Ch 17

POV Akari

Aaah, I messed up. Why did I have to open my mouth like an idiot? Did he notice?

Shit, it seems like he understood. What do I do now? The atmosphere is turning awkward. Aaah, I should just jump out of the bus right now.

Just then he moved his face close to mine. W-What is he doing? I closed my eyes from the nervousness.

"Don\'t worry. I won\'t tell anyone. This will be our little secret, okay?"

My face felt like it was on fire. I didn\'t know how to react. My heart was pumping blood as if I had just completed a 100m race.

But upon seeing his grinning face that was ridiculing me I felt all the embarrassment in me turn into anger. I pinched his sides again.

"Aaaagh! It hurts. Stop. Stop. I\'ve never been pinched by anyone so hard in my life. This was my first time."

Seeing his troubled face calmed down some of the rage in me, but upon hearing the second half of the sentence I got even more angrier than before. He is still teasing me. It seems pain won\'t be enough to teach him a lesson. I need to do something else.

That\'s it. I should fight fire with fire. I made a shy smiling face.

"Don\'t worry. This is my first time as well."

My anger disappeared into smoke when I saw his cute, blushing face he made upon hearing my words. Is this the same kind of face I have when being teased? Maybe I understand why he can\'t resist teasing me at every possible chance he gets.

He turned around his face and we stopped talking after that.

Soon we reached our stop and got off. We had to wake up Nishikawa kun and Shizuo and drag them out while they were half asleep. When we parted ways and went to our respective houses it was already 7 pm.

As I was lying on the bed at night, thinking of today\'s events I realized that the number of times I blushed today was probably more than all of last year combined, and it was all because of one person.

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POV Shinji Makoto

Damn, these sort of full day excursions are not for me. My legs are killing me after all that walking. I should stick to being in home for the rest of Golden Week, I thought as I entered my house.

The sleep I had that night was so goooood. It felt like I was being hugged to sleep by an angel. I mean sleeping when you are both physically and mentally tired and not having to wake up at the sound of an alarm the next day sounds good to probably every office worker. I guess this is the reason why even my own dad sleeps till late mornings on Sundays. Is this what my life will degenerate into when I start working? Waiting for holidays to come like a parched man begging for water in a desert? I shook myself from these pessimistic thoughts and picked up a manga to read, like any good weeb in an existential crisis would.

A few days later I received a few notifications on my phone. When I saw what it was a smile formed on my face.

"So the pictures finally arrived." I mumbled to myself. Akari had sent me lots of pictures of all of us.

I didn\'t even know when so many pictures were taken. I guess I was too occupied with my own thoughts that day. It seems most of them were taken by Hiwari san. I also saw the picture that Akari had taken of Nishikawa and Hiwari sleeping together. There was even one with all of us looking out of the Ferris wheel at the very top.

Me: Wow, the pictures are great.

Me: Did you send the sleeping one to Hiwari san and Nishikawa?

Akari: No. I am thinking of saving it for later.

Me: ?

Akari: I want to see the expressions they make when I show them this.

Me: What a devilish woman.

Akari: I learnt it from you.

We went back and forth like this a few times.

The days passed in the blink of an eye.

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POV Hinata Tsukumo

It\'s time for school again. I woke up before the alarm even rang. Is this the power of love? I stuffed some buttered bread in my mouth and ran out of the house.

Some of you may not remember me, but I am the other friend of Akari who was introduced at the beginning. If you thought I was some disposable character then you are wrong. Unlike the others, who still don\'t even realize their feelings, I am someone who already got a boyfriend.

Yes, that\'s right. Actually, during golden week, we went on a date and I was finally confessed to.

Just then I saw a back that recognized walking in the distance.

"Heeeeeey, Suzuki kun wait for me." I yelled waving my hands at him.

"Good morning Tsukumo chan." He smiled at me. I grabbed his hand with a lovers\' hold.

There was faint redness in his cheeks. Ah, this is the face that gives me energy to keep functioning.

This is my boyfriend Mitsuro Suzuki. He is in the same year as us, but in a different class. The first time I met him was when I ran into him on the way to school. Because of a series of events, we became closer, and he finally confessed a few days ago. To be honest I wasn\'t expecting him to confess so soon, but I am glad he did.

When I entered the school gates, I saw Akari and Shizuo walking together. It seems like they also noticed me walking with Suzuki kun.

Akari\'s face looks like she saw the Moses part the sea. I waved hi to her and continued my way to class.

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POV Shizuo Hiwari

I knew her absences had to do something with love. Hmm? It seems like Akari hadn\'t realized until now.

"Huh, Shizuo did you know about this."

"No, I didn\'t know she got a boyfriend but I guessed something like this was going on."

"How?"

"Did you see her face when we asked her where she went during lunch breaks? That was totally the face of a maiden in love."

"No way, I didn\'t notice."

"There\'s no need to be so surprised. After all didn\'t Makoto kun confess to you as well?"

"Huh? When?"

"What? He didn\'t confess to you at the amusement park?"

I thought the reason they separated from me and Nishikawa kun was so that they could have some private time together. Also, in the Ferris wheel I understood what Makoto san was trying to do. If he could send me and Nishikawa kun first then he could go in the next carriage with Akari. I thought because Akari was already flustered from the confession she destroyed his plans by getting everyone in the same carriage.

"Wait. Then why did you stop him from telling what happened in the haunted house." I actually saw Akari pinching Makoto kun to stop him from speaking. All these facts led me to believe that Makoto kun confessed to Akari at the amusement park.

"Th-that has nothing to do with him confessing to me." She replied in a flustered manner. "It was just something really embarrassing that happened to me."

So, there was no confession? Aaaah, I feel like an idiot now. To think I had such a huge misunderstanding. Come to think of it there\'s no way somebody is going to confess to their love haunted house, right? Except for people who are really into occult. No offense to people who like occult.

But there\'s no way I was the only one who thought of this, right?

I went to find Nishikawa kun, luckily, he was in the classroom itself. When I told him what happened, he laughed.

"Hiwari san, I can\'t believe your imagination." He said wiping the tears from the corner of his eyes. "But I can\'t blame you much. Seeing their relationship, it can be easy to misunderstand. But still, confessing at the haunted house is too much."

My ears turned red at his words. Also, why did that quiet kid turn his face towards when we mentioned confessing at the haunted house? My instincts are telling me I should not investigate this question. Well, some questions are better left unanswered. After all, curiosity killed the cat.

During break me and Akari bombarded Hinata with questions about her boyfriend. As expected, the reason for her disappearance at lunch was because she was eating together with Suzuki kun. It seems that she quit her sports club and joined the astronomy club, the same club as that Suzuki fellow.

"But aren\'t you good at tennis."

"Yeah, I am good at it. But I never enjoyed it to be honest. When I first heard Suzuki kun talk about the different stars and constellations in the sky with so much passion, I also got interested in it and joined the club." She said with sparkles shining in her eyes.

Does everyone in love become a fool like this? The image of a certain boy popped into my head and I hurriedly removed it. Why am I remembering him now?