The Balloonatic

Three weeks have passed since that body

swapping business ended.

Nagase made a complete recovery,

so we've been busy making up for lost time

by working hard on the StuCS paper.

Three weeks ago, I told Nagase how I felt about her,

and she said that she felt the same way.

But between her injury and all the work on the paper,

we haven't had a chance to talk alone.

In any case, peace and quiet had returned to the

Yamaboshi Academy Student Cultural Society.

Or so we thought,

until school was over the next day.

A Story That Continued Before Anyone Realized It

Here already?

You're always early, Inaba.

I wasn't able to finish up at home.

I have to get this done today.

Are Yui and Aoki around?

I need to check a few things.

I ran into them on the way here.

They'll be late because they're on monitor duty today.

Don't you find it annoying to have to wait all the time?

Even if you know it's not their fault.

Well, we can't blame them if it's not their fault.

Makes you want to take out your frustration on

whoever happens to be around, right?

Of course not.

What's the point in that?

To feel better by blowing off steam.

You've got a real nasty streak.

I've learned that complaining about things that only bother you a tiny bit

is actually good stress relief.

Wow.

You're able to reduce your own stress by taking it out on me...

And yet it doesn't really increase my own.

What's wrong, Inaba?

Inaba?

Wait... What are you doing?

Does your back itch or something?

H-Hey!

Hold on!

What's going on?!

Take off your clothes.

Wh-Why should I take off my clothes?

We have to take off our clothes to do it.

To do what?!

I know.

You're just toying with me to relieve stress.

Ow...

I-Inaba!

What are you doing?!

Get off!

Get off! Get off!

Wait! You've got it all wrong!

Really, even I have no idea what's...

Inaba?

Can someone please explain

what the hell is going on?!

Yui?

What's wrong?!

Blood?

Did I do this?

Why?

Student Cultural Society

'Sup!

Whoa! The table!

What happened?! How did it break?!

Wait, Yui. You're bleeding.

Let me see.

Iori!

What's wrong? Does it hurt?

Sorry, I'm going home.

Huh?

What was that all about?

Is it okay to leave it like this?

Are you going out, big brother?

Is something wrong?

Was I about to go outside?

Huh? What are you talking about?

Whoa!

Nagase Iori

I need to take this call!

Hello? Is this Nagase?

Hey, Taichi! Tell me!

Are we...

Huh?

Um! Er, what...?

What's wrong?

Did something happen?

G-Good evening.

Er, yeah...

Good evening.

Sorry!

I'm confused.

I think I called you unconsciously.

I had a feeling that I needed to talk to you.

A-Actually, I just had a sudden urge to see you, too.

My body was moving by itself.

You too?

Weird. Something's not right.

Yeah...

Say, you had a feeling that you needed to talk to me, right?

What did you want to say?

You wanted to talk to me too, right?

Yeah...

Well...

I wanted to talk about the confession!

W-We never had a chance to clear things up.

Have your...

Have your feelings changed since then?

They haven't.

I still feel the same way I did then.

Really...

So...

Same here.

Um, I feel really embarrassed right now.

This is definitely embarrassing.

Th-That's enough for today!

Yeah, let's call it a day!

O-Okay, we can do that.

Well, sorry about the weird phone call!

Bye!

Wait, Nagase!

Your girlfriend?

Sh-She's not my girlfriend!

Look at you blush.

But that's good to know.

You were acting weird before.

You're still acting kind of weird,

but at least I know it's because you're lovesick.

You've got it wrong!

Well, maybe it's better to leave it at that.

But...

You're so cute, big brother.

Wait, how do you know what it means to be lovesick?

You need to give your big brother a proper explanation!

I-Inaba!

About yesterday...

U-Uh...

There's trouble.

Yui and Aoki were taken into police custody.

Huh?

What?!

I don't know any details,

but the teachers were talking about it.

I tried calling them, but neither of them are answering.

The cops have them now.

Hold on.

What do you mean?

Why would the police take Aoki and Kiriyama into custody?

Hell if I know.

Doesn't anyone have more information?

You rang?

Huh?

Fujishima...

Um, I don't think anyone was talking to you.

Wait, if you know something, tell us.

You shouldn't order people around

when asking for a favor, Inaba-san.

Please tell us what you know, Fujishima-san.

Yes...

If you let me rent Nagase-san for two hours,

I'll consider it.

Wha...?

It's a small price to pay.

I'm sure that Nagase-san will be happy with the deal.

Hey, Fujishima.

That's dirty.

Don't touch her!

There it is again!

What are you trying to do?

What are you doing, Yaegashi-kun?

Dance practice?

Not exactly.

I understand.

If we can find out what happened to Aoki and Yui,

you can have two or three hours!

So tell us, Fujishima-san.

That was a joke.

I was going to tell you anyway.

What?!

It was a joke?!

My sacrifice was for nothing!

You guys looked way too serious.

I was trying to inject a little humor.

But I didn't think you would

be so mortified by the idea.

This morning, a group of boys from Akitaka High were

giving some girls from our school trouble.

Kiriyama-san happened to pass by and beat them up.

But it sounds like she used too much force,

so the cops wanted to talk.

That's when Aoki-kun showed up and went off on them.

"Where are you taking her? Let her go!"

I hear that he put up a good fight.

Well, she was helping girls from the same school,

so she should get off with a warning.

Hell yeah!

If they try to punish her,