Capítulo 43: Naught but a Maniac
Tapping came to his head, and that was what roused Arata from sleep. He had no idea who it was since he was lying stomach-flat on his bed. With the slowest movement possible, he looked at his alarm clock which hands were five minutes before six. It was very weird face— as the clocks never suggested anything else but the action times. Then again, his awakening was nothing natural so he supposed it was part of the display.
Feeling warmth next to him, the player knew that someone was seated next to him. He got up from the bed and yawned a big one. He turned to his right and saw Attori waving at him. She was in her uniform already, and had probably let herself in using the spare key hidden outside. Arata was not alarmed, but it was embarrassing to be seen at such heavy sleep aftermath.
"Good morning, Attori. Why so early?" Arata moved around the bed to sit on the edge next to her. He wore nothing but last night's underwear, but it was the least of his problems. He combed his hair with his hand, but Attori offered to comb it with a real brush. "Thanks."
"How was yesterday? It looks like you were so tired..." She giggled as she made the messy bird nest of a hair into his fluffy fly boy asset. "You must have a lot of fun with Ruru-chan and the others."
"Nope, I just got a long sleep. I wish I could have more though." The man stretched as he felt that the comb had left his head. "We just ate snacks at my restaurant— ah, I'll bring you there one of these days!" He suddenly panicked as he remembered something. He had not brought her over, and it was not like it was intentional.
Attori only stared at him before laughing out, flicking his nose in amusement. "I know!" She calmed down and sighed as she looked down at the brush and plucked the hairs that got caught in it. "I have been busy for a long time since my mother came. We didn't really have a lot of 'us' time." She then turned to him and waved the brush. "Let's have a lot of dates every day, okay!"
The player only nodded as he accepted the terms. In fact, it was the best reply he would ever have for that situation. He could not imagine how she would react if she got upset. Then again, the next set of words that came out of her mouth took a lot of his attention.
"Arata, do you remember those rats who kept on bothering you? You remembered how they were spared from expulsion since they were graduating, right?"
"Yeah, I remember them, why?" His eyes shot wide after he thought of something. "Are they making trouble for you again?!"
"Not at all. They did not know it was me." She only giggled. "I might or might not have done the same thing again." She got up before Arata could stop her from leaving. She twirled across the room and out the door like a mischievous ballerina. "My masterpiece awaits you, my lord!"
Cusses flew by Arata's head and lips as he rummaged through his room for his stuff. He barely took a shower and brushed his teeth properly. In just fifteen minutes, he hurried downstairs as if chasing Attori. However, what welcomed him was something expected yet not on that day. Arata stopped running down the stairs the moment the dining room unfolded before his eyes.
He took a deep breath, and then chuckled in confusion. "Why is everyone here?"
As if summoned by their great lord from another world, five girls were in the dining room. Attori was silently waiting for the food to be served as Ruby placed the hot bowl of soup on the table. Tohru was found sleepy on one of the seats, while Cora was just as lost as Arata in seeing everyone. Yukari was setting the table for everyone, when she noticed the man had entered the area.
"Hey, sleepyhead, sit down." The best friend kept her smile before placing the breads on their plates. "Looks like you got into trouble in the span of few hours!"
"Trouble?" Arata sat down next to Cora who greeted him softly. He nodded at her before reaching out to wake the star athlete across the songstress. "Hey, what do you mean 'trouble'? Tohru, wake up." He stretched his hand to the side, placing it on top of the back of Attori's seat. He had the girl lean against his arm without any passing words.
"Oh, you're here..." The athletic girl stretched in her seat, her bosom hitting the table causing her to jerk as much as the table did. She caught Arata laughing under his hand on his mouth and Cora looking away in envy. She only pouted and placed her elbow on the table and leaned her head on it. "This happens a lot—"
"Maybe you shouldn't stretch that way then." Ruby placed more food in between the plates of the seated people. She then went behind Tohru and took her arm off of the table. "Especially while on the table. Please learn some manners."
"Yes, mother."
Ruby sat down across Arata without paying more attention to Tohru. Yukari finished serving the drinks and sat with them as well. They sent their regards to the host first before having perhaps their second breakfast in their favorite man's house. Even though Arata did not call them over all at once, he was okay with dining with them.
Since the food was prepared by their best chef, they ended up not talking to eat more food. Soon enough, Arata started as mostly everyone was finished with their meals. "Yukari, you said I got into trouble?"
"Hm? It was just that Attori knocked on our door and asked for your spare key." The best friend hummed as she bit into her bread and chewed on it softly. "Then I saw Tohsaki-sempai and Hamada-sempai so I thought you did something overnight."
