The schoolyard was filled with students chatting with each other. Most were getting ready to go home now that the school day was over, but such was not the case for Honda because today was the day he was finally going to ask his crush to go on a date with him.
Honda hid inside some bushes, watching Miho from a distance. Miho was standing in front of the school entrance, distracted by her phone.
"I'm going to do it!" Honda thought to himself. "I'm going to tell her how I feel about her, and I'm going to ask her out on a date!" He was sweating profusely and his heart was beating out of control. He never felt more nervous in his life. "I'm going to do it! I'm going to do it! I'm going to…"
"Hi Honda, what are you doing?" Anzu said, popping out of nowhere.
"AHHHHH!" Honda screamed and jumped from surprise. He grabbed Anzu and pulled her down into the bushes. "Shhhhh!" he said, "be quiet! She'll hear you!"
"Who?" Anzu asked. Then she noticed Miho standing in the distance. "Oh it's Miho! I get it. You're finally going to confess your feelings, hun?"
Honda nodded his head.
Anzu patted Honda on the back and said, "It's about time! Sheesh, it took you long enough. You've been crushing on her since forever."
"I know! Don't rub it in!" Honda said with embarrassment.
"Well how long are you going to hide in the bushes? Just get out there and do it already!" Anzu said.
"I'm waiting for the perfect moment."
"Right now would be a really good time."
"But she's on her phone! What if she's doing something important?"
"What could she possibly be doing on her phone that's too important to talk to you? Come on, you're her friend! She's always happy to see you."
"But what if…"
"Just go!" Anzu shoved Honda out of the bushes so hard that he fell on his face.
"AHHHH!" Honda shouted.
Miho noticed Honda shouting and falling down. "Honda! Are you alright?" she said, running towards him.
Honda quickly got up on his feet and started panicking. "Ahahaha yeah I'm perfectly dandy! No sir, nothing wrong with me!"
"You have leaves stuck to you everywhere," Miho said.
"I do?" Honda examined himself. There were many leaves on his school uniform because he had been hiding in the bushes for so long. He quickly dusted himself off. "Oh yeah! I do! Because I fell in the bushes earlier!"
"And you have some in your hair too," Miho said, reaching up and brushing Honda's hair with her hand. "There we go, I got them out."
Honda blushed profusely. "Gee thanks! Ahahaha…" he laughed awkwardly, and then stood there with a stupid grin on his face. "Anyways, I guess I'll be seeing you…" he started to walk away.
"Oh no you don't!" Anzu sprang up from where she was hiding.
"Oh hi Anzu! Did you fall into the bushes too?" Miho asked.
Anzu got behind Honda and pushed him towards Miho. "Honda has something he wants to say to you," Anzu said.
"Is that true? You want to tell me something?" Miho said.
"Uhhh…I…I wanted to…um…" Honda stuttered.
Just then, a loud commotion was heard coming from the school entrance. The school's front doors opened and out walked Bakura, surrounded by at least twenty fangirls eagerly swarming him, trying to give him gifts, taking pictures of him on their phones, and fighting each other for a chance to talk to him.
"Bakura I love you!"
"Bakura, you should come hang out with me in the mall tomorrow!"
"Bakura! I made cookies for you!"
"Notice me senpai!"
Poor Bakura was desperately trying to get away from his fangirls with no luck. He could barely take a step in any direction without a girl getting in his way, and he constantly had to swat away the gifts that the girls were shoving in his face.
"Excuse me, pardon me, please let me through. I just want to go home…" Bakura said tiredly.
Miho's eyes lit up. "Oh my god it's Bakura! He's sooo handsome!" she said, sighing dreamingly. "Alright, today's the day I'm going to do it!"
"You're going to do what?" Honda asked.
"I'm going to ask Bakura out on a date! No more holding back!" Miho said as she started running towards Bakura.
"Wait! But…" Honda began, but then sighed and gave up. "What's the use?"
"Don't just let her go! Chase after her!" Anzu said.
