"Good morning nishikata!"

" good morning Takagi-san"

They were both what you may call best friends or were they more than that? In fact he couldn't even decide what their relationship was even supposed to be..

" didn't sleep last night?" she said while giving him his usual cherry smile

" how do you always know what I'm thinking?"

" how long do you think I've known you"

Nishikata shrugged and stared at the sky "I'd say around 3 years…"

And yet he continued to not notice the feelings of his best friend, she was surprised that he hadn't noticed her feelings as almost everyone other than him had some idea of her crush on nishikata "playing video-games again?"

" pretty much"

" you know that the summer won't last much longer right?"

" I wish it would"

" you really like summer vacation don't you?"

" I do enjoy spending my time not getting yelled by teachers" he said while wondering what was he even supposed to do, after the summer would end the final year of school

Takagi chuckled at this remark, " well you get to meet friends at school so it isn't that bad.."

" I mean I'm comfortable hanging out with only 3 or 4 of my friends or you.. I don't think I need more people"

" I am not your friend? I mean you addressed me differently"

" you're most definitely not a Friend Takagi-san.."

She stopped for a second to process what he just said, " W-what?"

" you're not a friend Takagi-san… In Fact I don't even understand why I'm even treating you like a good friend, even though you have done nothing but tease me "

" N-nishikata what are y-you even saying?"

" I mean if you think about it I don't know why I'm still being nice to you when in reality I just hate you… "

She hadn't expected Nishikata to every utter these words," You h-hate m-me? "

" you know Takagi-san… This is your worst nightmare huh" as he said this the world around him started to wrap into a black hole..

Takagi shook herself awake, she was still in her bed, " well… That was a weird dream" She got up from her bed and looked at the clock … 6 am…

Takagi glanced back and forth between the clock and the bad she was just sleeping on "not gonna get anymore sleep, might as well stay awake" She stretched her body and opened the curtains and windows

The girl shivered as cold morning air blew inside, she peeked outside, the sky was a dark shade of blue with some orange just over the horizon as the sun just beneath the horizon

Takagi was still wearing a pink night dress with her hair tied up in a little bun so it wouldn't scatter while she slept, the hardwood floor of her room was cold and was almost stinging her bare feet, she quickly wore some slippers and walked downstairs to the bathroom

Takagi brushed her teeth while still thinking of the weird dream, " he hated me? They say dreams do have some connection to the subconscious…. " , she pushed those thoughts out of her mind and quickly finished brushing her teeth and washing her face and headed to her kitchen where her mother was already up and preparing breakfast

" you're up early, bad dream? "

" something like that… " She knew her mom was making some breakfast but she wanted some cereal before too so she opened the fridge

Her eyes scanned the fridge for a bottle of carton of milk, when she finally pulled one out," this one is empty? "

Her mom looked up from cutting vegetables on the chopping bird, " I just used it to start making your Dad's coffee, the boy who delivers milk should be here soon wait for some time Rie"

The girl made a little annoyed frown and closed the fridge her mom chuckled, " you go and take a walk the breakfast will be ready by then"

" a walk?"

" I don't see why not? The whether is nice"

She decided she'd take a small walk to the empty lot to forget about her dream and walked out of the house and towards the main gate, the air was cool and it was only cold when wind blew on her which wasn't often so she stepped out in just her pink nightdress

The girl opened the door and saw someone she didn't expect, " Nishikata?"

The boy looked up from his cycle and stared at the girl who had just called him, "oh hey, good morning Takagi-san" he scratched his head and looked away " she looks cute in that dress… but i dont wanna be teased this early in the day"

Takagi peered over to see he had his bike and in the basket of his bike were several milk cartons, "you're the one who delivers milk?"

" started just a few weeks back, here" the boy handed her a carton

" never told me about this job of yours?"

" not exactly something to tell everyone is it? I just do it to supplement my pocket money" the boy said having a slight blush

Takagi realised he was looking at her dress but she didn't wanna tease him this early on in the day, she took the carton and as nishikata pulled up his bike she stopped him, " wait for sec Nishikata"

"hmm?"

Without giving an answer she walked back in and gave her mom the carton, " not going to eat your favourite cereal?"

"I'll take a walk first" she quickly walked back out, her mother curious as to what caught her daughter's eye followed her..

Outside she saw her daughter chatting with the boy, she could make out the name "Nishikata" from their conversation…

" Nishikata… that's the one she keeps teasing eh?"

Nishikata asked her again, " are you sure?"

