As she did, Mina stuck her neck out, getting a nice look at Yui’s face. “Is it good? Is it?”
“I-It is.”
“The food is now delicious, all thanks to the power of love! Way to go, Yukkie!”
You’re making it sound like it wasn’t already delicious to begin with.
Yui, unsurprisingly enough, made a sour face, mumbling, “Saying yes to that question kind of feels like...”
“Like tooting your own horn?”
“Nothing wrong with stating the truth!” Yui puffed her chest out.
Mina tapped her on the shoulder, continuing the teasing. “Now it’s your turn! Brace yourself, Yukkie!”
“Try me.”
“Why does it feel like I’m being bullied?”
“Don’t worry, I’m up next!”
Mina said, taking an onigiri in either hand.
The “hand feeding extravaganza” raged on, cleaning out Yui’s bento before long.
Yuuki looked at the clock, Mina’s face of pure bliss visible in the corner of his eye. “We should get going now.” He urged Yui, who had just finished putting away the bento.
“Where are you going?”
“The library. To study.”
“Good luck.”
Mina did a brisk U-turn, heading toward the living room to bask in the comfort of the TV and sofa.
Yuuki told her they’d be going out in advance and yet he couldn’t help but feel a little anxious leaving her home alone.
“Bye bye Mina. Till next time.”
“Aye! Come back any time!”
“Don’t forget to study.”
“You can count on me!” She gave a thumbs up, remote in hand.
Movies. She’s going to laze around and watch movies. Mina begged dad into getting a streaming service subscription when he last came home.
While Yuuki would’ve loved to have a word with her, he had a master plan to... places to be.
With no time to lose, the two took their leave.
The second they left the house, as they walked down the exterior apartment hallway, Yui, stone-faced, grumbled, “The library? You didn’t tell me we were going to the library.”
She made it sound like going there was the most unbelievable thing ever when midterms were approaching.
“We aren’t. I just wanted Mina to think that.”
“What do you mean?”
“Don’t worry about it.”
Her insisting on coming along could potentially ruin everything.
Yuuki told Yui their destination was a secret as they left the apartment. He walked down an alleyway, Yui right by his side, following along with a spring in her step.
“Where are you taking me? No wait, don’t tell me. It’s a surprise, isn’t it?”
“Ieon’s the best.”
“Not to be confused with Ideon.”
They approached a corner leading into the main street, a lady in a white, floral pattern dress passing them by. The white contrasted beautifully against her loose black hair and slender limbs. She had model-like proportions, her aura so powerful she drew eyes merely by existing. No man could possibly resist such a tempting sight, and Yuuki was no exception.
As he gazed at her legs, Yui extended her arm, blocking his view with a splayed hand. “Watch where you’re looking.”
Yuuki sensed the approach of her signature face grab maneuver, something he considered entirely undeserved, but it was interrupted by the sound of an awfully familiar voice.
“Yui, fancy meeting you here.”
As light returned to his eyes, Yuuki saw Yui and the dress-wearing lady—Rio-- exchanging looks. One was bewildered while the other smiled awkwardly.
“Rio?”
“Wh-What a coincidence, am I right?”
To Yuuki, this was anything but a coincidence as he and Rio had planned for them to run into one another.
They’d pass it off as a coincidence and have her join along for the fun. Such was the... not so master plan.
Rio’s transformation caught Yuuki off guard nonetheless. Her eyes were brighter, her lips slightly redder than normal. She looked the part of a model, only for her shaky voice, wandering gaze and general restlessness to ruin the whole aloof beaut aesthetic.
Terrible acting, though I guess not everyone can be a superstar like Yui.
“What’re you doing here?”
“I, erm...” Rio looked over to Yuuki, her eyes pleading for help.
Talk about a letdown. He thought Rio, of all people, would’ve had a plan.
Yuuki, of course, had no plan either, so he gave her the “you’re on your own” eyes.
After darting her eyes back and forth a bit, she, for whatever reason, pointed to a corner shop. “I-I--”
“Ice cream?”
