Riko growled in frustration as her pencil lead snapped under the weight of her hand. Clicking the end of her mechanical pencil proved to be fruitless and she soon realized, with a quick shake of the pencil, that it was running on empty. Sifting through her school bag, she found the little container that would house the lead for her pencil. She flicked the lid open with her nail, but was immediately annoyed to find that the container was void of the lead she desperately needed. She glanced around the silent classroom at her peers, all of them with their noses in their textbooks as they tried desperately to keep up with the teacher's notes and instructions on the board. Riko's eyes caught sight of one particular classmate; [Name], a girl she had grown to know quite well due to her ties with the basketball team's captain.

"Psst, [Name]," Riko hissed out in a whisper, trying her best not to be noticed by the teacher lest she interrupt class.

Said female turned in her chair, questioning eyes finding Riko. In response, the brunette held up her empty lead container, shaking it to show her friend that it was empty. [Name] smiled before nodding in acknowledgment, quickly sifting through her own school bag before tossing a small container in Riko's direction. Catching it easily, Riko flashed [Name] a thankful grin before refilling her pencil. The rest of class went on without a hitch for the pair, the both of them diligently jotting down notes—well, Riko only assumed [Name] was taking notes—and before they knew it, the bell was ringing, signaling the students' release to lunch. Riko immediately hopped out of her chair, bounding over to [Name].

"Thanks for the lead, [Name]," Riko beamed, dropping the small container into said girl's open palm. "I needed to finish jotting down some strategies before I forgot them. You're a life saver."

[Name] shook her head as she replaced the container in her school bag, telling Riko that it was no trouble at all. Standing from her place and swinging her bag over so the strap could rest on her shoulder, [Name] nodded her head in the direction of the classroom door, silently asking Riko if she would like to grab some lunch. The two girls made their way out of the classroom, waving a polite farewell to their teacher as they went. Outside, the hallways were crowded, students packing up the small spaces and bumping into each other as they tried in vain to snag some lunch before their limited time ran out.

Making their way into the cafeteria, Riko and [Name] took their places in a long line of students waiting for their meals. After a few minutes of waiting, each girl had a tray in hand, their eyes scanning the large room for a place to sit.

"Oh, look, there's a table over there!" Riko started jogging towards the empty table, her tray of food jostling slightly from her quick pace as she raced to be the first one there. "[Name], hurry up before I let someone else take your seat!"

"I'm coming, I'm coming," [Name] laughed, quickening her pace as she followed behind Riko diligently. The duo sat at the table, placing their belongings in the chairs adjacent to them so they could save seats for their friends who had yet to arrive. [Name] was panting slightly, still not used to Riko's fast paced lifestyle. "Not everything is a competition, you know," she teased, poking her tongue out at the young basketball coach.

Riko merely waved her off with a smile, happily placing a carrot stick between her lips so she could nibble on the light snack. "Hey, [Name], can I borrow your notes from class?" Riko asked, changing the subject so that their conversation could continue anew. Riko scratched at her cheek, giving her classmate a sheepish smile. "I kind of need it. You know, since I was writing out strategies instead of paying attention."

[Name] frowned, a light blush on her cheeks as she looked away from her brunette friend. Stirring the unidentifiable mass on her lunch tray with her chopsticks, she murmured an apology. "Uh, actually… I didn't really take notes myself. Sorry, Riko…"

"Eh?!" Riko looked at [Name], utter shock written on her face. Normally [Name] was a good student, always taking notes and answering her teacher's questions whenever they came up. It was practically unheard of that the second year would be daydreaming during class. "But I saw you writing something! You had to have taken at least some notes!"

[Name] reached out for her bag, sifting through its contents before pulling out her notebook. She flipped through its pages, searching for the day's date as she did so. When she had finally found the page she was looking for, she turned the book around to show Riko its contents, hoping the excitable girl wouldn't mind her awful doodles.

"I started taking notes in the beginning, so you can have those, but as you can see I sort of got side tracked…"

Riko scanned the page with her eyes. It was true that the first half of the left page was covered in notes, some words highlighted for emphasis; however, the rest of the pages were all covered in small drawings and words that pertained to nothing about their class. Reading some of the small words and phrases, Riko recognized them to be important days along with date ideas that [Name] could go on. Besides the date ideas were small drawings of two people—Riko assumed that [Name] had drawn herself along with Hyuuga—holding hands or talking or simply being near each other. Riko cooed in awe at the drawings, effectively causing [Name]'s cheeks to glow red.

