It was an unusually warm and bright day for that time of the year. "The day started pretty nice, I hope the rest of it will be like that too" Maria said to herself while she was on the way to her new school. Although she looked okay and had a smile on her face, she was very nervous about the new school, new people - new beginning. "I hope I'll fit in" was her last thought before she took a deep breath and walked into her new school's yard and looked at the sign on the wall which said "Kirisaki Daiichi High". "Kirisaki Daiichi huh? That's a strange name.. I like it" she was thinking while finally entering the building. The school was huge and there were students everywhere. Maria's nervousness was finally showing and she immediately started sweating. She was more scared than she thought. "Suck it up" she said to herself, "Everything is going to be fine". She nervously approached the other students who surrounded the board where the lists of classes were. "Second year, second year, second year... Ah! Here it is!" she said to herself when she found the list of second year classes. "M, M, M, no, not me, not me either... Uhm, t t t.. Oh, here I am!". She found her name on the list of the class 2-3. "Okay, that part is done. Now I need to find my classroom. But who should I ask? There are dozens of people here!" Maria slowly started to panic but after a couple of minutes and couple of deep breaths she calmed herself. "Focus! So, yeah, the classroom. Hm, I guess I'll try finding it myself, it's not like I could get lost..." she encouraged herself as she walked through the hallway on the right.
She was walking through the hallway which didn't look like it's leading to any of the classrooms, but she still kept going. After fifteen minutes she admitted to herself that she is lost. "Great. Just great" she scolded herself "Why am I such a dork? Huuuuuh.." she released a long breath. After a few more steps she saw a door and smiled like a little kid. "Finally, an actual door! It's probably the library, someone there must know where my classroom is!" she thought while going towards the door. She knocked and slightly opened the door but didn't look inside the room yet "Uhm, excuse me? Can you help me, I'm new here and I kinda-", but when she opened the door wider she saw that that room definitely wasn't a library when a tall, muscular boy ran before her eyes with a ball in his hands. She ended up in the school's gym in the middle of a basketball practice. She knew she should leave immediately and not disturb them while they're practicing, but for some reason she felt like she needed to stay there and watch them play for a while. She stood at the door and watched them practice for a couple of minutes until some boy noticed her. He gave the ball to his teammate, said something to him and then started approaching her. When she realized she's been spotted she started to get nervous and started sweating again. She wanted to leave but the boy already approached her - he was really tall and had light brown hair.
"Are you lost?" he asked her, "You shouldn't be here during our practice."
"As a matter of fact, I am lost. I'm new here and I have no idea where my classroom is."
The boy looked a little surprised; he didn't expect that kind of an answer.
"Oh, you're new here?" he asked while blushing a little, "I'm Yamazaki Hiroshi, nice to meet you. In which class are you?"
"Nice too meet you Hiroshi-kun. I'm Maria," she introduced herself while shaking his huge hand, "I'm in class 2-3. Do you know where it is?"
"Yes, I do. It's on the second floor on the left side of the school. As a matter of fact, you'll be in the same cla-"
"YAMAZAKI!" yelled a boy behind him, "What the hell do you think you're doing?!"
He sounded angry. Maria couldn't see his face well because he was shorter than Yamazaki.
"Captain! I was just showing he-"
"I don't need your excuses. Get back to practice!"
"Uh, okay.. See ya around," he said to Maria while going back on the court.
She could finally see the other boy's face. He was an average height boy, not much taller than her with black hair and really weird, thick eyebrows, but with a very handsome face.
"Who are you?" he almost yelled at her, "Can't you see we're in the middle of practice? Or you are blind or something?" He was really rude.
Maria stood there for a couple of seconds before she came to her senses and responded to him, "I-I'm sorry, I d-didn't know this was a g-gym..."
"What, you can't talk properly either? Geez."
She looked at him furiously while raising one eyebrow, "Listen, asshole, I just came to this school, I'm new and I just happened to get lost and the last thing I need is some jerk like you yelling at me like that! Ugh!"
She didn't give him a chance to respond, she ran back through the hallway and took the path Yamazaki told her. She found her classroom couple of minutes before the ending of the first class.
