Soul for a Girlfriend?

We were over with today\'s group study, too. Even though the primary motive behind this planned event was something else, it was indeed helping Tsūmen and Kizhashi. Tsūmen is quick to pick up things. His only problem is that he doesn\'t really study.

Yesterday, everyone was late,and it pissed Reina off, so today everyone came before time. And I, who arrived earlier than others, came half an hour late today. And for that Reina has been taunting me all day long.

"Good job people." Tsūmen said in an energetic voice. He was rather happy about the fact that the study session was over now.

"I don\'t know what I would do without you Rei." Kizhashi said while wearing her shoe.

"Nothing much, you would just score bad." Tsūmen replied to her with a straight face. I can tell that he was trying not to show his goofy smile that he was holding inside.

"Bruh why are you like this?" Kizhashi narrowed her eyes on him and said in a disappointing tone. There was a frown on her face. 

"I don\'t know." Tsūmen shrugged.

"Ok then Reina, thanks for having us." Gaisen said, as he opened the door and we\'re all about to leave.

"Areh, it\'s no big deal." She shook her palms as a gesture.

"I thought you\'re secretly planning to kill us for convincing you to let us study at your place and then came late on the first day." The Tsūmen say bull crap is amazing because he will say straight crap with a poker face and you won\'t know if he is being sarcastic or not.

"Ah… don\'t worry if I were to kill you people then you\'re the first on my list." Reina looked at with cold eyes, as if to compliment his joke and continued it.

"Eh... why can\'t he be the first?" Tsūmen tilted his and then pointed his index finger at me.

"This dude…" I was about to say something but I decided not to because I wasn\'t in the mood to say anything.

"Aight then, See you later Reina." I ended the conversation and walked towards the door and stood next to Gaisen.

"Huh?" Kizhashi looked at me with an expression of surprise on her face.

Looking at her reaction, Gaisen asked her, "Is something wrong?"

"No… no… it\'s nothing." She replied in a half hearted way while glancing at me for a moment and then shifting her gazes towards Gaisen.

Me, Tsūmen and Gaisen were standing outside on the road while Kizhashi was still talking with Reina on her porch. I don\'t know why girls can\'t just end their conversation after saying bye. They will say bye 5 times and will continue talking.

Finally, Kizhashi was done talking and we all left. We were walking towards downtown. Tsūmen and Kizhashi will leave before we reach the intersection so it will be just me and Gaisen till there.

It was evening time and the sky was illuminated in bright orange as the sun was peeking behind from the clouds. The frequent sound of birds was around us along with the sound of Kizhashi and Tsūmen chattering.

"Time really flies when we are all together." Kizhashi said while looking at her mobile.

"Yeah, but I still don\'t like studying." Tsūmen yawned with his right hand covering over his mouth.

"Me too." Kizhashi said in her usual cheery voice.

"Yeah and Reina helped you a lot didn\'t she?" Gaisen said, taking part in the conversation.

"Yeah… I seriously would be failing without her help." Kizhashi said with a genuine smile. I can see why Reina regrets so much for the things she is doing.

"Hey Saishi was also helping me." Tsūmen pointed out. Everyone\'s attention turned towards me who was walking silently behind them. I gave them an awkward smile.

"Is he even good at studies?" Kizhashi narrowed her eyes on me and asked this to Tsūmen.

"Well… he is actually quite good. I think he may as well be smarter than Reina." But instead of Tsūmen, Gaisen replied to her question. He put his hand around my neck and pulled me towards him.

"Oi Gaisen, man!" I said because I\'m not really used to people talking good about me.

"What?" He laughed and let go of me.

"You\'re just flattering him." Kizhashi rolled her eyes.

"I\'m even close to Reina in terms of smartness." I said, because if someone were to compare me with Reina, then the gap between our marks can easily judge who is the better student among us.

"Yeah, I know."She nodded.

"But you\'re dumb." I said in a low tone so that she wouldn\'t hear me but she noticed me mumbling something.

"Huh?" She glared at me with a sharp tone in her voice. 

"Nevermind him… let\'s go. You guys are a pain in my butt." Gaisen patted her head and smiled.

"Hmph, you never tell him anything." She pouted and kept walking as Tsūmen was simply laughing at the childish exchange between me and her.

"He won\'t care even if I do." Gaisen sighed.

"What kind of friends do you have?" Kizhashi asked him with a frown on her face.

"Definitely not the normal ones." Tsūmen said with a proud look on his face and nodded.

"Shut up!" Kizhashi rolled her eyes and sighed as she realised that talking with us is just a waste of time.

As we\'re talking, we reach the turning from where Kizhashi and Tsūmen will separate from us and will go on their way.

"Anyways, see you later guys." Tsūmen waved at us followed by Kizhashi waving at Gaisen, "Yeah, Later."

"See you tomorrow." Gaisen also waved them with a smile and I just waved at Tsūmen. We watched as they walked down the road and soon the distance between us increased.

"Let\'s go, shall we?" I started walking with Gaisen following me and catching up to me quickly.

"So… it was fun today… wasn\'t it?" We were walking in silence, but Gaisen started a conversation. He was looking at me with a nervous smile.

"Hmm" I nodded but the vibes of this conversation felt somewhat weird.

"I was a bit surprised when you texted me yesterday about Reina agreeing for the group study." He said with what sounded like a forced laugh.

"Yeah, she was downcasted about something. But it\'s fine now." I replied vaguely.

There was again silence between us and I could feel him glancing at me frequently. Suddenly he pointed towards the park we were passing by and said, "Let\'s head into the park for a bit."

"Eh? Why?" I asked in confusion because it was already evening and the sun was setting too.

"I want to talk about something." He said in a dry tone with a wry smile while looking towards the park.