Izumi Natsumura 9

1:12

"So, after recess, we went back to class, Horinomi-sensei started talking and writing about whatever, and I couldn't sleep 'cause I was thinking about how smart Hanna-san was 'cause she was always thinking a lot about everything—

"But that doesn't make me Smart," Hanna-san interrupts me "Thinking about everything is nothing more than a logical way of acting, it's just common sense."

"That something someone Smart would say," says Sotoka-chan. "But, anyway, go ahead, Izumi-chan.

Yes, Sotoka-chan just called me Izumi-chan.

XD x ∞

And that's why she deserves a treat.

"SOTOKA-CHAN!" I yell and hug her, and she yells—she always does—and our bruises hurt so much and all, but it doesn't matter 'cause we're together, and— "OW, OW, OW, OW!" Someone's puling my ear.

"Just leave her already, Izumi," says Ino, who else?

I don't wanna let Sotoka-chan go, but she's still bruised and she still doesn't like my hugs that much, and Ino's not gonna let me go until I let Sotoka-chan go, so I let her go.

:'(

And Ino let me go.

:'(

My ear still hurt.

:'(

"Ha!" says Ino. "I just needed to pull your ear all this time. Why didn't I think about it before?"

"Well, Izumi-chan," says Sotoka-chan. "Calm down, calm down. Better tell us what happened."

"Ok, so I was thinking Hanna-san's pretty smart; maybe I should be more like her; if I think everything from every possible angle—

"That's impossible," Hanna-san interrupts me.

"Yeah, whatever, if I think everything from the most possible angles, I won't screw anything up, but I'm not, actually; we got Hanna-san, but we still need another member, and Sotoka-chan still isn't a big fan of my hugs, but she'd hugged me more than once, but I have a lot more hugs to give her, and we're gonna be together forever at ANIME LIFE so she can get used to my hugs, but for that we need the last member to make ANIME LIFE a real club, and if it is, no one would get Sotoka-chan to join their real club, and she's gonna stay with me forever, and everything will be perfect always, so it's decided: I'm gonna think everything for every possible angle, and I took out the sheet of paper where I write my ideas.

"Here it is:

[IDEAS.jpg in the first comment]

"A I thought my best idea was to get Yuri Okabe in our club; if I get 'er in, we'll have five members, and everyone's gonna notice 'er and leave Sotoka-chan alone, and she's gonna be just for me, and—

"But Yuri's on the soccer team, and she's quite popular. She must be like the team's Sotoka-chan, so if I get 'er out the soccer team to get 'er into the ANIME LIFE, the girls from the team will get mad at us and they'll be a total nuisance, and if they're a nuisance, they'll be a nuisance for Sotoka-chan, and I can't let that happen.

"So I must think about something else.

"But Yuri must know everyone, even the people who aren't in any club, and I bet if she asks 'em to join the ANIME LIFE, they will. I can ask 'er for help. And I can even pay 'er, but I hope she doesn't really charge me that much, 'cause there's a lot of manga I wanna buy, and I've already spent too much on flyers, and I haven't sold that much stuff online this last weeks, and she only has to get us one person. Shouldn't be that hard for her.

"But she surely has a lot to do, so she'll probably say no.

"Maybe I should ask for Sotoka-chan's help. And maybe Hanna-san's, too; Hanna-san's very smart, even though I don't really know 'er, and maybe she'll think I want to get Yuri into the club, and she'll try to get 'er in, and maybe she will, and if she does we'll have a huge problem with the rest of the soccer team.

"That's why it'd be better to leave Hanna-san outta this."

"Oh, that explains why you really wanted me to leave," says Hanna-san. "But, ironically, your weird behavior and your lack of explaining made me think exactly what you didn't want me to."

Ino laughs.

"So, your plan was a total success, then, Izumi."

"Shut up!" I yell at 'er. "No one asked you! And I only thought the best option was to leave 'er outta everything to avoid misunderstandings."

"That doesn't make any sense," says Hanna-san. "Most of misunderstandings occur because of lack of communication. That's why I always try to explain myself as clearly as possible."

"Yeah, why did you think that?" Ino's such a nuisance. "That's stupid. Oh, wait, but you're Izumi and all your ideas are stupid. Sorry, I forgot."

"Shut up, Ino! And, yeah, it makes sense now, but then I didn't thought about it, 'cause I was thinking about asking Sotoka-chan for help, 'cause Sotoka-chan almost got us a lot of members when we were at the library, but Ino's always with 'er, and she's always mad and she was the one who scared 'em away."

"What?!" Ino yells angrily, as always. "It was you who scared then away! I didn't do anything that time!"

"Look how you always get angry?" I asked her with a smile. Take that, Ino! "No wonder why you scare 'em away. That's why I thought if I tell Sotoka-chan, you'll find out and ruin everything, as always, and, besides, I didn't had time to tell 'em 'cause Yuri probably had soccer practice after class, so I had to talk to 'er before that, 'cause I did't think talk to her in front of all the soccer team was a good idea, and the last time I was with 'em, Ino threw at 'em all our flyers, and I bet they're really mad at us 'cause of that—and I don't blame 'em; Ino always ruins everything."

