23 Graduation Day 3 (1/2)

After the last person received their diploma, the room full of busy adults quickly thinned out as they all rushed back to work now accompanied by their children.

Aria looked around the room and sighed sadly. Even though she hadn't expected anything from them, even a basic congratulations would of been better than ignoring her existence.

As she was about to leave the room on her own and head back to their dorm for her final night there, Aika rushed up to her and dragged her across the room. Before she was even able to blink let alone figure out what was going on, they had arrived by Aika's parents.

Aika spoke enthusiastically and gestured with her hands, totally different than the reserved image she had shown minutes ago, ”Mama! Dad! This is Aria, my roommate and totally awesome best friend. The one I asked for help about a couple weeks ago.”

Snapping out of her daze, Aria bowed her head slightly and smiled at them. ”Hello, Mr. and Ms. Suzuki.”

The two elders were pleased by the appearance of their daughter's friend and her respectful attitude towards them. They both nodded at her and her father spoke in return. ”It's a pleasure, we've heard good things.”

Uncharacteristically, Aika's ears turned just slightly red and she swatted at her parents with her hand. Why did they have to go and embarrass her in front of her best friend?

Slightly annoyed with her parents for saying she talked about Aria, she called out to them.

”Mama, can Aria come to dinner with us?”

”Of course, if she wants to... but doesn't she need to eat with her family instead?”

Hearing that, Aria cringed slightly and shook her head. After nearly a minute of hesitation she said, ”I'm not close with my family...”

Thus, the group moved on from the topic to avoid poking any more sore spots accidentally and walked to the same car that had initially dropped Aika off. This time there was no driver and Yuna Suzuki, Aika's mom, climbed into the driver's seat with her husband sitting in the passenger seat.

The two girls slid into the back seats of the car and once everyone was seated, Yuna sped off towards their favorite restaurant.

As the car drove down the roads of B City, Aika's dad looked over his shoulder at the girls sitting in the back and questioned, ”So, Aria. What're you doing now that you've graduated high school?”