[b]Kotori Shirohane - Warakuma Amusement Park | Afternoon[/b]

With her book clenched tightly and steadily drawing it closer to herself as if it could somehow shield her from the eyes of the three boys which were all focused on her, Kotori practically shrank into the bench, trying to inch away from their close attention. Unfortunately, she was already sitting at the very end of the bench and thus her options were rather restrained, given the presence of the armrest blocking any further retreat; instead leaving her to try and come up with some way to tell the three that she wasn't really very comfortable - when all of a sudden, a voice called out. It took Kotori a moment to realise that said voice was calling out to her - and another before she realised that the was familiar.

Looking up, discomfort was momentarily replaced with surprise and confusion as she saw the owner of the voice, Toma Tanaka, heading towards the small group at the bench - but before she could do more than that, another figure approached, grabbing the sitting boy and yanking him off the bench. The tone of her voice made it clear that she wasn't exactly very pleased with what she was seeing. The boy in question gave a surprised "Hey, what the?!" as he found himself on the ground before looking at the reason thereof with a glare - at least for the second it took him to recognise exactly who it happened to be. His two buddies meanwhile had slowly taken a step back when they'd heard and seen the fourth boy approaching - and were exchanging very nervous glances when they too recognised Akane from their previous... meetings.

The three boys' hearts seemed to drop with every crack of Akane's knuckles as the memory of the first two times she'd peeled them off similar activities. They might not exactly be the quickest on the pickup, but even they knew they weren't going to get out of this without some injuries to either their bodies or their pride if they didn't get out soon. "H-hey, let's get out of here, yeah?" one of the two still standing boys suggested with a nervous glance and nod to no specific place other than 'not here.' The boy on the floor - both the apparent leader of the trio and the thickest of the bunch - was of half a mind to see if the third time would be the charm with Akane when he noticed that another boy had approached, offering him a hand.

Smacking it away, the leader pushed himself off the ground and away from Akane, stepping toward his two buddies. Their urging and reminders of what happened last time being enough to get through even to him that trying to have a go with Akane really wouldn't be the smartest thing - and even more embarassing with more people around, too. "Just so you know, we were leaving anyway! We're letting you off lightly!" he said in a tough guy voice - which probably would have sounded a bit more intimidating if he hadn't been backing away and having to suppress a nervous cracking of his voice before turning around and heading off at a rather brisk pace; his to buddies quickly following suit.

Kotori, meanwhile, had followed the entire exchange with a mix of confusion, surprise and a constant series of dumbfounded blinking at the sight. Only now that the three were actually leaving did the discomfort start to ease away - at least until she realised that she had yet to thank the two for their help. Quickly standing up, she bowed deeply to the two in quick succession. It was also only then that she actually got a good look at the other girl - who, much to Kotori's surprise, turned out to be someone not only from her school but even the same class, Akane Hanazawa. [color=green]"Ah, thank you, Tanaka-senpai, Hanazawa-san,"[/color] she said, her voice only barely audible over the noise of park. Glancing between the two, she quickly gave another bow between them. [color=green]"Uhm... s-sorry..."[/color] she began, unsure of what else to say; wanting to both express her thanks for their arrival and to apologise that they had had to do so in the first place when they had no reason to.

Ultimately, this left her fidgeting nervously with her skirt and she glanced between the two and the ground - though this time with a lot less uneasy discomfort than just moments earlier.