The group decided to meet immediately after school ended. It was a different classroom than Mr. Kondo’s. It was nearly identical, but numerically different. Despite the room being full, it was dead silent. Everyone except Ushinawa was already there, but the room had become absorbed in separate activities. Eikou was reading the latest chapter of some manga that had released recently. Kentaro thought they should be talking, but he was too busy reading the same manga over Eikou’s shoulder and making sure nobody was watching. Yuzai was absorbed in No Longer Human, while Yagi was entranced by an endless stream of short videos on her phone. Saki had headphones on and was staring into space, pretending everyone else didn’t exist. She didn’t even notice when Ushinawa burst into the room.

“Heyyy!” It was like she had wandered into a library on accident. Everyone immediately stared at her (except Saki). “What did I do?!” The awkward silence continued. She was twenty minutes late. “Shouldn’t you be discussing our plans for the assignment?” This caught the attention of Yuzai.

“You’re right. Let-“

“Heyyyy Kentaroo~” Ushinawa did not actually care about the work, she was just waiting until she had most of the group’s attention. “Wanna know what I was doing?”

“I wouldn’t want to pry into your private life,” he said, raising his hand apologetically. He really did not want to hear this.

“Nonsense! It’s no trouble at all!”

“Well, I wouldn’t want to take valuable time out of the rest of the group’s time.”

“Everyone else is fine with it!” There was shrugging all-around.

“I can’t think of any other reason not to hear it!”

“Okay, so, picture this: I was walking to class early in the morning, looking even better than normal from the extra effort I put in this morning (after saying this, she flipped her hair back as if to show it off), and, get this, a guy asked me to meet him after school for ‘something important’! On the second day! How crazy is that?” Ushinawa thought this plan was very subtle. It was not in the least.

“So, did you?” Eikou piped up quietly.

“Of course! What if he was going to tell me we were long-lost twins or something! I couldn’t miss that!”

“Makes sense.”

“Anyways, you’ll never guess what he said to me instead!” She waited on a response, which nobody wanted to dignify her with.

“Did he confess to you?” Yagi asked out of genuine uncertainty.

“Bingo!” Yagi gave a small clap and a squeal. Now everyone besides Kentaro was interested.

“What’d you say?” asked Eikou.

“I said: ‘I’m really sorry, but…but there is already someone I like!’” She said it in a voice of mock innocence.

“Who is it?” Eikou had not yet picked up on the fact that Ushinawa liked Kentaro. Her cheeks went a little bit red.

“You shouldn’t ask a girl that! It’s embarrassing!” She shuffled around awkwardly. This made Eikou feel awful, as he didn’t realize she was merely putting on a show for Kentaro. “But, since you asked, I can tell you a little. He’s not who you would expect and I’m pretty sure he likes me too. If he made a move, I would say yes in a heartbeat!” Every fiber of being was dedicated to forcing her head to not turn towards Kentaro and look at how he reacted. He obviously knew she was talking about him, but was not reacting how she would have liked. Eikou, on the other hand, pondered the new information and thought that he seemed to fit the profile perfectly.

“Ushinawa, do you like me?” It was a statement that was unbearably cringy knowing the full context. Kentaro facepalmed faster than he could finish. Ushinawa, on the other hand, thought that the statement was so confusingly unthinkable that he must’ve meant platonically. It still managed to derail the conversation completely.

“What? Yeah, I mean, I guess, I don’t really know you.”

“Oh.” Embarrassment. So much embarrassment. “Never mind.” He buried his head in his arms and silently screamed. Even Yuzai noticed and thought about making fun of him but decided it couldn’t get much worse.

“Okay then…So, Kaneshiro, wasn’t that a crazy story?”

“Not really.”

“What?!”

If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

“I mean, you’re a popular girl. I’m sure you have plenty of admirers.” Is he trying to say he’s an admirer? No, no he really wasn’t.

“You really think so?” She was getting excited over nothing. Kentaro had tried to respond in the most objective way he could and somehow it had still backfired.

“I know so, from a purely factual standpoint.”

“You mean to say that you can back that claim up?”

“Yep.”

“And how would you know that Kaneshiro? Is there something you would like to tell me?” She was very excited now. This whole getting a guy to confess thing was a lot easier than she had thought it would be.

“Well, I’m friends with the guy that confessed to you and he said about the same thing. Actually, I knew he was going to confess before, but I didn’t want to spoil your surprise.” Cue the fake laugh. Now, this was a bluff. He had no idea who had confessed, but if she took the bait, he was sure that Ushinawa would realize that he had no feelings. Ushinawa, however, in her self-centered mindset, was convinced it was a bluff.

“Really? What’s his name?” Kentaro didn’t hesitate.

“Sato.” Actually, it wasn’t, but Ushinawa had forgotten. Still, she refused to give up.

