Romance is something I've been interested in ever since I've gotten into novels, manga, and anime. All those protagonists hooking a partner like they were catching fishes with a big net are terrifyingly incredible and charismatic. Though, some people are denser than a black hole. There are ones who chase after someone who they'll never get, even though they have someone else waiting for them with open arms and warm affection.

Romance in a fictional standpoint is rarely realistic, since it's fictional and all. But sometimes, other novels and stuff are basically like reality, or reality on a different sense.

But those people who get said partners using a big net are sometimes just not worth it at all. I'm probably just saying this as a form of a bias opinion, but people who use a fishing rod rather than a big net are sure to be the happiest in the end if they find that one fish in the sea they've always longed for.

Of course, I myself fall into one of these categories. I'd like to chase after the one I have my eye on, but since she's like a tall - or short - ice wall that's unable to be conquered, then I might as well go eat fire and jump into a pit of acid.

Although, I've know her since kindergarten. Yet I'm sure she would have no clue that I even existed. She always had the same face every time I see her. But hearing from others, she enjoyed camping lots and they said she looked really different when she did so.

Source: Saitou Ena (Classmate, Chatterbox, and The best friend of the one I'm crushing on.)

Saitou-san and I became friends after I had a rather scary and cute encounter with Count Chikuwa, a small dog with a bite stronger than my self esteem. Saitou and I usually talked about food, weather, and sleeping. But when I saw that she was best friends with Shima-san, we now usually talk about her and their group of friends.

Shima Rin was always someone cool in my eyes. From that stoic look and the relaxed aura she had almost everyday, small but hardy, I knew that I idolized her. But at the final year of middle school, I once saw her crying her eyes out while she took shelter from the rain at an empty bus stop. I'm pretty sure she wouldn't remember it, but I calmed her crying down, telling her everything was okay, then I gave her my umbrella and ran away.

You might think that I had set up the perfect moment for such a romantic start for a romantic story, but no. I ran away because I was embarrassed. I was regretting everything I had told her.

After that once in a lifetime moment, Shima-san never came to me. It might be because she doesn't remember me, or she wants to be rid of me. I mean, I basically told her to rebel against her mother. She said that she and her mother had a huge argument, about not letting her do the things she wanted to do and stuff like that. You know, the basic teenage problems.

So, where was I? Oh yeah, fishes. As I was saying-

"Owase!"

"Woah!" Tumbling down to the floor off of my chair, I notice that I'd been a target by a chalkboard eraser.

"This is Math class, not a daydream class." The teacher scolded me, making others laugh, much to my chagrin. "It doesn't matter how smart you are, you're still in this class and you need to pay attention." He then turned around to start writing on the board again, continuing class.

I sit back up to my chair, looking over to who I was thinking of for the past ten minutes. She looked as if she was daydreaming herself, or was she asleep? I look over to Saitou-san, seeing her make hand gestures that either want to make me die of embarrassment or... just straight up die.

Looking back to the board, I finally pay attention for once, before quickly getting lost in my thoughts once more. I take one last look over to Shima-san, and I return my eyes to the board. Though my hopes went up when I thought she looked at me for a second. But she wouldn't do that.

Romance is something I've been longing for ever since I met a girl named Shima Rin.

And love is something everyone needs in their lives.

-3rd-Person POV-

Packing up her stuff, Rin gets ready to set off over to the library.

"Rin, are you ready to go for tomorrow?" Rin turns around to find her close friend, Saitou Ena, coming over to her. "Nadeshiko-chan said that she was gonna do breakfast again as long as someone else did dinner."

Rin nods her head. "Oogaki said she was doing dinner. Maybe we should pitch in on it?" She asked her friend as she puts her bag on.

"We might as well just wait and see what she has in store for us." Ena answered her, noticing that her friend had been eyeing an empty seat near the windows. She grins mischievously, putting a hand over her mouth. "Rin-sama, may you perhaps have taken a liking to our smartest classmate, Owase Kujo?"

Rin takes her time before she shook her head. "I just think that he might be troubled about something, since he normally doesn't doze off in the middle of class."

The two then walk out of the classroom, both heading towards the library.

"So, Rin, how did you do on the test earlier?" Ena asked as she looks at her small friend.

"I did better than I expected actually. I thought I was gonna be in trouble, but halfway through the test I realized that the questions were the same as the review you had." The blue haired girl answered, slowly undoing her hair from her usual bun. "Thanks for that by the way. I'd have failed it if it weren't for the review sheets."

