"I'm feeling lonely, Yuyuka-chan! You've been ignoring me for a long time now." He said with a grin on his face, which made her even more irritated. She walked past him and when he followed, she shot him an angry look.
"You're bothering me, senpai. Would you leave me alone already?" As she was turning around, a hurt look passed across his face but she pretended not to see. Yuyuka still couldn't bring herself to admit her feelings for she was too prideful, and his presence alone made her nervous.
Weeks passed before they saw each other again. She was on duty carrying some heavy boxes, he offered help and she shoved him away. "I don't want anything from you, senpai." This time she looked directly at his face while he was trying to hide his emotions. She saw the confusion in his eyes, as if he was asking what he'd done wrong. She was gone before he could verbalize the words, though.
A few days later Yuyuka's class's homeroom teacher told her to deliver some papers in the third year's room. His classroom. She tried to say no but the teacher insisted; to her luck, he wasn't there. She was going back to class, but then she heard. The third years were talking about Togyuu; about his secret. She froze. How did they find out?
Later that day the gossip spread. The whole school was talking about his economic conditions and the size of his house. The girls were saying he was the worst for lying or that it was such a pity and all that stupid conversations were making her sick. They didn't have anything to do with his life, they didn't know him at all.
For the next two weeks he didn't show up. She wanted desperately to go to his house and tell him not to be a coward. Nonetheless she wasn't confident enough to do so, as she'd ignored him for ages. He'd think it was hypocrite and selfish. The following day he went to school.
When he saw her he glanced up. "Yuyuka-chan" said in a low voice. She went to him showing her best defying act, to cover the insecurity inside. "Just so you know, it wasn't me who told them!" He stared at her for a moment without saying a word. "I know that. Some guys from my class happened to see me going home. But I guess it doesn't matter anymore."
"You are a coward! Skipped two weeks of school because of what people were saying about you, you're an idiot." She crossed her arms. He looked down. "That's not it". "Then what? Played video games all day? Oh, wait, you don't even have a TV!" He got up angry "What the hell do you know about me?! You're just like them, not caring about me, only appearances! You seemed different at some point, before starting treating me like I don't mean anything to you! I wasn't absent because I wanted to, a relative died and I had to go to the funeral, so my auntie got me a bus ticket. But since we're poor, I worked hard for two weeks to pay back her money!"
Her mask of indifference fell and she felt extremely ashamed. "I'm sorry". But he was gone.
From that moment on, he was the one ignoring the other part. Every time she tried to talk to him there was an excuse.
The way people were treating Togyuu bothered her a lot. He was being ignored, laughed at, insulted yet he did nothing. One day at lunch time she had enough. A group was talking about him and laughing, so she stepped in the middle of it and said "Shut up, you damn idiots! That's exactly why he didn't talk about his home. Because of trash like you, who judge without knowing him at all!" The teachers appeared before there could be any confusion.
Yuyuka ringed the bell of Togyuu's house. He opened and she blurted out "I'm really sorry, I brought this to apologize". She handed a small packet and left. He grabbed her arm and told her to wait. "I heard you stood up for me at school. Why?". "I don't know. The words flowed before I realized." He could see the lie and she knew. "Actually I do care about you, and they were pissing me off, all right? It's the truth" Her voice trembled and she swallowed.
The hurt in senpai's face told her he was having trouble believing it. The girl hugged him "I mean it" she continued "I didn't want to hurt you that day, it's just, I was angry at them and worried about you and I wanted to see you soon and…" she stopped. He was really surprised with her sudden honesty. "Thank you". He closed his eyes and rested his chin on the top of her head, hugging her back. They stayed like this for some time and then broke the embrace, embarrassed.
Back home she remembered happily the minutes in front of senpai's house until she fell asleep.
The library was crowded and Yuyuka looked for a quieter corner. The reading was interesting till someone took away her concentration. Togyuu-sempai was behind her. "Thank you for the gift". The scent of the perfume she had chosen for him filled the space, and she felt very happy. He closed his arm around her shoulders and kissed her cheek, then left. The reading was not that interesting anymore.
Little by little the people lost interest in Togyuu's life, and the girls were all around him again. During P.E. classes, he fell and hurt himself. Yuyuka was at the infirmary, and came to him. "What happened?" Ever since that day she hadn't been that honest, but she wasn't so sarcastic at him any longer. "Just some scratches, I fell."
The nurse was busy with some first year boys and she offered to help. When she was done, he said "You were so concentrated, it's just a scratch." She looked at him with those big eyes and answered "Because it's you, so I care". He was startled, but didn't want to take it wrong. He took her hands and said for the second time "I am serious about you". Again, no immediate response. As the hope started to fade, she closed up the distance between them with a kiss. His eyes widened. Then he closed them. "I love you", he was really surprised. "Sorry for not being sincere, I was too prideful". "Doesn't matter now", he smiled, "I love you too".