Soul for a Girlfriend?

Chapter 45 - You're Cute... Maybe

"I can tell." I said, while nodding and looked toward my desk. Tsumen's chair was also empty. Looking at this, I asked them, "Ah, have you seen Tsumen?"

"Who is Tsumen?" Yasurouka tilted her head. Of course, she didn't know his first name. That question was directed towards Gaisen.

"It's Yukimura, and yeah he just left class before you came." Gaisen replied to my question while cracking his fingers.

"Ah, his first name is Tsumen... I see." Yasurouka nodded her head. It was as if she took a mental note of it in her brain. Even though I know that she won't be needing it since she isn't close to anyone out of her group of three people.

"You don't even know the name of your classmate, despicable," I said.

"Huh!?" she said in a bitter tone as if it was meant to intimidate me. "This doesn't sound good coming from you." She retorted back.

"Well, I'm not as social as you, so it's fine."

"Oh! Shut up." She rolled her eyes. I noticed Gaisen looking at both of us with curiosity in his eyes. Looked at me and then towards her.

"I didn't know you two had become such good friends." He said while looking at Yasurouka. Yasurouka was about to say something as she opened her mouth, but gulped down the words. She looked at me through narrowed eyes and then said, "We are not friends to be specific."

"Huh?" Gaisen asked as he was clearly confused. Just a few moments before, I had a friendly argument with her and friends who aren't really close don't really go into friendly arguments as it might end up being an actual argument because of a misunderstanding.

"Yeah" She nodded her head while looking at it for a moment and continued, "It's more of a cooperative agreement."

Cooperative Agreement. Seriously?

Gaisen blinked his eyes in confusion and turned towards me. I just gave him a shrug, which was the equivalent of saying I didn't know what she was talking about.

"Hey! Don't bail out on me." She said, while glaring at me.

"When did I bail on you?" I asked her. I looked at Gaisen and it seemed like he was trying to recall something as his hand was on his head and his eyes were locked in on the blank desk. Yasurouka was clearly embarrassed because of what she just said and her cheeks were red now.

"Come on, help me out a bit." She said, and her tone evinced that her plea for help was genuine and was trying not to sound edgy.

"Well, I consider you a friend so from my part I'm clear." I said.

"Ahhhh! Yes, you are talking about that homework deal with him?" He said, pointing at Yasurouka. So that's what he meant when he said that he didn't know about our friendship. Well, I didn't expect her to share something lame like this with him. I looked at her with a slight smile on my face.

"Don't-" she said, noticing my smile. She knew that I was up to no good.

"Yeah, you know about that?" I asked him.

"Yeah, she told me about it. She was really pissed at you though because you apparently outsmarted her." He chuckled.

"Ah, I wouldn't consider it outsmarting, but ok," I said as I raised my right arm and showed them a thumb up gesture.

"She is quite competitive when it comes to studying." He said, while looking at her, who was embarrassed beyond belief at that moment. Looking at this as an opportunity for me, I started with my own thing.

"Yeah, but isn't she a nice girl, Gaisen?" I asked Gaisen directly since involving a third person, that too someone who is her close friend, will lower her chances to escape this conversation. Yasurouka definitely didn't entertain the idea of this topic.

"Oh, god why would you bring this up!?" She said in an annoying tone and flipped me off with the middle finger of her right hand.

"I mean yeah, she has her moments." I sighed.

"Yeah but she doesn't think of herself as one." He chuckled while looking at her. She averted her eyes and mumbled something. I could tell she was cursing me. I didn't enjoy invading someone's life since I wouldn't like it if it's done to me, but my current circumstances left me no other choice.

"I know, she even helped me with the homework." I said while looking at her.

"Yeah, she is actually helpful, and only in studies. She has helped me and Koi in a lot of matters."

Hearing Gaisen's comment, she instantly retorted back. "That's because you guys are as dumb as a donkey. I can't leave my friends like that." She pouted.

"See." I shrugged. Gaisen raised his head and looked at Yasurouka while blinking with a frown on his face. This sudden attack of hers left him in shock. And her choice of words was also wonderful. I like this.

"I don't know if I should be happy or sad, by the way you just put that." Gaisen sighed.

Yeah, she called you a donkey." I said with a poker face, albeit I was getting a slight urge to laugh, looking at Gaisen's dumbfounded face.

"Yeah she has her way of expressing herself." He chuckled.

"Stop! talking about me like that. I'm right here." She said, while punching him on the shoulder. By punch, I mean a light, playful punch. "Ohh, god this is so awkward." She let out a long breath as she said the last word and then glared at me. "You… you're done, right?"

"I don't know. Am I?" I smirked and shrugged my shoulders.

"You're so annoying… oh my god." She sighed while still playfully punching his shoulder.

"Why are you punching me? I didn't even do anything." Gaisen said in a manner as if he was hurt, but he was of course joking.

Yasrouka looked at him and stopped her assault. She withdrew her hands and looked awkwardly towards us.

"Hehe, my bad." She pouted while caressing the spot on his shoulder where she was punching her.

"I know you'll again curse me for what I'm about to say, but you're… sometimes… like rarely… you're cute." I said.

"Wh… What? You calling me cute?" Her eyes moved towards me and again went back to being fixated on his shoulders. She probably couldn't believe that I would ever call her cute, but here I was.

"Yeah she is. I can agree with you on that." Gaisen nodded.

"Bruh, Stop! Why are you two… ugh nevermind?" She was flustered. I could tell by the change in her tone. She removed her hands from his shoulder and pinched her temples for a moments with her eyes closed.

"What?" Gaisen said with a curious look.

She opened her mouth to say something but again swallowed her words back. I noticed her eyes gazing at Gaisen for a split moment and her shoulders were tensed up. Maybe this her reaction because she was bad at handling compliments.

"Nothing." Her shoulders relaxed as she said that in her usual tone while chuckling. She was back in her normal composure again. I think that I made her pissed at me and she wouldn't want to talk with me for a few days.

I may not have gained what I expected from this conversation, but being in this conversation, I noticed something. Now, those could either be my speculations or legit facts. Now, it just needs a bit of time for everything to unfold and make sense.