Ena's eyes showed somewhat of a fire burning. "You're welcome. Though you're thanking the wrong person."

"Hm? What do you mean?"

"What I meant was that I wasn't the one who made that review sheet. It was supposed to be my cheat sheet."

Rin looked at her friend with a deadpan expression. "Cheat sheet?"

Raising her arms to defend herself, Ena nervously laughs at this. "Y-yeah, but then you said you needed help so I gave it to you instead." She closed her eyes as if to avoid Rin's accusing glare. "And the one who made that cheat sheet was from none other than my personal human search engine!"

"...mind me asking who that is?"

Ena looked to the side with a pout. "I-I kinda mind..."

Rin visibly deflated at this. "I can't believe that he keeps spoiling you like that."

"You jealous?"

Rin didn't answer her. She instead looked to the side, much to her friend's disappointment.

Groaning in defeat, Ena looked at her friend once more. "You might be cute when you're hardy, but it's gonna be a problem if you want to get a boyfriend."

Not bothering to answer her again, Rin kept walking before making it to the library. Ena left not long after they got there, deciding to go to The Outdoor Club Room. Rin stayed for at least a fair hour before leaving school and heading towards work.

Kujo walks out of the campus, seeing someone walking ahead of him. Catching up to them, he wraps an arm around their shoulder.

"Yo, Mitsuru!" He greets the teen, he was just as tall as him, had black hair that was slightly pushed back, eyes that looked like onyx, and walking with a slight slouch.

"What do you want, Kujo?"

"What? I can't hang out with my best friend?" Kujo asks while feigning a hurt expression. "Why didn't you wait for me again?"

Mitsuru lazily shrugs Kujo's arms off of him, before sighing and answering, "Thought you had club... again."

Kujo groans at this. "We all know that I wouldn't have any clubs you idiot."

The two then start walking together, not really noticing someone familiar walk across the stop light a few feet away from them.

"You're the smartest in the school right? So I'd think that you'd have clubs of some sort." Mitsuru fires back, putting his hands inside his pants' pockets.

"And leave you walking home alone? No thanks buddy." Kujo replies, crossing his arms.

"I pick up my little sister on the way home, I wouldn't be alone."

Kujo shakes his head from side to side, clearly disagreeing with him. "Not really a valid reason for me to leave you two alone." He then continues. "You really just don't like walking with anyone else huh? What if some lunatic followed you home and stabbed you?"

"I wouldn't have anyone following me if I looked uninteresting enough. And should you really be saying that?" Mitsuru gave Kujo a slight glare.

"Hey man, at least now you're gonna be cautious."

Mitsuru gives up, looking forward as he stops at the stoplight. "I'll see you tomorrow, Kujo. Don't forget about this Friday."

Kujo nods as he waves him off. "I know, I know. Good luck at work."

"Good luck finding work."

"Don't patronize me."

Splitting up, Kujo heads straight for the book store. "Guess I should buy a book for Friday."

After a few minutes of walking, Kujo makes it to the bookstore, called Takeda Bookstore. This particular bookstore was recommended by Saitou Ena herself, the girl who he rarely sees with a book in hand. "Maybe she just reads at home? Nah, if you were to recommend a bookstore to someone you'd have to be a massive bookworm to do so. And every bookworm I know bring some kind of book to school. Saitou can barely even fathom what our history books contain."

Opening the door to the bookstore, he sees that there aren't any people in it, seeing that there wasn't anyone behind the counter as well. Looking back at the door, he sees that the sign said they were open. Shrugging it off, he decides to go in anyways. "Someone will probably come out from the back any second now."

Now browsing through a bunch of light novels, Kujo takes a few off of the bookshelf. "Maybe I should consider how much I spend this time."

Walking towards the counter, he sensed that he wasn't alone anymore. Digging through his pockets, he takes out his wallet, books in hand. Not paying attention, Kujo puts the books on the counter, having a slight struggle with his pocket.

"Will that be all sir-"

Kujo freezes on the spot. The voice that had recently spoken up was familiar to him. Actually, he knew that voice so well that he'd start thinking of said person's face. Looking in front if him, he sees none other than, Shima Rin.

Rin herself looked surprised. She rarely saw people who went to her school go to this bookstore. It wasn't as if she wanted to work here because almost none of the people from her school go here, she just didn't feel like being bothered by questions and answers when it comes to work, or anything to begin with.

