章 38: Who's That Girl?
Even with everything they had been through, Summer break wasn't over yet. That meant for Erina, it was time for more scheming, especially since their last plan failed. She still had to give him an earful on that.
First, she had to take care of her daily errands. Once that was finished, she could sneak into his room and give him a good scare. She did her usual climbing up walls as she always did. She was quite skilled thanks to her constant practice with Yogi's.
What she saw in his room as she reached the window, gave her a real fright. Was that Arata, with a girl?! The sight almost made her lose her grip and fall down.
"Huh? Did you hear something?" The girl asked him.
"Yeah, it sounded like something by the window." He responded. As he was walking over to see what it was, Erina knew she had to do something quick. "I guess it was nothing…" He opened the window and scanned around the area. Nothing that he could see.
"Probably just the wind." Said the girl. He agreed, and went back inside. In her desperation, Erina jumped from the window onto the nearby tree. She barely made it, and was hanging on for dear life.
That wasn't her concern though. After all, this had happened countless times at Yogi's place anyway. More importantly, who was that girl sitting in his room so casually? She knew that boy, there was no way he'd let anyone in his room so easily. That girl had to already know about his secret.
She made her way back down to the ground. Wondering what to do next about this. He never mentioned knowing anyone else other her group of friends. Not only that, but she was a really beautiful girl.
Erina felt herself heat up from the thought. It was an odd feeling… For some reason, she didn't like the idea of him being alone with another girl like this.
She shook her head, calming herself down. That had to be some girl from school, right? But then, why did she know about his secret? When she saw him there, he didn't seem unhappy about it. If anything, this was the most happy she'd ever seen him.
There were too many questions for her that desperately needed answers. While racking her brain for those answers, a voice made her jump up in fear.
"What are you doing here?"
"Ahh!" Erina screamed. She turned around to see it was Yuriko. Knowing that Arata certainly heard that. She grabbed the girl and dragged her behind the tree.
"Who's there?!" Arata opened his window and looked around. This time, he scanned the yard more frantically. "I know for a fact I heard someone yelling."
"Oh, Arata. Those ears of yours always just pick things up. It's probably some kids playing out by the park." The girl assured him that it was nothing. He let it go, returning to her. This time, he left the window open in case something happened.
"Let go of me." Yuriko struggled out of her grip. She glared at her in irritation about the rough handling. "Who was that?"
"I don't know." She answered. Yuriko couldn't believe what she was hearing. There was a girl sitting and talking with Arata right at this moment. She was really upset about it, especially since she was in his room of all thing. When they were babysitting, she always asked to check his room, but he never allowed it.
"Well, did you get a good look at her? What does she look like?" Yuriko asked.
"Well, she's about his height from the looks of it." Erina tried to visualize what she saw. "She's got long light purple hair, oh and there's a blue ribbon on it too."
"Um…" Yuriko didn't want to say this, but she just had to know. "… Is she c-cute?"
"C-cute?" Erina paused for a moment. That girl was gorgeous, but she didn't want to admit it." I guess, you could say that." She answered, downplaying it.
"Right…" A part of her was hoping she was ugly, but then maybe that might fit better in Arata's league. At least compared to his reputation. "So I guess he's got a girlfriend now." She said in a dejected tone.
"We don't know that. Maybe it's just someone from school that needs help with something." Erina said that more to convince herself, than Yuriko. She did notice her sad tone, however. "Not that there's anything wrong with that, right?"
"Oh no. Of course not." She replied. "What are we going to do now?"
"Hey, what are you two doing here?" A new voice gave them a fright. This time, it was Matsu appearing before them.
"Okay that's it. I know there's someone out there." Arata's voice could be heard from his room. "I'm going to see who's out there." He rushed down to his yard, flashlight in hand.
There wasn't enough time for them to make an escape, especially with Matsu's slow reaction to what was going on. Instead, they hid by the tree, Avoiding his light. He moved the beam across the field. Nothing was coming into view for him. He moved around, getting closer to the tree. They feared he was about to catch them. Right as he was about to see what was behind his tree, the girl stopped him.
"Arata. I think you're being paranoid." She told him.
"I'm pretty sure I heard something." He said to her. Ever since his fateful meeting with Erina, especially when she started sneaking into his room. He had started to be more aware of every noise around his house.
"We live in a residential area. I'm sure there's kids running around, or maybe it's just some animals." He relented. Of all nights, this was not one where he was going to go and jump at shadows.
"Fine…" He walked back inside, they were successful in hiding this time. The two girls turned their attention to Matsu, yet another uninvited guest.
"What are you doing here?" Yuriko asked her.
"Oh well…" This was not what Matsu was expecting. Since he had been gone on vacation, and she was with the gardening club. They hadn't seen each other in a while. Noticing how sad she was about it, her friends recommended to her that she drop by his house and surprise him.
However, with these two girls here now, she had gotten meek about it. It would be easier with just him, because she knew he'd at least be fine with it. She didn't know these two very well.
"I'm, um, here to see Arata." She finally told them after some pause. "Why are you two here?" She asked as if they weren't here for the same reason. It was just something to take the focus off of her.
