["Nozaki-kun! Let's walk home together!" -Yes. -No.]"Alright! You're almost there!"
"Hm? What do you mean?"
Mikoshiba sighed, exasperation clear on his face, "Nozaki! What business do you have writing shoujo manga, if you don't even know what it means when someone asks to walk home with you!"
"But maybe she just doesn't like walking home alone? Ah! What if someone's been threatening her, and she needs the protagonist to protect her!? She might be in danger... But do I open myself to the risk, or...?"
"No, you idiot! She likes you! That's why she wants to spend more time with you, you know? If you can have those few extra minutes, instead of saying 'goodbye' at school... Wouldn't you want it, with that person that you like? Every extra minute spent together?"
Nozaki hummed thoughtfully, thinking it over with a serious expression. "Every extra minute..."
"Exactly!"
Nozaki kept thinking about those words, even long after they had turned off the game and Mikoshiba had gone home. Asking the one you cared about to walk home, to spend as much time as possible together... He often asked Chiyo to walk home with him. He enjoyed those walks, even if they didn't say anything. There was something relaxing about having her walking beside him, and sometimes he found himself actually regretting how close how lived to the school, that they couldn't have more time together.
The next morning he was tired, and for a change, it actually had nothing to do with rushing to meet a deadline. He had spent much of that night thinking things over, and coming to some rather surprising conclusions about himself that he somehow had missed. When Chiyo asked him that morning if he was alright, he smiled at her concern and waved it off. And when dismissal came, he found her and asked if she wanted to walk home with him that afternoon. She had smiled brightly and nodded, as she always did, and he returned the smile.
They took their time, enjoying the crisp fall weather. The closer they came to his apartment, the more their steps slowed. He wondered briefly if this always happened without them realizing it, or if it was happening because he had finally realized how much he treasured these extra minutes with her. Glancing down at her, he wondered if perhaps she felt the same. Now that he was thinking about it from that angle, he realized how many signs he had missed, and believed it to be so. "Sakura."
"Hm? What is it, Nozaki-kun?"
"...Ah. I was just wondering. How are things going, with that guy you like?"
"Eh!? A-Ah, w-well... We've, we've been, spending a lot of time together... It's really nice! Even when we don't say anything, I'm just happy that he wants my company..."
"Mm. I see... Who is it?"
"Wh-What!?"
He frowned slightly, realizing he was going about things all the wrong way. He stopped walking, glancing around a moment just to be sure they weren't going to be in the way of anyone else, and he looked down at her, his expression serious and intent. "Sakura."
"Y-Yes...?" She looked up at him somewhat nervously, her face red and her body rigid as she seemed to brace herself for whatever he had to say.
"I... like you." She blinked. He rubbed the back of his neck. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have asked, about someone else, before saying something like that."
"N-No! No, it's, it's okay! N-Nozaki-kun... I, I like you, too! You're the one... that I've liked, all this time."
He looked down at her happy expression, her shoulders much more relaxed now, hands clasped at her back. She smiled so brightly up at him, and he found his own shoulders relaxing as he nodded and returned the smile. "I'm glad... Do, you want to come up, to my apartment? I don't have any beta work today, but..."
"Yes! I'd love to!"
"I'll cook dinner."
"Thank you, Nozaki-kun!" Giggling happily, she ran up the steps ahead of him, turning when she got to the top to give him a wide smile that was contagious.