"I did not."
"It's more like something happened overnight." Attori hummed in glee. "In his name, of course."
Arata choked on his food which led Cora to attend to him.
"Whoa! What happened?!" Yukari leaned closer against the table to get nearer Attori.
The table moved as the girl hit the side, but Attori pushed the side that almost hit her. Then again, with her force on the wrong side of the table, it moved again towards Tohru. The athlete ended up backing away and kicking the leg instead. It now made the table shift towards Cora. Arata used his hand to stop the table's movement by catching it instead of pushing it away. When he thought he could relax, he noticed that the table had moved too slanted towards them. His hand did not only catch the edge, but it also served as a pad keeping it from stabbing Cora's chest.
"Sorry..." He felt Cora move back just enough to stop the contact. 'Quite small but still so soft...'
Tohru, the one guilty of putting them in that situation, started laughing out. Yukari, who started the mess, only pouted as she continued to console her chest. Attori was busy saving the bigger soup bowl from being toppled over so she could not stop it from happening as well. Ruby sighed and raised her leg enough for her knee to hook under the box apron*. Since she used the leg closer to Tohru, she was able to pull the table to its original position with the help of Yukari.
"Please keep your breasts off the table." The queen huffed as she reached for the napkins next to her. No one but Attori noticed that the moving toppled Ruby's soup bowl. It made a mess on her side of the table and forced her to spread her legs so it would not stain her skirt and stockings. "How do you even manage to lose etiquettes while eating?"
"Sorry..." Yukari pouted as she helped Ruby with cleaning her area of the table. She turned to Attori. "But yeah, what happened?"
Attori pulled out her phone and showed the screen to her. "Can you imagine what happened next?"
Yukari squinted at the text messages, and then at Attori's excited face. She had no idea what it was supposed to mean. "Eh, no."
"It's prohibited for students to engage in activities involving contrabands. Since they came there without the knowledge of its involvement, the penalty for them might not even be criminal." Ruby started to explain as she cleaned the part of her seat stained by the soup. She noticed Tohru was forcing to help, but she had to swat her hand away in fear of the other's mischief. "However, the school does not like blatant participation of its students in such acts. Least they can get is a week of suspension."
"Since it was a disgrace and had headlined in small tabloids this morning, the school decided to punish the students who attended the party." Attori nodded as she smiled while pocketing her phone. "And with that, they— all of them— are now kicked out of the basketball club. With a club that sends its members outside school, the council had to be wary of the small-time media gets a catch of their faces."
Yukari turned to Arata who felt so far from her, with Ruby and Attori closest to her. "Can you understand them?"
Tohru laughed out as she finished her ginger bread. "In short, these two maniacs found a way to conveniently kick them out of the club. Not that they were needed after all." She casually took one from Ruby's plate. "Those brats can't even say these two did it. How fun is that?!"
"Oh, my god... what?" Yukari squinted in confusion. However, her mouth was desperate in hiding her smile.
The player then turned to Attori. "What part says it's done in my name? Don't tell me—"
His girlfriend turned to him and smiled. Not one word came from her before she resumed eating.
Cora cowered at the side away from everyone else. "Isn't it too much? Do you really have to do it in such very cruel way?"
Attori leaned against the chair to find a way to get a view of Cora. "You should have seen them make fun of Yukari!" She hummed as she brought her gaze at Yukari instead. "You know, it's not really that cruel since they went there on their own accords. They knew very well that they are not supposed to come to a shady place in their uniforms."
The songstress turned towards her upperclassman. "I see..."
"Either way, they wouldn't be around for a while." Ruby finished drying her seat— and fighting off the blonde who wanted to mess with her. She turned to the best friend. "You may see this as excessive, but I believe this is just a clear message as to how weak you are in defending yourself. If you wish to see less of Attei's antics, learn to stand up for yourself properly. Bullies with commitment to maltreatment only know offense as an answer. Seeing you endure and be the good person does not stop them."
Both Yukari and Cora knew that was for them. They could not help but to lower their heads and keep it in mind.
For some reasons, Arata felt like the problem was solved in such a quick yet harsh way. Then again, this kind of conclusion made him think of something he had not for quite a while. 'If Attori was capable of doing this real fast, then why hadn't she dealt with Keiko like this? Not that I want her to, but... I wonder what she was waiting for...'
PENSAMENTOS DOS CRIADORES 
droopyghost
droopyghost *Box apron is the box under the table which holds and secures the legs of the table. It's normally there for wooden tables.
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