"Hey!" Natsuki greeted with an excitable smile as she skipped towards the booth. It wasn't often that she found herself with such boundless energy, but today was a special day, and so she did. "Two tickets to the spring prom, please."

The student, a freshman, by the look of her, nodded. Reaching into the drawer, she quickly pulled out two slips of paper and slid them toward Natsuki. "That will be $50, please."

Natsuki slipped off her backpack, reached into the frontmost compartment, and pulled out a few bills. Counting them carefully, she confirmed that she had just enough to afford them. "Here you go!"

The freshman took the money, and Natsuki quickly did the same with her tickets. Excitedly, she read them aloud:

"Admit one for the Doki High School Senior Prom!" she practically squealed. "Oh, thank you so much!" Natsuki spoke with genuine gratitude.

"You're welcome," the freshman replied with a proud smile. "So, I take it that you said yes?"

Natsuki blinked. "What?"

"You said yes," the freshman repeated. "To the guy that asked you out, I mean."

"Nope," Natsuki replied, but she still grinned from ear to ear. "He's kinda a dummy. I've been dropping hints for months now, but I don't think he's ever noticed how I feel about him."

The freshman nodded.

"But I'm gonna ask him right now!" Natsuki clarified. "I'm gonna ask him to be my first boyfriend, my first date, my first kiss," Natsuki remarked whimsically. "I never knew what love felt like until I met him, but now I can't stop celebrating!"

The freshman smiled. "Well, I'm happy for you. Good luck with your prom!"

"Thank you!" Natsuki called out as she began to walk away. "It's gonna be wonderful!"

Now that she had what she had come for, Natsuki practically ran down the hall, up the stairs, and into the hall where MC's locker resided. She knew he'd be there; he always dropped all his books off once classes ended. Sure enough, he was, smiling to himself as he did so. He practically radiated that same positive energy that Natsuki felt, and that only bolstered her confidence further.

"MC!" she called out, dashing straight for him. "MC!"

MC turned to her, flashing her a smile that made her feel so adored. He may have been a dummy, but darn it, he was special to her. She hoped, no, she believed with all of her will that he thought the same of her.

"Hey, Natsuki," he greeted once she caught up to him. "What's up?"

Natsuki felt the slips of paper brush up against her closed palm. Those two tickets were the key to an entire future. She just knew it.

Holding each other close, Natsuki and MC danced right in the middle of the throng. A spotlight shone down on the pair of them, bathing MC's beautiful face in an angelic glow. Natsuki smiled up at him, her eyes half-lidded, her hands gripping his. He returned her happy expression with his own loving grin.

"Oh, Natsuki," MC spoke. The tone of his voice was like warm milk to her ears. "I'm so glad you asked me to the dance."

"You're welcome," Natsuki cooed back, her lips closing in on his. "It's a thank you, you know? For making me feel so special."

MC's face was overcome by a bright red blush, almost as if slightly taken aback. However, his smile, by some small miracle, did not fade away.

"Natsuki," he began.

"Yes?"

"Will you. . . Will you go out with me-"

Her lips met his, and they sunk into a deep kiss. All around them, the crowd gasped, then erupted into applause.

"Yes," Natsuki giggled once they had broken off. "I've been waiting to hear that, you big dummy, but yes."

And then, she leaned in for another kiss, ready to formalize her new relationship with the boy that understood her more than any other, when-

"Natsuki," MC questioned. "Are you alright?"

Natsuki jumped and opened up her eyes, suddenly becoming aware that she had gotten far too carried away in a fantasy that she desperately wished was true. Her face went red, and her expression rapidly morphed into an annoyed scowl. "W-what? Y-yeah, dummy, why wouldn't I be?"

MC shrugged. "I dunno, you were looking around and not really paying attention. Is something on your mind?"

Natsuki remembered the tickets she was holding, what they were for, and why she was even talking to MC right now in the first places. "Oh, yeah. I have some great news to tell you, MC!"

MC's eyes lit up in realization. "You too!? I bet my news is greater!"

"Nuh-uh!" Natsuki playfully argued, secretly scrambling for some sort of idea as to what MC could be talking about. Her mind, unfortunately, came up empty. "I bet my news will rock your socks off."

MC raised an eyebrow. "You're on. Five bucks?"

Natsuki's smile became a mischievous smirk. "Five bucks," she agreed. "You go first."

MC inhaled deeply through his nostrils, barely able to keep himself together from the excitement. "OK, can you believe this? I asked Yuri to prom, and she said yes!"

Natsuki froze. The sudden stabbing pain in her heart nearly caused her to flinch and drop the tickets. Her smile dropped. Her eyes no longer glimmered with even the tiniest sparkle of joy. She was certain that the words she just heard were the real deal, yet part of her, some very persistent part of her, clung on to the idea that she was wrong.

