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The clock strikes 12, signaling the start of lunch break throughout Miyamasuzaka Girls Academy. Typically, students will utilize this time to socialize amongst themselves or visit their friends in different homerooms.
What does Shiho Hinomori choose to do today? Well, she takes out her phone to check on her fictional rabbits.
Shiho has never cared for others' opinions, but she'd rather die than be caught playing an animal raising game for some reason. Part of it is a reputation thing, wanting to become a professional bassist and all--it could damage her image. Mainly, she’s just plain embarrassed. So embarrassed, in fact, that she often goes outside just to log on the app.
Today, she wasn’t up for leaving, so she turned her body away so no snooping passerby could see her screen. It was easy enough--perks of having a corner seat. Not like anyone cared to peek, anyways.
The only classmates that ever paid any mind to what she did are positioned on the other side of the room. The one in pigtails, Kohane, is captivated by the slightly taller Minori’s dance moves as she shows off her idol group’s newest choreography. This works in Shiho’s favor, since she was already caught once by the ginger and can’t risk being seen playing it again another time.
So cute… Shiho thinks to herself as she opens the game to see the bunnies she’s raised thus far. She has names for all of them, and each has different features—colors, coats, ear types, you name it. She smiles while feeding the hungry ones food; she can’t resist how adorable they look chewing on carrots. Watching them playing together afterwards gives her an immediate serotonin boost. If Shiho could personally thank the developers of this game, she would.
Apparently, Shiho is so immersed in this game that a silly little text message from her beloved friend Saki causes her to dramatically drop her phone. And apparently, she was so immersed that she never noticed that her two nosy classmates are back at their desks now. They both turn around at the noise of the device hitting the ground.
Of course Shiho’s phone is facing upwards, too. And Minori is way too nice to not leave her seat just to pick it up for her.
“Shiho-chan, here you go!” she says before processing what’s on her classmate’s phone screen--Shiho swifty grabs the phone and places it in her pocket. “Ah, you’re playing that game again! I found it on the app store after school that day, let me show you!”
Well, Shiho just dug her own grave. She anticipates the worst.
A curious Kohane makes her way to the two of them and peeks over Minori’s shoulder. “What’s that, Minori-chan?” She asks, nibbling on some crackers.
It’s coming.
“It’s an animal raising game! You take care of your pets and level them up and unlock lots of cool things! Shiho-chan showed me this one--it focuses on rabbits!” Minori’s eyes sparkle as she explains the concept to her friend. Kohane emotes a noise of interest.
And there it is. Not one person but two people know her secret now. Shiho feels first, secondhand, and third-hand embarrassment all at once.
She’s forced to recover once the oh-so-eager Minori shoves her own phone in her face after the game finishes loading. Kohane positions herself on the other side of her classmate so she can see as well, queuing the beginning of Minori’s tangent. “So this one’s name is Samo-chan because she’s fluffy like my dog named Samo-chan, ehehe…” She begins scrolling through her catalog of rabbits and explaining more about them than necessary, which Shiho nonetheless comprehends intently. She senses Kohane nodding behind her after Minori introduces each rabbit, sometimes accompanied by “Ooh!” or “Cute!” The further Minori goes into her rabbit archive, the more Shiho is surprised at how many hours she’s probably put into this game--she knew she was passionate, but never expected her passion to carry over to a game about fictional rabbits.
“And this one’s name is Haruka-chan! She was my first rabbit so that’s why she’s the highest level, but it’s also because I’m a huge fa-” Shiho instinctively interrupts the bright-eyed girl. “I don’t have that one…” She mutters, pointing to the rabbit on Minori’s screen. Too late to back now.
“Mm? We can see what she’s up to then!” Minori immediately exits the menu to find ‘Haruka-chan’ chomping on a piece of lettuce. The girls exclaim “so cute!” in sync and watch her for a minute.
Minori breaks the silence and brings her phone close to her heart. “Shiho-chan, what’s your username? We can be friends and visit each others’ worlds!” When seeing the girl in front of her so excited to share a common interest with her, Shiho can’t help but radiate the same energy. She gives in.
“Sh0108ln.”
“Aw, I wanna be your friends’ too!” Kohane whines, a tone of jealousy in her voice. “It looks fun!”
Minori giggles. “You should download the game too, Kohane-chan! Or you can find a game of your own that you end up really liking and show us! I know they have ones for cat and dogs in particular.”
Kohane gasps a little too loudly at this idea. “Do you think they have a game for snakes?”
The question is asked so innocently that it catches Shiho off guard. Then again, having a question asked from someone like Kohane would catch her off guard either way. “Snakes…?” she questions, not in a way of judgement, but one of pure curiosity.
Luckily, Kohane understands her intention. “Yeah! I love snakes! I have one as a pet, her name is Count Pearl! Would you like to see?” Shiho gently nods in response, causing the smaller girl to frantically open her camera roll. She finds a photo of her beloved reptile friend and flips her phone to show Shiho.
It’s a rather small creature, with pitch black beady eyes and orange scales. Quite honestly, it was cute. Shiho makes it clear what she’s thinking (regrettably) when she spurts out an “It looks like you.”
“Eh?!” Kohane panics. Minori puts her hand on the other’s shoulder. “I think she means that in a positive way. You both are really cute!”
Shiho can’t get out of this one. She scratches her chin. “Um… yeah.”
Kohane cheeks redden in an instant. “Ah... t-thank you..!” is what she manages to get out before rushing to her desk to grab more crackers.
“But,” Minori begins, speaking loud enough so her friend can still hear. “Kohane-chan, you still remind me of a hamster!”
“Ehehe, I get that a lot.” The girl responds. She’s visibly less nervous than she was moments ago.
“I can see why.” Shiho contributes. The crackers really add to the image Minori just put into her head.
“Ooh, what animal am I, Shiho-chan!” The ginger inquires.
“A rabbit.” Shiho is taken aback at how quickly that flows off her own tongue. Kohane nods in agreement.
Minori’s eyes glisten at those words. “I’m happy you think that, Shiho-chan! Rabbits are adorable!”
Shiho sighs in relief, thankful for a positive response; that’s not to say she’s bad at these sorts of things--in fact, she’s probably better than the average person--but her honest way of communicating does not transcribe well sometimes.
“What does Shiho-chan remind me of…” Minori takes a moment to think. You can see the lightbulb flicker above her head when she’s got it. “Oh! She reminds me o-”
The bell rings throughout the school once more; it’s the end of lunch break. The trio’s fellow classmates begin to file back to their desks. Minori looks like she’s seen a ghost.
“Oh no, we never studied for the quiz, Kohane-chan!” Minori cries in utter horror. “What are we going to doooooo?” She whines, shaking her blonde friend back and forth. Kohane forces a giggle--Shiho guesses she’s studied the night before, as per usual.
The green-eyed girl can give the best idea she can think of. “Just wing it. That’s what I’m doing…” Her voice is unsure of itself, and Minori picks up on this as she sits in her chair. The grin planted on her face once again reveals that she feels a little better.
“We can do this, Shiho-chan! Together!” Minori winks at her and faces forward in her seat. Kohane sighs. Shiho can’t help but smile. If she could personally thank the developers of that game (whether it be for producing the game itself or for the opportunity to better understand those girls), she would.
Underestimating them will be the last thing she does from now on.