Yeah, I'm a jerk... ._. I know I said I'd be updating more frequently, but honestly, I don't have that much inspiration right now. Also add that with the busy life of school, and well, yeah. Um... Okay, I'll shut up now.

Enjoy!

When Shun is faced with a dilemma, he always deals with it with a cool blankness and a calm stature. He finds that it is the best way to get the problem over with quickly and efficiently. After having so much practice dealing with his fangirls, he is quite skilled in the art of social problem solving.

However, when faced with a confrontation, Shun believes that different approaches are necessary. It all depends on the situation, he rationalizes. Whether the person is easily angered about some trivial thing or another, like Dan, or if they're going off of (false) rumors, such as angry boyfriends who think he kissed their respective others.

He can easily take care of those problems, which happens a little too often for his liking.

But when faced with an accusation about Alice? He may as well start panicking.

oOo

Chapter Five

oOo

The next week passed without incident. Marucho had settled in quite nicely, already displaying his profound knowledge. He had gotten to know his friends a bit better, and couldn't be more grateful for having such kind companions. Despite lying to them initially, he was easily forgiven and welcomed into the group.

Currently, he was sitting in his Biology class, taking notes. When the teacher paused in the lesson to give a brief explanation of the material, he glanced around the classroom. The only person he actually knew in the class was Alice, who was giving the teacher her undivided attention. Marucho smiled inwardly, he liked that about her; how she was just as studious and hardworking as him.

That's why he wondered if she was interested in anybody.

…

Not that way! He wondered if she was available so that he could ask her about helping Shun out. The older boy had been extremely helpful, showing him around the school or getting others to do so when he couldn't. After everything he had done for the younger boy, he felt like he owed Shun. Helping him keep his fangirls at bay seemed like something he should at least help him out with.

But how would he ask her that? He wondered as he began taking notes again. He was adept at taking notes while simultaneously thinking of something else, a skill that came in handy more than once. Shun didn't seem like the type who would appreciate someone telling his crush that he liked her.

Of course, Marucho had never confirmed whether Shun actually liked her or not. But based on his inductive reasoning skill, another one that he found was quite useful, he could infer from his faint blushes, constant staring, and slight anger when another male was sniffing around, that Shun had at least a slight interest in the girl.

It was amazing how no one else had noticed. In Marucho's eyes, it was quite obvious. He was startled out of his thoughts when the bell rang, signaling the end of class. He quickly packed his books into his bag as the teacher yelled out the homework to the rapidly dispensing students. Not wanting to be trampled, he decided to wait until the outward flow of students slowed.

He jumped slightly when a light brush against his arm got his attention. He turned to see Alice smiling sweetly at him.

"Shun asked me to show you to the club that he and Dan started. We have a meeting every Friday, so we would be delighted to have you join us." She explained.

"That would be great. Thank you, Alice." Marucho immediately responded, smiling happily up at her taller frame.

The two made their way out of the classroom and headed in the direction opposite of the courtyard, where the group usually met to eat together. As they neared the destination, they could hear already hear Dan yelling about something. When they arrived, he could see brunette bouncing slightly as he explained excitedly about something or another. Shun was quietly eating at a desk nearby, and Julie and Runo were listening with amusement.

"…and they could have these awesome abilities and stuff! Like, you can drag others into a 2v1 or even jump into a battle to help out your allies!"

When Dan noticed the pair that had just arrived, he paused in his speech to greet them whole-heartedly. "Hey Alice! Hey Marucho, welcome to the game designers club!" Marucho couldn't help but chuckle at Dan's exuberance.

"Thanks Dan. And you guys design games? That's really cool!" At Marucho's statement, Dan seemed to puff up with pride.

"Yeah, we've thrown a few ideas around, but we need someone to design it so people can actually play it!" Dan grinned, "And that's where you come in, buddy. If you helped with Interspace, you can totally help us out."

Without further ado, Dan began to explain his newest idea for a game, now that everyone had arrived. Marucho had to admit it was a pretty good idea. The theory behind the game was actually quite clever, and with his knowledge of computer programming, he could easily develop Dan's idea into a full-blown game. Anywhere he had trouble, he could always hire a professional to help out.

As the six continued to discuss and improve upon the core of Dan's design, Marucho was careful to write down any and every idea they had. He would get started on it as soon as possible. Already, he was looking forward to this latest project.

oOo

All too soon, lunch period drew to a close and the group parted ways for afternoon classes. Runo, Julie, and Marucho had the same class after lunch, so they always made their way to the classroom together. As they were walking, an idea hit Marucho.