"There's no point. She doesn't see me the way she sees Bakura." Honda despairingly clenched his fists. "I don't get it. Why does she go after him when there are so many girls competing for his attention? Why doesn't she go after me instead, where there is no competition? And besides, Bakura's not interested in any of them anyway."
"Girls want what they can't have. The fact that Bakura's unobtainable only makes him more alluring," Anzu said.
Honda's eyes lit up with an idea. "That's it! I know what to do! I need to make myself unobtainable!"
"And how will you do that?" Anzu said.
"I need to find someone willing to pretend to date me. That way I'll be unobtainable to Miho and she'll get jealous, and then she'll start chasing me instead of Bakura!" Honda put his palms together and bowed his head saying, "Please Anzu, will you pretend to date me?"
"What? That's a terrible idea! It's manipulative and deceitful, and it probably won't work!"
"It'll only be for a short while! Please Anzu, this might be the only way to get her to notice me!" Honda got on his knees and gave Anzu the big pleading puppy dog eye look. "Please please please please please?"
"Ugh, all right, fine. I'll do it."
"Yes!" Honda sprang up into the air and pumped his fists.
"But only for a short while. No longer than a week," Anzu said.
"One week is all I need," said Honda.
Miho found herself in the middle of the swarm of fangirls, fighting to get closer to Bakura. But no matter how much she pushed and shoved, she couldn't seem to get any closer. After twenty minutes of fighting she eventually gave up.
As she watched Bakura and his fangirls slowly fade away into the distance, she broke into sniffles and started crying.
Jounouchi happened to be walking by when he noticed Miho standing there all by herself. "Hi Miho! What are you doing out here all…what's wrong?" he said as he suddenly noticed she was crying.
"I..I like Bakura, but…but…HE NEVER PAYS ANY ATTENTION TO ME!" Miho shouted as she clung onto Jounouhi and sobbed into his chest.
"Hey! Whoa there, take it easy girl. It's alright," Jounouchi said, awkwardly patting Miho on the back. "There are plenty of other guys out there who would pay much more attention to you than Bakura does. Why don't you try…"
"NOOO! THERE IS NO ONE I LOVE OTHER THAN BAKURA! HE IS THE ONLY ONE FOR ME!" Miho cried.
Jounouchi cringed as his uniform got more and more stained with Miho's snot and tears. "Sheesh, why do so many girls like Bakura anyway?" he wondered.
Miho suddenly stopped crying. "That's it! I have an idea. Bakura is used to being adored by lots of girls. But if he met a girl who wasn't interested in him, it would make him feel bad, right? And he would do everything he can to make her like him. So instead of chasing Bakura, I just have to make him chase me!" She grabbed Jounouchi's school uniform and pulled him close. "Jounouchi! I need you to pretend to be my boyfriend!"
"What? No! I can't do that!"
"Why not?"
"Because…because I don't feel that way about you," Jounouchi stuttered. The real reason was because he knew Honda had a crush on Miho, and it would absolutely break Honda's heart if Jounouchi went out with her, even if it was just pretend.
"You don't have to feel that way about me because we're only pretending! Come on, help me out!"
"No. I'm sorry but I can't. You should ask Honda to do it instead."
Miho shoved Jounouchi away. Then she pouted and folded her arms. "Fine. But you're a big meanie."
Most of the fangirls stopped following Bakura and went home after an hour of fangirling, but there was always that one group of girls who stayed much longer than all the others, refusing to leave until they got what they wanted.
"If I promise to go to the mall with you tomorrow, will you let me go home?" Bakura asked tiredly.
Five girls nodded at the same time. "We won't forgive you if you break my promise!" said the leader of the fan club.
Bakura sighed. "You have my word."
The girls giggled and snapped a few more pictures before heading off. "Bye Bakura! We'll see you tomorrow!"
"What have I gotten myself into?" Bakura mumbled to himself after they left. Then he noticed somebody walking towards him. "Yugi! What are you doing here?"