"That jerk! Who does he think he is?" she kept repeating in herself while waiting for the class to end.
When the class finally ended, she approached the professor and told him that the reason for skipping the first class was because she got lost. He said that everything is okay and that he'll talk to the professor who is supposed to teach the second class and tell them to introduce her to the class. She had a five minute break before the start of the second class so she went to the bathroom. When she got back from the bathroom, everyone was already inside the classroom. The door was opened and the professor saw her and told her to come in so she could introduce her to her new class.
"Students, students, may I have your attention, please! Before we start this class, I'd like to introduce your new classmate to you. This is Maria. Maria, would you like to say something to your new classmates?"
Maria didn't look at the rest of the classroom yet, she was too shy.
"U-Uhm, hi, my name is Maria and I came from Europe. I hope we'll get along well."
When she finished introducing herself she decided to finally look at the rest of the class.
While she was looking at them the nervousness was slowly fading away... Until she saw him. The last person she wanted to see at that moment. When their eyes met you could've seen the sparks flying around. It was the rude black boy.
When the professor spoke to her again and showed her where to sit, she came back to her senses and stopped scowling at him. "Great. Juuuust great."
The class was over before she knew it. She liked the new school so far. She opened a can with juice and was going to get up. At the moment she got up she was pushed by someone and her juice spilled all over the floor.
"What the..." she said before turning to the person who pushed her, "You should watch where- Oh." She stopped when she faced him. It was him, the guy she hated the most at that moment.
"Why am I not surprised?" she almost yelled at him, "You should watch where you're going, what are you, blind?"
The boy glared at her, "You're the one who should be more careful, look at what you did." He pointed at the spilled juice on the floor.
"Please don't act smart, you're the one who pushed me!"
"Hmph, whatever." He made a nonchalant face, "Be sure to clean that up before the next class starts, newbie." He walked out of the classroom.
"UGH. HE'S SUCH A JERK, I CAN'T STAND HIM!" Maria yelled in anger. Other girls were staring at her, shocked.
"You know him?" they asked her.
"I met him in the gym when I got lost but I don't know his name or anything. Why?"
"That's Hanamiya Makoto. The smartest," said one of the girls;
"The coolest," said the other one;
"The cutest," said the third girl with a disturbing expression on her face;
"And he's both coach and captain of our school's basketball team."
"You forgot the biggest asshole title. What's so cool about him anyway?" Maria asked them with disgust-showing expression.
"You are joking, right? He's, like, the whole package. Almost every girl in school is crazy about him."
"Yeah, almost," muttered Maria for herself.
"But he doesn't pay attention to girls, he's very focused on basketball."
"And he's an asshole."
"Stop saying that!" all the girls yelled at her at the same time.
"Okay, okay... Change of subject please. What's our next class?"
"Math."
Maria's first day at her new school went better than she expected. She met new people (some better than others), got praised by some of the professors and didn't speak another word with the guy who annoyed her the most.
Next morning was bright and sunny. Maria got up with a smile on her face.
"What a nice morning," she said while stretching.
After eating breakfast she put her uniform on and went to school. When she entered the classroom the first person she looked for was him, although she had no idea why she did that.
"Ugh," she muttered to herself when she saw him.
The bell finally rang and the class was supposed to start. Maria was walking towards her seat when he appeared in front of her, blocking her way.
"Can't you see I'm trying to get to my seat? Move!" she said to him, irritated.
"Don't tell me what to do, newbie," he answered back to her, "You're the one that should move so that I can pass through."
They argued like that until the professor came in.
"What is going on here?" the professor asked them, "Why aren't you two at your seats? The class has already begun."
They snorted at each other and went back to their seats.
The classes were passing really fast and before she knew it the last class was about to start. She had P.E. which was maintained in the gym. The professor gave them a free class so anyone could do whatever they wanted. Some of the girls were playing volleyball, some were just standing and chatting and some of them were watching the boys playing basketball and giggling. At that moment Maria felt like playing basketball. She approached the boys and asked them if she could play with them. All the boys were pleasantly surprised and agreed to let her play with them except for one guy - him.
