A/N: I needed a break from work...I should actually be heading home right now, to be honest. LOL. Also Utsubo Monogatari is some random Japanese novel. It's not really imporant!


Chapter Twelve: Cute


"Watanabe-san."

She looked up at the call of her name, making certain that the book she held in her hands only showed the cover of it and that the pages of the back are hidden. She found that transfer boy looking at her, his one arm plopped on the chair rest he sat on.

Their teacher for the next class hadn't arrived in the room yet so everyone else took advantage of it to chat with their friends or go on their phones to text their latest gossips for the day.

"Is there something you need, Aikawa-san?" She asked, her tone polite and curt. Why was he speaking to her? Did it look like she welcome idle chatter?

She made show that she wanted nothing to do with him, thumbing through the page she was in. She could see him tilt his head to the side, eyeing her with interest and vague curiosity.

"What are you reading?" He asked, not put off by her obvious display of disinterest.

She eyed him carefully, wondering what he was playing at. Yet he only met her wary look with a lazy smile he seemed to always have on his face.

"...Utsubo Monogatari," she answered a few seconds later. "Can you not read the front cover?"

She could see him lift an eyebrow up, his eyes shining with vague amusement and she found herself frowning at this.

"Really?" He asked, tone sounding as if he knew something she didn't know. Before she could say anything else, he had reached out a hand to tug down the cover of the book with his forefinger and thumb. The cover slid down easily, revealing the actual book behind it.

"Ah," he said with muffled laughter. "It's a shoujo manga."

Her reaction was instantaneous – her entire face turned red, even her ears and neck had turned red. Quickly, she swiped the book away from his reach, shoving it underneath her desk.

"A-and is there anything wrong with that?!" She glared at him in an attempt to gather back her dignity but she knew it was of naught as the boy in front of her was still laughing though careful enough not to catch the attention of their fellow classmates. She had resorted to frowning at him though it more or less resembled a pout.

"How unexpected!" He managed to say in between his laughter. "I didn't peg you as someone to be into something so girly!"

"...You say that as if it's such a bad thing," she retorted back with a sneer, definitely still sulking at having someone discover one of her many guilty pleasures.

"It's not," he said, easing back to a smile as his laughter finally subsided. "I just think it's cute. I think you're cute."

It was then that the door slid open and in their math teacher walked in. Everyone then went back to their seats and settled down in fear of having their moody mentor's wrath inflicted upon them.

Hitomi shifted to face the board once again but not before chuckling to himself at the sight of her blushing face.