Later that night, Yuuki got a DM from Yui.
Yuuki laid on the living room couch, watching a movie. He pulled out his phone, thinking of hitting the sack, when he happened to notice the DM notification.
“What did you do to Rio?”
“You tell me.” He replied, his phone suddenly switching to the call screen.
Yuuki accidentally declined the call out of sheer surprise. Another one came immediately after, which he this time accepted.
“You brainwashed her. I know you did.” Was the first thing he heard. Yui’s tone was intense right out the gate.
“I don’t remember brainwashing her, no. Oh and, how’d it go? Are you the bestest of buddies now?”
“Always have been. Anyway, you free tomorrow? Midterms are over, of course you are. Meet me at the station.”
Surprisingly forceful by Yui standards. She also seems angry, judging by the tone.
Yuuki didn’t have anything planned, as Yui correctly guessed. There was just one problem.
“I don’t know. Might be groggy.”
“Go to bed. Go now.”
“Is afternoon okay?”
“Hmm, fine. 1 p.m., then.”
Yuuki asked her why she wanted to meet up but Yui refused to elaborate, insisting that all would be explained tomorrow.
“Goodnight, then.” He said, ending the call.
“Did you just hang up on me?!” She messaged in retaliation.
Yuuki knew they’d be here all day if he responded, so he decided to go to bed instead.
“Was that Yui? Why’d you hang up on her so fast?” Mina, who had been playing with her phone next to him, asked as he was about to get off the sofa. “No need to be embarrassed just because I’m here.”
“I’ll be leaving at 1 p.m. tomorrow.”
“Going out on a date, I see. Is it hot in here or is it just me?”
“It’s not really a date.”
“Well, what is it then?” Mina turned her head toward Yuuki, giving him a dubious look.
Yuuki decided to call it a date in the end, to save time explaining. After giving a satisfied nod, Mina slapped her knee as she got off the couch.
“I know! Let’s throw a midterm celebration party tomorrow! Celebrate all our hard work!” Mina, having no hard work to celebrate up until now, had never mentioned anything of the sort. This time, however, she got a ninety two in math and was awfully proud of it. “I even beat you for once.”
“In math.”
Mina liked to bring that up all the time but, besides math, she scored below average on everything, coasting on the cusp of failing, as was custom.
In a way, she did focus on one subject to the detriment of all others, but it was a step up regardless compared to being unable to do even that much. Given how little time she had, Mina did surprisingly well.
“Still, good job. Rio really whipped you into shape, huh?”
“Elder Rio unleashed the power hidden deep inside me.” Mina proudly puffed out her chest.
Rio and Mina exchanged phone numbers afterward and appeared to interact frequently. Rio even came over to their place once to check up on Mina without Yuuki’s knowledge. They spent the whole time shut inside Mina’s room.
“Where would we throw a party? Here?”
“Leave all the planning to Ms. Ninety-two. Don’t worry, I’ll schedule it for after your date.” Mina said as she closed her game and began typing away at her phone, likely DMing Yui. “Hmm, might as well throw in a surprise.”
“A what?” Yuuki peered into Mina’s phone, which she promptly hid.
She’s up to something, I just hope it’s nothing bad.
✦ ✦ ✦
The next day.
Yuuki woke up late, had brunch and prepared for his “date.”
“I’ll be waiting for you two.” Mina said as he went out the door.
Yuuki stifled a sigh as he walked to the roundabout by the station, the same one they met up at on their previous date. There were quite a few people around, likely owing to the fine weather.
1 p.m. came, yet Yui was still nowhere to be seen.
Five minutes passed. Ten minutes passed. Fifteen minutes passed. Just as Yuuki pulled out his phone to call up Yui, a lone figure stopped before him.
“Sorry to keep you waiting.” Yuuki lifted his head, only to see Yui standing there with her arms pompously crossed.
He slipped his phone back into his pocket, staring back at her completely reactionless. “So, what do you want?” He urged her to get to the point.
Yui silently took something out of her breast pocket, holding it out. “I’m turning this in.”
“You what?”
Said something was a familiar crumpled piece of paper with the word yes scribbled over it. Parts of it were taped together. Is this... the yes ticket?
Yuuki thought he’d witnessed the demise of the yes ticket when Yui tore, crumpled and threw it at him. But it appeared she later picked it off the ground, evened it out and fixed it up with tape. That much made sense. Why she held it out in front of him saying “I’m turning this in” didn’t.
“What do you mean?”
“I’m turning the yes ticket in.”
“Turning your yes ticket in?”
“I don’t see my name on it. Do you?”
“Now, wait just a second.”
Yui’s humor was, for the most part, nonsensical but today it was on a whole ‘nother level.
Yuuki remained calm, refusing to engage. Yui then rolled the yes ticket up and tried abruptly sticking it up his nose, so he swatted her arm away.
“Stop resistin’, will ya?” Yui pouted, appearing to be in a terrible mood.
Yuuki, however, wasn’t in the mood to be treated terribly himself. “You’ve been acting weird since yesterday. Did something happen?”
“Did something hap-- Of course something happened. Rio completely flipped her lid because of something you said forcing me to calm her. I even treated her like a goddess afterward, okay? I gave her the pudding I had saved for later, okay?”
“And that’s why you’re mad?”
“Look. That alone? Whatever. What gets me is that you and Rio called me names like ‘Lyucifer’ behind my back. I can’t stand that kind of thing. Don’t test me, okay? Or I’ll shoot beams out my eyes, the unblockable kind.” Yui brought her face in closer, her eyes shooting open.
Rio came up with the whole “Lyucifer” thing but it was now somehow Yuuki’s fault. What went on between the two, Yuuki had no way of knowing, but it was likely either a case of Rio jumping to conclusions or Yui’s half-assed assumptions causing a misunderstanding.
Trying to calm Yui down a little, Yuuki brought his hand out in front of her face. “Sorry, wasn’t trying to insult you or anything. All I feel for you is pity.”
“Wasn’t trying to insult-- You’re doing it right now! Grrr!” Yui growled up in his face, awfully combative.
Upon closer inspection, Yui wore black eyeshadow, her eyes popping out more normal.