Deciding to break the really uncomfortable awkward silence, Kujo clears his throat, sliding some bills onto the counter. "H-hey, Shima-san."

Rin breaks out of her stupor, nodding unsurely. "Yeah, w-what's up, Owase-san."

"Oh, you know, just buying some books..." Internally thanking himself for not stuttering, Kujo settles for his usual smile, now looking into her eyes.

Rin gets a jolt up her spine as he started looking at her. She closes her eyes, looking over to the side and fake coughing to ease herself. She brings her head back to look at him with her usual poker face. "I didn't know you'd be the type to read these kind of novels, Owase-san." She said as she started scanning the books on the counter.

Owase grinned slightly. "What? Did you think I read math books all the time?"

Rin shook her head at this. "I just thought you'd be more into manga and stuff. Like those over there." She points over to a stack of shounen manga, Kujo following to where she was pointing.

"I used to read manga. Actually I still do, but that's only if I liked the novel that came before the manga adaptation." He replied as Rin took the money off the counter, calculating his change. "Though, did you expect me to read those because of stereotype?" He said with a teasing grin on his face.

Rin gains a bit of red on her cheeks because of this. "T-that's not true. I just saw you holding onto one just a few weeks ago." Kujo's grin disappears, changing into a shocked and surprised expression. Rin raised an eyebrow in confusion. "What's wrong?"

Kujo shakes his head to try and hide the growing blush on his face. "N-nothing, I just didn't think you'd remember something like that."

Rin takes a bit before she realized what he meant and what she said, feeling that warmth on her face grow stronger. "I-I just have a good memory is all."

Kujo just chuckles at this. "That manga wasn't even mine. Someone left it on their table and I found it whenever I was cleaning up."

"Oh, that makes sense."

"Yeah..."

This is awkward!

Should I say something? No, this is Shima-san we're talking about. She doesn't really like talking a lot. Maybe I should just run? No you idiot! Running won't get me anywhere right now! Maybe I should just apologize? Yeah, that seems about right.

"U-umm... sorry for the uninvited visit, Shima-san." Kujo apologized. Though it was more of a panicked response.

Rin gives him a small smile, one that gave him a mini heart attack. "Don't apologize for that. This is a bookstore, not my house."

Scratching the back of his head, Kujo laughs nervously, uncomfortable about his own apology. "Y-yeah, that's right, aha hahah..."

"Don't make it more awkward than it already is."

"...sorry." Sighing in defeat, Kujo gets a hold of himself. "I don't really talk to anyone. Usually just Saitou-san and my childhood friend, Mitsuru."

Rin rests her head on her arm, listening to Kujo intently. "Mitsuru? Ah, the one from Inuyama and Oogaki's class."

Kujo nods his head at this, leaning his back on the counter. "Yeah, we've been friends for almost fifteen years now."

"And how old are you?"

"I'm 17 going 18 not too far now." He throws a up a peace sign with a toothy grin.

Rin's heart flutters for a moment, seeing her own face on his glasses. "So we're the same age, huh?"

"Guess so." He gave a simple reply, the mood of the place not as awkward as it was. "Though, I still have one question."

Rin tilted her head in curiosity. "Ask away."

"What time do you usually go home at work days? It's basically dark out." He asks, leaning his body on the counter more to be comfortable.

"I usually go home not long after it gets dark. 7:30 is when my shift ends." She answers him, making him think. She noticed the serious look on his face, prompting her to ask, "Is something wrong, Owase-san?"

Kujo shakes his head, making his decision. "Nah, I was just thinking on what I should cook tonight." With that, he takes the plastic bag of books and looks back at her. "Well, it was really nice to see you, Shima-san."

Rin nods with a small smile. "Same here. Be careful on your way home." She said as if it was a normal routine for them.

Owase turned around and waved his hand goodbye without looking at her. Rin watched him walk away, sighing to herself. She couldn't help but feel a little warm, even though winter just struck.

Now out of the store, Kujo quickly goes to the side, away from the bookstore, clutching his chest as he panted with a flushed face. "I can't believe that just happened." He says to himself, not believing what just happened.

Finally calming himself, he punches the air with a fist, celebrating his first success. With that, he walks away and goes back home, a satisfied smile on his lips.

Back inside the store, Rin couldn't figure it out, but she had a slight warm feeling in her chest and on her face. Though she quickly ignored it after hearing the door open. "Welcome."

