Chapter 6

Three days had passed without Nishikata going to class. His fever wasn't really going down, although he was feeling a little better when Takagi was coming to see him on the evening, after classes. The latter was extremely bored during the day since she couldn't tease her classmate.

''I really need to go see him after class, I need to give him his daily dose of teasing...'' she thought to herself as she got up, since the bell announcing the lunch break had just rung.

She sat down at the table where she usually eats with her friends, but found only one person with her, Houjou.

''Aren't the others here yet ?'' she asked the person in front of her.

''I… Asked them if I could eat alone with you...'' Houjou replied with a blush on her cheeks.

''Wait, don't tell me you're going to conf...''

''NO NO NO… Don't worry I'm not going to confess to you, as far as I know, I only like boys...'' she reassured her with an even bigger blush on her face. ''But I wanted to talk to you… Alone.'' she finished, swallowing a piece of her meal with difficulty.

Takagi looked at her strangely, before answering to break the silence.

''Well, tell me, how can I help you ?''

Her friend took a deep breath, then explained.

''As you know, this weekend there's a music festival in the city centre'' she began.

''Yes, I know about it, I was waiting for Nishikata to invite me so we could go together...'' Takagi replied.

''Well, I have a feeling that Hamagushi will be too shy to invite me, but I want to go to the festival with him, so...'' she continued.

''So you're clearly in love with him.'' she answered, with a teasing smile on her lips.

Houjou blushed again and stared at her bento, too shy to make an eye contact with her friend.

''N-No, I don't like him, but… You see, he is too shy to invite me, so I only wanted to help him…'' she began, before pausing and sighing, ''Who am I kidding… Yes, I guess I like him a little bit after all…''

Takagi showed her best smile, the one that always made Nishikata blush, happy that her friend had finally accepted Hamagushi's advances.

''But that's not the point here !'' Houjou continued. ''I'd like to go to the festival with him, as I was saying, but I feel like he'll be too embarrassed, so I wanted to suggest that you and Nishikata come with us... A double date...''

''It's easy to use Hamagushi as an excuse when you are the one who's embarrassed !'' she replied, chuckling.

She paused for a moment, but before she could answer, Houjou added one last thing:

''But if you accept, you'll have to confess to Nishikata at the end of the festival.''

Nishikata was in his bed. He had been reading manga all morning, but was having trouble concentrating because of his fever and his headache. So he decided to stop reading, then he took his mobile phone to go on Instagram. He stared at the wallpaper of his phone for a few minutes, which was the picture of a cat he met in the street a few month ago, and then decided to change it, tired of always seeing the same thing. He consulted his gallery to choose a new one, which was mainly composed of pictures of other cats, and then hesitated. Suddenly, as he was about to choose one, he saw the picture he had taken of Takagi one day when he wanted to tease her, which made him remember many of his failures.

''I guess I'll never be able to get back at her for her teasing...'' he thought with a sigh.

He stared at the photo for a long moment, smiled while staring at his friend's face, then decided to to replace the picture of the cat.

''I'll have to be careful, because if she sees it, I'll get teased like never before...'' he thought anxiously.

He checked his messages, but no one could talk to him, as all his friends were in class.

''I'm sick of being sick...'' he thought, ''But it's my fault, because I didn't want to go home with Takagi last Monday... I'm so dumb !'' he continued regretfully.

At that moment his mother came into his room to check on him, a thermometer in her hand. She took his temperature quickly, then looked at the result.

''36 ! Seems like your fever got better !'' she exclaimed happily. ''You'll be able to go back to school this afternoon, so your girlfriend won't have to come all the way here.''

''She's not my girlfriend !'' Nishikata contradicted her, with a blush on his cheeks.

''Oh no, you should stay in bed after all, you're turning red again !'' her mother teased him, stroking his hair. ''Eat something and go, so you'll be back in time for next class !'' she finished as she walked through the door of his room.

Nishikata got up and put on his uniform, after three days in his pajamas, and went down the stairs. He ate quickly, then trotted off to school.

''The sooner I get there, the sooner I can see the others again !'' he thought cheerfully.

He finally arrived at the front of the building, changed his shoes at his locker and then walked to his classroom, as the bell would soon ring. He walked up the first few stairs, then heard a voice he knew next to him. He turned his head and saw Takagi talking with Hamagushi.

