How can you tell if a boy likes you?

Mai pressed send, quickly tucking her phone back into her desk. She waited nervously, nibbling on her lip as she pretended to pay attention to the teacher's voice droning on. Her phone dinged a few times as people began replying to her post on a girl's advice forum and she read them periodically throughout the school day.

None of them were very helpful.

'just ask him!'

Mai rolled her eyes. Yeah right.

'you just know, they make it so obvious'

Not Naru.

'lol I'm going through the same thing'

It was nice to know she wasn't alone in the sad world of teenage romance but how was that helping her?!

DING

Mai glanced down at her phone, all hope lost but still reading the replies for entertainment's sake.

'Look down when you're in a group setting. Body language is the most telling when it comes to attraction. Their feet will always point directly at you.'

Mai blinked. His feet?

Her phone vibrated once more and she was surprised to see that it wasn't another answer on her post but instead a request for her to join a group chat named 'Homework Clubbers.' She accepted the request and immediately her screen was filled with texts.

Gene
Hello, all.
So Bou-san forgot to get a new light bulb so if everyone still wants to meet up today my place is open for a study sesh.

Yasuhara
Count me in

John
Yes, me too.

The rest of the conversation was about where they were going to meet once the bell rang and about picking up snacks before they headed over. Neither Naru nor Masako replied to the group, but it was obvious that Naru would be present considering it was his place and Masako was likely to follow him.

Mai quickly sent her confirmation too, feeling giddy as she tucked her phone away.

Mai and Yasu were the last to arrive at the meeting point outside the school gate. When they walked up, Gene was animatedly speaking to John while Naru and Masako stood off to the side.

"Hey!" The cheery twin greeted them when he caught sight of them.

Mai stiffened when Naru glanced up at her.

Very cute.

His text from last night was still weighing heavily on her mind and she wasn't sure how to act around him now.

"If we stop at the convenience store by the station, we should have enough time before the train arrives..."

As Gene and Yasu began planning their way over, Mai took that moment to glance down at everyone's feet. Seeing as they were all standing in a circle, their feet were all pointed at the person across from them, except one person.

Masako stood beside Naru, yet she had still positioned herself so she was facing in his direction.

Mai watched discreetly as the black haired girl leaned her head towards him slightly, her lips starting to move as she began speaking quietly, causing a shift in his position as he moved to hear her better.

Mai turned away from them when his feet started to face Masako.

They were talking so that shouldn't count, right?

She tried to convince herself of that the whole way to the train station, her eyes attached to their feet, even as they went into the convenience store and then stood on the platform at the train station.

Did the two ever not just isolate themselves? She thought bitterly as Masako showed him something on her phone.

"What are you looking at?" John's voice suddenly whispered to her, making Mai jump in surprise.

"W-what?"

Amused, John smiled as he motioned to the floor. "You keep looking down at everyone's feet."

"Oh! It's just, uh..." Mai looked around to make sure no one was paying attention to them. "I read somewhere that people will point their feet in the direction of someone they are attracted to."

"That's interesting." John's eyebrows rose and he took a look around at their group in wonder. His eyes fell on Gene and Yasu, who were standing face to face, and she followed his line of sight. "So that would mean Gene and Yasuhara-kun..."

Immediately, Mai and John burst into laughter at his suggestion.

Shoulders shaking, Mai lightly pushed him on his arm. "D-don't say that—pfft!"

John raised his hands defensively, his face turning pink in embarrassment. "That can't be true, I mean..." He pointed downwards at their own two feet, which were facing each other. There was a moment of silence as the two stared down at their feet before looking up at each other in realization.

Mai cleared her throat awkwardly as they both turned to the front at the same time, not acknowledging the implication.

"I guess you're right. Body language is too vague too read."

John glanced up in thought. "That's not true. There is a much easier way to detect attraction through body language."

Curious, Mai turned to look at the side of his face. "How so?"

"Touch." He told her simply. "If you're attracted to someone, you won't move away when if they make contact with you."

Huh... that made much more sense.

The speakers above them announced that their train was arriving, ending their conversation.

The commute to Naru and Gene's place wasn't long. They got off at Shibuya, which was only one stop away, and as they walked through the busy streets towards the residential area, Mai's growing suspicion was pretty much confirmed when they stopped in front of a modern sky rise.

"You're rich." Yasu stated blankly as he stared up at the building, reading Mai's thoughts.

