Akari's POV

"Oiii," both of us turned to the voice just to see Natsumi waving at us in front of our classroom. My classmates didn't even bother to look at her anymore since they got used to her coming here all the time.

Mari and I then walked outside to Natsumi and we all headed down the hall to our usual place, the club room. As we opened the door to the room, a thought struck me. We haven't really been doing anything. This art club is only for us to hangout. At first, I actually thought we would work and do projects because Aoi-sensei and Mari are here. But sensei hasn't been coming lately and Mari just goes along and joins in with Natsumi and the others that are talking or playing games. Well, I guess it's the same with me, too.

Ken's POV

Ever since Yumi transferred to this school, moreover to the same class as mine, she has always been insisting on hanging out with me. I have no choice but to agree so.....I feel bad for her after all those things that happened to her in France. She needs someone by her side right now. Class was over and I caught a glimpse of Yumi rushing out the class to somewhere. Did something happened? As I was about to go after her, Ryouta and Shou popped out of nowhere.

"Hey, Ken. What's wrong with you? You haven't been hanging out with us ever since Yumi came," Ryouta said.

"That's not it guys.. Yumi just need someone by her side right now..." I answered.

"Just let this time go, come with us to the art club, you haven't come for while you know?" I looked behind them, worried about Yumi. 'I hope she'll be okay....'

When we went out the hallway, we met Yumi, who just came back from somewhere.

"Where are you guys going?" Yumi asked.

"To the art club," I said.

"Ooh, Ken are you in that club?"

"Yeah.."

"Then, can I join you guys?" She asked with a smile.

"Huh? Why--" Ryouta started until I cut him off.

"Sure."

"Great! Let me get my bag first." She went back into the classroom to get her bag as we stood there waiting for her.

"Hey, what was that?" Ryouta asked and narrowed his eyes.

"Come on, it won't hurt to let her join us is it?" I look at Shou, so did Ryouta.

"Erm, I don't really care," Shou answered.

"Shou!!" Ryouta shouted. Finally, Yumi came back with her bag.

"Is everything alright?" Yumi asked.

"Yeah, yeah. It's fine. Let's go," I answered. So, we went to the art club with Yumi.

Akari's POV

"The boys are not here yet?" Natsumi asked.

"It seems like it," I answered as I took my seat.

"Don't worry, they'll arrive soon. I just hope Ken comes, he haven't been coming at all," Mari said.

"Who cares about that bastard? If he keeps on doing this, we should just kick him out of the club. Then he can spend his time freely with his ex-girlfriend and we can spent our days peacefully without him," I said.

"Akari-chan..." Mari sweatdropped.

"Aki-chan! Ken is still an important member of our club! Just cuz you don't like him you shouldn't say that."

Just then I heard the door open. The three of us turned to the door, it was Ryouta, Shou, Ken, and Nao Yumiko.

"What business does a model have here?" Natsumi asked as she folded her arms.

"Am I an unwanted guest?" Nao Yumiko replied.

"Ah--no, no...you're welcome to join us of course," Mari smiled.

"Thanks," Nao Yumiko returned a smile. The boys took a seat and Nao Yumiko was left standing.

"Right. I should introduce them to you," Ken said to Yumi. "Starting from the left that is--"

"Ah, Akari-chan, right? You're that girl from the other day. The one I met in the toilet, right?" I nodded.

"Continuing, that's Natsumi, and she's Mari-chan. These guys, you already know them, so I won't have to introduce again right?" Then he turned to us, "And guys, this is Yumi."

"Yes, yes. We know who she is, everyone in this school does. Ever since she transferred here the news about her have been spreading like a wildfire," Natsumi said.

"Nice to meet you all, please take good care of me!" she bowed slightly and smiled. Then she took a seat beside that bastard.

"So, Ken. Would you mind to explain why you've been missing art club?" Natsumi said.

