It was early morning, the start of a new week. Mina seemed to be completely knocked out, so Yuuki entered her room to wake her up and make sure she was ready for school on time.
“Take it easy~ I’m gonna take it easy~” she mumbled in her sleep.
“You’re taking it way too easy. Rise and shine,” Yuuki said. Mina was lazily squirming around inside the futon, so he forcibly dragged her out of it. As he’d suspected, she was playing a—now confiscated—portable game console under the blanket.
“What the?! Why’d you do that for, Yuukie?! You cruel and heartless monster! That does it! I’m leaving the house! I won’t return until it’s super duper late!”
“Have fun.”
“Just kidding! Let’s get all snuggly and warm with each other! Just like yesterday! Hold me gently, and stop me from going!”
It would appear that Mina had learned another special pestering move. Yuuki dutifully ignored her and quickly got her prepared for school, all the while scrambling to make it to his own school before homeroom started.
He entered the classroom and made his way through the excited students to his seat. He quietly placed his bag on the desk and sat down in his chair. The sound of his chair scraping across the floor notified his seatmate of his arrival, and she glanced up away from her phone to give him a friendly smile.
“Mornin’!”
“Good morning,” Yuuki replied. He didn’t bother continuing the conversation any further, opting instead to retrieve a book from his bag. For a brief, beautiful moment, everything was peaceful. Then Yui’s cheerful voice rudely interrupted his reading session.
“Hey, what’cha reading there?” she asked.
“A book,” he replied without as much as looking up at her. Another brief pause came along. This time, the silence didn’t last nearly as long, as Yuuki could feel the pressure of someone glaring at him intensely from the side, followed by Yui scraping her own chair closer to his desk.
“Who reset my game and overwrote my save?” she asked.
“Reset what now?” he said, confused. Now he did look at Yui, only to find her sulking. She was angry with him; that much was obvious. However, Ace Advocate Yuuki couldn’t figure out why.
“A lot happened with us last week, you know? And I personally feel like... we’ve gotten closer to each other. So now, I’m wondering why it feels like we’ve reset, like, back to square one, or maybe even worse than that,” she explained.
“Ah, I see.”
“AAAHH, I seeeee,” she parroted his words sarcastically. Yuuki didn’t understand what had gotten into her first thing in the morning, but he couldn’t help but crack a smile on seeing that disgruntled look on her face.
“It’s pretty nice coming to school and having someone to talk to,” he said.
“Yuuki Narito everyone. Public speaker number one,” she mocked him.
“I’m glad the seats were changed.”
“Huh?” she gulped, her grim expression turning to surprised shock in an instant. She was slack-jawed, staring at Yuuki without moving a muscle.
“What’s wrong?”
“Ah, well, nobody’s ever said that to me before so, uh, I’m really—no! Super happy!” she exclaimed joyfully. It would appear that Yuuki’s complement hit a sweet spot, as she began to giggle. She looked genuinely overjoyed strangely enough. Yuuki decided that it was time to deviously turn the tables on her.
“Yup, sitting by the window is the best,” he told her.
“That’s why you’re glad?!” she shouted. Before he knew it, Yuuki had fallen victim to another nagging barrage from Yui. He didn’t mind at all, however, and he turned his gaze to the clear sky outside the window. The peaceful, azure hue of the sky made him feel generally content with everything. So much so that Yui’s ramblings didn’t bother him at all, no matter how close to his ear she got.
“Hey! I’m talking to you! Don’t ignore meeee!!!”
✦ ✦ ✦
To be continued in the second volume.