notes – at first I wanted to genderbend Houtarou too, but then I thought it'd be interesting if they remained as they were; & this was inspired by luotianyi's fanart on tumblr!

colour-coded for your convenience

1. "Are you dating Oreki-san?" he asks.

It's the first sentence he ever says to her. There's no need for formal introductions since the class isn't that big and by now everyone probably remembers each other's names. It's an unusual topic to start a conversation with, but he's already said it so there's no take backs now. His parents tell him he's too blunt and that he'll never make friends if he doesn't know when to use tact. Mayato understands but still chooses to be direct when he can, it's much better than beating about the bush.

Satomi Fukube looks up from her desk, her legs see-sawing underneath the table. "Nope!" she says with a laugh. The fact that she doesn't tell him 'you're weird' or 'who are you again?' surprises him. It's rare for someone to accept his straightforwardness so easily.

"You both seem close though," he finds himself carrying the conversation, sitting on the seat in front of her desk. The atmosphere Fukube gives off is not just approachable, but warm, and it makes him want to continue talking to her. It seems preferable over returning to his desk to read at least.

"Yeah, but we're too different," the girl says. Ah, so she'd been considering it at one point. "He's an interesting person though, don't you agree?"

Mayato has been in the same class as Oreki for over a year. Having spent approximately over 365 days with the boy, Mayato is inclined to say – no, he's not.

"No, he's not."

Fukube chuckles like she's a natural at it. "I can understand that. You might know better since you were from the same class as him in first year, right?"

"Exactly. And you, Fukube-san, are in – five sports clubs and the student council? I was wondering why someone like you would get along with someone like him," Mayato says.

"You're exaggerating. I'm only in two: softball and volleyball," she corrects him. "I didn't make any of the school's teams though," she says, her smile a little smaller this time. "But I am in the cooking and sewing clubs too!"

She's completely different from Oreki.

Mayato remembers Oreki keeping to himself and maintaining brief conversations in class all throughout last year, speaking up only when it had been explicitly required (and sometimes, not even then). He never seemed upset that he was left out of class parties or that he walked home alone. More than puzzling, Oreki's sheer indifference towards everything makes Mayato frustrated for reasons unknown. He's been trying to figure it out for the past year, but still hasn't come to a definite conclusion. It probably stemmed from the one time he told Oreki off for not bothering to put in effort in anything, and all he got in response was a monotonous 'thanks for your concern'.

Oreki never had someone he could call a best friend in class, but now, not even a month into their second year, he and Fukube are inseparable. It's odd in every possible way.

"I don't think I understand," he says. "I mean, how do you communicate with a creature like that? Is there a trick to it, or?"

Fukube really laughs this time, hard and genuine and no longer just to be friendly. She shrugs her tiny shoulders. "You seem like a fun person, Ibara-san. I wish I could've been in the same class as you and Houtarou last year."

Mayato straightens his back, trying not to get shaken by the offhanded comment. He scratches the back of his head. "Well, you're in the same class as us now. I can't guarantee anything on Oreki-san's part, but between us, I hope we'll have a good year together."

She flashes him one last smile. "Yup!"

Then, she turns to the desk behind her and slams her palm against it. "See, Houtarou? That's how to be friendly!"

The boy doesn't lift his head from the table.

2. They are an odd pair, a tall boy and a small girl wandering through school. Fukube walks with a slight skip in her step whereas Oreki drags his feet.

Mayato is the first of many people to assume that they're together. Fukube denies the claims as they come, but never lets the rumours get to her. She continues hanging out with Oreki regardless and makes a small name for herself amongst the second years. Oreki carries on with the uneventful-ness that is his entire life, as unaffected as her.

Fukube had been someone Mayato took notice of long before this whole ridiculous affair even started. Mayato calls it ridiculous in his head because, even from his distance, it's now easy to see that Fukube and Oreki are simply friends.

Satomi has a habit of wearing a different headbands to school. Back in his first year, Mayato had noticed this because she came to the library every other day to borrow or return or just peruse through their archive of books. There had been no particular pattern to the headbands, no hidden message encoded in them as far as he knew, because she acted the same day after day, grinning into the books. He'd taken notice and admired that part of this stranger.

"It's purple today," he says to her during break period.

Fukube turns away from her scrutinization of the posters pinned on the noticeboard at the back of the classroom.

"You noticed?" She prods at the headband and combs the straying strands of her short hair down. "It's new! I just felt like adding one more colour to my collection to give myself more variety."

"Variety?"