"Sorry...I was--"

"It's my fault actually, I insisted Ken to hang out with me after schools. I didn't know he had an after school club. He didn't say anything about it," Yumi interrupted.

"He didn't say anything huh?" Natsumi glared at Ken. "From now on you can't miss anymore, understood?"

"Y-Yeah."

"Oh with that said, can I join this club too?" Yumi asked with twinkles in her eyes. 'Oh my god, please no.' Natsumi and I both turned to Mari and shook our heads slightly. But considering that it's Mari, she couldn't say no.

"Sure, the more the merrier?" She said the last part unsure. 'This is going to be miserable.'

"Yay! Thanks, Mari-chan!" Then she looked around the room. "So, what do you guys even do here--"

With a loud bang the door opened again and Aoi-sensei showed up. "That's what I would like to know."

"Sensei???" All of us except Nao Yumiko gasped.

"W-What are you doing here, Aoi-sensei??" Natsumi asked.

Aoi-sensei breathed out deeply. "I was worried about you guys. Art club was just about to disband several weeks ago. I thought you guys would be more productive than this you know? You guys even dragged me into become your faculty officer. So it's my responsibility to maintain this club."

"Woah, woah. Slow down Aoi-sensei," Ryouta assured. Aoi-sensei glanced at Ryouta and he backed away.

"So, what I want to say is we have to do something with this club. If you're just going to hang out here and do nothing then why bother making it a club, just go hangout at KyDonalds after school or something." Mari looked down as Aoi-sensei said those words. Aoi-sensei noticed her and turned to her way. "Yoshino Mari, you. Aren't you the club president? Don't you think you should do something about this? Aren't you the one who wanted this club to not disband? Now that it's not, do you plan to just stay the way it is right now?"

I felt bad for Mari, I feel like I should say something... but what Aoi-sensei said is right. At this rate our club is not going to go anywhere. We don't even have any club budget or the fundraisers right now.

"I'll do better...." Mari answered weakly.

"Aoi-sensei, don't be too mean to Mari-chan," Ken said.

"I'm not trying to be mean to anyone right now," Aoi-sensei sighed. "So? What are we doing about this? I bet anyone even knows about our club."

There was a silent for a moment in the room. We all thought about what we could do.

Natsumi raised her hand,"Maybe an origami stand? We could fold origamis and sell them."

"I don't think anyone would buy them. They're pretty useless," I replied.

"How about just an art exhibition? Sounds pretty decent if you ask me," Yumi spoke.

"Hmm... that's a great idea. Oh, excuse me. Who might you be?" Aoi-sensei stopped and looked at her carefully. "Ah you must be the transfer student, Nao Yumiko was it?"

"Yes, it's nice to meet you, I just joined art club."

"It's lovely to have you here with us. All the teachers were talking about you, how despite being a model you have good grades too."

Yumi giggled, "Thanks."

"Okay, so if we're going to plan an art exhibition we need to set up a fundraiser first. Any suggestions on what we can do for the fundraiser?"

"How about selling some keychains?" Mari suggested.

"Sure, we could," sensei wrote the idea down on the whiteboard.

"Some bracelets and crafts like maybe greeting cards?" I suggested.

"Yeah, that's nice." Aoi-sensei wrote down all the ideas that everyone gave. We finalized on what to make and sell for the fundraising. We decided to make keychains, bracelets, plushies, greeting cards, digital art posters, and the last one which sound quite absurd, Nao Yumiko's photographs that were just released, apparently she'll be signing them as the people come buy it. We discussed how to make the fundraising successful and when we will set it up then onto the discussion of helding the art exhibition and the date.

>>>>>>>>>>>

Mari has discussed and filled in the forms with Aoi-sensei and handed it to the office. Our request for the art exhibition was accepted and Aoi-sensei has been coming regularly to our club again. She would observe us carefully on what we're doing and make us work all the time.

