Argument

Airi and Greeny who were each in their own rooms, recalled the events of what happened in the Reading Club while they messaged on the group chat.

***

(Earlier Today)

After being led to the Chatter Zone, the three of them looked around for an ideal spot to sit in. Some places, like the round table and the carpet, were already occupied.

Airi found a corner that was a little isolated from the discussions happening around the room and dragged a beanbag towards it. The other two followed suite and soon they had built themselves a quiet and cozy nook where they could chat comfortably.

"Sakuraba-san, have you r-read this book before?" Greeny asked in an attempt to get the conversation going.

"No, I haven't. It's been on my bucket list for a while now, but I held back because I had heard from a senior that we would be reading this with the club," she responded a little quietly.

Though this was dubbed the Chatter Zone, everyone was asked to conduct their group discussions under a certain noise level so that it doesn't interrupt the other people around them.

"Perfect, neither have we! Now we can read it together and discuss the plot!" Airi clapped happily, without making actual contact.

"Ok, I don't mind," Hina smiled nervously.

"But before we do that, shouldn't we get to know each other a little better? My name is Fujimoto Airi, and this is Ichihara Haruki. To be completely honest, we also became friends only about a weeks ago, so you don't need to feel out of place or anything like that."

Greeny nodded along with an innocent smile.

"Yeah, but you c-can call me Greeny if you want!" he added on.

"Gr-Greeny?"

"Yep, because of my g-green hair."

"But...Why?"

Haruna didn't really understand, but Greeny's face scrunched up with slight dissatisfaction.

"Because my hair is green!" He repeated, not even realizing he didn't stutter this time.

"O-Oh....Ok."

Airi noticed the awkwardness rising and immediately interjected, "Haha, don't worry too much about it, just go with whatever makes you feel comfortable. You're also friends with Yuzuki-san right?"

She quickly changed the topic and brought up Haruna.

"Yes, we're quite close! I was hoping she would come to the reading club with me but it seems like she wanted to try getting into the cooking club instead...."

Hina smiled brightly when her friend was mentioned, but then it dimmed towards the end.

"Heehee, it's just as I thought!" Airi giggled once her suspicions were confirmed.

"What do you mean?"

"Oh right, my bad. We met Yuzuki-san last week when we were walking around for Club Day and got along quite well. Seems like her and Reiji-kun have met before and are friends, so we attended a session together. When she found out Reiji-kun was applying to the cooking club, she ran off to attend that session for some reason," she responded.

Maybe it was too gossipy, but since everyone here knew Haruna and it wasn't exactly a secret, Airi divulged some of the details of what happened that day.

Little did she know that this sent Hina into a whirlwind of thoughts.

'She's friends with Yagami-kun? Why? And she didn't tell me either? That doesn't make sense.... What if she's in trouble with the Yakuza and that's why I couldn't contact her this weekend? Now that I'm thinking about it, she also seemed a little off today and kept looking back at where Yagami-kun sits... '

Her innocent, gullible, and immature mind instantly started worrying about her friend. Though Reiji had shown to be different than her preconceived notion of him, she still knew that some of the rumors were true.

His background as a Yakuza could not be faked, nor could the constant fights he got into in just the first month of school.

Airi and Greeny both noticed the pale expression on her face, but they were puzzled because they obviously couldn't see her train of thought.

"...Are you ok Sakuraba-san?" She asked hesitantly.

"Huh? Uh.... Can I ask you guys a question?"

Hina's worried look shifted to one filled with determination as she stared at the two people in front of her sharply.

"I guess so?" Airi nodded slowly.

"Why do you guys hang out with Yagami-kun?"

Both of their faces narrowed at those words, mixed with confusion and a little bit of displeasure. They hoped that this wasn't going where it seemed to be heading, so Greeny asked quietly.

"W-What do you mean?"

"I mean.... Is he like, bullying you or extorting you?" Hina asked, but she fidgeted with her fingers at the same time.

"That's the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard, Reiji-kun wouldn't do something like that!" Airi frowned, completely exasperated.

'Reiji-kun wanted to help this girl and here she is spouting this nonsense!'