"Hey, girls," He cut it, sending Julie an apologetic look for interrupting her, "I was wondering about something. Does Alice have a boyfriend?"

He was met with blank silence.

Marucho's eyes widened as he realized how that sounded. "Wait! I don't mean it that way!" He waved his hands in front of him hastily, as if trying to wave away the effect his words seemed to have struck on the two girls. "I meant for Shun! Not me!"

As soon as the words were out of his mouth, Marucho wanted to slap himself.

If anything, the identical looks on the two girls' faces seemed to deepen with disbelief.

Julie broke first, "Shun. As in our Shun?!" Her voice squeaked higher with every syllable. Her eyes were already as large as saucers. Runo seemed to be mimicking a gaping fish. Her jaws were opening and closing, as if trying to speak, but she found herself unable to.

Marucho poked his fingers together in front of him, mentally scolding himself for his over-enthusiastic mouth. Quickly, he racked his suddenly unintelligent brain for something to reply. However, the most he could manage was, "Um… yes?"

Again, there was silence.

Suddenly, Runo snorted. "Huh, now that I think about it, it's not that surprising."

Julie blinked. Her brows scrunched together in confusion as she attempted to decipher what on Earth Runo meant by that statement. "What?! How is that not surprising? I mean, this is the silent, stoic Shun that we're talking about here!"

"Jeez, for someone who claims herself to be so boy savvy, you're being awfully dense, Julie." Runo remarked dryly, as she refrained from rolling her eyes. "Don't you see? That's exactly why Shun would like her! She's not like any of the other girls who constantly try to harass him because of his 'mysterious' nature. She's just the type of person he would be comfortable around!"

A dawning look of realization crossed Julie's face as she connected the dots. Eyes widening further, she gasped, "And they're the only two in our group that doesn't have a boyfriend or girlfriend! How did we not see this before?!"

Marucho cleared his throat to get their attention, "So as I was saying, Shun likes Alice. I came to the same conclusion as Runo did when I noticed his… female problems. So I was wondering if maybe Alice could help him get rid of his fangirls?" Marucho bit his lip and avoided the gaze of the two older girls, who each had a contemplating look on their faces.

"Well," Runo began, "that makes sense, once you think about it. Once he gets a girlfriend, the others might back off." Here, she paused, biting her lip in worry. "But Alice is so kind-hearted. The fangirls will tear her to shreds if they feel like getting her out of the way between them and 'Shunny-poo.'"

Julie shook her head, "Nah, Alice can handle her own. If she feels like protecting her friends, she'll do it without hesitation." But Runo still looked troubled for her sister-at-heart. She knew Alice wasn't weak, but the fangirls weren't exactly kind either.

Marucho piped up, "Maybe we should ask Alice herself? I mean, this is a pretty big favor, and Shun doesn't even know that I know."

Julie shook her head, "No, it won't do to just push them together on a favor. They'll just feel like they've been forced to do this and it'll make a real relationship impossible for them. We need to let them do it on their own."

"But Shun already likes Alice, so shouldn't we just tell her that?" Runo asked, completely confused as to why they couldn't just tell each other and get it over with.

This time, it was Julie's turn to refrain from rolling her eyes, "And this is why I'm the boy expert! Runo, how would you have felt if I had forced you and Dan together on a measly favor? Wouldn't you feel cornered? You'd be stuck feeling like you guys are doing this only as friends, which completely defeats the purpose of getting you guys together in the first place!"

Runo slumped as she acknowledged the truth in the girl's words. "I think that may be the only time you ever won an argument with me, Jules."

Marucho hastily cut in as he saw the silver-haired girl bristle, "Hey, but maybe we could still help Shun to get Alice to like him back. I mean, maybe just give them a push in the right direction, you know?"

Immediately, Julie forgot about Runo's jibe about her debating skills and latched onto the idea, "Yeah! We could play matchmaker!"