"Ehhh, well, technically this is not our place. It's our family friends who we're staying with while we live in Japan." Gene laughed, though his hesitance shone through in his words.

Mai shouldn't have been surprised, considering Naru told her about their living situation a couple of days ago.

Studying abroad without going through an international school was expensive, since the travel and school fees were often discounted that way. Naru and Gene's parents would've had to cover the plane tickets, school fees, living expenses, and allowances without help. Not to mention Naru said they were planning to go to university here too.

"Yep." Mai nodded decisively. "You're rich."

"Well, we live—"

Yasu held his hand up, stopping Gene mid-sentence. "Don't you dare say 'we live comfortably.'"

Naru rolled his eyes, moving towards the tall glass doors at the entrance. "Okay, fine. We're rich. Can we go inside now?"

"This isn't fair." Yasu was whining as they entered the elevator. "You two are good looking, smart, and rich?!"

Mai laughed as Gene only grew more embarrassed when they finally entered their apartment and Yasu threw an even bigger fit at the sight of it.

"Does anyone want some sparkling water?" Gene asked, though he didn't wait for anyone's replies and reached into the fridge, grabbing enough for everyone.

"Thank you." Mai smiled at the boy when he set one down in front of her and opened it, a bittersweet smell hitting her in the face immediately. She observed the English writing on the can curiously and then took a careful sip, looking up at the others.

Gene and Naru's family friends they were staying with were out on a trip for their anniversary, so the group had the apartment to themselves. They had situated themselves around the long rectangular table in the dining room, laying out their snacks and notebooks along the surface.

No one seemed to be studying and Mai attributed it to the fact that it was Friday.

Mai sipped at the bittersweet sparkling water, laughing along with the others as the two twins started to bicker about a story Gene was retelling that Naru swore didn't happen.

"—what about that time you walked into a wall while studying for the entrance exam? You don't remember that either, huh?" Gene teased his brother, grinning in amusement.

Naru glared. "No, I don't."

Mai smiled softly as the memory of Naru walking down the street with his nose stuck in his notebook came to mind.

"I can see that happening." She chided in.

"Right?!" Gene pointed to her in agreement before looking to Masako. "Even Masako can attest to the fact that you lose all sense of reality when you're studying! The first time you met her, you shook her hand without looking up from your textbook."

Masako laughed softly, covering her mouth with her hand.

Yasu looked at Masako and the twins curiously. "I've never asked before, but how do you three know each other?"

Mai tried to act like she wasn't dying to know, casually picking at the chips she had in front of her as she glanced at Naru, where he sat next to her.

"Our father teaches Parapsychology at Cambridge and he met Masako's grandmother through his work. Every time we came to Japan he met up with her, so we've known each other since we were like ten."

So, they were childhood friends. Which meant Masako had a head start on her.

"Mai, are alright?" Gene asked when he took notice that she had her hands on her cheeks, where the skin seemed pinker than usual.

"I'm fine!" She reassured him, even after he asked if she was sure. "But I do need the bathroom, where is it?"

Gene directed her to where it was and she went. When she came out of the bathroom, it was then she noticed the pictures hanging on the wall in the hallway.

A slow smile curved her lips as her eyes landed on one of two small identical boys, standing against a brick wall.

"What are you looking at?"

Mai jumped as Naru suddenly approached her from the end of the hallway. He had changed out of his uniform and was wearing more casual clothes. She tried not to stare at his exposed arms as he stopped beside her.

"I can tell which one is you so easily." She commented quietly.

Naru crossed his arms, staring at the picture with a small smirk. "Is it the bright yellow rain coat that screams Gene?"

"Nope. It's the old man outfit that little boy seems to be wearing."

"Old man outfit?" He repeated, looking slightly offended.

"What kid willingly wears vests and dress pants?"

"I did."

Mai laughed and a strange daringness she usually would never possess overcame her.

"Very cute." She said, deliberately repeating his text back to him. When she felt his stare on the side of her face, she turned and met his eyes.

A moment of silence passed where they just stood, holding each other's gaze.

Perhaps she was imagining it, but she thought that his cheeks seemed slightly pink too.

"Did you still need help with math?" He asked after a beat, never breaking eye contact.

She didn't, but she nodded anyways.

He motioned with his head for her to walk and she glanced one last time at the picture before continuing on her way back to the dining room.

"Did you get any further with the workbook?" Naru asked as he pulled in his seat.

"Yeah, I'm on this page now." Mai flipped open her workbook, pointing to a few points on the page. "I'm having trouble with this equation. I still can't tell when it should be used."

