Lunch Together

I giggled, still a bit shocked over how attentive Yuri seemed to be this time.

"Hi, Yuri! You look really happy, did something good happen?"

Yuri smiled to herself dreamily.

"I... was able to make a friend. I never thought it was possible. And... And... they were the ones that proposed the offer!"

I clapped.

"Wow! That sounds great!"

Yuri suddenly tightened the grip on her book.

"But I'm not the most interesting person to be friends with. D-Do you think they would leave me after they find out that I'm a boring person?"

I blinked a few times, surprised at how fast she went from happy, to anxious.

"Hehe, you're overthinking it, Yuri! I'm sure if they chose to be your friend, then they would like to be with you, just the way you are."

Yuri covered the bottom of her face with her book.

"Mm... I hope so."

I then leaned over and tugged her sleeve softly.

"And I'm your friend too, don't you know? So you are definitely a great person."

Yuri quite literally jumped in her seat from surprise.

"E-Eh!? What do you mean? Y-You're willing to become friends with someone like me?"

I giggled. She was so tall and mature looking, but was so cute in her own way as well!

"Of course! Ah, unless..."

Yuri blinked a few times before a flustered expression formed on her face.

"U-Unless?"

I pouted exaggeratedly. I secretly prayed that I wouldn't be found out, though I knew it was extremely obvious.

"Unless you don't want to be friends with me!"

Yuri let go of her book and raised both hands just above her shoulders.

"Wah! No way! U-Um, but not in the way that I don't want to be friends. I really really want to be friends, especially if it's with someone like you!"

Despite the fact I was teasing her, I couldn't help but blush a little from her enthusiastic response.

"A-Ah, is that so?"

Yuri grabbed onto both of my hands which sent a jolt of electricity through my body.

"Of course!"

I blushed even harder and gently pulled away.

"O-Ok, I got it then."

Yuri slowly pulled away too, and afterwards she began blushing as hard as I was as though realizing what she had just done.

"U-Um, I don't mean to force it on you or anything."

I smiled as I truly was filled with so much happiness that she was so willing.

"It's not forced, really."

Yuri gave a small nod.

"O-Ok."

I then saw the teacher looking at us from the blackboard. Although she hadn't started yet, she seemed to be starting soon and didn't seem too pleased. I whispered to Yuri.

"Class is starting! We should focus now."

Yuri hastily nodded and whispered back.

"O-Ok!"

Yuri and I both became silent as we focused on the teacher's lesson. The teacher wasn't all that enthusiastic at the start, focusing intently on us. But it seemed like after noticing we weren't going to stir up a fuss, the lesson went on accordingly.

Then, the bell rang.

Yuri looked at me with a soft smile.

"Um, goodbye! I can't wait to see you tomorrow!"

I panicked a little.

"E-Eh? Ah, did we set up some plan or something like that?"

Yuri blinked a few times in surprise.

"D-Did we?"

I pressed the tips of my index fingers together.

"Er, it's just that you made it sound like we made some plans to go out tomorrow."

Yuri hurriedly waved in front of her with a beet-red face.

"A-Ah! No, I was just talking about tomorrow in school!"

I blinked a few times, feeling confused.

"Oh... ok!"

Yuri fidgeted, rocking back and forth slightly with her hands tightly clasped together.

"B-But if you really are willing to be friends with me, then maybe we can have lunch together w-with my other friend?"

I gave her a thumbs up.

"Of course! That's perfect, as I think I could maybe... invite some others as well!"

The person on my mind was both Natsuki and maybe Monika. The only problem was that they were both a slight bit of a stretch because Natsuki didn't show up last time, while Monika might not show up again.

Though, when Yuri heard it, she shivered.

"U-Um, I'm not too good with a lot of people!"

I let out a laugh.

"I'm only thinking of bringing two people! Is that ok?"

Yuri let out a sigh of relief and slowly nodded.

"I thought if it was someone like you, then you would have hundreds of friends..."

I couldn't help but gasp in surprise.

"I don't have nearly that amount! I-In fact, I'm not all that sure if I have more than two if I count you..."

Yuri's eyes widened as though that was the most shocking thing she had ever heard.

"B-But someone like you must have many friends!"

I slowly diverted my gaze to the ground.

"Really?"

Yuri seemed to become nervous.

"U-Um, that's what I thought."

I bit the bottom of my lip, but tried my best to hold back so that I didn't start bleeding. Out of nowhere, I suddenly reached out to grab onto Yuri's hand.

"Anyway, let's go! Lunch is going to be over at this rate!"

I proceeded to drag her out of the classroom without a second thought, but before we got out, Yuri cried out.

"Wait! We haven't taken our things yet!"

I froze in place before turning around to see that both of our backpacks were still at our seats.

"A-Ah. Let's do that first then."

We tidied up our things and walked out of the room normally. I led the way, going down towards the cafeteria, but Yuri was frantically looking around her, searching desperately.

I was a little curious and wanted to ask, but held myself back.

Once we closed in on the cafeteria, Yuri suddenly rooted to the spot, unwilling to move another step closer. She looked horrified.

I turned to her with a curious look.

"Is something wrong?"

Yuri stuttered.

"U-Um, I don't want to go in there."

She pointed towards the cafeteria door with a trembling finger.

A bitter smile formed on my face.

"...But then how will we eat lunch together?"

Yuri looked down at the ground.

"C-Could we please do it somewhere else?"

I looked for a few seconds and saw how her body seemed to reject the very idea of being in the cafeteria, then nodded.

"Ok. I'll just go in there for a little bit to buy something I can take out to eat."

Yuri gave a small bow.

"Thank you so much."

I went inside and waited in line to buy something. When I got there, I saw that Monika had just finished with her purchase, holding onto a large piece of bread. Once she saw me, she flashed a bright smile.

"Sayori! Would you like to eat together?"

I hurriedly nodded.

"Ah, yeah! Um, but could it be outside the cafeteria? One of my other friends doesn't want to eat in here."

Monika chuckled.

"Ah, no worries. I only bought some bread, so that's all I'll need."

I let out a sigh of relief.

"That's good!"

Monika patiently waited for me as I got my own piece of bread, then the two of us walked out to see that Natsuki and Yuri were already chatting with each other.

I blinked in surprise.

"Ah, Natsuki? You know Yuri?"

Natsuki looked back at me with similar surprise.

"Eh? You know Yuri too?"