Kaede Akamatsu was a simple girl.

She loved music with all of her soul, she was willing to help anyone who needed it—no matter what it took, and as long as she was living and breathing, she would try and spread positivity.

Oh, and she liked to spend her boring classes thinking about cute boys named Kaito Momota.

...Okay, that last statement sounded kinda creepy now that Kaede thought about it. It probably didn't help that she wasn't even friends with the guy. But, in her defense, they were at least acquaintances, and that lessened the creepy factor (if only slightly), in Kaede's honest opinion.

Their first encounter was in the school's music room.

As mentioned earlier, Kaede absolutely adored music. So, naturally, she'd spend most of her freetime in there. Now, for the most part, nobody else entered except the occasional teacher or student retrieving and/or returning an instrument.

One afternoon, however—Kaede distinctly remembered it being a Friday afternoon—when she went to play the piano, she discovered that another person had already taken her spot.

And there he was, in all his glory.

Kaito could be considered handsome; his spiked-up hair was a vibrant of violet, and a small goatee sat on his sharp jawline. His fashion style consisted of abnormally-worn jackets, space-themed T-shirts, jeans, and sneakers (or slippers, if he was feeling particularly silly)—basically, akin to a typical jock, which made Kaede a bit wary.

He was also a new student, from what she could tell—Kaede hadn't seen him around before then, after all.

Her suspicions were confirmed true when she'd not-at-all passive-aggressively asked him what he was doing there, and he'd gone on to explain that while he was exploring the school, he had stumbled upon the music room. He'd remembered how taken an interest in music a little while back and, well, that was how he found himself sitting there now.

...Oh. Well, that changed things.

One thing led to another, and as you probably could've guessed, Kaede was teaching Kaito how to play the piano.

Now, this wasn't some "love at first sight" thing. Sure, maybe she had felt something when she had placed her soft hands over his rough ones to show him how to play the keys correctly, or when she found herself captivated by the fiery determination in his eyes as he intently stared at the piano in front of him, but it was merely infatuation then.

She would admit though, those feelings eventually did transform into a full-blown crush.

Unfortunately, as more and more time passed, there were less and less chances for interactions between the two no thanks to classes, friends, extracurriculars, and everything in between.

So, now, she had just resigned herself to sneaking glances at and daydreaming about him.

This particular time, however, the daze hadn't last as quite as long as she hoped for as an extremely loud voice snapped her out of her thoughts.

"Huh?" Looking up, Kaede came face to face with her friend, Kokichi Ouma.

"Class has been over for, like, hours now!" he exclaimed. "Everyone else already left school, y'know!"

Kaede knew that Kokichi was, of course, lying. You didn't have to be a genius to figure out that was pretty much a main part of his personality. While most people found the shtick annoying, however, Kaede couldn't help but find it found it almost amusing for some reason.

A teasing smirk suddenly formed on Kokichi's face, and he spoke again before Kaede could respond to his original question. "Wait, let me guess: you were thinking about Kaito again, weren't you?"

"What?" Kaede wasn't exactly sure why she didn't want to tell Kokichi the truth—she was a bad liar, anyway. "What are you talking about?"

"Oh, come on, it's so obvious!"

Was it? Okay, it probably was. Still, Kaede crossed her arms. "Nope, don't know what you're talking about."

"Sure..."

Kaede knew it would be pointless to deny it any further, so she changed the subject instead. "You know, we should head to the cafeteria now. The others are probably waiting on us."

Kokichi pouted. "Fine. But I'm gonna drag the truth out of you, one way or another."

.

.

.

Ah, lunchtime.

The saving grace from the mind-numbingness that were classes, where you could goof off with friends, or simply chill and relax for the next half-hour.

Thankfully, Kaede didn't have to waste any more time than she already had waiting in line for lunch since she'd packed her own own (Kokichi hadn't been so lucky, however), so all she had to do now was find her table.

As she scouted the lively and bustling room of students, her eyes unwittingly landed on Kaito. The boy sat at a table near a corner with two of his friends; Kaede recognized them as Shuichi Saihara and Maki Harukawa.

She wasn't able to dwell on the scene for much longer, as a voice from the other side of the cafeteria started shouting at her.