Mai ignored the little voice in the back of her head that called her pathetic for pretending not to understand so he would keep paying attention to her.

"Come here."

"H-huh?" She sputtered out stupidly, the pressure of Masako's eyes on them making her sweat.

"I can't help you from way over there." Naru said. His eyebrows twitched in irritation as she simply slid her workbook over, like coming close to him wasn't an option. "Mai."

"What? I can see from here!" Mai defended herself when she heard his tone.

Instead of responding, he reached forward, startling her. His hand hooked on the underneath of her chair, dragging her across the space between them until she was right at his side.

The aura around Masako turned murderous.

"Better?" He asked quietly, releasing the chair.

Mai nodded quickly, her ears turning red.

Suddenly, the questions she understood the night before looked like gibberish as he guided her through them. The smell of his body wash was permeating through her senses, distracting her so much it was making her head feel fuzzy.

Even though she was a nervous mess and he repeated himself a million times, he was shockingly patient with her. Once she relaxed enough to actually listen to him, the questions started to look comprehensible once more and she was able to answer him without stuttering.

"…and this one?" He pointed to an equation on the paper.

"Sixteen?"

Feeling restless, Mai shifted in her seat as she mulled over the answer, trying to find a more comfortable position. She could feel pricks and needles starting to run up her feet.

"Almost—" Naru's words cut short when her ankle suddenly brushed against his as she moved her legs.

"Oh sorry." Mai glanced up and then paused when she noticed the look on his face. Did her touching him have an affect on him? The conversation about body language she and John had earlier suddenly came to mind. She decided to leave her foot over his, wondering what he'd do.

Naru glanced at her from the corner of his eyes. She looked relaxed, like nothing was off as she observed the paper in front of them. Swallowing, he wrote the correct answer on the page. "If you keep working on memorizing this, you'll do well on the midterm."

He didn't move his foot.

Mai smiled at him, far too sweetly. "Can you show me again?"

"So you—" Her ankle pressed further into his, stopping his sentence short again. His eye twitched. So she was playing with him. He waited until he was finished with his explanation, and she was writing once more before asking, "Do you remember what comes next?"

Mai nodded in a cheery manner. "Yep, I need t-too…"

His leg moved, trapping hers underneath his weight.

His voice was right by her ear as he leaned closer, speaking quietly. "Need to what?"

Mai clenched his pencil tightly, looking up around the others in the room nervously to see if anyone had caught onto their strange behavior. Thankfully no one was paying attention to them.

Feeling mischievous that they hadn't been caught, Mai moved her other leg and trapped his in between hers, watching his body tense at the movement.

It was at that moment John ducked down for his bag at his feet and caught sight of their legs tangled together. Mai and Naru jolted apart as John sat up quickly, looking red in the face.

The blond-haired boy stuttered over his words as he started to apologize and Naru kicked her foot, urging her to say something.

Mai jumped up, her heart hammering in her chest. "W-we should do a séance!"

Naru sighed. "Really?" He asked flatly, like he couldn't believe that was all she could come up with.

Yasu's eyes lit up and he too jumped up. "I second that proposal, Mai-chan!" He winked at her. "Good thinking."

"After midterms." Naru interjected, seeming to relent.

"Good idea, after midterms we'll hold a séance."

As everyone excitedly began talking about their new plans at the end of the week, Mai slowly sat back down, making sure to keep her feet to herself this time.

John continued to stare at them, like he had come to the realization of something enlightening.

The dining room was chaos.

No one was studying anymore, and the table was a mess of snacks and forgotten notebooks as everyone hurriedly rushed to speak over one another, their voices growing louder and louder.

"W-we should go to karaoke!" Gene suddenly said, slamming his hands on the table as he stood.

"Yes!" Yasu agreed, swiping out his arm to point approvingly at Gene and knocking over his sparkling water in the process.

The contents of the can spilled onto the tabletop and laughter erupted, causing John, who was sleeping with his head in his arms, to jolt awake.

"What?! What's happening?" He looked around in a panic, speaking in accented English.

Mai giggled with the others, her hands resting on her burning cheeks once more.

Naru tilted his head down at her. "Why do you keep doing that?"

"I don't know." Mai answered him honestly. She felt so incredibly hot. Her whole body was warm and her stomach was burning. She started to push her chair back as she stood. "I'm just gonna get some water—"

Her equilibrium tipped and she stumbled back, Naru's hand wrapping around her upper arm as he caught her. "Careful." He muttered, keeping her upright as he walked her to the kitchen.

