Hardly Platonic

Chapter 8

15 years old...

"Ahh...I'm so hungry. Good thing the rooftop is not crowded today." Yukirin lifted his hands as he tore the bag of bread.

"Is that all you are having for lunch? Want some of mine?" Hanae offered her bento. She packed some rice with side dishes of egg rolls, sausages, and broccolis.

"Yeah, I woke up late today." Yukirin gently pushed the bento back to Hanae. "Thanks but nah, this bread is enough for me."

"If you say so, but my offer is still open if you want some."

Yukirin suggested Hanae, Wakana, and Satoru to eat lunch on the rooftop since the weather was fine today and that it would be a nice change of pace to eat somewhere aside from their club room.

Wakana blankly stared at her friends who already started eating.

"Hey, do you have anyone that you like?"

"...What's with this out of the blue question?" Yukirin said as his eyebrows raised in surprise.

"Uh...Is this related to our next play?" Hanae tilted her head.

"Well, you see.." Wakana slightly coughed. "Since we're already in our third year of middle-high school, isn't this the kind of thing that people our age started to have an interest in? So tell me? Do you guys have any crush on anyone?"

Yukirin sighed as he shook his head. "I don't know about you guys. But to be honest, I don't have one yet."

"Yeah me too. I don't get it." Hanae munched on one of the broccoli.

"Really? Too bad. I was hoping to get some 'tea' from you guys." Wakana dropped her head and looked at Satoru. "I don't need to know your answer Satoru. I know that my brother has little to none interest in this topic."

Satoru glanced at Wakana and proceeded to eat his bento as to silently agree to her statement.

"Really Hanae? Nothing is going on between you and that popular guy from Class 3-A?" Wakana peered at Hanae in suspicion.

"Not you too.." Hanae's eyes glazed over Wakana. "Nope, nothing. I don't feel anything towards him and neither is he."

Yukirin stared at her and mumbled. "Well, I don't know if Kiyoshi agrees with you.."

"Oho~ This is unexpected coming from you." Wakana's eyes twinkled with amusement. She nudged Yukirin with her right elbow. "I'm guessing that you know something that we girls don't?"

"...Ugh.." Yukirin was slightly regretting his action. "Fine, this is just something that I overheard in the boy's changing room. My class had a joint gym class with him. Basically what happened was.."

The three of them looked at Yukirin and attentively listened to him.

In the boy's changing room...

"Hey, Yahiro! Can I ask you something?"

"What?"

"Well, the girls are very curious about your relationship with Asahina-san. Do you have anything to tell us?"

"Oooh! I've heard of the rumors too."

Yahiro pondered a while and smiled.

"And then he walked out of the changing room. People were whistling saying that there's a new couple or something like that." Yukirin finished telling his side of the story.

"If there's nothing between you and him, why didn't he deny the rumor?" Wakana pondered.

Hanae furrowed her eyebrows, feeling discomfort. She knew very well that Kiyoshi doesn't see her like that.

'Why is he doing this?'

Wakana looked at Hanae who was deep in her thoughts. "Um, let's finish our food. Lunch hour is almost over."

.....

Present...

"Hey, what a coincidence!"

Hanae and Satoru turned around and spotted a familiar man in a sweater.

"Oh, Natsuki-" Hanae glanced at the person beside him. "...And Kiyoshi."

"It's been a while." Natsuki outstretched his hand towards Satoru.

Satoru chuckled and held out a peace sign. "Scissors cut paper. Shut up, we're in the same Physics class yesterday."

"Damn, well played." Natsuki cracked up and withdrew his hand. "Anyways, are you guys on your way back to the dorm? Let's go together!"

The four of them ended up walking together. Though Natsuki and Satoru had gone to the same school since middle-high school, they only became close in university. Not only were they in the same department, but they were also coincidentally together in most of their classes.

"Hey Hana, I've heard that your department is having a BBQ party this Friday. Can you sneak me into the party?" Natsuki grinned.

"How is it possible for me to do that when you are this loud in public? You'll probably get caught in less than 5 minutes."

"Ugh.." Natsuki put his hand around Satoru's neck. "Hey, let's make one for our department too."

Satoru pushed Natsuki's face away. "Nah, not interested."

"This antisocial introvert!"

'Thank god Natsuki's here.' Hanae thought that Natsuki's easygoing and casual personality had brightened up the mood and made the long walk more bearable. She was quite envious of this side of him and had tried to be more amiable around other people. The kind of mindset that she never thought of having during high school.

"Where's the party going to be?" Yahiro asked as he leaned closer to Hanae.

"Makoto told me the venue will be at Restaurant X."

"Makoto?" Yahiro's smile slipped.