*Apologies for failing to update sooner. Life has been busy with school and an accounting internship. Since my earnest wish is for Baka and Test to air one more season (is the demand seriously not there? I have no idea what's stopping them), I would be remiss to leave this story at two chapters. My friends, let us all hope for the day we see more of the obvious chemistry Minami has with Akihisa.
Chapter 3
"You're such a dummy!" Hazuki Shimada laughed while swinging her arms next to Akihisa Yoshi.
"Hey, I thought we finally agreed you would stop calling me that."
"I never said that. I said that dating my sister was smart of you. You're still a dummy overall," she said with a mocking wink.
"Pfft," Aki scoffed while pretending to be less annoyed than he actually was. He was happy to walk Hazuki to school as a favor to Minami, but he had hoped the younger Shimada sibling would go a little easier on him given his new relationship with her big sister. Something about the kid's innocent jabs hurt him a little more than they really should have.
"Well here we are, time for you to pick on someone else," Akihisa said as the two arrived at Hazuki's elementary school gate.
"Oh no, it would be rude of me to pick on anyone but you dummy!" Hazuki called back as she broke for the classroom building. Before vanishing completely, she blew a kiss back at Akihisa. This gesture was unappreciated by the young man, who felt the scornful glares of every nearby adult in the vicinity. Akihisa might have said something to try and clear up any misconceptions; however, he kept quiet. Ever since he started going out with Minami, he had been receiving helpful advice from his beautiful, German, flat-che–, slender girlfriend. One of the tips she had recently given him was to speak as little as possible in uncomfortable situations, given that he is simply unable to avoid making such situations better with his words.
"Man soll kein Öl ins Feuer Giessen" Minami had told him, which is literally to say, "One should not pour fuel on the fire".
"In other words Aki, you will make things worse if you try and make them better without thinking," her words echoed in his head as he turned around, put his hands in his pockets and whistled onward to his own school.
"Man, I sure hope Minami made lunch for me again today. I'm finally starting to recover the games and manga I sold off to pay for food when my sister visited," Aki thought pleasantly to himself. The thought of her cooking caused him to instinctively drool a little.
Yes, things had been going well for Akihisa lately. Minami daily proved herself a strong and supportive girlfriend, his friends were making less fun of him, and even Iron Man had been going easier on Akihisa as he noticed the positive influence that spee nding more time with Shimada was having on Fumizuki's most notorious idiot.
If only the weather could reciprocate the positive vibes Akihisa was feeling that morning. Dark grey clouds formed overhead but at least failed to create raindrops.
"Hm, don't have my umbrella today…" he thought out loud.
"Don't worry Akihisa you can borrow mine!" A girly voice exclaimed from behind. Aki quickly turned around and found himself face-to-face with a certain pink-haired classmate of his, her extended hand clutching an umbrella right on que.
"Oh… hey Himeji," Aki scratched his cheek. He really hoped his friendship with Himeji wouldn't suffer because of the choice he was forced to make between her and Minami. But who was he kidding? Of course things were going to be awkward. Looking at her exaggerated efforts to be as kind as ever made him remember the guilt he had felt the day in rejecting her feelings for him.
"Clouds look kind of scary today. Though, I suppose that's appropriate..."
Himeji looked almost as sweet as ever, but there was an unmistakable tiredness underneath her eyes that betrayed her large grin and puffed dimples.
"Right on the spot when I need you huh?" Aki said half-heartedly, trying to make polite conversation.
"You-you need me?" Himeji gasped immediately.
"Wait, no that's not what I–"
The umbrella dropped before Akihisa could finish his sentence.
"No, of course you didn't mean it like that…" Himeji's words turned quiet. The two stood in unappealing silence for a moment before Himeji walked on without a word, leaving her umbrella behind on the ground. Akihisa had no idea what to say, but he did pick up hear umbrella and dusted off any dirt that may have found its way on to the fabric.
"That poor girl…" Akihisa thought to himself, "What was she saying before? The scary clouds being appropriate or something? Ugh, hell if I know what that means." The clueless boy walked solitarily onward to his destination, having stashed his old crush's umbrella in his bag.
Fumizuki Academy came into view within 5 minutes of the opening bell.
"Yes, another day on time! I'm really appreciating those wake-up texts Minami sends me." Akihisa smiled to himself.
"What's got you all chipper today Akihisa?" the familiar voice of Yūji Sakamoto confronted him.
"Oh you know, just happy to be alive," Aki pointed both his index fingers at his friend.
"Yeah? Well listen man, I'm really happy to her that!" Yūji responded.
"Hey Yūji?"
"Yeah, what's up buddy?"
"Could you tell me why you got me in a rear naked chokehold at the moment?" Akihisa struggled to articulate with the respectably strong arms of his friend wrapped underneath his arms and around his throat.
"Sure man, I'll tell ya why if you can tell me who gave Shōko the username and passwords to all of my social media accounts," Yūji candidly answered.
"I swear it wasn't–" Yūji's hold tightened, "Okay, okay I may have had something to do with it," Akihisa gargled his words.
"Alright spit it out then," Yūji released his friend and dropped his friendly tone. Akihisa gasped for as much air as he could upon the liberation of his neck.
"Kōta and I both got a letter from Shōko in our lockers instructing us to find out your passwords. She said she'd hire Kōta as the photographer for your wedding and she promised to pay for me and Minami's next date if I helped. You gotta understand!"
"Wow Akihisa, you're so whipped you'd sell out your best friend. I'd be touched if I wasn't so frickin' pissed at you!" Yūji started calmly before abruptly shouting.
"Now hold on a minute, what's so bad about this? We all know she wouldn't find anything suggesting you're into someone else?
"What? Akihisa that's not the point! Every time I log on now, my screen is blasted with ads for wedding chapels, wedding rings, tuxedos, cakes, honeymoon destinations! What happened to all the stuff I was interested in? Someone's gonna pay for this…" Yūji made another aggressive move towards Akihisa.
"Hold on what about Kōta? He's just as guilty as I am!"
"I don't see him around, do you?" Yūji grunted.
"No, but, come to think of it, I don't see anyone around!" Akihisa realized.
"Oh crap, you idiot, you made us late for class!" Yūji ran off toward the school building.
"Hey wait fo–"Akihisa's words fell short. He tasted a gag stuffed inside his mouth while his vision simultaneously went black. He could feel his arms and legs constricted by what could only be rope. A group of many different voices rang in his ears and he barely heard what any of them were saying. The only words that he knew for sure were said: "All that's left now is to send the ransom note to his girlfriend". After that, a heavy knock on his head sent him into unconsciousness.
