“Makoto-sensei isn’t here?”

“Ha?” Mirai looked at Asami. “Isn’t here?” Trigonometry was their third to the last subject and she liked Makoto-sensei who was the teacher who wasn’t too strict and wasn’t too laid back either .

“I just got back from the faculty room.” ASami started. She was standing beside Mirai while the latter was seated. “I gave the papers Reiko-sensei asked me to check and he mentioned that Makoto-sensei wasn’t feeling well.”

“Ah sou ka?” Mirai muttered. “I hope she gets some rest.”

“Oh well I like Makoto-sensei but I’d like some rest as well.” Senior life really was tiring, not as hard as junior life but still. “So she should stay at home so we can all rest.”

Mira could only laugh as Asami started looking for Saaya. “Saaya-chan!” Asami called. “Ikou, let’s fetch the activity for today”

“Where? Shouldn’t Kamiki be the one fetching it?” Saaya asked.

“It’s alright! He’s too busy playing!” Asami answered. They all looked at Kamiki who was playing with the laptop he had brought with him. It was alright for them anyways, Kamiki may be president but that didn’t mean they’d leave all the work to him.

“Oh alright!” Saaya said, giggling. She left with Asami tagging along.

Mirai was left sitting by herself. Everyone was busy. Suzuka was too busy reading a novel. Umika was busy chatting with a few of their classmates while Yuuri was busy playing with his new phone.

When Mirai lifted her head, the doors opened. Ryosuke entered along with Mariya and her friends.

In the two months since the school year started, Ryosuke became closer with Mariya and was considered part of the girl’s group.

She looked away while they sat on the floor, back to the wall. From her peripheral vision, she could see Mariya chatting away while Ryosuke only nodded every once in a while. She sniggered to herself. Truth was, Ryosue was really aloof, you could rarely see him smile.

Then she remembered they had an activity, they always did even when the teacher wasn’t around. She grabbed her math book. Surely the activity would be coming from their work book. She went straight to their current topic’s page; Trigonometric functions. Oh joy. She was better in Physics, her favorite topic this senior year. They’d already tackled History last year, if they still had that subject then that would be her favorite.

“I have the seatwork!”

Asami suddenly entered as she waved a small white paper in her hands.

Kamiki stood up and smiled at Asami. “Thanks girl!!” He was also the one who wrote it down on the board, a little embarrassed that it was Asami who had to fetch it.

Mirai was right, the activity was inside the workbook. She was about to start with the activity when she saw what Kamiki wrote on the bottom part of the chalkboard; Do the activity with a partner.

Eh?We really need a partner? Mirai quickly turned to look for Suzuka only to be surprised to see Ryosuke in front of her. The guy was also surprised but was able to open his mouth and talk. “Ah… Mirai-chan, let’s be partners.”

Wow, so I don’t have a choice? Mirai would’ve declined and reasoned that Suzuka was to be her partner but saw that the other was already sitting with Umika and the latter had even given her a thumbs up. Those traitors.

“Ah hai, mochiron.” Mirai smiled. It’s not as if she could say no right? And why not? There was nothing wrong with that? Who was she arguing with?! Wait a minute, why wasn’t Mariya his partner? What if she asked him?

“Mirai-chan?”

Mirai snapped out of it. , was she staring into space again? “I’ll get a piece of paper.” Quickly, Mirai bent down to grab a piece of paper from inside her bag. Where was her seatmate anyways? She wondered since the seat beside her was so free. It was to her surprise to see her seatmate beside Mariya. And that’s when she noticed that Mariya was looking at them. Okay. Awkward. Keep cool Mirai. She smiled at Mariya and returned to the seatwork, not being able to see if the other girl returned her smile.

Okay Trigo let’s do this. Her game face was on as she faced Ryosuke. “Ryou, I’ll answer items 1 to 5 and you’ll answer items 6 to 10.”

“Alright.” Ryosuke answered. “I’ll write on some scratch paper first then you can re-write it later,  have bad handwriting.”

Mirai couldn’t help but chuckle at that whilst Ryosuke smiled back. “Alright, let’s answer.” The handsome young man said.

Ryosuke started answering whilst Mirai started staring at him. The guy noticed this and had to look back again. “Nande? Daijouka?”

