Surviving With The Power Of Three Save Files

Chapter 16: Why Don't you Come Over?

Kicking some stray pebbles on the ground, a cute white-haired boy stood by the entrance of the school. His yellow eyes lit up, as he saw a boy with familiar messy black hair approaching him.

Yuuma was surprised at first, but then remembered how Izumi one-sidedly said he had to take "responsibility."

He couldn't help but sigh, thinking about it again.

Izumi stared, confused as to why Yuuma had stopped walking and seemed to be just looking at the ceiling. As he approached him, he couldn't help but call out his name.

"Hideki Yuuma!"

Hearing his full name come from Izumi's voice once again, Yuuma couldn't help but feel a shiver go down his spine, as he once again remembered all those times that he was cut down by Izumi. Though, the current Izumi was just an innocent cute little boy.

"Ah... yes... that is indeed me."

Izumi noticed the black-haired boy look to the side, not making eye contact, and he could only respond back with a questioning look. Yuuma could feel the gaze directed at him, and after a moment of deliberation in his head, he sighed and turned to face him.

"So... I would love to hang out with you right now, but it seems suddenly something has come up haha..."

Scratching the back of his neck, he really hoped Izumi wouldn't ask anything more.

"Of course!"

However, before Izumi could even get a word in, a familiar voice of a boy could be heard from behind Yuuma. With his striking red hair, the two immediately recognized it was Heiji.

"After all, boss is a busy person and can't just hang out with people so easily!"

With a proud look and bragging tone, Heiji didn't even notice Yuuma's annoyed face.

'Fuck... not another one...'

The white-haired boy was surprised to see Heiji approach them so soon, after being beaten in a fight on the same day. His gaze was met, as Heiji looked to have a competitive look to him. However, the latter suddenly remembered Yuuma's presence and tried to put on a forced friendly smile.

"... Why're you staring at me?"

Izumi saw that the red-haired boy was trying his hardest to stop himself from throwing out insults like usual, and his speech pattern was much more robotic. The forced and awkward smile on his face made Izumi have to hide his laugh.

"Nothing really. I just wanted to make sure you didn't get a bruise."

"What?"

"You know, earlier, during lunchtime. That looked like a pretty bad fall, after all."

With a completely innocent and angelic face, Izumi delivered his lines so smoothly, that it made Heiji want to cough blood. The red-haired boy clenched his fist as it looked like a vein was about to burst from him holding his anger in.

Izumi continued with a cute smile on his face.

"Oh right. That's the second time I've seen you fall on your face. You're surprisingly clumsy!"

As he held his hand over his mouth, Izumi had a look of surprise. The fact that his words were paired with such an innocent and oblivious tone only made Heiji angrier. How was this boy doing everything that would set him off?!

As to be expected, it was only a matter of time before Heiji dropped all pretenses, and the two continued to bicker with each other.

Yuuma, on the other hand, sighed as he wondered if teaching Izumi to trash talk was really the best move. He wondered if the boy was doing it unconsciously or deliberately, just so Heiji would get angry in front of him and get in trouble.

However, he also couldn't imagine someone so disgustingly righteous, would actually do something like that on purpose. Even the Izumi from his last attempt at life was never the scheming type.

To be fair, he didn't have to be. After all, that Izumi didn't need tricks to get what he wanted. He could do anything. Even kill someone over a million times...

The black-haired boy wanted to interject by telling them to stop being so childish, but then he stopped himself. After all... they are actual children.

Izumi sighed, as he turned away from Heiji and walked over to Yuuma, completely ignoring the red-haired boy. This only made Heiji even more annoyed, but he resisted the urge to punch him.

"What came up?"

The white-haired boy tilted his head, as he met gaze with Yuuma's blue eyes. The latter looked surprised for a second, as his concentration broke, but before he could say anything, the ignored red-haired child answered for him.

"Can't you take a hint? He just doesn't want to hang out with you."

With a smirk on his face, Heiji looked as though he had won the conversation this time. Izumi's brows knit, as he looked angry. Why was he entering their conversation again!

As he was about to step forward and shout back at him, Yuuma put a stop to it, by raising his hand out, blocking his path.

"Alright, calm down. Both of you."

Izumi looked unsatisfied at first, but seeing Yuuma's face, he bit down on his lip and backed off. Heiji on the other hand, wanted to say that Izumi was the one that had started it. However, after seeing the smile on Yuuma's face, which looked weirdly threatening, he also stepped down.

Confirming that the both of them had given up, the black-haired boy sighed in relief.

"I forgot I have a test tomorrow, so I've got to study today. That's why, I can't hang out with ANYONE today."

The two looked confused, as they both tilted their heads.

"Is it that bad that you can't miss one day of studying?"

"Do you even need to study, boss?"

Yuuma didn't know why, but what Heiji said made him more angry than what Izumi said, somehow.

"If you guys saw his grades, you would be thinking VERY differently."

Hearing a voice from behind him, Yuuma turned his head to see a purple-haired girl looking over at them. After saying goodbye to some other girls who were walking with her, Hanami approached the conspicuous trio.

"As someone who's had the honor of sitting next to him every year, since the first grade, you can trust me on this."

The black-haired boy couldn't help but feel personally attacked, even if he couldn't deny it. On the other hand, the other two didn't look entirely convinced.

"How bad could it be?"

As they simultaneously asked the same question, both Izumi and Heiji looked annoyed that they had both thought the same thing.

Izumi could see that they wouldn't understand unless they saw actual proof, but he really wanted to avoid that, if possible. However, feeling the gazes from all of them, especially Hanami, he sighed as he pulled out a crumpled ball from his backpack.

Unwrapping the ball filled with his dark past and childhood embarrassment, he then showed the contents to the children in front of him. Closing his eyes, he didn't even want to see their reactions.

As he took a deep breath, he opened them to see the very clear looks each of them had.

Izumi had a look of bewilderment, which soon turned to pity, as he looked at Yuuma. Heiji looked as though he was trying his best not to laugh. Hanami didn't look surprised at all, which probably hurt Yuuma the most, out of all the reactions.

"I... How do you actually get a single-digit score? I thought those were just a myth?"

"Pfft—"

The white-haired boy couldn't help but blurt out his first thoughts, as he was still lost in bewilderment. This caused Heiji to finally break and let a small breath escape his mouth. However, Yuuma quickly shot him a glare, causing the red-haired boy to quickly avert his gaze.

Izumi looked back at the mystifying score in front of him, as he scanned the rest of the page. After seemingly being deep in thought for a few seconds, his eyes widened as he thought up an idea.

"Hey... why don't you come over to my house?"