"Yup! I wear yellow when I'm happy, blue when I'm a little down, green when I've been overspending to remind myself to save up more…" Fukube counts the possibilities off her fingers. "And so on and so forth!" she concludes with a sparkle in her eyes.

"Then, what does purple mean?"

"That's what I've been trying to figure out too. I still haven't decided yet," she hums. "How about you, Ibara-san?"

"What about me?"

"No, I mean, why not let purple be you, Ibara-san? You're the first boy who's ever asked me about this," Fukube says, arms crossed behind her back, and though he knows her hands are empty, Mayato thinks she's holding onto something just then.

Not knowing how to respond directly to her suggestion, he looks down at his white shoes and asks, "What colour is Oreki-san, then?"

She sticks her tongue out. "He doesn't have one. I don't like wearing dreary colours."

Mayato looks up, the corners of his mouth lifting. When she does the same, he realises that they're exchanging smiles.

3. Mayato's secretly a manga reader. He likes to read the series publishing in Jump, but his favourite stories are those that fall under the shoujo genre. There isn't any particular reason why he likes them. Should there even be? He's tired of attempting to explain the interest to anyone, so the easiest route to take has been to keep it a secret.

He waits until library duty is done at the end of the day before moving into the vacant classroom to read the latest volume of Kimi ni Todoke. It's a little sad that he has to resort to such extents to hide his hobbies, but his parents always give him questioning looks when they see him reading shoujo at home. They make it difficult to concentrate on the love confession of the month.

It doesn't matter much now that he's used to it. The quiet classroom set in the glow of the setting sun isn't all that bad.

"What are you reading?"

Mayato yells loudly when he hears Fukube's voice behind him. She's wearing checkered hairclips along with her headband today. It's the first time he's seen her forehead.

"Wha – what're you doing here?"

"Practice just ended. I left something in class so I came back to get it," the girl explains. "Is that Kimitodo? My friends have all been telling me to read it but I never got around to doing that. Tell me if it's worth reading, will you?"

"It's pretty good… I suppose. I could lend it to you if you want," he says as nonchalantly as he can.

"Oh, that sounds great! I'll lend you a book in return!" Fukube claps her hands. "Anyway, I'm walking home now. Do you want to go off together?"

Mayato nods quietly as he zips the volume in his bag and lifts it off the table.

4. Fukube asks Mayato to come down and support the volleyball team's match against one of the other middle schools in Kamiyama. It's a friendly, casual match with no stakes, but she tells him how much she wants there to be a crowd of supporters cheering their hearts out anyway. Things like these matter to her.

"You know, we're only going to be able to do this for a few times, and even if we're going to play for many more times to come, it doesn't mean that we shouldn't take things seriously. I want to make everything count, even if I'm not going to be on the court," she explains, a bit more contemplative than usual. Mayato thinks it looks nice on her.

"I'll be there," he tells her, the words tumbling out too fast that it immediately sounds embarrassing. Fukube doesn't pick on it, and instead jumps off the desk and onto her feet, the back of her skirt flying up to reveal the shorts she's wearing underneath. They're aquamarine.

Oreki is in mid-yawn when they meet accidentally at the entrance of the sports hall. Mayato's surprised he bothered to show up, but trudges with him into the hall. Fukube's sitting on the bench beside the court with only one other girl, her headband red and her knees bouncing. When she spots the both of them she waves with her usual spirit. Mayato thinks his small wave of a reply is meek, but compared to Oreki's half-hearted raise of the hand, he feels like a lion.

They move to sit down with the rest of the class Fukube's managed to convince to attend, and the silence between them is becoming harder to bear. Mayato would have never thought that he would prefer speaking to Oreki over ignoring him.

"Why are you here, anyway?" he asks as the two teams assemble on the court, getting ready to start the match. "You don't even go for the school's official sports matches."

"Because Satomi wouldn't leave me alone until I agreed to come," Oreki says.

"You still didn't need to come, you know."

"You're right," the boy admits without retaliating. It only makes Mayato more annoyed.

Despite the fierce cheers from the small crowd of Kaburaya students that came to the match, the volleyball team doesn't recover from its loss in the first set. They proceed to go into the second round with slightly less enthusiasm and drive than when they first started. Fukube stands on the side of the court with the rest of the benched players, but she's the only one cheering profusely. It doesn't make a difference because the Kaburaya volleyball team ultimately loses the match by 8 points. The smile on Fukube's face grows faint.

"Ah well," one of the girls on the court starts to say, "we were going to lose anyway. No big deal."

The rest of the team agree, throwing 'whatever's and 'I knew it's all around. Fukube stands beside them, her expression falling apart. She mumbles something which only those closest to her can hear, before walking off the court.

