reassured the brown haired girl. Her cheeks turned pink upon hearing the nickname but Takemichi was too busy wiping the blood off his nose with his shirt to notice.

    "Did I do that?" She asked after a few moments, worry etched into her voice.

    Takemichi gulped. "Y-Yeah—but I know you didn't mean too," Her face was still scrunched up in worry. She opened her mouth to say something else, but a loud voice interrupted the young girl.

    "What on earth is going on here?!"

    Takemichi snapped his neck up to gaze at the superior like voices that rang through his ears. The blood drained from his face upon seeing who made their way into the crowd of children.

    Oh no...

    The teachers caught them.

    "RUN!!!" Keisuke screamed (when did he get up?!) at the top of his lungs and bolted away from the angry teachers. Manjiro, Hakkai, Yuzuha, and Takemichi all shared a look before following Keisuke, screaming and running away from the staff members.

    In the end, they were unable to outrun the teachers...

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Yuzuha and Keisuke ended up getting grounded and suspended for three days, leaving just Hakkai, Takemichi, and Manjiro to hangout at the playgrounds.

    Manjiro playfully punched Hakkai in the shoulder, making the taller boy flinch. "You're pretty cool Hakkai!"

    "...Thank you?" Hakkai stared at Manjiro with a puzzled expression.

    Takemichi sighed with a smile as he watched Manjiro try to engage in conversation with Hakkai.

    ...At least those two were getting along fine...

    It was ok for now.

    They all had plenty of time to get acquainted with one another anyways.

    Takemichi leaned back against the bar of the swing set and observed the way Manjiro tried convincing Hakkai to push his swing.

    Time—They had plenty of that after all.

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