"You want to play basketball? With us? You're joking, right?" he asked her mockingly.
"Do I look like I'm joking? What's wrong with me playing basketball with you guys?"
"You're a girl and you stink," he kept mocking her.
"Wait, you think that I stink at basketball just because I'm a girl?" she asked him, annoyed.
"Wow, who would've guessed, you're smarter than you look. Yes, exactly. And I don't like you."
Maria glared at him, furious. She wanted to jump on him and choke him with her bear hands.
"You know what? Forget it. You're not worthy of my time. And it's good to know that we're on the same page because I don't like you either. I'm outta here," she shouted as she walked out of the gym.
The other boys kept looking her way, disappointed.
"What did you stop for? Keep playing!" yelled Hanamiya at them, annoyed because Maria answered back to him like that.
"UGH, THAT JACKASS! I SWEAR I'LL RIP HIS HEAD OFF! HE'S SO ANNOYING, UGH!" Maria kept yelling in herself.
Until she calmed down the class was already over and everyone went back to the locker room to change to their uniforms and go home. When everyone left the school and the school yard cleared a bit, she saw someone taking the same way as she did.
"You've got to be kidding me," she said when she saw him approaching. When he saw her too, he frowned.
"Are you now stalking me or something?!"
"Hmph, you wish," he answered back to her, "My home is this way. Why are you taking this way?"
Maria made an expression mixed with pain and disgust, "This is my way home too."
He didn't expect that kind of an answer. They stared at each other for a few seconds before they snorted at each other and walked their way in awkward silence.
They were walking like that for a while until Maria decided to break the awkward silence.
"Why don't you like me?" she asked him suddenly.
"Huh? What's up with you all of a sudden?"
"I'm asking you why don't you like me. What did I do to you?"
"You interrupted my practice and annoyed me. You're annoying me right now too."
"I said I'm sorry for that, you don't have to be rude about it."
"I don't need pathetic people's apologies," he answered back rudely to her when they got to the traffic light, waiting to cross the street.
"You know what, I have no idea why I even tried to start a conversation with you. You're just one bad boy wannabe who has nothing better do to than to mock other people. You disgust me, I hate you," she shouted at him in anger.
He stared at her for couple of seconds with a frown on his face.
"Hmph," he snorted before he started crossing the street, not noticing that the light for pedestrians was still red and that a truck was coming at him. When he noticed it, it was already too late; he froze in his place.
"WATCH OUT!" Maria yelled before pulling him back on the sidewalk.
The truck missed him for a second.
Maria's hands were still tightly holding Hanamiya's shirt.
"Are you alright?!" she yelled in panic, "Are you hurt?!"
"I'm alright," he said unusually calmly, "Why did you do that?"
"Why did I do what?"
"Pull me. Why did you pull me back?"
"Because you could've died for God's sake!"
"I DIDN'T ASK FOR YOUR FUCKING HELP. I DON'T NEED YOU TO FUCKING HELP ME!" he practically screamed at her.
"Are you out of your mind?!" she yelled at him, "YOU COULD'VE DIED YOU IDIOT!"
"AND WHY WOULD YOU CARE?! WHAT, YOU SUDDENLY LIKE ME NOW SO YOU DECIDED TO HELP ME SO I'D OWE YOU ONE?!"
*SLAP* When he finished his last word she slapped him like she never slapped anyone before. The tears were coming up to her eyes.
"NOT EVERYONE IS LIKE YOU, YOU KNOW, I'M DONE WITH YOU!" she screamed at him before bursting into tears and running away. He kept standing there in shock from her slap. No girl ever talked to him like that, not to mention slapping him. When he came back to his senses he just lowered his head down and went home.
Maria cried that night like she never cried before.
"Why am I crying like this... Why... He is such an idiot, jackass, little prick, little shit... I should've just let him die there..." she kept repeating to herself while crying and sobbing.
"Why am I feeling like this... I shouldn't care about this this much... It's not like this is our first time fighting..."
She remembered his words "AND WHY DO YOU CARE?! WHAT, YOU SUDDENLY LIKE ME NOW SO YOU DECIDED TO HELP ME SO I'D OWE YOU ONE?!" and started crying even more.
