The Fault in Our Charas

Chapter 7: Men ain't sh-

Rima walked into her home, dragging her backpack behind her. "I'm home!" She screamed into what seemed like an empty apartment. Rima walked into the kitchen to see a note on the kitchen counter.

Dear Rima,
Mama and Papa went out for dinner. Your dinner is wrapped inside the fridge.
Please send us a message when you're home.
Love
Mama and papa.

Rima smiled at the handwritten note her mother had left for her on the counter. Since she came to this town her parents had always had marital problems, especially after her almost kidnapping. Luckily, they started to go to marriage counseling and their relationship has gotten better. Rima folded up the note and place it into her pocket, it seemed a little cliche but with every note she receives from her parents, she never hesitated to keep it. Rima grabbed her bag off the floor and reached inside the front pocket for her phone. Immediately after reaching for it, it began to ring "Yaya" Rima read out loud.

"Hello?"
"RIMA!" Yaya belted into her phone. Very frantically.
"What!? Yaya! This better be an emergency for you to be screaming into my ear! You almost made my eardrum fall out!"
"I'm sorry but this is an emergency! Please meet me at the corner store near our neighborhood!"
"What? Why-"
"No time to explain be there in 5 minutes!".

Ding.

The corner store doorbell rang as Rima walked in with her pink wooly slippers. "Welcome!" The store clerk greeted her. Rima quickly scanned the store and noticed Yaya at the very corner near the ice cream fridge. She rolled her eyes as she made her way towards the back of the store. Rima tapped Yaya's shoulder startling her friend into a weird karate stance.
"Yaya it's me!" "I'm sorry! I was scared!" "YOU told me to meet you here!" "But that was no excuse to scare us half to death!~dechu!" Pepe peered out of Yaya's right shoulder. "What's your big emergency!? You needed help picking out your flavor of ice cream!" Rima exclaimed.
Yaya tighten her grip on the 3 pints of ice cream she had in her arms and pouted "No!" She gazed down and then back at Rima. "Maybe? Well, I really want Matcha green tea but-" "Yaya!" "Okay okay!"

Yaya put her ice cream back into the fridge and close the glass door. Yaya's face went from cheerfully hungry for ice cream to extremely concerned. Rima knew Yaya was serious well because Yaya is almost never serious. Rima looked at Yaya patiently awaiting her emergency. Yaya sighed " I heard something about Zero from my classmates". Rima puzzled crossed her arms urging her friend to continue. "So apparently the reason why Zero wasn't at school today was that he went out to a bar, and well..." "AND WELL!" Rima questioned grabbing Yaya's shoulders. "He took someone home. Like a girl."
Rima's expression went blank. "Like a girl?" Rima slowly repeated. She thought back to when she found Amu in the bathroom stall. Amu was just finished crying, her face all red and swollen. Rima also remembers that Amu mentioned Zero never called her yesterday. Rima wanted to not believe what her friend was dishing out to her but her gut was reassuring her that this wasn't just any high school rumor. "Yaya what if it's just a rumor." "Rima, the entire school was talking about it." 

Yaya and Rima stood in the store so dumbfounded and out of any words to say. "What if we talk to Zero tomorrow. What if he wasn't out at that bar, he could've been really sick." "We need to tell Amu-chan" Yaya frowned. "We can't just tell her, what if it's not true then we look like the bad guys trying to ruin her relationship. Zero actually makes her happy." Yaya placed her index finger on her chin"Fine, let's ask Zero tomorrow. You're right this could just be one big dramatic rumor." Rima nodded in agreement. "We'll ask him first thing tomorrow." Yaya turned to look at the ice cream again. "Now, let's discuss my other emergency." Rima and Yaya hobbled over the store clerk counter, their hands full of their favorite snacks. 

Ding.

The glass door opened suddenly, and a slender girl with brown hair walked in. Rima glanced over, her first thought being she was really beautiful. "Welcome!" the store clerk greeted the young lady. "Where are your spicy curry buns?" She asked very softly. "Go down this aisle to your right." the store clerk motioned to her. "Thank you." "The spicy curry buns from here are way too spicy. The only person I've seen finish one is Zero-san" Yaya commented without thinking. Rima just nonchalantly nodded to Yaya's weird comment and gave her money to the clerk. "Hey! I was going to pay!" Yaya whined. Rima rolled her eyes getting their goodies from the store clerk, thanked them, and walked out of the store.  The brown-haired girl was looking over all the curry buns couldn't spot out the spicy ones. She finally saw the "Spicy Curry" label but realized this section was completely empty. She reached into her pocket to retrieve her cellphone.