A/N: I OWN NOTHING! I am just borrowing Naoki and Kotoko for my own amusement.

-3K+N3-

The day before the results were to come out was a busy one in the Irie/Aihara household. Their school was holding their annual sports day, and Kotoko and Naoki were both competing. Naoki got up and ready for school, packing his gym clothes into his bag with a book he was currently reading.

"Why do you need a book for sports day?" Kotoko asks confused.

"BAKA," he muttered. "Sports day holds no interest for me. Reading will be the only good thing about today."

"But… Sports day is important!" she exclaims.

"It is to Class F because it is the one thing they excel at in school. Class A doesn't care." Naoki smirks inwardly as he washes that lovely red color spread down her throat and disappear behind the white shirt and tie she was wearing, the fire in her eyes increasing in intensity as she took offense to his words. 'I do love riling her up' he thinks. 'It is hilarious, and she looks particularly amazing when she is all fired up.' He pauses at that thought, confused. 'Wait… what?' Shaking his head, he tries to forget about that, but was unable to because of his brain.

'I mean, I guess objectively, I can say that she is attractive. Her pale skin, chocolate eyes, copper hair, and that fiery spirit all contribute to her attractiveness. No point in arguing about it.' He continues his internal musing as he walked to school, briefly noticing that Kotoko seemed preoccupied as well. 'The question is, am I attracted to her.' He watches her as she walks beside him during the brief period that he allows it before deciding that he would answer that question later.

"Are you ready for sports day?" he asks her, gently breaking her out of her own head. "What events are you competing in?"

He smiles softly as he watches her shake her head at his question. "I am doing the borrowing race and the mixed relay," she answers. "I am not really that worried about it, but it should be fun. I know the boys in my class, particularly Ikezawa-san, are pumped and really want to win and show up your class." Naoki shook his head in exasperation at the fact that the males were trying to prove something. "What events are you in?"

"The men's 400 and the mixed relay," he answered.

"Ikezawa-san is competing in the 400," she mused aloud. "He is really fast so he will probably win again this year."

"He only wins because no one else cares as much," he glowers at her.

"That sounds like something a bad sport would say because he lost," she teases. "I bet you can't beat him."

"You really shouldn't have said that" he playfully threatens her. "Now your Class isn't going to win at least two events, and they can't afford to lose any." He smirks as she scoffs, not believing him to be athletic. 'She seems to have forgotten that I am on the Tennis Team," he thinks. 'I do actually exercise to ensure I am in shape to be able to compete well and because it is good for my health.'

"So," he begins slowly. "What do I get if I win?" He laughs as she startles at his question, not expecting him to take the bet. "You said you bet I could not win, so what do I get if I do?"

"Umm," she bites her lower lip and twirls her hair as she thinks. "Anything you want?"

"Deal." He agrees quickly before she can say anything else, a slightly dark thought crossing his mind. 'I could use this to get out of the wish… no I can't do that, it would be wrong… I gave her my word.' He contemplates what he would truly want to ask of her. 'I wonder if she would agree to letting me kiss her or see how far down that red color goes.' He stops his train of thought as his own face flushes.

"What do I get if you lose?" she asks.

"We can talk about that after, since it will not happen." He answers simply. He watched the fire spark again in her eyes again at the insinuation that he would never lose. 'She really does underestimate me a lot,' he thinks sardonically. 'So much for the depth of her love. She has zero faith in me. She should work on that.' As he finished this thought, he took his place at his desk in Class A, confusion swirling in his mind. 'I do not understand why this matter. I do not understand why I care, or why it bothers me that she has more faith in the black-haired menace than in me.'

"Good Morning, Naoki," Watanabe greets him with a smile.

"Good morning," he replies, breaking away from his thoughts.

"This is going to be so annoying," Watanabe complains. "Instead of studying we have to compete in sports day."

"I do not know about that one anymore," Naoki muses. "Honestly, I think this year's sports day could be incredibly amusing."

"Why?" his friend asks in shock.

"Aihara made a bet with me," he explained with a smirk. "I get whatever I want from her if I beat Ikezawa-san in both the events we compete in." Naoki watched as his best friend quirked up an eyebrow, the expression of a light bulb going off flashing through his mind, but unsure about what he read into with his explanation.

"So, Class A is actually going to try this year," he questions.

"I do not know or care what the rest of you do," he states with no hesitation. "I just know that I will be." With that said, he faces forward and pulls out his book, reading more of the thriller that he had recently borrowed from the library. He briefly sees Watanabe smiles weirdly out of the corner of his eye but shrugs it off. 'Whatever he is on about is his own prerogative."

A few minutes later, their teacher told them to go and change into their sports gear and head out to the field. Naoki was rather confused by the buzzing energy and words around him, not used to his class acting like that. 'Why are they all excited,' he pondered. 'Maybe they all have reasons to care about Sports Day too.' Naoki just shrugged and took his book out as he sat in the stands and waited for his event to start, relaxing, as his class seemed to follow suit with him and settled themselves to behave normally.

"ONI-CHAN! KOTO-CHAN!" The familiar piercing shriek caused his eye to twitch as he looked up to see his entire family under a banner with his and the girls' name displayed on it with the word "FIGHT" emblazed across it.

'Why?' he asked himself. 'Why is she so crazy? No one here knows that we live together. What reason would she have for knowing Aihara?' Naoki was incredibly annoyed with his mother before he heard his race being announced. Marking his place in his book, he wandered down to the field.