“Hair color?”

“Black.”

“Height?”

“Taller than you, but shorter than me.”

“Build?”

“Average.” At this point, Ushinawa had gotten too competitive to back down. It just so happened that the guy that had confessed fit the most basic description.

“How’d he do it?”

“How should I know? Why would I lie about knowing Sato? I’m not trying to fool you.” A small laugh followed.

“Wait! One last question, and this you ought to know. What year was he in?” Kentaro had to think about this one. She wouldn’t have asked if they were in the same year, as then it wouldn’t have been of note. A year above or below, it was a gamble. It was slightly more likely that it was the former, at least that’s what Kentaro thought. However, before he was going to answer, Yuzai answered for him.

“He was a year below.”

“Takara! Kaneshiro was supposed to answer that! Keep out of this!”

“His hesitation was all you needed. Also, do not call me that at school.” The gears turned with Ushinawa’s head and she realized Yuzai was right.

“Yeah! Yeah, you’re right, Yuzai! How did you know, anyways?”

“Well, as you rejected him-“

“Hey, spoilers! I never said that!”

“Still, you rejected him. The reason you knew his year was because you used it as a reason to reject him. Knowing you, someone being a year above would only make it seem more endearing.”

“What’s that supposed to mean!” Even though she protested, she knew Yuzai was right. About everything she had just said. Yuzai then promptly returned to her book. “Anyways, Kentaro, looks like you were caught in a lie!” He sighed. “I don’t know why you would lie to me. Care to explain??” She looked at him expectantly. He just stood there, buffering.

“I-I-I don’t-“

“Well, if you can’t explain, we’ll just have to make it even! Let’s say, this Saturday?” Smooth. A nonsensical comparison of incomparable values, but smooth nonetheless. Kentaro did not want to risk making an enemy, so he just bared his teeth and went straight into the fire.

“For what?”

“Well, I’d say that a movie ticket would cover it. Unless, you have a better idea?”

“……..Fine.”

“Awesome! I’ll see you then!” She started leaving even though they still had another thirty minutes to discuss the work.

“Wait. What movie do you want to see, just so I know what to buy.”

“Hmmmmmmmmm. How about The Slaughtererman IV? That’s supposed to be pretty scary!” Of course she wanted to see a horror movie. Eikou raised his head at this. An idea had come to him on how to repay Kentaro.

“The Slaughtererman IV? I’ve been meaning to see that, mind if I tag along?” In that moment, Kentaro forgave Eikou for all of the dumb decisions he had made before this. If it had just been them too, he would have picked him and hugged him until it hurt. Kentaro responded before Ushinawa could.

“Of course! I’ll text you the details.” Ushinawa wanted to object, but she remembered that she didn’t actually ask Kentaro out on a date. She hung her head in defeat and let out a large “NOOOOO” in her head. “Ushinawa, I need your phone number too.” Well, at least that was a plus. Yagi proceeded to enter herself into the ring. It almost became a full group outing, except Saki had silently left during the commotion at exactly twenty-five minutes in and Yuzai refused to give out her phone number.

That Saturday, they would meet up for the outing. Ushinawa hoped that she could still score some alone time with Kentaro, but found that Eikou was an excellent third wheel. Eikou had put almost no effort into his appearance: a faded t-shirt, jeans, complete with a faded blue zip-up jacket. The other two had clearly put a lot of effort into their appearance. Ushinawa wore a dark green crop-top, with a black leather jacket that barely fell to her waist, and short athletic-shorts. On her neck was a black choker and she war a few bracelets on her right wrist, as well a black anklet laced with gold that was conspicuously missing a charm that was supposed to be attached. Kentaro was wearing a loose fitting white t-shirt with some sort of calligraphy characteristic of a designer brand, covered by a black and red jacket which also looked designer. A golden necklace was hidden beneath the t-shirt, barely peeking out behind his shirt on his neck. A pair of expensive drawstring pants finished off his look, giving him the look of someone who had not put too much effort into his appearance and didn’t really care about playing by the rules. Of course, the image was not an accurate representation of Kentaro; in fact, it was almost the complete opposite.

Yagi showed up fifteen minutes into the movie. At that point, Ushinawa had learned that this was not going to go as she hoped. She was the only one who wasn’t scared at all. Kentaro and Eikou were too busy holding on to each other to pay attention to her. Instead of Kentaro, Yagi was the one grabbing her for comfort. After the movie, all she wanted to do was leave, but the others wanted to stay. However, after sitting through a lunch of Kentaro and Eikou chatting between themselves with occasional interjections from Yagi, she left. She didn’t even understand what they were talking about. Some nerd shit. How did Kentaro even know so much about it?

In the end, Kentaro and Eikou ended up by themselves for the rest of the night.