's all right, miss. And you don't hurt me. You w-were just startling me, that's all." He replies hesitantly with an awkward chuckle escaping from his mouth, "S-So yeah. Don't worry about it."

The green-tip-haired girl can only nod reluctantly while sighing softly under her breath. Both her burning face and thumping heart are refusing to calm down as she attempts to calm her nerves and steady her breathing. There is still embarrassment and shame swirling in her gut, but it isn't as intense as earlier. She takes several deep breaths to stabilize herself while allowing the blood flowing through her veins to cool down slightly. Her embarrassment eventually dissipates, but her humiliation remains intact. She's still mentally beating herself up for acting so reckless and irresponsible while wanting to slap herself for making such a stupid move.

"U-Uhm..." Ayumu, after several moments of awkward silence, breaks it with an awkward chuckle and an embarrassed smile on her face, "Thank you for... f-for forgiving my best friend here. Sh-She can be a bit... uhm... d-difficult sometimes."

"It's fine." He replies softly while waving a dismissive hand at her, "I understand."

"...Yeah... Y-Yeah. Yeah..." The pinkette repeats in a daze while nodding absentmindedly at him, "S-Sorry again."

"I-It's fine. Really." He insists once more before smiling kindly at her, "N-No hard feelings here."

Ayumu can only smile weakly at him in response. Yu, on the other hand, remains silent, only mumbling apologies under her breath repeatedly as she hugs herself tightly.

Another blanket of awkward silence drapes itself over the three teens—a sound that is only broken by the occasional seagull cry as they fly past above them. An uncomfortably tense air permeates throughout the space between them—so palpable that it can be almost felt with one's fingers. However, thankfully, Yu's fake cough that she has to produce breaks the awkwardness between them.

"S-So, uhm... a-again, I'm sorry for this." She apologizes awkwardly while sheepishly rubbing the back of her head.

"I-It's all right, miss. Don't worry about it." The boy replies reassuringly with another small smile etched onto his freckled face, "Accidents happen all the time."

"R-Right... Right. Th-Thank you." The green-tip-haired girl mutters softly as she averts her gaze away from him bashfully.

"...I-I think we should go now." Ayumu suggests timidly while giving her childhood friend an awkward smile, partially not wanting to further this uncomfortable atmosphere anymore than necessary, "Let's go, Yu-chan?"

"O-Oh. Of course." Yu answers quickly with a nervous chuckle escaping from her lips before turning towards The greenette with a grateful expression written all over her features, "Th-Thank you again for forgiving me, s-sir. Sorry for bothering you."

"L-Like I said, accidents happen all the time." The boy assures her once more with a friendly grin.

Yu's lips twitch upward slightly as she returns the boy's smile gratefully before nodding politely at him one last time, "See you around. Uhm, sir."

And with that, she turns around and begins following Ayumu as they make their way back to Sophia's house. As they walk away, the pinkette casts a side glare at her best friend that practically screams, 'What were you thinking!?' while frowning disapprovingly at her. Yu simply responds with a sheepish laugh and a shrug as she follows close beside her pink-haired companion.

"...Y-You girls have some i-issues?" The boy suddenly speaks up.

Both girls stop dead in their tracks and turn around simultaneously to stare at him with confused expressions on their faces. Upon noticing his visage, however, their confusions only increase when they see him clamp his mouth tightly with his eyes widening comically and his cheeks tainted crimson red in embarrassment. If they don't know any better, they say that the boy looks like he regrets uttering those words out loud—like he wishes he could take them back immediately.