𝐁𝐔𝐋𝐋𝐄𝐓𝐏𝐑𝐎𝐎𝐅. karma akabane

「42nd period」: bonding time

H O T A R U F U J I O K A
藤岡 蛍
of 3-A

The messages stopped when I turned my phone off, but that didn't change the fact that my eyes were already swollen at this point. And judging by the time, it was probably the end of school already.

So, when I heard our doorbell ring, I had to do my best to look fine.

"Iroha-chan" I greeted her who was at my door, as I saw a number of people waiting by the gate.

"Ah, you definitely cried didn't you" she pointed out, hitting the mark. "You can't deny it. Your eyes are swollen".

"It's that obvious, huh?" I tried to laugh it off.

"You tried hard" she placed a hand on my head, despite are small height difference.

"It feels kinda awkward when some shorter's trying to pat me, Iroha-chan" I joked, smiling at her.

"What's that got to do with it? It's not like you're way taller, you're even shorter than Itona" she just pouted, before adding, "Oh and speaking of which, those three insisted to come. But, you don't have to explain anything though---".

"It's fine" I cut her off. "They probably deserve an explanation".

"I can explain everything for you if you want me to. But today, we're just here to hang out" Iroha eyed the three who were still waiting. "Hikaru has some business so he might come later"

"I see. Then, come in first" I told her, "you're not planning to make them stay out here the entire time, right?".

"Hm~ I might've intended to" She joked, before calling out to them.

✖︎●✖︎

I appreciated Okuda and Itona's company, however, the awkward tension between Akabane and I was just something inevitable.

"Are you sure it's alright for me to be here?~" he asked me as Itona, Iroha and Okuda went on ahead towards my room. I made sure I was left behind in order to make sure the doors were properly locked.

"It's fine. You're probably here because you're confused about what's going on right? Well, you probably came for Iroha-chan, as well, it can't be helped" I assured him.

"It wasn't obvious but I could see the panic in her eyes. So I kinda figured that the rumors were true" He told me. "The other two are clueless, though".

"So she's still keeping that promise with Hii-kun after all" I mumbled.

"Hii-kun?" Akabane asked me.

"Ah, speaking of which you must've been classmates. Ishikawa Hikaru, a student from Class D. Iroha-chan calls him Shi-chan, though. She's probably as close to him as she is with Asano-kun or even closer" I explained.

"Hm, I see~" the red head muttered quietly with a noticeable change of attitude before Iroha called out to us.

"Hurry up you two!"

"A-are you perhaps jealous?" I wondered, blurting it out so suddenly.

"Heh, so even you say some pretty interesting stuff, huh" He smirked. "Well, even if I was, it's no use admitting it~".