Bold means flashback


Reality of Anxiety.
Part I: LIKED

I.3. They Like Me

"Watanuki-kun!"

The pigtailed girl ran towards him, smiling as she always did.

"Himawari-chaaan!" He greeted her.

"How was your date?"

"It didn't go too well… but I tried." She smiled once again. Watanuki wanted to let out a relief sigh but his mind told him that Himawari had to move on.

"What happened?"

"I decided to leave early. I had piano classes."

Watanuki wasn't smiling. He wore a serious expression, the same one he acquired when he spoke to the lady who could not taste her own food.

The girl's eyes opened in surprise: Watanuki was scolding her.

"You should stop making up excuses."

"I…"

She stared at her feet. Tanpopo chirped.

"You… you're right. It's difficult since-"

"-people might get hurt. But that was long ago since you have Tanpopo with you, Himawari-chan." He smiled at her. "I'll go ahead, I need to get the ingredients ready for Home Ec."

"Hey, Watanuki-kun." Said boy stopped walking and turned around, facing his friend and old crush.

"Thank you."

Himawari's smile was pure and honest. He was sure that if he had seen that smile before he would have fainted and entered a comatose state. He felt happy for her. So happy that he didn't notice where he was walking and bumped into another guy.

"Watanuki-kun, are you okay?" Himawari asked him.

"Ouch! ... Yeah, I'm fine… I'm sorry." Watanuki apologized to the other student.

"N-n-no problem!" The student's face turned a deep shade of red. "B-bye!" He ran off, leaving him more than just confused.

"Um… Watanuki-kun?" He looked at Himawari's direction. Next to her stood a tall, slightly fat but heavily muscled guy with very little hair and large mouth. He looked like a typical school bully. "He said he was looking for you… I wanted to… but he… he saw you before I…" She knew there was no use apologizing now . "Anyway, there he is!" She forced a smile since there was nothing she could do at the moment.

The tough guy slowly approached Watanuki without breaking eye contact. 'What have I done? Why is he looking at me! Oh-no-no-no-no! He's getting near… Where's the jerk when I need him? Well, he repels spirits but I doubt he'd repel him but still… Whoa! Why am I talking to myself ? I wonder if I'm saying this out loud. I'll protect Himawari-chan!'

"I'm all right, you are the one in danger." She sounded worried.

'Crap! Was I thinking aloud?'

"Yes." Himawari giggled. The distraction was erased when he felt the other guy getting nearer.

Every step taken by the tough student was complemented by Watanuki taking a step backwards until he bumped into a wall. He felt cornered. The guy's gaze was dead serious and he raised his fist. The shorter boy closed his eyes and decided to relax. He knew that Doumeki would come for him, no matter what.

He was right. Doumeki was there, running towards him. However, the archer arrived too late. The tough guy extended his palm, revealing a crushed flower that looked like if it had been forcefully pulled out of a random garden. Doumeki stopped dead on the track, tripped over and hit the lockers. Unfortunately, Watanuki was too dumbfounded to have noticed that.

The large student's cheeks turned red but he kept extending his palm, signaling the shorter boy to take the flower, which he did.

"Um… thanks…" Watanuki's cheeks turned pink. He was still confused but nonetheless felt flattered.

"C..C..Cu..CUTE!" The large guy squeaked and went away. A couple of girls who were chatting nearby laughed at him. Others were more discrete and decided to just giggle.

"He's obviously trying to fuck him. I mean, who wouldn't?"

The trio turned around and saw two guys who blushed at the embarrassment of being heard. Obviously, they fled. Watanuki noticed that the two of them winked at him.

"What's going on?" Doumeki's monotonous tone was slightly offbeat.


"YOU PERVERT!!!!"

Doumeki recovered quickly, even if his head hurt.

"TURN AROUND! I'm going to get dressed."

He did as he was told and waited.

"I'm ready. Now, what do you want!?"

Doumeki wondered how long he had been naked.

"I'm not leaving you. Never."

Watanuki blushed.

"W…what?"

Doumeki might be calm and easygoing but he knew he sucked when expressing his emotions. He felt embarrassment as any other person did.

"What I said." He wasn't repeating that again.

"And who said I wanted you to be next to me? It'd be better if you just left me alone! That'd give me the peace I want."

"Wa-" Doumeki got interrupted.

"It's always you, you, you. Doumeki the hero, Doumeki the star, Doumeki the chick magnet, Doumeki this, Doumeki, that…"

"-Ta-"

"People like you! People admire you! They want to be near you! Everyone!"

"-Nu-"

"Even so, I don't like you and you always hang around me. What do you want? Me loving you as everyone do? My admiration? My respects?"

"Ki."

"Why? Why? WHY?! Why are you following me!? You annoy me, you- HEY!"

Doumeki embraced him.

"LET ME GO! LET ME GO, YOU JERK!"

"…'Everyone' will 'love' me and 'admire' me as long as I fulfill their desires, not because of who I am. Himawari, Yuuko, Kohane. They love you." He told him. "You're special to them."

Watanuki's eyes opened wide. How could he have forgotten about them? He loved them and they loved him. Besides…

"You're special to me..." They both whispered at unison.

"...Idiot" Both thought at the same time.

Both decided not to break the embrace, not only because it felt warm and cozy but they wanted to hide their blushing cheeks. However, when Doumeki's mobile phone started to ring, their bodies separated.

"Sorry. Yeah, it was urgent. I'll be there in five minutes."

"That's right! You have archery practice today!" Watanuki felt guilty since the thought of Doumeki skipping archery for him made him smile. After all, he had gotten mad over a little incident and began thinking stupid stuff. Even so, Doumeki had been there, wasting his time on making the angst, typical 'nobody-loves-me' teenage thoughts leave his head.

"You should go to the first aid room. You had been standing there, naked for more than an hour. "

"Okay, I'll go." He replied, grumping.

"Did anyone see you?"

"I don't remember… I just saw a couple of lights but that's all."



"Doumeki…" Watanuki stared at the archer. "Those lights… they were taking photos."