Yami, the girl Asia ended up bumping into by chance, didn't answer her question about being friends. Instead, she simply said with indifference: "Do whatever you want."
Asia didn't get discouraged; she smiled as she quickened her pace to walk beside her: "Uh… Your name is?"
"Yami," she replied.
"Is Yami a Japanese name?" As she asked this, Asia realized she was managing to talk to her, even though she was speaking in Italian.
Asia then thought about Yami's beautiful golden hair that had stretched out and hit the man from before…
"How long do you plan to follow me?" Yami asked after they entered and reached a bookshelf.
"Didn't you say I could?" Asia tilted her head.
"…Whatever." Yami simply turned to the bookshelf and used her hair to grab a book from the top row.
"That's so cool…" Asia murmured.
"Cool?" Yami showed a hint of surprise, but only for a moment.
"Yeah, really cool," Asia said with a smile.
"Not at all…" Yami looked away, taking the book with her hands and hugging it to her chest.
Asia didn't understand her reaction, but then she spotted a book that caught her attention and picked it up.
==
==
The bell rang for lunch break, and several students groaned with mixed emotions.
Partly because now only the afternoon was left, but on the other hand, exactly because the afternoon was still ahead.
"How'd you do, Lala?" Aika asked, adjusting her glasses.
"I did well," she replied.
"You seem confident, Lala," Risa sighed. "Me, on the other hand, I didn't do so great…"
"Haha," Mio laughed without commenting.
"Yuki… How about you, how'd it go?" Haruna asked in a hesitant tone.
Looking at her, he replied, "Not bad."
"I see…" She smiled. "I'm glad."
Lala looked at Haruna, then at Rito, and tilted her head. No one but her knew what she was thinking.
"Ahem, so…" Risa changed the subject, drawing attention to herself: "Shouldn't we start eating?"
"True."
That reminded them, and little by little, they pushed the desks together and took out their bentos.
==
==
"It's finally over!!"
At the sound of the bell ringing, many students slumped over their desks as if they'd just competed in a chess championship.
Putting his hand on Saruyama's shoulder, Rito said, "Yeah, it's over…" Before he could revel in it, he added mischievously, "But tomorrow there's more."
"Rito, you…" Saruyama stared at him, incredulous at what he'd just heard.
"Pfft… Rito, that was really mean~!" Aika said, but she was laughing.
"Well, he deserves it. Did you see what he tried to pull on me this morning?" he replied.
As Lala said goodbye to the girls, Rito looked at Run and Ren, who had stopped in front of them at the door.
"Need something?" he asked as he approached them.
"Rito Yuki, I challenge you…"
"Gofun!"
Before he could finish, Run elbowed her in the stomach, making Ren let out a weird sound.
She gave an awkward smile, saying, "Rito Yuki, the truth is we want to treat you to coffee. Are you free now?"
"Actually, I've got something planned. Maybe next time," he replied.
"How about tomorrow?" Run asked.
"Sure, I'll make some time," he paused. "Is it okay if Lala comes with me?"
"With pleasure!" Ren answered immediately, as if the pain from before had never existed.
'This guy's really tough…' Rito thought to himself.
Run gave a blank stare in Ren's direction but also agreed to Lala's presence: "Then it's settled, I'll see you tomorrow, Rito Yuki."
"You can just call me Rito, and…" He said, "Yeah, see you tomorrow."
"All done?" Lala, who came up to them, asked.
"Yeah." He hugged her and started to leave.
"See ya, Run~" Lala waved goodbye to her and added, "And… Ren too."
"Lala remembered me, ohhhhhhhhhh!" Ren dropped to his knees on the floor and raised his hands like a player who just scored a comeback goal.
Lala put her hand in front of her mouth as she laughed: "Haha, what's up with him? So funny~!"
"At times like this, Lala, we should pretend we didn't see it," Rito said while looking at Ren with pity. "He clearly has a few screws loose; it's better to leave him alone."
"Really? Got it!" she replied, hugging him even tighter as they passed by Run and Ren.
"Ren, stop it, you're embarrassing me!" Run grabbed him by the ear and started dragging him away as he still shouted.
Even when they were almost at the end of the hallway, they could still hear Ren's shout: "LALAAAA!"
But he fell silent when Run warned dangerously: "If you keep this up, I'll tell everything to President Sona!"
…
Two streets before reaching home, Rito felt a shiver and looked up at the sky.
Lala also looked, and her expression changed. She seemed to be looking at something disgusting.
Pikari, the same annoying guy from before, appeared once again.
A vein popped on Rito's forehead.
Unlike Ren, Pikari was a different kind of idiot. The kind Rito wished he could kill if it weren't for the trouble it might cause.
If he didn't have a family, maybe he wouldn't care, but with a father, mother, younger sister, friends, and fiancée—though it was unlikely anything would happen to Lala… he couldn't put them at risk just because he took out a dumb alien.
But…
No one could blame him for frying his brain a little.
"What a persistent guy!" Lala grabbed a baseball bat this time.
"Lala!! Come with me this time, I'm here to get you!!!"
When Pikari got within Rito's range, his mental power struck like thousands of needles.
"Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!"
His high-pitched scream of pain followed.
He looked like a rocket gone wrong, zigzagging through the air before veering off course and speeding toward the mountain.
"Don't ever come back!" Lala shouted.
"Looks like something went wrong with that suit he's so proud of," Rito said. "Let's take the chance and get out of here."
"Yeah," Lala agreed easily.
…
Meanwhile, Pikari crashed headfirst into a mountain.
*Boom!*
A loud sound echoed, and a hole formed where his body hit.
The sounds of birds echoed, along with the scurrying of animals.
The speed of his fall wasn't low, which caused his suit to get damaged, but that was the least of his problems.
When he crawled out of the hole, he looked dazed.
"Uh… Where am I? Who am I?" he muttered while picking his nose.
Wiping his finger on his clothes, he started wandering aimlessly, scratching his butt like a monkey.