"Hinata..." Callisto said under her breath hesitantly. "Please let go of my hand."
"But then, you'll leave without even answering my question."
"You already know my answer anyway."
"That's why I'm not letting you go, Calli."
"You're being unfair, Hina."
"You, too."
The students on the rooftop began to take notice of the commotion. Some wondered what was going on. The others, as if sensing something more complicated than what they were seeing was afoot, found their sights on Hinata's hand holding the silver-haired girl's wrist.
"What's going on?"
"Isn't that Hinata? And the new grade 10 student, too."
"He's holding her hand..."
"I thought Hinata's not interested in having a relationship?"
"Wait are you saying Hinata and that Callisto girl are..."
Callisto forced herself to stop hearing whatever that girl was implying with her words, even as a tinge of pink started coloring her cheeks.
"Look, we're making a scene here. You need to let go, Hinata." Callisto glanced at Mina and her three friends.
She looked as though she was hoping the senior student would intervene and help her create some distance from Hinata, but Mina showed no sign of trying to help at all. If anything, she seemed just as intrigued as everyone else around them, if not more.
"No, just come with me," Hinata said, his tone brooking no argument as he began pulling Callisto with him toward the exit. "We can talk somewhere quiet."
On the other hand, Mina watched in stunned silence as Hinata took the exit with Callisto. When they disappeared behind the door and the curious chatter of spectators filled the rooftop, she finally allowed herself to let out a breath.
Mina's face had no flicker of emotion in it. She couldn't risk showing to everyone the kind of person who would wish for a friend to disappear just because she felt inferior to them, lying underneath her carefully crafted persona as the perfect, most popular girl in Silangan High.
But she couldn't stop her hand from shaking on her side, desperately keeping it from forming a fist out of wonder and spite. She didn't expect Hinata to actually go up to the rooftop just to look for Callisto. The last time she saw the young man standing at the foot of the stairs leading to the top of a school building while looking for another girl, he wouldn't even dare take the first step forward.
He wouldn't do it for anyone, not even for Mina. It was unthinkable.
Mina also heard what that random girl said about Hinata and Callisto, and it irked her very much. It reminded her of how Hinata was the one answering for Callisto and how he grabbed the silver-haired girl's arm as they headed to the school cafeteria, leaving Mina and her friends to their devices after turning down the invitation to have dinner together.
She couldn't help but wonder to herself in frustration, "What does that girl have that I don't?"
Meanwhile, Mina's three friends were discussing what just happened on their own.
"Can you believe that Hinata really came here just to look for that Callisto?"
"He couldn't do that before when Mo—"
"Shut your trap; you're being too loud."
"Sorry."
"In any case, the fact that Hinata would put in an effort to look for that woman means there's something going on between them, something involving two people who are clearly more than just friends."
"Are you saying those two are a thing? Like, together? In that case, then Mina..."
Click!
The sharp sound of Mina clicking her tongue stopped any further discussion from her three friends. They all fell silent as they stood a couple meters behind her, waiting for their leader to make the next move.
Mina's plan clearly didn't work out. Not once, but twice now. She brought Callisto to the rooftop so she could ask her one more time if they could be friends without getting interrupted by pesky teachers like Novelyn Nalicia, allowing her to ask the young lady to help the blonde get together with Hinata.
The situation was perfect, and yet she didn't even get to ask thanks to the appearance of the one person she didn't account for.
"How dare that woman not answer me right away," Mina thought to herself darkly. "Does she know how many people wanted to be my friend? How many guys would kill for my attention? And that damn Hinata, to think that he would actually come up here just to find that hairless woman... Well, it doesn't matter."
That's right. It didn't matter. Even if she didn't account for Hinata's interference, Mina still expected mishaps to happen. The day was far from over for Mina Minana.
"Let's go, you lot."
The three friends followed Mina's lead as they left the rooftop.
* * *
Callisto and Hinata descended the stairs. The young man's grip on the silver-haired girl's wrist was like a powerful magnet for attention, drawing the eyes of the students they came across.
"Huh? Hey, Hinata! Where are you going?"
"Wah! He's holding her hand!"
"What's going on?"
"Isn't that girl Callisto Mandjet?"
There was never a moment where Callisto didn't try to yank her hand free from the young man's grip. But true to his word, Hinata didn't let her go as they reached the first floor of the building and continued on their way outside.
Eventually, after traversing through the midst of more curious eyes and wondering whispers, Hinata and Callisto found themselves under the shade of a tree in the track.
"If I let your hand go, will you promise not to leave?"
A sigh of defeat escaped Callisto's lips as she nodded in agreement to Hinata's request. Slowly, Hinata let go of the silver-haired girl's wrist, a look of remorse on his face as he spoke.
"I'm sorry for dragging you all the way here, Calli." Hinata scanned their surroundings. He could see some students hanging out in the field, but they were too far for them to possibly hear them. "Is your hand okay?"
Callisto shook her head in response. "It's fine."
"I see. Now then, let's talk."