Divine Madness [Free!] [2]

🌸 Chapter 12 🌸

"Oba-Chan, I'm going to go out with Kou-Chan," Heisuke said, looking up from the box that she was carefully arranging portions of seafood Korokke, tempura, tonkatsu, and other meaty food for Rin, knowing that he wasn't a big fan of sweet food. "But I will be back for the dinner with Haru-Chan,"

"Where you taking all this?" Granny Chiharu asked as Heisuke placed the lunchbox into a bag and reached for a thermos to fill it with some Sakura tea. "For Kou-Chan? You can just invite her over,"

"Oh, no, she can't stay over for long," Heisuke white-lied, putting the thermos bottle into the pink bag as well. "She lives on the other side of the town – but I'll be back very soon,"

"Be careful out there," Granny Chiharu said, slightly frowning at the thought of the girl going out on her so late in the evening. "Take someone with yourself... you girls taking buses so late is a bit..."

"I'll take Makkou, we'll be fine!" Heisuke assured her, pulling the strap of her bag onto her shoulder and walking over to the front door. "I'll see you in a bit, Oba-Chan! Take care until then!"

Heisuke pushed her feet into her shoes and picked up Makkou's leash before she left through the door, turning around to whistle and call Makkou to join her. She knelt down next to him, hooking the leash onto his blue collar and stroking his head before taking him out of there with herself.

"We're going for a little walk, okay, Makkou?" Heisuke asked and Makkou eagerly barked, rushing down the stone steps ahead of her. "Be careful!"

Their journey to the nearby bus stop was quiet and quick and Heisuke jogged to keep up with Makkou, and they found Gou – thankfully just – arriving from the school's direction on her own. Gou seemed to have noticed the pink-haired girl, and raised her hand to wave over to her senior quickly.

"Heisuke Senpai!" Gou exclaimed as she reached her. "Thank you for coming with me, I really wasn't sure if I wanted to go to a rival school on my own,"

"It's always unnerving, I understand," Heisuke said as they sat down to wait for the bus to arrive. "I was quite shy when I had visit other schools for different activities,"

"Oh, yes, you take part in the intra-school debate competitions and declamations," Gou said, looking quite awed as she looked at the girl. "You're really... cool, Senpai,"

"It's nothing like that," Heisuke replied, blushing slightly. "But just like myself, you will also get used to the people and before long, it wouldn't be a problem. Just treat it like a formal occasion always,"

They watched as the bus arrived and found themselves seats, with Makkou leading their way inside.

"I feel like people are just always awed by you," Gou said as she sat down next to Heisuke, noticing the boy in the back of the bus who was already glancing at the pink-haired girl. "You're beautiful,"

"People will be awed by you once they get to see you often," Heisuke told her, bypassing the comment. "I participate in swimming and other competitions so other schools are well aware of myself, and when they visit our school, as the student council president, I happen to greet them..."

"Oh, I was thinking about joining the student council," Gou said, watching as Makkou jumped onto Heisuke's lap and looked outside the window. "Do you think I will get to do that?"

"Are you a class president?" Heisuke asked and Gou shook her head no. "Ah... even without that title, you should apply for the council – you're a diligent person, I'm sure it will be accepted,"

Slowly, the conversation turned to the duties that Heisuke had to handle as the student council president, as well as all sort of competitions she had taken part in during her high school years. Gou was a bit too awed by her and Heisuke was embarrassed over talking about her accomplishments.