Chapter 23: Forever Remember This Mystery Solved

As the group walked outside of the large stadium, there were still just as many crowds, taking pictures together. The group decided to join in, and began to take pictures with one another.

Hayate stood on the side, not wanting to participate.

"Hayata-kun!"

The butler turned around, already knowing who it was. After all, there was only one person who could call him that.

"Segawa-san," he said. "Congratulations to... eh?"

Hayate could not recognize this person.

"Who are you?!" he asked.

"Haaa?! It's me! Segawa Izumi!" she said with a panicking.

Hayate carefully observed the girl, whose purple hair was unusually neat and tied behind her head, along with some bangs stylishly braided around her hairline. She had purple lipstick on. Her seemingly loose Hakuou uniform was replaced with a well fitted all black shirt and skirt, revealing curves that has all sorts of male graduates asking themselves why they have never noticed her. She also seemed taller with her black heels.

"Segawa-san... you really don't look stupid right now," Hayate bluntly said.

"Haaa, so mean!" Izumi cried. "Anyways! Um..."

She tightly held her phone with both hands.

"Would you- um... can you..." she lowered her voice and muttered. Her cheeks turned a few shades red.

"Oh, did you want to take a picture with me?" he asked her, noticing her phone in her hands.

"Uh... Oh! Yeah! Nihahaha!" she nervously laughed. Her arm shook as it raised to take a picture of the two. "Say chizu on three..."

"Ok," he stood next to her and slightly bent his knees, so his height was leveled with her's.

"One... two... three! Chizu!"

The phone made a snap sound as the two smiled together. Izumi looked at the picture, noticing a mistake.

"Ah, my head still wasn't in the picture," Hayate said, also noticing. "No worries. Let's take another one."

"S-sorry about that," she said.

Preparing for the next shot, Hayate stood even closer to her. "It's okay," he replied, inches close to her ear. His left arm slightly brushed against her backside from close contact, which sent a chill down Izumi's spine.

'Oh no!' Izumi thought. 'Hayata-kun is so close... and his cologne smells really nice!'

"Chizu!"

This time, the photo came out blurry.

"Ah! Sorry again!" Izumi said. "My arm couldn't stop shaking! I really have no idea why, nihaha!"

Izumi lied. 'Hayata-kun is making me feel so nervous!' she thought. 'I just have to keep acting dumb!'

The butler sighed. "Here, give me your phone," he said. "I can take the picture."

"R-R-Really?! Ok!" she said with joy and handed him her phone.

"Chizu!"

The picture of the two next to each other came out with not a problem.

"I never took a photo like this before," the butler said, referring to the infamous s*lfie. "But this came out surprisingly well."

Izumi stared at the picture with fascination expressed in her face.

"I love it!" she said. "Another one!"

"Wha? Again?" he asked.

"Hai!"

"Okay then."

"Yaaaayy!"

This time, Izumi stood even closer to Hayate.

"Chizu!"

The second photo showed Izumi's big smile.

"That was a great smile you put on," Hayate said.

"Nihahaha! Yaaay!" she cheered. "One more! One more!"

Hayate was annoyed at first, but after seeing Izumi this happy, he shrugged it off and decided to continue.

"Okay, one more," he said. "Chizu!"

Before he pressed the shutter button, Izumi wrapped her arms around the butler's torso with a huge grin. "Chizu!" she shouted.

Hinagiku heard Izumi's voice from half a field. She spotted her embracing Hayate.

Hayate blushed from Izumi's sudden action. "Um, Segawa-san. Th-that's enough pictures," he said.

"One more!" she shouted, her arms still wrapped around him.

"No, no more," he said.

"Just one more, Hayata-kun," she pouted close to his face.

"Please, that's enough."

"Okay then..." she said to him. She remained still in this position, wondering what should she do next. She unwrapped herself from him. She drove her heels up and raised her face towards his.

"One more kiss then..." she whispered.

Hayate was confused. "Wha..."

She placed her hands against his chest. Her lips were then pressed against his.

His mind went into a state of shock and familiarity, as he can now recall their first kiss over ten years ago. It was long, warm, and surprising, no different to the one he was experiencing right now.

She slowly pulled away from him and looked at his shocked face. "Nihahaha," she laughed nervously. "So Hayata-kun was my first kiss after all... I had a feeling that it was you!"

She continued to giggle and attempts to kiss him again, until she noticed his strange silence.

"Hayata-kun?"

His eyes stared straight across and through the crowd, able to notice a certain pink-haired girl looking right back at him with the same kind of surprised look that he was having.

Hinagiku's stare at Hayate then turned blank, before she turned away and continued to chat with her classmates.

Izumi turned around to look at what he was looking. She could not find what he looked at.

She turned back to him, only to see that he had disappeared.

"Hayata-kun?"

She stood still in the moving crowd alone. She noticed that her phone was stealthily placed in her jacket hand pocket. Izumi took it out to look at the final picture.

It showed her smiling brightly at the camera, while the blue-haired boy had a surprised look on his face while she embraced him. She put it away and smiled.

"I guess it's normal to disappear after a kiss!" she said to herself. "Nihahaha!"

She continued to stand still and continued to look around the crowd. After a few seconds, she then began to cover her eyes.

'Who am I to fool...?'