Her First Love's Twin Brother
AN: Thanks to my beta readers!
The blonde girl began to panic as she scrambled.
'What am I supposed to do . . . It's over!' she thought.
"Here, use this!"
She looked up to find a boy with black hair offering her a lead pencil.
"Y-yeah . . ."
Her heart pounded as the boy smiled . . . a smile that could beat a thousand suns.
"I'll do my best!"
As she filled out the test, she looked at the name on the pencil: Kuroda Maeda . . .
'Ryuu-kun . . .'
She's always been the kind to loose herself in romantic thoughts. Recounting the first meeting, imagining first kisses, reciting the qualities she loved them for.
Yes, the AAA of Shuutoku was a romantic person. And who better to be the subject of her affections than Maeda Ryuu?
Maeda Ryuu. The boy whose parents had divorced, leaving him with a new name, who was nearly her equal in test scores and far superior to her in cooking. She often thought that a single pencil tied their fates together, and she kept that pencil in her pocket at all times.
Aoi wasn't know for keeping track of things, but she always knew where that pencil was.
Too bad they rarely spoke.
The AAA sighed unhappily as she gripped the pencil, a small pout adorning her lips. Why couldn't she talk to him? Every time she tried, a blush rose up her cheeks and she stuttered like it was her duty to repeat the same vowels over and over again.
Her body shook, and then she blinked when she realized that her closest friend, Urara, was shaking her. "Sorry to interupt but, behind you! The delinquent students are fighting AGAIN."
The AAA turned quickly to see, and nearly shrieked.
"Pl-please stop!" she called out, "Aren't you too close to our students? Please take this elsewhere!"
Two sets of brown eyes met each other, and for just a brief second, time slowed. She took in blonde hair that swung across his eyes, the laxness of his face, despite the situation he was in; the exact color of his eyes. Her heart did something weird. Then she realized that one of his opponents was coming up behind him—
Bash
Aoi's eyes went wide as, within seconds, the four delinquents he had been fighting littered the ground around him. For a second, her heart was pounding too loudly for her to notice that he'd spoken.
What happened next happened fast and was burned into her memory with humiliation. He'd started fighting again, and she lost her temper. She threw her briefcase.
And her pencil.
He'd taken it.
She was told at least four times that she was lucky he'd just taken her pencil. Just her pencil? It wasn't just her pencil. It wasn't even really hers—she was going to give it back to Ryuu-san, once she finally had the courage to speak with him.
How could she have let such a delinquent get his hands on it? He was just a stupid, filthy—her heart skipped a beat when she thought of his eyes. Brown. Maybe guarded. His face had a lax expression, because he was in control. In fact, he looked kind of handso—
Oh.
Oh no.
She shook the thoughts from her head. How could she think that? When perfect crush material was sitting right in front of her every single class? Ryuu . . . Maeda Ryuu, with black hair that neatly framed his face. A smile that could beat a thousand suns, eyes that any girl could get lost in without trying.
Determination fired within her gut. Who cared if the blonde boy was the gang leader? She was the student council president and good with disguises!
It didn't exactly turn out the way she planned.
Yes, her disguise was good enough that no one recognized her, but she'd been discovered by the very object of her hatred. Yes, hatred. Who in the wide world made a girl who infiltrated their system in order to get a led pencil back their lackey? Hayato Kuroda, apparently.
The poor girl stared at her desk, only half-listening as she pondered the name. Did Ryuu-kun to have a brother? She didn't know, she'd never asked.
She'd barely spoken to him at all.
'I-I'm going to change that! Today!' she decided. With new determination, she planned the meeting carefully.
Class had ended, and she stood. Her heart pounded.
He turned, and their eyes locked for a moment. "A-ah, excuse me," she began.
Her phone rang.
She'd made a bento for Hayato before she even learned Maeda's favorite dish.
"Why do you hold this pencil so dear?" he'd asked.
"B-because . . . because it doesn't belong to me," she'd responded.
"Do you have someone you like, Ogata-chan?"
The question came as a complete surprise, and thoughts flashed through her head faster than the blink of an eye.
Thoughts of Hayato.
'No no NO!' she yelled at herself. She looked at Miyabi, and said, "Yes. R-Ryuu."
His eyes widened in surprise. "You mean Hayato's twin brother?"
She bit her lip, and nodded. Even as her heart screamed that she knew better than that.
Another day of school went by, and it seemed as if Miyabi had given up. Hayato had explained to the others that she was his lackey; at least they'd taken it well.
Now, Aoi and Hayato stood outside the gates of her school.
"Do you have someone you like?" he asked.
"You know," she said without any hesitance. "What about you? Do you have someone you like?"
He leaned back. "Yeah, I do. So?"
Her heart suddenly began to pound on her ribcage.
"Want to know who it is?" he asked.
'Why am I so curious about who he likes?' she wondered. 'Do I want to know?'
Ryuu flashes through her mind. "Not at all," she answers.
"Liar," he shoots back.
She looks at him, her heart screaming at her, and words fall out of her mouth she doesn't mean to say. "I-I mean, I also have someone I l-like!"
"Yeah," he said, "Ryuu Maeda. You keep his pencil."
She sighed softly, and with a smile, as she realized something. She may still have a crush on Ryuu. But she had both strong feelings of friendship for, and a crush on, the delinquent leader.
And that was pretty hard to beat.
"No," she said, calm washing over her. "I-I like-"
He was leaning forward ever so slightly, his eyes somewhat alight. He was interested.
Her heart nearly stopped.
"Who does Ogata-san like?" came a question from behind her, and she froze.
"M-Maybi-kun!" she cried, spinning around with a great blush on her face. "A-ah, why are you listening?"
"We wanna know who Ogata likes!" Touma cried, raising his fist into the air.
"I-I can't say with so many people watching!" she cried.
Hayato sighed. "Give us a second boys," he said, and then he took her hand and ran.
She knew where they were going; it wasn't that far.
The Sakura tree.
They stopped underneath it, underneath the umbrella. She looked up, nerves wracking her body, because she'd just realized herself. How did she tell him?
"You know, it's not like I blackmailed you to hurt Ryuu," he said.
"I know that," she said, regaining her calm from before.
He pulled out his phone, flipping it open and finding the picture with ease. He hit 'delete', and something lifted off of her chest. She was frozen.
"What," Hayato spat after a moment, "don't you want to go see your first love now that you're free?"
'How can he be so RUDE!?' She scowled, still blushing madly.
"No, you jerk!"
He looked a little surprised, and that gave her strength. The sky was a perfect blue, and the petals from the tree above swirled through the air until they finally rested on the ground.
She took a deep breath.
"M-maybe I have s-some leftover feelings, but the person I like is . . . is Hayato Kurodu!"
He stared at her, mouth hanging open. "You're not joking," he finally whispered, sounding incredulous.
She huffed, blushing like a tomato. "W-well, will y-you g-go out with m-me?" she asked.
He slowly started to grin. "Only if I'm treating," he said.
She could feel her face being split by the grin. "I'd love that," she said.
"Yeah," he said, and pulled her into a kiss beneath the blue sky and the painted umbrella on the Sakura Tree.
There was distant cheering that they ignored.