Friday.
"Wakana, man, are you sure you're fine?" Kensei looked at the boy, currently faced down on his desk.
Shiki adjusted his glasses and asked, "Do you want to go to the nurse's office?"
"I'm fine... Just let me sleep a bit," Wakana, face down, waved his hand.
Kensei and Shiki exchanged worried glances.
Just after a couple of days of being classmates with them, Wakana had easily integrated himself with the boys, quickly being on a first-name basis.
"You look like you haven't been sleeping well. Is there something wrong?"
Kensei continued to ask.
Wakana raised his head, showing his handsome face, with eye bags visible under his eyes.
"I've been working on Kitagawa-san's cosplay. I only had a week to finish it before she needed it which is on Sunday, but I wanted to finish it and show her tomorrow, just in case there are any mistakes, so I've been putting extra time in at night," he explained.
"Is that what the two of you have been working on?" Shiki crossed his arms. "But how come you're the only one who looks like that?"
"Oh," Wakana shrugged. "That's because I'm the only one making it. She tried making it on her own but failed miserably, so she asked for my help, and I agreed."
"That Kitagawa..!" Kensei gritted his teeth. "Come on, Shiki! I want to give her a piece of my mind for making Wakana her personal servant!"
Before he could stand up from his seat, Shiki grabbed his arm.
"What are you doing? Sit down," he forcefully placed Kensei back in his seat. "It's not your business to get involved. This is between Wakana and Kitagawa."
Wakana sighed. "It's nothing like that, Kensei. In fact, I wanted to help her too. Seeing her enthusiasm and resilience, I didn't want her to feel disappointed again. Not when I can help her."
He shifted his lying down position and looked towards the window, staring at the clouds and birds flying outside.
"Besides..." he softly spoke, his voice getting lower and lower. "I love seeing her happy."
Kensei and Shiki exchanged glances.
Kensei immediately stood up and spoke, "Wakana, do you- Mmmff?!"
Before he could finish what he was going to ask, Shiki quickly covered his mouth.
He removed Shiki's hand and asked, annoyed.
"What are you doing?!"
Shiki didn't say anything, only placing his finger over his mouth and making a "shh" sound while pointing at Wakana Gojo.
Following Shiki's pointing, Kensei noticed that Wakana had fallen asleep, breathing in and out softly.
In the end, he could only sigh and bring out his phone to relieve boredom.
...
School Rooftop.
At the school's rooftop, the four close friends, Marin, Nowa, Daia, and Rune, were seated on the ground, eating lunch together.
The three girls chatted happily, while Marin seemed to be absent-minded, blankly staring at the clouds.
The three girls quickly noticed this.
"Marin, are you okay?" Daia asked with concern.
However, the girl in question didn't respond, continuing to be stuck in a trance.
"Marin to Earth! Hello!" Nowa waved her hand in front of the blonde girl, surprising her.
"Huh?!" Marin snapped out of it and looked at her friends. "Is there anything wrong?"
Nowa crossed her arms. "We should be asking you that."
"That's right," Rune nodded, "You're usually so excited to eat lunch. How come you've been getting less enthusiastic these past few days?"
Hearing her friends' question her, Marin Kitagawa hesitated a little before finally giving in.
"Do you guys think... that Gojo-kun hasn't been avoiding me lately?"
Hearing Wakana Gojo's name, the three girls exchanged glances with each other and instantly perked up.
"Hohoho... Marin~" Daia smiled mischievously. "Has something been developing between you and Mister Hot Transferee?"
Nowa and Rune giggled.
Seeing her three friends teasing her, Marin Kitagawa's ears turned red from embarrassment.
"W-what are you guys talking about?! It's just that he's helping me with a personal project..."
"Personal project? What's this about?"
"Do you remember the Mirajane Strauss cosplay that I made last year?"
"Oh, that disaster? Yeah, what about it?"
"Well," Marin tucked her hair behind her left ear. "I showed it to him last week, and asked for his help in making a better one."
"Oh, that's right! He says he's into fashion designing during his introduction, didn't he?" Daia tapped her chin.
"That's right!" Marin cheered. "He's a genius! He's really good at it!"
"When I went to his house, his room was filled with countless designs on the wall! I even saw some of his designs, and all of them looked amazing!" She paused to catch her breath and continued. "And you know, he even-"
"Wait!"
But before she could speak further, the three girls simultaneously stopped her.
The three of them looked at her with disbelief.
"Y-you..."
"W-what did you say...?" Daia asked with a shocked expression.
Marin looked at them innocently and repeated her words. "That his designs looked amazing?"
"Before that!"
"Huh?" Marin tilted her head in confusion.
What was her friends so shocked about?
Rune raised a finger and pointed at her. "You said... You went to his house and even went into his room?"
"Yeah?" Marin then slowly realized what her friends were thinking about, and her face started to turn red again.
"W-w-what are you guys thinking about?!" She stammered. "I was only there so he could take my measurements for the cosplay he was helping me make!"
"Is that so..." Nowa pouted. "But still! How come you didn't tell us any of this?!"
"I mean... I didn't really think it was that big of a deal..."
"You went to the house, and entered the room of the school's current hottest star, and you're telling us it's not a big deal?!" Daia pumped her fist.
"Wait a minute," Rune suddenly spoke. "Doesn't taking measurements require people to undress?"
The other two gasped and looked at Marin with wide eyes.
"That's right, so I bought a bikini swimsuit and wore it underneath," Marin admitted.
'What a woman of action,' the three of them simultaneously thought at the same time.
"Waa~ Marin~" Nowa suddenly jumped and embraced Marin tightly.
"Huh?"
"We haven't even seen you in a bikini, and yet you've already gone and shown it first to Gojo-kun..!"
"Ahaha..." Marin could only laugh helplessly and then sighed. "So what do you guys think..? Does it look like he's been avoiding me?"
Daia shrugged.
"A little bit, maybe? I mean, I've noticed that you both still talk, but he seems to look away most of the time. And don't you guys take the same train to head back home? I notice that he's been leaving as soon as the last class ends."
Rune also shared her own thoughts. "Maybe he's busy with something. Lately, I noticed that he seemed to have gained eye bags."
Marin paused, her small smile suddenly draining from her expression.
Eye bags?
She hadn't noticed.
In fact, she doesn't even remember seeing his face too much this week, despite still talking normally at school.
She looked back at her friends, the vibrant excitement of the cosplay talk dimming slightly.
"Eye bags..." Marin murmured, hugging her legs closer. "Do you really think so? I mean, he's so put-together all the time."
"Well, you said he's a genius, right?" Nowa said, shrugging. "Maybe he's busy designing more amazing things. He's probably got a lot of work outside of school, you know, being super-talented and all that."
Daia nodded. "Plus, he's so serious about your project. He probably just hit a busy patch. Don't worry, Marin. If he was avoiding you, he wouldn't have spent all that time with you in Ikebukuro."
A faint knot of worry remained, but it was now a generalized concern about his intensity, not personal rejection. She sighed, resting her chin on her hand. "Yeah, maybe. I just hope he's not overdoing it."
The bell suddenly rang, a loud, sharp tone signaling the end of lunch break.
"Looks like it's finally time to go back." Nowa sighed and stood up, patting her skirt.
"Got it..." Marin stared at the clouds blankly with a sigh.