"I guess we're both here to…" Erina realized something odd about this. "Actually, why are you here?" She turned her attention to Yuriko. "I thought you only came over when he's babysitting your sister?"
"I-I do!" She quickly replied. "I just happened to be walking by and decide to see how he was doing. Then I saw you standing by this tree here and wondered what you were doing." In reality, she had spent some time agonizing over coming here. Unlike anyone else, she had an excuse to use on him when she came over.
"If we're all here to see him, then what are we waiting out here for?" Matsu was slightly disappointed she wouldn't be alone with him. However, it could be fun with some company.
"Didn't you see that girl?" Erina looked at her like she was dumb.
"Girl? Oh yeah, who was that?"
"We don't know." Was the answer she got.
"What?!" Matsu was worried now. That girl by the door was rather pretty. "You don't mean to tell me he got a girlfriend, right." She asked, trying not to sound nervous.
"There's only one way to find out." Erina gathered up the courage. It was time to ring the doorbell. At least they'd have a chance to talk with him privately about this. The trio walked up to the door. The moment they pushed the button, there was no backing out of this. The wait was excruciating.
"Hello, uh, who are you?" The door opened, it was the last person they thought would answer this door. It was the girl that answered, but wasn't she supposed to be a guest?
"H-hello…" Erina tried not to sound like she was about to freak out. "We're looking for Arata." She asked.
"You know Arata?" Was all the girl could say.
"Hey, who's at the…. Ahhh!" Arata walked down the stairs, shocked to see who it was at his doorstep. "What are you doing here?"
"I'm sorry, but you know these people?" The girl asked him, visibly confused with the situation.
"Um, yeah. They're some friends from school." He answered slowly. Worried about what she was going to do.
"F-friends…" She repeated. Then, shocking all of them, she jumped onto him. Giving him a big hug. "Friends. Oh Arata, I'm so proud of you."
"H-hey, g-get off of me. Hey, don't cry in front of them!" He pushed himself out of her grip.
"Oh I see." She whispered over to him. Covering her mouth so they couldn't hear here. "I have to say, they're pretty cute. Maybe you have a little crush?" She teased.
"It's nothing like that." He responded in aggravation.
"So Arata." Yuriko broke up this conversation. "I didn't realize you had a girlfriend now." Trying to sound as natural as possible, but her heart felt like jumping out of her chest for the answer.
"Girlfriend?!" He made have been used to this. This time though, the thought made him want to throw up. "You've got it really wrong this time." He said.
"Yeah, I'm actually his sister." She introduced herself. "I'm Ayami." The three of them breathed a sigh on relief in unison.
"And those three are Erina, Yuriko, and Matsu." Arata introduced them to her.
"It's so wonderful to see some of Arata's friends." Ayami beamed with happiness. "Please, come in."
"Yeah, go ahead, I guess." Arata allowed it. He wasn't even sure why they were here in the first place.
"Please, wait here in the living room." She told them. "I'll get some tea prepared." She ran off to the kitchen, laughing with glee. Arata and the others sat down around the living room. He was grateful she had the awareness to not invite them to his room.
"So why are you here?" He asked them, though he had a pretty good idea of why Erina was here.
"I ran into these two, and I guess I decided to drop by." Yuriko answered. The other two knew that was a lie, but didn't speak up.
"I'm here because I wanted to hear about your trip." Matsu cuddled up to him. He gently pushed her back.
"Oh yeah, I was pretty curious about what happened with the club trip too." He replied. "I guess we can talk about that."
"You know why I'm here, but we can save that for later." Said Erina.
"Yeah, that's what I thought." He sighed. Talking with Ayami made him forget his predicament. The reminder just succeeded in making him sad about it again. "I'm a little surprised you guys thought she was my girlfriend." He laughed. "I'm pretty sure you'd all know if I got one."
"Yeah, I should've figured that someone like you would never get a girl that good-looking to date you." Yuriko trash talked him.
"I should've too." Erina laughed nervously.
"Yeah, it's silly how much time we spent worrying about it outside… Oops!" Matsu accidentally let that slip out.
"Wait a second… Outside? So it was you out there making all that noise." He scolded them. All of that ruckus was really annoying him. "I can't believe you guys." He crossed his arms and pouted. "I thought I was going crazy."
"Well how would you feel if you saw some strange person in our rooms? What else would we think it was." Yuriko tried countering him.
"I mean, sure, it probably looked odd from your point of view." He said. "But even if she was my girlfriend. You guys wouldn't mind, right?" He thought to himself, it shouldn't be a big deal. Other than how out-of-character it would seem to them.
"Of course not!" They all said in unison.
"All right everyone." Ayami reentered the room. "I've made some tea, plus I got some biscuits to go with it. You just have to try it…" As she continued to talk, Arata was just melancholy in the fact that she met them.
He was hoping that while she was back on break from college, her path wouldn't cross with any of theirs. After all, when he was finished with Erina. Arata planned on never associating with these people. It would just break her heart if he did that, and she was the last person he ever wanted to hurt.
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