Yuuki made it back to his desk, just as the bell went off.
Yui conveniently returned to her seat at about the same time, so Yuuki immediately whispered,
“There’s something I need to tell you.” Yui cautiously looked over.
“Y-Yes?”
“I’m thinking of turning in my ticket.”
Yui’s face slightly stiffened. It appeared the word ’ticket’ had become something of a trigger for her.
“Come to the backyard after school.”
“Wh-Why the backyard?”
“It’s better if no one sees us... I think.”
“M-Mmhmm? Awfully dramatic, aren’t we?” Yui said with a composed smile as she, despite the fact that class was about to start, took her bento out and immediately put it away.
Yui’s vivid imagination aside, Yuuki didn’t really care where they met, so long as there weren’t many people around.
And so, school ended.
“Meet you there.” Yuuki said, exiting the classroom. He went down the hall, joining up with Rio in front of grade four’s classroom. “It’s time.”
“A-Are you sure about this?” Rio’s face looked awfully pale, her gaze wandering restlessly.
Discussing what if scenarios seemed pointless, so they settled on ripping the ticket right up in Yui’s face. This’d stun the seatmate killer, allowing them to persuade her.
Yuuki, however, wanted to make sure Rio knew they were only going to kindly admonish her, not be antagonistic.
“You’re making the face again. Smile, come on.” Yuuki urged her.
While Rio did manage to muster up a smile, its stiffness, likely due to nerves, made it more creepy than anything.
She then suddenly clutched her stomach. “I-I need to go to the bathroom. Go on without me.” Hunched over, Rio briskly walked off.
Yuuki, left with no other options, set off for the meeting spot.
After walking out the entrance, he turned to a different direction than normal. He passed through the school staff parking area on his way to the back yard, greeted by a row of narrow trees and a flower bed.
The grassy backyard formed along the school building. It was excessively long, if not terribly wide. There was no one in the vicinity, only two or three distant silhouettes.
Yuuki leaned against a wall and waited, gazing at the flower bed before him. And yet, no matter how long he waited, there was no sign of Rio.
Right as he pulled his phone out to check in on her, a DM from Rio appeared. “Tummy hurts. Heading home.”
The classic grade schooler’s excuse. Although, to be fair, it did seem like she really had stomach pains earlier, so Yuuki couldn’t really fault her. This did, however, completely derail their plan.
It didn’t help that Yui was running terribly late. Perhaps she had flaked on him too. It certainly wasn’t unthinkable.
What am I even doing here… A sudden wave of existential dread washed over Yuuki. Maybe I should “tummy hurts” my way out of here too. He thought just as a shadow stretched across the ground beside him.
“Y-Yo.” Yui said, raising her arm in the air as Yuuki turned to her. Yui seemed like her usual self... at a glance. Her face was weirdly stiff, her voice muttery.
“Aren’t you early.”
“S-So, what do you want from me?”
Yui urged him on, her voice slightly shrill. She played around with the tips of her fingers, giving him a nervous yet somewhat expecting upward glance.
As Yuuki just kind of stared back at her, Rio’s timid look as she said the words “if Yui only befriended me as part of her game” flashed in his mind.
Yuuki fumbled around in his pocket, making sure the fabled yes ticket was safe and secure. He then abruptly pulled it out, held it out in front of Yui and said, “Here, now spend a whole day with Rio sometime.”
“Huh?” Yui’s fingers froze right then and there. After a brief pause, she, in a low voice, said, “Why her again?”
“What do you mean why? It’s my yes ticket. I can use it however I like.”
Yui’s face didn’t seem happy with his answer whatsoever. So not happy, in fact, that she suddenly hung her head. “You brought me out here just for this?”
“No, I just didn’t want people hearing us talk about yes tickets and all that.”
Especially not Keitarou and Sonada. That and giving Rio and Yui an opportunity to talk things out but alas.
“Rio was supposed to be here too but her stomach started hurting so, yeah.”
“Here you go again. Rio this, Rio that, Rio everything.” Yui growled, her body shaking.
Something seemed off about her, so Yuuki asked, “Is my request too much?”
“N-No! I-It’s just weird that Rio suddenly enters the conversation for no good reason!”
Yuuki didn’t understand what was so weird about it exactly, going into full head tilt mode. “What’s so weird about it?”
