Chapter 8 - CiRCLE Thanks Party Part 1

                                    

                                          
[Word count - 2,132]
End of the month...
Location - Live House CiRCLE, Lobby 
Your POV 
When I woke up this morning, Marina sent a message to both me and Takeru, telling us to come to CiRCLE ASAP. Even though it was a good thing we didn't have school today, it was quite strange that she asked us to come here first in the morning. I wonder what was going on? 
As I walked inside CiRCLE, Takeru was already there. He looked like he was just as tired as I was. 
"Ah, there you are, (Y/N)." He said and yawn. 
"Hey, where's Marina-san?" I asked. 
"She's in the other room." Takeru replied. 
"I see. Did she tell you what this was about?" I asked again. 
"Not really. At this point, she's just leaving us in the dark." 
"Yeah, I guess that's true." 
It wasn't long before Marina came out from the other room. She looked at me and Takeru, and smiled at us. 
"Glad you two can show up." She said. 
"Hey, what's this about?" Takeru asked. 
"I'll explain in a minute." Marina said. "For now, we need to wait for the others to show up." 
"You invited other people?" I asked next. 
"Yes, and they should be here any minute now." Marina replied while looking at the time. 
We weren't sure what she was talking about until we heard the doors opening up, and the sound of two familiar voices. 
"Marina-san! (Y/N)-kun! Takeru-kun! We're here!" 
"Hey, no need to be so loud!" 
It was easy to know who that was. Kasumi and Arisa from Poppin' Party. 
"Hey, you two. Glad you can make it." Marina said and waved at them. 
"When we heard you got something planned, I couldn't help but get excited!" Kasumi said as she was bursting with energy. 
"She made me run all the way here... just for that." The exhausted Arisa said. 
"Aww, poor Arisa, do you need me to come over there and take care of you?" I asked with a teasing grin. 
"B-Baka! No need to do such a thing!" Arisa snapped back as her face turned red with embarassment. 
"No fair, Arisa! You get to let (Y/N)-kun take care of you!" Kasumi pouted. 
"No one is doing that!" Arisa snapped again, and everyone laughed. 
_____________________________________________
A few minutes later...
Then the doors opened up, and this time, Ran and Tsugumi from Afterglow stepped in. 
"Hi there." Ran said. 
"We're not late, are we?" Tsugumi asked. 
"Not at all. You two made it here just in time." Marina said. 
Ran walked over to me. 
"So... (Y/N)..." She said, trying to talk to me. 
"Yes, Ran?" I asked. 
"Umm... how are you doing today?" She asked as her face turned red. 
"Oh, I'm fine." I replied and smile. "What about you?"