After buying some groceries, Kujo looked at his phone as he sighed in relief. "Alright, it's only 7:45, I can still eat and do some homework." He then started jogging his way home, only to stop and look at the bookstore he was once in. "She should be home by now, right?" He took a slight peek through the window, only to see Rin packing up. "Huh, might've taken a long shift." He then looked away and started thinking, "Should I stay and walk her home? No, that's weird, I've only began talking to her like an hour ago. But I really wanna talk to her more. But that'd only make me look like a stalker! Ahhh, what should I do?!"

"Owase-san?" Kujo was so busy rambling that he didn't even notice the ringing of the bell on the door. He looks to the right to see a slightly surprised Rin, who had called out to him.

"H-hey, Shima-san. I know this is sudden and all but... if you wouldn't mind... mayIwalkyouhome?" He quickly asked as he tried his best to hide his embarrassment. "Y-you can d-d-decline if you want." He added as he pulled his scarf upwards, the scarf he forgot was wearing.

Rin, completely flustered by his invitation, looks to the side to hide her embarrassment. "It depends on where you live, I'd feel really bad for letting you come with me then walk a long way home."

Kujo could only shake his head. "It won't matter anyways. Getting to talk to you is a good reason to walk a long way." He said unconsciously.

Rin madly blushed at this, not knowing how to reply. "I-if you say so..."

Kujo warmly smiled at her, calmly walking to her side. On the inside, he was freaking out. He had no clue what to do or what to talk about. If only Saitou was here.

"Don't you usually ride a moped, Shima-san?"

"Hm? How did you know? It's not like I ride it around school."

Caught! What do I say? I can't say that Saitou told me, that'd only bring more questions on the table!

"Umm... I saw you riding it a few times..." Die! Die ten times for lying to her, Kujo!

"Ah, I only use my moped when I go to farther places."

She bought it?! SOMEONE KILL ME FOR LYING TO SOMEONE SO CLEAN AND INNOCENT!

"That makes sense, but wouldn't it be better if you were to ride on the way to school. Wait, actually, do they even allow that in school?" Kujo looked up at the night sky, contemplating his own question.

Rin couldn't help but smile at his slightly troubled expression. "I've only seen bikes and people being dropped off by cars. And I guess I don't want to take the risk of my moped being stolen."

"Hm, I see where you're coming from. Though I was surprised you actually could ride a moped yourself." Kujo says with a toothy grin.

"Can you do so yourself, Owase-san?"

Answering with a slightly proud nod, Kujo answer, "Not exactly, but I own a motorcycle, though I have no actual reason to use it, except for joyrides. I clean and oil it every now and then just so it wouldn't rust and die on me."

"Ehh... I wanna know what it's like to ride a motorcycle." Rin thought aloud, watching as vehicles passed by them.

Kujo couldn't help but look at her, a relaxed and wistful expression on her face. He wanted to know what her expression would be if she were to ride a motorcycle in full speed on a highway, her face hitting the wind, a genuine smile on her lips. Before his mind touched unwanted territory, he shook his head and slapped his face with both hands, which made Rin look back at him.

"Are you alright?" She asks.

"Yeah, just felt slightly dizzy for a second there."

Rin looked at him, concerned. "Are you sure you should be walking with me right now? You're not sick, are you?"

Kujo shook his head and hands. "I'm fine. I'm not sick, not that I know of at least." He says, looking away from her.

Rin nods, slightly confused. They then continued to talk about things in general, until they made it to Rin's house. The lights were on so it would seem that her mother was home already. The duo stops at the front, facing each other.

"It was really nice of you to walk me home, Owase-san." Rin bows, thankful for his acquaintance.

"Kujo."

"Hm?"

She looks up at the boy, a genuine smile on his face. "Call me Kujo, Shima-san."

She stands there, not knowing how to reply properly to that. "A-alright, Kujo-san."

Nodding to her, Kujo turns his back and starts walking off. "I'll see you tomorrow in class, Shima-san."

As he kept on walking, he had this nagging feeling that he had done something wrong. His chest clenched hard, his hand slowly reaching for it. He had done a great job not embarrassing himself in front of her... Her? Suddenly, his breathing gets heavier. I can't do this. No matter how close you are right now, doing that will only bring down what you've tried to build. I'll take my time... no matter how long it takes... but I-

"Kujo-san!"

