44 Retouching Another Story (1/2)
The bus ride towards school was quiet since they had to sit away from each other, aside from Tohru who stood nearby Ruby. Arata felt a little relaxed the entire time it was quiet. To be honest, he never had much quiet time on his own ever since he had been transferred in this world. Perhaps he should take himself on a date. Then again, he still needed to make sure he could get as much dates as he could since the event was still active. Living this life was fun when it was just a game; living it for real needed real time management and plenty of rest.
He almost fell asleep when the bus reached the school. He got off of the bus and waited for the girls. Needless to say, a lot of eyes had found their ways to pierce through the halls just to get a glimpse of the school king, Arata Hamasaki. Walking with women with different statures and walks of life, he seemed to be quite an all-in-one man.
Of course, the seniors had to take their leave before the second-years finished walking Cora to her class. Soon, his collection dwindled to two: Attori and Yukari. With them walking on their corresponding side of Arata's body, the people along the hallways made a wider space for Arata to pass. Not that he needed them to do so.
As he entered the classroom, he caught Keiko turning away from the door. It was as if she did not want to get caught looking. Despite the distance that was created between them, Arata still regarded Keiko as a close friend of his. It was only a week since they last saw each other, but it had felt like a very long time for him. Not that because he missed her a lot; it was more like he was still so worried about her mental state.
However, he kept quiet and worried a lot more about the dates he needed to finish the event. Six more for six days sounded plausible, but with club meetings, it restricted his planning. He needed to avoid a penalty, so he thought of ditching meetings for other days.
'Maybe it should be helpful if I just take note of things.' He pulled out his phone and opened the calendar to schedule his escapades. Before he could finish, he noticed that there was a shadow casted in front of him. He looked up and saw his girlfriend standing behind his desk.
”Arata, live practice is cancelled today. You should go home first...” She smiled at him, but her eyes were saddened by the news.
”Ah, do you mind if I do?”
”Are you... going to attend to that again?”
The player twitched and was caught off-guard by the 'that' she meant. Then it dawned to him that Attori was asking if he was going to meet with another girl. He ended up being a dating deity to the mad girl after all. He only nodded in response.
She smiled and clapped her hands together. ”Then good luck! But you have to reserve your lunch with me today!”
”Sure, let's have a lunch date.” He smiled and nodded again, this time, more enthusiastic than earlier.
Attori pranced back to her seat, with Arata keeping his gaze at her back. Soon, he felt the weight of Keiko's gaze. He turned to her, and she made a weak smile. The player felt obligated to smile at least, even though he was planning to talk to her. For now, he would like to push unimportant businesses to the side and focus on the event. He would have plenty of time afterwards anyway.
The day flowed into lunch time. He was with Attori by the cafeteria. There were spaces outside the building, and that was where they were taking their lunch. There were other people, but they had chosen distant chairs from the couple.
Since the player had let her in his secret, he ended up asking for her for the schedule. He had no formulas and cheat sheets with him, but he knew the ones he had to work on. Attori pouted for not being chosen in his initial plans, but she managed to score two days in the revised plan. Arata could not help but to spoil her and watch her getting all happy about it.
After-classes had come like the day was flowing fast. Arata said goodbye to his girlfriend and decided to walk Yukari and Cora back home. However, his gaze stayed on the panorama of the park. Cutting the walk short, he asked them to go on ahead.
Making his way to a familiar spot, he found Tohru with her carton drink on her hands. The girl looked up at him and smiled at him.
”Look who's here.” She chuckled before sipping the last bit of her juice.
”I figured I haven't been here with you for a while. Are you still training pipsqueaks like me?” Arata laughed out as he walked to her side. The chain date notifications had started but he paid no attention to them rather than closing them as soon as they came. He joined her in the cemented bench next to the bushes. ”Is there something with this place? You said you're always here when you don't have practice...”
”Perhaps yes, perhaps no.” Tohru hummed as she got up to round up some sticks for their training. ”Just here because it's quiet.”
”How was it? You and Ruby?” The player followed her around with his gaze. He watched her turn to him with a slight blush. ”You must be enjoying yourself a lot when you're with her.”
The athlete only turned her head to the side. She pouted and looked away. ”Nah, I just like teasing Ru. She gives in the way I want my victims to, and she makes the reactions I like so— there you have it!” She waved her hand towards Arata. ”It's not like we're really intimate like best friends anyway...
”Arata”—Tohru called him as soon as her voice trailed, her mood shifting—”about the birthday party, you think you can help me with something?” She hummed as she made noises of hesitance and indecisiveness. ”It's not like I'm putting too much effort for it, but... I don't want to take it for granted...”