"Hey, Nakamura! Don't slack off! The exhibition is in 2 weeks and we just started. Although you have such talent with art, you're so lazy. Why don't you try to help instead of going to sleep," Aoi-sensei scolded.

"...sorry.... I'll try my best," Shou went back to drawing designs for our poster.

"Sensei! I ran out of glue. I think that was the last bottle," Ryouta came up.

"Is that so? Then we'll have to buy it. Just go help the others for now," sensei replied.

"OH! I got an idea!" Natsumi clapped her hands. "Why don't we go shopping?? We need more materials for this exhibition anyways. Don't worry about the money! We'll get those while we do the fundraisers in a week. For now, I'll take care of it! So let's meet up!!"

"Ooo! That's a nice idea, Natsumi-chan," Yumi put her thumbs up.

I sighed... 'She took this chance for us to hangout.'

"When should we meet up?"

"The sooner the better right? Then we can work on this more," Mari suggested.

"How about this Sunday??" Natsumi asked. Everyone nodded their heads. "So it's decided!"

"Ehh, so you guys are gonna go have fun without me, huh?" Aoi-sensei said dryly. "Don't try to forget your main objective."

"Ahahah, sensei you can come along if you'd like. We don't mind," Mari smiled.

"Hmph! I'm not like you kids, I have work to do!" She turned away. "Now go back to work."

"Hai~"

>>>>>>>>>>>

It's Sunday and I got to the meeting place early. I looked around to see if anyone else had arrived but saw none. Well this was expected since I got here 20 minutes early. I took a seat on a nearby bench and thought of what to do while waiting. "I guess I'll just read something," I said to myself as I took out my phone.

Just then, I heard a girl's voice calling my name, "Ah, Akari-chan!!" I raised my head to see who it was. Nao Yumiko. Oh, and the bastard behind her. She skipped towards me while all the other people around us whispered and stared and her.

"Don't you think you should wear some disguise or something? You're pretty well known after all...," I told Nao Yumiko.

"Ah you're right! Sorry~ I'll be right back," she apologizes and went inside a convenience store nearby. 'What is she doing?'

"Hey?" That bastard started talking.

"What?" I glared.

"........Nevermind," He said as he looked away.

"Huh? If you've got something to say, then say it."

"It's nothing."

"HEYYY!!!!" A loud voice approached us, it was Natsumi. Behind her was everyone else, Ryouta, Shou, and Mari.

"Why are you guys together?" I asked.

"She picked us--" Ryouta started until Natsumi covered his mouth.

"I just happened to ran into them on the way here. Just coincidentally," Natsumi laughed.

<<<<<<<<<<<

Mari's POV

It was around 30 minutes before we were supposed to meet and I was on my way in the train. After that, I'll have to walk to the meeting point. When I got to my destined station, I got off and went outside of the station. There, a car stopped beside me and the door opened.

"YO!!" I bent down and looked in the car to see Natsumi along with Ryouta-kun and Shou-kun.

"Eh? What are you saying? Why are you guys here...?" I questioned, confused.

"Yeah! She also did the same with us. It's kinda weird but just come in," Ryouta said.

"Ahahah it's not that weird!" Natsumi laughed.

"How's someone waiting to pick you up and know where and when I'll be at be not weird? In fact, it's creepy. The timing was even perfect," I said with no emotion.

"Aheheh," Natsumi just laughed it off and said, " well, now that you guys are all here, I shall tell you why I picked you guys up!"

"I'm guessing it's something ridiculous," I sighed.

"Ahaha, not really. I just want Aki-chan to be with Ken ;). But I'm pretty sure Yumi is also going to be with Ken so I wanna see how it goes," she giggled.

The two boys sighed at Natsumi's reason while I looked at her excitedly. "Yes! That's a nice plan!" Believe it or not, I ship Akari-chan with Ken. I guess I don't really enjoy Yumi-chan being with Ken but it's fine though. I'm sure Akari-chan will do something about it sooner or later, ahaha.

