"How come you came to school with Saiki today, Kokomi?" Chiyo asked during the short break between classes. She didn't sound too happy about it.

"Something happened yesterday and he helped me out. We walked together this morning because I was thanking him." Sam lied, hoping she didn't show it on her face, she had never been the best liar.

"Oh, okay. What happened?" Chiyo asked, looking slightly happier about Sam's relationship with Saiki, but still upset she wasn't the one to walk with him. 

"I'm sorry Yumehara, I'd really rather not talk about it." Sam said, knowing that if she said anything about it in school then it would probably be front page news the nest day, and it wasn't just for Teruhashi that she didn't want that.

"Oh I understand. By the way, we should still try to join Saiki's group, right?" Chiyo said, making Sam breath a sigh of relief that she let go of the topic so easily.

"I don't really mind, but I'm sure he'll be with Nendo and Kaido, and I know you want to be with them, so sure." Sam said, hoping that Chiyo would focus on Kaido, even though she, as Teruhashi, was not her love rival anymore.

"Great! We can ask them after checking they are actually together." Chiyo said happily, going back to her seat as the next lesson began.

It was Maths, as Teruhashi, she was never asked any questions and because Maths was one of her best subjects when she was still Sam, so it was a pretty safe one to zone out in. She had been surrounded by people today and yesterday about her new hairstyles, but all that came of them was more guys paying her attention. She hoped that more girls would pay attention to her after she got her haircut, it would be one Teruhashi could easily hide after she was back, but one she could hopefully use.

"Kokomi? Why are you still sitting there, it's time for lunch." Chiyo asked, pulling Sam out of her thoughts, listing every character she knew and how likely they were to catch her hint.

"Oh, sorry Yumehara, I got lost in my thoughts. Do you and Mera want to sit with me?" Sam asked with a bright smile. She knew it was probably not worth flirting with Chiyo, as she was always boy crazy with a crush on at least one, no matter how cute she was, but Mera she had no clue.

"Sure, let's go." Chiyo said, Mera only barely waiting for Sam, Chiyo walking right next to her. "By the way, I was wondering why you started changing your hair style recently, are you trying to get a guy's attention, a new crush perhaps?"

"No, nothing like that, I just felt like a change." Sam said, smiling awkwardly. It's true that her new hairstyle was an attempt to get love and attention, but it wasn't supposed to be for anyone in particular, besides Chiyo would think she meant a boy, which Sam absolutely did not.

"I see, maybe we'll be able to find you a boyfriend at Okinawa." Chiyo teased, making Sam try to make her cringe come across as an uncertain smile.

"I'm not so sure about that." Sam said, trying to think of a way to change the subject. "But what about you? I hope you get to confess to your crush while we're there."

"Oh, no, I'm no where near as beautiful as you, Kokomi, I could never confess to him." Chiyo said, her cheeks drenched in pink.

"If you can't talk to your crush, maybe it's because you actually have feelings for someone else?" Sam suggested, trying to get Chiyo's attention away from Saiki, and knowing full well how easily she moved on from crushes.

"Huh, I didn't think about that. Are you sure?" Chiyo asked, looking shocked.

"I don't know, but did you have a problem talking to your ex at the beginning of your relationship? You know you loved him then at least, so maybe you have feelings for a different person to who you think you do." Sam suggested. While she knew that Chiyo was indeed crushing on Saiki, her advice wasn't bad, there's no point in pining after someone you can't even talk to.

"You have a point, who do I really like then?" Chiyo asked, looking at Sam as though she was a source of endless knowledge.

"How should I know. It's probably someone close to the person you currently think it is and who you can talk to easily. I can't tell you who that is." Sam said, turning to her free, overfilled lunch.

Seeing Mera drooling over it with her pitiful serving, Sam gave the forever hungry girl most of the extras. Mera's eyes practically glowed with happiness as she get the lobsters and fried fish.

"Thaf ou for thith." Mera said through a mouthful.

"You're welcome Mera." Sam said with a smile, while she may be lacking in manners, although who cares, Mera was still cute.

"Do you want to start planning what we'll do now?" Chiyo suggested, looking extremely excited, although Sam noticed that she was eating about the same amount as Mera had before taking Sam's extra food.

"I'm not sure we should plan our activities before we're definitely in the full group, what if we make plans that directly get in the way of what the boys want to do?" Sam said, although the main reason why she didn't want to plan anythin then and there was because she didn't really know what they could do. "Besides, wouldn't it be more fun to be spontaneous?"

"You're right, if we have too strict of a timetable then we'll never have the time to find you a worthy boyfriend." Chiyo said, her voice squeaking in excitement at the idea.

"I'm not really looking for a boyfriend though." Sam said quietly, hoping that Chiyo would take the hint and stop with the heteronormativity.

"Well, you never know what could happen while we're in Okinawa though, you could find your dream guy." Chiyo insisted, Sam struggling to contain her cringing, making a non committal sound in response.

-----

"Just as we thought, those three are together, we should ask to join them." Chiyo said, hiding behind the door as Sam stood next to her.

"Okay, which should we ask, Saiki doesn't seem to care about the trip too much, I feel like he'd refuse us." Sam said, trying to ignore the large group of guys not too far away trying to get her attention for long enough to join her group.

"Oh, that's fine, Kaido's over there, I can just go ask him." Chiyo said brightly, rushing over to the aforementioned teen.

'Don't stop her Saiki.' Sam thought, glaring slightly at the pink haired boy. 'It's not like you're going to have girls fighting over you, I want a girlfriend and she's going to be looking at your friends. I know you best out of the other boys in the class, please?'

'Good grief.' Saiki's annoyed voice echoed in her mind. 'Fine, but it's your fault if I regret this.'

'Thank you Sai!' Sam thought, smiling at Chiyo who returned happily with a thumbs up, her cheeks slightly pink.

"We're in their group!" Chiyo cheered.

"That's perfect, and I paid for the second half of Mera's ticket, so she can definitely come too." Sam replied with a bright smile.

"You're seriously the best Kokomi!" Chiyo said, looking somewhere between happy and jealous.

"You flatter me. You're awesome too, Yumehara!" Sam said, hoping to raise Chiyo's mood, which seemed to do the trick. Sam just hoped the trip would go well.