uragi is here!?

"W, why…!? Why is Kaburagi!? Did they promise to meet!? I ask Wakaba-chan with a desperate face, grabbing both her arms, and she shakes her head. So he didn't have an appointment! Kaburagi! After telling you so much not to come without an appointment!

"A, anyway, I need to hide somewhere… Or sneak out the back!?" Argh! No good! I'd need to get my shoes from the entrance because Kaburagi is here! If he's there, there's a good chance that I'd be seen. So what do I do!? I'm panicking and can't think straight. My mind's a blur. Oh, no, no, no! To think we'd run into each other, today! What do I do? What do I say if he finds out?

"Kisshouin-san, let's calm down."

"But, Wakaba-chan…"

We whisper so that Kaburagi can't hear us from the entrance.

Kabta-kun comes out and asks, "What's going on, here?" looking puzzled. "Hey, Sis, Kifli?"

"Kanta-kun, too loud." I put my index finger to my mouth and shush him.

"Huh?" Kanta-kun frowned and looked at me dubiously.

"Um, Kanta-kun…"

"Wakaba? Kaburagi-san is waiting. Want him to come in?" called Wakaba-chan's mother.

NOOOOO! How could you!? Anything but that! My stomach felt squeezed like a rag.

"Wait! I'm coming!" Wakaba-chan answered. "Anyway, I can't have him wait, so I'm going."

"Huh? You're going!?" I cling to Wakaba-chan.

"Don't worry. We're just going to talk outside," she said to soothe me. She headed out to the entrance where Kaburagi was awaiting.

"Please keep it a secret that I'm here…!" Wakaba-chan turned around and nodded. I'm counting on you, Wakaba-chan! Despite that, I'm being overwhelmed with apprehension. It's unlikely for him to know it's me just from seeing my shoes, but…

"Hey, Kifli…" Kanta-kun looks at me uncomprehending as I pace around, but I can't deal with him right now. "…Kifli, you don't get along with Kaburagi-san?"

"It's not that, exactly…" I murmur, and Kanta-kun's eyes narrow and he frowns even more. "Anyway, I can't have him know that I'm here."

"Oh…"

I don't care about me and Kaburagi right now. It's more important that I know why he's here, and what they're talking about. I creep towards the entrance and take the upmost care and peek around the beam, but the entrance door was closed. I let out a sigh of relief. Unless he suddenly opens the door, I won't be found out. Now, what are they talking about? I stick my ear to the door.

"Eavesdropping…"

I tell Kanta-kun who followed me to shush again by putting my index finger to my mouth. Please communicate with me through gestures or writing from now on.

Wakaba-chan and Kaburagi weren't far from the door, and I could hear them without putting my ear to the door.

"Sorry about rushing over."

"That's okay, but… But didn't you say you couldn't make it to school, either because of family business?"

"Yeah. I just finished that family matter. And I had something for this afternoon, but it got cancelled all of a sudden, so I'm free." …Cancelled in the afternoon? You mean my Spartan training?

"I see. So what is it today?"

"Yeah… I wanted to give you something."

"Give me?"

I needed to know what Kaburagi was giving, so I carefully, carefully slid the door open a few millimeters. I snuck a peek and saw Kaburagi hand Wakaba-chan a long, narrow box. Wo, it really is Kaburagi…

"What's this?"

"A hairpin. I just found it when I was walking around in my spare time. You mentioned wearing a yukata for the fireworks festival. Wear that if you will."

"Oh, a hairpin?! It's okay? Thank you!" Wakaba-chan opened the box and exclaimed, "Wow, it's cute!" Kaburagi distorted his mouth to hide his happiness. But I just heard something big. Fireworks festival!? He already got a promise from her to go? When!?

A middle-aged woman from the neighborhood passed by and said, "Oh, Wakaba-chan."

"Hello," answered Wakaba-chan.

"Wakaba-chan, could he be your boyfriend?"

There it is. A middle-aged woman's special move, non-delicacy. Why do older women and men step into the love life of the young with interest? At ceremonies and New Year's gatherings, relatives all surround us asking, "Got a boyfriend?" "Got a girlfriend?" and sell out their kids saying "This child's been trying to be fashionable lately" "doesn't watch TV, but always fiddles with the phone" and such. I'm sure that there are many young folk reduced to tears who've experienced those hellish few hours.

"No, he's not like that!"

"Oh, oh, you're embarrassed. Little Wakaba-chan has grown up to be a young lady."

"Oh, no, it's not like that..."

