She needed to move. She needed to get these boxes to Tenada-sensei. If she dallied much longer, he would yell, and if he was feeling particularly cranky, give her detention. The dirty old lech had yet to forgive her for being a lesbian. If she wanted to save herself an hour of trying to make sure he didn't take pictures of her panties, she would have to leave now. But Chizuru remained frozen in the hallway, staring through the classroom door at the sewing club meeting.
She would have to upgrade Ishida's threat status.
It wasn't fair! Ichigo was supposed to be the big threat! He was the one Orihime was constantly mooning over. Chizuru could handle Ichigo – it was just a simple matter of getting him to recognize his long-forbidden passion for Sado-kun – but Ishida? He was supposed to be gay to begin with! Nerdy, glasses-wearing, sewing freak...he was supposed to be getting into awkward sexual situations with Ichigo and secretly mooning over Mizuiro, not sitting across from Orihime and helping her sew a pretty pink dress!
But it's not a problem...he's gay, right? If he's gay, it's not a problem. If he's gay, then this is perfectly innocent. This would be just a simple case of a friend being close to and helping a friend. If he's gay, then being so close to 'Hime-chan would mean nothing to him.
If he was gay, he wouldn't be blushing every time their hands touched. Chizuru watched Orihime leaned over to snatch a spool of thread, putting her breasts right in Ishida's view. Ishida jumped, stabbing his finger with the sewing needle, and then turned beet red as Orihime worriedly grabbed his hand and examined the wound. As he stammered and stumbled and knocked over sewing supplies, Chizuru knew without a doubt that Ishida Uryuu was not gay. Damn him.
Still, that didn't really change things, did it? Lots of boys had crushes on Orihime, and the girl remained oblivious to all of them. Ichigo was still the guy barring the way to Orihime's heart; Ishida's crush didn't change that. And yet...Chizuru watched Orihime pull a small butterfly bandaid from her pocket, brandishing it proudly, and then delicately put it on the tip of Ishida's finger. And then Orihime smiled, and Chizuru knew. She had watched Orihime for years, knew all of her smiles – each one was labelled and catalogued in her heart. Her silly smile, her happy smile, her lonely-but-won't-let-it-show smile...She had seen all these smiles, had many of them directed straight at her. But the one smile she had never seen, the one she had always wanted to see, she finally saw now. But it wasn't directed at her.
"Hmph." She turned her head away, blinking rapidly. I have to go...I have to give Tenada-sensei these boxes. He'll give me detention if I'm late. I have to go. The boxes must have been heavier than she thought – it took more effort than usual to lift her foot, place it in front of the other.
Stupid boxes...stupid sensei...stupid Ishida...
