AN: Am glad it is the holidays season, got more time to think and be inspired with this story. Appreciate the wait, let's dive into the next part~

Disclaimer: This is purely fanfic. Kuddos for Spy X Family by Tatsuya Endo. Warning, some content may show a bit of spoilers from the main story!

Chapter 2 - Is This A Confession?

The bell finally rang for lunch, and Anya braces herself with her confrontation with Damian after they eat their lunch. She barely had any appetite for lunch and only ordered a yogurt and some crackers in the cafeteria but Becky has encouraged her to make sure to eat properly.

"Come on, Anya. Get something proper to eat. Knowing you, you will get hungry in the afternoon classes if you eat little during lunch." Becky feels guilty as she has been encouraging Anya to basically confess her feelings for Damian in the guise of her explaining and clearing out a misunderstanding that really does not need explaining. "And look, now that we are both an imperial scholar, we can try going to the Private Dining Hall so you can relax a little bit before the meet up?"

Anya's eyes twinkled with excitement. She looked down on her cape and totally forgot about the perks of being an imperial scholar. "That is a great idea, Sy-on Boy would probably use the Dining Hall to be with his friends anyways."

With renewed vigor, she goes back to the line and order a plate of rice omelet. Now with a meal on hand, they climb up the steps to enter the Private Dining Hall. Before entering, she apparently spots Damian on one of the tables below since not many imperial scholars still stays at the cafeteria to have their lunch unless they decide to stay with their non-imperial scholar friends or have lunch at the dormitories. Once seated, she turns to Becky and tried to make sense of her thoughts once again.

"Becky, I think it's the cape."

"What's with the cape?" Becky looks down on her own Imperial Scholar cape and just thinks it looks fabulous on her.

"Sy-on Boy. We three finally became imperial scholars this term. So maybe the cape made him look cool and somewhat mature. I don't know." She takes a bite of the meal and relishes every bite.

"Hmmm…" Becky thinks for a moment, imagining Damian with the cape and without the cape and still shrugs her shoulders. "I am not sure, but maybe that is something that makes you realize that he is great or something. Am not sure either. Not like I have the hots for imperial scholars."

"Neither do I but still… Or maybe because he is an imperial scholar, he decided to be less childish?"

"Good point, but you said he was looking handsome. Acting mature does not really change one's appearance to that extent where you still saw him last year just as how you saw him during the first grade. If you want to confirm it, our class photo is still in the Cecile Hall for when were in our primary levels."

Anya thought about going there for a while, but decided not to go for today. "It's fine, maybe I have just gotten so much of a unique impression from before that I have always seen him with what I wanted to see."

"And there is that, which also works vice versa." Becky grins sheepishly again only to get a confused response from Anya. "What I meant is that maybe you liking him now is also making you see him in a way that is attractive only to you." She smiles sheepishly at her own statement as she felt it was a good analogy.

"Ohhh." Anya nervously took her last bite from her meal before finally noticing what the Private Dining Hall looked like. "Wow, this place looks really high end and cozy."

Becky looked around as well and was slightly impressed. "Passable."

True enough, there were also lounge areas and tea tables on the side of the room where there are also a tea station with all the necessary items provided. On the far end of the hall, there was a terrace looking place that seems to lead to a garden space, something Becky took a mental note to visit on another time. Near the entrance, the designated place to put the used utensils are way more fancy looking than that of the cafeteria. The tables they were sitting at was almost like a classy fine dining area with lots of decorative ornaments and condiments. There are also bookshelves and other recreational activities that would cater to some imperial scholars, a pair are already engaged on a game of chess while they have their workbooks beside them. Overall, there were only eight occupants at that time in the Private Dining Hall, including Anya and Becky.

"If we were not busy, it would be nice to take a quick nap at the lounge…" Anya comments as she picks up her items to drop it off at the used utensils station.

"Well, we can't keep him waiting. The more time the better too, right?" Becky follows Anya with putting away the utensils and now they were both ready to go to the courtyard.

Damian was apparently already waiting in the courtyard while his two friends are at the hall, guarding. He dares not sit down as he was feeling nervous with what this talk was all about. The last he apparently heard from the two before he was asked for this confrontation was them gossiping down the hall was that Anya finally sees how handsome he is but it was followed by the word awful before they went somewhere more private to discuss things with each other. He feels worried since he noticed both Becky and Anya decided to go to the Private Dining Hall for lunch, maybe to get more time to be away from him. He had thought that he has become closer with the two of them throughout the years, and it was timely that all three of them were starting their second year of middle school as imperial scholars but it seems like there was still a gap between them. Aside from that, there is a nagging dissatisfaction on how adorable Anya looked with the imperial cape on her. It frustrates him that she seems to be so inconsiderate despite all the actions that had been displayed in the past leading to his current assumptions. His thoughts went on not knowing that the truth was at bay.