"Why... Why am I feeling like this... No... I can't allow that... No..." she kept repeating to herself before falling asleep in tears. All the crying and sobbing exhausted her.
Although she didn't want to accept her feelings, deep inside she knew they were true. She was falling in love with him, the last guy she thought she'd ever fall in love with.
Days and months have passed since the incident. Maria and Hanamiya haven't said a word to each other since then. They would just glance at each other when one of them would walk into the classroom and then quickly look away.
Like always, Maria had to take the stairs to get to the gym for her P.E. class, but that day the stairs were really slippery because the school maids cleaned them earlier. While she was walking down she slipped and started falling. She thought she's definitely going to fall and break every bone in her body when she suddenly felt someone holding her tightly, preventing her from falling.
"Oh my God," she said while breathing heavily, "thank you so much for..." she was thanking the person until she saw who that was; who he was.
It was Hanamiya. He was still holding her tightly.
"Are you alright?" he asked her.
"I-I... Yes, I am," she managed to somehow answer properly, still in shock.
"Thank you for helping me, you're a life-saver."
"Don't thank me," he said with a light smile, "I'm kinda returning the favor."
"Is he actually smiling?" she asked herself while staring at him like hypnotized, "Was that an actual, real, sincere smile? And he's being nice on top of everything?"
"Wow," she smiled back to him, "This is the first time we're having a conversation for more than ten seconds without fighting."
"Yeah, I guess we are"
They both started laughing.
"Let's go to class, we'll be late," he said to her, "Do you need help getting down the stairs?"
"No, it's okay, thanks."
They went to class together without fighting for the first time since they've met.
Since it was her last class, Maria packed her stuff and was heading home. When she left the school yard she heard someone calling her:
"Oi, newbie!"
"...Makoto?"
"Oi! Wanna go home together? Since, you know, we're taking the same way and stuff..." he asked her kind of... shyly.
"Is he actually asking me to go home together? What kind of face is that? Is he... embarrassed a little? KYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA" she started screaming from happiness inside.
"Sure." She acted casual.
They walked in silence the entire way. But it wasn't an awkward silence like last time they went home together. It was a truly peaceful, enjoyable silence. They first got to Maria's home.
"Well, you're on your own from here."
"Oh, this is where you live? Nice place."
"Thanks. So... See ya tomorrow I guess?"
"Yeah..."
They stared at each other for a couple of moments.
"Uhm... Bye then, I guess.."
"Yeah, bye..."
She was about to enter the front gate.
"Wait," he suddenly said to her, "I... I wanna apologize."
She stared at him, shocked, "For what?"
"For... that day," he said with his head down, "I... I acted like a douchebag after you saved my life. I didn't even thank you. I... deserved that slap. So... thank you. And I'm sorry."
She couldn't believe her ears. Was that really Hanamiya Makoto? The 'Bad boy', Hanamiya Makoto? The same Hanamiya Makoto she despised so much since the first day they've met?
"U-uhm, c-could you please repeat that, I don't think I heard you well?"
"Don't make me repeat that," he said to her, embarrassed, "I said that I'm sorry..."
"I... I just can't believe what I'm hearing... Did that truck hit you after all that day?" she asked him teasingly.
"It didn't!" He raised his head and voice so she could see him blushing, "But your slap did hit me. And when I got home I realized that that went too far, even for me."
She blushed a little when he mentioned the slap, "Sorry about that... Did it hurt a lot?"
"Hell yeah," he laughed, "but it's not like I didn't deserve it. I really went too far and I'm sorry for that. Can we... be okay now?"
She quickly blinked twice in surprise, "Uhm.. yeah, sure, I guess..."
"Okay... Uhm, I guess I'll see you tomorrow in school then?"
"Yeah... in school..."
"Uhm... bye then."
"Yeah, bye."
He waited until she entered her home and then continued his way home.
"What the hell just happened?" she thought immediately after entering her home. "Was I actually talking to Hanamiya Makoto? What kind of a change of heart was that? Is he pulling something off?" she kept repeating in herself until she jumped on her bed and started staring at the ceiling. She covered her face with her hands.