''Eh, since when are they friends ?'' he thought, a pang of jealousy in his heart.

He moved a little closer and then managed to hear a bit of the conversation and decided to listen carefully without the two of them noticing.

''Let's meet at 7 p.m. Saturday, near the candy shop. Sounds good to you ?'' he heard Takagi say.

''Yep, perfect !'' Hamagushi replied, before heading off in the direction of the classroom.

Nishikata, who was shocked by what he had heard, hadn't moved from where he was. Hamagushi noticed him directly, but didn't know that he had heard them.

''Nishikata ! You're finally back !'' he said happily.

Nishikata didn't react for a long time, leaving his friend perplexed, then he gave him a big black look followed by a powerful punch in the mouth.

''You were hiding your game, asshole !'' he insulted him before quickly running away.

Hamagushi understood immediately what had just happened, but instead of running after him, he preferred to run to warn Takagi that Nishikata had misinterpreted their conversation, despite the blood that was running down his face. Nishikata was walking in the direction of the classroom, his fists clenched and his eyes even darker than before.

''That son of a bitch tricked me into believing he was in love with Houjou, he'll pay for it !'' he thought, gritting his teeth.

Takao and Kimura, who were talking in front of the classroom door, noticed him and knew immediately that something was wrong. They approached him and started talking to him.

''Oh Nishikata ! Is something wrong ? Are you still sick ?'' Takao asked worriedly.

Nishikata looked at him with a dark eye, then aggressively blurted out, ''Just ask Hamagushi, he'll tell you, that son of a bitch !'' before opening the classroom door with a bang and sitting down at his desk.

''They had a fight, right ?… But why ?'' asked Kimura with no answer expected from Takao.

They stared at Nishikata, who was punching the air in an attempt to relax.

''Don't you think this sounds like a fight over a girl ?'' asked Kimura. ''Two boys arguing, one wanting to fight the other...''

They then saw Hamagushi walking down the hallway, a handkerchief in his hand, wipping his mouth, with Takagi by his side, who looked shocked.

''Ooooh !'' Takao and Kimura finally exclaimed, having understood the reason for Nishikata's rage.

Takagi entered the classroom alone, while Hamagushi went to meet his two friends.

''What happened to your mouth ?'' asked Takao, who saw Hamagushi in pain.

''It's Nishikata.'' he said with a grimace of pain. ''I was talking to Takagi-san during the break and he must have heard a bit of our conversation that he must have misinterpreted, so he got mad at me and this is the result.''

''But what was the subject for him to get so upset about ? Don't tell me you were hitting on Takagi !'' asked Takao, who knew that Hamagushi had a crush on Houjou.

''Absolutely not. But that's what Nishikata must have thought...'' he explained.

The bell rang and everyone entered the classroom. For her part, Takagi, to whom Hamagushi had told everything, was worried about how Nishikata would react to her.

''On the one hand, if he got upset, it means he loves me back, but I don't want him to have this kind of jealousy crisis, especially since we are not dating ! He wasn't very happy when Minoshi confessed, and now Hamagushi...'' she thought.

She glared at him, which Nishikata noticed. He turned his head towards her, but quickly turned it back towards the window, wanting to avoid his neighbour. In that split second, Takagi had time to see her eyes.

''He's… crying ?'' she said involuntarily, loud enough for Nishikata to hear.

He turned to her again, huge tears streaming down his cheeks.

''I… You… Why...'' he said before pausing, noticing that Hamagushi was staring at him.

He got up and went closer to him, crying even more.

''S-Sorry… and… take care of her !'' he exclaimed tearfully before running out of the room, leaving Takagi and Hamagushi pitchless.

''Nishikata, WAIT !'' she shouted as she saw him leave.

But he didn't turn back and kept running. Mr. Tanabe was a little late, so Nishikata didn't run into him. Since he wasn't scheduled to go to class that day and the school hadn't been notified, he could leave without risking punishment.

''I missed my chance, I was too hesitant to know if I loved her, and now, when I eventually realise my feelings, it's too late !'' Nishikata cried while running as fast as he could towards the river. ''It's… too late.''