"Idiot, idiot, idiot, idiot..." you muttered in class. Izumi stared at you, highly entertained. She blew in your ear. "Aah!" you accidentally let out a yelp. Izumi giggled. The teacher snapped his head in your direction. "Ms. Akazawa! Is there a problem?" he boomed. You lightly sighed. That teacher really liked to show off his authority, so he took every opportunity to scold his students. He was pretty harsh, but you learned well from him. "No..." she answered quietly. You heard snickering and soft giggles around the classroom. Izumi was bright red. She never got in trouble and when she did, she took it very seriously. For the rest of the class, she didn't dare to bother you. You smirked. For once you were thankful that your teacher was a complete show-off. You didn't notice the pair of eyes that kept their gaze locked on you for the entire class.
You sighed heavily and banged your locker, which caused the others to stop and look back at you. You shrugged and continued as if nothing happened. The rest followed. You banged stuff a lot. Right now class was finished and you had no homework. All your work was finished in class. All that was left was to buy ice cream for all the members in your Hide the Flag team. You buried your face in your hands. A few other boys from your team were bothering you about Naoya earlier. Saying stuff like "You two are so perfect for each other" or "How cute!" or "You know you like him!". God they're such a bother you thought to yourself. You knew you wouldn't hear the end of this at the ice cream parlour. You stuffed a few things in your locker, slammed it shut in frustration and grunted. People around you sensed you were in a bad mood and tried to carefully get away from you without you noticing. You heard some whispers and mutterings about "anger management" or "scary!" or "the heck? Weirdo." You smirked. You were glad no one would bother you now. Someone tapped your shoulder lightly. You whipped around, hopefully smacking them with your hair. You gave them an icy glare that could potentially turn someone to stone. "What? I thought I already scared everyone away. I don't want to be bother-" you cut yourself short when a frightened Naoya stood in front of you. You sighed heavily. "Oh, just you. Sorry. I thought you were someone you wanted to bother me about-...never mind..." you grumbled. He looked more calm now, and decided to try and tease you. "Is that why you're so grumpy? What are people bothering you about? Me?" he said playfully while bringing his face close to yours. You scoffed and pushed him away. He had puppy dog eyes. He was actually a little insulted that you actually hadn't fallen for him yet (since that's what he was used to) but mostly disappointed.
Teshigawara Naoya's POV
This girl won't notice me no matter what I do! Maybe because she's in a bad mood? Am I giving her stress? She is in charge of me, so maybe it's me that's giving her stress. I suppose I should treat her today then. She's not like the other girls though. Will she accept it? Gosh, I've never worried this much about a girl before. It's not like I like her or anything right? Yeah, I like that girl Izumi! I'm probably only trying to impress her because she's scary right? That must be it! "Hey! (y/n) how about I pay for your ice cream and for myself? That should cheer you up!" she looked surprised. Then she did the last thing I expected her to do. She gave me a heart warming smile and said "Thanks Naoya. That's really kind of you. No one has ever offered something like that. It really means a lot, but I'll have to refuse. I can pay for myself, and I said I would treat you guys. Especially you. You saved us. If my team lost, I wouldn't hear the end of it!" I blushed. She was being so gentle all of a sudden. It felt strange. Why was she doing this? More than that, why is it giving me butterflies? "U-um...I insist! Let me treat you once!" I stuttered loudly. Dammit! That was so uncool! Sounded better in my head...She stared at me blankly. Dammit! That came out really weird didn't it. She giggled a little, and burst into a laughing fit. All I could do was stand there in silence, not knowing what to do. Her laughter was like music to my ears. It was light, energetic and youthful. Like a bird. Listening to this sound...just makes me feel like there are no problems in the world- nothing to worry about. To my disappointment, she stopped and turned to me. She looked me right in the eye with those burning (e/c) ones of hers and smiled happily. I snapped out of my daydream. "Very well then. I'll let you pay for me. Thanks Naoya-kun! You just made my day!" she winked and gave me the peace sign. I smiled sheepishly. Dammit! Again! Jeez, why do I get so nervous around her. She's not that scary! Why? Stupid,stupid,stupid! I mentally cursed myself.
