She was praying during lunch. “O lord, who art in heaven, give us our daily bread, so that we may—“ But Kashu interrupted her with a rude “Itadekimas!!” And begun chomping into his food. Dula chan laughed, and Apple shot both of them a glance before sighing. I groaned, when were my friends’ antics going to end?
It had been a week since the day of the duel between Apple and Kashu. Since then, Kashu and Dula have gotten really close. Like, absurdly close. Granted, my change to first name basis with Apple may have been part of the cause; Dula seemed furious and stormed off, yelling “Baka Baka!!” And now... Well, if they weren’t a couple I didn’t know what they were.
Even Apple seemed mildly uncomfortable as she watched them hold hands while walking through the hallway, and so now even she was reaching her breaking point. “Now y’all just listen here...” she said in her serious voice, but gave up as she realized Kashu didn’t even really care. But suddenly an idea sprang to mind. “Hey! Since we all wanna eat good food, why not have a cookin contest?” Now this, This was something Dula could get into. She had cooked countless gourmets before, and she wasn’t about to lose to some country girl. I eyed Apple, not particularly certain she knew how to do this kind of thing. “But... there’s a catch! Literally, y’all have to catch an animal!” But still, the couple was undeterred. Kashu had some hunting experience after all.
So now I was the judge and as they wandered through the forest I couldn’t help but feel how ridiculous these competitions were getting. “Hey, shouldn’t we reconsider?” I asked both sides, but neither would budge. As a western movie would say, “it’s my way or the highway”. And so they begun, but as Kashu and Dula confidently looked through the forest, finding game and setting traps, Apple confidently held her lasso, not really doing anything herself. I realized a bit too late her plan; the others were merely too absorbed with chatting to realize. Apple wrapped her roped around the couple, with Dula Chan tripping, snagging her shirt and accidentally revealing her midriff. Kashu’s face grew a deep red as the trap released and the hunt was Apple’s.
“Ya two want to be together, well, there you go.” She said, laughing at them. But I couldn’t help but intervene. I put a hand on her shoulder.
“Hey, Apple. Let’s call it off. It’s not worth it. It’s kind of my fault that my other two friends didn’t receive as much attention. To be honest... I’ve been getting captivated by you, in a way that I’ve never felt before. And I guess we all got caught in our thoughts.” Everyone was surprised by this confession, including myself. But I felt it was the right thing to do.
“Aww shucks,” She said, her face growing red for the first time in forever, “thanks for that. And folks, I’m sorry too for getting carried away.” The two hesitated a little, but then their faces relaxed. We had been friends for years, after all. We embraced each other in a group hug.
“Uh, can you release us though, Bloom Chan? This rope’s uncomfortable...”
And so class and our social circle resumed normal activity. Everything seemed fine... until the transfer student arrived. But that’s a story for another time...