"Sy-on Boy, thank you for waiting." Anya approached him near the bench with slight nervousness and determination.

He sighs at the pet name she made for him since primary school but lets it pass. "No worries, Forger. What's up?"

"So here it is." Anya pushes herself to just get on with the apology and explanation. "I am sorry if I have misled you to believing that I have a strange interest in you since primary school. I really do feel awful about it."

Damian was stunned at what he was hearing. Apparently, he is just realizing that his assumptions were clearly just assumptions all along. Feeling a bit shaken on how it seemed like he was just doing things one sided, he decided to take a seat after all. Seeing this, Anya holds on to his arms and assists him to sit down and sat as well before she continued.

"So you see, after with the events that has led to me punching you on the day we first met, my father has scolded me for doing something so inappropriate that he told me to make up with you and try to be friends. Apparently, I had little understanding on what that meant and so he gave me a sample of how we should be friends to a level that I should be invited to your residence, thus I thought, I literally have to be invited to your house as soon as possible to follow Papa's instructions as a sort of mission." Anya waited for a response, but apparently all she sees is confusion in his face. She decided to continue on, "and that is why I want to make sure you do not think that I have had any… interest with you from that time compared to now. I feel really guilty since Becky said that she had assumed for quite a few years that there was something, so am just clearing that out now."

Damian now looks at her with a glimmer of hope. The phrase 'compared to now' rang in his mind repeatedly. Hearing her say Becky made him look at the entrance of the courtyard where his friends and, true enough, Becky was also there waiting for them to finish. She was grinning with her usual grin when she knows something is up and usually it involves supporting Anya's love interest. 'But, could this be it, so why does Anya have to explain this. Probably Becky made her do this without realizing that she is, in a way, confessing to me that she did not have any interest before but does have… now?' He rambled in his thoughts and his face started to get confused.

Apparently, despite how Anya had decided to never read Damian's thoughts after she was able to get control of her abilities, she did so that time since he was showing many inaudible thought processing and caught on what he was thinking, not realizing that, in a way, she had just confessed to him her current interests for him. Her expression turns to shock and fluster as she also faces Becky's direction with betrayal, as all she now sees Becky smiling while doing is a peace sign with her right hand and a thumbs up in her other hand.

Damian watched Anya's expression change from her realization of her actions with amusement. He smiles and thought, 'You are being so cute, Anya,' when suddenly Anya immediately reacted by looking straight at him, getting more flushed by the second. He had often pondered about the moments when they interacted together and he was not sure whether he was saying it out loud or just thinking it on his head but at a whim, he reached out to her, tucks her hair behind her ear and chuckled before actually saying it to her, "You are cute."

Anya froze for a moment before she stood up, speechless. She immediately controls back her ability and stopped any other thoughts from being read. She reaches her side of the face unsure what happened and tried to look back at Damian. Out of embarrassment, she started walking back to the hall but stopped. There was courtesy involved on letting the invited leave first. She turned him once more saying, "T-that was all I had called you for… Thank you for your time to listen to my… explanation."

Damian continues to smile at her, feeling much more relieved than he was anticipating. "I see, then I am also glad to hear of your… explanation." He stood up and walked out of the courtyard first, nodding at Becky to greet her before he went with his friends to prepare for the next class.

Becky approached Anya with excitement but simply pats her back as she sees her burying her face in her hands. "Aww, that went pretty well, I think?"

"It went well?" Anya gasps in exasperation. "I cannot believe you let me do this, Becky! What am I going to do now. It's not like I was sure that I like him yet or anything but now he… Ughhhh."

"Well, what's done is done. Let's also prepare for our class and just take this as we go. It's not like suddenly you two will interact differently, plus, it's not like a declaration of love that you have asked him out yet, right?"

Anya regained her posture as that the thought that nothing was changing comforted her. "Y-you're right, Becky. It was just me explaining that if ever there was anything with me starting to like him, it starts only now. H-he should not expect anything from me. Hmph!" She pouts as she starts walking back, feeling confident to go through the remaining classes for the day.

As awkward that it may be, all of them had the same next class for Primary Foreign Language. Still being one of Anya's strong suits in her academic roll, her focus was firm and she made sure not to make anything distract her for maintaining to be the first or second scorer within the whole class for this subject.

AN: Yay, o-obviously not a confession at all! Hoping their relation progress immediately, but what kind of story will that be? Haha, see you on the next upload!