"WHY DOES HE HAVE TO BE SO IRRESISTABLE?!" she yelled while rolling on the bed.
"He's so gorgeous... UGH, I HATE HIM... But I love him. Wait. Did I really just say that? I love him? I love him... Oh my God. Great. Just great," she kept talking to herself.
"Well, I better go prepare some dinner, love isn't going to satisfy this growling monster stomach of mine that's for sure," she said to herself as she was going to the kitchen.
The weekend passed like a blink of an eye and it was already Monday. That week she was first shift. It was morning and Maria didn't hear the alarm. When she woke up she stretched like she does every morning and looked at the clock.
"OH SHIT!" she yelled as she immediately jumped out of bed and started dressing. She overslept and was late for school.
She somehow managed to get to school before the start of the second class.
"Who would've thought that I could prepare for school so fast..."
When the bell rang for the end of the first class Maria entered the classroom, apologized to the professor for oversleeping and left her bag on her desk.
"Phew."
"Well well, look who decided to show up."
Maria recognized his voice and turned to him trying not to smile.
"Good morning to you too."
"Hmph." He smirked, "You overslept?"
"Yup. Best sleep of my life."
They both laughed. When they finished laughing they unconsciously kept staring and smiling at each other without saying anything. Some of the girls were staring at them, enviously. They would probably stay like that for a while if the bell for the start of the second class hadn't rang. When they heard the bell they both blinked, looked down with a slight blush on their faces and went to their seats.
During the class, Maria couldn't stop thinking about Hanamiya.
"What is up with him? This is the second day that we didn't fight. Hm... but the day is still young." She was still skeptical.
The class was over and it was time for the fifteen minute break. Maria was planning to go outside for a while.
"Oi!" She heard someone yelling over the classroom when she was about to go outside, "Oi, newbie!"
She saw him approaching her.
"I have a name, you know," she said, raising one eyebrow and smirking at him.
"Oh yeah, sorry, I just got used to calling you newbie."
"Anyways, what is it? Do you need anything?"
"Uhm, I wanted to ask you if you'd like to... you know..."
"I don't. What is it?"
"Yeah, uhm.. Would you like to have lunch, you know, kinda... together and stuff? I mean, not alone, outside, where there are, you know... other people..."
She stared at him for a couple of seconds, speechless. She couldn't believe what she's hearing. Is he asking her out? At least sort of?
"U-uhm... I didn't bring anything to eat today since I was in a hurry..."
"Oh... oka-"
"But I could keep you company while you're eating... If you want to of course... You know..."
She was blushing insanely. She had to lower her head completely so he wouldn't notice. And how lucky he was that she did that. He was blushing the same as she did but didn't know how to hide it. Thank God she lowered her head.
"Uhm, s-sure... Shall we go then?"
"Uhm, y-yes... Let's go."
When they left, a boy and a girl from their class were commenting:
"What do you think?" the girl asked the boy.
"Honestly, I have no idea. They hated each other couple of months ago but it's like they became besties now."
The girl smirked, "They're so gonna end up together."
The boy choked when he heard what she said, "Those two? You've got to be kidding me. We're talking about Hanamiya Makoto here. That guy doesn't know what a relationship is."
"I wouldn't be so sure about that. There's definitely chemistry between them. We'll see."
"Yeah, we will, but you'll see that I'm right."
The girl kept smirking, "We'll see."
Maria and Makoto were walking through the yard looking for a free bench or a spot under a tree to sit. After a few minute walk they found a free spot under a tree almost at the end of the yard which was kind of isolated from the rest of the school.
"Finally, a free spot."
"The class is almost starting, it's not like we'll have a lot of time to sit there. Let's go back." Maria started walking back to school entrance.
"Nah," he pulled her back by her shirt, "we can skip the third class."
Maria felt like her heart stopped for a second.
"Did he just... pull me back?"
"Skip class? Are you crazy? What are we going to tell to the professor when we get back? Sure you can say that you had sudden basketball practice or whatever, but what am I going to do?"
"Don't worry, we'll figure something out for the both of us, miss goody two shoes."