Mai huffed, leaning against the counter as she watched him get her some water. "I'm soooo sleepy. Are you sleepy? I know John is sleepy."

Naru handed her the glass with a nod. He was feeling a little groggy, now that she mentioned it.

Her small fingers invaded his vision and he blinked in surprise as she poked his cheeks softly, smiling up at him.

"You're blushing." She teased with a playful tone of voice.

Naru raised his hand to his face, feeling his warm cheeks. That was odd. His body doesn't do that.

Something wasn't right here.

He took a look around the room with narrowed eyes, suddenly becoming aware of how chaotic everyone was. Unnaturally chaotic even for their group of odd personalities.

John had drifted off back to sleep. Masako was sitting in her seat and she wasn't covering her mouth with her hand as she laughed, which wasn't right. The girl had impeccable manners and she never laughed without modestly. Gene was standing, swaying on his feet as he spoke excitedly with Yasu, who still hadn't cleaned up his spilt drink—

"Shit."

Mai's finger poked at his side. "Potty mouth."

Naru swatted her hands away, ignoring the pout on her lips. "We're drunk."

Something flicked on in Mai's brain and like she had suddenly snapped back to consciousness, her eyes sobered immediately. "Oh shit." She said as she turned to look back at the group, her eyes falling on Gene as he picked up the suspicious can to take another sip. "No!" Mai shrieked as she ran over, snatching it from his hands. "Don't drink that!"

"Why?" Gene whined, trying to grab his drink back.

Naru approached from behind, grabbing the can from Mai's hands and reading the label. "Gene, you're an idiot." He twisted the can around and shoved the label in his brother's face, looking murderous. "This is alcohol."

"Oh." Gene said, swaying on his feet. "Well, shit."

Apparently, drinking alcohol made you pee every two minutes.

Mai found herself standing in the bathroom for eighth time that night, staring at herself in the mirror. She took in the warmth on her cheeks and the glassy appearance of her eyes, her intoxication so obvious now that she knew what the contents of the sparkling water actually were.

How could she not realize sooner?

Her daring behavior with Naru should have told her something was wrong.

Groaning, Mai splashed water on her face, hoping she could return to her normal self quickly. She wanted to be at home when the embarrassment from her actions hit her but the group had decided that everyone should stay until they weren't drunk anymore. Turning off the tap, she left the bathroom and almost ran into another figure.

"Oh, I'm sorry." Mai apologized, pausing when she looked up and saw Masako standing there. She tried to sidestep around her, but Masako simply blocked her way again. "Excuse me—"

"He doesn't like you."

Mai froze. "What?"

Masako looked up, meeting her eyes with a determined look. "Naru."

Mai's expression hardened.

She didn't understand why the girl hated her so much. Ever since she started coming to the club room she didn't speak one word to Mai willingly, and whenever Naru was too close to her she glared at her like she was some homewrecker stealing away her husband.

"He doesn't like you—"

"I heard you." Mai cut in sharply.

Masako squared her shoulders and doubled down. "—and he never will. Even if you act all clueless and pretend to not understand your math. He doesn't like stupid girls."

Her words hit hard and Mai tried to act like she wasn't affected even though her eyes were starting to burn.

"Are we done here?" When Masako didn't reply, Mai shoved past her roughly.

"Mai-chan?" Yasu asked as she started to grab her things frantically. "Are you leaving?"

"Yeah." Mai told him, avoiding everyone's eyes.

Naru frowned. "You can't walk home like that, you're not sober—"

"Actually—" Mai laughed bitterly, cutting him off as she looked down at him. "I am the most sober I've ever been. Your little girlfriend Masako really knows how to give a wakeup call."

"My girlfriend?" Naru repeated, confused. He started to stand, as if he wanted to explain more, but before he could get any more words out Mai turned and stormed out of the apartment, leaving everyone confused.

Masako stepped into the dinning room and everyone's eyes swiveled towards her.

Gene frowned as he took in the unsettled expression on her face. "Masako, what happened?"

Masako shook her head, feeling conflicted with the sense of shame that suddenly washed over her. "I don't want to say."

Outside of the apartment in the hall, the elevator dinged as it arrived. Mai hurried inside, tears falling down her cheeks as she angrily rubbed at them, stabbing the button like it would make the elevator go faster.

She forgot.

Naru doesn't like stupid girls.