[center][h1][color=black]T[/color]OTSUKA [color=black]R[/color]YUSEI
[color=black]戸[/color]塚 [color=black]竜[/color]星[/h1][/center]
[hr][right][color=gray]introduce a little pickle juice. upset the established order.
and everything becomes chaos.[/color][/right][hr]

[indent]There was something about seeing the usually defiant Himawari Shiori melting back into her seat with a petulant glare on her face that made Ryusei's grin grow ever more. Maybe it was the stark difference between her usual dry, sardonic persona and the embarrassed, defeatist one before him now. Or maybe it was the fact his words were what made her to seemingly come apart at the seams. Hell, it could even have been that she looked pretty cute when she was angry with him that caused his devilish smile continue to tug at the corners of his lips. She huffed out a reply, as if the indignity his words had inflicted on her was too much, and he quickly formulated a reply to keep her on the proverbial ropes. Until Ariyoshi came back, that is. 

It was astounding how quickly the first smile he had honestly displayed since arriving in Utsubyo disappeared. He could practically feel his cheeks burning with the shame, and his eyes followed Shiori's down to the table below. The hell kind of timing did this girl have? He had been so focused on Shiori, he hadn't seen her sneaking up on them until it was too late, and now she had all kinds of [i]ideas[/i] in her head. The last thing he needed were more rumors swirling around the school's zeitgeist about him. He needed to dispel that kind of thing now, or he was never going to hear the end of it. 

[color=c0c0c0]"I'm—I'm fine,"[/color] He eventually managed, reaching out to take the cup of tea closest to himself, [color=c0c0c0]"There's not gonna be a second date. There's not even a first one."[/color]

Not even [i]he[/i] could deny just how pathetic he sounded in that moment, and to try and distract himself from the mortification as much as to give himself an excuse not to talk, he readily began to suck on the straw before him, drinking down the contents of his boba with record speed.[/indent]