“W-What’s weird is that... ” Yui closed her eyes before suddenly shouting, “Is that you’re so obsessed with Rio you’ve been completely neglecting me!”
Yuuki gasped, his eyes widening at her sharp tone of voice. Why the abrupt shouting? Yui made it sound like Yuuki was somehow the bad guy here.
Yuuki couldn’t make any sense of it all, his head remaining firmly tilted. “Neglecting?”
Like a house pet? He thought but that was almost definitely not what she meant. What counts as neglect exactly? I go through great lengths for you, not to mention interacting with you literally this very moment.
Yui lifted her head, her gaze wandering from left to right, her mouth flapping as if she had just said something she really shouldn’t have. “N-No, I, uhh, I was just...”
“You were just?”
“J-Just... just kidding.” Yui gently tapped the top of her head with both fists, tilting it as she stuck her tongue out. Overwhelmed by a rapid series of cryptic actions, Yuuki simply stood there, frozen. “Just kidding?” She repeated, this time with a question mark at the end.
Yui had finally gotten on Yuuki’s nerves. Relax. You’re playing right into her hands. Take it nice and easy.
“Sorry, Yui.” He said, genuinely meaning it. His frustration had morphed into feelings of pity. “I didn’t know you felt that way.”
“Yuuki...”
“I genuinely didn’t know. I really and truly... didn’t know.”
“I think I get it.”
“But what I do know is that I just can’t take my mind off you, Yui.”
“Eh?”
Yuuki once again realized that, while Rio certainly had her issues, Yui’s were way more serious. Rio’s disturbed mind could also be directly traced back to the seatmate killer-- the root of all evil.
Upon those words, Yui’s heavy eyes widened, lighting up with color. The corners of her mouth started raising as well, only for her to hastily make a frowny face.
“Th-Then why can’t you shut up about Rio!”
“Well, because she asked me for advice on improving your guys’ relationship.”
“Eh?”
Yuuki proceeded to briefly explain how Rio ate alone, mentioning the effort she put in behind the scenes to get closer to Yui, among other things.
Yui tilted her head this time around. “What? We used to eat together all the time last year but you’re telling me she... no, it can’t be. You’re lying.”
“Ask her yourself, if you don’t believe me.”
“No thanks. That’d be way too awkward.”
It appeared even Yui didn’t have the guts to go up and ask “how does it feel to eat all by yourself?”
Yui knit her brow, seemingly oblivious to Rio’s subtle attempts at grabbing her attention. “Why didn’t she say anything?”
“I think you had plenty of time to notice.”
“I-I was dealing with a lot of stuff, okay? Actually, why didn’t you tell me earlier!?”
“Because she more or less told me not to... and because I’d feel bad doing it. Now I don’t really care anymore.”
Yuuki thought he’d let Rio do it on her own but she kind of just went around in circles making zero progress. Scratch that, she had made negative progress. Yuuki felt he had to do something before things got completely out of hand.
“At least... at least that’s all there was to it!” Yui, made aware of Rio’s plight, seemed... happy. Her face lit up, her drab mood vanishing without a trace.
Actual Lyucifer. Yuuki thought as she shoved the ticket into her palm.
“Hang out with her, okay?”
“You don’t need to use your yes ticket for that! We’ll hang out tomorrow! Hang out like no one’s hung out before! Rio has this cold aura but she really is moe, isn’t she?”
“Give it back then.”
Yui’s smile instantly faded as she ripped the ticket into two. “Oops, hand slipped.”
“Uh-huh, sure it did.”
“We don’t offer refunds, sorry.” Yui said with a cordial look, mimicking a receptionist. She then put on her trademark smirk, waving the two yes ticket pieces in either hand. “You seem desperate, Yuuki. What could you’ve possibly wanted to use this for, hmm?”
“Another lap pillow, maybe?”
“Go buy one from a store!” Yui crumpled the ticket up, throwing it at him.
The paper ball bounced off of Yuuki’s head, falling to the ground. “The dreaded ticket thrower...”
“What’d you say?”
“I’m going home. Too tired for this.”
“W-Wait! Y-You sure? You’re giving up your yes ticket just like that?”
“I’m good. It’s not worth the trouble.”
“N-Not worth the... you’re calling the opportunity to have your way with me not worth the trouble?!”
Does she want me to “have my way” with her? No, it’s just the seatmate killer talking. Yuuki thought, setting off home as Yui yelled to his back.