"Shut up!" Ino ruined my speech by interrupting me. "You're the one who always ruins everything!"

"Nuh-uh!"

"Ya-uh!"

"Nuh-uh!"

"Ya-uh!"

"Hey," says Sotoka-chan. "Can't you two be five minutes without yelling at each other? What will Khanna-san think about you?"

"Nothing," replies Hanna-san. "I don't really understand what's happening right now."

"But just look at them," says Sotoka-chan, "don't you think they look like toddlers arguing that way?"

"Maybe, but I don't know their circumstances well enough to make an opinion about. And, honestly, I don't care; it has nothing to do with me."

"That's the spirit!" Yells Ino and raises her hand for a high-five from Hanna-san.

But Hanna-san just stares at it.

"What? You don't know what a high-five is?"

"Oh, so it's that," says Hanna-san. "But why you want to high those five? I don't get it."

Ino puts her hand down.

"Don't worry; you've ruined it."

"But why?" Asks Hanna-san. "I didn't do anything."

"And that's the problem. If someone wants to high-five you high-five."

"But how would I know someone wants to—"

"Pa pa pa pa pa," Ino puts two fingers in front of Hanna-san's mouth, and Hanna-san shuts up. "If someone wants to high-five you high-five. Okay?"

"So, anyway," says Sotoka-chan. "Go ahead, Izumi-san."

"So, I was thinking it wasn't a good idea to let 'em see me talking to Yuri, especially 'cause we never talk to each other, so I had to find 'er fast and convince 'er to help us.

"I put all my stuff in my backpack so I wouldn't waste time later and fell asleep for the rest of the class.

2:30

"When class was over, I took my backpack and told you two:

"Go to the library; I'll be with you in a moment," and I got out of our classroom and ran by the other ones and looked through the Windows to find Yuri until I did, and I got in that classroom but Hanna-san was there too, and I told 'er to leave but she's so smart I think she suspected something."

"Well, yeah," says Hanna-san, "you were really weird that time, and you said you wanted to talk to her about the ANIME LIFE. It was obvious to me you wanted to recruit her."

"I just told you that 'cause I couldn't think of something else."

"What do you expect? You never think," says that god damned Ino. But I'm not gonna let her get in my nerves.

"Sure, whatever, the thing is I got Hanna-san out and asked Yuri in I could talk to her, and she told me:

"'I have practice now, but we can talk on the way, if you want.'

"'Ok' I told 'er, and we letf the classroom. Outside there was a lot of people, and everyone was glaring at us.

"'Fuck,' Yuri whispered.

"So Yuri took me by the hand, and we ran as fast as we could through the hallway and down the stairs, and there was still a lot of people glaring at us, and we got outta school and ran to the school's back and stayed there.

"'There's nobody here, right?' She asked me, but I didn't know, so I shrugged. 'Good. They have nothing better to do that watch and judge everyone else. I really hate 'em.'

"And I told 'er:

"'Yeah, right. Maybe you don't remember me, but I'm one of the girls at ANIME LIFE.'

"And she told me:

"'Yeah, I do remember you. Hamano-san is with you, girls, right?'

"I didn't like she was talking about Sotoka-chan; why would she care who is Sotoka-chan with? And that's why I told 'er:

"'Yeah, but she's my Sotoka-chan. Get someone else.'

"And Yuri stared at me confused, and then she smiled at me. She looked so pretty, but not as much as you, Sotoka-chan. You win by a mile and back 'cause you're so beautiful and perfect and—"

"Shut up and continue with your story!" Ino yelled.

"That doesn't make any sense—no one can shut up and continue with their story at the same time," says Hanna-san, and she's right. That thing Ino said makes no sense. Ha! Ino's so dumb.

"You know what I meant," says Ino the dummy.

Ha! Dummy.

XD

Anyway, back to my story.

"So Yuri smiled at me and told me:

"'Yeah, Hamano-san's kinda special. People talk a lot about 'er, you know?'

"Well, that's no surprise 'cause Sotoka-chan's beautiful and kind and perfect, and I bet everyone love 'er, but she's my Sotoka-chan, and no one's gonna take 'er away from m—"

"'But not everything they say 'bout 'er's nice. Actually, almost anything they say's nice, but that always happens. It doesn't matter what you do, or what have you done, that always happens,' Yuri seemed sad when she said this.

"'Whatever,' I said, 'you're popular and you know everyone, so I wanted to know if you could help us get our last member.'

"And she stared at me the same way everyone stares at me and asked me:

"'The last one? Weren't you only Hamano-san, Yamamoto-san and you?'

"And I said:

"'Yeah, but Hanna-san joined us.'

"And she was still staring me the same way everyone stares at me and asked me:

"'Who?'

"'Hanna-san,' I told 'er, 'the one I spoke to a little while ago, before talking to you.'

"��Ah, right, Khanna-san. Sorry, I just heard you calling her Hanna-san.'

"'Yes, I did.'

"And again she stared at me as everyone always stare at me.