Mayato stands up, moving to follow her. Halfway to the doors of the hall, he glances over his shoulder, remembering Oreki. It makes more sense for Oreki to be the one to chase after her, and it inevitably frustrates him as he comes to terms with it, only – Oreki is still seated.

"Fine," Mayato tells himself, and stomps off.

Fukube's standing behind the sports hall, kicking stray pebbles on the ground.

"Are you okay?"

She spins around on her heels and Mayato thinks that the shock on her face is not because someone followed her. She's just surprised that it isn't Oreki. His chest twinges.

"Ibara…" the girl says, "I'm sorry. I'm not really all that great now." Her laugh is weak, struggling to hold an image up. Then, she places a hand over her eyes so the only thing Mayato can see now is her grin.

"The others will laugh at me if they know how worked up I got. It'd be better if I didn't take things so seriously, huh? No one else ever does." Her voice is level and she releases a soft sigh.

"That's not true. Don't let them get to you. I like how passionate you can be, Fukube," he says, 'and I like you', he doesn't say. "It's good to put your heart into things. That's what I've always thought."

Fukube doesn't reply for a moment. Then, she removes her hand from her face and her eyes are dry. "Thanks for that! It's nice to know you care. I feel better now," she says with a reassuring smile, but Mayato doesn't buy it. He doesn't want to tell that to her now, though. She seems like she's trying very hard not to worry him.

"Let's go back, they'll be wondering where I went off to." She walks past him, coming to a stop at the corner. "What are you doing here?" she begins speaking to it, managing a short laugh. "Wait up – lemme' go wash my face first."

As Fukube jogs off, Mayato finds Oreki standing behind the corner, arms folded.

He frowns, wondering if they are going to fight, because even though he's read enough shoujos to know that things like these happen in such situations, he has never been in a fight in his life. He's not tall, so he's already at a disadvantage.

Thankfully, Oreki doesn't move from his spot against the wall. He just looks at Mayato and says, almost cryptically, "Good luck."

Okay. A fistfight doesn't sound so bad now.

5. Satomi is still attending all her clubs come the beginning of their third year. She willingly busies herself and adds as much flavour as she can to her student life. She noticeably becomes less attached to the sports teams and doesn't ask him to go to their competitions any more. Mayato still does when he can.

Satomi's a person who operates on a pre-planned, colour-coordinated schedule. So when she makes it a point to walk home with Mayato – dull, humdrum Mayato – he can't help but lead himself on. She even wears her purple headband sometimes.

Oreki tags along in most cases, immune to the waves of animosity Mayato sends his way. If there is one thing that he finds somewhat impressive about Oreki, it's his ability to be so detached from everything, yet still maintain corporeal presence in this world.

"Hey! They're going to have a festival at the town centre this Sunday. What do you say we all go together?" Satomi suggests as they walk past their favourite bakery.

"Pass," Oreki mumbles.

"Suit yourself! I can go with Mayato, right?" she says too easily.

"Have fun then."

"No– ! That was supposed to make you want to come along so that you don't feel left out," Satomi explains with comical disappointment.

"Don't feel a thing."

Satomi frowns and leans against Oreki in an effort to appear more persuasive. The boy shoulders on despite her weight on his arm, still showing no signs of changing his decision. Mayato has never felt so conflicted about Houtarou Oreki's existence in his life.

6. "That Ibara is so full of himself sometimes."

"He thinks he's always right. I can't stand that attitude sometimes, you know? I get that he's trying to help but come on, the guy doesn't understand the meaning of 'overdoing' it, does he?"

Mayato clenches a fist outside the door. He knows that some classmates haven't been happy with his allocation of tasks for daily clean-up duty and other school events, but as the class chairperson he had to put his foot down. He swallows, and takes a deep breath. He'll wait for a while longer before entering. He can just pretend that he didn't hear them talking.

Just as he confirms this plan of action, someone appears beside him. It's Satomi.

Satomi doesn't speak. She looks up at him, asking him what he wants to do with her unblinking eyes. She'll follow him whichever way he chooses.

Mayato unballs his hands, steps back from the door and walks down the hallway, no set destination in mind. Turns out he doesn't have enough guts to go back inside after hearing that. All that bravado had been for nothing. He stops behind the stairwell and sits on the floor. He looks up from his knees to see Satomi diligently staying by him even after all that. She straightens her skirt and occupies the small space next to him. Mayato scoots over so that their shoulders are no longer touching.

"Thanks, Fuku-kun" he says.

"For what?" Satomi chuckles.

"For not saying anything. I'd rather not hear anything now, sorry," he tells her.