"Hi Bakura! This is the direction of my home,"said Yugi. "What are you doing here? Isn't your apartment in the other direction?"
Bakura looked around and realized what street he was on. Because of all the girls blocking his view, he wasn't able to see where he was going and had gone the wrong way. "I must've lost track of where I was going when I was trying to get away from my fangirls," he said sheepishly.
"Do you want to stop by my house for a snack? It's just around the corner," Yugi offered.
Bakura smiled. "That would be nice. I'd love to."
Yugi and Bakura walked into the Kame Game Shop, greeted Yugi's grandpa, and went upstairs into Yugi's bedroom. They chatted for a bit, mostly about games, until Yugi's grandpa came in with some snacks and juice. Yugi and Bakura happily started munching on the snacks.
"So Bakura, you sure are popular with the girls at school," said Yugi.
Bakura groaned. "I know. It's rather inconvenient. It always takes me an extra hour to go home because of them."
"Do you like any of them back?"
"I don't dislike them as people…"
"That's not what I meant. What I meant to say is do you have a crush on any of them the way they crush on you?" Yugi said.
Bakura shook his head. "No, I don't feel that way for any of them."
"Is there anyone you do feel that way for?"
Bakura blushed and looked at the ground. "Well, there is one person, but you have to promise not to tell anyone."
"Ok, I promise."
"The person I like is…is…" Bakura mumbled so softly that Yugi could barely understand him. "It's Honda."
"Honda!?" Yugi exclaimed in surprise.
Bakura nodded. "But there's no way he'll ever like me back. He's not gay."
"Ah." Yugi fiddled his fingers, contemplating.
Bakura stared awkwardly at the ground. "You don't care that I'm gay, do you?" he asked.
"What? No of course not! You being gay doesn't change anything about our friendship! I'll always be your friend, Bakura. I want you to be happy and I'll always accept you for who you are."
Bakura beamed a large, bright smile. "Thank you Yugi. That means a lot."
"I kind of already knew you were gay. Or at least, I suspected. But I felt awkward thinking you were gay just because of how you look. Stereotypes can be harmful, you know? And also I um…" Yugi nervously twiddled his thumbs. "The truth is, I myself am bisexual."
"Really? You are?"
"Yup."
"That's cool!"
"Mmhmm."
Bakura and Yugi sat in awkward silence for a minute, munching on food and sipping juice.
"Say Yugi, are you doing anything tomorrow?" Bakura suddenly asked.
"No. Why?"
"I was wondering if you'd come with me to the mall. I promised my fangirls I'd go with them tomorrow, and it'd be more fun if you tagged along."
"Sure, I'd love to come! In fact, why don't we invite the rest of our friends too?"
"That's a great idea!"
"Ok, I'll text them all right now," Yugi said as he got out his phone. He typed a message into the group chat inviting Jounouchi, Honda, Anzu, and Miho to go to the mall tomorrow.
"Hey, someone texted me," Jounouchi said, getting out his phone.
Miho got out her phone too. "Yugi and Bakura are going to the mall tomorrow!" she said. "Yes, this is the perfect time to announce that we are dating!" She quickly typed a reply saying that she and Jounouchi were coming.
"I told you, you should ask Honda to pretend-date you! I don't want to do it," Jounouchi said.
"But what if he's not coming tomorrow?" Miho said.
Both Anzu and Honda felt their phones vibrate in their pockets at the same time.
"Huh? Someone messaged us," Anzu said, getting out her phone.
"It's Yugi!" Honda said, opening his messages. "He's inviting everyone to go to the mall tomorrow, and Miho says she wants to come! This is the perfect opportunity to announce that we're dating!"
"I guess we're doing this," Anzu sighed as she typed a reply.
"Hey look, Anzu and Honda just replied. They say they want to come," said Jounouchi.
"Oh good. That settles that then. I'll ask Honda to pretend to be my boyfriend tomorrow," Miho said.