Takagi replied while smiling "yep" and then can back in to change into her shoes instead of slippers, her eyes locked with her mother who was smiling " where to Rie?"

" A little bike ride"

" oh…. a bike ride… I see… so that's him.."

" yep" with an almost unnoticeable blush

" be back before breakfast "

" I will" she quickly ran back out and jumped onto the cycle, and held onto nishikata from behind much to his embarrassment

Nishikata pedalled away as the cycle slowly picked speed, " this is not what I expected, I would taken a tease over this?!"

Takagi was quick to start talking to him, "so how early do you wake up?"

" 5 am"

" oh my, that early? That's cool "

Nishikata had a bit of a smug blush from the compliment, " I was gonna do running or cycling in the morning anyway, but now I get paid for it"

She chuckled, " seems like you got the perfect part time job, you really like exercise huh?"

" just doing pushups makes your body stiff, so I'm doing this to keep my body functional "

" on that note…" she pulled her hands so that they were on his shoulders, "the shoulders look wider than the last time checked also the muscles are more visible now"

Nishikata blushed and suddenly stopped the cycle, causing Takagi to headbutt into his back, she held her forehead in pain she immediately got worried, " are you ok Takagi-san?"

" I'm fine… Why'd you suddenly stop?"

"I got goosebumps from you touching the shoulders… "

"I see… what about your back? Is it ok?"

"it doesn't hurt much" he started to pedal once again, " I have to deliver at 3 more houses"

Takagi slowly held Nishikata from behind again, and then rested her head on his back, the boy immediately blushed, "Takagi-san?"

"I feel a little light headed…" she said slowly closing her eyes

" I see.. But don't fall asleep ok?"

" Yeah"

Nishikata pedalled as Takagi even after nishikata's warnings started to sleep on his back

"I hate you Takagi-san" " all you have ever done is tease me" Takagi could see… Nishikata fighting her and leaving her in a fit of anger…

Her heart was beating faster as the nightmare continued from where it left of…

" Why can't you just stop teasing me?! Can't you tell I'm sick of you?! Or is that just another reason why you tease me?!"

The girl had tears on her face, " I'm sorry nishikata…. Please stop…."

" I don't care if you're sorry it doesn't mean anything, I'm just so sick of you teasing me over and over and over…. I just… I Don't think we should be friends Takagi-san… "

" No… Please don't say that nishikata.. Please… " the girl cried harder

But Nishikata had a cold disgusted face,"Stop it. I'M DONE. " he started walking away, the girl ran as fast as she could to catch up to him but he just kept getting farther and farther away from her

"NISHIKATA!! " the girl shouted while hugging Nishikata

Nishikata got startled and stopped the bike, "what happened Takagi-san?" he tried to turn around to face her but she clung to him so tightly that he couldn't

Takagi took a moment to realise her situation and then quickly left him, " sorry… I slept…"

Nishikata sighed in relief, " don't scare me like that… " still blushing from the hug, he started to move again but this time he noticed that takagi was shivering, "cold?"

She tried to hide her shivers, " no…."

Nishikata said, " for once I can tell you're lying"

"it's not normally cold but when we get wind from cycling it gets cold"

Nishikata immediately removed his jacket and gave it to her, " this should help" but she refused, " I can't let you freeze"

" I have enough body heat from doing this everyday to endure it"

Despite her efforts, nishikata had forsee his jacket onto him, " it even smells like him" she got an idea and hugged Nishikata

"what?"

"this should keep us both warm"

"but we can't just- we look like a couple Takagi-san!!"

" a couple huh? Sounds nice…"

" don't just stop responding?!"

" just keep cycling"

Nishikata eventually gave up on arguing back and started to pedal as takagi enjoyed the world moving past her as they moved through the town

After getting his daily payment from the uncle who he worked for, he cycled back in order to drop Takagi at her house

Takagi's mother was standing outside watering the plants when she saw them cycling down to the front gate, " had fun?"

Takagi "other than the weird nightmares" "yep"

Her mom placed down the watering can and walked to the two of them, " nishikata right?"

"yes Ma'am" he greeted back politely after which " I think I should leave…"

Takagi tried to stop him, " why don't you have breakfast with us? You must be tired from the the double riding"

Nishikata tried to refuse but takagi urged him into having breakfast

" I usually go to my uncle's house to eat breakfast, take a shower and change into school clothes so I can still reach on time… if I just eat breakfast I'll still need to shower so I'll be late for school, I need to be early today since I have day duty"

Even so Takagi persisted, " just use the shower here"

" HUH?"

