Siopao: (5/11/2020) I'm taking a quick break from Reflection Eternal (my feudal era romance AyaxRei fic) to quickly write up this fluffy one-shot. I was just inspired from the GALS! manga sequel since there have been so many cute moments of the couple, so I couldn't help myself.

This story is in Rei's POV.

Disclaimer: I don't own GALS!

My Love in a Glass Case

By: Screaming Siopao

There she goes again with those tears.

I look on at my mousy girlfriend who just publicly displayed her famous waterworks a few moments ago. Despite already starting our first term at University, she's still as emotional as ever. Yes, Aya is crying again, if you hadn't already caught on. The cause her gem-like tears this time was none-other than me... I think? Honestly, I wasn't quite sure. Let me think back a few minutes to recall the events leading to the onset of her tears.

I was walking across the courtyard with my two classmates when I coincidentally saw her on campus. She was standing a few meters away and was just looking off into the distance, her face appearing a bit troubled. I think she was debating whether or not to approach me. Ever the internal conflict with Aya, as per usual.

"Hey," I stopped walking and called out to her, lightly tapping one of my notebooks on her head. There was a sea of people around us, mostly female students. I could feel their eyes on me but I kept my focus on her. "Aya, what are you doing over there?"

"Ah— Otohata-kun—! I was just, well, I wanted to say hello but didn't know if I should—" she stammered frantically, her face reddened with embarrassment.

"Huh?" I voiced out as she stumbled her way through her frenzied speech.

"Hey! What a cute girl!" Amane, one of the classmates accompanying me, exclaimed as he leaned his arm on my shoulder. "Otohata, is she your friend?"

"Friend?" I repeated blankly. "Well, yeah, I guess you could say that. She's my girlfriend."

Then, silence. I looked at Aya's face and it was blank, almost as if she was going to pass out. The sea of girls around us, who were just chatting a few moments ago, had also hushed their voices and gawked at us. My two friends were even quiet, mild astonishment painted on their faces.

"How about you introduce yourself," I said to Aya.

"Ah, yes, um..." she timidly spoke to my friends (yet, she was looking me directly in the eye; what a strange girl). "I'm Hoshino Aya..."

And that's when she started crying. No sobs, no whimpers, no sniffles. Without warning, there were suddenly tears that just fell from her eyes like the morning dew on a long blade of grass. I felt a slight shock come over me as soon as I saw her glossy eyes.

Here? Now? Mou, Aya, you're in public, for goodness' sake, I thought. For some reason, I felt a small wave of panic wash over me, but it quickly passed.

I grabbed her hand and briskly began to walk us away from the crowd and to a more private location.

"What are you doing crying here, of all places?" I grumbled as I gently pulled her along.

"It's b- because—" she began to say.

"Come on over here," I continued as we further distanced ourselves from our peers.

And that's how it happened. Now, back to the present. Here we are, just the two us. I look on at her and give off a distressed sigh as she finally begins to compose herself.

We found shelter under the awning of a quaint building on campus. She sniffles as the last of her tears fall from her pretty chestnut eyes. They're glistening like gems at the moment. Even when she's crying, I find her beauty captivating. I wonder if she could possibly ever run out of tears.

"Really, you're even crying on campus. Why, this time?" I ask. I wasn't angry or annoyed but felt a bit tense for some reason. I wasn't uncomfortable with her crying, trust me, I had seen it many times by now. But, for some reason, I became a bit uneasy when she did it in front of those people...

"It's because I was so happy that Otohata-kun introduced me as his girlfriend," she cutely admits. I had to stifle a laugh at her reason.

"And how long have you been my girlfriend?" I ask.

"Two years, seven months, two days," she says without a second thought as she's rubbing her eyes. Again, I had to bite my lower lip to suppress a chuckle.

"It's been that long, right?" I say, crossing my arms, amused at her display.

I think I see, now. I somewhat understand why I felt so taken-aback to see Aya openly crying in front of my friends and all those other people. I guess I was just used to her crying when it was just the two of us. Subconsciously, I wanted her to make that kind of face only in front of me. And not just her crying face; I want to see all of Aya's expressions.

She's calmed down a bit, by this point. Now, she's talking about her lifespan. Something about everyone having a limited amount of heartbeats in their life. She's saying that when she's with me, her heart beats faster and, therefore, her lifespan decreases. She's like an old lady with that kind of talk, right? Still, it's kind of cute when she speaks that way, especially with glassy tears still clinging onto her lashes.

Hmm, I want to see one other expression from her today...

I suddenly close the distance between us and her back gently presses against the stone wall of the building behind her. I tilt her face up by lifting her chin with my thumb and index finger as my other hand rests on the wall behind her. I'm really close to her at this point, close enough so smell her sakura-scented shampoo. Close enough to appreciate her long, pretty eyelashes fluttering with each blink along. Close enough to notice the subtle freckles scattered on her ivory skin. Close enough to plant a kiss on her full, pink lips (and I could have easily done it, if I wanted to).

