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“I have a problem. I have a stalker,”
“Surprising you only have one,”
Gakushuu groaned. The vast majority of people were reasonable enough not to stalk him even if they had a crush on him. But lately, he had been followed by this girl everywhere he went, it was really starting to grate his nerves. He read it was better to not acknowledge stalkers at all, so he wouldn’t try talking to her. Karma looked up from his maths problems, glancing around to make sure no one else was listening (or glaring at them disapprovingly for talking in the library), and leaned in.
“I’d be delighted to do you a favour, Asano, I wouldn’t mind you owing me one,"
“No thanks...Unless you have an actual plan,”
“I could find out information about her and blackmail her with it. Or just give her a list of a thousand reasons why nobody ever should date you. Could even make it two thousands,”
“No,”
Naive of him to even think Akabane would have a solution or at least the beginning of a good idea. He was the President of the Student Council, he couldn’t just start blackmailing his fellow students like that, even if they stalked him. She probably didn’t even realise what she was doing was wrong. Maybe he could actually try talking to her or-
“You could pretend to have a girlfriend already,” Karma suggested.
Gakushuu tuned back in, interested. That wasn’t a too stupid idea. A fake girlfriend from somewhere else, another school… Surely his stalker would give up if she thought he was taken already. And if she didn’t, then that meant the problem was more serious than he thought, and he’d have to find a new plan. One problem though…
“I don’t really know any girls my age outside of school that I’m close enough to do something like that,” he admitted.
“Uh. Yes, things would get awkward if it’s someone you know but aren’t too close to...You know what? Set up a time and place for a date, and I’ll have someone meet you there. Trust me,”
Gakushuu should have never trusted Akabane, but it had been the best (and only) plan at the time. Maybe the girl that would come was someone from class 3-E...He narrowed his eyes at the thought. He had been a bit quick to accept, it was an offer that came from Akabane Karma after all, he wasn’t safe from some stupid prank. A bit too late to think about that though, he was waiting already in front of the little café he had picked. His stalker was there too, probably thinking she was discreet where she was.
“Gakushuu?” a voice called him, making him turn his head.
He blinked. He knew that girl, didn’t he? Long and wavy crimson hair, had to be natural too given her eyebrows and the light colour of her eyelashes. Her eyes were a vibrant shade of green, and her face thin and pale with only a slight amount of make-up. Tall for a girl, she was his height, wearing a louse white blouse and a long dark blue skirt reaching to her ankles. He absolutely couldn’t put a name on her face but…
He remembered he was supposed to pretend to be dating her and smiled, nodding at her in greeting. He didn’t even have a name to call her!
“Hey,”
“You’re so stiff,” she giggled, leaning in to kiss his cheek.
The smile and laughter ticked him off and he had to hold himself back so he wouldn’t recoil.
“Akabane,” he hissed.
She pulled back, surprised, before grinning.
“Nothing goes past you, does it?”
“What’s the meaning of this? If it’s a stupid prank-”
“Nah. I just thought about all the girls I knew that I was willing to subject to a date with you, and all the girls I knew who’d do that for free, and there wasn’t much overlap, so I figured eh why not. You owing me a favour is definitely worth the uncomfort of wearing a stuffed bra for one hour or two,” he explained flippantly.
Of course, Gakushuu’s traitorous eyes went straight to Akabane’s chest, and it took everything in him to not laugh at the mental image of the redhead stuffing his bra in front of a mirror trying to evaluate whether it looked real or not. At least he had been reasonable with his disguise.
“Urgh...Fine then. What do I call you?”
“Uh. Didn’t even think about that. Let’s go with Yui, then! Shall we go now?”
Karma boldly took his hand and grinned, pulling him towards the coffee shop. Gakushuu’s cheeks reddened but he followed suit. He supposed it wasn’t a terrible idea...It wasn’t like things could get awkward between the two of them, no matter what. Still, Akabane must really want a favour from him, to go that far...It wasn’t reassuring in the least.
Truth be told, Karma also wanted to get rid of the stalker. He was more often than he wanted to admit with Asano, and he didn’t want to also be followed whenever he’d be with him. Besides, Asano was already enough of a stressed-out pain in the ass without also having to worry about a stalker.
What should they even talk about, Gakushuu wondered. Maybe his stalker would get herself within earshot, so they had to keep their discussion ‘couple-y’, which was a horrifying thought now that he knew who actually was under the red wig. Akabane was mindlessly playing with the menu, letting his eyes wander on it. He was actually wearing coloured contact lenses for that. Then again, red hair was rare enough, let alone the combination of red hair and golden eyes, especially Akabane’s strange shade. It often felt like a sunset to Gakushuu, depending on when he looked at his eyes, they were either golden or leaning more towards red...Not that he often looked at his eyes, of course.
“I think I’ll have strawberry milk with a fraisier, and you, Shuu?”
The voice he was doing wasn’t horrible either. Rather impressive, actually, but he was too busy choking on the nickname to feel impressed. Shuu?!
“I guess I’ll have a cup of coffee,”
“No cake?”
“I don’t like sweet things,”
“I see. You are what you eat after all,” Akabane mused.
Gakushuu groaned before glancing on the side. A waitress came to take their order, but as Akabane was talking, he noticed his stalker coming into the coffee, settling at a table on the other end of the shop. One good thing, they wouldn’t have to talk about whatever couples talked about, as long as they looked the part it would be fine.
“Smile, Shuu, you are dating me,”
“God help me,”
Akabane laughed, and Gakushuu smiled (a forced smile, of course). After all, they were on a date, he was supposed to be happy about the whole situation. Considering they could talk about anything, Akabane started babbling about the latest movie coming out (Sonic...Ninja?), his face lighting up when their order arrived. A wonder he was still so thin with the amount of sugar he drank and ate on a daily basis, though he probably did lots to eliminate it all on the side (like getting into stupid fights).
“Open up!”
“No way,” Gakushuu hissed, glaring at the spoonful of cake Akabane presented him with.
“Yes way,”
With a resigned sigh, he went to take the spoon, but Akabane stopped him, nodding slightly towards where his stalker was sitting. Right, she was staring at him. He was on a date with his girlfriend, Yui. Alright. He dropped his hand and leaned closer to eat the spoonful. It was mostly actual strawberries, with very little cream on them, which was quite thoughtful of Akabane if he did that on purpose after being told he wasn’t into sweet things. No, that had to be a coincidence, Akabane wasn’t thoughtful , and certainly not towards him.
Gakushuu cursed himself out as he walked to school the next morning. He wasn’t late, he was never late, but he wasn’t as early as usual. That whole fake date thing had made him a bit restless and he hadn’t slept much. Hopefully, that had been enough to deter his stalker for good, though. He felt his phone vibrate and took it out, frowning at the name appearing on the screen. Akabane.
“We fucked up. Your stalker wasn’t a stalker, not the kind you thought anyway,”
His frown deepened. What was the meaning of this? A picture appeared on the screen, the large board in their school’s hall where information was pinned, as well as the school’s newspapers...He paled as he understood, seeing the largest picture in the newspapers. Himself, getting fed cake by his “girlfriend”.
“She was from the school’s newspaper,”