Takagi's mother chuckled, observing her daughter's persistence, " it's alright you can shower here…"

" I mean… Sure I guess…."

Nishikata parked his bike inside, and headed inside the house, takagi chimed in, " come to think of it, it's the first time you've been inside my house huh?"

" not really"

At that moment Takagi's Dad stepped into the hallway, " kid? Need a glass of water?"

Nishikata replied back, " nah I'm good "

" Then?"

" Takagi-san asked me to have breakfast with everyone "

He turned to his daughter," you know this boy Rie ? "

" Yeah he's my other best friend along with sumire "

" ah, I see… This young lad asked for some water the other since he was tired"

"that's why he said not really" " I see…"

" I didn't really ask that day but what's your name?"

Nishikata answered while removing his shoes, " nishikata…. Yuki nishikata"

" well, make yourself at home kid" he said while walking to the kitchen

After he was gone, " so breakfast first or shower"

"shower" he said while pulling his clothes from his bag

" what will you do about these?" she said while poking at his now sweaty clothes "they're all wet and cold… I told you to keep the jacket"

Nishikata " I just need a hot shower I'll stuff them inside the bag, I'll put them In the dryer after I reach home…"

" just leave them in the basket we'll put it in the dryer"

" Then how will get these back? I think we'll just head to school after breakfast "

"let's see.. You can pick these up after school, tomorrow morning… Also tomorrow's Sunday so I can always drop them off at yours…"

" I guess…"

Nishikata went inside while Takagi got a basket and knocked the door, nishikata pulled the basket inside and warped a towel around his waist just in case before handing the clothes back out

While he returned the basket now full of clothes, she was able to see his bare chest for sometime, though she had seen him like that during water park last summer, something about him closing the door as quickly as possible made her chuckle and blush

After he was done showering and changing into school clothes she emerged from the shower room with his still wet hair walked out of the bathroom..

"Didn't you dry your head?" she asked while walking down the stairs from her bedroom in her uniform

" the towel was too soaked to dry anymore off"

" you don't have a different towel for hair?"

" No? Don't tell me…"

"I have a dryer upstairs just come up with me…"

Nishikata hesitated, " it's ok it will dry by the time we finish eating"

" have you ever had an air dryer dry your hair?"

" No…"

" Then come up, you'll enjoy it…"

Nishikata reluctantly climbed up the stairs and peeked inside her room before he entered, the room was quite girly which was expected but it was also gave off this aura that usually radiated from Takagi, as if the room was specifically designed for her personality, " What am I thinking of course it was designed like this" the jack-in-the-box he had make was given a special spot on her shelf and the calligraphy of status quo was hung on her pin board

" you kept all of these?"

" of course… They're important…"

This caused Nishikata to blush furiously he somehow stammered, " L-lets just dry"

Takagi got him seated in front of the dressing table and after observing the surroundings of the table, " I don't even recognise half the stuff on this table, why do you girls have so much stuff?"

Takagi started the air dryer and he felt the hot air moving through his hair and he felt light headed, almost completely relaxed he felt his thoughts flow freely through, he felt a sense of relaxed clarity " I really am… Just confused… Takagi-san.. She just confuses the ever living crap out of me… I realised my feelings a bit after the summer festival but… what about her… Does she have any feelings for me? It doesn't help that she has too great of a poker face… how did I even get in this situation… I'm in her room while she is drying my hair… "

After a few minutes his head was dry and they both headed to the kitchen and dining room to eat the breakfast, while eating breakfast her dad asked him a few questions," so you do milk delivery part time eh? "

" yeah it adds to my pocket money, plus the body is a bit too stiff because of just pushups, this helps with adding some flexibility "

" The food is delicious" he remarked to which takagi's mother replied " you should come around more often, also where do you usually go after your part time job?"

" my uncle's house, I shower and eat there then I leave for school"

" he seems like a hardworking and deligent boy" her dad seemed to approve of the character of the boy his daughter apparently had a crush on..

After they finished eating both of them left for school, as it stood, nishikata suggested yet another game " lets have a contest Takagi-san"

" sure but can I choose the game?"

"um... Fine..."