"Kaede!"

Kaede snapped her head towards the sound of the voice, and she smiled. At a table in the back of the cafeteria, Tenko Chabashira—another one of Kaede's friends—waved at her.

Out of all her friends, Kaede was definitely the closest with her. It made sense, considering the two had quite literally known each other since diapers.

Tenko's waves grew more frantic as she continued to shout at Kaede, prompting her to make her way over to the table Tenko was sitting at.

Yet another one of Kaede's friends, Rantaro Amami, was also sitting there alongside Tenko once she reached the table. Taking a seat next to Tenko, she flashed both of them a bright smile.

"Hey, Tenko. Hey, 'Taro."

Rantaro grinned. "What's up? We were wondering where you were."

"Yeah, I was just about to text you!" Tenko added, waving her phone for emphasis.

"Yeah, sorry about that..." Kaede briefly glanced off to I got caught up with something."

"Did it have something to do with Kokichi or Miu?" Rantaro assumed, glancing around the table. "They're not here yet."

"No... But I did see Kokichi over there at the lunch line." She did a quick scan of the cafeteria. "I don't know where Miu is, though..."

"Well, she'll show up eventually," Rantaro shrugged. "Let's eat."

"Right." Kaede took her pink lunchbox and slid it over to Tenko. Likewise, Tenko slid a dark green lunchbox over to Kaede.

Believe it or not, this wasn't as weird as you're probably thinking it is ; every Wednesday, Kaede and Tenko swapped lunches with each other. Kaede wasn't sure how it started, all she knew it began some years ago, and it became a routine thing since.

Upon opening Tenko's lunchbox, Kaede found that Tenko had packed a bento box. Along with it were two juice boxes—cherry-flavored.

Kaede turned to Tenko and grinned. "Aw thanks, Tenko! You didn't have to get me two juice boxes."

"Of course I did!" Tenko insisted. "I know how much you like them, so I bought a humongous pack of them at the store for only 2,778 yen! They'll last you the whole year, I bet!"

"The whole year?" Kaede repeated. "Wow."

Tenko nodded. "Mm-hmm!" She then opened Kaede's lunchbox and gasped. "Kaede... Did you make this yourself?"

Kaede glanced over at the kimchi dumplings and avocado toast that Tenko was poking at with her chopsticks, a stare of curious awe on her face. "That obvious, huh?"

"You know I don't mean that in a bad way! I was just surprised, that's all. It looks good!"

"With my bare minimum cooking skills, that's a surprise. How does it taste?"

Tenko was about to use the chopsticks to pick up a dumpling, only for another pair of chopsticks to swoop in and take it before she could. "Hey!"

Tenko glared at Rantaro, who put the dumpling in his mouth and chewed. Once he swallowed, he shot her an apologetic look. "My bad. Those dumplings looked good and I had to taste one. It's pretty good."

Tenko huffed at him, then picked up a dumpling for herself. "Hmm... You're right! These are pretty good!"

"Really?" Kaede asked. "That's a relief."

The three friends began to eat their own respective lunches in a comfortable silence. However, if you had friends like Kokichi, for example, silences like that didn't last long.

Literally. It couldn't have been more than thirty seconds before Kokichi made his way over to their table and sat, tray in hand. "Heya, guys!"

A few "hey"'s and waves were exchanged before they continued to eat their lunch. All the while, Kaede was silently hoping that he wouldn't bring up the "crush" thing. A few minutes went by with no mention of it, leading to Kaede falsely letting her guard down.

Kokichi took that opportunity to stop eating and smirk. "So... I think we should finally discuss Kaede's crush, no?"

"Crush?" Tenko spoke through a mouthful of food. "What are you talking about?"

"Seriously, Tenko? You don't know about Kaede's crush?"

"I don't have a crush, I told you that already," Kaede said before promptly gulping down her first juice box to avoid having to say anything else for at least the next ten seconds.

"Still lying, huh? Tut, tut, tut." Kokichi shook his head at her. "Then I guess you won't mind if I did this."

Kaede furrowed her brows at Kokichi as he stood up on the table. He turned, took a deep breath, and cupped his hands around his mouth. "GUYS! GUESS WHAT?!"