Maria chocked after she heard his last words, "Excuse me? Miss goody two shoes? Really?"
He smirked at her, "Am I wrong?"
"Yes," she said, trying not to smile at him, "Yes you are very wrong. We are skipping this class. Period."
"Wow, you're such a hooligan," he said sarcastically, "Please don't hurt me!"
"Stop it!" She lightly punched him on the arm.
"Ouch! Why are you punching me? So mean!" He kept teasing her.
"I'm serious Makoto, stop it."
His face suddenly turned serious, "This is the first time you're calling me Makoto."
"At least I know your name." She raised one eyebrow with a slight smirk on her face.
"You're never going to let that go, are you?"
"Nope."
He snorted, "Okay then, Merry."
"Ah!" She punched him on the arm again, "Are you kidding me?!"
"Ouch! Stop doing that!"
"Well stop teasing me!"
"I'm never gonna stop teasing you, it's too much fun... Maria."
Her frowning turned into a staring with her eyes wide open. He just called her by her name for the first time. But it wasn't just an ordinary naming; she felt something strange in his voice which made her heart raise.
The bell for the start of the third class started ringing.
"And so our fun begins." He smirked at her, pointing at the spot under the tree, "Let's sit."
She kept looking at him until he sat down. She took a deep breath and sat next to him. He opened his lunch box; it was filled with fruit rolls.
"You want some?"
"No, thank you, I'm good."
"Hmph." He smirked at her, "You are such a goody two shoes."
"What did I do now?!"
"No, thank you, I'm good" He started imitating her using a squeaky voice.
"Stop that!"
"Stop that!" He kept imitating her.
"Seriously Makoto, stop!"
"Seriously Makoto, stop!"
"Ugh, you're so annoying! I'm going back to class." she said as she was starting to get up.
Suddenly she felt his hand grabbing hers, "Oi, oi. I was just kidding."
Maria couldn't stop staring at their holding hands. She blushed. When he noticed that, he quickly released her hand, blushing himself.
"Okay, I'll stop. At least for now."
"For now?"
"Just forget it and sit down! Relax a bit."
She sighed, trying to keep a serious face and sat next to him again, but this time a little closer.
"Are you sure you don't want some?" He brought the rolls closer to her again, "They're really good."
"How can I be sure you're not trying to poison me?" Now she teased him.
"Hm, good point. Here, I'll eat the first one myself."
He ate one of the rolls in a single slice.
"Delicious. And I'm not twisting or twitching so I guess it's pretty safe." He winked at her.
"Hmph. Fine." She took one little roll and ate it. She suddenly started choking and holding her stomach.
"MARIA! OI, ARE YOU ALRIGHT?! BREATHE!" he yelled as he held her shoulder tightly with one hand and was slightly clapping her back with the other.
She couldn't keep it going any longer so she burst into laugh.
"What the fuck?!" he shouted when he saw her laughing.
"I was just kidding, relax." She kept laughing, "You should've seen your face, it was priceless."
He stared at her, furious, "I THOUGHT YOU WERE ACTUALLY CHOKING YOU IDIOT, THAT WASN'T FUNNY AT ALL!"
He looked really upset. When Maria realized how mad he got she stopped laughing.
"Okay, I'm sorry. I was just trying to joke a little, that's all."
"Well, don't joke like that, you really got me worried."
"You were... worried about me?" she asked him, surprised.
He blushed, "Well, yeah... You did save my life after all..."
"So you're hanging out with me and being nice to me only because I saved your life?"
"Well, it did start like that. But it's different now; you're actually kind of cool to hang out with."
Now she blushed, "Thanks, I guess..."
When he saw her blushing, he smirked, "You're weird, you know that?"
"I'll take that as a compliment since it's probably the best one I'll get from you."
He laughed.
"Oh my God he is so adorable when he's laughing... Ugh I just wanna jump on him and kiss every inch of his gorgeous face..." she kept repeating in herself while staring at him.
"Oi! Oi! OI!"
"... Huh?"
"What's up with you, you kept staring at me. Is there something on my face?"
"Oh!... No, no, it's nothing."