" the game is simple, look at those birds over there? We have to guess when the bird those fly away, whoever's guess is closest to the actual time wins"

" that's completely random" " this completely random but I may just win this one" " 20 seconds"

"I choose 5 seconds " as she said that she threw a small pebble in that direction causing them to fly away " I win"

"of course" " thats… Its not technically cheating… You're so clever sometimes it scares me…" " thats one"

By the time they reached school the tease count had rised to 2, and nishikata just sat at his desk staring outside, " even if she doesn't like me back… I Know she won't be angry or laugh at my face, she is nice enough to not do that…. Should I just go for it?" the boy stared at the beautiful girl sitting beside him

She noticed him looking at her, " what is it Nishikata? " she asked sweetly

Nishikata immediately turned away and replied," sorry about that.. I was spacing out… "

The rest of the class went relatively uneventful and soon enough it was time for recess, takagi was called to the teachers office

" Takagi, your grades are and have been for a long time very good, keep it up"

" thank you, Tanabe sensei"

After he was done talking to her, Tanabe sensei send her to also fetch Nishikata after finished her lunch as his grades has improved immensely, "looks like all that tutoring went well"

She was having lunch with her best friend Sumire and as it stood the topic Nishikata came up, " Are you kidding me? It's been like what 3 years?"

" I'd say around that much"

" and he still doesn't- oh my god its unbelievable, you ever wonder what's keeping him "

" I think it's to do with my teasing, he just can't assume anything about my feelings"

" apparently boys think it's disrespectful to assume a girls feelings towards them"

" I am starting to suspect he realised his feelings"

" what makes you think that?"

" well for one he spaces out into deep thoughts a lot more since the festival, other than that it's just a hunch"

" why don't you try confessing instead"

" I mean… I've honestly tried it but he just assumes it's a tease"

" can you blame him?"

" No… its just…"

" maybe you should just take a more straightforward approach"

" what is that supposed to mean?"

" it means stop showing off your patience of a God and confess instead of waiting"

" I -" She thought she'd be calmer about this whole situation but being the confessor was a lot more nerve wracking than she'd imagined

"Also" Sumire added, " Don't get me wrong I want you to get close to nishikata but you've gotta understand, you have just assumed that he likes you back romantically, for all we know he could just enjoy your company as his best friend"

Takagi was usually witty with an answer but since being optimistic was forte she had never even considered that possibility, " dont say stuff like that..."

" see? That's how your making things for him, this is probably how he feels about confessing, plus remember he doesn't even know your feelings"

Takagi considered what Sumire was saying " maybe this was the problem, instead of meeting halfway I was making him cover all the distance between us..."

Sumire, " I'm no love expert but I know one thing, a relationship is a two way thing, you can't expect him to do all the work, he is too self conscious to make the first move, and you are too prideful to make the first move, so you manipulate him into doing most of the work"

" I don't manipulate him..."

Sumire just stared at her, "seriously... This girl..." " I'll use the most recent example, the summer festival, you wanted to go with him so what did you do?"

" I hinted that I wanted to go with him" "That time was close... I thought he wasn't gonna ask me"

" what would you have done if he hadn't asked you?"

" I would've..."

" you would not ask him out but instead "bump" into him instead at the festival, tease him into staying with you till the end of the festival "

" don't phrase it like that.. " " thats... That sounds like what I would do In that situation... I would really do something like that... It feels downright manipulative when looked at objectively... I can't deny that.."

" what I am saying is there is something wrong with you and not him that is in the way of your relationship... And seeing as even though there is a not so obvious problem... He's still close to you... The problem isn't that big... The solution might be more simple that it seems... If there even is a problem in the first place I'm just theorizing... "

" you can't just say that after making me doubt everything about our relationship " " I hate it that she... That she... Has a point... "

Takagi stared off into the distance so calm her self," I have made him do a lot of the work... Because I was impatient or because I wanted something... Damn it. " you should be a therapist Sumire"

" and you should stop asking me for love advice, ask Mano she's the one who is in a relationship…. actually no don't ask her…"

" huh?"

" knowing her she'll lead you to some rumors about love…. But knowing Nishikata if you're aggressive enough he might crack and confess following some random rumor "

" that's…. Then houjou? "

" could work but I doubt she'll be of any major help"

" what?"