Tough being Wakaba-chan…

Then, Kaburagi who was just standing there while Wakaba-chan was talking to the woman, suddenly looked as if he remembered something and took out his phone and started to fiddle with it, and pressed it to his ear. Making a call…?

"pi ro-ro- ro-ro!" my phone rang from the back of the room and my heart stopped! I dashed back to the room and scatter the contents of my bad. Why didn't I have it in silent mode!? I need to turn off the sound! I found my phone from the scattered mess and in my panic, I turn off the power. Stop! Stop! The power went out. I collapse to the floor. I feel every thump of my heartbeat.

That… was Kaburagi calling me…? He might re-dial, so I can't check by turning it on….Wait, if that was Kaburagi, that was the worst move I could make! If the sound of the ringer in the house and his call ended at the same time, he'd think that was strange! Now, I've done it!

I pack up my scattered belongings back into my bag, and returned to the entrance. I peek out the crack of the door with one eye, and that lady from the neighborhood was gone, and Kaburagi was staring at his phone with a serious look. He twisted his neck slightly and dialed again before pressing it to his ear and looked at the entrance. I hide behind the door. Safe!

"What's wrong?"

"…Did you hear a cellphone inside the house just now?"

"Huh? Really!? I didn't notice," replied Wakaba-chan.

"…No, it can't be," muttered Kaburagi, and he started thinking silently.

"So, what's wrong?"

"It matched the timing of my call. Along with the timing it ended…"

"Oh? Isn't that just a coincidence?" squeaked Wakaba-chan.

"…Is someone here?"

"Huh? Someone!?" Kaburagi stared at her, and Wakaba-chan looked away and answered, "Oh! A friend is here!"

"A friend?"

"Yes."

"Who?"

"Huh!?"

"Who?"

"Um, um, Kif-chan! A friend called Kif-chan!"

"Kif-chan…?"

"Right! Kif-chan!"

"Kif-chan… Strange name."

"Yeah, ahahah," laughed Wakaba-chan. That was all she could do.

As if to convince himself, Kaburagi muttered, "Yeah… No way that that one would be here."

"That one…?"

"A bad student." …Who's his student.

"Student?"

"Yeah. A troublesome one who tries to slack off if I give a little space. Ran away with an excuse today, so I was calling to add to the self-training menu, but…" I don't need more on the self-training menu! And I'm really still sore! "Well, enough of that. If you have a friend over, I'll be going."

"Uh, okay. Sorry. Thank you for the hairpin."

"No, I just wanted to give you that today… I'm looking forward to the fireworks festival."

"Yes, me, too!"

Kaburagi turned away, as if to hide his expression and nodded saying, "See you," and departed. Phew… I wasn't found out…

Wakaba-chan came back in, and I asked about the fireworks festival immediately.

"Yes, we're going next weekend to see fireworks."

"I see…" Why didn't he tell me something so important? He usually gives me even extraneous details. "But are you all right?"

"All right?" Wakaba-chan tilted her head. I didn't want to spoil her fun of going to see fireworks, but there would be a large crowd at a fireworks festival, so there's a good chance that someone from Zuiran would see them.

"Um, that it might be crowded." I couldn't be direct in front of Kanta-kun standing in the kitchen.

"Well, Kaburagi-kun's taking us out on a luxury yacht." Watching fireworks from a yacht with the girl he likes… I guess Kaburagi is seeking to trespass into the Rejoicing in Love village. But there's not much chance of running into someone that way.

"That's incredible, to have his own private luxury yacht. Zuiran really is different," said Kanta-kun. "That reminds me, when school choices came up, I asked my teacher about Zuiran, and he warned me that there was a student hierarchy there, so it might be trouble for ordinary students at the bottom of the pyramid, but does that really exist? Seeing Kifli and Kaburagi-san, I can see that you're rich, but I have a hard time imagining this hierarchy or pyramid."

"…"

"…"

Wakaba-chan and I became silent. It's me and Kaburagi who are at the top of that Zuiran pyramid…

"…Well, I guess it exists…"

"Huh? Seriously? Are you okay, Kifli? You're clumsy, so haven't you gotten made the ones at the top angry?"

"…No, don't worry. Thank you for worrying about me, Kanta-kun…" There are only two above me…

After dinner at Wakaba-chan's house, I returned home in a good mood when I turned on the phone. Call history… As expected, it was Kaburagi. He had sent mail, also. It was about the call that wasn't answered and about my stretching exercizes. I don't want to do it. I should just say I did it in a reply...

As I was typing up my reply, the screen displayed an incoming call.