I want to join your... Clan?

Things have been quiet and without any special progress over the next few days that followed. My seat was at the back of the classroom, far right to the corridor side when facing the blackboard. Mina sat in the second row of the far left column by the window.

Naturally, there weren't many occasions where we'd naturally get close to each other to have a casual chat. If she wanted to talk to me she'd have to cross the entire classroom to come to my desk. That probably will draw a lot of attention considering she always has many eyes on her.

To me, it's not that Mina was avoiding me. We haven't even spoken before she approached me asking about Juno a few days ago anyway. After that, she sent me a creepy questionnaire and brought me a cringe lunch box, and since then nothing happened except for a polite nod of greetings around the classroom when our eyes met.

Is she avoiding me? One day she's getting like all close talking about her love and now she's not saying anything at all. Maybe she's worried that suddenly showing herself hanging out with me will make Juno suspicious?

Well. Whatever.

"Nanaka!"

I was startled by the sound of someone suddenly calling my name and realized it was our history teacher calling me out.

"Ye... Yes!"

"So what happened in the Great War?"

I was like totally not paying any attention so just blurted out some random stuff.

"Er... People died?"

:Pfft:

:Giggles:

"You were obviously not listening. We were talking about economic collapse during the Great War. Please stop spacing out"

"I'm sorry"

I don't know why, but for some reason, I looked over to where Mina was sitting after this embarrassment. Our eyes met, not surprising considering I was put on the spot to answer so everybody must have been looking at me, but Mina beamed me an amused yet comforting smile across the room.

:Rrrrring:

The bell rang and it was our 10-minute recess time before the next class started, and Mina walked over to me and asked,

"Are you ok Nana? You look very tired"

"Er.. I'm okay. I was just spacing out"

Mina just looked at me saying nothing while keeping her reassuring smile, as if she was saying 'it's ok, you can tell me if anything's wrong'.

"Er... I was playing games until late last night, so maybe that's why"

"Oh, you like computer games?"

"Yeah, do you?"

"I've never really played them before"

"Ah, it's fun. You should give it a go sometime. It can be a blast playing online with friends"

"Oh, so you were playing with your friends?"

"Yeah"

Then I brought my lips closer to her ears to whisper,

"With Juno"

She looked unsettled for a split second but quickly went back to her smile.

"I see. So he likes playing games?"

"Yeah, we've been playing together for ages. Juno and I are in the same clan as my brother"

"What is a clan?"

"It's like.. Er... Group of people that play together"

"I see"

A moment of somewhat awkward silence.

"That's that then. I'm just gonna quickly run to the bathroom, talk to you later~", I got up to rush out of the classroom before the recess is over but felt a sudden pull on my wrist

"Wait…"

When I turned around Mina was still holding onto my wrist with her tiny hand. I looked at her, looked at my wrist, and looked at her again.

"Oh sorry.."

Mina was holding my wrist and blushed a little. Why is she blushing? Because we were talking about Juno?

"If it's okay… I would like to join your... Clan?"

"Eh..?"

Man. Is she serious? It's fun playing with friends but she's like a complete noob. She'll drag us down and we will need to hold her hands through everything.

"Hm…. Maybe start with something easy first, like some console games"

"Right"

Then I got an idea.

"Do you want to come over to my place this weekend?"

"Really? Is that okay?", Mina made no effort to hide her happy eagerness.

"Yeah sure. You can try a few games and see if you like them. Playing on PC needs a bit more commitment and skills so I wouldn't suggest that to a beginner. Would this Saturday be okay for you?"

"Yes! Thank you"

"No problem"

Now I really gotta rush to the bathroom before the class bell rings, but as I turned around to hurry, I realized Mina was still holding my wrist.

"Er... Could you please let go? I really gotta go"

"Oh sorry!"

With that, she let go of my wrist and I rushed to the loo.