Author's Note: This is my first story for Itazura Na Kiss. I have been a fan of the series for a long time now and am excited for his short story. Will be publishing more stories of the series in the future.

This story takes place during Naoki and Kotoko in high school after he tutors Class F for the college exams and they speak together.

Author's Note 2: 9/29/18, Do to several statements about my misspelling, I have corrected the issue. Unfortunately, my laptop keyboard had several keys not working properly. Although I bought a wireless keyboard, I failed to double check my spelling and fix any mistakes before publishing. As such, I have fixed the errors to give an improved story. I apologize and thank everyone for reading and reviewing the story! Much appreciated.

Now onto the story!

Disclaimer: I do no own Itazura Na Kiss.

Naoki was sleeping peacefully until Yuki's snoring woke him up. Upon hearing the snore, Naoki got up with a jolt and shook his head. He attempted to lay back down and sleep, but after some tossing and turning, Naoki found it a struggle. Instead, he lay down staring a the ceiling and thinking about his conversation with Kotoko from earlier.

'Why did I say all that to her? Was I really that curious?'

In truth, Naoki could not explain any of his conversation with Kotoko. None of it made sense to him. Deep down he knew he should go to college but everytthing came too easy for him. He could read something once and remember it very easily. It had been that way ever since he was young. There was never a challenge he could not meet nor beat, aside from willingly giving up a sports competition of course, as he had several months before at school. Yet college just seemed like a waste.

Then Naoki thought back to his earlier conversation with Kotoko, her words still with him even into this late hour. He remembered how she said that college was a time to find out what you wanted to study and who you wanted to be. Could he do so? Naoki knew his father wanted him to take over the company someday. Still, it was not something Naoki wanted.

'What do I really want?' He wondered to himself.

He never thought about it before but perhaps he should. Afterall, college was the place to find it out. Is that not what Kotoko said? Strange how he could speak with her on such a thing. In the months he had gotten to know Kotoko, Naoki found her to truly be something else. Energetic, determined, and surprisingly courageous. When she set her mind to something she went for it, even at the risk of failure. He wanted to somehow experience that but knew with his brain and serious nature that he never would.

'Then again, maybe the real challenge is with college.'

Naoki then went to sleep. He had a lot to think over, but he would decide his future for himself.

Kotoko had settled into bed for the evening, happy to finally get some well-deserved sleep. She and the entire Class F had worked so hard to understand the lessons from earlier. Irie truly was a genius, having the ability to discuss all the questions that would be on the exam. More importantly, Irie was surprisingly patient this time around compared to when he tutored her almost a year ago.

'Perhaps he has mellowed,' she thought.

Thinking back, much had changed with Irie since the say she and her father moved into the house. She recalled how Irie had coldly rejected her love letter and showed to have nothing but ice in his veins. Yet over time Kotoko had seen him change bit by bit. When he defended her from perverts on the subway or helped with her homework on the last day of summer vacation.

However, it was his confession tonight that made her see a completely different side to him, if only for a moment. When he calmly, without hesitation, told her he would not attend Tokyo University, Kotoko could not believe it. To say such a thing surprised her. Irie was a genius with a gift and needed to use his brain for the betterment of Japan. Just as she had told him before he left to bed.

Kotoko sighed, 'I hope he changes his mind.'

As Kotoko lay in bed once more, she thought of her own confession to Irie. Did she truly want to work with her dad? If not, what could she do? She didn't have Irie's brain nor smarts to truly explore business or law. Perhaps she should have considered a trade instead, but as she told Irie college was a good time for learning and figuring it out.

'Maybe like me, you'll find out too.'

End

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