" I thought you were gonna give an explanation as to why houjou wouldn't work either" Takagi said sheepishly

" I wonder why I am friends with this girl sometimes" " it may have something to do with the fact that she literally doesn't realise her own or of that guy…. what was his name again?... One of nishikata's friend…. Takao nah he's the skinny one...kimura's the fat one so…. Hamaguchi… yeah that guy…. It Doesn't help that she doesn't realise his feelings towards her either"

" that just leaves you Sumire"

" oh crap you're right…. Welp…. I Guess… but I'll say something… Something is definitely wrong with your approach as of now...the fact that I have to think of way to make him confess as if he was a person being interrogated for information doesn't sit right with me... something is definitely wrong with your approach, that's as close to advice you get from me"

" thanks, and really please be a therapist" it had taken a person with complete opposite views than her on relationships to understand something wasn't right " and I call myself smart…. but really… does he really feel worse than what I felt….maybe I should be a little more direct from now on…"" I'll just give him Tanabe sensei's message"

Takagi walked through the school and up the stairs when she finally saw what looked like nishikata talking with hamaguchi,

Hamaguchi was pleading Nishikata for knowledge," how are so close to Takagi-san?! "

Nishikata couldn't believe the situation he was being put, " don't just ask me questions like that?! Ask Nakai he's the guy in a relationship!!!"

" he's headless chicken when comes to relationships, trust me I've asked him before "

" WHAT MAKES YOU THINK I KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT RELATIONSHIPS ?! " he said exasperated

" Because you're together with Takagi-san"

" Like I've said a million times before, no I'm not in a relationship"

" well then how come you two spend so much time together?!" " this is becoming more of an argument at this point"

" I have no idea"

" don't give me that bull crap?!"

" well… too bad I'm not lying"

Takagi wasn't exactly hidden she was just at an angle at which the two couldn't see them," asking advice for houjou I see, didn't see him being the person for such advice in his Friend group… I kinda wanna listen to what he says, though it just seems like they're arguing " but she was too far

" WELL THEN YOU KNOW YOU LIKE HER?!"

" AND WHAT IF I DO?!"

"crap"

She took a second to process the words " huh?"

Hamaguchi was frozen as he'd just lost the ground of his argument, " but more importantly", " you realised your feelings?! When?!"

Nishikata buried his face in his palms, " no use hiding it now… About a month ago…"

Hamaguchi stared at the ground around his feet, " I wasn't expecting that.." " so you're in the same boat as me, swimming through the ocean of confusion"

" not to mention both of us are drowning"

" Yeah we're both drowning" hamaguchi sighed, "but at least we both now have someone who gets us, we can have each other's backs"

" I doubt we both even share a single brain cell when it comes to things like romance" nishikata said while scratching the back of his head

It took Takagi second to process all of this "nishikata likes someone... He admitted to hamaguchi that he likes a girl... Did he realise his feelings towards me?" she took a few deep breaths to calm down as she dreaded the train of thoughts that were crashing into her " are his feelings even towards me... I don't know..." she had lost a lot of her confidence as a result of being crushed in the argument against Sumire, she took deep breaths and with now a less cherry than her usual tone, " Hey nishikata!"

" oh no." he looked at hamaguchi and to no one's surprise he was more surprised than nishikata " I was joking about us sharing just one brain cell don't live upto the joke and help me hamaguchi!! "

Hamaguchi didn't like the glares he was getting from Nishikata," I was the one who made him shout that out loud, If I don't fix this he'll shred me like cheese on pizza " " did you hear anything? "

Takagi acted confused," hear what? "

The boys sighed in relief," it's nothing… I'll see you later… Good luck"

" you too " he watched as hamaguchi immediately ran away " so much for having each other's back…. "

" what was that? " she said still acting oblivious even though there were literal butterflies in her stomach," I should thank the Gods for that poker face "

" an inside joke…" he tried to find a reaction on Takagi's face but he found nothing " curse that damn poker face " " what did you need from me?"

" Tanabe sensei needs you for something"

" sensei?"

" he probably wants to talk to you about your grades"

" well I guess I'll go jump off a cliff"

She chuckled as he defeatedly started walking away " he doesn't know he's about to be praised" " hey nishikata…"

" Yeah? "

" let's go somewhere after school"

" but why?" "isn't that a date?!"

" No big reason in particular"

" Then?"

" will you be there or not?"

"... Where?"

" let's see what about the park?"

"of course she picked a place full of people" " I guess…."

" then we'll go after school then ok?"

" Yeah…" nishikata murmured to himself and walked away from her, as nishikata finally left Takagi could finally ease out, her cheeks were red and her her heart was beating very fast… " he likes someone... Damn it... Why did I even try to argue with sumire... I'm not sure of his feelings anymore... God damn it."

4615 words

A/N : Soo... I was gonna release this after I finished part 2 but I had no time to write plus I feel a writers block coming to me... So enjoy this for now

Peace