Eraser

I've got it! It's the perfect plan to finally tease Tanabe-san!

Chi bore a wide smile as she held her eraser in one hand while her other hand was in a closed fist.

"Who can answer the next question?" Adult Nakai looked around the room before spying a hand in the air in the spot next to Chi.

"I can."

"Ah, thank you, Tanabe-kun. Now, just read these lines from the textbook."

While he read them out, Chi continued giggling and grinning to herself.

Last night, mom told me about a trick that she used on dad to tease him back when they were in middle school! I'm not exactly sure why, because I made sure not to say anything about Tanabe-san in front of her, but whatever! That's not important! What's important is that I can finally get him to blush!

Chi let out a sh*t-eating grin as she looked over at the person sitting at the desk beside her, laughing as she watched him search around his desk.

Hm? What's the problem, Tanabe-san? Have trouble finding your eraser? Well, that's because…

Chi briefly tucked her closed hand into her own desk and pulled it back out, revealing her empty palm.

I took it! You thought that you could go for a bathroom break and leave your supplies unguarded against me? Well, guess what, you should learn from this experience and grow because you're about to be met with an unstoppable attack!

"Hm? You're having trouble finding your eraser?"

Tanabe turned to Chi with a slightly confused expression, not that most people could tell what his expression was.

"Mhm. Is that why you've been staring at me for the past few minutes?"

Chi's grin was immediately wiped off her face as she recoiled and began waving her hands in front of her face in denial, slightly red.

"Eh?! No, that's not why! I wasn't-"

I've said too much…

Chi slumped over her desk facing forward.

"A-anyways, I wasn't looking."

Tanabe slightly raised an eyebrow and stared at Chi for a few moments, causing her to put up her textbook as a shield, before turning to face the front of the classroom.

"Mhm. Sure."

Guh… He didn't believe me at all…

Chi was completely and utterly defeated. She was slumped over her desk and bringing down the average happiness of the country by at least 50%. At least, she was until a light bulb appeared above her head as she sat straight up.

Ah, I forgot!

"Actually, Tanabe-san, there is a reason I was staring at you."

"So you were staring at me."

Chi's grin began to turn more and more wobbly as she tried to open her mouth to speak a few times.

"Y-yeah, I was… Anyways! I saw that you were having trouble with finding your eraser, so I checked my desk and there it was! It's really funny, actually… So here you go!"

Quickly recovering, Chi dropped Tanabe's eraser on his desk and began walking back to her desk with a badly concealed smirk on her face.

"But you know, I heard that if you write down the name of your crush on your eraser and use it all up, they'll like you back~"

With that, Chi sat down at her desk with a smug grin on her face.

Ha! How's that, Tanabe-san? After hearing that, you'll be agonizing over whether or not you should open your eraser to see if I've done anything to it!

Unbeknownst to her, Tanabe had already begun to take the coat off of the eraser.

After that, you'll get all embarrassed about my name being on your eraser! Then I'll tease you after telling you that I wrote my name there! It's the perfect-

A look of horror and realization struck Chi's face as a thought crossed her mind.

Hang on… What if he sees that I've written my name on his eraser and thinks that I like him? Would he think that I'm crazy, or desperate, or… that I actually want to think that he likes me?!

Chi, red-faced, began furiously shaking her head, attracting quite a bit of attention from the people around her.

"You ok back there, Nishikata?"

"Yes, Nakai-sensei!"

There was a small amount of laughter from the class as Chi slumped back over her desk, letting out a light groan.

He doesn't think that, right?

Chi looked to her left and almost jumped to her feet in shock as she saw Tanabe studying the eraser furiously, holding it right up his nose.

"Gah! It's not what you think!"

Tanabe ignored her, continuing to look over the eraser intently. Chi looked on in abject terror, not sure exactly what to say and therefore making the worst decision in saying absolutely nothing at all. Fortunately, she remembered how to talk after about a minute of staring at him.

"I-I wrote that as a prank! I was just trying to tease you, so please don't get the wrong idea!"

Chi, who had turned away and shut her eyes tight, cautiously opened an eye and turned her head back to Tanabe just in time to see him staring at her with his head tilted to the side in confusion.

"I didn't notice anything different."

Chi gave him a confused look before scratching her chin and looking down at her desk.

"I didn't notice anything different?" He doesn't mean…

Chi snapped her face to the front of the class, her face going flush yet again.

No, no, no! He didn't write my name, did he? He definitely doesn't have a crush on me! He must just be trying to avoid getting teased, right? Well, if he thinks that that's all it takes, then he should-

Chi got back up and looked over at Tanabe who seemed to be using an unnecessary amount of force while erasing one of his answers, then proceeding to write down the same answer, then erasing it with way too much force again, then finally writing down the answer and moving on to the next question before repeating the same process again.

He didn't… he didn't actually write my name, right? No, of course not! Maybe he's just bluffing and he wrote down someone else's name and didn't want me to see! Yeah, that's it! He just doesn't want me to know his crush…

Chi peeked at Tanabe again before letting out a sigh and scratching her head.

No, he wouldn't be looking at the eraser that closely if it was someone else's name… So that just leaves…

Chi took one last look over at Tanabe before shaking her head a little more and trying to put her mind back in "school mode".

He's just messing with me! Yeah, that's it! He doesn't have a crush on me, that's insane!

She ended up having to copy a friend's notes that class.