Chương 58: Target Aquired
For Kouji, this dinner was going on without much event. However, there was quite a bit going on behind-the-scenes. Or more accurately, in the mind of one particular girl.
That girl happened to be Himawari, who was sitting the farthest from Teru. Yet that was the person whom she had her sights set on. Because she now had proper suspicion that girl was going to be making her move soon. Or was she?
After all, Teru was a very rude and confrontational girl. Pretty much the last girl in the world that seemed the type to confess her feelings. However, plenty of weirder things have happened since Kouji entered everyone's lives the way he had. If that was the case, Himawari knew she had little time or else he would be stolen from right under her nose. Too bad for her that there was one problem she had with working this out.
That she was too stupidly embarrassed about letting anyone else knew how she felt about him.
Why did she have to be like this? It's not that she took issue with liking him or anything… Kind of. It was a little bit of pride, and a little bit of reputation. Perhaps to some, that meant she didn't deserve him and probably should lose. But she was still going to try her best with her current situation.
And right now, that meant making sure Teru didn't make any moves towards him. Given the recent faux pas, she was certain that girl would be feeling a lot more gun shy now. Unfortunately, it seemed that she had made big enough breakthrough recently with Kouji. Because he didn't want her to feel bad about being teased.
"Eh, it's no big deal." He said, offering her his cup. "If you wanted some, you don't need to feel bad about it." Himawari felt the knife go through her heart, metaphorically speaking of course. It pained her to watch as Teru took a sip. Sure, it's as silly as Kouji said it was. But it's the type of thing to tick you off when your crush is just sharing their spit like that right in front of you.
She felt like crying on the inside. What had she turned into? Himawari knew she was a prim and proper girl. Who almost never wanted help from anyone. She always considered herself to be plenty capable, until he showed up.
But it wasn't just that he practically humbled her. It was that he helped her despite their differences. Sure, it was mostly because of his job at the school. Yet, he had lent her aid without any incentive at all. Such as the time they teamed up in that beach volleyball game. They didn't need to win, and if anything, she thought he might've preferred her embarrassing herself in front of everyone there. Yet even there he wanted her to do her best.
Yeah that's right. He does want her to do her best. That's why he pushed her a little when he complained about her lack of follow up from that night. That night when she made the toughest decision in her life, when she gave him that kiss. The memory of it caused her to feel warm inside. She remembered the feeling of their lips colliding, the taste of his tongue on hers.
With that on her mind, she steeled her resolve. If he wanted her to try her best, then that's what she was going to give him.
"Oh Kouji." She started. "May I try some?" He was causally drinking when she asked.
"Sure." He handed it to her without any protest. "I guess you just didn't want to feel left out." The boy joked, partially figuring why she had her change of heart.
"I just figured it must be that good if everyone wants to take a sip." She came up with an excuse to try and not tip her hand to the other girls. Too bad that the desperation was just dripping through in her voice.
"Right…" Waa commented with a sarcastic laden tone.
Anyway, now was the time to actually take the sip. If only her arms and mouth were on the same page here. Now only was she about to share a straw with him. Himawari also realized that pretty much everyone else got a taste already. In fact, it was a little disgusting to her, when she thought more about it.
For a second, she hesitated. Which looked really stupid for anyone watching her. Then, with a deep breath the girl made the decision to finally take the plunge and take her sip. Finally, everyone had their turn.
"Great." He took back his drink. "That's wasn't so bad, was it?"
"Well, it tasted better than I was expecting." She said, trying not to act all flustered over this silly ordeal.
"Yeah and…" He went to take a sip, then realized an unfortunate fact. "…It's empty." Despite the size, all the girls ended up sucking him dry on that one. This was a rather sad sight for him.
"Anyway." Isako brought everyone back onto the main reason they were here. "How's the food?" She was enjoying her meal with plenty of loud chewing. It seemed that table manners were only important in formal situations. Which apparently doing so with her students didn't count as one.
"It is acceptable." Himawari maintained her reserved actions, as she took small bites of her food. Though the way she acted downplayed how much she was actually liking this food. However, her pride would never allow her to reveal her true feelings for this dinner.
"I quite enjoy this." Anastasia was on the opposite end of the spectrum when it came to expressing the love of this food. "It is familiar, yet somehow different. Ooh, I would love to try everything else on the menu." She proclaimed, much to the joy for the owner.
"It's all right, I guess." Teru responded, not caring to regard her manners. As she talked while chewing on her food.
"From the way you're munching on it." Waa said to her, while doing the same exact thing. "I'd say you like it a lot." There was a lot of things she didn't care to hide from the others. The biggest of which was anything she could use to tease the others. Though she was careful to not allow anyone to get one over on her. Most of the time at least.
"I don't hate it…" She replied. "In fact, I think someone with as bad of taste as you would like it more."
"Ehh, we should try to enjoy our food." Kouji tried to calm the more angry of the two girls. It looked as though their glares towards the other would cause sparks to fly.
"If anyone's got terrible tastes, it's obvious Kouji." He could've lived without the insult from Waa. "I bet if you gave him a try at your food, he'd like it." Of course she'd say something like that. Because this entire thing was a bait where she was certain Teru would back down from.
And perhaps if it was any other girl, that would probably be the end of things. Too bad that this was the girl that knew few challenges.
"Fine then." She said, grabbing a spoonful of the rice and meat she ordered. "Go ahead." She spoke in a commanding voice. Kouji had no clue how he found himself in this situation.
"I mean, I'm sure it fine."
"Just eat the darn thing." Teru forced it towards his mouth. Of course, Kouji wasn't the only person that took issue with this display. In fact, even if he was the more tolerant type of guy, she wasn't.
In a sudden flash of emotion, Himawari knocked the spoon from Teru's hand. The contents of it, crashed onto the table, creating quite the mess.
"Hey, what was that for?!" Teru yelled at her.
"This is a table for proper young ladies." Himawari responded in a cold nature. It was also a little hypocritical, seeing as she's the reason that things got a little messy. "Now, I need to go powder my nose." She stood up while saying that. "You should join me, it's only natural." Of course, she took advantage of the old saying of girl using the bathroom in groups to separate Teru. Said girl knew exactly what she was getting up to with that offer, especially after what she did last.
"Sure." But she wasn't the only person who was going to be accepting that offer.
"Actually, I kind of need to use the bathroom too." Kouji spoke up, though obvious to the tension. He kind of assumed she was being a little stuck-up as usual. Seeing as he already made his thoughts on sharing food and drink clear. Too bad that means little for the people that actually care about just notions. "Do you need to-"
"I'm fine." Waa shot a glare at him, marking her quiet rage that he continued to bring up her little problem from before.
"...Okay…" Kouji uneasily looked at her as he got from his chair. While walking with the girls, they both had a silent agreement to handle this situation once and for all.
They executed their plan just as he had finished up relieving himself. All they had to do was pretend to do their business, then catch him off guard as he exited the bathroom. When he walked out of the door, they took him at both sides, grabbing both arms.
"Hmm?" He audibly responded to this sudden development. This took him by surprise, but it was clear that this was going to be an important moment.
"We're going to…" Teru started.
"...Talk out back." Himawari finished that sentence.
Immediately, he knew that he wasn't going to enjoy what was about to happen next.
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