Cleo couldn't care less about their arrival and took the chance to go to the empty area around the buffet table. He grabbed a few plates of food and found a table to sit outside next to the pool area. He decided he might as well eat as much free (and delicious) food as he could before he would leave.
He was in the middle of eating a tasty croissant when he felt the presence of someone come near him. He looked up to see a very pretty brown-haired girl standing in front of him. She smiled and bowed. "Hi, I like what you're wearing. It's... different."
Surprised but feeling quite good at the compliment, Cleo swallowed his food and then thanked her. "Thank you."
"Do you attend an International School?" She asked and took the opposite seat, seeming very interested in him.
Cleo had no chance to answer. "You don't want to get too near him." Sean along with the other two appeared in the pool area, choosing this time to ruin Cleo's moment.
"Huh?" The girl looked confused.
"That one there has slept with prostitutes and it's a known fact that he's currently harboring many STDs," Harold explained as he pointed at Cleo.
The girl's face turned into a grimace at hearing this. She mumbled something with the word "gross" and hastily got up from her chair to go back inside. This caused yet again an uproar of laughter among the three slanderers.
It took only a second for Cleo to register what this meant. "You three... you were the ones who wrote those lies on the wall."
"What? Why would we, your friends, do that?" Sean said in mock surprise.
"Shut up! You aren't my friend. I've done nothing to you and accepted your stupid apology. What the hell are you trying to do?" Cleo yelled out at them.
Harold stopped his laughing and looked at Cleo in all seriousness. "You're a damn eyesore, Cleo. You're nobody. Stop trying to get close to Ashley, she'll never stoop so low as to go out with you. Just quit International School already so we can get on without your existence."
"You're not worthy enough for Ashley." Sean chimed in. "Won't you be embarrassed when she sees you looking like that? Oh, look! Here she comes now." They all turned toward the entrance of the pool area. As Sean had said, an elegantly dressed Ashley entered the area but not alone. She had her hand wrapped around Harvey's arm as he guided her in. He also looked quite dashing in a white suit.
Cleo tried to ignore the knot in his stomach when he saw them together. He couldn't help but feel admiration when he realized it was Ishida Harvy.
"See? She's taken, Cleo." Bobby commented when Harvey and Ashley stopped to chat with a group of people not far from them. Taking advantage of Cleo's attention on Harvey and Ashley, Bobby grabbed a piece of cake from Cleo's plate and threw it at his face.
"Oops, that was an accident," Sean said when Cleo wiped the smeared cream off.
"But this isn't!" Sean added and grabbed another piece of food to throw at Cleo. Bobby just stood by as a watcher, not wanting to get his hands dirty.
"Hurry up and go home, Cleo! We don't want your kind here!" Harold said and took Cleo's glass of water and poured it over his head. Cleo felt like punching the lights out of each of them but refrained from doing so because of Ashley and Harvey being so nearby.
They were causing quite a commotion that it was enough to catch Azumi's attention. She was sitting inside but had situated herself in such a way that she had a clear sight of where Cleo was. She couldn't stand seeing Cleo ridiculed and quickly got up to interfere.
But before Azumi could get there Ashley made her way to Cleo first, stopping Harold and Shuuhei's food throwing.
"Cleo, you seem a bit wet." She said to Cleo. "Do you have a handkerchief?"
Cleo shook his head. "No."
"Haha, he's so poor he can't even afford his handkerchief!" Bobby and cackled.
"What a loser," Harold added.
"Here you go, Cleo." Ashley took out a piece of cloth from her purse and handed it to Cleo.
Cleo nodded, gingerly taking it from her. Needless to say, Harold and Sean were looking on in utter disbelief at Ashley's actions. Azumi had arrived at the scene already and decided to just observe from behind with a slight scowl on their face.
"This seems to be an interesting party so far," Harvey remarked out loud, his hands behind his back as he made his way toward them. Harold, Sean, and Bobby instantly ran up to greet him.
"Harvey! Welcome back!" They all said and bowed in unison as he stood before them.
"Long time no see," Harvey said, smiling at them. "I would like to thank you all for coming. But you know I was thinking about something when watching you three." He raised a hand away from his back and pushed his glasses up, causing a glare from the light to shine on the glass.
"Eh?" Harold and the other two looked at each other in confusion. "What's that?"
"You three need to cool down!" Harvey swiftly took out a hose from behind his back and sprayed all three point-blank in the face. Due to the force of the high-powered hose, it sent them tumbling back to the edge of the pool where they fell in with a great splash. Everyone laughed at the sight before them of three soaking-wet fools.
Cleo couldn't believe his luck.