Chapter 3: Chapter 3

Aoi's head swayed sleepily as he listened to the history teacher's sermon.

Whoever thought that putting history class after lunch was a good idea definitely had an unhappy childhood.

Summer was nearing and the warm afternoon sunlight was just right for him to sleep. It would probably start to get hot in a week. He could finally wear his summer uniform and summer vacation would be in a month or so.

Should he go somewhere with Yanagi?

Yanagi definitely wouldn't invite him on his own initiative even if he wanted to go somewhere with him. To prove his words, they had been hanging out for a few weeks and never gone out on the weekends to play.

Even though Yanagi hung around his neighbourhood every weekend.

Yanagi probably wanted to ask him out but was too pessimistic to do it. Somehow, he wasn't surprised that Yanagi didn't think of inviting him through chat.

Maybe Yanagi did and had already written it down, but he got too nervous to press the send button.

Aoi inwardly laughed at his imagination.

He was getting over his head because of how blatantly Yanagi showed him that he liked him. Regardless, it wasn't that difficult to picture with Yanagi being Yanagi.

Still, he never thought that he had an inner bully in him. The more he spent his time with Yanagi, the more he wanted to tease and bully him. Yanagi was really too cute when he was all nervous and flustered.

Looking out the window, Aoi saw that Yanagi's class was currently having P.E. class. In its own way, it was as bad as having history class after lunch.

It only took him a short while to find Yanagi. He stood out from the rest of the class in more than one way.

And when he found him, their eyes immediately met. Flustered, Yanagi quickly looked away but couldn't help but look back again after only a few seconds.

Aoi's lips curved and waved his hand at him.

How long had Yanagi been watching him?

"Ah-"

A ball went flying to Yanagi while he was in a daze, hitting him square on his face.

Aoi folded his lips in, holding back his laughter. It was a bad idea to get distracted in dodgeball.

Seeing Yanagi heading back into the school building, Aoi raised his hand and excused himself to the toilet. Going down, he headed to the infirmary on the second floor. When he reached there, Yanagi was already inside.

Yanagi turned around, thinking it was the school nurse, and was surprised to see who it was, "A...Aoi?"

"It was kind of my fault, so I came to check," Aoi looked around. "But where's the school nurse?"

"The note on the door said that she's having a discussion with the principal," Yanagi fidgeted nervously.

It was the first time for him to be alone with Aoi. Class was still in session, creating a somewhat private atmosphere with how empty the hallway was. It would be even better if the noise from his classmates outside also disappeared.

"I see," Aoi looked at the note and approached Yanagi. "Then, I'll help you with it."

"Eh!? I-i-it's okay!" Yanagi hadn't prepared his heart and mentality yet.

"Sit down," Aoi forced Yanagi down to the chair. "Which part of your red and swollen face is okay?"

Yanagi hurriedly covered his face, "I-I-I'm sorry!"

Aoi searched for the compress in the fridge and looked at Yanagi in confusion, "Why are you apologizing?"

"That...it must be disturbing for you to see...um...my face…" Yanagi anxiously said.

He was aware that he wasn't handsome. Probably below average. That was why he didn't like having short hair that showed his face.

Now that it was swollen, he must be several times uglier than usual.

What if Aoi got disgusted and didn't want to be friends with him anymore? Aoi was a very pretty person after all.

Aoi grabbed the compress and returned to Yanagi. He pried away Yanagi's hands off his face and pressed the cold compress onto him.

"As a lover of horror and thriller, it'll take more than this to disturb me," he joked.

Yanagi was inwardly relieved.

Even he would feel a bit hurt if Aoi said that monsters and ghosts looked better compared to him…

"What about your class…?" Yanagi hesitantly asked.

"Nothing will enter my brain even if I come back. It's about to finish anyway," Aoi shrugged. "Are you hurt anywhere? You fell, didn't you?"

Yanagi slowly raised his arms, showing his scraped elbows.

