Leah spat out the ice cream in surprise and thought to herself "What the heck does this boy want?" while having an expressionless face.
"Good evening, Daikuhara-san. May I help you with something?" Leah offered as a reply.
Jousuke replied "Uhm, yes. Can you send me their phone numbers?"
Leah replied "Yes, wait a moment."
Leah quickly went to her room and checked her bag. She quickly took a piece of paper with written phone numbers on it.
Leah then gave their groupmates phone numbers.
"Thank you! I'll make a group chat right away." Jousuke replied.
Jousuke made a group chat and greeted everyone.
"Good evening everyone! Let's talk here soon about our group project."
-BUNGAKU HIGHSCHOOL, TOKYO, JAPAN-
-THURSDAY, OCTOBER 20, 2016-
"Good morning, students!" said Rikitake.
"Good morning, Rikitake Sensei!" the students replied.
"I see. Date-kun didn't attend class again today. This is his third time in a row. Daikuhara-kun, Ebihara-kun, do you possibly know what happened to Date-kun?" said Rikitake.
"That's right, Natsu didn't attend class for three days and I did not even bother to check up on him." Jousuke thought to himself.
Asa replied to Rikitake "No, sensei. He hasn't told anyone yet why he's been absent for 3 days."
"Is that so, Ebihara-kun?"
"Yes, I'll try to check up on him later after school." said Asa.
"Please do." said Rikitake.
"Okay! Where were we? That's right. Please open your books at page 124..." said Rikitake and she continued discussing her lesson.
Asa poked Jousuke's back with his pen.
"Hey, Jousuke! Hey, hey!" Asa murmured.
"What?" Jousuke asked in a whisper.
"Are you free later after school?" Asa asked.
"No, our group will film later on our house." Jousuke replied.
"Is that so?" Asa replied and then sighed.
He then thought to himself "Natsu, what happened to you?"
The school bell rang. It is now breaktime.
"Oh, yeah. I forgot to tell mom about this." said Jousuke.
Jousuke reached his phone on his pocket and he sent a message Miyako.
"Mom, I'm bringing home my classmates." said Jousuke.
Miyako replied "How many are you guys?"
"Eight, including me." said Jousuke.
Miyako replied with a "👌🏻" sticker.
In all of a sudden, Basaki approached Leah and asked out of nowhere "Boutsuki-san, do you like someone?"
Leah was shocked and replied "H-Huh!? W-What made y-you ask that in a-all of a sudden Basaki-san?"
Basaki laughed and replied "Nothing! Boutsuki-san, let's be friends!"
It is now the last class, the art's class. Daimon was teaching her lessons. A lot of students seems to be bored and sleepy except for Asa and the top 5 students in the class—Leah Boutsuki, Rika Sakurai, Sayaka Utsumi, Jousuke Daikuhara, and Seiichi Sakamoto. The five of them were paying attention and taking notes of the lesson.
In all of a sudden, the school bell rang. Daimon stopped writing and then smiled and said "All right, I guess that's it for today. And don't forget about your project okay? The due date is 29th of November. We will all watch it in 30th of November. Take note of what I've said, group facilitators—Utsumi-san, Daikuhara-kun, and Sakamoto-kun. Dismiss!" and then she left the classroom.
As Jousuke sighed and stretched while sitting, all of his groupmates approached him.
"There you are guys, are you mentally prepared now?" Jousuke asked.
"We are, in fact, we are all excited. Teachers here in Bungaku Highschool rarely gives us group projects." said Chuujou.
"I mean, almost all of the schools here in Japan rarely gives group works, right?" Abeno asked.
Basaki answered Abeno's question "Yes, but our school is much more stricter when it comes to homeworks or projects. They only gives us 1–3 group works per school year. Kind of lame right?"
"You're not wrong..." said Abeno.
"By the way, are you guys fine if we walk? I mean, our house is kinda far from here. It usually takes 20–30 minutes walk."
"We are!" everyone replied.
-AT NATSU'S HOUSE-
"Ugh, I hate this kind of situation." said Natsu while he was sniffing and coughing repeatedly.
Suddenly, he heard a knock from the door.
"Is dad here?" he thought to himself as his mom opened the door.
"Oh it's you, Asa-kun!" said Riona—Natsu's mom.
"Good afternoon, Date-san! Is Natsu here?" Asa asked.
"Yes, he's in his room right now. Go talk to him but please maintain distance." said Riona.
Asa entered Natsu's room.
"Asa!"
"Natsu!" both of them shouted and then laughed.
Riona was shocked and said "These kids." and then sighed.
"What happened to you? Why are you covered with your blanket? You're even wearing a hoodie? It's autumn!" said Asa.
"Oh, will you please shut up? You're worsening my headache." said Natsu while sniffing and coughing nonstop.
"You look red, do you have flu right now?" Asa asked.
"Man, isn't it obvious!? By the way, yes. It keeps getting worse these past few days. I can't really take care of myself that much since I'm sick. Mom's taking care of my sisters and dad's working so there's no way I'll get well" said Natsu.
"Oh, I see. So you won't attend class again tomorrow?" Asa asked.
"No, I guess. I really can't do that much right now so I'm just waiting for someone to give me medicine..." said Natsu. He realized that he looked like he's asking Asa to buy some medicine for him. He continued speaking "I don't mean it like that Asa! I'm not asking you!" said Natsu.
"I know, I know. But don't worry, a lot of people is worried about you, including me...so I'm willing to buy you some. If you don't accept it, I'll forever deny that you are my friend!" said Asa.
"Sure..." said Natsu.
"Oh, by the way, I've been taking notes these past few days for you." said Asa.
"Asa...you're my hero!" said Natsu with amazement.
"Stop it! It's not like I've done it for you anyways. Well...I mean I did...but Rikitake Sensei told me to." said Asa.
"I see." said Natsu. He laid down and then continued speaking "Man, I really wanna see her so bad."
Asa replied "Oh, her? Jousuke still hates her, y'know? You can't just date her. Jousuke told us a lot of stories about her."
"I know, I'm trying not to. But that doesn't change the fact that I wanna see her. I haven't seen her in three days." said Natsu.
"Don't worry too much, you'll see her this coming monday." said Asa.
They both continued talking for an hour.
Asa checked the time and then said "Oh, it's already 5PM. I'm heading out now, Natsu. Make sure to get well. I'll be back tomorrow to give your medicine."
"All right, thanks. Take care." said Natsu
"By the way, I almost forgot. When you're able to attend class again, try your best to avoid her, okay? I saw her earlier walking with another guy." said Asa.
"Wth another guy? Maybe it's his brother?" Natsu asked.
"I don't think it's his brother. I know her brother's appearance. Well, I mean, it's my ex-girlfriend's current boyfriend." said Asa.
"Uhm, maybe it's her cousin or any relatives." said Natsu.
"Don't get your hopes too high, Natsu. I'm not sure who that guy is. But I'm pretty sure relatives don't walk together while holding each other's hands, except if it's your parents. I'll see you tomorrow." said Asa and then left.
"Her? Holding hands with another guy? But she just confessed to me last week..." Natsu thought to himself.
-AT JOUSUKE'S HOUSE-
"I'm home! I'm here with my classmates." said Jousuke.
"Welcome home! Also, welcome to our house, Jousuke's classmates. Come and chill here in our living room." said Miyako.
Everyone felt warm atmosphere and felt at home.
"Okay, I think we don't need any rests, let's do this!" said Jousuke.
"Yes!" said everyone.