"C-come again?"

If MC saw the change in her mood, he didn't show any indication of it. More likely, however, he didn't. It was true that she had been trying to get his attention for months, but he never seemed to understand that those playful jokes, those goofy smiles, and those intimate after-school manga readings were all more than just merely a close friendship. There was never a boy that made Natsuki feel the way he did. He didn't judge her for her strange interests, nor did mock her for her less than stellar home life. She felt like he cared for her truly and purely, and it unearthed feelings that she couldn't tell if he reciprocated.

She guessed this was the answer: a big NO. It hurt more than never experiencing a crush at all, but by some miracle, she kept herself composed.

"So. . . You're going with Yuri?" Natsuki asked, forcing a smile onto her otherwise downtrodden face. "That's. . . That's fantastic!"

MC grinned from ear to ear, both knowingly relishing in his accomplishment and unknowingly relishing in Natsuki's newfound sorrow. "Yep! I've been working up the nerve to ask her for a month. Can you believe she didn't already have a date in the first place? It's like she was waiting for me to ask her. I don't know what's come over me, but it's not anything I don't like. Every time I see her lately. . . I don't know how to describe it! It's like I get all gooey inside!"

Natsuki's face involuntarily twitched. That was exactly how she felt every time she was around him. Of course, nobody asked Yuri because Yuri was known to be a little weird, but MC didn't seem to care what others thought about his friends. "Yeah, that sounds like destiny, alright."

She clenched the tickets tightly in her fist. Her composure hung by a thread. She fought tooth and nail to keep it from snapping, but it still felt like a losing battle.

"So, what's your good news? I bet it can't top that!"

Natsuki glanced down at the wrinkled tickets in her hand, then back at MC. She frowned, but managed to make it only seem like minor disappointment. "I was just gonna say that I. . . I got an A on that super hard calculus test."

It was true enough.

MC beamed. "You did?" he questioned rhetorically. Before Natsuki even had a chance to answer, he pulled her into an embrace. "Oh, Natsuki, I'm so proud of you."

For a moment, just a brief, fleeting moment, Natsuki could forget about the crushing disappointment, the feelings of worthlessness, and the despair of rejection creeping up inside of her. For a moment, he was holding her in his arms like she longed for every time she saw him. For a moment, he was hers.

And then it ended. Natsuki made no effort to smile. Instead, she sighed. "Well, I guess. . . I guess I owe you that five dollars, don't I?"

MC shrugged. "I mean, we did kind of bet on it."

That was true. They were always making these sorts of friendly bets with one another once Natsuki had become more comfortable around him. Most of the time, she won, and she was happy about it. It meant she had emergency lunch money if Papa ever forget. Now, as she dug into her bag frantically, she found nothing. All of her money had went into those tickets, and she was none the better for it.

"Uh, I guess I'll have to pay you back later," Natsuki chuckled nervously. "S-sorry, I thought I had more money on me than I did."

MC shrugged, flashing her an understanding smile. "That's OK, Natsuki; you always pay me back. I'm so lucky to have you as a friend, you know?"

Why can't I be more than a friend? Why did you have to ask her to prom instead of me!?

Natsuki nodded. "T-thanks."

"Well," MC began. "Are you ready for another literature club meeting?"

"I-in a little bit," Natsuki confirmed with a nod, no longer capable of looking him in the eyes. "I have to go to the bathroom."

On a dime, she turned and ran away as fast as her legs could carry her. For a moment, MC stared at her with a raised eyebrow as she sprinted down the hall and barged into the girls' bathroom. He wondered if there was anything wrong. Come to think of it. . . Why was her smile so strange? Where had her snarky, playful jabs at him gone? Was there something he needed to know?

At last, he shrugged, then turned away. She probably just had to pee pretty badly.

The door to the hall had just barely shut when Natsuki began to sob uncontrollably. As the first tears fell, her cries echoed throughout the small bathroom. Glancing about with blurry vision, she made her way to the farthest stall from the door, closed it behind her, locked it, and cried some more.

He didn't love her. She was only a friend in his eyes, and she had always been that way. Why? She never felt this close to another classmate before, male or female. He didn't think she was childish. He shared her hobbies. He gave her every indication that he enjoyed her for whom she was, and she was more than grateful for that. Even now, finding herself in the position she was, she still loved him with all of her heart.

But he did not.

Her hands were still clutching the tickets. Through the tears, she remembered the toilet sitting next to her. She knew what she wanted to do.

With a heavy heart, she tore up the little slips of paper, threw them down into the toilet, and watched as they, and the future they held, were sucked out of sight forever.

She sat on the toilet, cradled her knees against her chest, and allowed her sobs to echo. She didn't feel like coming to the club today. Truth be told, she didn't feel like doing anything except crying anymore.