"You are going down, Irie-demon," a voice snarled behind him. Turning slightly, he said Ikezawa standing there with a smug look while stretching. "I am going to beat you in this race and prove to Kotoko that we are meant to be together because I am better than you."

Naoki smirks as an idea pops into his head. "So if I win, does that mean you will leave Aihara alone?"

"What?" the black-haired menace pauses.

"Let's make a deal," Naoki cajoles. "If you win, I will leave Aihara alone. If I win, you back off and leave her alone. Just be here friend. Stop touching her when she does not want you to."

"Deal," the fool agrees, sure of his own physical prowess. Naoki stuck out his hand for him to shake, confirming their arrangement.

"Just remember your word when you lose," Naoki smirks, getting into position at the starting line. He saw the dumb male line up beside him out of his peripherals. Naoki took a breath, inhaling slowly before releasing it right as the shot rang out for the race to start. He pushed off forcefully with his back leg before setting a solid pace that put him firmly in the lead. Keeping his breathing even and running on the balls of his feet, Naoki was barely feeling the strain of exerting effort in this race. Behind him, he could hear Ikezawa huffing and puffing behind him.

'He would possibly be a better runner if he could control his breathing,' he thought as he continued his current pace, halfway through the 400-meter dash. 'Not that I would tell him that, especially when he made a bet just on the assumption that I am not athletic at all.' Naoki was rounding the final corner into the straightaway when he saw Ikezawa full out sprinting for the finish line. Calculating this move with the remainder of the course, he increased his speed a little more to ensure he stayed well in front of the other male, crossing the finish line several seconds ahead of the boy who collapsed at the conclusion of the race.

Walking over to the other boy that was swarmed by his classmates, Naoki just raised his eyebrow at him in question as the boy started wailing. "NOoOOOOOOoooOOOO!" he cried helplessly, banging his hands on the ground. "Kotoko! WHY?!"

"What did I do, Ikezawa-san?" the copper haired girl asked curiously, her head tilted in a way that Naoki found to be somewhat cute. "Good job in the race, though. You have our class in second place currently." He waited patiently for them to acknowledge him, amused by all the wailing the young man was doing realizing that he lost the bet he made. "Oh, Naoki-kun," the initiator of the first bet of the day said. "Congratulations on your win. I guess you are faster than any of us thought." Her words had the young male wailing harder.

"Thank you," he replied demurely. "I do play tennis, you know. Therefore, I am familiar with exercise. Add to it that is good for your health to work out."

"YOU TRICKED ME, IRIE-DEMON!" Ikezawa jumped up, pointing at him while glaring.

"I did nothing of the sort," he denied. "All I did was make a bet because you were so sure of yourself. You did not even consider that someone else could possibly have athletic ability just because someone is smart. That was your fault, not mine." He watched the shock over all of their faces as the foolish boy collapses again and starts wailing.

"Bet?" Kotoko asked in a hard voice, her eyes bouncing back and forth dangerously between the two boys. "What bet?"

"THAT DEMON," the black-haired boy wailed. "Made a bet with me about you." All of the classes gathered on the track, listening to the drama happen. Naoki rolled his eyes, waiting for the overly emotional boy's rehashing of the bet. "He said that if he won, I would have to leave my poor Kotoko alone. If he were to lose, then he would leave you be. I was trying to race for your honor, and now I cannot be around my Kotoko." The large group gasped in shock as all of their faces snapped to look at him. He pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed before opening his eyes and looking at Kotoko, who had not taken her eyes of the unintelligent boy, but he could see her fists clenched.

"First, Ikezawa-san, I am sorry, but I am not yours to claim," she muttered lowly, just loud enough for the inner circle of students to hear. "Second, I am not a prize to be won or fought over. I am a human being."

Naoki cleared his throat, his eyes focusing on her, not caring about those that were around them. "If I may," he interrupted when her eyes finally snapped to his face. "That is not what the bet was about." Everyone's eyes were bouncing back and forth between the three of them like some sort of triangle tennis match. "I did say I would leave you alone if I lost, Aihara. However, all I said is that if he were to lose, he was to back off with his affections and attempts to touch you in such a familiar way while maintaining the friendship you both have."

He observed with satisfaction as her mouth dropped open, realizing that he was just trying to help her. Whispers began around them; most of them focusing on the fact that Naoki must care about her a great deal and be jealous of the foolish boy paying so much attention to her.

"See Kotoko," Ikezawa proclaimed loudly. "He admits that he made a bet to keep me away from you."

"No, Ikezawa-san, he didn't." she replied, her eyes not leaving his face. "He made a bet to get you to actually listen to me. I asked you to stop touching me so familiarly. I am sorry, but I have told you multiple times that we are not going to be getting married. I am willing to be your friend, but that is it. You have repeatedly chosen to ignore my requests, so Irie-kun made a bet with you to get you to listen to what I have said. Unless you feel like going back on your word as a man?" Naoki had nodded at her slightly during her speech, before they both turned to the boy with her final statement, eyebrows raised.

"But but, Kotoko," he whines.

"No, Ikezawa-san." She states in a low voice that was barely more than a whisper. Naoki had to step closer to hear her properly. "I am sorry, but I am not yours to touch so freely. Please do not continue to declare your feelings for me. You know how I feel about you and you know whom I truly have feelings for. That is all that should matter. Now please, follow through with this bet and just be my friend. Otherwise, I do not know how we can continue our friendship." Naoki felt somewhat bad for the young boy as he watched his heart shatter in front of him before turning away and returning to his set of bleachers. He drank some water and threw his towel around his shoulders before sitting back down with his book, ignoring everything that was happening around him.