~ Day 6- Guy-Talk ~

Watching Takane's retreating form as she closed the door behind her, Shintaro sighed and looked at his remaining senior across from him, dilligently doing the last bits of his homework. God knows where Ayano had disappeared to.

"How can you survive having her around all the time?", he finally asked when the older boy started humming some off-tune melody. "Takane, I mean."

Haruka's head snapped up with a surprised expression decorating his features. "Why wouldn't I? Takane is a great person! She's really admirable and good at things that I'm not good at, so naturally, I like being around her", he said seriously and hit his pen on the table so the tip snapped back in.

Shintaro rose an eyebrow at that. "There are many words that I can come up with to describe her, but 'admirable' sure as Hell isn't one", he deadpanned and crossed his arms in front of his chest. "She's your only classmate. I think that you're just overlooking the bad aspects that outweight the good ones in order to get along."

"That's not true", Haruka replied, firmly, and swallowed audibly. "Takane rarely smiles and she isn't good at school, but she's amazing at the things she likes doing and looks so happy whenever she's having fun."

"You're basically admitting that she has an awful attitude and is dumb, and yet you still idolise her?", Shintaro asked in disbelief and frowned. "Why would you like someone like that when you could go socialise with other people?"

"Why don't you go socialise instead?", Haruka bit back in one of his bouts of sheepish defensiveness. "Aren't faults part of a person's character as well, though?", he then asked and squinted his eyes in thought. "It's not good denying them, but I'd still like Takane, even if she was pretending."

"Like her?", Shintaro spluttered and gazed at Haruka with wide eyes, his usual cool slipping completely. "Like her. Like Takane. Like like Takane?"

"Isn't that what I said?", the older boy asked with a pout and tilted his head to the side. "I really like Takane, even though she always tells me that she hates me or that I'm an idiot. That's also why I can't possibly tell her."

It's not like she's always getting red when you touch her or grinning when you compliment her, Shintaro thought bitterly and cleared his throat. "It's better for you to drop it then, isn't it? It's what they call 'better judgement'", he said and placed his hands on the desk in front of him.

Haruka smiled wryly. "That's also impossible", he muttered and clicked his pen back out again, getting ready to finish his homework. "And if I ever said it and she didn't reject me, I'd just burden her with my health", more quietly.

Out of pity, "just tell her someday."

"Maybe."

Both of them were too faint of heart.

At least, that's what Tateyama Ayano thought from her spot behind the very thin doors as she was hiding her excited grin behind her hands, happy for her senior to be sure about those feelings.

Now she just had to make Takane understand her own emotions as well.