"Yaegashi?"

"Present!"

"Hiroko?"

"Present!"

"Narahashi?"

"Present!"

A plump girl with a low ponytail sat at the very back of the classroom, nervously bit her lower lip, her eyes quietly glancing to her right, expecting that her best friend would magically appear and sit down by her side. However, the spot beside her is still empty and no sign of Haruna seems to come. She has spammed her with multiple messages and phone calls but some time past ten in the morning, she stopped replying. She has already missed the entrance ceremony but that wasn't much of a big deal, to her at least. What could have caused her to miss an event? She wonders.

"Miss Habakiri" Miss Nakatsuka, a woman with olive skin and hair tied into a low ponytail calls her attention. "May I ask why are you opening the door?"

Madoka, the plump girl with a low ponytail and clad with Sacred Heart's uniform blinks her eyes twice before chuckling softly. "The air in the back is quite humid, miss!" She lies, raising a hand and fanning it against her face. "I'll leave the door open for a bit just to cool myself!"

Miss Nakatsuka stared at Madoka for a solid second before diverting her attention back to the class list. Madoka could only let out a sigh of relief, glad that her teacher has bought her lie. Sinking back down in her seat, she closes her hand into a fist before resting a hat on top her hand, slowly raising it up a little.

"Tachibana?"

"She's here, miss!" Madoka spoke, using her free hand to point at the still empty spot besides her.

Miss Nakatsuka lets out a sigh through her nostrils, her shoulders dropping to her sides. "I'm sure you know one of the rules of the school, Miss Tachibana. Hats off."

Madoka gulps what feels like a thick lump in her throat, nervously chuckling to herself. "I-It's alright, Haruna. We all do get bad hair days sometimes..."

Slowly, just as Madoka is about to remove the hat off her closed fist hand, Haruna crouched from the outside of the classroom, sliding her bag inside the parted door before sliding through the gap and to her seat. Quietly sliding her head up to fit the hat on top of her head. Sitting up straight, she removes Madoka's hat from her head and smiles at Miss Nakatsuka brightly.

"Would you at least tell me why you're late?" Madoka asks as soon as third period ends. In reeling is their fifteen minute break before fourth period commences. "When the teachers were asking me where you were during the ceremony, I lied and said that you're stuck in the bathroom with a diarrhea!"

With a pout on her lips, Haruna presses both of her palms together and hangs her head low towards Madoka.

"As an apology, let's go to Cactus after class!" Madoka beams, showing to Haruna flyer from the bakery. "Apparently, they're most popular item on the menu are their stuffed breads! Hopefully they have a yakisoba bread!"

As a response, Haruna smiles brightly and nods her head.

"HARUNA!"

Not only did Madoka and Haruna turn their head to look outside their window, but all the girls from wherever they are currently at, turned their heads towards the source of the voice. The ones who remained inside their classroom surged into the hallway to look outside the window. Slowly did the two of them went outside of their classroom and peered out the window.

A small gasp escapes Haruna's lips; the figures of two guys from Pothos stood outside. The guy whom made her heart race held her bento box in his hands. Seeing him again made her heart flutter with excitement and her stomach churned with anxiety. She felt as if she was going to collapse on the spot. When she wishes that she would be able to see him again, she didn't expect it to happen so soon.

"What does that mean?!" Madoka exclaims, her eyes wide at the two Furin students in their campus. "Do you know these guys, Haruna?" As Madoka turns her head to look at Haruna, she is once again, not by her side anymore. Madoka blinks her eyes twice. "Haruna?"

For every step that she takes, Haruna could feel her heart beating faster. She wanted to fume and wave her arms at Kotoha for asking him to bring her lunch to school. However, at the same time, she felt giddy, happy and nervous. A mixture of emotions swirls inside her. The closer she is to the main doors, the more she could feel her body shaking.

Exiting the main doors, she draws closer towards the two tone haired boy. Reaching closer, Haruna did not miss the way he averted his gaze as soon as she stood in front of him. His hand then ushered her lunch box towards her, behind him is the same messy blond haired boy who nervously waved hello to her.

Extending her hands out, she took her bento from his hands and when she did, all the girls erupt into cheers. Haruna did not pay attention to them. Her attention was only on the guy before her, as he did not move his gaze away from the ground.

"Nice one, Haruna!"

"That's Furin's Ideal Type for you!"

"You're the first guy who summoned her!"

"We're counting on you, Haruna's Prince!"

"Go out with her!"

"Get married already!"

"They're like Beauty and the Beast!"

She wanted to open her mouth, tell him thank you and sorry for the trouble she has caused to him. But she couldn't. All Haruna could do is to paint her lips with a small smile. 

The face of the boy who stood in front of her already looked like a tomato with how red his face is. He couldn't even look at her in the eyes. The more that he stood in front of her, the more he could feel his face warming up.

"Haruna, go ahead and give him your first kiss!"

"Kiss him!"

"Yeah, do it!"

"Get back inside will you?!" He shouts, making both Haruna and the boy behind him jump. As he turns away, he stomps out of the school's campus. The boy who hid behind him waved his hand at her for one last time before running after him. "Sakura, wait up!"

Sakura. So that is his name.

Watching them leave, the small smile remains painted on her lips, her hand holding onto her bento firmly.

. . . . . . . . . . ♡

"Let me get this straight," Madoka begins to say, holding onto a yakisoba bread while sitting at a bench outside of Cactus bakery. "The guy who gave you your bento earlier is the same guy why you weren't able to sleep last night?"

Taking a bite out of her slightly spicy and stuffed to the brim curry bread, Haruna nods her head to Madoka's question.

"I see." Madoka spoke, taking the first bite on her bread. "You're in love."

Just as Haruna is about to take a second bite, she whips her head immediately to look Madoka incredulously.

"What?" Madoka asks, blinking her eyes twice at her. "You don't believe me? It's written all over your face." She reasons, swallowing down the food inside her mouth. "A year ago, you would reject guys by just walking away or turning your head away from them. But today, you felt something didn't you?"

"I'm no prophet, Haruna. But even I can tell that you're very much in love." Madoka reasons, settling her yakisoba bread down to her lap as she peels the plastic lid off her strawberry milk, placing it down on the bench between them.

If she is in love, then it means that love must feel this way. She couldn't find the exact right words to describe what she feels for him, all she knows is that she feels shy whenever around him yet at the same time wants to be around him more often. Haruna made a mental note to look up on the internet what it feels like to be in love.

"Oh, would you look at that." Madoka speaks up, pulling Haruna out of her reverie. Raising her left hand, she points a finger from the right direction. "Your prince charming is coming here. I guess they're patrolling or something." She adds.

Tilting her head to look at where Madoka is pointing, she spots him, Sakura rather, walking while eating a taiyaki in one hand. She could already feel her face heating up, as she watches him walking closer towards them. Haruna is silent as she continues to stare at him, watching as he looks at the taiyaki in his hand, but the moment he turns his head and their eyes meet both of them fluster at the same time.

Sakura turns his head to look away all the while Haruna uses both her curry bread and bottle of milk to cover her face.

"Yo, Haruna!" Hiragi greets, raising a hand up besides his head. When he notices something, he turns his head to look at both Haruna and Sakura; one uses her food to cover her face while the other has the tail of their taiyaki sticking out of ther mouth while looking away. In confusion, Hiragi blinks.

"What are they doing?"

"I have no idea"