33 Some Flowers have Thorns

Sipping on his drink quietly in the corner of the booth, Axel sat in a cold sweat as both Ann and Makoto sat facing each other, glaring something fierce.

Ann sat with her arms crossed over her chest with a friendly smile on her face. However, if you looked close enough, you could see her lips twitching in annoyance.

Makoto was sitting with her back straight and her hands crossed at her lap like a lady, but she had an intense glare that made her out to be anything but.

In a futile attempt to clear the air, Axel released a couple coughs before turning toward Ann with an intrigued gaze and said, "So… why are you here?"

While maintaining her friendly demeanour, Ann smiled and replied, "Some days, I like to come here to clear my head." Pausing, she handed the menu that was on the table to Axel and continued in a joyful tone, "This place sells my favourite drink, the melon soda float."

Hearing her answer, Axel ordered her a drink before explaining why he and Makoto were here. After he finished telling his story, Ann's face visibly began to twitch more often while Makoto quickly turned away in an attempt to hide her smug grin.

As time ticked away, the trio became more open to one another. While Ann and Makoto didn't see eye-to-eye, the two girls had one thing in common. Both wanted Axel's attention. And due to wanting his attention, both girls came to an unsaid agreement to put their differences aside so they could talk in a more… civil manner.

If not for the imaginary sparks that Axel swore he could see flying off the girls, he would of easily mistaken them for bestfriends.

Axel added his ten cents into the conversation at every given opportunity as the girls talked about a great deal of interesting topics. However, the most interest would have to be…

"…So, like I was saying. Kamoshida, the volleyball coach, has rumors floating around about him using corporal punishment."

Makoto rolled her eyes at Ann and said in an annoyed tone, "And like I was saying, that's impossible. Kamoshida is a gold medalist. He wouldn't use physical punishment. And even if he did, I'm sure the students would inform their parents or the teachers."

With a sigh, Ann started massaging her forehead as she muttered, "How can you be…"

Axel, who was still quietly sipping an empty cup, suddenly looked at his phone and said, "Girls, we've got about 20 minutes to get to school."

Ignoring the two who continued to glare at each other while getting ready, Axel quickly packed up his stuff and headed towards the door after paying for their food.

Everything was fine till he got outside. As soon as he set good outside, Axel felt two pairs of arms wrap around his. Looking to his left, Axel saw Makoto gripping his arm while a light blush was on her face. To his right was Ann, hugging his arm between her breasts.

A tick mark appeared on Makoto's head while Ann had a wide grin accompanied by a deep blush. Before both girls could begin fighting, Axel coughed to gain their attention and said, "Girls, we really should go now."

Makoto and Ann gave each other a final glance before they flicked their heads away from each other and said, "Hmph!" Suddenly, both girls started dragging Axel to school, much to his dismay as a wry smile formed on his face.

The walk to school was filled with silence as both girls continued to drag him along. Luckily, they managed to make it to school 5 minutes before the school started.

As they were walking through the school, Ann suddenly had a wide grin on her face as she looked at Makoto and smugly muttered, "Aw, Makoto. Looks like you'll have to let go. You know, because Axel is in MY class and yours is on the 1ST FLOOR."

Axel swore he could see Makoto about to snap but luckily, the bell rang. Makoto released Axel and glared at Ann one last time before turning towards her class and stomping away.

Ann pulled the bottom of her eyelid down slightly and poked her tongue out. Once Makoto was out of sight, Ann turned towards Axel with a victorious smile and said, "Now that that's over, let's get to class."

Walking towards his classroom, Axel was thankful to finally have his freedom back but also strangely missed the warm and soft texture he felt from both girls.

Shaking his head, Axel silently reprimanded himself before walking to class, not noticing the small smile on Ann's face.

The moment Axel opened the classroom door, Kawakami gave the pair a tired glare and said, "You two were almost late. Please take your seat."

Running the back of his head, Axel gave a dry chuckle before quickly making his way to his seat with Ann in tow.

Kawakami noticed the school supplies Axel brought and gave him an approving nod, to which he smiled back. Opening the book in her hands, Kawakami said, "Okay, for today's schedule, we'll first be doing revision on a couple things. Then, for the rest of the day, the school will be holding a volleyball event which is led by Mr Kamoshida."

Feeling a sense of dread from beside him, Axel stealthily glance over at Ann, only to find her curled into a ball on her desk, silently shaking. Slowly, Axel began to analyze what he knew was going to happen.

'If my memory serves me right, Kamoshida should of been trying to hook up with Ann. Judging by the current date to when they actually started "hanging out", I'd say Kamoshida is still trying to convince her.'

Immediately after Axel had this thought, a deep frown appeared on his face and no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't wipe the displeasure from his face.

The time slowly ticked by until the ball rang, signifying the end of class. Ann remained on her desk, pretending to be asleep while Axel had a scowl on his face.

As he silentl made his way to the door, Axel accidentally bumped into someone.

"Woah!"

"Huh?"

Looking towards the ground, Axel saw a relatively average looking young man with a beat up face. He had short, spikey blue hair and wore what Axel believes to be the standard shujin winter uniform with the shirt untucked, sleeves rolled up to his elbows and suspenders off his shoulders.

Rubbing the back of his head, Axel gave him a sheepish laugh as he said, "Sorry about that. I wasn't paying attention to what was in front of me."

The average-looking young man sprung to his feet. He looked over at Axel for a couple seconds before stuttering, "D-don't worry about it."

With a friendly smile, Axel extended the youth his hand as he said, "I'm Axel, the new kid. You are?"

The youth hesitated for a couple seconds before he shook Axel's hand and replied, "Mishima. Mishima Yuuki."