Damn her, I have no idea what to make of what happened.
Shintaro lay in his bed slightly cursing the innocent and sweet girl, and pushing away the thoughts of his own happiness that he refuses to acknowledge.
Was she just thanking me? Does she see me romantically?
Romance. This includes kissing, hugging, holding hands and eventually…
No! No, no, stay away from that. Keep your own composure, this is another test and in every test there is always a logical answer to be found.
Shintaro chuckled maliciously to himself as he closed his eyes, Yes, that's it. Just a test that I will control. I can never be defeated.
…
…
….
A familiar chirping began at the crack of dawn, with our protagonist already sitting straight up in his bed with a grin on his face.
So, today it begins. I am ready and my plan is ready to execute.
Shintaro whipped out his phone as the morning was flying by and sent a single message to what he felt like was his opponent in a game of chess.
Meet me over by the bridge like normal today, please?
A smirk left his face as his plan was in action, he was going to be there first today, execution was inevitable.
Shintaro made sure he was at the place of arrival first, and could see his opponent walking with her red scarf and a bright smile on her face as the two made eye contact.
THUMP!
Eh? What was that? Shintaro questioned to himself, his heart began to beat hard and slow the closer she got to him, and he couldn't understand why. His plan was crumbling before him. His face grew beet red as she was now in front of him with a puzzled look on her face looking him in the eyes.
Ayano's face as well was slightly red, still thinking about her own actions from the day before.
Shintaro noticed that this was his moment to strike and began to analyze his course of action like a computer in his brain, a sly grin began to appear on his lips.
Yes! This is the moment! First I'm going to—
"Ayano, I think you are beautiful!" Shintaro shouted aloud.
Ayano was taken aback by this and her face began to flush as her scarf was raised over her nose.
Eh?
EH!? What did I just say!?
Bullets of sweat were leaving Shintaro's forehead and his face crumbled at the words that left his mouth, what was speaking!? That wasn't his head!
It's over, I can never show my face again. I have been defeated, my home is where I belong. I will now become a NEET. That's all that is left for me in this world, nothing more.
Shintaro's face was frozen until a tug of his sleeve from Ayano brought him back to the real world, he didn't even notice that she had gotten closer to him. She was much shorter than him and he couldn't help but find that cute for some reason, she was staring at the ground and spoke softly, almost a whisper.
"You think so…?" She sounded so small and nervous and he could hear his heart making the loud thumping noise again.
THUMP. THUMP.
Shintaro gulped, he wasn't about to lie and say no. He couldn't explain it. Why did he start finding her so attractive?
He mumbled and fumbled with his uniform until he could finally spit out the words that were making his heart stutter, and a small whisper left his lips, "Yeah… I think… "
His face grew a little red with embarrassment, and he looked off in the distance, sighing deeply as she began to come closer into the chest of the slender boy.
"I hope you truly meant that, you'll take responsibility, right?" She giggled slightly, and the scent of her hair lifted into the frightened boy's nose
She smells so good, god, what's going on? My head is spinning…
Ayano took a step back and giggled as she began to walk ahead without him, "I'm just kidding!"
After getting small distance from Shintaro, she looked backed and winked, "Maybe."
. . .
. . . . . .
. . . . . . . . .
When did the air get so tense?
Shintaro slouched slightly feeling a headache form from his overthinking about what was going on in his heart.
He let himself enjoy small glances at the girl next to him barely moving his head to avoid being noticed by her. She too, looked a little conflicted until she turned her head a little as well and shared a glance with him.
Both of their faces flushed with embarrassment, and they snapped back to the front of the classroom until the end of the day.
Laughter, gossip, and small chatter filled the classroom right after class had ended, and summer was in full swing as Shintaro thought how he wanted to approach Ayano after the events of this morning.
Tsk. Since when have I been the one to approach her? Well, I guess I should since I did lose after all. After all this time of me calling her an idiot, maybe she is… A hidden genius!?
Shintaro gasped at what his mind was bringing him these insane assumptions making Ayano give him a confused look.
Sweat began to form on Shintaro's hairline and he chuckled nervously, "W-What? I said nothing…"
Shintaro tried to play it off with a chuckle and a flustered look came on Ayano's face making her speak sharply, "Shintaro!"
A startled Shintaro replied, "Y-Yes!"
Ayano giggled at his reaction and in turn, gave a warm smile.
"Could you please walk me home today?"
Shintaro gave a mix of a confused and a blank look, "Y-Yeah…"
A/N: I actually felt this chapter a little short, but more importantly, this chapter to me was lacking a lot of what I feel I can do. SO! I think I plan on making this a long weekly series. Long as in maybe 2k words a chapter. I hope you all enjoy this little side project of mine! It's a little tough to keep a character like Shintaro true to form and tell a story like this, but it sure is a lot of fun!