A few heads swiveled around, and Kaede's eyes widened as she lunged over the table in a panic, grabbing his ankles and yanking them. He stumbled and fell into Rantaro's lap.

"Ow!"

"Alright, relax," Rantaro spoke up, lifting Kokichi up out of his lap. "So, you said Kaede has a crush on someone, yeah? Let me guess: is it Kaito?"

Kaede crossed her arms and frowned. "You too, Rantaro?"

Rantaro shrugged and gave her a sheepish look. "My bad. I thought it was obvious."

"Why does everyone think I have a crush on him?! I mean, sure, he'd be a good friend, but I have no interest in him like that."

"Yeah!" Tenko chimed in. "Why would she even like that degenerate male?!"

"Tenko," Kaede said in a reminding way.

"Sorry. Still."

"Your guess is as good as mine," Kokichi shrugged. "But now that we all know, we just have to get Kaede to admit it."

Kaede abruptly stood up, jolting the entire table in the process. "You know what? I'm going to see where Miu is." Unfortunately, when she whipped around, Miu was standing right behind her. "Whoa! Were you standing there the whole time?!"

"Obviously not, Kaeidiot!" Miu snapped. "I was just about to sit down, but then you jumped up like you saw a fuckin' ghost or something." She took a seat in the empty space between Kokichi and Tenko and flashed a smirk at her friends. "Sup, fuckers? What'd I miss?"

"Heya, Miu!" Kokichi grinned devilishly, leaning over to meet Kaede's gaze. "We were just talking about Kaede's crush on Kaito."

Kaede sighed, and with no other choice, she turned around and sat back down.

"Kaito?" Miu asked. "You mean that purple-haired idiot who's always with those two lapdogs of his?"

"C'mon, Miu, that's a bit mean, don't you think?" Rantaro asked.

"What? It's true!"

"I agree with Rantaro!" Tenko exclaimed. "Shuichi may be a lapdog, but I definitely know that Maki answers to no one! Especially not to someone like Kaito!"

Kokichi snickered. "Jeez, Tenko, with the way you've been talking about Maki lately, I can't help but think you have a crush on her."

Tenko's face immediately bloomed into a light shade of pink, and she began to stammer. "I-I don't! I just think she's cool, and it would be nice to t-talk to her sometime..."

"Oh!" Kaede exclaimed, half because she genuinely wanted to help her best friend, and half because she wanted to keep the conversation directed away from herself. "I could get her number for you, if you wanted."

Tenko's eyes lit up. "Really?"

"Yep. I talk with her sometimes. Shuichi, too. And—" Kaede paused as she caught the look Kokichi was giving her. "What?"

"Seriously, Kaede?" he asked. "How are you friends with your crush's friends, but can't even talk to the guy himself?"

"It's so fuckin' obvious!" Miu guffawed. "Kaede's tryna get closer to his friends so it'll be easier for her to get into his pants!"

Kaede tossed the straw of her juice box at Miu ("Hey!") before replying. "I'm not friends with them because I want to get closer to Kaito, I'm friends with them because we're classmates, in case you haven't noticed."

Kokichi narrowed his eyes at her. "Oh, really? Cause I don't recall you ever being buddy-buddy with any of our other classmates."

Kaede let her mouth hang open as she struggled to find the right words. "That's not—I'm not—This is different!"

Kokichi's smirk stretched wider, knowing he had won this battle. "Sure."

Kaede groaned, realizing this wouldn't end until she fessed up. "Okay, fine. I admit it: I have a crush on Kaito."

"See? Was telling the truth so bad?"

Miu scoffed. "You're one to talk."

While the rest of Kaede's friends were either unbothered or amused by what she'd just said, however, Tenko frowned. "What."

"What's wrong, Tenko?" Kaede asked.

Tenko's frown twisted into a grimace. "Why do you like...him?"

"Kaito? Well... he's always there to lift everyone's spirit, and he's so passionate about his interests." Kaede giggled as her mind flashed back. "Like space. He's always—"

"Ew," Tenko interrupted, crossing her arms. "I've heard enough."

