Yui DMed Rio afterward, asking if she wanted to hang out tomorrow. Her abrupt request was met with an enthusiastic yes. I’m a girl of my word.
The next day. Early Saturday afternoon.
After having a light lunch at a cafe by the nearest station, Yui invited Rio over to her place. Maki was out with her friends, while her parents had driven off somewhere.
“Forgive the intrusion.” Rio said nonetheless, before coming inside.
They then headed up to Yui’s room, situated on the second floor. Once she placed her hand on the doorknob, Yui abruptly stopped. “Just so we’re clear, this says ‘Yui’s Room’. Does it say ‘Otaku’s Room’? No, no it doesn’t. Only the chosen few may set foot inside the forbidden holy land.”
“The chosen few?”
“It’s not like I never invited you over because I was too scared you’d find out I’m an otaku, because I’m not.”
Looking back on it, Yui had no memory of ever inviting another person over to her place. Granted, Yui didn’t have anyone to invite when she was little but she did distinctly remember being resistant to the idea regardless.
Perhaps this shy, secretive side of me never really went away, remaining part of my subconscious mind to this very day. Yui thought, her nerves suddenly spiking. Crap, why won’t you stop pounding? It’s not even a guy, it’s just a friend… Yui was reminded of how Yuuki had casually asked her to come over to his place. I wonder if he felt the same way on the inside. He did wander around in his pajamas, so probably not. Laughter welled up as she recalled the dumb look on his face.
Her mood having lightened, Yui threw the door open, entering inside.
Rio set foot inside immediately after. She stood in place, curiously examining the layout of the room, the posters on the walls. It was weird but she’d been acting strange since the second they met up.
Rio was wearing the same dress from when they went out last time, her legs bare. Whether conscious or not, her choice of clothing necessitated a high level of confidence in one’s looks. Although, Rio did seem impartial to stares from the opposite sex.
“Cute dress. Your favorite?”
“It is. It’s also my only one.”
“What?”
“Our school uniform is usually good enough, don’t you agree?”
“I-I guess…”
Yui couldn’t quite grasp if Rio was being serious or not but it felt like something she shouldn’t stick her nose in, so she dismissed it.
Yui, in contrast, sported shorts and a hoodie, figuring they’d be spending most of their time back at her place anyway.
“Don’t be shy. Have a seat.” Yui said, offering her a cushion.
Rio sat down, folding her legs back in a W-pose. Yui, meanwhile, sat on the edge of her bed, her eyes wandering over to Rio’s knee area.
“I get how guys feel now.”
“Sorry?”
The unintentionally seductive type, huh? Well, maybe not “seductive” seductive, but it adds to her moe appeal, definitely. Yui smirked on the inside.
Rio’s gaze restlessly wandered from here to there before eventually stopping at the packed bookshelf. “I-It’s so full. Mind if I take a look?”
“Uhh, sure. Be my guest.”
Rio leaned over her knees and began intensely staring at the bookshelf. Unintentional butt exhibition aside, Yui felt oddly embarrassed, as if Rio had just uncovered her deepest and darkest secrets.
“Y-You’d be surprised to know that I’m actually an indoor gal. Shocker, right?” Yui explained.
Rio didn’t seem to hear her, enamored with the bookshelf. “Comedy DVDs. Here we’ve got…”
“D-D-Don’t stare too much. It’s embarrassing.”
Expecting something like this, she had hid all the truly spicy stuff in the back. Yui, being something of an omnivore, had maybe one or two BL manga stashed somewhere in there. That was it. Yet, it still felt like Rio’s sharp gaze was going to uncover something bad any second now.
“L-Let’s play a game! Come, come.”
Yui dragged Rio away, sitting her down on a cushion before the TV and booting up the console. Her game of choice was, of course, the good ol’ reliable Bash Bros. If Yuuki was to be believed, Rio practiced the game just so she could play with Yui. How cute.
“This is all I have, unfortunately.”
Yui sat down beside Rio, handing her a small, unwieldy controller. There was no such thing as “honor” in competitive gaming. The battle had already begun.
“I’m getting a little nervous. Hope I don’t mess up too much.” Oblivious to Yui’s twisted machinations, Rio gripped the controller, staring stiff-faced at the TV screen.
Yui waited for Rio to lock in her character first before picking a soft-counter out of her pool of characters. Mina had told her all about Rio’s skills but as Yui had improved tremendously since their last encounter, she could probably easily take Mina on in her current state. Rio likely wasn’t going to be much tougher but being careful didn’t hurt.
As soon as the match started, Yui got some distance between them, fidgeting left and right as she waited for Rio to make her move.
“Narito’s a pretty nice guy, isn’t he?”
“Huh? W-What makes you say that?” Yui’s fingers froze at the abrupt mention of Yuuki’s name.
Where is this coming from? Yui thought as Rio’s character went in for an attack. She hastily regripped her controller.
“He looks like he doesn’t care, but he actually cares a lot.”
Don’t tell me she fell for him as he helped her out with her problems. For a second Yui thought about mentioning how, yes, she did know that Yuuki was a softie deep down, but she promptly reconsidered. No need to improve her opinion of him further.
“D-Does he? Yuuki doesn’t even sound human to me sometimes.”
“Don’t say that. He cares about you, Yui.”
“Eh?” Yui’s fingers froze again as Rio landed a powerful attack, knocking her character way back. “Why, you!” She shot Rio a quick glare before quickly returning her gaze back to the screen.