Girl Next Door

Chapter Thirty

Risa was surprised when she caught sight of Kyosuke heading her way.

"Kyosuke!" she said cheerfully. "What a coincidence seeing you guys here."

"Risa," replied Kyosuke, trying to make it sound like a coincidence. "Fancy that."

"What the hell are you guys doing here??" said Mio in an annoyed tone. She was also surprised that the boys were here as well. She looked at Takeru sharply.

Ichiro and Yukie glanced at each other nervously.

A short moment of silence.

"Great," said Risa, clasping her hands. "Now that we're all here, we could all hang out together."

"Y-Yeah," replied Kyosuke, rubbing the back of his head.

"What?!" said Mio in outrage. "Hang out together?! Nah-uh. I'm not hanging out with that slob."

"Whatever," said Takeru with a smirk.

"Oh, come on, you two," said Risa, smiling affectionately. "This will be another chance for us to, you know, get closer to each other."

Takeru and Mio glanced at each other for a second then looked away quickly.

"Come on, we never get to hang out like this," said Risa, making puppy eyes at the two. "Please?"

"Oh, Risa-chan, don't give me that look," said Mio, looking at her with pity. "All right, all right! Let's all hang out together. Jeez."

"Alright!" said Risa cheerfully. "So where should we go, Kyosuke?"

Kyosuke looked at the others and saw that they looked unsure of where to go first.

"Uh, I don't know," replied Kyosuke. "Where do you wanna go?"

"Hey, I've got an idea," said Risa with a wide smile.

"What is it?" asked Kyosuke.

"Since we all have different interests, pairs of us should split up and go to different stores," replied Risa.

"What do you mean, 'split up'?" asked Mio.

"I'm saying, Kyosuke and I could go to a store of our interests, while you and Takeru-kun could go to a store of your interests and Yukie-chan and Toyama-kun can go to a store of their interests."

Ichiro and Yukie were flustered at that sentence. They eyed each other nervously.

"W-What?!" exclaimed Mio, eyes wide. "I'm not going alone with this creep!"

"What's wrong, Tsukisaki?" asked Takeru mockingly. "Nervous?"

"Shut up," replied Mio scornfully. "Risa-chan, please, don't do this to me."

"Okay, if you don't want to go with Takeru-kun, you can go with Yukie-chan and Toyama-kun," said Risa.

"Great idea," said Mio with a smirk. She scoffed at Takeru as she approached Ichiro and Yukie.

"So, where are you two headed off to?" Mio asked the two.

"Uh... Nakamura-san?" Ichiro turned to Yukie.

"Ah, um... Well, uh... I'd like to go to the bookstore and look for some interesting books," replied Yukie.

"I-I see," said Mio, smiling awkwardly. She wasn't as prolific a reader as the two so she wasn't interested in books.

"Well," said Risa, smiling, "Kyosuke and I are off to the sports store. See you guys later. Come on, Kyosuke." Waving at them, she and Kyosuke split off from the group and went the opposite direction.