She checked her watch and widened her eyes to the size of tennis balls. Taken out of context. It looked like she had to go pee. "Let's go! We're late!" she grabbed my hand and dragged me off to the ice cream parlour we were supposed to meet. Holy she's fast! We ran for what felt like hours. I watched her hair flow and snap in the wind and felt the pulse of her warm hand through my wrist. Why do I feel so happy like this? By the time we got to the ice cream shop, no one was there. "Did everyone already leave?!" I panicked. She looked calm, as she slumped in a chair and began to unwind her earphones. "Relax, they haven't come yet. Meeting time is 20 minutes from now." She said in between breathes. She was still panting from our run. What? Then why did she drag me all the way here? "I thought you said we were late!" I said angrily. We could have walked peacefully and not get ourselves tired but no! "I was late. We should have gotten here 30 minutes before meeting time. I like to get early to plan and wait for others to come. And I can listen to music in peace." She explained after she had caught her breath. "Then why did you drag me along?!" I whined. I instantly coverm y mouth with my hand. Whoops. I just complained to her! Will she get angry? What have I done?! She took one look at my face and chuckled. "What, did you think I would get mad at you just for snapping like that? It happens to everyone once in a while. I'm not that strict. I don't know why I brought you. Just thought it would be nice to have someone to talk to." She said smiling. Whoa. She just read my mind. She's good. In more ways than one. She's not what I thought she would be. I smiled back at her.
Until the others arrived, we sat at a table and chatted. I told her how I wasn't good at most of the subjects at school and was pretty much failing. I tried to laugh it off. She's top of the class. Does she really want to hang out with someone like me? Instead of criticizing me and telling me I was stupid, she said she could tutor me. For some reason the thought of her coming into my room and sitting with me to do homework gave me chills. It's because she still can be stern and scary right? Must be. Sometimes I couldn't focus on what she was saying. My attention sometimes skipped to her hair, or her eyes, or sometimes the nape of her neck. Must be my ADHD. I can't focus on anything. I don't know how she's going to tutor me. Won't I just give her more stress? Then I guess I will just have to make her happier more often as compensation. See? I learned the word "compensation" for her- I mean to make tutoring me not as hard. I learned she was an otaku and that the music she always listened to was actually mostly anime music. She showed me her songs and I introduced her to a few more anime and manga. She introduced me to an anime called Another. Sounds pretty cool. I'll have to watch it. Apparently there's this really cool, handsome and funny guy that everyone likes in that anime. He sounds awesome.
The others arrived and started whispering to (y/n) about something and wouldn't tell me. She was rolling her eyes and looked irritated. They were laughing. Is this the thing that has been giving my little (y/n) stress? "Hey guys! Leave her alone. Can't you see it's bothering her?" I shouted over to them. They just whispered something else into her ear and started laughing again. Jerks. "Hey!" I was about to raise my fist, when I felt a soft hand on my arm, gesturing for me to stop. It was (y/n). She sighed. "Don't. It'll only cause more trouble. It's just them joking around. Doesn't bother me too much. Let's just enjoy ourselves okay?" she said quietly. I nodded silently.
