Part 29: Friendly Reunion

"Reina-chan! It's been too long! How've you been?"

"It's so wonderful to see you again, Asuka-san. Indeed, it has been quite a while since we last spoke."

"Still so refined, I see. But will you still be that way if I do this!"

Upon saying this, Asamura suddenly pounces on Kurebayashi and locks her into a tight hug. I've never seen Asamura this animated. Usually, she's well composed and fits snugly into the background of her friend group. Although I haven't really paid much attention to her until recently, so who am I to talk?

Kurebayashi also doesn't seem to mind it. In fact, I'd say she looks like she's enjoying this physical display of friendly affection. With how things are looking now, I'm glad I had her meet us here in the gym stairwell. It was already quite a herculean task to be able to subtly get Asamura to separate from her friend group and follow me here. She remained silent the whole way here, but it doesn't take telepathy to know that she's thinking "You better not be thinking of confessing to me, you creep" in her mind. 

"Thanks again for agreeing to meet us here, Asamura. We really appreciate it."

"Well, I was surprised that you would call me out all of a sudden. But I figure that if the solitary Sugiyama-kun had something to say to me, I might as well hear you out."

She continues to hold on to Kurebayashi. Though it has evolved from simple hugging to pinching and squeezing.

"Still, if you had just said that Reina-chan was also going to be here, I would have said yes right away."

"Sugiyama-san did not mention it to you at my request. I thought it might be a nice surprise for you."

"Aww Reina-chan, I missed you so much! We should definitely hang out after school."

"Indeed, I would be delighted to spend time with you."

With how their conversation is going, this might drag out until lunch is over. I cough out loud to get their attention and get to the topic at hand. It worked, as Asamura finally lets go of Kurebayashi and turns towards me.

"So, what did you want to talk to me about?"

Hmm, now that I think about it, how do I even start? I didn't actually think about how I should go about telling her the situation and our request. Well, I guess I should start with laying out the context.

"First off, you should have a seat. This is going to be a long one."