“Eh?  Ah, anou.. nandemonai.” Mirai looked away and slowly closed her eyes. Kuso. Why did he have to be so cute. Alright Mirai, enough of that, start answering.

She looked at the workbook once again. Tsk. Again, she knew why History was her favorite subject. She grabbed a pencil form inside her bag and tried to start answering. She’d erased her answers and solved yet again for the nth time when Ryosuke faced her.

“6 to 10 is done.” He smiled.

Not to embarrass herself, Mirai only nodded and grabbed Ryosuke’s paper. “Hai, I’ll just write the answers down when I’m finished with these first five.” She continued answering but then felt Ryosuke getting closer. Why did it feel like the room got hotter?  Was the air-conditioning broken?

“What do you have left?” Ryosuke asked.

“Ah… on number 3.” Mirai answered. For show, she acted as if she was thinking about what to do next but she couldn’t, Ryosuke was too close!

“Anou, Ryosuke, it’s alright, I’ll be the one to pass it to Kamiki.”

Ryosuke scoffed. “It’s alright, I’m your partner remember? Ikou, I’ll help you.” He peeked on the paper Mirai was holding.

“Oh alright, here’s what you do…” Ryosuke started demonstrating as he wrote on Mirai’s paper. Couldn’t he grab his own piece of scratch paper? Now they were touching!

“You got it Mirai-chan?”

“Ha?” Should she get consultation from a doctor? She was often staring into space now . “Gomen Ryou, could you repeat that.”

Instead of getting irritated, Ryosuke only chuckled and continued explaining. After 10 minutes they finished the items. Mirai had already written the solutions and answers on a piece of clean paper before handing it to Kamiki.

“So you two are partners eh? See, look at your names together, they look good.” Kamiki commented.

“Kamiki you’re crazy.” Mirai said laughingly before sitting back down in her chair. Because this class was 1 hour and 30 minutes, they still had a lot of time left so Mirai opted for just resting in her chair. She thought Ryosuke would return to his chair but to her surprise, he sat next to her.

“We still have time, let’s eat?”

That was to Mirai’s surprise. “Ha?”

“Nothing… it’s just that, maybe you’re hungry.” Ryosuke replied as he drummed his fingers on the desk.

“Aren’t you hungry?” Mirai returned the question.

Ryosuke only shrugged. “If we’re going to eat, then let’s go.” Then he smiled.

Mirai laughed softly and stood up. “Ikou, I’d like some coffee mocha.”

She tried not to take notice of the looks that Suzuka and Umika were giving her, they’d just be teasing. What more was she didn’t want to see if Mariya was looking.

As she exited the room, she turned left and made her way to the backstairs when Ryosuke called her.

“Doko ikou no?”

Mirai faced Ryosuke again. “To the cafeteria, aren’t we going to eat?”

“Aren’t we not allowed to pass there?”

“Oh yeah right.” Mirai heaved a sigh. Now they had to walk far. And they’d be passing all of the other rooms.

“We’re just going to get snacks right?” Mirai asked. It was 2 in the afternoon, she was sure they’d be the only ones there.

Ryosuke nodded his head. “I feel like having…”

“CALAMARI!” Mirai answered with a wide smile. She suddenly piped down, they passed by other senior rooms. Ryosuke laughed before pulling Mirai away, even holding her hand. How come Mirai’s whole body suddenly stiffened, she hoped Ryosuke wouldn’t notice. On their way down, they were both still laughing at themselves. I missed this. Nina thought.

Finally they reached the canteen. And went straight to…

“Erika-onee-chan!”

“Mirai-chan!” Erika-nee greeted but stopped. “Ryosuke!” Yeah Ryosuke’s been back for more than 2 months but Erika-nee would see something different. “It’s a good thing you’re with Mirai again ne?” Erika-nee teased.

Mirai widened her eyes at the cafeteria lady but the latter pretended not to notice.

“Ha?” Ryosuke muttered but Erika-nee only rolled her eyes.

“I’m sure you guyswould like calamari and I won’t stand for you not treating Mirai!” Erika-nee said almost whipping out the spatula on Ryosuke’s perfect nose.

“You’re crazy Erika-nee-chan.” Mirai said.

Ryosuke laughed. “Alright alright! And I really was going to treat Mirai.”