"You two have been going out for quite a while now, right?" Riko asked, gesturing for [Name] to put her notebook away before anyone else saw the embarrassing doodles.

Nodding with enthusiasm, [Name] grinned. "Next week makes five months," she admitted. Thinking about Seirin's basketball captain had started to make her blush and a content sigh bubbled up from her lips as she daydreamed. "I was so distracted in class because I really want to do something nice for Junpei to celebrate."

Riko rolled her eyes at her lovestruck friend, though a teasing grin still made its way to her lips. "Just get him a warlord figure. He likes those things."

Shaking her head in protest, [Name] gave Riko a pout. "I can't! It needs to be something special since it's been five months now!" [Name] crossed her arms over her chest in a huff, slightly frustrated that she was having such a hard time deciding on a good gift. "Besides, I got him a warlord figure for our three month anniversary."

Riko laughed, small tears springing to her eyes as she did so. Wiping them away with the back of her hand, she patted [Name]'s shoulder. "I'm sure whatever he gets, Hyuuga will love." Thinking back to all the times the bespectacled captain had received a gift and complained, Riko revised her sentence. "Or at least, I'm sure whatever you get him, he'll love. Or else."

The two girls laughed with each other, going back to eating their lunch as they waited for more friends to arrive. The conversation continued with Riko bringing up different ideas and [Name] either praising them or rejecting them. It was becoming quite clear to Riko that her classmate was absolutely infatuated with the basketball captain. It was actually quite confusing for her to say the least.

"Say, [Name], why do you like Hyuuga so much anyway?" Riko asked once their previous conversation about ideal date spots died down. She was chewing on a celery stick between her lips, the satisfying crunch muffling her words a bit. "I mean, it's obvious you like him so much, but he seems like such a bad boyfriend. He doesn't even show affection at all."

"That's not true," [Name] protested, upset that Riko was accusing Hyuuga of being subpar. "Junpei is a great boyfriend. He does stuff for me all the time!"

Riko grinned, knowing she had flustered her friend quite a bit with her accusation. Leaning slightly forward in her seat, Riko looked [Name] in the eyes, a mischievous glint shining through her own. "Okay, give me three reasons why he's so great."

[Name] blushed, placing a delicate finger to her lips in thought. She looked away from Riko, her eyes darting back and forth as they blindly looked throughout the cafeteria. What had Hyuuga done for her that showed he loved her just as much as she loved him? [Name] couldn't quite remember exact moments in time, but she was sure that somewhere in her memory the tall second year male had shown his affection.

"He's, uh, let's see," [Name] murmured, trying hard to wrack her brain for any sort of memory. "He's helped me with my homework, he's shared food with me, he's pretty nice to me, he's—"

"[Name], that's all stuff a friend can do too," Riko interjected, stopping the girl from rambling. "Geez, I knew Hyuuga was hopeless when it came to love, but is that really all he does for you? Are you sure he's the one?"

"O-Of course he is," [Name] stammered. She cursed herself for stumbling over her words, knowing it only fueled the fire that was Riko's questioning glare. "Junpei is a great boyfriend, I swear."

"I'll believe it when I see it," Riko said, shrugging as she went back to poking at the cafeteria lunch she had on her tray. Glancing up from the table, her eyes lit up at the sight of two basketball players. "Speak of the devil, there he is along with Kiyoshi."

Riko called out to Hyuuga and Kiyoshi, watching as they waved back at her from across the room. They each had trays of food in their own hands and, as they slowly made their way over to where the girls were sitting, they tried their best not to spill their precious food. Briefly, Hyuuga's eyes met [Name]'s and the girl found herself fighting back a blush as she waved to her boyfriend, a smile breaking out onto her face. Hyuuga nodded at her in acknowledgement, the smallest of smiles playing on his lips as well.

"Don't worry Riko," [Name] muttered to her friend as they both watched the males try their best to avoid the crowd, "By the end of the week, I'm sure you'll be convinced that Junpei loves me just as much as I love him."

Giving her friend a teasing smile, Riko moved her stuff to allow Kiyoshi to sit next to her, [Name] doing the same with her own bag for Hyuuga. "Like I said, [Name]: I'll believe it when I see it."