Slowly lowering my foot, I glanced in the direction of the voice and noticed a girl with long black hairs standing calmly while glaring at us. Her eyes were calm, but there was a sense of pressure in those eyes. She was in her gi, holding her chest plate in her right arm.
[ A/N: In the world of martial arts, GI refers to the uniform donned by the students during the training sessions. It is alternatively known as a practice dress. The full term for GI is "Keikogi" which is generally shortened and pronounced as a Gi (Keiko means practice, gi means dress or clothes) ]
"Vivian, why did you attack this guy?" She asked, looking towards the guy who was standing next to me. His expression changed into a bitter one as he averted his eyes from her.
"He was snooping around." He murmured, while looking away from the girl.
"And who are you?" I noticed her turquoise coloured eyes shifting towards me.
"Yeah… My name is Sakamaki Saishi and I'm a second-year student." I introduced myself in a plain tone.
"May I ask what business you had here?" Raising her eyebrows, she slowly nodded and asked further.
"I actually came here to look for a specific person." I answered, looking into her eyes. The kind of person I reckoned she was, it was necessary for me to make eye contact while conversing with her for the first time.
"But Vivian said you're snooping around? Is that true?" Hearing this, she glanced at him with her cold eyes. I can understand where she gets her image from. Vivian clenched his jaws.
"From my perspective, I wasn't snooping around." I replied.
"Is that so?" She pried further. Her tone wasn't hostile, but it sure had an authoritative vibe.
"Then what were you doing alone in the training hall?" Vivian interrupted us and attacked me with that question.
"It's not my fault all of you were gone while I came here." I sighed.
"Huh!?" He snarled at me. Jeez, why is he so hostile towards me?
"What? Did you not hear me clearly?" He replied bluntly, too. I don't like people talking to me in that tone. His eyebrows got tense, and it seemed like he was pissed.
"You little sh…" He was about to swear at me, but Tsubakihara interrupted him in a sharp tone.
"Vivian!"
"My bad." He raised his hands in hair and let out an awkward chuckle.
"So you mean to say your timing was off?" She turned towards me and her expression got a bit softer than before.
"I actually tried explaining myself to him, but he attacked me before I could say anything." I explained myself.
"Vivian…?" She glared at him, and face palmed herself in disappointment. This Vivian guy is quite interesting.
"Don't look at me like that." He shrugged as if he did nothing wrong. Can't believe the audacity of this dude. I should have knocked him out instead of punching his liver lightly.
"Why would you attack someone like that?" She asked with concern in her voice.
"I…"
"That too someone who doesn't even know Kendo!?" As Vivian was about to explain himself, she cut him off. It was quite the funny scene, considering how these two looked quite intimidating at first glance.
"Hey! Hey! Wait… he is pretty good." He explained himself in the worst way possible.
"No, I'm not." I outright denied his claim and waited for more drama to unfold, but somehow the conversation got directed towards me.
"Liar, what was that cheap punch? Huh!?" He said caressing the part I punched him.
"It's your fault for leaving yourself open like that." I shrugged.
Why was I doing this? Because judging by their interaction, they both seem quite close as they are using their first names to address each other without the honorifics too. Tsubakihara is a hard one to approach, so I'll use this dude to get close to her.
"Huh? Brat… you want to go again?"
"Shut up, you two!" She scolded us again.
"Sorry." I apologised in a low voice while slowly glancing away from Vivian.
"So… Sakamaki-kun?" She said that showed that she was affirming her statement.
"Yeah." I nodded slowly as a gesture for her to continue.
"You said you wanted to meet someone, right?"
"Are they your friend?" She asked. Of course she doesn't know that I came to meet her.
"No, I wanted to meet with Tsubakihara Senpai." Though looking at the situation, I knew that using a straightforward approach would be the best here.
"Oi,Oi, Oi…" Vivian looked at me in surprise.
"Me?" She tilted her head in confusion, too.
"You're the only Tsubakihara-san in this club, right?" I stared into her eyes as I asked.
"Yeah… Why do you want to talk with me?" She said, with a bit of hesitation in her voice.
"That I can't say here." I replied.
"Oi brat, what is it?" Vivian got agitated from my vague reply.
"Spill!" He glared at me.
"I'm not obligated to tell you that, Senpai."
"Are you trying to piss me off?" He asked me, smiling.
"Absolutely" I said, and in an instant he was about to hurl some really wonderful words at me but I added, "Not."
"You… Naoto, what's this guy's deal?" He asked her, who had a slight smile on her face.
"I don't know." She replied, but I could tell that she was taking an interest in me.
"He seems to know you." He said.
"But I have never even met him before." She said, narrowing her eyes at me.
"Yeah, we haven't met each other ever, but since you're quite famous around the school, I wonder if there's someone who hasn't heard of you." I replied, and that answer seemed to satisfy Vivian, but Tsubakihara kept staring at me as if I said some crap.
"I'm not really famous, you know?" She replied with a shrug.
"Really?" I turned towards Vivian and finally it seemed like he and I were on the same page.
"She is." He nodded.
"So… what is it that you want to meet me?" She asked again. I was avoiding this question for quite some time because I didn't know how to proceed from here.
"I would like to talk privately? Like, just the two of us?" I asked.
"Huh?" She said with a frown on her face.
"I hope that you aren't uncomfortable with that."
"Oi, say it here." Vivian ordered us.
"Definitely not here." I looked at him for a few moments and then replied in a plain tone.
"Why!?" He stomped his foot in frustration.
"Because you're here."
"Listen, kid… I don't know you, neither do you know me. So let's not get on each other's unpleasant side." He said with a forced smile, as if that was an attempt to intimidate me.
"What do you mean?" I asked and took a slight pause to look at him before adding, "You are already on my bad side."
"Brat!" He sighed.
"You want to hear it?" Looking at this situation, there was only one way.
"Uh… seriously?" His eyes sparkled with curiosity as those words left my mouth. This dude's a senior?
"What?" Tsubakihara asked me in curiosity too.
"Senpai…" I slowly shifted my gaze into her eyes and took a deep breath before continuing.
"I really like you, please go out with me."
"Eh?!" She stood there staring at me with a dumbfounded look.
"Oh boy~" Vivian let out a chuckle as he glanced at me.