"Like I said; weird. Now, are you going to eat those rolls properly or not?"
"I guess I'll have one, properly."
She took a roll which was blue in the middle.
"This is really good. It's blueberry, right?"
"Yeah, those are really good."
"I guess I'll eat those then."
"Oi, oi, you can't eat all of them!"
"Haha, watch me!" She grabbed another one and put it whole in her mouth.
"Bring it on!" he shouted and so the competition began.
They were grabbing the rolls as fast as they could and trying to eat more of them at the same time. After a couple of minutes only one blueberry roll was left and Maria somehow managed to get it before Hanamiya. She raised her hand with the roll in it.
"Ha! This is the last one, therefore, I win."
"Not bad. Are just gonna hold it like that?"
Maria smiled victoriously and put the roll in her mouth so that one half of the roll was in her mouth and the other half was out, showing off and teasing him.
Before she got the chance to bite it and eat it whole Hanamiya came closer to her and bit the other half that was out of Maria's mouth, touching her lips with his.
They've both swallowed their halves at the same time. Hanamiya smirked at her while she stared at him, speechless.
"What th-"
"Shh. Don't ruin the moment," he whispered to her as he was getting closer to her again.
This time his lips were completely embracing hers. She could feel the taste and softness of his warm lips.
"Is this... really happening? Are we actually... kissing?"
She felt his hand on her waist; he was slowly pulling her closer into his hug, still kissing her.
He caught her off guard. She wanted to push him and put an end to everything but at the same time she wanted to stay like this with him forever.
She slowly put her hand on his nape, caressing his bushy black hair; she decided to enjoy the moment. When she did that she could feel his lips forming a smile. He climbed his hand from her waist to her back, holding her tightly.
He started kissing her more and more tenderly until the kisses became only touches, resulting their lips finally separating.
They looked at each other. Maria was blushing insanely while he was just tenderly looking at her with a light smile on his face, letting go of her back and hugging her over her shoulders.
"W-w-what just happened?" she barely managed to ask him.
"I guess this happened." He gave her a short kiss.
"I know about that," she blushed again, "I mean this. Us. Ending up like this."
"You don't seem that surprised to me. Or you're glad this happened?" He slowly caressed her lips with his finger, smirking.
"It-it's not that I'm glad!... But..."
"But what?"
She looked deeply into his dark eyes and leaned her forehead against his.
"It's almost time for the fourth class. We should get going."
"Huh? What are you talking about? We were just talking about us smooching and now you suddenly want to go to class?"
"Don't call it that, it sounds disgusting! Let's... Let's just forget about it, shall we? Like it never happened," she said to him as she was slowly starting to distance herself from him.
He stared at her, shocked, "You-you want to forget this?"
"I don't... But I think it's for the best."
"How is it for the best? What the hell are you talking about, what's gotten into you?"
She stood up and cleaned her skirt from the grass, "... Let's go to class."
He jumped on his feet quickly and grabbed her hand, "We're not going anywhere until you tell me what's wrong."
"Nothing is wrong Makoto, let's just forget about this..."
"No. It's not nothing and I'm not gonna forget about this. Neither are you. Tell me what's wrong, I'm not letting you go until you tell me."
Maria took a deep breath, "It just... It just doesn't seem right. The two of us. We hated each other and haven't spoken for months, we started speaking normally just yesterday. And today, only a day after we established a normal communication, you ask me to have lunch with you, skip class together and then kiss me. I... I don't get it. I really don't get it. Are you pulling some kind of a trick? Are you making fun of me? I really don't understand. I don't understand you, Makoto."
When she finished Hanamiya was just looking at her, not saying anything. After a couple of seconds he hugged her, leaning his head on hers.
"I should've guessed you'll say something like that. So let me explain it to you."
