Checkmate

8

"...That will be it for today. Go have your lunch, and we'll see again next week." A collective sigh of relief could be heard as the teacher finished his lecture and collected his things, while the students packed up their study materials and started to form into groups in preparation for lunch break.

"Aw yeah, fiiiinally!" Tobe stretched as he stood up from his seat, then quickly turned to Hayato. "Come on, let's go to the cafeteria before it gets crowded, Hayato!"

"Relax, Tobe, I'm coming. They're not going to run out of food, so we're not in a hurry." Hayato replied, then turned to look in my direction. "You coming, girls?"

Now being the one directly addressed, I lifted my gaze to meet Hayato's. He was smiling kindly at me, but I knew his smile was not sincere. Being able to see past his mask was both a blessing and a curse, as knowing that I had fallen for his tricks made me angry and disappointed at myself. Before, that smile of his made my heart beat faster, now all it did was remind me of just how fragile my fake friendships were. All the more reason to change them. I shifted my gaze to Hina, who gave me a small nod when our eyes met, and I let a small smile onto my face.

"Sorry, but I've got a bento with me today. I need to like, have some girl time with Hina as well, you know? Since she was ill and all." I replied to Hayato, and Hina nodded with me, this time to the whole group. We didn't have much time yesterday, since I had to go and eat with Hikio, but hopefully today we'll be able to make some headway. It would be good to get Hikio and his smarts involved as well, but... I stole a small glance at Hikio, who was just getting up from his seat, but quickly averted my gaze before he noticed me. It's okay, Yumiko. You just have to talk to him. That isn't hard, right?

"...Alright, if you say so, Yumiko." Hayato's voice prompted me to look back at him, and I saw him standing up, with Ooka and Yamato doing the same. "You two don't want anything? A drink?" Hina and I shook out heads, and Hayato gave us a nod, then waved as he began to make his way out of the classroom.

"Always the prince charming, isn't he?" Hina said quietly as she moved a chair to sit opposite of me once the others had exited the classroom, and I let out a sigh. "Though, based on what I know, there's a different prince in your life, now." Hina then continued with a smirk as she shifted her gaze to something else, and I followed it to see Hikio lazily making his way out of the classroom, our eyes meeting as he briefly glanced back at the two of us before exiting.

"I-it's nothing like that, Hina!" I could feel my cheeks heating up, and hoped that the blush was not too obvious. It's normal to be embarrassed about someone implying something like that. Nothing more to it. "He's just... helped me. I... wasn't really supposed to tell you that, but..."

"It's fine, I get it, Yumiko. You did kind of give away his involvement with you to me yesterday anyway." Hina said with a smile. "Is he the one that put you up to all this?"

"No, this is all my doing. I want to change things. He just... gave me the courage to actually do it. I wouldn't have been able to say all those things to you yesterday if it wasn't for him." I looked away from Hina and twirled a strand of my hair around my finger, my gaze wandering over to the doorway Hikio had exited out of just moments ago. "Oh, and there was something I forgot to tell you yesterday. Something... urgent." Hina raised an eyebrow in question, and I glanced around quickly. Pretty much everyone has left already... I leaned closer to Hina, which prompted her to lean forwards as well. "...Back when I confessed to Hayato, I tried to be as discreet as possible, but... It's possible someone saw me when I ran out of the classroom afterwards, and has now spread a rumour about what happened between me and him." I whispered to the girl.

"A rumour? I haven't heard anything like that, though I supposed I was absent for the beginning of the week." Hina whispered back to me and furrowed her brows as she tried to think, likely shifting through her memories of all the things she has heard since returning to school.