Deep down she understood that it wasn't exactly her fault. In fact, she might've felt the same way if she hadn't gotten close with Reiji.

But it still didn't feel good to hear your friend being talked about like this, especially when he wasn't even here.

Airi saw Greeny getting a little agitated so she spoke up again before either one of them could.

"Listen Sakuraba-san. I understand the rumors about him are not....great. But both of us can guarantee you that Reiji-kun is nothing like what you're imagining. He's like.... a friendly cat! People might think he's scary or aloof, but once you get to know him you realize that he's a genuinely good person!"

Hina was a little taken aback by how serious they both became when she mustered the courage to ask about him, and was even more perplexed by her description. It did kind of fit in with her interactions of him, which really did seem like the most apt description of a friendly cat.

But even if he was nice, what about the fights? What about his family?

"Even if I believe that, isn't he still part of the Yakuza? Aren't you scared of his background causing you guys trouble?" Hina mumbled, wanting more clarification.

"You don't know anything, why are you just assuming!" Greeny snapped irritably, his emotions finally spilling over.

"Greeny calm down!" Airi hissed with a warning glare.

"S-Sorry, but I'm telling the truth. Do you even know a-anything about the gang he's a part of?"

"Um, of course not...." Hina whispered sadly.

She kind of regretted talking about this, it seemed like she messed up the chance to make new friends and also offended them.

"I was planning to keep this a s-secret, but you need to know something. You too A-Airi-san!" Greeny started speaking again after some thought.

"Huh? Me too?"

"Yes. If you guys d-didn't know, my family owns a ramen restaurant. A few months ago, a foreign company started buying out all the stores and buildings on our street to build a new shopping center, but they completely l-lowballed the offer for our shop. When we refused, they started h-harassing customers, ruining our deliveries, breaking the s-sewage pipe and a l-lot more so that our business fails and w-we have no choice but to sell," Greeny recounted everything that had happened to his family which he had recently discovered himself.

"What! That's terrible, didn't you call the police??" Airi gasped, dumbfounded about this.

Hina was also surprised and felt bad for their family.

"We tried, it didn't work because t-they left n-no evidence.... But then, last week.."

Then Greeny slowly explained how his father had hired the Yagami Syndicate's protection service, how Reiji had shown up and learned about their situation, and how he had single handedly resolved months of worries that would have otherwise bankrupted his entire family.

Both Airi and Hina listened with rapt attention, completely astonished by his story. Their internal image of Reiji updated itself automatically and they couldn't help but be amazed.

"So like I said, j-just because he's part of the Yakuza doesn't mean h-he's bad! And the biggest part is, h-he never even told me that he d-did this, I found out from my dad! He didn't do it for attention or p-praise, he did it just to help me..."

Hina clutched her kindle, her eyes quivering while various thoughts flashed through her mind. Neither of them could tell what was going through her head, but seeing that she hadn't responded, Greeny went for the killing blow.

"...I wasn't supposed to s-say this, but the reason we even talked to y-you is because Reiji-kun was worried about you," he muttered.

"Greeny what the fuck!" Airi seethed, twisting his ear painfully which made him yelp.

The brown haired girl's mouth gaped open, the disbelief crashing through her brain, causing it to malfunction.

She couldn't think of a response, not a single thought could formulate clearly to help her understand what was happening. Her entire perception had flipped upside down with this conversation and she had no idea what to do.

After hesitating, she picked up her bag and mumbled to them.

"....Um, I gotta go do something. I'll see you guys later."

Before they could respond, she ran off without turning back. Airi scowled at Greeny, who was rubbing his ear with a pout.

"Now you've really done it!"

***

Reiji placed his phone down and rubbed his tired eyes. After the chat summarized everything that had happened, he sighed and started regretting his life choices.

Not only did his 'plan' fail, Airi was pissed that he didn't tell her about the ramen shop incident where she had to find out from Greeny instead.

Though she was mostly joking because she knew Reiji didn't like talking about anything Yakuza related.

The main issue was how Hina was going to react tomorrow.

'This is not going to be good.....'