A Book Can't Be Judged By The Cover Chapter 85: Girl’s Talk

"Whoa! You brought snacks?!"

"I’m so excited!"

"Here, pass this along."

"I brought so ga consoles hehe~"

"Hey, don’t finish my chips!"

The bus was enwrapped with a lively atmosphere as soon as it drove off, causing Akamine-sensei to stand up from her seat from ti to ti to remind everyone. Still, it was a joyous occasion, a once-in-a-lifeti experience that every senior high schooler would go through that would etch permanent mories in their lives. Not a single student complained when it ca to Akamine-sensei’s nagging. And as for the teacher in question, she was in one heck of a good mood that she didn’t bother telling her students repeatedly to quiet down.

"Oi, Shoichi, did you bring the goods?" Kichiro called out, nudging at Shoichi who was seated to his left.

The last row of the bus had four seats and quite conveniently, Haji and his group were seated there. Haji was assigned the far right seat, next to him was Kichiro, then Shoichi, then Shinji. Well, Haji couldn’t ask for a better seating arrangent since he was by the window seat. The indifferent Shoichi also felt the sa. At the very least no one would question him if he ignored everyone else in the best— that’s one of the many perks one could avail when they’re seated by the window seat.

"Yes, I did," Shoichi said, snickering, lifting the flaps of his jacket, and showing a couple of water bottles in its large pockets.

One glance and Haji could tell that Shoichi and Kichiro were both screaming trouble but Haji flat out ignored them. He couldn’t care less if they get in trouble or not even though they were in the sa group.

"Now that’s the stuff. All right... how about that other thing I told you to bring?" This ti, Kichiro smirked. Even Haji was disgusted by the creepy expression on his face despite being one of the handso ones in class.

’What’s wrong with him?’ Haji said to himself, stealing a glance toward their direction before resuming his indifferent gaze out the window.

Shinji also got a bit curious as to what they were talking about so he would glance from ti to ti as well. He got teased once or twice because of that but he didn’t react too much.

"Of course I did... it was quite a risk bringing her over but it was worth it... you know." Shoichi continued, jerking a thumbs up towards Kichiro before the two of them did a high five.

"Whoa, are you sure about that? And where did you put her?" Kichiro’s eyes widened.

"Don’t be noisy! I put her in... whisper whisper..."

Haji strained his ears but even he couldn’t overhear what they were talking about. ’Well, as long as I don’t get in trouble. It’s fine if they get in one or sothing.’ Haji said to himself, sighing.

’I wonder what gumi was doing right no— ’

A gasp followed by a hiccup escaped Haji’s lips as his thoughts were interrupted. Right there, on the glass, was a reflection of gumi, staring at him with contempt. Apparently, she was sitting one row ahead of Haji. ’How could I not notice?’ Haji said to himself, returning the sa contemptuous gaze at gumi.

What he didn’t know, however, was that gumi didn’t an to glare at him like that. The only reason why she was doing that was that he accepted the bento that Natsumi gave him... and adding to that, gumi actually prepared a bento for the two of them to share. That’s why she was contemplating whether she’d give the bento to Haji or not.

’Why is he giving a stare down? You wanna fight?!’ gumi thought before turning around. She berated herself for waking up too early and cooking food for Haji. Why did she even do that when she wasn’t capable of giving it to Haji? In the first place, why would she give him a bento box? What for? gumi’s thoughts really questioned her existence as Haji’s friend. And even that relationship status was beginning to blur the more gumi thought about it.

’No, even acquaintances give each other bento boxes. This is normal for a friend! That’s right!’ gumi said to herself before twiddling her thumbs. ’But how do I give it to him?’

"gumi-san? Moshi moshi~ gumi-san?" gumi’s seatmate called out to her, waving a hand in front of her eyes so she could get her attention.

It took gumi’s seatmate a couple of seconds before gumi finally snapped back into reality.

"Ah, Kaori-san, what is it?" gumi responded in a calm tone, even though a mont ago she was on the verge of panicking.

"Are you all right? You look like you were thinking about sothing serious just now." Kaori responded.

In front of Kaori was the ashen gray-haired Matsushima Shizuka who nodded at Kaori’s comnt. "gumi-san, we’re all fourth years here so you don’t have to hold back. You can tell us if sothing’s bothering you." Shizuka gently said as she lost her composure in her thoughts. After all, gumi has a high social standing and she’s the smartest student in their batch. Furthermore, she’s one of the most popular girls in school.

That’s why Shizuka wondered if they’d been bothering gumi at all. Even though it was their horoom teacher who picked the groupings, they sohow felt like it was their felt that gumi was acting so stiff-necked around them.

gumi hung her head down since she didn’t know how to explain it. Furthermore, Haji was right behind them so he’ll hear their conversation if he strained his ears hard enough. Besides, how could she tell her classmates that she was having a hard ti giving a guy a bento? Of course, they’d jump to multiple layers o misunderstanding when she talks about that. "Nothing, I was just preoccupied with sothing."

"Well then, you can have so M&M’s and cheer up, okay?" Shizuka continued, offering her a bag of chocolates to which she obliged.

"No no no, Shizuka... you got it wrong." Kaori then turned her head towards gumi, eyeing her into her very soul while she wore a sinister smile on her face. "I got it! It’s a guy... isn’t it? You were thinking about a guy, right?"

"Eh?!" gumi exclaid, almost choking on one of the M&Ms she popped in her mouth.