"… That's what I like about you, Mayato. You're an honest person. You've always been, no matter what. Don't ever change for others, okay?" Her hand is on his shoulder and her cheeks are pink and so is her headband. She's sitting too close to him, but Mayato thinks that he's the only one who feels this way.

"B-By the way, I've finished the book you lent me," he quickly changes the topic, not wanting to linger on such close terms with her for so long.

"How was it?"

"Good, but I prefer Christie."

(He still carries the Sherlock Holmes books she lends him around in his bag, like a good luck charm.)

7. Mayato corners Oreki at the end of class, after Satomi leaves for softball practice. He's reading another novel at the back of the room. Mayato stares intently at Oreki until he feels compelled to lower the book.

"Yes?"

"Tell me what she likes," he says without hesitating. Satomi had given him chocolates for Valentine's Day and he intends to return the favour on White Day. Maybe, if he starts preparing himself now, he can gather enough confidence to confess to her at the same time.

"That's impossible," Oreki replies. He receives the full brunt of the glare Mayato directs at him and chooses to rephrase his sentence. "She likes a lot of things. You have to be more specific. I can't guarantee that I can remember everything anyway. Just thinking about her list of interests is tiresome."

"For a best friend, you really suck."

"Thanks."

Mayato fumes. "I thought you would be useful for once, but apparently I was wrong."

"Sorry to disappoint." Oreki tucks his hands in his pockets. "But, anyway, if it's a gift from you, I think Satomi will be happy even if you give her a blunt pencil."

He sputters and jabs a punch at Oreki's shoulder in reflex.

"Ouch."

"Don't go around saying stupid things like that, okay?"

8. "I don't think you should talk about Ibara that way." It's Oreki's voice.

Mayato's standing outside the classroom once again, hand hovering over the door handle.

"What? That's weird of you to say that, Oreki."

"Yeah! You don't even talk to us half the time and now you want us to hear you out?"

"I know, I know. Ibara can be direct and abrasive and is frankly a little scary," Oreki pauses, "but he puts in a lot of effort for the class. You shouldn't just dismiss people you don't agree with."

A silence blankets over the classroom, leaking over into the corridor outside where Mayato is standing frozen. He snaps out of his daze when he feels a soft hand tapping his knuckles. It's Satomi's.

"Come on, let's go."

9. Mayato checks the time on the clock and looks at the gift in his hands. He and Oreki are one of few students left in class, the rest have either gone home or are still attending club activities. Satomi's softball practice is set to end in five minutes.

"What did you get her?" he asks Oreki out of curiosity. Secretly, he hopes his present is better.

"Nothing." And it only tests Mayato even more because Houtarou can act so easy around Satomi. He's jealous. He'll never admit it to him.

"Well, I'm going to find her now. Don't you think about disturbing us!" Mayato instructs the other boy.

These words seem to have an effect on Oreki, because he sits up. "Are you going to-? … Be careful, Ibara," he says, sounding thoughtful for once.

Mayato creases his brow in confusion, but his pride stops him from asking what about. He leaves the classroom with a skeptical face.

"I'm sorry, Mayato."

Satomi replies with an uneasy smile.

"I just… I'm not ready for something like that now. I don't - I don't see you that way either. But we can still be friends, right?"

Mayato doesn't think she's being honest again. She's smiling in the same, proficient way she did that time behind the sports hall. He can't bring himself to call her out now this time either. He's distracted by the storm of feelings crashing down on him. Why did he ever think this was a good idea? Why did he ask Oreki about her favourite type of sweet? Why did he think someone like Satomi would ever look at him that way? Why?

Why?

"Why?"

10. Satomi doesn't avoid him.

She doesn't avoid him and she still shares her smile with him. It makes it hard for Mayato to move on. He stays put, determined to wait for her, caught between multitudes of two extremes. Oreki and Satomi; liking a girl and being intensely frustrated with her; being proud of himself for laying his heart bare and hating himself for being so irrational. When everything is said and done, Satomi is still there to make things better. Oreki is there to make things worse. Sometimes they switch places.

Mayato sighs and carries on.

11.

"Are you dating Oreki?" he asks her again, two years later in their first year of high school.

"Nope," Satomi says.

Her headband is yellow and her smile is in place.

final notes –
- I honestly didn't mean for it to be a love triangle or OT3, it just came out that way?
- It's a pseudo-love triangle. I think Mayato kind of chooses to believe it is to avoid the fact that Satomi won't reciprocate his feelings currently, even if deep down he knows that it's not true.
- Sometimes I think I exaggerate Houtarou haha, what do?