After the hangout I headed home. Apparently (y/n) went the same way, but she said she would stay behind until everyone left, and then say thank you to the shop owner. She was so cool. And when I tried to protect her it just caused her more stress. Dammit! I punch a wall. "Naoya-kun?" I hear a voice behind me. (y/n) is there with her hands on her knees, panting. I immediately run over to her. I help her up and hold her by the shoulders. "Why do you look so tired?" I ask concerned. She grins. "I thought I would catch up to you to walk home. You looked frustrated just now. Is something wrong? Can I help?" she asks me. Can I help? She says. She is always helping. She is too nice. I shake my head, refusing her offer. "It's nothing. You've already spent a lot of energy on me. Let's just relax okay?" she grins mischievously. "Was that it? You thought I was tired because of you? Don't worry about it. I do that sort of thing all the time! It's no big deal. But it's nice to see you care about me." She says playfully while bringing her face close to mine. What she said worries me. She does this all the time? She must be so tired then. But she puts up this pleasant act for everyone. I stroke her face and stare at her. "Seriously. I do worry about you. Even though we've just met, I really like you. I want to be good friends. You push yourself too hard for other people. It's okay to let out that stress. Around me at least. Let me treat you sometime, okay?" I said soothingly and worriedly. "I care about you." I pulled her into a hug and stroked her back. Se trembled. I smiled. Is she about to cry? I should let her. She's been put through a lot of stress. Little did I know she wasn't trembling for the same reason I thought she was. I pulled away, still holding her. Her expression was a mix of disappointment and shock. She glared at me. What did I do? She pushed away from me roughly. "So you're that kind of guy? I've heard those kinds of lines before. I'm not stupid, and I'm not about to fall for you like you're used to. I thought you figured it out already. Hitting on me like that is not going to work. I can't believe you." She said disgusted before storming off. I held my arm out to reach for her. No. I probably shouldn't go after her. It really wasn't like that though. I do worry about her... I really want to help her. And instead I just made her angry and stressed again. I punch the wall once more. I don't care if my knuckles are bruised and bleeding. I don't care about the pain in my hand and the blood dripping down from it. All I can think about is the pain I caused her. Even if it was only a little bit, she already works so hard. I shouldn't be contributing to her list of tasks. I can't leech on to her like everybody else. I have to be the one to make happy. But I'm...I'm such an idiot.
Your POV
He's such an idiot. Don't know what I saw in him. I ran and ran, trying to get as far away from him as possible. Tears stream down my face for no reason and my heart is throbbing. Why? I can't like that guy. He's stupid and doesn't think before he does anything. So why am I crying for God's sake! I can't let him see me like this. Is he behind me? Is he chasing me? I can't tell. I can't hear anything over the sound of my own thumping heart. If I look back and he is there, he'll see my tears. What do I do? I keep running with thoughts of him flooding my head. I've decided. Hopefully he learned his lesson, so he won't try that again. If he apologizes tomorrow then I'll stay friends with him. Everybody deserves a second chance, don't they? I don't like him. That's a fact. I just felt betrayed since I thought he could be a really good friend, and then he did something like that. I finally come to a stop. I should rest. If I get home like this, my parents will question me. I pull out a tissue out of my bag and wipe my face. I rest for a little and drink some water. Once I've cleaned up, I continue to walk home, with a straight face and great posture. Until he catches up. I stay calm, and look him in the eye. He steps back. "Look I'm so-" I put my hand in front of his face, motioning him to stop. "I don't want to hear it. Not in the mood. If you have something to say to me, say it tomorrow at school." I said firmly, never once darting my eyes away from him. He gulped and nodded. "I still go this way so..." he said sheepishly. I nodded. We walked together the rest of the way. Side by side, not saying a word to eachother. There were the occasional sneezes and "Bless you"s. Sometimes he would glance back at me to see how I was doing. We arrived at his house. Damn, he was right next door. We both said our goodbyes and walked into each of our homes. Out of the corner of my eye I saw him muttering something and clenching his fist. I sighed and unlocked the door. "I'm home!" I called into the empty house.
Naoya's POV
I flopped on my bed and stared at the ceiling. Today was a long day. Tomorrow I should apologize to her. If she thinks I just want to be friends for now, we can stay close right? Even if I do want to be more than that, it's what's best for us right now. That's right. I admit it. No matter how much I try to make up excuses and convince myself otherwise, I have definitively fallen in love at first sight with the amazing (y/n) (l/n).
