38 Chapter four, 2016, early resolutions: 4 (1/2)

She'd had enough, but she still played along. When they went to join the barista, after he had vanished inside that room, she walked beside her brother.

She was angry, and hurt. Why did they have to make such a big affair about how much they shared? 'They're together already. Isn't that enough?'

Noriko knew she was sulking, but for once she had good reason. Urufu-kun had been hurtful. The way he talked. The way he looked at them. The way he excluded her and her brother. There was no need for that. And that Kuri-chan, she just had to play along with that arrogant smile of hers.

'And Yu-kun and Kyoko-chan, just confess to each other already! It's just painful to look at you two.'

She sulked some more, and pouted. Yu-kun and Kyoko-chan, the wingmen. Well, they were nice enough. Good and loyal friends in their own way, she guessed. And Kyoko-chan had even dropped out of the competition for Urufu-kun for her sake.

Noriko was rather certain Kyoko-chan hadn't paved the road for Kuri-chan. 'Not with those looks you give him. Like he was a viper.'

Noriko entered the room last of them all. Barista and the six friends. Yes, they could easily cram in twenty people here. The large table in the centre of the room could only host a dozen, but there were a couple of smaller, foldable tables hugging the wall.

'Hasn't been used for some time. Smells old in here.'

The barista had left the room. He was probably making their second round of orders. She heard a phone ringing in the main café and how he picked it up.

'This room is different. It's all one set here, not like the chaos in the rest of the café.' ”Why do you want this kind of privacy?” she asked Hamarugen Moron-sama.

He looked taken aback at the sight of her. ”Eh, unless we want that fan-club congregating on us whenever we go here.”

”Why would we go here? We have a perfectly functional clubroom at school.”

”It's good to have a place away from it all.”

”Did Moron-sama forget that this is hardly away from it all?” There, she had said it.

”Noriko!” Yes, yes, her idiot brother could scold her for all he wanted.

Urufu-kun bowed deeply, European style. She could almost see that wide-brimmed hat in his hand, feather and all. ”Moron-sama hasn't forgotten.”

'Why are you so friendly now all of a sudden? Why did you have to become so good looking? Better if you had stayed the geek.'

She looked at Kuri-chan. 'So tall, and I'm small.' Well, not as small as a certain Aisaka Taiga, but then her knight in shining armour hadn't been as tall as Urufu-kun. 'But he's not my white knight. He belongs to Kuri-chan now. Bro is the closest I have.' She shuddered. 'Unless I'm to spend my high school years as a creepy otaku wet dream we're not walking down that lane.'

And that reference really belonged to Yu-kun. He was the connoisseur of everything two dimensional in their group. Even though he didn't look like it.

Noriko looked at Yu-kun, and then at Kuri-chan. 'I turned him down thrice. That means he had the guts to try two times after I rejected him the first time. Am I that gutless that I'll just give up on Urufu-kun?'