The First Test

"This shall be your first test, Ki-kun. If we hang out together today, I'll allow you to ask me more questions about Miu, given that I can answer it of course. And I'll tell you the other things on the list."

"Shuu, don't do this to me." I begin to sweat from panicking as I see Rei-kun and the others slowly approaching me from the distance, "I am truly sorry, Shuu, but I don't know about this." 

Shuu ignorantly replied, "This will be interesting." I don't think he cares what I feel right now.

I was busy thinking about what I should do and what I should say to them, but all of a sudden Yuzuha called my name, completely throwing me off my guard. Without realizing it they're already in front of me. "Ki-kun ♡? What are you doing here?"

"A-ah, Yuzuha-chan..." 

"Kiyoshi-kun, this is what you meant when you said you were busy? You are hanging out with the weirdo from yesterday instead of going out with us? You said you didn't know him, Kiyoshi-kun."

"I know Ki-kun better than all four of you combined." Shuu being straightforward and impulsive as he is. 

"Huh what's that?!?! You got a problem?!" Just like yesterday, there were clear auras of rage seeping out from the two of them aimed at the other.

"W-wait, Rei-kun... l-let me explain..." 

Explain what?! What am I supposed to explain?! Ah... what am I even supposed to say? Rei-kun might start to hate me if leave them. But if I go with them, Shuu will hate me, and my chances with Miu is gone. Ah man...

"It's all yours, Ki-kun," Shuu whispered to me. 

W-wait... m-maybe... maybe if I...

"H-How about all of us go together f-for lu-"

"NO WAY!" Rei-kun instantly shouted, "I'm not going out with this lunatic."

"Wow, that was your decision Ki-kun. Real smart..." 

W-why did I even say that... Obviously they would say no. But I really don't know what to say... 

"C'mon, Kiyoshi-kun. We haven't ate. Don't make us wait." Rei-kun kept on the pressure. 

Ah... I...

"Ki-kun ♡ come with us instead! He was a being jerk to us yesterday." Yuzuha-chan adding even more pressure on me. 

I... I'm... I'm sorry...

"I-I'm sorry..." I said softly, my voice was too much of a coward to face the pressure from the two sides. 

"Huh? What did you say Kiyoshi?" Rei-kun didn't seem too have heard what I said. Shuu had a surprise in his face but he leaned closer to me, signifying either he didn't hear me or he wanted to make sure what he heard was right. 

I... I...

"I-.... Rei-kun, I'm sorry... I'm busy today. I can't go out with you guys today. I already have plans with Shuu."

I said it.

Rei-kun's expression was filled with disgust, while on the other side, Shuu seemed to be enjoying himself. 

"Shuu? That's his name? Who is he Kiyoshi?" 

"He's a friend of mine since middle school. Before I met you guys. But, we went to different schools for our first year of high school, so it's been a while since I met him."

"Ki-kun ♡, so you're not going with us today?"

"Y-yeah Yuzuha-chan, I'm gonna catch up with Shuu for a while. We can go some other day though." I tried to speak as gently as possible as not too further provoke anyone. 

I'll go out with Shuu today, and I can go out with Rei-kun and Yuzuha-chan and the others some other day. That should be good for now, as to be fair to both sides.

"Old friend or not, your friend there was being a complete jerk to us yesterday." 

"Let's go Ki-kun, we have business to attend to." Shuu invited me to go, as he thinks there was nothing more here to be discussed.

"You're seriously going to go out with that loser?"

"Loser? Says the guy who was all down on the floor yesterday." Shuu immediately approached Rei-kun, standing right in front of his face, preparing for a fight. 

"Don't get close to me, punk." Rei-kun pushed Shuu away from him. 

"Don't push me yo-" Shuu, not letting that push go unreturned, was charging in for a punch before-

I stepped in between them. I looked Rei-kun in the eyes and placed my right hand onto his shoulder. Shuu, impressed by the bravery of his friend, stopped his attack. "Not bad Ki-kun." 

"Rei-kun. We can hang out again some other day." I told him to stop the two from fighting.

Rei-kun shrugged off my hand off his shoulder, "Whatever, Kiyoshi-kun. Let's go guys, I'm hungry." Rei-kun walked away annoyed after this confrontation. The rest simply followed behind him. 

"Ki-kun ♡..." Yuzuha said with a sad tone as she was walking away.

I simply replied, "Some other time Yuzuha-chan." 

The moment they were out of our sight, Shuu jumped on me and wrapped his warm around my neck.

"Hyaaa!! Not bad Ki-kun!! Not bad indeed! Someone was really cool back then, huh? Hehe..." He repeatedly poked the side of my chest with a grin on his face.

"Shuu, s-stop, poking me..."

"I saw you were all like panicking at first. You were probably like, 'Ah.. w-w-what should I d-do? I need to go out with Shuu, but K-K-Kei-kun is gonna get mad at me...'. He tried to do an impersonation of me. 

"Shuu... knock it off..." I tried to tell him.

"You were absolutely pathetic Ki-kun, hahahaha. Did you really think we would be fine with going out together?" My face began to grow red from the embarrassment and annoyance.

"Haha... But, you were cool at the end there. Not bad. Ki-kun."

"T-thanks..."

"That was interesting, huh?" No it wasn't, Shuu. "I didn't waste my time excusing leave from work today." 

"You excused yourself from work?"

"Yeah, we haven't talked in a while. It'll take a while for us to catch up after all." 

He excused himself from work today just to simply catch up with me? 

"Shuu..." He's impulsive and sometimes too straightforward and random at times, but he is committed to the things he cared about.

"Well, like I promised, you passed." 

"I passed? So that means..."

"Yeah, sure, I'll tell you what you want about Miu." 

"Then, what you told me before wasn't everything."

"No, it wasn't." 

"You'll also tell the other things on the list."

"I'll explain to you how it works later. Let's get something to eat and I'll tell you what you need to know and what she wants me to tell you."