After Haruka had left Kazuo brushed his teeth and twiddled his thumbs for a bit before he left himself. He shut the door behind him and breathed in the clear morning air as he stepped down the stairs. He stepped down the stairs as usual but this time it felt different, everything felt a little different. Kazuo walked past the corner store and down the hill where he would see the school gates. Once he was a little closer he could see Mabuchi waiting for him.

*- Right, gotta keep my poker face at max today… * Kazuo walked towards Mabuchi.

“- Hey man. “ Kazuo greeted first.

“- Yo. “ Mabuchi looked at him strange.

“- How come you greeted me first today…? “ Mabuchi looked suspecting.

*- Damn it, already messed up… * Kazuo looked down on the ground and tried his best to be his monotone self.

“- Dunno really. “ Now he sounded extremely depressed instead of monotone.

*- What’s happening? Why can’t I act normal? * Kazou imagined himself looking really suspicious and it just made it worse.

“- You’re acting weird dude, what’s up? “ Mabuchi looked at him, seemingly scanning his brain with laser eyes.

“- Ugh, nothing, I’m just a little distracted. “ Kazuo kind of told the truth making it sound more believable.

“- What’s distracting you then? “ It seemed like Mabuchi wasn’t suspicious of him anymore.

“- I was just thinking of something, it’s nothing special. “ Kazuo held his poker face. Mabuchi did an understanding nod.

*- Why am I so bad at controlling this? It’s not like anything that major has happened. *

“- Anyways, I saw you leaving the teachers office with some papers… “ Mabuchi looked judge full.

“- Piss off, I can’t help that I can’t study. “ Kazuo sighed.

“- Aight, sorry dude, just make sure you don’t fall behind too much. “

“- Yeah yeah, I’ll try. “ The two of them walked into the school building. Kazuo was relieved that he hadn’t seen Haruka yet but they would soon be in class and she would definitely be there. Kazuo started to prepare himself to not look in her direction. Mabuchi and Kazuo continued to small talk until they reached the classroom, they were fairly early which pleased Kazuo. Mabuchi opened the sliding door and when Kazuo looked inside there were only six other students and no Haruka.

*- Phew, alright, I just have to sit down now. Why is this disturbing me so much? * Kazuo went to his isolated seat and sat down. The clock was eight fifteen, five minutes until the bell rang. It was usually about this time where most students would enter the classroom and therefore probably Haruka as well. Kazuo decided to just stop thinking about it and looked down at his books. Suddenly the sliding doors opened once again and pretty much the rest of the students streamed in. Kazuo thinks that Haruka is probably somewhere in front of him right now but it didn’t feel as strange to him anymore so he looked up from his books. When he looked up he didn’t see Haruka immediately but after a short moment he spotted her at Kayanos desk. Kayano looked serious and it seemed like they were discussing something.

*- Maybe they’re talking about yesterday, Kayano was worried I think. I wonder why she talked so polite as well... * Kazuo looks at them with his thinking face.

“- What are you looking at? “ Suddenly Mabuchi had somehow emerged from behind.

*- Fuuuck... *

“- Oh, nothing I was just lost in thinking. “ Kazuo tries to make it look like he was just looking at random stuff across the room.

“- Ah, maybe you were thinking about that ~Distraction~. “ Kazuo didn’t want to look at Mabuchi’s face but he was sure that he would only see smug smiles.

“- I don’t know what you’re talking about… “ Kazuo was not doing a good job.

“- Oh really? “ Mabuchi chuckled a little. Kazuo glanced at Mabuchi and rolled his eyes.

“- Just leave me alone, will you? “ Kazuo looked away from Mabuchi and accidentally threw a glance at Haruka and Kayano. It looked like Kayano was smiling.

*- Oh, maybe Haruka managed the running away issue with Kayano’s family… * Kazuo noticed that Mabuchi was looking at his phone so he decided to make sure and looked again. This time, unfortunately, he managed to meet eyes with Haruka who was just leaving kayano’s desk. To make it even more unfortunate, Haruka immediately blushed and awkwardly stepped away to her desk, she made it look painfully obvious.

*- What the hell?! Why is she acting like this at random? * Kazuo just sat there puzzled for about three seconds until he realized that Mabuchi was gazing at him.

*- Ohh, please no… *

“- ...Kazuo, you gotta tell me all about this later, okey? “ Mabuchi looked at him with curious eyes.

“- Aight, just keep quiet about it… “ Kazuo sighed.

*- Damn it, hopefully she won’t be mad… * Kazuo sighed once again as the lesson began.