Without any hesitation, Aoi grabbed the necessary tools and started treating them. Yanagi held the compress himself with one hand while his other arm was being treated.

Aoi was familiar with infirmaries since he often treated his bullied classmate in middle school when things went too far.

He wasn't so much as a hero of justice that could fearlessly stand for his classmate, so he could only stay out of it. Still, he felt bad for not doing anything and made himself feel better by treating the other's wounds.

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But now, he wouldn't hesitate to intervene if Yanagi got physically bullied. Although their initial relationship was a bit out of normal, they were now genuinely friends.

Yanagi's feelings towards him didn't change at all though. On the contrary, it might even be getting stronger.

He knew he was being a total jerk for playing with Yanagi's feelings like this, but he couldn't help it. Yanagi was just too cute.

To be honest, he never disregarded Yanagi's feelings. But at the same time, he couldn't see himself dating Yanagi.

As he tried imagining going on a date with Yanagi, his mind returned to the present. He raised his gaze from Yanagi's elbow to find that Yanagi was unsurprisingly watching him.

Surprised by Aoi's gaze catching him, Yanagi quickly lowered his head.

"You stare at me all the time and you still get embarrassed when you get caught," Aoi patched up Yanagi's scraped elbows.

"I…I can't help it," Yanagi mumbled.

Thinking of something, Aoi laughed and smiled teasingly at Yanagi, "You don't actually hope that I'll look back at you, do you?"

"!!" Yanagi's body went rigid as his face flushed red.

He did.

He always did.

It was a very strange and suffocating feeling.

When he was still stalking Aoi, half of him desperately prayed that Aoi wouldn't notice him. Meanwhile, his other half held a wish that Aoi would turn around and look at him.

Aoi studied Yanagi's ashamed face for a while. With his face swollen, this was the reddest Yanagi he had ever seen. He looked like a ripe tomato.

"…"

Finished treating both elbows, Aoi put the tools back into the tray. He considered for a while before finally asking Yanagi one of the things he had always been curious about.

"Why do you like me so much, Yanagi?" Aoi tilted his head.

"…" Yanagi glanced at Aoi for a brief moment only to look away again. A little smile crept into his face, "You probably don't remember it, Aoi. We first met in middle school."

"Eh?" Aoi was stunned.

"Oh, no, but, we're not from the same school," Yanagi hurriedly added. "Do you remember going to Kyoto back then?"

Aoi thought for a second and nodded, "Yeah. It was my third-year school trip."

"Mn…that time, my school also went there," Yanagi said. "We met at Fushimi Inari Temple."

"Ahh…the girls in my group did want to go there," Aoi recalled. "I don't remember meeting–"

It was then a memory popped into his head.

Back then, they drew lotteries to decide their group and with some crazy luck, or bad luck, he got into one group with the most popular guy and the most popular girl in his year.

The girls were dead set on pairing them together since the popular girl actually liked the guy and so they left the pair together at the thousand torii gates to have the girl confess to the guy.

His group was one of the 2 groups with an odd number of members, so he was left alone when the girls went to peek.

He walked around the site by himself when he met another student of his age who was also alone. He couldn't remember what they talked about but they ended up sightseeing together.

Aoi looked at Yanagi in surprise, "Were you the guy who walked around with me?"

Yanagi's eyes widened, "You remember?"

"Wait, that can't be?" Aoi doubted. "He wasn't even as tall as me…"

"U-um…I had my growth spurt during the holiday," Yanagi scratched his neck sheepishly.

Aoi, "..."

Even hair wouldn't grow so fast…

"But that doesn't really answer my question, does it?" Aoi continued.

"For me…" Yanagi gazed down with a fond smile, "...that was enough."

Aoi, "?"

Yanagi pinched Aoi's fingertip, "That was enough for me to fall in love with you."

Aoi was caught off guard by Yanagi's direct confession and felt his face heating up.

Yanagi moved him more with his words that came after.

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