“No, err–”
“Erbazzone?”
Seeing that Rio wasn’t forming a coherent sentence anytime soon, Yuuki came to the rescue.
“You look absolutely stunning. I could barely recognize you.” Rio, uncharacteristically enough, shyly hung her head. Yuuki, however, meant every word. “Clothes make all the difference, huh.” Yuuki said as he examined her from head to toe. Yui’s face poked in and out of the corner of his eyes. “What?”
Yui gently lifted the edges of her skirt. “What do you see?”
“Nothing much.”
“Try again.”
Yui wore a blue, patterned skirt and a white, see-through thin cardigan. Unlike Yuuki, she wore different clothes every time. Ah, I see.
“Yes yes, you look cute too.”
“Too late. You had a thousand chances and you blew them all.”
Yuuki got into a bit of a quarrel with Yui.
While they were at it, he looked over to Rio. She stood there in silence with her head hung, showing no sign of joining the conversation. Yuuki followed her gaze only to discover her staring at some random rock on the ground.
He immediately turned her way, deciding it was time to intervene. “Care to join us, Rio?”
“Beh?” Yui made a weird noise with her mouth, twisting her head toward him.
She seemed quite shocked, though Yuuki was the one truly taken aback by her reaction. He thought she’d be all ecstatic, begging Rio to join them with nothing but excitement in her voice.
“Beh? You’re friends, aren’t you?”
“Well yes, but...”
“So it’s a no.”
“D-Don’t put words in my mouth!”
What’s with the hesitation then?
As the two bickered, Rio’s face began turning pale, her eyes wandering back and forth.
Yui, seemingly having noticed this herself, hastily took her hand and said, “W-Why would I be against your joining? We’re besties, aren’t we?” Yui cupped said hand, shaking it up and down. Rio’s face regained color, blushing pinker and pinker by the second.
“Forget this bozo. Let’s go, just you and me.”
Something must’ve rubbed Yui the wrong way. Despite her sunny disposition, her tone was a tad harsh.
Let’s go? Go where exactly?
Their destination was a secret, which is to say, Yuuki left all the planning to Rio. Either way, them going without him still meant his master plan was a success.
“Alright, off I go the--”
“Hold it! Didn’t you say you’d take me somewhere secret?”
“I didn’t really have anything specific in mind. Sorry.”
“You what?” Yui froze, her mouth agape.
Yuuki felt something not unlike a murderous aura emanating off of her, so he quickly threw the ball over to Rio’s court. “Where were you headed, Rio?”
“I, erm, I thought I’d study for midterms at the library.”
Lie turned to truth. Yui flashed a “you can’t be serious” face. At least try to hide it a little.
Rio appeared to have picked up on this as well. “So-Something wrong, Yui?”
“I, uhh, don’t have my school stuff... with me.”
“G-Good! Wouldn’t want to waste a precious weekend studying!” Rio said as though midterms weren’t literally next week. She raised her first in the air, desperately trying to stay upbeat. “Screw studying, today we’re kicking it.” She said in a shrill voice. “You heard me, kicking it!”
Rio was trying to balance out Yui’s vibes or something because her character was completely out of whack. Normally she would’ve scolded Yui for not taking her studies seriously.
Yui, however, seemed pleased by this turn of events, nodding. “Us hanging out for the first time, huh. Feels a little surreal, doesn’t it?” Yui off-handedly gave away the truth. “So, where we heading?”
“W-We’re heading to...” Rio looked over to Yuuki once more as she failed to finish her sentence.
Having never really hung out with his classmates on the weekends, Yuuki didn’t know how to “kick it”. This, in turn, made him less willing to go out-- a downward spiral Rio was likely very much familiar with. Yuuki gave her the “don’t look at me” eyes.
Rio carefully monitored Yui’s reaction as she straightened her back and timidly uttered, “To the ar-ar...”
“Ararar?”
“Arcade... maybe?”