**

Within the small interiors of a corner-store cafe, two girls sat opposite of eachother- each bathing in the beaming sun. The rays of light which shone through the seamless glass window reflected off the pairs differing hair tones, one radiating with a soft peach glow, while the other a faint purple radiance.

Behind them; empty booths which stretched along the elongated horizontal storefront. To one’s right and the other’s left; pictures of staff and customers, one of which being Tensai. Then in the corner which was parallel with the door, a little antique wooden bar.

“So, then…”

The girl with light pink hair spoke with anticipation, as the recipient was… listening intently..?

“Hey! Are you listening to me?! Akari!”

Akari, who was previously engrossed within the world of her laptop, brought her head up and met Yuki’s gaze.

“Huh? Oh, yeah… I’m listening. Bridget, right?”

Immediately after finishing her sentence, her eyes were again set on the illuminating computer screen. The metallic backside shone in Yuki’s face, further irritating her.

“No, you clearly aren’t!..”

Yuki took a pretentious approach- her face gleaming with an audacious glint, as if a princess being ignored by her prince.

*ding… ding

Before Akari or Yuki could continue their quarrel(?) any longer, two boys the same age as them made their way through the cafe’s glass door. This resulted in both the bell ringing and Yuki’s attention.

The two sat down behind the girls, one on the phone while the other listened intently to any clues given from their conversation.

“What do you mean you can’t come???”

The boy who was reciprocating the call had shown a face of dissatisfaction as he pushed for answers. After he said that, the other boy started to vent his anger.

“The hell do you mean?!? He’s not coming again?!!”

Since he was left out of the conversation, everything he said was more of an inquiry to figure out the facts of the situation.

As that was happening, Yuki started whispering to Akari, who was now typing away on her computer.

“Hey~ isn’t that Ren?”

Akari looked up for a second, then back down.

“Yeah. Looks like it.”

It seems she could care less.

“Why is he hanging out with someone so brutish?”

Yuki was referring to Lucas, of course.

“Hm? I don’t know…”

“Really? Aren’t you popular people supposed to know each other..?”

Akari didn’t even respond to that one. She could really care less. She just continued typing notes and switching between tabs.

Lucas continued his rant of inquiry and scolding.

“What is wrong with him??!”

Ignoring Lucas, Ren continued.

“Come on Koji. How about later?..”

Ren paused, waiting for an answer.

“You can’t come later either?”

“Hey Ren, make him promise we hang out tomorrow or else we each get $20.”

Lucas went from inquisitions to conniving deals.

Akari perked her head.

“Koji?” She muttered.

“Hm? What Akari?..”

Akari ignored Yuki again and promptly stood up, taking Yuki by surprise. Ren was still talking to Koji on the phone, so he hadn’t realized Akari was standing menacingly over him.

Lucas on the other hand did, and was quite confused. In fact, both Lucas and Yuki watched in puzzlement.

“Then-“

Akari snagged the phone right off of Ren’s ear, now making him well aware of her presence. Now the three of them all watched in disbelief as Akari put the phone to her ear, pushing back her hair, and starting a conversation with Koji.

“You aren’t skipping our plans too, are you?!?”

That was the first thing she said. Koji’s face must have looked akin to Ren, Yuki and Lucas’s. All of them just stared blankly at Akari- each one too frozen to move, let alone say anything.

“Huh? Akari???”

The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

Koji’s voice could only be heard by Akari herself, of course.

“Yes. Akari. Now are you ditching our plans too, or no?”

Akari was very cold and indifferent. The only thing she seeked was an answer.

“Uh… yeah? The courts later today, right? Yeah, that’s fine…”

“Ok, good. See you.”

“Uh, oka-“

Akari took the phone off her ear and placed it back into Ren’s hand, which was still in the same position as it was when snagged from his ear.

“Really sorry about that…” Akari swiftly apologized while bowing, then turned to Yuki.

“I’m gonna head out now, Yuki. See you tomorrow.”

Yuki said nothing, but slowly nodded her head- not exactly sure as to what she was nodding to.

*Ding…

The bell on the door rang out as Akari walked out the cafe.

Lucas was still frozen, and so was Yuki.

In fact, even Koji was silent on the other end.

Ren took this opportunity to ask a question- turning his head to Yuki.

“Hey… what was that about?”

**

In the midst of the setting sun, Akari stood outside a small two story house. It had chipped paint and a cracked driveway, but was in overall decent shape. As if a kind of in between trashy and well-off.

She patiently awaited for the call recipient to answer the phone- but to no avail. And so, she kept her stance at the bottom of cracked, stone stairs which lead to the front door. As she did, she kept calling.

“Tch.”

While she wasn’t exactly annoyed, it was a bit of an inconvenience.

*creeeeeek…

As she was on her 5th phone call, the house's front door opened halfway- revealing the head of a middle aged woman with an apron on. She had long black hair which she hid behind her ears, and a face which seemed fairly stressed out.

“May I ask who you are..?”

Akari was a bit surprised by the woman’s sudden appearance, but maintained her cool.

“Oh, pardon me. I’m waiting for Koji… would he happen to be your son?”

“Oh dear! Yes, he is…”

Koji’s mom opened the door fully, revealing behind her a warmly lit kitchen.

