After we finished changing, we headed out to the sports hall. On the way up, the girls teased me, but they also included Olivia in the conversation as much as they could.

Despite being shy, I have to give her some credit where it’s due—she’s better than me at socialising…

When we arrived, I noticed Luke was there already, his hair tied. There were guys surrounding him and he seemed to enjoy himself.

Right… I’ve always wondered why he wasn’t more popular—it turns out he just never spoke to anybody and looked pretty cold overall.

At first, I was a little reluctant to approach him as well. Ever since the day he stopped me from crossing the road and gave me a ribbon, I’ve always been curious about who he was.

When he became my classmate, I was very happy and well…confused. At the time, I didn’t even know how to speak to him, and the first few days of school passed.

I guess everyone just assumed he wanted to be alone—even when people approached, he had this cold look in his eyes, which made them turn their eyes and walk away.

But…It was a little different for Luke, though. His concerned eyes—I felt so ashamed…

I then became seatmates with the boy, who scolded me until I began crying. It was quite embarrassing, but I couldn’t help it at the time. I’m still scared of boys.

I wondered if he would notice the ribbon he gave me. I so much hoped we’d run into each other. I mean… I realised I pretty much fell in love when I saw his other side—he was secretly feeding the cats while ensuring nobody was looking.

It was sweet of him…

I began to wonder.

Would he treat me like that?

He scolded me…

But he seemed so kind to those strays.

It all just…made my chest ache; it made my heart skip.

Is this what they call butterflies in the stomach?

Luke. I like you so much. Is it too early to call it love? I might perhaps be naive, but… I believe it to be love. I like you. I love you.

Do you feel the same?

— :::: —

“Hey, Luke, how did you even capture Lilly?” one classmate asked out of the blue.

We’d just finished changing and headed up to the sports hall, but on the way, some classmates seemed really curious about how Lilly and I got to know each other.

People usually didn’t talk to me unless it was necessary, so I did expect them to ask because Lilly was so affectionate this morning.

The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

However, on a side note, on a completely unrelated topic.

Who the heck decided it was a good idea to put P.E. class right before or after lunch? Are they demons?

Okay, rant over, let’s go back to the topic of our backstory—

“Wait, hold up!” No.3 snarked.

“…what is it, No.3?” I answered promptly as I rolled my eyes.

“Are you just going to switch topics just like that?”

“Well, yeah?”

No.1 sighed along with No.3.

“Well, they seemed annoyed you didn’t want to talk to them. Like, you just began a rant and stopped right there, right?” No.2 said in their stead.

“Oh, I see—”

Wait, you guys just want to pick a fight with me, don’t you?!

I shook my head and decided to ignore the voices in my head. Then I noticed the other guys staring at me funny.

“Huh? You don’t wanna say? Even though Lilly told the girls, wouldn’t you tell us? C’mon!? Aren’t we court bros?!” one exclaimed.

“Yeah! That’s right!” the others followed.

Umm…did I start something weird…?

“I am going to tell you, calm down…” I sighed.

Well, it’s true it wouldn’t hurt to tell them how I met Lilly or how things went between us. To be honest, I was annoyed at her when we first met.

She was reckless and could’ve been run over—geez… I won’t tell them that, though.

“Where should I even start?” I mused while hinting at them to ask.

“You’re more approachable than we thought,” one said.

“Hm? What do you mean?” I questioned.

He shrugged and looked at the other guys. “Well, we didn’t really approach you because it seemed like you wanted to be left alone, but with you dating Lilly and the court case closed, we sort of realised you were a funny guy.”

Right now, I feel a little guilty and…I should probably start to remember their names…

“…Well, I’m quite shy,” I answered reluctantly.

“Ah-hahaha! Do you think we believe you? Shy my ass!” he exclaimed.

“Yeah, you think we’d believe it? Like, you scolded Jack—even we felt that one, honestly,” another added.

“Besides, don’t think you escaped. We saw you embrace Lilly from behind to demonstrate to the transfer student what ‘melt’ was,” I think his name was Adam said.

“And we did see the kiss, just so that you know,” Mike added—that’s his name, right…?

Well, anyhow, they’ll correct me if I’m wrong.

Anyways.

Awwwhhh!? They saw that kiss!? I thought I was sneaky, but to hell with it!

“Well…” I slowly trailed off.

Gosh! Why are the words stuck!? Ah, right! It’s quite embarrassing, after all! I changed my mind! I don’t wanna tell them!

“We ran into one another during summer vacation…”

As I begin to reminiscence. And now that I think back. I think I did fall for her pretty early on, didn't I?

And to think, it all began with me stopping her at the crosswalk. But what can I say? Looking back and looking at what’s here and now.

I love her, don’t I?

“Yeah, yeah…you sure do…” No.1 and No.3 complained.

“…you two couldn’t let him have his moment, could you?” No.2 sighed.

“……”

I hate you guys…

A/N

ait, I'm done with this batch; see ya in whoever knows how long.