Chapter 43: Do you know how to dance?

A/N: I'm changing up the writing style so that it doesn't look like a script anymore.

"You called me to help you decide on your outfit?"

Takagi was holding back a giggle while Nagatoro was looking at the ground, practically fuming.

"I-is there a problem? I just thought that since Senpai and Yuki-kun are pretty similar, you could give me some advice…"

Takagi put a finger to her chin and began to speak in a thoughtful tone.

"Hm… To tell you the truth, I never really dress up for Yuki. He just gets really flustered whenever he sees me, so I just wear whatever I feel like wearing. To tell you the truth, I think that you should just use what you know about him to pick your outfit.

"What I know about him…"

Nagatoro went slightly red, but at the same time, had a mischievous grin on her face.

"I think I know what I'm going to be wearing to the party. Thanks for helping out, Rie-chan!"

"No problem! See you at the crossroads!"

Takagi hung up, stepping outside in an oversized coat along with a loose, oversized sweater, a long skirt, and black tights. Right outside her door was Nishikata, sporting a similarly oversized coat, jeans, and a flannel shirt.

"O-oh. Hi, Rie."

Nishikata was looking down, causing Takagi to let out a few giggles.

"Well? Let's head over to the crossroads to meet up with Naoto-kun and Hayase-chan!"

Nishikata shot her a nod and flinched when she extended her hand to him.

"Don't worry. I'll just tell them that you lost a contest."

Nishikata gulped and nodded, extending his hand to meet hers. After a while, Senpai showed up in that outfit he wore in chapter 88 of the manga while Nagatoro showed up in…

"Feeling adventurous, huh, Hayase-chan?"

"Look, I took your advice, ok?"

The jean shorts combined with an oversized sweater and fishnets seemed to be very effective as Senpai's cheeks were already lightly flush with colour.

"Well, what are we waiting for? Let's go!"

The rest of them followed Takagi as she navigated them to Sanae's house.

###

Nishikata, Takagi, and Nagatoro had all retreated to a more secluded corner of the party.

"Yeah, yeah, I know. I'll ask him to go to the dance with me."

"Great! We'll be cheering for you."

Takagi followed up Nishikata's encouragement with a sweet smile and a thumbs up.

"Are you guys done? You said that you had to talk about something…"

Nagatoro was standing there, red-faced and practically fuming.

"Naoto? Will you…"

It was taking all of Nagatoro's mental fortitude to stop herself from stuttering.

"Go out with me?"

"Huh?"

Senpai looked mildly bewildered. He pinched himself a few times on the cheek, then he tentatively reached out his hand and touched her on the shoulder, causing both of them to spin around, red-faced.

"Yeah… I will…"

"Ah! I just meant the valentine's day dance…"

"Then… what do you want to go as?"

"You make the decision! You're the Senpai, so why don't you take charge?"

"O-ok… Let's… Go as a… uh…"

Senpai gulped and took a deep breath. Finally turning back to face Nagatoro and turning Nagatoro towards him, he steeled himself and continued…

"As a couple."

Nagatoro's mouth hung open as her face began to heat up. Senpai's face quickly followed suit as the room got significantly brighter. After a few moments, Nagatoro turned away to hide the tears beginning to fall down her face.

"A-are you ok? H-Hayase?"

"Never… better… Stupid, Senpai…"

Nagatoro turned around and threw her arms around Senpai, causing his brain to short circuit. Once the engineers had finished the rewiring, he tentatively put his own arms around Nagatoro.

"That's good…"

After a few moments, they quickly sprung apart.

"To think that you would have the guts to pull off such a cool move! I wouldn't have believed it myself, Senpai!"

"Y-yeah… I just feel like I've gotten a lot more confident about myself. Ever since the culture festival, I've just been… feeling a lot better. To tell you the truth, I didn't really know what I was going to do until you showed up. I was just another guy who could draw better than average. Heck, I even made a dumb self-insert manga starring me and the club president…"

"It wasn't dumb though."

Senpai stared at Nagatoro, dumbfounded.

"It was some of the best art I've ever seen. Sure, it was a self-insert, but I really liked your drawing style, and yet…"

Nagatoro looked down at the ground fondly.

"I love your new style too. You've grown a lot, Senpai."

A look of realization struck Nagatoro's face as she attempted to recover.

"I mean… uh… back then, you couldn't even draw my legs at all because you were so embarrassed! I mean jeez, virgin-Senpai, You've really gotten better at this!"

"Yeah. You've grown too…"

Nagatoro looked bewildered for a moment before putting on a smirk.

"Oh? I didn't know you were looking at my chest that much~"

"N-not like that!"

Senpai went completely red and looked down, but soon regained his gentle smile.

"I mean as a person. You've really opened up, even if it doesn't seem like it, you've gotten better at asking for help."

Nagatoro was full-on blushing, looking on the ground. After a few moments, she squeezed her eyes tight and extended her hand, causing Senpai to flinch.

"H-how about we have our first dance here? As a… c-couple…"

Senpai went completely red but took her hand anyway. Together, they headed out into the makeshift dance floor which Sanae had prepared and immediately froze.

"Uh… Naga- er… Hayase?"

"! Yeah? W-what is it?"

"Do you know how to dance?"

Nagatoro's eyes went wide as she steered Senpai off of the dance floor and into a corner.

"Of course I know how to dance, silly Senpai."

Nagatoro dropped into a squat, still wearing her fishnets, and began a windmill. When she looked up, Senpai was staring at her, red-faced. This prompted a blushing smirk from Nagatoro.

"It looks like pervert-Senpai can't seem to take his eyes off me, hm?"

"Ah! No… Sorry about that… Uh…"

Senpai put his hand to the back of his neck,

"I do ballet."

"As much as I'd like to see beansprout-Senpai do ballet, I'd also like to dance. Just… er… take my hand and…"

Nagatoro looked down.

"Let's just spin around. Try not to step on my feet, Senpai!"

Senpai gave Nagatoro another gentle smile and nod, meriting a giddy grin from Nagatoro as she pulled him to the dance floor.

"Everyone's watching, Yuki~"

Nishikata nodded while averting his gaze and blushing, although slightly smiling.

"Mhm."

Takagi gave Nishikata another wide grin, meriting a sigh and a tired smile from him as they continued to dance the night away.

A/N: Hey everyone. It's been a pretty wild ride, huh? It's been almost a year since I started this fanfic and I just wanted to thank you guys for sticking it out for this long. However, lately, I've been running on empty. I've kinda been looking for an out for a bit and decided to cut this story off when I saw an out. At the same time, I didn't want to give this an unsatisfying ending or just cut it short, since I really care about these characters. So yeah, this story is effectively complete and I hope you enjoyed it.

I'll almost definitely be writing more since I've started writing my own stuff and since season 3 of Takagi's done. In the meantime, stay tuned for what will effectively be the epilogue of this story: the valentines day dance! See you later, and make sure to check out my other fanfics. I highly suggest that you watch the material that my other fics are based on and I hope to see you soon.