H I K A R U I S H I K A W A
石川 光
of 3-D
"Eh?~ They'll come over?" I asked her, the girl who had been rewriting her notes ever since I got here.
"You act like this is your house" she deadpanned. "Anyways, yeah, somehow that redheaded bastard convinced everyone to have it at my place".
"Hm~ Who are you guys?" I asked.
"Nagisa, Kayano, Manami, Kanzaki, Sugino, Karma and me" she enumerated. "You should join in too, you know. Science may be your worst subject, but its not the only one your bad at".
"A study group, huh?" I thought about it for a second. "Alright".
I had a lot to ask Karma after all.
"They should be here about any second---" she guessed, right on time.
"Iroha-chan~" Karma greeted as he barged inside, before the others got the chance to ring the door bell.
"What's up Hikaru, I thought you were with your sister?" Karma smiled menacingly at me, most likely pissed by the fact that I had been hanging out with Iroha alone.
"She has a study date" I told him, "or something like that. She said she isn't at home so I decided to play a few games in Iroha's place since its just a few floors away".
"You're a huge distraction, though" Iroha remarked as the others started to put their things away.
"Long time no see, Hikaru-kun" Nagisa greeted me.
"Same here".
✖︎●✖︎
"Iroha-chan, what's for lunch?" Kayano asked.
"Huh? You're eating lunch here?" The girl asked.
Funny how she was never used to people barging in like this, so she doesn't know what to do during such situations.
"Wait. Don't tell me---" Sugino turned to her.
"We brought snacks but these can't suffice as lunch" Kanzaki stated.
"No choice then, huh?" I agreed, and knowing Iroha and her empty kitchen, at that moment I was pretty sure everyone had the same thought.
We're going to have to buy lunch.
And that's the reason why, the four of us, Okuda, Iroha, Karma and I, were left in the apartment. Honestly, we were attempting to leave Karma and Iroha alone, but because of Iroha, one thing led to another, and the four of us ended up staying. And let's just say that somehow Iroha and I decided to take a break and play some games.
"I give up!" I complained, the blunette showing no mercy.
"Eh~ You suck" she complained.
It's impossible to beat a shut in who's all cooped up playing hear games for decades, I thought.
"Let me try" Karma volunteered as we switched positions.
Despite the scowl on the girl's face, even from the distance of the table from the television, you would still be able to notice just how much she was enjoying this.
"There they are, huh? Stuck in their own world" I commented as Okuda continued to copy some of Iroha's notes. Meanwhile, I couldn't help but play with my pen to satisfy my boredom.
"It's always amusing to watch them, though" she chuckled. "It's kind of like their own comedy show".
Right. But in my opinion, they fought too much. Like some married couple or something. Then again, that wasn't what caught my attention when I took notice of the girl's hair and how it was all braided and loose— ah, her hair tie's missing.
I held unto the loose end.
"Hm, Ishikawa-kun?".
"Your hair tie is missing" I notified her, still holding unto the end of the braid.
"Ah, you can let go, then. I could just tie it again" she said, shuffling around until she found the rubber band.
"Are you sure? It's such a waste to let it unravel".
"I-It's not that hard to put it back together".
"I see", I told her as I let go her hair, allowing my hand to go through it to unbraid it even faster.
"U-um".
"Actually, you'll look better like this".
She blushed crimson.
What am I doing?
"U-um... I'm going to the washroom!" The girl announced as she stood up.
She ran away!
Shit. What am I doing?
Oh god, how dumb can I get?
"I swear, people, some of them are just natural heartbreakers~" Iroha said out loud from the TV screen.
"That's true. Being a sadist would be way better than some flirtatious piece of shit~" Karma agreed.
This combination was truly a spawn of the devil, I noted.
"I was just messing around" I defended.
"Exactly. It's because you're messing around" Iroha pointed out.
"All the time, if I say do myself~" Karma agreed.
"As if you two don't" I countered.
"We play with minds not with hearts" Iroha retorted.
"That's what makes it fun~".
That's true. Iroha protected my sister a group of girls whom I dumped and were trying to get back at me. If it weren't for her, we wouldn't be in this predicament.
She owes me, and I owe her. That was how our friendship worked. She defended my sister, and in return, I were to help her find the person she liked. Thus, messing with her or her best friend would be the death of me.
"AH! WHAT?!" Iroha shouted, successfully averting my attention, "How can you beat me?!".
Even my eyes widened at the statement.
The shut-in, who always had such a great potential in gaming, actually lost?
"Sorry, princess~" Karma smirked.
"Woah, seriously? You actually beat Iroha?" I came closer to check it out. He must've pulled a bunch of tricks. And even if it wasn't easy to notice, I've known Karma well enough to be able to say that his win wasn't easy to achieve.
YOU WIN!, the header on the game had said. But for once, victory wasn't hers, it was Karma's. It was the whole cause of the girl's frustration.
"I seriously hate your guts" she narrowed her eyes at Karma and pouted as if she was a kid.
"I know~" he smiled at her.
"Ugh".
"How do you even manage to play all of your games in the first place?" I asked her, looking over at her collection.
"Oh" the mood suddenly dropped. "Most of them aren't mine, they're my brother's".
"This is the latest you have, right?" Karma asked her.
"Yeah, I guess. I haven't really bought any since I rarely play the new ones".
Ah, I see. Karma must've played it before.
No wonder he won over her, I smiled at the thought, watching the two of them continue with their banter.