"Hamasaki-kun!" Hikari was running in his direction, waving her hand.

Takiyo stopped and turned around. He waited for her to catch up. It usually made him self-conscious to talk to Hikari, because she was so tall and practically the same height as him. (167 cm)

She bent over her knees to catch her breath. "God, I've been running around all day. Anyway!" She straightened up. "You're doing the board right?"

"Yup." Takiyo replied.

"Oh, okay, sign here." Hikari gave him the clipboard she was holding, and a pen. "I needed to confirm everyone's activities for Saiki-sensei."

Takiyo handed the clipboard back to her, and she's sighed. "I've gotta go now. See you later."

"Ah, Sakura-chan!" Takiyo called, and Hikari looked back. "I wanted to ask you something."

"Sure." She smiled at him.

"Um, do you know much about Teruya Syo-kun?" Takiyo asked awkwardly.

"Teruya-kun? Yeah, I've talked to him a couple of times." Hikari said. "He's alright, really. Why do you ask?"

"No reason." Takiyo said, turning away. "See you later."

Hikari shrugged and walked away. Apparently, Syo was 'alright'. That's what Ren had told him too when he had asked a couple of his friends. They were trying to figure out why he would hate Yuko.

Ren did try to talk to him once, but couldn't really find anything to talk about. The way he looked at you made it feel as though he was plotting your murder while you were talking to him. It wasn't very easy to ask, "Hey, Teruya! Do you hate Yuko?"

***

"Oh, so Sakura said that too?" Ren asked, disappointed, when Takiyo told him.

"Yeah," Takiyo said, tossing a juice bottle at him.

They both were at the vending machine for some refreshments. They were currently staying back at school. They could see the girls of their class practicing their cheer routine in the distance, and Takiyo was supposed to go back to help with the board. Since the boys who were taking part in the cavalry really had nothing to do, they were 'practicing'.

"He seemed to get along with his friends just fine." Ren said, taking a sip of juice.

"Yeah, I can see that." Takiyo leaned against the wall next to him, opening his bottle of juice.

"Anyway, we're going too far deep into this." Ren said. "Let's talk about other things. Like your new wingman."

"My new what?" Takiyo asked.

"Your wingman." Ren repeated, and he pointed at himself. "This guy."

"Oh no..."

"Oh yes..." Ren grinned. "I'm totally gonna blow up Iseri-chan's head with loads of compliments about you."

"No you're not."

"Yes I am."

"Then should I blow up Kaneshiro's head with compliments about you? Like did you know..." Takiyo began.

"You don't need to do anything." Ren said, kicking Takiyo's shin.

"Then you don't need to either." Takiyo said simply.

"Aw, but I wanna take this opportunity!" Ren whined, elbowing Takiyo.

"Stop it, you're shaking my hand."

"Come on, I know I have a good chance." Ren said. "Remember the way she was looking at you yesterday? I could have sworn she was blushing."

Takiyo nearly choked on his juice. Wiping his mouth, he said, "You don't need to get my hopes up."

"I'm not! I'm serious!" Ren insisted. "Just smile like that a couple of times more and you've got yourself an admirer."

"If you think it's that easy, you're delusional." Takiyo said.

"Speaking of which, I haven't shown Yuko my amazing pictures yet." Ren said suddenly.

"Oh, you aren't showing her sh*t!"

"Why not~?" Ren asked. "Self-conscious?"

"I already know what's playing on your mind, so stop it."

"How do you know, Takiyo-chan~?"

"Don't add '-chan' at the end!"

"Takin~"

"Sounding like Kaneshiro won't help!"

***

Yuko was grinning at him in a satisfied way the next day.

Oh no he didn't. Takiyo thought, turning to Ren, but his face totally said, Oh yes I did.

"Takiyo-kun, how could you be so cruel as to laugh without me?" Yuko asked him. She held up her phone. "That too this masterpiece~"

Takiyo lunged and grabbed her phone out of her hand. He worked as fast as his thumbs would go, trying to delete it.

"Hey! You better not delete anything!" Yuko yelled, trying to get her phone back.

"I'll clear your phone's entire memory if I have to!" Takiyo said, stretching his arms out of her reach.

"Noooo! There are some quality pictures in there! Don't you dare!" Yuko screamed, tugging on his sleeve with one hand and reaching for the phone with the other.

"I found it!"

"Takiyooooooo!!!"

His thumb was millimetres away from the delete button, when someone pulled it out of his hands. Takiyo and Yuko froze to see the person who had taken Yuko's phone. It was Syo.

"You both are being noisy." he said, holding Yuko's phone between his index and thumb finger.

"Oh! I'm sorry!" Yuko squeaked. They both had realised that they were fighting for her phone next to Yuko's seat, which was also next to Syo's seat.

"Um, sorry." Takiyo said, and he held out his hand for the phone. Syo stared at him for some time, then reached around him and gave the phone to Yuko.

"Um, thank you." Yuko said quickly, but Syo had already sat back on his seat. Takiyo and Yuko were confused by his actions, but Takiyo was the first to recover. He reached around Yuko, and managed to press the delete button. It took Yuko three seconds to realise.

"Takiyo-kun!" she screamed, as if he had committed a murder. "Why would you? I hate you! You're the worst! You're ugly! You look like a pig! You're an ogre hybrid!"

"Is that so?" Takiyo asked, watching her ramble on, insulting his appearance in as many ways as she could think of. He glanced sideways and saw Syo watching them. Yuko noticed too. She quickly deflated into her seat and put her phone away. Takiyo watched her, then looked at Syo, who had turned back to face the front.

"Bye Nishikawa." he said, and he went back to his seat.

"You're so mean, Takiyo-kun." she muttered. She swiped through her phone, then lit up. She had another one.

***

"I'm exhausted..." Takiyo said, plopping down on the ground next to Ren and taking a bottle of water.

"No kidding." Ren said, watching him.

Takiyo glared at him. "And what have you been doing all this time, may I ask?"

"Being your wingman." Ren said proudly.

"I know now for sure that you aren't to be trusted." Takiyo said, drinking out of his bottle. "What did you do?"

"Excessively complimented you."

"And what did she say?"

"She asked me if we were a couple." Ren said casually.

Takiyo's hand tightened around the bottle, making some water splash out.

"She was joking!" Ren added hastily.

"Please don't speak to me anymore." Takiyo said, turning away from him.

"No! Takiyo! I didn't mean it!"

"Shut up."

"Listen to me!"

Takiyo turned back to him. "What did you say?"

Ren looked down at his hands. "I laughed mysteriously."

"YOU B*STARD!!!" Takiyo shouted, ready to dump his bottle of water on him.

"No, she knows I was joking! I was joking!" Ren yelled, holding him back.

"I'm staying away from you." Takiyo said, inching away from him.

"Wha–"

"Excuse me."

Takiyo and Ren looked up at Syo, who had spoken. He was looking at the two of them.

"Um, yeah?" Ren asked.

"Both of you are Nishikawa-san's friends, right?" Syo asked.

Takiyo and Ren exchanged looks, and then turned back to Syo.

"Yeah." Ren replied.

"I wanted to ask you something about her." Syo said, and they could tell he looked a little nervous.

"Um, sure." Ren said.

Syo rubbed the back of his head, then stalled a little. Then he took a deep breath. "Um, I was wondering. Does she hate me?"