"'You know shes's called Khanna-san, right?'

"'Yes, but I call 'er Hanna-san.'

"'Oh… sure, whatever. So, she's in your club? Congrats," she took off 'er pone and looked at the time. 'Fuck,' she whispered again. 'Wanna walk with me to the soccer field? It's so late.'

2:35

"And we walked to the soccer field, which weren't really far away, but Yuri was walking really slow for some reason.

"'So, you'll help us getting the last member, right?' I asked 'er.

"But I think she didn't hear me. She was surely thinking about something else.

"'Hey, Yuri, can I call you Yuri? Yuri?' I shook Yuri's shoulder, and she got a little scared.

"Aw, poor girl," says Sotoka-chan, "she surely has so many thing on her mind, and you were only bothering her."

"I just wanted to ask 'er if she was gonna help me or not." I reply.

"Normally I would agree with you," says Hanna-san, "but under Yuri's circumstances—she's clearly into a lot of pressure—I don't believe you should have asked her anything."

"But I didn't know if she was gonna help me or not."

"Yes, but at least you should have waited to get to the soccer fields to ask her," says Sotoka-chan.

"No, she did the right think," says Ino, and me and Sotoka-chan stare at 'er a little weirded out, 'cause it's so weird she's agreeing with me at something. I don't like it >:( "What? Yuri Okabe was just fooling around. If she didn't wanted to help you, she should've just told you."

"Yeah, right, thanks, Ino," ?! "So Yuri got scared and she told me:"

"'Oh, sorry, what did you say? I was just thinking about everything I gotta do today, and it's so late right now and—"

"'But you're gonna help us, right?' I asked 'er, but she was still talking.

"'I still have to do Fujimoto-san's chores and organize the sports and the culture festi—

"Wait," Ino interrupts me, "Yuri Okabe's in the student council?"

"I guess," replies Sotoka-chan. "She's onto everything. She must be the vice-president or something."

"You should have asked her, Izumi," says Ino.

"What for?" I ask.

"Izumi's right," says Hanna-san. "The fact Yuri i sor isn't in the student council has nothing to do with us."

"Well, no," says Ino, "but—"

"Even though, if she's in the student council," Hanna-san puts her hand on her chin and seems to be thinking very seriously, "she could help us a lot in the club's creation and in all the paperwork. Maybe it is a great idea to know if she's in the student council so she could be useful to us."

"Well, I didn't ask, but she… Where was I?

I forgot :(

"You were saying Yuri Okabe had to organize both festivals," says Sotoka-chan.

"Oh, yeah, thanks, Sotoka-chan! Anyway, then she said:"

"'but it's fine. It's fine. I enjoy it. Sometimes I feel like I'm running a marathon or something, and there's no finish line, but, anyway, it doesn't matter. We must do some sacrifices to get to into a nice college, right? And everyone's doing it. And I enjoy it, I really do.'

"'Ummmm, ok, but you're gonna help us, right?'

"'Yuri-chan, Yuri-chan, where have you been?' Said some girl. There were a lot of girls around us. We hadn't arrived to the soccer fields yet, but maybe they saw Yuri and ran towards 'er. They started asking 'er questions like:

"'Yuri-chan, everything all right?'

"'Yuri-chan, you're so late. What happened?'

"'Yeah, yeah, like everything's fine. Don't worry,' said Yuri, but they didn't listen to 'er.

"'Yuri-chan, we were waiting for you.'

"'So, you're gonna help the ANIME LIFE, Yuri?'

"'Yuri-chan, you can't be late for practice; you're the captain.'

"'Yuri-chan, next time try to be more responsible.'

"'Yeah, yeah, I'll go change,' said Yuri, but they didn't listen to 'er.

"'Yuri-chan, go change coz the coach's super pissed atcha.'

"'Yuri-chan, after practice, can we go study at your place as always?'

"'Yeah, yeah we'll see,' said Yuri, but…

"'You're gonna help the ANIME LIFE or not?'

"'Yuri-chan, president Fujimoto told me to tell you there's a meeting tomorrow.'

"'Yuri-chan, can I borrow your notes?'

"'Yuri-chan, can you help me with homework?'

"'Yuri-chan, can you introduce me to Mao-kun? He's kinda cute ♥'

"'If you're not gonna help the ANIME LIFE, just tell me, then!'

"'Yuri-chan, how's the piano classes going?'

"'Yuri-chan, and how are the festivals going? There's just a couple weeks left.'

"'Yuri-chan, you started studying for the mid-terms?'

"'Yuri-chan, I hope you stop going down on the student ranking.'

"Just tell me if you're gonna help the ANIME LIFE, Yuri! Yuri! Yuri! Yuri! Yuri!'

"Then Yuri dropped a bag where she may had her sports uniform.

"'I'm so sick of this!' She yelled, turned around and started to walk away.

"But they asked 'er things like:

"'Where you going, Yuri-chan?'

"'And what about practice, Yuri-chan?'

"'Yeah, regionals are just around the corner.'

"But she yelled:

"'I don't care! I don't care anymore!' and she ran away.

And left me alone with 'em.