With a satisfied smile, Erika-nee started cooking. That’s when Mirai faced Ryosuke. “Ne Ryou, I’ll treat for the drinks.”

“Then it’s as If I didn’t treat you!” Ryosuke laughed.

“Oh just go with it! If you want I’ll give you the money and you buy, just imagine that I didn’t give the money to you.”Mirai said causing Ryosuke to laugh. Before he could talk, she ed the money into his hands. “Hayaku and buy! I want coffee mocha alright.”

Ryosuke couldn’t do anything since Mirai was already pushing him to the drinks section. The drinks section was only at the other side but still had distance from where Mirai was.

Quickly, Erika-nee looked at her friend and had to smile.

Mirai’s eyebrows were suddenly raised. “Nee-chan what is it?”

“Imagine, Ryosuke returned!” Erika-nee said in an excited tone.

Mirai lauhed. “It’s a good thing he did before graduation.”

“And so, has he confessed?”

“Confessed? What would he confess?”

Erika-nee could only laugh. “Have it your way, what will happen will happen.”

“You’re tired aren’t you nee-chan?” Mirai teased. “Go ahead and continue cooking.”

“Here!” Erika-nee placed the food on two containers and the exact moment, Ryosuke returned holding with him their drinks.

“Wait a minute don’t you two have class?” Erika-nee just noticed. There really were no students in the cafeteria since it was still time for class. The last break period was a while ago.

“Our teacher isn’t around and we already finished the activity so we decided to eat.” Ryosuke answered.

Erka-nee looked at them for a while and when she looked satisfied, nodded. “Alright then, it would be better if you just ate upstairs.”

Erika-nee was right. Teachers might see them and think they’re cutting classes.

Whether Mirai would admit it or not, she missed this . She missed eating calamari in the cafeteria with Ryosuke. He was her friend during the first year just that he left and add to the fact that she learned her feelings would never be requited.

“Mirai?”

“Ha?” She turned at whoever called and saw Ryosuke looking at her while trying not to laugh. They were now outside of their room, he was probably just waiting for her.

“Ah gomen.” Mirai said while laughing.

She went inside and wasn’t surprised to see that it looked like there was a camping trip inside. No one was using the chairs!

Everyone was sitting on the floor. It looked like they were all finished with the activity. Some were chatting, others had earphones on and you could hear a guitar playing in the background. In short it was noisy inside.

“Oh Mi-chan! Arigato because we’re hungry too!” Suzuka said, approaching Mirai and grabbing a piece of calamari. Before Mira could talk, she was being pulled to sit down. Yuuri, Saaya, Asami and Umika were seated in a circle. Asami was wearing earphones and had her head down in slumber, Yuuri and Saaya were chatting up a storm while Umika smiled as she waited for Mirai and Suzuka.

Mirai first looked at Ryosuke but saw that he was talking to Yuto and Mariya. And at that moment she saw Mariya asking Ryosuke for some of his food and looking all cute and pretty. , here goes.

What gives Mirai! You have no right to be jealous. What are you even being jealous about?!

“Mi-chan! Daijou ka?”

Umika was talking to her. “Ah hai.  The problems in the workbook were pretty hard ne?” Mirai asked as she savored the calamari. She hurried eating while Asami wasn’t awake because she was sure when the girl did wake up, then there would no longer be any food left.

“Ohhh!” Suzuka suddenly commented. “If it was so hard then why were you and Ryosuke the first to pass?”

“Because Ryou-chan is really good in math .” Umika laughed. “We enjoyed watching you two, Mirai.”

“You guys are crazy.” Mirai answered.

“I’ll throw this away.” She’d finished eating and went out to paper plate away.

“Come back ne! let’s play cards!” Suzuka called.

It was to her surprise to see Ryosuke also throwing his paper plate away. They looked at each other before he gave a smile-smirk. Kuso. He liked doing that, probably knew that it added to his appeal.

The Mirai remembered. “Ryou-kun, want to play cards?”

Ryosuke was about to answer when Mariya called his attention. “Ryosuke! Look at this video!”

Mirai softly breathed in. She was about to return to her friends when Ryosuke called her. “Later Mariya, Mirai and I will play.”

Mirai tried hiding her smile. Ne Mirai, your heart’s beating fast again, stop it.