He let go of her and took a deep breath, "That day after you saved my life and after we fought I went home. I was feeling like total shit. I didn't know why, I just did. I didn't wanna feel like that, but I did. And it started to hurt. It started to hurt a lot. Your words, more than the slap. The picture of your eyes full of tears just kept appearing in front of my eyes. I was wondering why was that picture constantly appearing in my head. Why were you constantly appearing in my head. I tried so hard not to think about you. But you were just there. Constantly. Every single moment. I barely slept that night. I kept asking myself what's wrong with me; you were just another girl that annoyed me, no one special. At least that's what I thought. But when I woke up next morning, you were the first thought on my mind. And the next morning, and the morning after that. I hated that. I hated that feeling. I didn't know why I was feeling like that until I finally confessed to myself; I was falling for you. Didn't know why, didn't know how. I just was. And it was driving me crazy. Seeing you every day, remembering your sad face, hearing your words and feeling that slap all over again. And I couldn't do anything for months; until yesterday. When we finally talked yesterday I was so happy and I decided to take that chance. And so here we are now, like this."
Maria was speechless. She didn't know what to say; she didn't expect him to say something like that. In a split second her eyes started overflowing with tears and she couldn't stop them. She was just standing there in front of him, crying.
He smiled at her sweetly and kissed her forehead, "Hey, don't cry now... Come here," he whispered to her as he was embracing her into a tight hug.
After some time just staying like that Maria finally spoke, "I... felt the same as you did... Kind of. I cried like crazy when I got home; I couldn't get you out of my mind. Your words... They felt like swords tearing up my heart. At first I didn't understand why I felt like that either... Then I too confessed to myself and accepted my feelings... I was falling in love with you too."
When he heard what she said Hanamiya smiled, took her face with his hands and gave her a deep kiss.
"What do you say then, newbie? Wanna give it a try?"
"I..."
"Hey, look at me. We just confessed to each other, what are you afraid of?"
"I... don't know. But I've already told you, something just doesn't seem right."
Hanamiya looked at her, disappointed, "Why? What doesn't seem right? What is that you're afraid of?"
"... Let's just please go to class." Maria distanced herself from him and started walking towards the school entrance.
Hanamiya was just standing there with a poker face, looking at Maria walking. But inside he was deeply disappointed. He had to find some way to win her over. After a couple of moments he went after her.
When they finally got to the class they apologized to their professor for skipping class, making up that they had to help the janitor with something. Fortunately, since they were both good students with good grades, the professor believed them and let them off the hook. Maria and Hanamiya just glanced at each other and then each went their own way; Maria went to chat with the girls and Hanamiya with the boys.
"So how was it? one of the girls asked Maria immediately.
"How was what? We were just helping the janitor..." Maria started panicking.
"Please, we know something happened between you two! You're, like, the only girl who ever spent so much time with him. You must be feeling something for each other! Come on, spit it out!"
"We're not going out or anything like that!" Maria started blushing insanely.
"Yeah, sure you're not." The girls were giggling.
Hanamiya saw Maria blushing and he immediately knew what was going on.
"OF COURSE!" he suddenly shouted out. He just got an idea how he can win her over. His chances were fifty-fifty: either they'll end up together or she'll never speak to him again. But he had to take the risk and try.
"What is it, Hanamiya?" the boys asked him, surprised.
He didn't answer them, he immediately went to Maria and grabbed her hand.
"W-What are you doing?!" she asked him in panic. Her face was completely red.
"Showing you that there's nothing to be afraid of." He looked at her deeply in the eyes and took her to the middle of the classroom.
"What the hell do you think you're doing Makoto, are you insane?!"
"I'm not insane," he grabbed her by her waist hugging her tightly and pressed his lips against hers, kissing her deeply in front of their whole class, "I'm just in love."
Everyone was staring at them, shocked. You could hear cheers, screams, claps and whistles. All the boys were cheering and whistling, some of the girls were screaming and clapping in happiness and some of them were glaring enviously. But in the end almost everyone came to hug them and congratulate them, wishing them a long and happy relationship.
Maria didn't know what to say, this was a big shock for her. But this time she didn't feel any burden. She felt good. She knew that that was it, that she can now be with him with no regrets or fears. She put her hands on his face, surprising him, and gave him a deep kiss. Hanamiya smiled, hugging her even tighter. Everyone started cheering and clapping again.
"I love you," he whispered in her ear when she buried her head in his chest.
"I love you too," she whispered back to him with the biggest smile on her face that she could make.