Kujo immediately turns around, seeing the target of his affections running towards him, with a piece of paper in hand. She stops short of breath in front of him. She then reaches her hand out, giving him the piece of paper.

"It's my phone information." She says as she drops the paper into his hands. He accepts, albeit frozen because of the situation. "Oh, by the way, you can call me Rin."

*Thump*

Oi, this is bad. You're gonna kill me here, Shima Rin. Do you even know how much I've always thought about you ever since I first met you? You have no idea as to how much I relate to you. But... after all that, I still feel strongly for you. This wasn't really how I wanted it to end up, but...

Owase Kujo, you are one lonely bastard.

"Are you alright, Kujo-san? You look a little pale." She snaps him out of his thoughts, making him look at her dead in the eyes.

Taking a deep breath, Kujo looks up at the night sky to calm himself down. "Shima-san... what I'm going to say right now may shock you, and you might just stop talking to me altogether. Are you ready?" He says without looking down at her.

Rin suddenly felt her fingers go colder than usual, gulping nervously much to her confusion. "I-I don't really get it, but go for it."

In one swift motion, Rin couldn't feel that coldness in her fingers anymore. The feeling was quickly replaced by a warm feeling. She paid attention to her surroundings finally, seeing him looking at her, and his warm hands cupping her cold ones.

"Shima Rin, I like you... please go out with me."

Those words made his shoulders and chest lighter, but his legs were almost about to give in. He needed to be strong in this moment. He knew that he would be rejected. She barely knew him, and she always kept to herself. He didn't want to ruin that, but he wanted to at least try, for his own sake. Even if she decided to distance herself from him, he'd feel fine.

Because she deserved better.

I'm smart. And that's the only good thing going for me. I'm not much of a looker, but my mom said that I wasn't below average. I'm a closet otaku, though not really that hidden anymore. I'm someone who'd have someone else's life be priority rather than my own. Especially after middle school... no wonder I only have one friend. Mitsuru stuck to me even after that incident... same goes for his little sister, Ritsu. And I wouldn't ask for more. Shima Rin is perfect. Or so I would say. She's reliable, independent, beautiful, and smart. She was nowhere near my level. She was everything I wanted to be back then, but now she's everything I wanted. She was lonely. But now she had friends. I always looked at her from afar back then, and thought to myself that I had a chance while she barely talked to anyone. I did have my chance, though I blew it since I'm a coward. And now that I have this chance, I'm not letting it slip through my hands...

I'm not letting this chance slip through my hands.

-Kujo's POV-

"Sure..."

What? "Huh?"

Opening my eyes, I see her looking back at me, her face red, and a warm, genuine smile on her face. She then gripped my hand back, making me flinch slightly.

"I may not know what it feels like to be in a relationship... but with you, I think I can tolerate having to learn something new."

I blink, and blink, then again, I blink. I wasn't sure if what was happening was true, but when I grip her hand back, I feel how real her warmth is, and how real that smile is. I smile back at her, genuinely happy, something I haven't done in a while.

"Oh, hold on." She says as she lets go of my hands, the cold taking me back. She rummages through the bag hanging on her shoulder, then takes out a familiar looking umbrella.

My umbrella.

"It had been a long time, but I forgot to give this back to you. Actually, I just didn't know how to..." She says as she hands it to me and hides her mouth behind her scarf.

I nod, my smile not going away. "I thought you didn't know that it was me who gave it to you."

Rin smiles once again, tapping the side of her head with a finger. "Good memory, remember? How could I forget someone who's been with me since kindergarten?"

I looked at her, shocked at what she just said. I then laugh my heart out, feeling warm all over as she joins me.

The two of us laugh, then we stop and stare at each other, both flustered. "Shima-san."

"Rin."

"Er... Rin... I promise you, that I'll do my best to make you happy." I say as I hold her hand again, her grip not faltering.

She nods before replying, "I'll try my best, too."

With that, our hands linger for a while longer before we let go.

"I gotta go home now, I still have homework to do." I say as I unconsciously take a step towards her to feel her radiating warmth. She then puts her hand on my chest and nods one last time.

"Message me when you get back. We have a lot to talk about."

I nod back, before hesitantly stepping away from her.

"I'll see you tomorrow, Rin."

"Yeah, same here, Kujo."

I guess it doesn't have to start with romance for one to bud. And I won't take catch and release for an answer until she says so.