My new Neighbor's an Idol!?

Focused

"Uh..." Youna was reminded of the time when she had to give that opening speech. Compared to that, this felt like there were a lot more pressure being exerted on her from their eyes. All the girls seemed like they wanted to say something to her now that it was just them. "Is there something wrong?"

"What is up with you and Ishi?" Ryugi was the first one to break the silence among them.

"What?" That question caught her off guard. She was already sweating about the attention being brought on her, but now they wanted to know more about her relationship with the boy? Now this was really pushing her to the limit. "He's, um..." She stammered trying to come up with a good explanation. "Me and Ishi are just, uh, good friends."

"But, you two are awfully close, aren't you?" Rinse continued the line of questions. There was a hint of something in her voice that Youna noticed. What was up with these girls, she wondered. Ryugi was one of the most popular girls in school. Of course, everyone knew who Rinse was. And then there was Chiana, who she had no clue why that girl would be so curious about her and Ishi. Perhaps it was due to her sister?

"Yeah, my sister told me that he seems to care a lot about you." Said Chiana. That girl still had her upbeat attitude, but yet there was something in there that Youna was uncertain about. "Don't you think that's kind of weird though? He seems to act distant with other people."

"I guess that's kind of true." Youna wasn't blind to his attitude, but she did disagree about him being some major jerk. They might've had a decent reason to feel that way, but they never saw him the way she did. He was kind in his own way. Maybe it was harsh, but it certainly was tough love for those he felt were wasting their time with what he viewed to be meaningless reasoning. "But, that's because we're friends. Of course he's nice to me."

While Youna tried to reason to them that it meant nothing, it wasn't good enough for them. The other three girls had been waiting for a good opportunity to get to the root of the issue here. Maybe he might not be trying to do it on purpose, but Ishi did seem to treat this girl differently than everyone else. They had to find what she felt about that, and if perhaps his actions could read deeper into his own feelings.

"So? I'm friends with him too." Said Ryugi. "But, I'm not the one who he was all worried about being hurt."

"Yeah, he seemed a lot more concerned than usual when you got cut." Rinse brought back that memory. Chiana stayed quiet on that detail, since she had to remember that her current form wasn't there to see that.

"That sounds very sweet of him." She said instead. "A boy doting over a helpless girl could point to how much he cares about you."

"Well... Um." Youna placed a hand over her mouth to try in a futile effort to hide the growing glow of her cheeks. The idea that Ishi could possibly have feelings for her made her heart want to jump out of her chest, but she had long given up on the idea. He had once told her that he would confess to a girl the moment he fell for them without any hesitation. This meant he wasn't in love with anyone, or else they'd all know about it now. "But, he obviously cares about you girls too."

"Really? Do you even think it's on par with you?" Replied Ryugi.

"Well, he did spend the night all alone with you..." It was still hard for her to envision that he had done something like that with a girl like her. Even after knowing that nothing was done between them, it reminded her of the time the pair were caught coming out of a bathroom together. "And Rinse, he's the one who cheered you up when you were down at the beach."

It was true he had done those things for those girls. She wasn't sure what he could've done for Chiana, or even Chiane, so she didn't bother mentioning anything to those girls.