"Something wrong, Tenko?" Rantaro asked. "You seem pretty on-edge whenever Kaito's brought up."

Tenko huffed and crossed her arms. "I just don't like him, okay?"

Kaede raised an eyebrow. "Why? I don't think I've seen the two of you interact..."

Tenko huffed again, her expression softening a bit. "Fine. The truth is... Kaito and I are siblings. Step-siblings."

Various expressions cropped amongst the other four as they all stared at Tenko. Kokichi propped his head onto the palm of his hands, gazing at Tenko with amusement. "And a new development arises!"

"Why the fuck haven't you told us until now?" Miu pressed.

"Yeah," Kaede added, sounding a bit hurt at the fact Tenko had felt the need to keep this secret—from her closest friend, no less. "What's up with that?"

Tenko's eyes widened, and she looked away before answering. "I already have to deal with him at home, okay? I don't need to be reminded of him at school, too. Can we please stop talking about this now?"

"You know what? You're right," Kokichi agreed. "We're getting off-topic here." He looked back at Kaede. "So, Kaede... What are you gonna do about that crush of yours?"

"Nothing," Kaede replied after a bit of thought.

Kokichi frowned. "What? Why?"

"I just don't want to make a big deal out of it. I mean, what if he doesn't even feel the same way?"

"Well, you'll never know unless you say something, so come on!"

Standing up, Kokichi took Kaede's hand and tried to pull her in the direction of Kaito's table. However, combined with his lack of strength, and Kaede's stubbornness, she barely budged. Kokichi huffed after a minute and let go, sitting back down. "Fine, how about I go and tell him for you?"

Kaede gave him a look. "Uh, no."

"Why not?"

"Should I really have to answer that? I know it'll end badly if you go over there."

Kokichi pouted. "It'll be fine. You really should have more trust in me, y'know. I'm the brains of this group, so—"

"Wait a fuckin' second," Miu interjected, "why are you the brains?"

"Cause I'm the smartest one here, duh. I mean, who else fits that description? You?"

"Uh, obviously! I'm the golden genius who's gonna change the world! You're the clown who's made it his life goal to piss everyone off."

"Rude."

"Besides, I don't see your ass taking any AP classes. I'm taking AP Calculus while all of you bitches are stuck in Algebra II!"

"Oh, please. That just means you were good at sucking the teacher's dick."

Miu scoffed. "Whatever." She then paused, as if she'd just realized something. "Wait. Now that I think about it, I'm pretty sure that crush of yours is in my AP class. Want me to talk to him for ya, Kaede?"

"Please don't," Kaede refused in thorough exasperation. She then sighed. "You know what? I'm going to the music room. See you guys later." With that, she stood up and began to walk away from the table.

"Does that mean I can tell Kaito about your crush on him?!" Kokichi called after her.

"Bye."

"Kaede, wait!" Tenko exclaimed, standing up and chasing after her.

"I'm gonna go, too," Rantaro added, standing up as well. "I wanna be early for my next class. See you two later." He took Kaede's and Tenko's lunchbox along with his own trash before leaving the table as well.

As soon as the rest of their friends were out of sight, Kokichi turned to Miu. "Miu. You thinking what I'm thinking?"

Miu smirked. "Hell yeah. What's the plan?"

Kokichi smirked right back, leaning in. "Okay, so..."

Author's Note: Could you tell that I loved writing this group of characters, lmao?

So, welcome to Crush Culture! This is a fic that's been bouncing around in my head for about a year (maybe two). I've been very hesitant to publish it, which is why I been holding off on uploading it until now.

(Fun fact: I drew the cover of this story myself. Do you like it?)

Anyways! This fic idea stemmed from me wanting to write about Akamota, one of my favorite rarepairs. And as you might've guessed, it'll be the main ship of this story, though there will be a couple of side ships (Amasai and Tenmaki, specifically).

Also! I plan for this story to be about 20 chapters long, so if you've made it this far, I hope you join me on this ride. And maybe leave a comment below telling me what you thought about this chapter?

Well, I think that's it. If you want to chat more about this story, or just talk to me in general, please consider following my Tumblr, at strawberrymixt. Thank you for reading, and I hope to see you next time!