“Please, come in. Koji should be ready soon…”

Her voice was very sweet and welcoming, and so Akari made her way into Koji’s house, via the invite from his Mom of course

As Akari was halfway through the doorway, Mrs. Thompson asked a question:

“So, how do you know Koji..?”

“Oh, we are cla-“

Akari froze for a second, correcting herself.

“Friends… we’re friends.”

Akari chuckled, as Mrs. Thompson closed the door behind her.

**

As Koji pulled up the waistband of the shorts over his boxers, he turned around to close the glass shower door. Turning back around, he fluffed his hair out with damp hands and walked over to his sink- throwing some cold water onto his face.

When he was done, he started looking around for a shirt.

“…”

But, he couldn’t find one.

‘Did I forget a shirt?’

He scavenged through every corner of the bathroom, before coming to the conclusion that he definitely forgot a shirt.

Now stuck shirtless in a steamy bathroom, he opened the door and called to his Mom. The steam dispersed into the wood-tiled hallway, as Koji started walking down the stairs.

“Hey Mom! Where did you put my-“

And there she was. Koji’s mom.

No, no, Akari.

Akari and Koji’s mom actually. His dad was there too, but he seemed a bit departed from the other two.

“Oh, hi Ko. Your shirts are in my room along with the rest of your laundry. Anyway, Akari came by to pick you up…”

“AH!”

Koji quickly blushed and darted to the top of the staircase, where he could no longer be seen.

Unbeknownst to Koji, Akari was also blushing. She wasn’t expecting Koji to come strolling down the stairs with no shirt on…

However, she quickly regained her composure.

“Hi Koji. Sorry for intruding.”

Seeing, no, hearing Akari being so formal was kind of odd. Even if it was just because his parents were present.

“Uh, yeah-yeah, sure- hold on…”

Koji’s voice quivered as it trailed off due to him going to fetch a shirt.

After about 30 seconds, he came back down, this time with a shirt covering his stomach.

“So, you two are going to play basketball?”

“Uh- oh, yeah, yeah...”

Koji was still really shooken.

“I’ll be sure to not keep him out too late, Mrs. Thompson.”

“Oh, Akari my dear, I’m sure it would be Koji holding you up if anything…”

Both Akari and Mrs. Thompson started breaking out into laughter, as the two men of the house were both quiet. Although one for very differing reasons from the other.

“Alright… c’mon Akari, let’s go…”

Koji was eager to get out of his mother’s sight with Akari present. He couldn’t risk any embarrassing stories being shared over tea…

“Oh Ko, so eager… Well then, you two have fun then.”

Akari stood up as Koji started to open the door.

“Thank you so much Mrs. Thompson. We’ll be back shortly.”

Akari then waved to her new girl-friend and left with Koji, who couldn’t be more antsy to get out of that place…

The door shut behind Akari, as Koji followed her down the steps.

“What the hell is wrong with you?”

“Hm? What do you mean?”

Akari started snickering.

“Anyway, aren’t you missing something?”

Koji turned his head in confusement, until he looked down.

He had to go back inside to grab a ball…

**

Under the now night sky, Akari and Koji stood on the blacktop, ready to start playing. Or more so Koji was ready to start playing…

“You just gonna rebound again today?”

“Yup! Butttt… I got something for you.”

Koji blushed a bit as Akari stretched her arms out with a few pieces of stapled paper.

Grabbing said papers, Koji flipped through them, each page leaving a new level of shock on his face.

“I-Is this a workout regimen???”

“Yup! Proud of me?” Akari said pretentiously as she stood tall.

“Y-Yes actually… I was having trouble with filling out a plan… But this!”

Koji flipped through the papers one more time before looking at Akari with wide eyes.

“Thank you so much, Akari! Seriously…”

Koji was in too much shock to feel embarrassment. Akari however…

“O- Oh! Uhm, ye-yeah. No problem…”

She put her head down as it filled with a red hue. She put her hands together and started squirming, not being able to handle the embarrassment.

“Wait… You didn’t even know different sports had different trainings just yesterday… so how did you..?”

“Oh. I-It was nothing. Just took a little bit of effort on my half, that’s all…”

Koji smiled warmly at Akari. This was something Akari was never exposed to before, so it took her off guard.

“I’ll make sure to put in “a little bit of effort” too then…”

Koji’s voice was silky smooth as he said that, making Akari blush even more. But again, Koji didn’t notice- he was too engrossed in everything else.

“I’m gonna make small adjustments, then we can start, okay?”

Koji started walking over towards the bench so that he could take a more in-depth look at the regimen.

“Mhm…”

Akari appeared very submissive as she spoke- her lips folding in on each other and her face beat red. She had to redeem herself somehow…

And so, Akari gritted her teeth and forced out a voice which hinted at teasing malice.

“J-Just make sure to not adjust any of the abdominal trainings… After what I saw back there- you need any training you can get…”

Koji looked up at her from the bench. In response, Akari quivered for a second, wondering if she took it too far. She had never been so mean to him before…

“Sounds good. I’ll listen to my trainer on this one.”

His voice was full of excitement and suspense. He didn’t care about the insults which would’ve made most embarrassed. Instead, he was truly thankful to Akari.

He even called her his trainer!

In response, Akari had no choice but to turn away. Her face was too red, and she could no longer suppress her broken smile and wide eyes.

“F-fine… you win…” She whispered to herself.

**

End Chapter 7:

A Lost Battle Isn’t a Lost War