Chapter 13 - A Nonsense Student

“You’re not a student from our school, are you?”

Ari coughed water out of her nose. “W-what are you talking about?” she said, looking at Ren. “What is that even supposed to mean?”

Surprised by the sudden question, I found myself looking at Ren, also wondering why he asked such a thing.

“Exactly what it meant. You’re not from our school, right?” he asked again.

“How can you even ask that.” she said, pointing at her uniform. “Then how can you explain this?”

“You probably brought it outside the school.” he said.

“That could be the case, but it doesn’t make sense for you to say that I’m not a student.” she replied. “I don’t get where you are coming from.”

“I am confused too.” I added, joining in.

“You remember asking me earlier about Ari?” he asked, turning to me. “I honestly don’t have any idea who this person is. I even asked everyone I knew from each classroom on our grade, and no one knew who Ari was.”

“…” Ari remained silent, looking at Ren.

“The fact that it’s already the second month of the school year, and no one knew who Ari is, does that make sense to you?” he asked.

“I mean, it could be that Ari was unpopular within the classroom.” I explained.

“A person like that?” he said looking at her. “I don’t think someone like Ari would be unpopular in the classroom.”

“Yeah… I guess you’re right.” I muttered, thinking that it made sense for him to think like that.

Ari remained silent, holding her water bottle, frozen in place. Both of us looked at her with confusion, wondering what happened to her.

“Ari?” I asked, calling her.

Ari blinked and sighed. “Does Ren actually have a connection in each classroom?” she asked, turning to me.

I nodded once. “He’s not lying about that. If you ask him about a certain girl at school, he would immediately be able to tell you about her name.” I explained.

“That sounds creepy…” she muttered, turning to Ren. “But…” she scratched her head in defeat. “I guess I wouldn’t be able to hide it any longer.”

She took a deep breath and looked at both of us. “I’m not a student of #### High School.” she revealed.

“Really?” I asked, doubting her.

She turned to me. “What do you think?” she chuckled softly.

I shrugged. “It didn’t even cross my mind to think that you’re not a student of ####. So Ren was actually right?” I said, turning to Ren.

“I did expect that it would take a while for someone to learn about me, but I never thought it would be this fast.” she said. “Your friend really does work fast.” she continued, smiling.

“He’s fast I agree, but I wouldn’t be proud about his reason for doing it.”

“It’s kind of sad for a friend to say that in front of me.” Ren said.

“Even I would creep out if I learned that my friend knew every girl’s name in the whole first years.” I said.

“That’s not the problem here.” he said, cutting me off and turning back to Ari. “If you are indeed not a student here, then there should be a reason why are you doing this?”

“A reason you say?” she asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Don’t make me say you’re crazy.” he replied.

Ari looked at me. “You sure this is your friend?”

I shrugged.

Ari smiled. “I wonder about that?” she said, trying to act mysterious.

“I guess it wouldn’t be that easy.” he muttered, turning to me. “Right?”

“Why are you looking at me?” I frowned.

“Because you asked me for help, right?” he said, turning back to Ari. “This guy over here is quite curious about you, Miss Ari.” he continued.

“What? I didn’t!” I exclaimed, denying it.

“Miss Ari huh? So you learned about my identity of being both male and female?” she asked, nodding at the same time.

“Well this guy had suspicion about you, but we’re not too sure about it.” Ren revealed.

“Can I take a seat?” she asked.

I nodded once. “Sure.”

She took a seat beside me. “Thanks.”

Both Ren and I looked at each other, unsure why Ari froze, and remained silent for a minute.

“Why are you guys so quiet?” she started, breaking the silence. “Go talk or something.” she continued, looking at us.

“You are the one who suddenly became quiet.” I said.

“Oh really. I thought I was the one waiting for someone to talk.” she said, leaning on the chair. “I can’t believe three people already found out about it.” she sighed heavily.

Three people? Who’s the other one?

“There’s another one?” Ren asked.

She placed a finger over her lips and whispered, “Shhhh…”

Both Ren and I looked at her unimpressed.

“Don’t make me say anything more than this, okay?” she said, standing up. “Just so you know, it’s not going to be easy to uncover my identity.” she continued, pointing at us.

“Uh…” I muttered, turning to Ren. “Is it really?”

“I wonder about that too.” he replied.

Ari’s expression turned into disgust. “I’m not joking!”

But it’s not a question of whether you’re joking or not Ari… I thought as I looked straight at her.

Ren chuckled softly. “I get it, I get it.”

As I looked at her, I noticed how her expression felt like she was about to cry.

I tapped Ren in the back and looked at him. “Don’t worry about this guy Ari.” I said. “He’s not gonna expose you.” I reassured.

“What!?” he exclaimed, turning to both Ari and I. “I wouldn’t do that! Why would you even think of that?”

“I didn’t!!!” Ari exclaimed.

“I’m not talking about you!” he said to Ari, before turning to me. “I’m talking about this guy!”

“Why are the both of you even shouting?” I muttered.

“We’re not!” the both of them shouted.

I stood up immediately. “I’m going back to school.” I said, walking past them.

“Wait where are you going?” Ren asked.

“It’s getting hot in here, and both of you are arguing. I’m going back.” I said, annoyed. “You can continue your argument without me in here.” I added.

“Oh, crap. We’ve angered him.” he said.

“It’s your fault.” she said to Ren, catching up and walking beside me.

“Was it my fault?” he asked, looking at me.

I closed my eyes, and took a deep breath, hoping both of them shut up for a second and just continue on walking without saying anything.