"So you're saying if I do this, Aya's life will shorten. Maybe I should hold back from doing things like this, then?"

Hm. I look down at her wide, doe eyes and admire the reddened hue of her cheeks, ears, and tip of her small nose. Her lips are delicately parted and, although I thought they were quite tempting, I withheld myself. This expression will do, for now. I took a mental snapshot, tucking this memory in a small subsection of my mind.

"Ah... Otohata-ku—"

I release my hold from her, finding reluctance in my parting. I've developed pretty good self-discipline after being with Aya all these years. It's become a lot more difficult lately, but it's best to control myself for now. She sighs audibly as I let her go; she must have been holding her breath during all of that, I think with amusement. Aya is quite a danger to herself, whether she knows it or not. That's why I have to hold back like this. For the time being, at least.

"That would be a problem, having an Aya who has a reduced life," I say as I walk away. "I have to go to class. Ja," I bid with a subtle wave.

I look back for a last glance at her. She's holding her flushed cheeks in her hands, likely zoned out. Now that I'm alone, I finally let out a small chuckle, entertained by that strange, mousy girlfriend of mine.

Everyone always looks at me like I'm some high, mighty being because of my history. Yeah, I was a "High School Grand Prix" winner, but what does that even mean? I was perceived as a local celebrity who had good looks and a cool personality. People saw me as arrogant or egocentric, even. But I'm just a normal university student, really. I'm just a normal... guy.

And, of course, normal guys want to hold their girlfriends, right? I've had urges to hold Aya in my arms and have even thought about kissing her on several occasions (our timing was never right though, if you can recall that incident with the younger Kuroi brother). But I see now that I need to wait until she's ready, even though I have been for a long time now.

The best I can do is just have patient endurance, even though I feel like it does get difficult at times. I'm not a god or a saint with everlasting restraint. But, alas, I am known for keeping my composure so I suppose that's what I'll continue to do.

However, even I surprise my own self when I'm caught off-guard by Aya, like when she cried in front of my friends back there. I guess it astounds me how possessive I've grown over the years when it comes to her. Expressions like the ones she made today... should only be made when I'm the person who's with her. I didn't want her to show those kinds of faces to anyone else. Was I being childish? To me, it didn't matter. She's my girlfriend so I should be able to act a little selfish when it comes to her, right?

Someday, I want to be able to do normal things with her. Holding hands with her has become easy enough... but I want her to be able to reach for my hand without feeling hesitant. I want to tightly embrace her without her feeling like she's being suffocated. I want to kiss her willingly without having her on the brink of passing out. I'll admit, those timid reactions from her were cute in the beginning but, now, her inability to remain conscious when we make physical contact is a bit troublesome. It's difficult to hold back from touching a person as beautiful as Aya.

Hey, I told you that I was just a normal guy, didn't I? Even I have urges and desires that can't be helped. So what if I do want to hold onto my own girlfriend? Everyone knows I'm not much of a talker; physical actions are more moving, in my opinion.

I know, with due time, we will be able to do those "normal" relationship things. Aya has grown stronger each day that we've been together. I want her to become more comfortable with me so that we can exist as equals. Being in the same University is going to help us in that aspect; I have a good feeling about it. I'll continue to be patient for as long as it takes. In the end, she's worth it.

For now, I'll keep you in a glass case. I'll be careful to cherish you always and vow to keep you safe. One day, I can let you out... but, for now, just wait a little while longer. I look forward to it.

My Love in a Glass Case: End.

Siopao: This is based on the scenes that happened in the GALS! manga sequel wherein Aya actually does cry in front of Rei's University friends (one of them develops a crush on her later on in the story). I just wanted to portray the scene in Rei's POV as you guys already know I love writing in his POV, lol.

Note: the dialogue here is not the least bit accurate since the manga right now is only in Japanese. I had to just use basic context clues, a translating app, and my very limited knowledge of the Japanese language, lol.

Please leave a review on what you think! Thank you!

Edit: (5/12/2020) Right now, the sequel is only available in Japanese through an app called "manga-mee" where Mihona Fujii updates chapters once a week. She actually released Volume 1 of the manga sequel on April 27th and physical copies of the book have been made available on Amaz*n and in Japanese bookstores.

I unfortunately cannot access manga-mee because the app is not available in the US but you could probably download it if you used a VPN. I also tried ordering the first volume on Amaz*n but it looks like an American Amaz*n account cannot order things from Japan (?).

Instead, I have just been getting small "sneak peaks" of the sequel through Mihona Fujii's twitter and instagram accounts. She will usually post little snippets of upcoming chapters on her social media.