>>>>>>>>>>>

Akari's POV

"Now that we're all here shall we get going?" Natsumi said.

"Yumi went into the convenience store earlier, she should back soon," Ken said.

"O-Oh, okay!" Natsumi replied. 'The others seems like they were averting their gazes. Did something happened?'

Just then Yumi came out of the convenience store...looking weird. She was wearing a mask made for coughing.

"Erm, Yumi why are you wearing that?" Ken said.

"Normally I bring sunglasses and masks with me, but today since it's a hangout together with friends, I thought it would be weird and maybe I wouldn't need it," Yumi said.

"It's hard being popular, huh?" Natsumi said and patted Yumi on the shoulder. "Now let's get going!"

We went to the department stores to buy some materials like cotton, leather, chains, charms, strings, ropes, buttons, and some fabric. Next, we went on to the stationary section to get more equipments for designing banners, some cardstock papers, and some poster papers.

We took a rest at a restaurant and ate lunch together. We ordered some ramen, bento, sushi sets, fried rice, hamburger steak, beef bowl, omelette rice, and many more along with drinks.

We chatted and joked around while we waited for our orders. Everything finally came after waiting for about 30 minutes and we started digging in. My hamburger steak was really amazing. It's nothing like what I've eaten before. I should really come to this place often.

"Yumi, why are you not eating? Is the food not to your liking? Do you want to order something else?" Mari, who was beside Yumi asked. I looked at Yumi she was barely eating anything.

"Ah! Um, no it's fine. I'm just on a diet....," Yumi said. 'She should enjoy these delicious foods....'

I put down my chopsticks when I finished eating. Everyone ate a lot because we ordered too much. But thankfully, we were able to finish it and we didn't waste any food. Soon, I wanted to go the the toilet. I guess I drank too much too.

"I'm going to the bathroom for awhile, " I said as I stood up and left the table. I looked around the restaurant for the toilet sign.

"Ah! There it is," I went inside the restroom, thank god no one else was inside.

Ken's POV

"Hey, Yumi. I'm just curious, what do you eat when you're on a diet?" Natsumi asked.

Yumi laughed, "Me? I normally don't gain weight that much and I, myself like to eat healthy...hahah..."

"Eh? =3= Good for you, I'm jealous of girls like you," Natsumi pouted.

"Don't tell me, Natsumi you're trying to lose weight?" Ryouta chuckled.

"H-Huh?! W-When did I say that? And what if I am? You've got a problem??" Natsumi said with her face turning red.

Just then I saw Yumi checking her phone, her face immediately turned stiff. She stood up suddenly and I noticed her fists tightened. 'Could it be about that?'

"Yumi? Where are you going?" Mari asked.

"I'll be back in a second," Yumi replied and left the table. I stood up as well and followed her.

"Where are you going Ken?" Ryouta asked. But I didn't bothered to answer him. Yumi was leaning on a wall near a corner, staring at her phone.

"Hey, Yumi....What's wrong?" I asked as I went near her.

"I-It's them again.... I don't know what to do anymore!! Can't they just leave me alone?!" Yumi cried. Tears streamed down her face, I felt bad for her. I gently stroked her hair, and embraced her in my arms.

"It'll be alright....I'll be here for you," I said as I tried to make her feel better. 'I know it wasn't going to be alright, I don't know what to do for her. She's going through such difficulties, I should've been by her side earlier. I should've gone to France with her.....It's all my fault...Sorry, Yumiko.'

Akari's POV

I came out of the toilet and washed my hands. As I got out of the toilet, I heard someone sobbing, when I looked at the voice owner, I saw Ken, hugging a blonde girl.....Nao Yumiko?

"It'll be alright....I'll be here for you," I heard Ken say. 'What's alright??' I thought it was rude to eavesdrop on someone else's conversation so I stopped listening and walk back to the table, making sure Ken and Yumi wouldn't see me. 'What exactly is going on between them??'