Runo looked skeptical at the idea of playing Cupid, but Julie was already nodding to herself as she began to develop ideas in her head. "Yes, yes, we could give him tips on how to charm a girl, and tutor him in the ways of asking out a female, and then we could show him how to shower her with attention…"

Marucho grinned as Julie began rambling about the many ways in which they could play the love doctor and mentally gave himself a pat on the back for his fantastic job on getting the two girls roped into this sure to be amusing scheme.

oOo

Shun was sitting on one of the numerous trees that sprinkled the wide campus of their school. From an easy fifteen feet off the ground, he could clearly see the heads of his classmates milling around, waiting for their ride to pick them up after school. Of course, Shun could get home any time he wanted, as being a ninja had trained his running to ridiculous speeds. But sometimes he preferred taking a break and just relaxing after his classes had ended for the day.

As he was (secretly) observing a particular red-head doing her homework while she was waiting for her friends, he glimpsed an excited Julie, an exasperated Runo, and a clearly amused Marucho heading his way. As they neared, he gracefully got up from his perch on the branch and leaped down, smoothly landing on both feet.

Before he could utter a single greeting, Julie blurted out, "Is it true that you like Alice?"

Shun froze, his mouth still half open from his attempt at a greeting. Snapping it shut, he narrowed his eyes at the trio, who were each regarding him with curiosity, although some hid it better than others. He raised an eyebrow as if asking for elaboration.

Marucho immediately piped up from his much shorter stature, "What Julie means is, don't you prefer Alice much more than any of the other girls, especially your fangirls?"

Almost defensively, Shun crossed his arms over his chest, amber eyes narrowing further, "What's your point?" His curt tone suddenly seemed much too frosty and the three quickly back tracked.

"Nothing! It's just that Marucho mentioned that you had a problem with the fangirls, and you didn't seem to mind Alice… So… Yeah…" Runo trailed off, as she sent a glance (one that Shun noticed, as it was not quite as secretive as Runo might have thought it was) to her fellow partners in crime, pleading for help.

Rolling his eyes, Shun shook his head in exasperation. Feeling his annoyance drain away slightly, he sighed quietly to himself. He should have known that his friends couldn't resist sticking their noses into his business, especially as there was no juicy gossip currently flying around the school at the moment.

"Okay, so I don't mind Alice. What's wrong with that?" Shun tried to keep from snapping at them, but honestly, his friends were just too nosey for their own good.

"Well, maybe Alice could help you with your little fangirl problem. I mean, if she was your girlfriend or something, the other girls might back off." Marucho rationalized, "Of course, there's always the chance that Alice might even like you back, so it's a win-win situation."

Feeling rather uncomfortable, Shun tried to shrug nonchalantly. "So you want me to just walk over to her and ask her to be my pretend girlfriend?" He asked disbelievingly. He almost sighed with relief as Julie shook her head vehemently.

"No no no, you can't do that. Trust me; it won't be a good idea. So what we're going to do, is we're going to help you court Alice so that you two can fall in love and be in a relationship like the rest of us!"

The idea actually sounded appealing in his head, as his (apparently) not-so-secret crush on Alice was now out in the open between the trio of temporary matchmakers. But he couldn't resist teasing Julie about it, "Courting? What is this, the 18th century?" He smirked lightly as Julie easily rose to the bait, her face going red with frustration.

"Ooh. I'm trying to set you up with the girl of your dreams and this is how you repay me? Hmph!" Julie turned her head to side and stuck her nose in the air petulantly. This time, Runo couldn't refrain from rolling her eyes.

"Anyway, so yeah we're going to help you by playing matchmaker and getting those annoying chicks off your back." Runo said rather matter-of-factly, ignoring the stoic boy's skeptical look, "And hopefully you and Alice will hit it off and finally get together."

Shun was prepared to retort, but Julie, having already forgiven him for his teasing, grabbed his arm and grinned mischievously at him. "Oh trust me, lover boy, we have much planned for you guys. We'll talk later, though. We need to meet up with Alice now. Don't worry, we will have much to discuss."

Meh, the quality of this chapter isn't very good... xP Ah well, at least I managed to squeeze something out haha. So, as usual, I'll say that I'll update more, but honestly I still have no idea what I'm going to do next with this fic... If you guys have any ideas, ANY ideas at all, they will be much appreciated.

Also, I've decided to become a Beta reader! If you need any help with a story, whether it be proof-reading, writing ideas, or anything of that sort, I'll be more than happy to help! Maybe I'll even get a few ideas while reading y'all's stories ;D

Don't forget to leave a review, favorite/follow, share my story, or PM me if you have any questions! I love all feedback and new readers are more than welcome! :D