The young male was dressed in a designer grey trench coat, a hand-knitted wooden blue scarf and a brand new pair of jeans. He also wore a custom-made light pink shirt, but that couldn't be seen from under his buttoned coat. He was supposed to hang out with his two best friends from school, and one of them was the girl he was in love with. He blushed at the thought of her seeing him dressed to his best just for her. She would smile adorably and say in a gentle tone, "Akira… You look so amazing today. I'm so glad I came just to see you." And then they would leave behind their third friend and have their happy Christmas date. Kusano Akira was, in every way imaginable, the weirdest, cutest, stupidest and most different high school student out there. In all Tokyo, there was not one other student who made pouty faces all day and waved their hands up and down while going up or down stairs. Not to mention he had a habit of adding phrases to the end of sentences like, "Daccha~" Most people found it ridiculously annoying. It was so annoying, that the class bully Bando poured water all over him with a hose and most other people completely ignored his existence. The only people who still acknowledged him were Kiritani Shuji and Nobuta. Nobuta… He thought, She's so cute-daccha~
"Oi… Oi, spaced out Kusano!" A familiar voice came from nearby.
Akira shook his head and knocked himself back into the present. No sooner had he done so than he was staring into the eyes of none other than his best friend in the whole world, Kiritani Shuji.
"Shuuuji-kun~ Where's Nobuta-daccha~?" Kusano grinned and chuckled, then made kissy faces at Shuji. He looked at Shuji who was looking back at him and sighing. Akira tilted his head.
"Let's go." Shuji said quietly, not explaining any further. Akira is so dense…
Akira shook his head in disbelief, "And leave Nobuta behind? Shuji! You're being mean! IDIOT!"
Shuji sighed and shook his head, "You don't get it, do you?"
Akira pouted and lifted his hand, touching his ring and middle finger to his thumb, while the index and pinky stood straight up, "Get what-daccha~? Kon-kon!"
Shuji heaved another heavy sigh. He's too dense! He took a deep breath and looked around, "I didn't invite Nobuta. I invited just you and that's why we're in such a place where there's nobody else around."
Akira looked at Shuji expressionlessly, then pouted again, "Why?"
"You said it yourself, Kusano…" Shuji spoke in a soft voice, not looking into Akira's eyes out of fear of his reaction, "The more I think about the person I like, the worse of a person I become."
Akira nodded, "Yeah, I said that-daccha~" He tilted his head and looked down, straight into Shuji's averted eyes, "Hm? What does that have to do with anything?"
Shuji sighed and held Akira's arm, pulling him along, "Enough. Just come. I planned for today tong enough and I'm not letting your idiocy ruin it."
The two were sitting in a cafe after a lot of walking and visiting malls. Shuji was drinking a delicious hot chocolate with whipped cream, while Akira was still at the counter, trying to decide what pastry or pie to have. Shuji sighed and took a slow sip from his cup, Why doesn't he get it…? Before Shuji could continue thinking on Akira's dense mind, Akira returned with a warm slice of apple pie. He cut off a fairly large piece and blew on it for a while to cool it down. After a moment or two, he shoved the fork with the whole piece into Shuji's mouth.
"Shuji tell me how it is-daccha~" He smirked and pulled the fork out. Shuji yelped slightly with the huge piece of pie. It was delicious and it felt like it was melting in his mouth but he couldn't eat it fast. His mouth would be stuffed for a bit.
"Now since Shuji can't talk, I'll talk-daccha." Akira put on a rather serious face and continued, "I was lying. When I told you I want to stop producing Nobuta because I like her, I was lying. I made you, and myself to some extent, believe that so I wouldn't realize my real feelings. When you told me my own words earlier, it struck me. The reason I really wanted to stop producing Nobuta was because I saw you and Nobuta getting too close to each other. It wasn't because you were too close to her but because she was too close to you. Earlier, when she was editing your video all excited too, I was so angry! It's not Nobuta I wanted to make mine and marry and date. It's Shuji-daccha~"
Shuji's face turned beet red and he swallowed the pie whole, causing him to choke up on it. Akira quickly offered him a glass of water but in the meantime, two girls came up to them, looking at Shuji.
"H-Hey.. You're Kiritani-senpai and Kusano-senpai from school, right? Do you mind if all four of us spend Christmas Eve together? Like a double date? Actually, I'm really fond of Kusano-senpai and my friend, Ako here, is really fond of Kiritani-senpai.."
Shuji weakly smiled at them, his face pale from choking on the pie. Akira looked at Shuji and smiled at the girls, "Unfortunately, we're busy right now-daccha~"
Akira took a quick sip of water and stood up, leaning over the table. He then lightly pulled Shuji by his collar and kissed him, giving him the water mouth-to-mouth. The two girls blushed bright red and ran away from there while Shuji was about to pass out from embarrassment. What would he do if someone from their class saw that? A teacher? Or Nobuta? Worst of all, if it was one of those two 'Destiny' idiots?! BAKA-KUSANOOOOO he thought, but he couldn't resist. He needed the water, and the kiss felt really good. It lasted for no more than four seconds but it felt like an eternity. When Akira eventually pulled away from Shuji, Shuji felt as though his heart was ripped out of his chest. He looked down and sipped his hot chocolate, unable to say anything. Akira, however, was not quite done. Impulsive as he was, he had decided to show everyone who Kiritani Shuji belonged to.
He looked at Shuji innocently and smiled, "Hey, once you're finished, there's a mistletoe outside-daccha~"